[center][b][i]"We are in the midst of the greatest contest for which we will ever compete. A struggle for the very fabric of freedom and liberation of all the Florencian peoples from tyranny."[/b]
{{Infobox country
— President, then Commander-in-Chief Leo Sinclair during the height of the Great Revolutionary War
|area_dabodyalign = <!-- text after area_label2 (optional) -->
|population_estimate = 212.0 million <br>
|population_estimate_year = {{wpl|2019|2019}}
|population_census = 212,113,831
|population_census_year = {{wpl|2019|2019}}
|population_density_km2 = 32.513
|GDP_PPP = $7.132 trillion
|GDP_PPP_year = {{wp|2019}}
|GDP_PPP_per_capita = $33,621.2
|GDP_nominal = $7.231 trillion
|GDP_nominal_year = {{wp|2019}}
|GDP_nominal_per_capita = $34,110.3
|Gini = 37.7
|Gini_year = 2019
|Gini_change = decrease
|HDI = 0.910
|HDI_year = 2019
|HDI_change = increase
|currency = Florencian Ruble
|currency_code = FLR
|time_zone = Florencia Western Standard Time (FWST), Florencia Mountain Standard Time (FMST), Florencia Central Standard Time (FCST), Florencia Eastern Standard Time (FEST)
|utc_offset = -7, -6, -5, -4
|date_format = dd-mm-yyyy
|utc_offset_DST = <!-- +N, where N is number of hours-->
|drives_on = right
|cctld = .fl/.flor/.florencia
|calling_code = +12
}}
The '''Union of Florencian Republics''' (UFR), or commonly '''Florencia''' ([[Elyrian language|Elyrian]]: Velorensia), is a [[Social Republicanism|Social Republican]] {{wp|federalism|federal}} {{wp|semi-presidential system|semi-presidential}} {{wp|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 km<sup>2</sup>, it is the largest nation in the [[Earth (INWU)|world]] by land area as well as the second-most populous nation in the world.
[/i][/center]
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 [[Aurora (continent)|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 (Florencia)|War of Unification]]. The Empire was eventually overthrown and reorganized into a [[social republicanism|social republican]] federation after the [[Great Revolution (Florencia)|Great Revolution]] in 1919.
The Union of Florencian Social Republics (UFSR) has come a long way from it's desperate origins as a small patchwork of partisans, patriots and oppressed peoples. The Florencian Union rose from the ashes of an autocratic empire and forged a social federal republic that now takes its first hesitant steps into the greater world. It is a union of free peoples created to uphold the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and property. And an expansive defense force and well armed populace exist in order to defend these rights from future invasion—both foreign and domestic. As of yet the UFSR has enjoyed near complete isolation from the rest of the world due to its previous revolution and subsequent reconstruction. Florencia is great in both population and free spirit and she eagerly marches towards fulfilling her destiny on the world stage.
Traces of the Florencian state originates with the native peoples of the central {{wp|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.
[hr]
The modern 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 UFSR 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 the late 1500's. Ultimately the peak of Zhenian interaction with present day 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 Asian population in the eastern UFSR.
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 Republics in 1919. The events of 1919 are categorized as the Great Revolution.
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 Auroans 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.
===Prehistory===
During the 1780's the Zhenian viceroyalty would rebel from the mainland and organize itself as an independent republic. 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 Elryian 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.
Something something ancient native people build mounds
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 Slavs, natives, and other Auroan 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 with the populace, 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 Revolutionary War.
===Zhenian and Auroan Contact===
This new Florencian state would be influenced by enlightenment republican ideals and early socialist/syndicalist thought, synthesizing into the homegrown ideology of social republicanism, rejecting such ideas as blood and soil and idealizing this new doctrine as the foundation of the nation. The fabric of the UFSR would be woven by a multi-ethnic fabric of citizenry from a diverse religious, ethnic, and racial background all united behind the ideas of life, liberty, and property.
Surprise it's the Europeans and Asians. And they colonize places
[i][b]The statue of Mother Florencia stands proudly before the "Congressional Building" that is the center of the legislature in the capitol city St. Catherine C.F. (City of Florencia)[/i][/b][/center]
The Florencian Union considers itself a [b]social federal republic[/b]. In that sense the [b]liberal republic[/b] controls the commanding heights of the [b]socialist market economy[/b]. It is the patriotic duty of the population to partake in democracy and specifically the workers, farmers, and petite bourgeoisie to manage the economy. State control of heavy industry, decentralized and democratic-self management, affirmative action, welfare, 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, farmer, and all other laborer to an equitable proper standard of living.
===Imperial Period and the War of Unification===
The [b]Declaration of the Freedoms and Rights of the People[/b] was a statement adopted by the [b]Constituent Revolutionary Congress[/b] in representation of the whole of the Florencian people. The declaration formalized the intention of the patriots to form a republic and espoused the inalienable rights granted to the people. This decree issued amidst the conflict of [b]The Great Revolutionary War[/b] 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 [b]Constitution of the UFSR[/b], 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. The Constitution of course details the capacity of the federal government, lists a bill of rights, and organizes the whole of the social federal republic.
That one time Portugal ruled from Brazil
Shinjin Republic was plagued by slavery and infighting, Empire takes advantage of this.
The constitution of the UFSR explicitly outlines a separation of powers divided among three branches of government in the Montesquieu model.
[i][b]Congress assembled during a joint session in the Congressional Building[/b][/i][/center]
The legislative power is invested by the Florencian people and entrusted within the bicameral [b]All-Union Congress[/b]. The upper house of the Congress constitutes the [b]Senate[/b] which represents the republics within the Union, whereas the lower house; the [b]Assembly of the People[/b], represents the whole of the Union.
Enter Ba'athism with more steps
The Senate is comprised of 36 senators, that is three senators per social republic, chosen through individual state-wide, universal direct election.
===Roaring Twenties and the First Cultural Renaissance===
Representatives within the Assembly of the People are elected on the basis of mixed-member proportional representation, with the rule there be one representative per 700,00 people in a social republic—for a total of 434 representatives. Additionally, "public organizations" such as the trade unions, national academies, youth organizations like the Pioneer Scouts, political parties, and other groups elect representatives to 100 reserved seats. And finally each branch of the armed forces, individual social republic legislatures, and recognized religious institutions are eligible to elect one representative to the Assembly. The total number of seats within the Assembly of the People is thus 572.
Like the NEP but better and more fun
All nation-wide elections for the All-Union Congress of the Florencian Union (as well as the President) are compulsory, universal, and done by secret ballot for all persons over the age of 17.
===The Patriotic War and Years of Stagnation===
The Union Congress has the power to declare war, regulate both foreign and union commerce, elect the First Secretary, investigate, scrutinize, and impeach the President along with his Cabinet of Ministers, admit republics into the Union, create laws, [i]power of the purse[/i], among other duties. Senators and representatives to the Congress are elected to a term of six and three years respectively, with a limit of four terms each.
Another war, but a command economy doesn't really work
[hr][size=200][b][floatleft]PRESIDENCY/CABINET OF MINISTERS[/floatleft][/b][/size]
===Second Cultural Renaissance and the Scarlet Reforms===
[i][b]The "Grand Florencian Palace", once home to the Emperor, is the residence of the President[/b][/i][/center]
The [b]President and the Cabinet of Ministers[/b] are the executive branch and main instrument of government within the UFSR. The cabinet is [i]de facto[/i] headed by the President , who is elected via a Union-wide electoral college. [i]De jure[/i] leadership of the Cabinet of Ministers resides in the post of [b]First Secretary[/b], whom is elected by the Union Congress and usually of an opposing party. The First Secretary and his deputies are charged with nominating the cabinet, implementing domestic policy, and the basic administration of the state. The First Secretary is the [b]head of state[/b] and often described as the second most powerful person within the Union, behind the President. He reports to and works through both the Congress and the President .
No more command economy, enter socialism with Florencian characteristics and a human face
The President appoints his ministers whom advise him and are the chief administrative officials of the government. They also work with state governments to implement policy and administer the Union. [b]Ministries[/b] are the primary arm of federal bureaucracy and are focused on specific areas, whereas [b]committees[/b] are less numerous and far more powerful or deal with several branches of governance. For instance the Ministry of Education establishes policy for educational guidelines, collect data on UFSR schools, and regulate state run public primary, secondary, and tertiary educational institutions. While the [b]State Economic Planning Committee[/b] is responsible for the management of the decentralized heavy industry apparatus and regulation of the greater economy within the Florencian Union.
===Modern Era===
The President is the Union's [b]head of government[/b] and nominally the most powerful person within the country. He is elected via an electoral college with electors proportional to the amount of seats in the Union Congress. The President serves a four year term and is only eligible to serve two terms consecutively, before waiting another four years to be eligible for re-election. The powers granted to the Presidency and thus the cabinet by the Florencian people include; negotiation of foreign treaties, appointment of state positions, both the power to veto and propose legislature, regulation of the socialist market economy and capitol, implement foreign and (somewhat) domestic policy, and maintaining the defense and security of the Union.
Lions
==Geography==
[b]Cabinet of Ministers[/b]
==Politics==
The President appoints his ministers whom advise him and are the chief administrative officials of the government. They also work with republican governments to implement policy and administer the Union. [b]Ministries[/b] are the primary arm of federal bureaucracy and are focused on specific areas, whereas [b]commissions[/b] are less numerous and deal with several branches of governance. For instance the Ministry of Agriculture establishes farming guidelines and works with farming cooperatives to ensure the Union can be feed. While the [b]State Planning Commission[/b] is responsible for the establishing the three year plans along with the management and regulation of the greater economy within the Florencian Union. Additional members of the Cabinet of Ministers include the First Secretary, who also holds the position of Speaker of the Assembly of Peoples, and the [i]Princeps[/i] who officially acts in an advisory role. The federal ministries are primarily concerned with national matters, so quite a few constituent republics adopt a similar ministerial organization to perform and administer similar functions dealing with their locality.
[[File:Congressional Building, Florencia.jpg|250px|thumb|right|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.]]
[spoiler=Cabinet of Ministers]— [b]Ministry of Foreign Affairs[/b]
The Florencian Republics considers itself a [[social republicanism|social republic]]; in the sense that the republic controls the commanding heights of the {{wp|socialist}} {{wp|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.
Union ministry primarily concerned with advising the President and leading the country in foreign policy issues. Representing the UFSR on the world stage and negotiating treaties and agreements with foreign and allied polities.
— [b]Union Military Establishment[/b]
The [[Declaration of the Freedoms and Rights of the People]] was a statement adopted by the [[provisional government]] 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 of Florencian Republics|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 {{wp|Montesquieu model}}.
The Union Military Establishment is the federal ministry tasked with the coordinating and supervising all aspects of the Union and constituent republican governments with regards to the defense of the [i]Motherland[/i]. The head of the ministry normally holds the duel position of Minister of Defense and Chairman of the Stavka High Command of the Defense Forces.
[u]Union Defense Forces[/u]
[u]National Militia[/u]
[u]Armed Masses Militia[/u]
— [b]Ministry of Justice[/b]
==Government==
Ministry tasked (somewhat) with the enforcement of Union law and principally the administration of justice in the criminal and civil system. Firstly the ministry represents the Union in legal matters ([i]Union Attorneys[/i]) and secondarily runs the federal penitentiary corrective system to rehabilitate criminals who have committed crimes [i]not[/i] against the people ([i]All-Union Corrections Agency[/i]), enforcement of prohibited items or substances ([i]Contraband Enforcement Agency[/i]), and enforcing the will of the courts ([i]Marshals Service[/i]). The ministry is headed by the Attorney-General.
====All-Union Congress====
[u]General Directorate for Investigation (GDI)[/u]
[[File:Union Congress, Florencia.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Congress of the Union assembled during a joint session in the Congressional Building.]]
The [i]General Directorate for Investigation (GDI)[/i] is divided among specific directorates for the administration of union law, inter-republican crime investigation, combating counterrevolutionary elements, domestic espionage, counter-terrorism, and counterintelligence. A number of civil servants, suit wearing agents, and special purpose units fall under the GDI to fulfill its obligations to national security. The General Directorate for Investigation is nominally the "secret police" of Florencia and the principle arm of domestic intelligence gathering within the government.
— [b]Ministry of Labor[/b]
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 Republics (as well as the Chancellor) are compulsory, universal, and done by secret ballot for all persons over the age of 17.
The Ministry of Labor was separated from the SPC and is responsible for ensuring worker's safety and benefits across the UFSR. It is the federal organ that actively meets with workers' unions to ensure fair wages, work hours, and prevent workplace hazards. Also uphold and regulates workplace democracy throughout the lower industries. Levies regulations and mandates that effect many small scale capitalist businesses, cooperatives, and industries within the Union.
— [b]Ministry of Finance[/b]
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 Ministry of Finance is responsible for advising fiscal policy, managing national finances, and collecting the social dividend—that being the tax payed out from the surplus value of economic enterprises. It's a flexible system allowing for rates to be set progressively and allows for deductions or credit applied to what industries may have less of an economic margin. The bulk of Union revenue comes from the social dividend.
— [b]Ministry of the Interior[/b]
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, {{wp|power of the purse}}, and can investigate, scrutinize, and impeaches the Chancellor, among other duties.
The Ministry of the Interior is unique to Florencia. It deals with the conservation and management of Union land, natural resources, wildlife, as well as tribal affairs. The [i]All-Union National Parks[/i] system is also run by the Ministry of the Interior, which maintains and conserves the natural beauty of Florencia's flora and fauna for all persons to enjoy.
[[File:Grand Florencian Palace.jpg|250px|thumb|right|The "Grand Florencian Palace", once home to the Emperor, is the residence of the Chancellor.]]
— [b]Ministry of Communication[/b]
The Florencian Republics 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.
Ministry level position within the cabinet responsible for providing quality postal, telephone, and internet service at a good price to all Florencian citizens throughout the whole of the Union. Such services are provided by the nationalized corporations that are the Union Postal and Package Service (UPPS) and Union Telegraph and Telephone (UTT), which also provides internet connectivity to the masses.
— [b]Ministry of Manufacturing[/b]
The Chancellor is the Union's {{wp|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.
— [b]Ministry of Light Industry[/b]
The {{wp|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.
— [b]Ministry of Construction[/b]
====The Judiciary====
[[File:Palace of Justice, Florencia.jpg|250px|thumb|right|The Palace of Justice, home of the Supreme Court of the Union.]]
— [b]Ministry of Agriculture[/b]
The Supreme Court of the UFR 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.
Responsible for creating and executing federal laws and guidelines in regards to farming, agriculture, forestry, and food. The Ministry of Agriculture works with farmer cooperatives and private ranchers to promote livestock and agricultural trade.
— [b]Ministry for the Commonwealth[/b]
===Constituent Republics===
This ministry ties together all the agencies concerned with health, education, and social services in order to ensure the promotion of the health, safety and standard of living among the Florencian people. This agency runs the [i]All-Union Universal Healthcare Program[/i], the social security net, and sets guidelines for constituent republican run public schools that provide primary, secondary, and tertiary education. Also spearheads public work programs and contracts with local construction companies to build the foundations of the Union.
— [b]Ministry of Energy[/b]
The Florencian Union is a federation of constituent sovereign 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 Federative Republic (FR) 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 Republic of Aydakho.
The responsibilities of this committee include the energy-related research, energy conversation, the safe disposal of hazardous nuclear material, the maintenance and construction of nuclear reactors, and the supervision and regulation of wind, solar, coal, oil, and gas state owned corporations or worker cooperatives.
— [b]Ministry of Transportation[/b]
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. The natural form of national organization and the basis of the Union is these workers'councils. The authority of the people is therefor invested in a national elected government and their appointed local, regional, and constituent republican deputies.
Concerned with the development and management of the national transportation system, as well as ensuring it's efficiency for public usage and the national defense. This includes the nationalized rail and air industry as well as the management of the privatized urban public bus and trolley system. Also establishes safe guidelines and encourages safe motor habits.
— [b]State Planning Commission (StatePlan)[/b]
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.
— [b]Commission for Security and Order (CommSec)[/b]
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Republic
! Name
! Capital
! Population
|-
| 1
| Federative Republic of Athicar
| Krastal
| 78.7 million
|-
| 2
| Republic of Belyaruthena
| Kharyv
| 11.2 million
|-
| 3
| Republic of Bithynia
| Nikongrad
| 5.6 million
|-
| 4
| Federative Republic of Decatur
| Praha City
| 42.3 million
|-
| 5
| Republic of Aydakho
| Twin Springs
| 3.6 million
|-
| 6
| Republic of Galitsiya
| Huliaipole
| 20.6 million
|-
| 7
| Commonwealth of Evangeline
| Edessa
| 23.8 million
|-
| 8
| Republic of Sosona
| Righeira
| 4.5 million
|-
| 9
| Sovereign Republic of Makedon
| Pella
| 4.2 million
|-
| 10
| Federative Republic of Trans-Owhyee
| Oreana
| 6.7 million
|-
| 11
| Free State of Polaine
| Katowise
| 29.6 million
|-
| 12
| Federative Republic of Shinjin
| Shinyang
| 67.4 million
|-
|}
[u]Frontier Guard[/u]
===Political Ideology===
CommSec Frontier Guards militarized border troops responsible for the defense of the national border. This includes apprehending/preventing illegal immigrants, combating smuggling, and repulsing armed incursions. The Frontier Guards man all crossings or checkpoints into the Florencian Union and monitor the border with armed patrols.
{{Social Republicanism}}
[u]Security Troops (ST)[/u]
[[Social Republicanism]] was originally a [[Florencia| Florencian]] nationalist ideology that supported the creation and development of a left-orientated federal republic through progressive revolutionary means. The ideology represents a fusion of {{wp|civic nationalism}}, {{wp|workers democracy}}, and {{wp|democratic socialism|democratic socialist economics}} within the structure of a liberal republic. It supports political pluralism and individualism, rejecting such concepts as a vanguard party or heavy handed confiscatory policies in regards to private property.
The Security Troops are the internal paramilitary of the CommSec and exercise the duties of armed response to counter-terrorism, counterrevolutionary elements, and riot suppression. Essentially upholding internal security and order. Every constituent UFSR republic would have its own Security Troops group(s) subordinate to the Commission for Security and Order. Notoriously the ST is known to operate as a mobile death squad committing extrajudicial killings or apprehension of subversive elements, but that is mostly hearsay.
The Separate Operational Purpose Division is a rapid response internal security, motorized rifle division of the Security Troops. The division includes an organic [i]spetsnaz[/i] regiment (organized as a "special operational purpose center"), three motorized maneuver regiments, and a substantial support train. The entire division employs over 14,000 well indoctrinated soldiers, hundreds of light armored vehicles, divisional artillery (mortar and anti-air), and brutally efficient special purpose troops.
[u]Main Administration For Settlements (MAAS)[/u]
===Political Factions and Elections===
— [b]All-Union Central Bank[/b]
— [b]National Academy of Arts and Sciences[/b][/spoiler]
T-72E Wolf tank on patrol[/i][/center][/box][/floatright]
National Vecinik Party (NazVeks)
[hr][size=200][b][i]PRINCEPS[/i][/b][/size]
League of Radicals, Anarchists, and Libertarians (RAL)
[hr]
True Democratic Party (Democrats, Bourgeoisie)
The Florencian Union is solidly a constitutional republic dedicated to the cause of freedom and democracy. There exists no monarchy, the separation of powers ensures no tyrant can seize power, and the checks and balances system maintains a government responsible to the masses. However in the pursuit and great contest for liberty, equality, and property that the Florencian people found themselves in, a great ally to the social republican cause was found in the so called "Red Prince" of Alexander Antonia I.
==Law and Order==
The Red Prince expressed a rabid commitment to the revolutionary cause of the masses, democracy, and freedom unseen of any within the disgraced aristocratic class or the ruling imperial dynasty of the previous regime, the [i]Krasaves[/i]. Indeed the Red Prince would defect from the Empire with an entire elite cavalry division that would provide crucial aid to the patriots in the early stages of the revolution. When the Great Revolutionary War was finally concluded and the Florencian people stood victorious over autocracy, a decision was made for the creation of a symbolic post of national and cultural significance as well as provide historical legitimacy to the new social federal republic.
==Military==
This posting is the [i]Princeps[/i], the "first among equals" that was granted to Alexander Antonia I and what ancestral successors he would have. The powers and duties of the [i]Princeps[/i] are well enshrined in the Constitution, effectively none, either than to maintain themselves as a "patriotic, respectable, and responsible symbol of the Florencian people, their history, their culture, and their nation." However command of the All-Union Guard's Armored Cavalry Regiment is often given to the [i]Princeps[/i], should they have completed proper training and service within the Union Army.
The [[Military of Florencia|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.
[hr][size=200][b]SUPREME COURT[/b][/size]
Organized under the War Department, the Union Defenses Forces fall under the supreme authority of the Chancellor.
[i][b]The "Palace of Justice" is the seat of the Florencian judiciary.[/b][/i][/center]
The Supreme Court of the UFSR is the core of the judicial branch and is the highest court. Supreme Court justices are nominated by the President and approved by the both the All-Union Congress and the First Secretary before serving for life, 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 both the President and the All- Union Congress.
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.
[hr]
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. Three republican governments follow a federal structure as a Social Federative Republic (SFR) and further broken into autonomous republics to politically represent the diverse peoples and groups living under such the state, whereas the other nine Social Republics (SR) are organized as unitary governments. The executive head of a Social Republic is the governor-general and each state organizes it's legislature into a bicameral assembly mirroring the Union's own, though a select few republic's have adopted unicameral legislative. Besides retaining their own government, republics are guaranteed their own respective judiciary forces and provide contingents to the Army National Militia.
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.
[table][tr][td][center]Social Republics of the Florencian Union[/center][/td][/tr][/table]
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.
While the Union of Florencian Social Republics espouses no official ideology, such a system of state mandates [i]de facto[/i] exist as the [b]Social Republican Principle[/b], [b]New Union Man[/b], and [b]Florencian Providence[/b] concepts, respectively. These ideas are ingrained as the unofficial ideology and guiding policy of the Florencian Union, and are generally subscribed to by the bulk of the population. They form of the foundation of the modern Union state, along with the Declaration of the Freedoms and Rights of the People and the Constitution of the UFSR. Often times the extent, scope, and power of such uncorroborated state policies differ greatly considering how the wind is blowing in the nation and who his at the helm.
===Language===
[b]Social Republicanism[/b]
The Florencian Republics has four national languages: mainly both [[Elyrian language|Elyrian]] (spoken by 41.3% of the population, mostly in the Eastern republics) and [[Zhenian language|Zhenian]] (spoken by 35.6%, mainly in the Shinjin FR). Lyudic is spoken by 20.2% and Sosoni by 2.6% of the population, mostly concentrated within the more sparsely occupied republics in the interior and North East. Additional Aboriginal Florencian languages are spoken by around 630,000 persons, or .3%. Like Lyudic and Sosoni this is in the less thoroughly Achysified and Zhenicized coasts. Modern Standard Elyrian is the most common working language at the federal level, however it has no "official" status.
The "[i]Social Republican Principle[/i]" or [i]social republicanism[/i] is the foundation of the new Florencian state and perhaps the most overarching ideological concept within the Union. Indeed the founding figures of the Union state were all proponents of social republicanism, though even they argued over exact definition of the ideology and how a government could be constructed along those social republican methods. Between the factions prior to the revolution and the political parties that arose in it's stead, most all had espoused a commitment to the principle as a key aspect of their platform, though all postulated a different definition on what the principle entails.
Social Republicanism is a synthesis of republican enlightenment ideals, democratic socialist theory, and civic nationalism. This produces an ideology the espouses a love for one's nation, the rule of law, political [i]and[/i] economic democracy, as well as providing for the general commonwealth of the whole of the nation. Whereas other nationalist or socialist theories subscribe to a collectivist thought of drowning the individual for the betterment of the masses, Social Republicanism is a mostly individualist thought, promoting individual liberty and ingenuity while providing the necessities for a proper living.
==Culture==
Social republicanism as a distinct ideology has it's origins in the writings of the socio-political philosopher and journalist Georges Rivain who printed several treatises along with Theodore Umetsky in the late 1850's regarding the future of the Florencian state. The pair argued for a greater Velorénsia (this is prior to the War of Unification) with a benevolent Emperor at restricted by a written constitution and his domain divided into a federal state of equal partners. Perhaps most unique regarding their writings was the stipulation that the Emperor and Autocrat of Velorénsia, be responsible to the [i]commonwealth[/i] of the whole of the Empire regarding healthcare, education, and fair labor. Later writings by the pair would flesh out their ideals, which was essentially social democracy under an Emperor who would act more as a symbol of national prestige, history, and culture than an all powerful autocrat. The early death of Georges Rivain in 1859, the Empire's brutal pacification campaign in the territories of the former confederation, and worsening labor conditions in the midst of the industrial revolution would see Umetsky take a radicalized turn from the pair's earlier publications.
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.
Umetsky would form the basis of modern day social republicanism with his book [i]The Future of the Florencian Nation[/i], where he turned away from ideas of Greater Velorénsia in turn advocating Florencian nationalism, a far flung idea for the 1860's. Umetsky argued that the many different peoples that now made up the Empire of Velorénsia belonged to single identity of people that was neither Native, Zhenian, Slavic, Auroan, nor Elyrian, but [i]Florencian[/i]. Indeed this would be the first published usage of the term "Florencian", a combination of the Aroostook tribe's phrase for the New World and Velorénsia. [i]Florencian Nation[/i] also outlined Umetsky's desires for a federal republic instead of the empire, with the Autocrat of all Velorénsia being alleviated to a completely powerless but symbolic position, as a [i]first among equals[/i].
[center][size=90][i]A propaganda poster in Zhenian
celebrating the archetypal Union family
[/i][/size][/center][/box][/floatright]
Later in the 1890's and the dissemination of Marxist thought and socialistic writings would provide for a synthesis of the Rivain and Umetsky's writings, the long proven republican ideals of the Enlightenment, and early socialist market theory into what would become social republicanism.
[[Category:Florencia]]
[[Category:INWU]]
[b]New Union Man[/b]
The New Union Man is an idea first postulated in the mid 1930's during the recovery of the nation following the [b]Great Patriotic Revolution[/b]. The New Union Man is an archetype of a person with specific qualities that are dominate among all citizens of the Union of Florencian Social Republics, regardless of the cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and religious background, thus creating a single Florencian people, a Florencian nation. Moreover, the state is wholly blind to whatever background one comes from, they are Florencian and they are wholeheartedly encouraged to participate in the democratic process and complete their patriotic duty. Of course at the same time the diverse background of all peoples is celebrated, protected, and flourishes under the individual constituent social republics meant to represent them.
The New Union Man or Woman is said to be selfless, educated, healthy, muscular, and compassionate. Adherence to liberalism along with behavior expressed from that political and moral philosophy are crucial traits of the New Union Man. This man is a selfless patriot, he or she is enthusiastic to undertake their national service to serve the [i]Motherland[/i] and her people. A secondary aspect of the New Union Man (perhaps more correctly the woman) is to cultivate a happy new and *large* family to aid in the bright future of Florencia. Such families no doubt receive tax cuts from the State Committee for the Commonwealth, for doing their patriotic duty in ensuring the growth of the nation. Alas, these traits enable the citizen to subscribe to the identity of Florencia, irrespective of background and allowing them to say [i]"I am an Elyrian, I am Wuist, I am a communard, but I am a Florencian first"[/i].
[b]Florencian Providence[/b]
[i]Floencian Providence[/i], also known as [i]Florencian Destiny[/i], or [i]Manifest Destiny[/i], is the term coined to describe the Union's desire to expand her borders. Florencian Providence is used to described far reaching concepts from the former Zhenian colonies forced reunification with the Empire to the Union state's machinations on future settler expansionism. The taming of wild unclaimed lands, regional hegemony, and the expulsion of all foreign powers in Aimagvika can are all often forced under the umbrella concept of the country's unique destiny. Perhaps more recently the ideology has been used to described the Union's will to protect recognized Florencian "minorities" in neighboring countries from political repression and violent oppression (the legitimacy of such claims to be hotly debated, as well as what constitutes a Florencian person in foreign countries).
The continued expansion of the Union state is said to be her purpose covenanted with divine providence via the [i]Lux Invictus[/i] and/or St.Catherine (the patron god and saint of the country, respectively). The Union of Florencian Social Republics is destined to expand the [i]Motherland[/i] and all of it's glory, democracy, and civilization.
[i][b]Colonel-Governor Kuchum's Conquest of Outer Athica by Vasily Surikov is synopsis with the Florencian claiming of the Aimagvikan frontier[/i][/b][/center]
[color=#BF0000][b]Florencian Social Democratic Labor Party[/b][/color]
Party short form: Communards
Ideology: Council Communism, populism, democratic-centralism, social conservatism
Political Position: Left
Party Symbol/Mascot: Bison
The Florencian Social Democratic Labor Party (FSDLP) has changed drastically since it's formation as the first underground communistic party during the late imperial era of the 1800's. Originally the vanguard party of class revolution and international communism, the party has mellowed dramatically since the Florencian Patriotic Revolution, where it was the center of the labor movement. No longer clamming to be the party of international revolution, the Communards have since rehashed themselves as the more popular mainstream, opposed to the military industrial complex and favoring increased nationalization. Since the decline of the Cadets privatization in the 1990's, the Communards have been the National Republicans main opponent in the political arena. They mostly caucus with so called social conservative Athan Socialists, Zhenian minorities, poor urbanities, and avowed Marxists. Officially the FSDLP intends a gradual transition from the socialist market economy to a total communistic system. Though this total transition often takes the backseat in favor of the promotion of the maintenance of current social policies, government owned enterprises, and curbing military spending .
Ideology: Social democracy, federalism, privatization
Political Position: Center-left
Party Symbol/Mascot: Eagle
Staunch loyalists to the [i]Princeps[/i] and the federalist system, the liberal conservative "Cadets" are the center-right wing in terms of Florencian politics. They claim their origin to the highly conservative "Union of December 17th Party" that arose with the creation of the UFSR. They have been a relevant opposition or coalition member in the Union Congress since it's inception. Oftentimes allying themselves with right aligned National Republicans on economic matters and conservative communard's on social issues. The party favors a strong government but one that is limited to ensure the freedoms and rights of citizens to participate in the market and generate wealth. Given their fierce loyalty to the [i]Princeps[/i] and the President the Cadett party is socially conservative in nature but not exclusively. The Cadets are traditionalists, economic liberals, neoconservatives, nationalists, and libertarians.
Ideology: Liberal socialism, interventionism, environmentalism, progressivism
Political Position: Left
Party Symbol/Mascot: Bull moose
The National Republican Party, once a center-right wing party of bourgeois republicans in 1917 has grown exponentially to become a major ruling party in the Florencian Union. Ruling near consistently from 1932 to the end of the 1960's, the party took a leftward turn to retain parity with the rising Communards. The National Republicans are now (mostly) firm supporters of the mixed socialist economy and an expansive welfare state, while respecting state sovereignty. They favor alliance with foreign liberal powers to protect Florencian interests and combat totalitarianism. The National Republicans support a strong military to ensure defense and expand the frontier. The party largely acts as a center party in Florenican politics and is an expansive amalgamation of social progressives, Keynesian liberals, centrist moderates, and the trade unions. The National Republicans tend to favor a middle ground between the more private market Cadets and the communistic FSDLP. Given Florencia's unique place as the center of the democratic socialist revolution, the National Republicans are constantly pushing for the advancement of the UFSRs borders, the defeat of international totalitarianism, and the preservation of the Union's beauty at home.
Ideology: Syndicalism, agrarianism, social justice
Political Position: Far Left
Party Symbol/Mascot: Raven
The Social Revolutionary League is a grassroots patchwork populist movement that grows and wanes over the years depending on how the wind is blowing in Florencia. A semi-messy conglomeration of left-communists, poor conservative agrarians, and radicalized workers, among others. The SR's support a redistribution of the wealth and the destruction of the oligarchical class. Often times the SR's are the spearhead of anti-corruption campaigns and monopoly breaking legislature. Not exactly totally united as a voting bloc, the SR's generally rally around a certain strongman every decade or so and hammer out a somewhat intelligible party doctrine, only to devolve into inter-party sectarianism. When popular the SR's can be a quite powerful opposition force in the All-Union Congress, and they have had several Presidents over the years.
The faith of Athanity is an idealist monist faith centered around a belief in [b]"the One"[/b] and the life teachings of the Prophets. Adherents are known as [b]Athans[/b], who believe that the One is an unknowable, incomprehensible, transient substance that is the creation and finality of all existence. Rationally there is no verbiage that can appropriately describe this substance, the most suitable terms are "the One", "the Good", or "God". Athanity had it's beginnings as a religio-philosophical movement by the (Great/First) [b]Prophet Ammonius Saccas[/b] (perhaps more correctly philosopher-teacher), as outlined in his writing the [i]Mikra[/i]. Later prophets would flesh out the writings of Ammonius in five more successive Mikras, forming the core doctrine of the Athan religion.
The universe can be regarded in the simplest sense of existence as retaining two worlds: the material world we know, and the immaterial higher world of gods and angels. The One transcends these plains of existence which emanated from it. The material world is inherently good, though evil exists in the absence of good. It does not exist independently, but like how darkness is the absence of light so is evil the absence of what is good.
The physical realm is subject to time and mortality and thus the souls of plants, animals, and people shall all be united with the One at death in the Empyrean Heaven (the afterlife). However happiness and perfection is attainable for the soul before the physical body dies through philosophical contemplation and acting within the good through observing such inalienable constructs as natural law and venerating the One through worship of the immaterial higher world.
[b][i]The "Cathedral of Saint Catherine Of the Light", St. Catherine F.D., is the center of Salvoncism in both the UFSR and the world.[/i][/b][/center]
[b]Athan Religious Sects[/b]
[spoiler=Salvonic Orthodox Church]
The [b]Salvonic Orthodox Church[/b] (Salvonic meaning "universal" in Old Florencian) views itself as the universal and true vein of Athanity and claims continuation from the first disciples of Ammonius. Salvonics subscribe to the traditional celestial hierarchy with the pantheon of immaterial gods. As asserted in the Second Mikra, [b][i]Lux Invictus[/i] (Unconquerable Light) [/b]and the other gods are omni-perfect beings that are emanations of the One, which is the ultimate level of reality.
The Salvonic Church is characterized by its monasteries, for those wishing to devote their lives to achieve human perfectness by studying the Mikras, contemplating the One, and performing works of charity within their community. All large cities enjoy a college of pontificates headed by a bishop to oversee the worship of Lux Invictus and other gods within Salvonic cathedrals. Smaller cities, rural communities, and collective agricultural settlements would have a church(s) and local priest(s) to guide the faithful towards perfect happiness or provide religious instruction. The entire church hierarchy of the Salvonic Orthodox Church is directed by the Cardinal, whom is the Bishop of the city of Saint Catherine.
[b]Celestial Hierarchy[/b]
[b]The One:[/b] the Supreme God, the Good, which is transcendent, ineffable, and incomprehensible.
[b]Lux Invictus:[/b] Unconquerable Light, the creator of the material realm and the second emanation from the One and generally depicted as a warrior sun goddess. Also rules over the cosmic gods.
[b]The Cosmic gods:[/b] The hundreds of minor gods that emanate from the One in the immaterial world and are each allotted a specific duty or aspect of nature to maintain.
[b]The Saints:[/b] Those who are recognized as having an exceptional degree of contemplation or likeness or closeness to the One and having achieved human perfection and happiness on Earth. Can also be venerated by the faithful to achieve perfect happiness on Earth.
The [b]Albigensian Cathar Church[/b], started as an Athan revivalist movement in Albi, southern Florencia, that quickly got out of hand. In the 15th century dissatisfaction with the Salvonic Church considering an overweight church bureaucracy, child predator scandals, and a concentration of wealth within the church led to a popular protest against the Salvonic Church. The movement, which simply wanted to reform the religion, drastically altered upon push back by the Church that resulted in a reexamination of the writings of the Great and later Prophets that mutated into a different and semi-dualist sect of Athanity.
The Cathars ("pure ones" in Old Floranic) hold that evil is in fact not the absence of light, but an independent entity that was emanated from the One. In this way the One still emanates all other existence in the material and non-corporeal worlds, but the [b][i]“Lunaire Invincible”[/i] (Invincible Moon)[/b] is opposed by an almost equally powerful high god of evil, [b][i]Apollyon[/i][/b], perhaps better known as the [b]"Lord of the Flies"[/b]. In that way Cathar doctrine is dominated by a dualist thought of the material and immaterial worlds as a battle ground between good and evil.
The Cathar celestial hierarchy is largely analogous to the Salvonic Church's, a notable exception being the Unconquerable Light depicted as the sun goddess now replaced by the Invincible Moon, the god of the moon. In contrast exists the anti-celestial hierarchy, headed by the Lord of the Flies and all the infinite legions of evil and treachery. The Albigensian Cathar Church generally abhors killing and espouses a firm commitment to peace, so as to maintain the presence of good in the world. For this reason many Cathar's renounce killing, act as patriotic conscious objectors in times of war, and refrain from eating meat.
The Church follows a flat structure, very little differentiates baptized believers in the faith and those who have been elevated to a position of theological instruction after years within the faith. This is largely a byproduct of dissatisfaction with the Salvonic Church's hierarchy.
[spoiler=Church of Ammonius Saccas and the Latter-Day Prophets]
[b]Church of Ammonius Saccas and the Latter-Day Prophets[/b]
The Church of Ammonius Saccas and the Latter-Day Prophets (LDP) claims the mantle of the one true expression of Athanity, whereas every other Athan sect has universal rejected the LDP Church for radically detracting from the Six Mikras. Better known as the "Rohkhem Church" from the title of the church's own "seventh" Mikra, crafted by the "seventh" prophet Zac Brown following a perceived divine revelation from Ammonius Saccas. Brown claimed in 1886 that all other Athan sects had trended away from the true Athan path, for the Rohkhem Church had been ordained from providence to set the blind masses right. The church claims Ammonius Saccas as a divine emanation of the One. The One with Ammonius Saccas constitute the "Holy Divinity" which is the ultimate totality of the Godhead, which exists before the One. The Rohkhem is largely regarded by the greater Athan community as a curious heresy that has dramatically fallen from the true faith—with fervent puritanical supporters, a rigid church hierarchy, and accusations of attempts at propagating a theocracy based on the teachings of Zac Brown.
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))
The Union of Florencian Republics (UFR), or commonly Florencia (Elyrian: Velorensia), is a Social Republicanfederalsemi-presidentialrepublic 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 social republican federation after the Great Revolution in 1919.
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 Republics in 1919. The events of 1919 are categorized as the Great Revolution.
Prehistory
Something something ancient native people build mounds
Zhenian and Auroan Contact
Surprise it's the Europeans and Asians. And they colonize places
Shinjin Republic
Like the 13 colonies but with Asians
Imperial Period and the War of Unification
That one time Portugal ruled from Brazil
Shinjin Republic was plagued by slavery and infighting, Empire takes advantage of this.
First World War and Prelude to Revolution
Terrible idea. War, pestilence and famine.
The Great Revolution
Enter Ba'athism with more steps
Roaring Twenties and the First Cultural Renaissance
Like the NEP but better and more fun
The Patriotic War and Years of Stagnation
Another war, but a command economy doesn't really work
Second Cultural Renaissance and the Scarlet Reforms
No more command economy, enter socialism with Florencian characteristics and a human face
Modern Era
Lions
Geography
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 Republics considers itself a social republic; in the sense that the republic controls the commanding heights of the socialistmarket 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 provisional government 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 Republics (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 "Grand Florencian Palace", once home to the Emperor, is the residence of the Chancellor.
The Florencian Republics 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 UFR 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 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 Federative Republic (FR) 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 Republic of Aydakho.
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. The natural form of national organization and the basis of the Union is these workers'councils. The authority of the people is therefor invested in a national elected government and their appointed local, regional, and constituent republican deputies.
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.
Social Republicanism was originally a Florencian nationalist ideology that supported the creation and development of a left-orientated federal republic through progressive revolutionary means. The ideology represents a fusion of civic nationalism, workers democracy, and democratic socialist economics within the structure of a liberal republic. It supports political pluralism and individualism, rejecting such concepts as a vanguard party or heavy handed confiscatory policies in regards to private property.
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)
Law and Order
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.
The Florencian Republics has four national languages: mainly both Elyrian (spoken by 41.3% of the population, mostly in the Eastern republics) and Zhenian (spoken by 35.6%, mainly in the Shinjin FR). Lyudic is spoken by 20.2% and Sosoni by 2.6% of the population, mostly concentrated within the more sparsely occupied republics in the interior and North East. Additional Aboriginal Florencian languages are spoken by around 630,000 persons, or .3%. Like Lyudic and Sosoni this is in the less thoroughly Achysified and Zhenicized coasts. Modern Standard Elyrian is the most common working language at the federal level, however it has no "official" status.
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