Vespertilia... Imagine a crossover of Norway, Siberia and eastern steppes, inhabited by a strange breed that could be get when you mix gun-happy US South redneck, Norwegian black metaller and a touch of Conan the Barbarian and Genghiz Khan's hordes.

Geography&Climate

Vespertilia is located in cold south of a big continent, bordering on high mountain ranges on east and north and freezing polar seas to the west and south. The climate is harsh and cold, as it can be expected, though it is somewhat mildened by ocean's vicinity.

History

http://nspolonia.polwebnet.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=49 - the beginnings of Vespertilia (in Polish)

Once ago, Vespertilia found itself under unexpected invasion from one of its neighbours. The enemy, taking advantage of Vespertilian internal situation, quickly managed to get hold of Vespertilia City, as well as many other parts of the country. What the enemy, however, didn't take into account, was the Vespertilian population. Vespertilians unexpectedly (at least for a foreigner) didn't set aside their pre-war arguments, but divided into five main and a couple of smaller partisan armies, not to mention various regional guards, gangs, mafias, militias and similar organisations. The five main ones were: the communistic Red-As-F**k People Liberation Army, grouping Devil worshippers and black metal fans the Unholy Horde of Evil, military branch of Penguin Union the Penguin Military Force, the Nazi Aryan Vespertilian Army, and the religious fundamentalist True Believers Army. Army of the invaders unexpectedly found itself stuck in Vespertilian internal affairs, where each of Vespertilian forces considered them an ally of their opponents. When one of the main armies (all five fought numerous battles over which one truly did this) sacked the capital of invaders in order to get funds for the fight against the other four, the enemy at last decided to fall back. Numerous losses suffered during trying to keep out of Vespertilian infighting made them unable to defend from such raids in the next years when Vespertilians fought against themselves without external presence.

Government

EXECUTIVE BRANCH

The head of state is the President. No legislation can be passed without his approval, as there is no way to break his veto (other than defeating him in challenge). He also is traditionally the one to declare war, although it is the Parliament that has to issue a declaration first.

The president is elected by popular vote for a five-year term, but the number of those terms is unlimited. However, the Constitution states that "the President must be strong to cope with his duty", what in Vespertilia means that anyone can issue an official challenge to the President. When President fails to defeat the opponent, his rule is over and the winner (now Temporary President) declares popular elections (no later than at the end of defeated one's cadency).

Noteforthy fact is that Vespertilian word for president is literally translated as "the meanest guy in the mob".

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH

Vespertilia boasts two houses of Parliament: the Halls of Evil, the lower one, and the Warlords Council, an equivalent of Senate.

666 members of Halls of Evil are elected each four years in a popular vote. Their task is legislation work; for the law to be passed, there must be at least one vote majority "for", but in some cases the factor is 50% of all members, or other percentages. Also the government is formed by the most numerous party in the Halls.

There are 69 Warlords in the Warlords Council, elected by a popular vote. However, an old law states that anyone who manages to bring one hundred and one skulls of personally killed foes (and prove he did this on his own - this part was added when a group of gravediggers tried to get the seats) is given a seat in the council. The Warlords Council was once ago something more similar to Ministry of War than the Senate, as it included most experienced warriors debating on how to wage war. When Vespertilia became a republic, this traditional council became the higher house of Parliament. Warlords mainly correct the bills prepared by the Halls of Evil, or those rejected to be undersigned by President.

JUDICIAL BRANCH

In Vespertilia, the Highest Tribunal serves as both Constitutional Tribunal and the High Court. The Tribunal has its own military unit, known as Court Usher Guard, that most often serves as defence against mobs dissatisfied with the verdict.

The lesser cases are dealt with by lower ranking courts. What Civil Courts mostly do is to encourage executing the justice on one's own, unless he is for whatever reason unable to do it. Criminal Courts, when the victim is known, do the same, but in cases where there is not a given one victim or victims, they work as any court would in a normal country. Courts dealing with labour stuff are stricter, as Vespertilians don't like the idea of powerful corporations - once ago someone was a bit too interested in Cyberpunk literature, and this was passed to the people; thus such courts can be quite harsh to big companies.

Both the death penalty and prisons are abolished. Verdicts are usually based on monetary fines, or letting the mob exercise its own justice.

Economy

Vespertilia is one of greatest regional food producers, with Cheese Export and Beef-based Agriculture scoring high in UN reports. The IT industry, however, is widely considered to be the most important and influential, with several great companies based in Vespertilia. Also Arms Manufacturing industry makes a big part of the income, fuelled by Vespertilian gun-happy culture.

People&Culture

Vespertilians are widely known as mean, cynical and easy succumbing to anger. It is said that one Vespertilian is a mean bastard, and two of them is a riot. Riots rock Vespertilian society on a daily basis, often starting when a demonstration of one group goes wrong, then becoming a fight between entirely different groups (with police helping them to exterminate each other), and ending when local inhabitants grow bored of the fighting and take action. The most destructive riot given year is awarded the honorary "Riot of the Year" title.

Vespertilians take a great pride in their right to bear arms, which they use to solve any problems they encounter. Said "arms" include not only handguns, shotguns or even assault rifles, but also machineguns, mortars, homemade SCUD ejection sites, and armoured cars and bulldozers.

The most influential newspaper in Vespertilia is called "KVLT Daily" ("Mhrok Codzienny" in Vespertilian), under (in)famous redactor Saddam Michnik.

Traditional Vespertilian folk music is widely applauded. Many music genres (most notably black metal) are known as stemming from it.

Religion

Recent national census meaured parcentage of various religions' worshippers in Vespertilia. According to the census:

63% of Vespertilians are Romanian Catholics; 17% are Satanists; 12% of population is Neo-Pagan or Pagan (among them many various cults); 2% belong to the Order of Violet; 2% worship other religions and the rest: 4% is atheistic.

Among worshippers, however, only 32% admit to attend regurarly to churches, temples, shrines or sites of bloody human sacrifices atop high, eternally frozen mountains where cruel winds blow. Most of Vespertilians - 65% of worshippers - tend to have irregular manner of sustaining their relationship with divine. Last 3% consists mostly of those who tried to impale/kill/burn at stake "heathens", that is, people asking them what their religion is.

http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Poland