Republic of Thessalia

Republic of Thessalia Dimokratía tis Thessalías Δημοκρατία της Θεσσαλίας
Flag
Motto: Στις ευημερούσες παλίρροιες Stis evimeroúses palírroies On prosperous tides
Anthem: "Thessalía eínai diásimos" "Thessalia Prestigious"
Capital	Akiathiros
Official languages	Thessalian,
Ethnic groups (2013)	89% Thessalay 11% Others
Demonym(s)	Thessalanian
Government	Unitary presidential republic
• President	Amphion Dimitriadis
Legislature	National Assembly
Formation
Population
• 2015 estimate	13,501,892
• Density	86/km2 (222.7/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)	2015 estimate
• Total	$481.391 Billion
• Per capita	$35,653
HDI (2015)	0.760 high
Currency	Minas
Date format	dd.mm.yyyy
Driving side	right
Calling code	+98
ISO 3166 code	TE

Thessalia (Thessalian:Θεσσαλια), or officially known as the Republic of Thessalia (Thessalian:Δημοκρατία της Θεσσαλια or Dimokratía tis Thessalías) is a country located in southwest Estere on the Marenostro Sea sharing it's only land border with Beloladania to the north east. Thessalia spans south westward into the Central Marenostronian Basin and features around 3000 separately identified islands (of which 185 are inhabited), contributing to around 23% of the country's estimated land area.

Historically the Thessalian peninsula has been inhabited by various distinguishable civilizations, from the Ayekomos Peoples around 4000bc to the Late Scracian Empire in 300-500bc, as well as various Ladanic migratory tribes from Western Estere from the late 5th Century and has played host to a multitude of seafaring empires spanning the Marenostronian Coast, such as the Mhessarian Empire which was a consolidation of many smaller city-states. The Mhessarian Empire collapsed in the late 8th Century due to increasing cultural and territorial erosion from the Sassaric Kingdoms of the northeast, which in turn was absorbed by the Miakian Kingdom in the late 11th century due to a series of territorial conquests. Thessalia as it stands today was born from the fallout of the Great Beloladanian War, in which a Thessalian Independance movement, led by self-proclaimed King Kalionos Kyadones, overcame a significant military and economical disadvantage to establish the First Kingdom of Thessalisi, which eventually became the State of Thessalis in 1807 under the rule of King Mekanos III and finally the Republic of Thessalia in 1868 with the abdication of Queen Kairis II.

Geographically, Thessalia is split between a rugged mountainous northern section known as Upper Thessalia whilst the Lower Thessalia is significantly less rugged with more flatlands and floodplains. The Thessalian Islands which number at an estimated 3000, are spread over a large portion of the Central Marenostronian Sea with the largest, Khivonia being located closer to the N/A coast than it is to the Thessalian mainland.

Etymology

Derived from the Ancient Thessalian word θάλασσα or Thalassa literally meaning of the sea, the term was shared by the Ancient Thessalian spirit 'Thalassa' who was the primeval spirit of the sea, and was revered by merchant traders and sailors alike for providing fair sailing conditions. The term was spread around the Marenostronian Sea by Scracian Merchants and later, Mhessarian Seafarers, evidenced by the recovery of stone tablets from an excavation site on the island of Caeloros in 1905. The term was also spread into Estere by Ladanian Tribes, who intermixed with various city states on the peninsula and the Scracian Empire alike.

History

Early Prehistory

Archaeological excavations have shown that the Thessalian Peninsular has been inhabited since at least the Neolithic Era, sites such as the Ankoraki Caves and the Illikinos Hills contain evidence of the earliest known use of pottery and tool-making as well as cave paintings depicting acts of hunting and religious ceremonies. Known as the Calysic Peoples, it is believed that these peoples emigrated from modern day not!Caucasus via land routes through the not!caucasusmountains and through not!turkey around 6000bc, settling in parts of modern day Thesporati and the Kasikyan Valley Region, showing evidence of the animal husbandry such as the domestication of cattle and the growth of early wheat and barely grains in an organized manner. Early earthworking tools have been found in dig sites around the modern day villages of Ansiphos and Lalokia in the Thesporatian Plains. Construction of early houses have also been found around the region, constructed mainly on hillsides above fertile plains, the buildings were constructed from mudbrick and stacked stone with clay mortar, later houses showed evidence of the use oak (of the Quercus trojana species) as a superstructure.

It's debated how long the Calysic Peoples existed for but it was preceded by the Megonis Peoples who lasted into the late Neolithic period and perhaps beyond. Various migratory tribes split off and colonized the Marenostronian islands, forming a plethora of individual cultures. From the 4th millennium, the Thessalian Peninsula was settled by the Ayekomos People, widely debated as one of the first 'civilizations' in Estere, constructing cities up and down the Thessalian Coast and building the first proper permanent settlements in the Ivonnian islands. Then preceded by the Encydaylian Civilization in the early 2nd Millennium who pioneered the proto-Encydaylian script, which formed the roots for the early form of Ancient Thessalian written language. It was unclear how centralized the Encydalian civilization was, many propose it was the earliest form of a confederation, however this has been disputed by archaeologists and historians alike due to the lack of translatable scripture.

The Encydalian civilization collapsed due to unknown circumstances in the late 2nd millennium and an explosion of various independent states were born. These city states, kingdoms and independent powers continued to exist until the Tibirnian Conquests in -

Classical Period

• Tibernian Empire
• Scracian Empire

Politics

Administrative divisions

Thessalia is made up of 35 Administrative Regions (periochés) and further into 192 Municipalities (dímous), each Municipality is split further into counties (nomoi) making for a total of 3204 counties.

1. Aechana
2. Alykes
3. Apollonia
4. Metropolitan Area of Akiathiros
5. Athonia
6. Chelladonia
7. Chloritikia
8. Epiridon
9. Esmianthos
10. Epivadoros
11. Gallionos
12. Giatania
13. Ionnian Islands
14. Kalliani
15. Katalakonis
16. Kerios
17. Khivonnian Islands
18. Klymenni
19. Korfos
20. Laganas
21. Makatria
22. Neoposia
23. Platanakia
24. Platos
25. Scrassia
26. Sikros
27. Skydra
28. Soudrassi (East)
29. Soudrassi (West)
30. Theronos
31. Thesporati
32. Thessossos
33. Trebalon
34. Vlassia
35. Vseledonia
36. Xanogios

Military

Main article: Thessalian Armed Forces

The Thessalian Armed Forces are comprised of four separate branches, the Thessalian Army (Thessalian:Thessalikó Strató), the Thessalian Navy (Thessalian:Thessalikó Polemikó Naftikó), the Thessalian Air Force (Thessalian:Polemikí Aeroporía Thessalías) and the National Gendarmerie (Thessalian:Ethnikí Chorofylakí). These four branches are under direct command of the Secretary of State and is administered by the National Defense Council which oversees both day to day peacetime operations as well as deployments in wartime. In the case of the National Gendarmerie, general policing duties are administered by the Ministry of the Interior whereas the Ministry of the Armed Forces oversees military components such as training, doctrine, equipment and foreign deployment.

Thessalia operates a mandatory national service for 18 to 50 year olds in all branches of the military, as of 2006 females became eligible for military service roles and not just administrative jobs. Mandatory serivce time is eight months for the Army and Gendarmerie and one year for the Air Force and Navy. The Thessalian Armed Force 2020 Restructure has outlined it wishes to cut down on the amount of conscripts to streamline itself into more of a professional fighting force. The TAF is supplied by a number of foreign companies as well as utilizing it's own domestically produced weapons and equipment, such as the A-64 'Gracia' Main Battle Tank, the MA-23B 'Anyos' UAV and the EY-9 'Koraki' Attack Helicopter.

The Thessalian Army is the main ground component of the TAF, with roughly 108,000 active combat personnel as of 2015 and is mainly deployed in peacekeeping operations abroad. Abroad, the Army is usually supported by the National Gendarmerie for internal security and policing duties.

The Thessalian Navy consists of 36,000 personnel and operates a total of 225 active vessels and a number of air-wings. It is considered a blue-water navy with foreign support and is part of a number of ongoing anti-piracy operations all over the world, it also works closely in conjunction with it's civilian counterpart, the National Coastal Patrol Force in anti-piracy operations as well as search and rescue and anti-smuggling operations within the Marenostronian Sea.

The Thessalian Air Force currently fields around 40,000 personnel and over 300 aircraft, including 175 combat aircraft, 121 Helicopters, a fleet of transportation and logistic aircrafts as well as numerous unmanned aerial vehicles. It is also responsible for the deployment, maintenance and operation of the country's air defense system, including radar stations, missile storage sites and land based missile launchers.

Economy

Agriculture

An international census in 2010 determined that there were 1.2 million farms that covered 930,000 million hectares in Thessalia, most farmland being located in the Kastorian and Xanogiosian regions in the South and South east of the country, where flat fertile land is easily irrigated and rainfall is common in the autumnal and winter months. Thessalia's traditional foodstuff exports include large amounts of Corn, Maize and Wheat which make up an average of 31% of agricultural production, as well as large amounts of olives, tree fruits, root vegetables, cotton and small percentages have diversified into Tobacco cultivation which are exported mainly to other Esterian countries. Arguably it's largest export is Tomatoes, of which Thessalia manages to export 1.2 million tonnes per year.

Thessalia's meat exports have grown thricefold in the last four decades, as a notable increase in consumption of meat and dairy based products in an increasingly wealthier population base, thus the agricultural sector has seen a massive rise in beef cattle, poultry and dairy producers, supported by a strong grain production the nation continues to see a rise in meat based exports which accounts for 15% of their annual foodstuff export.

Transport

In the late 90's, the Thessalian Road and Rail networks underwent a distinct modernization to bring them up to the standard of other Estarian nations not only to improve the logistical capacity of the nation, but to improve a growing economy. This modernization included a resurfacing and restructuring of all 2100km of major highway systems which included widening existing motorways from three lane systems to 6+1 systems, posessing 6 traffic lanes with contraflow capabilities and a central lane acting as a buffer zone between oncoming flows of traffic, the Akiathiros to Zanthios road - the largest unbroken section of motorway - benefited from dedicated HGV lanes and extra truckways to allow for longer HGV's to navigate unmitigated by commuter or public traffic. Many highways also received an emergency lane as many previous highways, especially smaller ones, did not have runoff zones or rest areas. Roads were also widened in key agricultural and industrial zones, including those running into and from port facilities. Many rural mountain roads also received a safety overhaul including the construction of rockfall catchment fences, rockfall diversion gulleys and many roads that did not have any retaining barriers were equipped with rigid steel guardrails and road signs were updated to reflect changes to road etiquette, as many mountain lanes were only just larger than 1 car width.

This Modernization also incorporated the majority of the existing train network system as well as the construction of a -at the time- new High-Speed rail system that ran from Gythia to Akiathiros and to Safios in the north. This projected ultimately cost $7bn and overran it's deadline by more than four years due to setbacks in both construction materials and administrative troubles. As it stands the 1200km High-Speed rail track supports trains at operational speeds of around 280km/h. Traditional wide gauge train networks that link the majority of the nation's urban and industrial centers together, smaller rail networks link to rural communities and upgrading of these networks are still ongoing.

Only 2 cities in Thessalia currenty have a dedicated Metro system and that is the capital, Akiathiros (3 lines), and the second largest city of Kastoria (1 line). City planners have put forth the construction of a 2 line metro system in Zanthios, however this project is not due to commence until at least 2030.

Thessalia also maintains a large amount of suspension and cable stayed bridges, including the famous Anthrios Geryda bridge that spans Pekilastori Bay.

Thessalia has a total of 31 active public airports airports and a further 40 rural, unpaved airports and aerodromes. The three busiest airports in 2018 were Akiathiros Diethnés (3410m), Kastoria Cethylon (3210m) and Georgios Theranios Diethnés (2620m) respectively. Many Thessalian airlines operate regional routes from the mainland to many of the Khivonnian and Ivonnian Islands via the use of passenger turboprops.

Many maritime connections are undergoing modernization, but with over 250 routes, this task is being rolled out into several phases, the last being completed sometime in 2041. This includes replacing old double ended and roll-on/roll-off ferries with Hydrofoils and Catamarans, however due to ongoing ethical and regional tensions, many of the outer islands have been unable to receive such services. Thessalia also operates 4538 ships of tonnage over 1000.

Demographics

Major cities

Akiathiros (Capital) - 3,329,034 est Kastoria - 1,383,449 est Gythia - 1,039,387 est Zanthios - 822,409 est Gravna - 783,991 est Safios - 692,472 est Celathrakia - 550,249 est Accron - 429,139 est Limnachori - 301,527 est Katilaki - 269,050 est