Florencia

Union of Florencian Social Republics (UFSR) Velorénsia 4 other names Lyudic: Flarencyja Native Florencian: Fosuarika Elyrian: Velorénsia Zhenian: 벨로렌치아
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: She seeks with the sword, a quiet peace under liberty
Anthem: So Long Glorious Motherland
Capital	Saint-Vera, D.F.
Largest city	Serrapole
Official languages	None (de facto: Lyudic)
Other languages	Achysian, Zhenian, numerous other native languages
Ethnic groups (2019)	23.3% Mixed Race (Ilseongin,Mixite) 22.6% Achysian 18.6% Lyudic 15.5% Zhenian 8.2% Other Auroran 7.9% Other Minorities
Demonym(s)	Florencian
Government	Socialist Federal Semi-Presidential Republic
• Chancellor	Maxim K. Tyroll
• First Secretary	Véranil Kontic
Legislature	All-Union Congress
• Upper house	Senate of the Republics
• Lower house	Assembly of the People
Unification
• as the Velorénsian Empire	December 1, 1866
• as the Union of Florencian Social Republics	November 2, 1919
Area
•	6,523,955.2 km2 (2,518,913.2 sq mi)
• Water (%)	2.21%
Population
• 2019 estimate	212.0 million
• 2019 census	212,113,831
• Density	32.513/km2 (84.2/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)	2019 estimate
• Total	$7.132 trillion
• Per capita	$33,621.2
GDP (nominal)	2019 estimate
• Total	$7.231 trillion
• Per capita	$34,110.3
Gini (2019)	37.7 medium
HDI (2019)	0.910 very high
Currency	Florencian Ruble (FLR)
Time zone	UTC-7, -6, -5, -4 (Florencia Western Standard Time (FWST), Florencia Mountain Standard Time (FMST), Florencia Central Standard Time (FCST), Florencia Eastern Standard Time (FEST))
Date format	dd-mm-yyyy
Driving side	right
Calling code	+12
Internet TLD	.fl/.flor/.florencia

The Union of Florencian Social Republics (UFSR), or commonly Florencia (Elyrian: Velorensia), is a socialist federal semi-presidential republic located in northern Veharia. It faces the Arctic Ocean to the north, the North Pacific Ocean to the west and the Allonian Ocean to its east, while it shares borders with (Placeholder) to the south, as well as (Placeholder) and (Placeholder) to the west and east respectively. Being home to 212 million residents and spanning over 6,523,955.2 km², it is the largest nation in the world by land area as well as the second-most populous nation in the world.

Originating from native peoples of central Veharia, what is now Florencia developed from sedentary empires and nomadic tribes of the New World, while external input, including the arrival of Zhenians to the west and Aurorans to the east, spurred further growth and Florencia's integration into the world. While separate entities, either Elyrian, Zhenian or native, would independently co-exist in modern-day Florencia, they were unified into the Velorensian Empire, with the Republic of Shinjin finally being annexed into the Empire as a result of the War of Unification. The Empire was eventually overthrown and reorganized into a socialist republic after the Great Revolution in 1919.

History

Traces of the Florencian state originates with the native peoples of the central New World. Disparate sedentary empires and nomadic tribes among the mountain peaks, temperate forests, grasslands, and deserts of the present day UFR would have entered a post-classical stage of development featuring distinctive metallurgy, booming cities, and a limited comprehension of writing language by the 1100's. Technological progress and population expansion would only boom with the introduction of Zhenian horses and paper. Later East Asian contact with the central New World would see the growth of commerce on the continent with the establishment of Zhenian trade cities by 1501. Ultimately the peak of Zhenian interaction with present-day western Florencia would see the establishment of a colony; the Viceroyalty of Shinjin, which would reach a mature stage of population development and government by the late 1700's, solidifying a sizable East Tarsic population in western Florencia.

Native interaction with the Auroans would be less fruitful and see the forced establishment of a Thracian colony in the western portion of Florencia, a direct counter to East Asian ambitions in the East. Whereas eastern Florencia would experience a more nuanced synthesis of native and East Asian populations, the west would experience a dominated hierarchy by the Aurorans and forced Elyrianization. The less habitable grassland interior of the current Florencian nation would be left to nomadic natives that would steadily be infringed upon by foreign settlers. The discovery of gold in the Thracian colony would prompt a sponsored series of immigration from Slavic peoples to toil the land, send resources back to the empire, and further displace the native population that had been wracked by war and disease. This would be a trend that would continue well into the existence of the current Union state.

The Viceroyalty of Shinjin rebelled against the Shindan dynasty in the 1780s, ultimately establishing the Republic of Shinjin. The same would be said of the western Thracian colony, where in the early 1800's unrest at home would see a bloodied revolution establish the Velorénsian Empire. Velorénsia itself would be the Elyrian translation for Florencia, which is itself a bastardized synthesis of both the native name for the nation and the Elyrian translate. The drawn out revolution that created the Velorénsian Empire might have begun with enlightened republican ideals, but was hijacked by a minor Thracian noble and brilliant tactician who would go the way of a Napoleon and capitalize on unrest, disorder, and exhaustion to crown himself Emperor and Autocrat. The Emperor of Velorénsia would end up marrying the exiled princess of Elyria. Both the first Emperor and later his son would expand and consolidate the realm, gobbling up the independent eastern former Zhenian colony by the 1860's in an event known as the War of Unification.

The Velorénsian Empire by the 1900's had become a cosmopolitan state with a sizable Zhenian minority on the East Coast, a thoroughly Elyrianized West Coast, and a large number of Lyudics, natives, and other Auroran migrants everywhere in between. Growing agitation with a despotic emperor would led to the Empire's entry of the first world war on the side of Zhenia, no doubt with the hope of unifying the nation and getting rich off the war. However famine, pestilence, monarchical disconnect, a type of serfdom share-cropping system, a tanked economy, and imperial performance in the war ending horribly would lead to a relatively quick revolution that would depose the Emperor and see the establishment of the Union of Florencian Social Republics in 1919. The events of 1919 are categorized as the Great Revolution.

Politics

The statue of Mother Florencia stands proudly before the "Congressional Building" that is the center of the legislature in the capitol city St. Catherine, D.F.

The Florencian Union considers itself a federative social republic; in the sense that the republic controls the commanding heights of the socialist market economy. According to the Declaration of the Freedoms and Rights of the People, it is the patriotic duty of the population to partake in democracy and specifically the workers, peasents, and other citizens to manage the economy. State control of heavy industry, democratic-self management of light industry, and entrepreneurship exemplify the socialist market economy. Government management and regulation of the economy alongside the expansive welfare state provides for the commonwealth of the Union, uplifting the worker, peasant, and all other laborer to an equitable proper standard of living.

The Declaration of the Freedoms and Rights of the People was a statement adopted by the Constituent Revolutionary Congress in representation of the whole of the Florencian people. The declaration formalized the intention of the revolutionary patriots to form a republic and espoused the inalienable rights granted to the people. This decree issued amidst the conflict of the Great Patriotic Revolution helped shape the basis of the Union. According to the constitution, the principles of freedom and liberty enshrined in the declaration have constitutional value. The Constitution of the Union, which bonded together the many different guerrilla states and factions that arose in coalition during the revolution espouses a firm commitment to the peoples life, liberty, and property within the framework of a republic. It also details the capacity of the federal government, lists a bill of liberties, and organizes the whole of the social republic federal republic, while explicitly outlining a separation of powers divided among three branches of government in the Montesquieu model.

Government

All-Union Congress

Congress of the Union assembled during a joint session in the Congressional Building.

The legislative power is invested by the Florencian people and entrusted within the bicameral All-Union Congress. The upper house of the Congress constitutes the Senate of the Republics which represents the constituent social republics within the Union, whereas the lower house; the Assembly of the People, represents the whole of the Union.Senators and representatives to the Congress are elected to a term of six and three years respectively, with a limit of four terms each. All nation-wide elections for the All-Union Congress of the Florencian Union (as well as the Chancellor) are compulsory, universal, and done by secret ballot for all persons over the age of 17.

The Senate is comprised of 36 senators; that is, three senators per social republic, chosen through individual republic-wide, universal direct elections. The Senate is an advisory board to the Chancellor, approves supreme court justice and first secretary nominations, as well approves bills passed by the Assembly of People.

The Assembly of the People is comprised of a total of 800 representatives. 700 representatives are elected on the basis of mixed-member proportional representation, with one representative per 400,000 people in trans-republican constituencies. Public organizations such as the trade unions, national academies, Pioneer Scouts, recognized religious institutions, and the armed forces elect representatives to 100 reserved seats. The Assembly regulates both foreign and union commerce, admits republics into the Union, creates laws, power of the purse, and can investigate, scrutinize, and impeaches the Chancellor, among other duties.

The Executive Council

The "Grand Florencian Palace", once home to the Emperor, is the residence of the Chancellor.

The Florencian Union is a semi-presidential republic with power invested in a Chancellor and First Secretary. Colloquially both the Chancellor and First Secretary along with their respective cabinets are refereed to as the Executive Council.

The Chancellor is the Union's head of government and nominally the most powerful person within the country. He/She is elected via an electoral college to a five year term and is only eligible to serve two terms consecutively. The role of the Chancellor as outlined in the constitution is the purview of foreign and constitutional policy; that being the negotiation of foreign treaties, nominating justices to the Supreme Court, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Secretary of War, and all other positions deemed by Congress to be necessary and proper.

The head of state, the First Secretary is appointed by the Chancellor from whichever party or coalition commands a majority in the Assembly of People. Their term lasts the extent that the Assembly of People is in session (3 years), though they can be removed or replaced at anytime should they lose the commanding confidence of the party in power. Their duties are implementing domestic policy and the regulation of the socialist market economy and capitol. To that end they appoint the Attorney General, Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Finance, Secretary for the Preservation of the Florencian Homeland, and all other commissions or offices needed for the basic administration of the state.

The Judiciary

The Palace of Justice, home of the Supreme Court of the Union.

The Supreme Court of the UFSR is the highest court. Supreme Court justices are nominated by the Chancellor and approved by the both the All-Union Congress and the First Secretary before serving for a single term for ten years, or till retirement. The constitution stipulates that there shall be a limit of 17 Supreme Court justices, with one holding the post of Supreme Justice. The Supreme Court is granted the authority by the people to interpret the Constitution, interpret law, and the broad authority of judicial review over the Executive and the All- Union Congress.

Constituent Republics

The Florencian Union is a federation of constituent sovereign Social Republics. Some of these republics represent homogeneous titular nationalities or cultures, others are a grouping of heterogeneous minorities or slim majorities of different peoples that have ultimately emerged as distinct from other republics. These republican governments can follow a federal structure such as the Social Federative Republic (SFR) of Athicar and be further broken into autonomous states to politically represent the diverse peoples and groups living under such the state, or be an unitary entity such as the Social Republic of Aydakho.

Social Republics are nominally autonomous and accepted into the Union provided they have a constitution modeled along social republican lines. Every SR has an elected or nominated head of state equivalent position, along with a legislature and supreme court. Typically most republics draw their highest legislature from elected representatives of local municipal and county workers', peasents', and citizens' councils.

Republics are allowed to establish their own language alongside the national one and promote their titular culture. Besides retaining their own government, republics are guaranteed their own respective judiciary forces and organize their own National Militia components.

Republic	Name	Capital	Population
1	SFR Athicar	Krastal	78.7 million
2	SR Belyaruthena	Kharyv	11.2 million
3	SR Bithynia	Nikongrad	5.6 million
4	SFR Decatur	Praha City	42.3 million
5	SR Aydakho	Twin Springs	3.6 million
6	SR Galitsiya	Huliaipole	20.6 million
7	SR Evangeline	Edessa	23.8 million
8	SR Sosona	Righeira	4.5 million
9	SR Makedon	Pella	4.2 million
10	SFR Trans-Owhyee	Oreana	6.7 million
11	SR Polaine	Katowise	29.6 million
12	SFR Shinjin	Shinyang	67.4 million

Political Ideology

To briefly explain Social Republicanism is that it was originally a Florencian nationalist ideology that supported the creation and development of a republic through progressive revolutionary means. Social Republicanism is a fusion of civic nationalism, secularism, and democratic socialism. It supports political pluralism and individualism, rejecting such concepts as a vanguard party or heavy handed confiscatory policies in regards to private property.

A social republican state would seek enlightenment of the existing culture and traditions within a free and democratic society. A social republican state would therefore promote non-authoritarian socialist economics as a means to develop a society that is equal and united.

The official ideology of the Florencian Union is Social Republicanism. The ideology that developed within the then Velorénsian Empire during the 1870's. Inspired by the burgeoning republics in the Old World and indeed the former Shinjin Republic, social republicanism is characterized by it's opposition to the perceived deficiencies within these liberal states.

Namely the authoritarian excessiveness of these states and later the First Zhenian Republic that in many ways mirrored the oppression prevalent in avowedly autocratic states, such as the Velorénsian Empire. As the Empire grew and consolidated over the years, the exclusion of minorities and lack of voice for the middle and working classes would only exponentially get worse. Poor and often hazardous working conditions in cities existed alongside a share-cropping system were predominately mixed race persons toiled underneath an aristocratic class of Achysians and co-opted Zhenians. The Shinjin Republic was considered to not be much better. The state had failed for being too centralized and the issue of slavery had torn the republic apart. Ultimately leaving it at the mercy of the Empire during the War of Unification. Not to mention both the republic and later Empire tended to discriminate equally against those of native or mixed race ancestry.

Therefor chief among the tenants of social republicanism is an opposition to the authoritarian tendencies of monarchies or autocracies and the ineptness of more traditional republics. In the case of Florencia it is perceived a federation of constituent republics is the best organization to equally represent the diverse peoples. This also prevents democratic centralization or autocratic unitarism. Social republicans would argue that a nation's government should have a clear balance of power separated between three bodies of government in accordance with the Montesquieu Model. The natural form of national organization and the basis of the Union should be the workers', peasents' and citizens' councils at the municipal and county level. The authority of the people is therefor invested in a national elected government and their appointed local, regional, and constituent republican deputies. It is the duty of the constituent republics and the federal government to provide for the commonwealth, defense, and justice, and protection of liberties for the people. While at the same time it is the people's liberty and responsibility to contribute to the state.

Furthermore to address the inequity experienced under the former autocratic regime and the imbalance of power between the worker and the corporation, social republicans expose that is the duel responsibility and right of the people to manage the economy. In that way a socialist mixed economy is considered to be the most preferred economic model for a state. That being were the commanding heights of the economy are organized into state enterprises, leaving small scale capitalism, collectives, or cooperatives to be the norm elsewhere. Regardless of how a firm is to be organized however, workers' democratic self-management is paramount.

Political Factions and Elections

Democratic Workers and Farmers Party (DWFP) Party of Socialists-Revolutionaries (SR, Esers)

National Republican Party (NRP, NazRebs) Citizens Ecology Union (Greens) National Vecinik Party (NazVeks)

League of Radicals, Anarchists, and Libertarians (RAL) True Democratic Party (Democrats, Bourgeoisie)

Military

The Union Defense Forces is divided among the Union Army and Union Navy. Four independent arms of service exist as well: the Union Strategic Weapons Command, Air Defense Forces of the Homeland, All-Union Marine Corps, and the Union Stellar Forces Command. As of 2019 the UDF comprised 1.2 million active duty personal, making it one of the largest standing armies on the planet. Additionally the reserve components of the UDF: the National Militia and Scarlet Guards contribute 2.5 million reservists. Currently it is mandatory for all able bodied male and female citizens to be drafted into the Scarlet Guards to perform at least six months of service to the State. The Union Army and it's National Militia components, the Union Navy, and the four independent arms are comprised of voluntary contract soldiers.

Organized under the War Department, the Union Defenses Forces fall under the supreme authority of the Chancellor.

The State Commission for Security (CommSec) operates an extensive force of border patrol units known as the Frontier Guard and internal paramilitary Osnaz forces under the Security Troops that are separate from the structure of the UDF. Along with the Justice Department's Coastal Revenue Service these uniformed soldiers answer to the Office of the First Secretary, however in times of war can be transferred to the War Department.

The Strategic Weapons Command maintains a respectable stockpile of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. The Strategic Weapons Command operates all of the military's ground based inter-continental, inter-mediate, and medium ranged ballistic missile systems. Coupled with Union Army Air Forces's strategic bombers and the Navy's three ballistic missile submarines, a nuclear triad is kept up.

The UFSR has an extensive military-industrial complex that supplies the majority of arms and equipment to the UDF. Sophisticated aeronautical electronics or other computer systems are outsourced from nations such as Zhenia. The indigenous arms industry of Florencia is one of the largest on the planet, to meet the demands of the "Total National Defense Policy" that calls on virtually all able bodied citizens to personally provision themselves with arms for the defense of the state. Based on the national arms registry there is nearly 121 small arm civilian weapons per 100 citizens. The estimated 7 million militiamen of the Unorganized Reserve Scarlet Guards are permitted and encouraged to use personal weapons.

The Union Defense Forces is appropriated a budget of 249 billion rubles by the War Department. This being 3.5% of the national GDP. While this is a staggering amount to spend, since the 1990's the Union government has been scaling back military spending in order to spur growth in other industries. This along with reforms to the military has encouraged the axe to fall on needless or reckless military spending.

Demographics

Ethnicity

Ethnic Groups in Florencia
Ethnicity			Percentage
Native Florentine			23.3%
Elyrian			22.6%
Slavic			18.6%
Zhenian			15.5%
Other Auroran			8.2%
Mixed/Other			7.9%

Religion

Religious Affiliation in Florencia
Religion			Percentage
Vayonism			31.6%
Atheism/Agnositicism			30.5%
Great Spirit Movement			21.3%
Florentine Wuism			7.6%
Florencian Fundamentalist Faith			4.7%
Indigenous Religions			3.2%
Other			2.1%

Culture

The culture of what can be defined as the Florentine people is as ever changing as the demographics that make up such a Union of diverse peoples.