Ceryana

Ceryana Suryana 溸雅
Flag Seal
Motto: "Dar Shanti'ayana" (Suryanese) "Abode of Peace and Progress"
Anthem: "Rahmat Bahagia" (Suryanese)
Location of Ceryana
Capital and largest city	Noules
Official languages	English
Recognised national languages	Chinese, French, Suryanese
Ethnic groups 2023 census	34.6% mixed ethnicity 16.9% Chinese (Han) 15.6% Suryan 9.7% British 8.3% French 14.8% others
Religion 2023 census	48.5% irreligion 22.6% Buddhism 13.2% Christianity 9.5% Islam 5.1% others
Demonym(s)	Ceryan
Government	Federal parliamentary republic
• President	Pierre Dewa
• Prime Minister	Thomas Preece-Lee
• Chief Justice	Ana Teixiera
Legislature	Parliament
• Upper house	Senate
• Lower house	Assembly of Representatives
Independence
• Federation of New Hertford, Indaya and Noules	1 September 1948
• Defection of Ceraine and Tebain from France	3 March 1953
• Incorporation of East Beira and Clermont-des-Indes from UK	1 November 1954
• Incorporation of Haut-Tebain from France	20 September 1966
Area
• Total	229,875 km2 (88,755 sq mi)
• Water (%)	13.6%
Population
• 2020 estimate	72,772,830
• 2018 census	71,878,790
• Density	366.41/km2 (949.0/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)	2023 estimate
• Total	$4.68 trillion
• Per capita	$61,253
GDP (nominal)	2023 estimate
• Total	$4.56 trillion
• Per capita	$59,700
Gini (2023)	37.4 medium
HDI (2023)	0.910 very high
Currency	Ceryan pound (£) (CYP)
Time zone	UTC+8 (CST)
Date format	dd-mm-yyyy
Driving side	left
Calling code	+87
ISO 3166 code	CY
Internet TLD	.cy

Ceryana (Suryanese: Suryana; Chinese: 溸雅) is a federation consisting of six states and two federal territories. Noules is the capital of the federation and the largest city, being where the federal government's legislative, executive and judicial institutions are located.

Ceryana has its origins in the Indayan Kingdom, which was the first state to unite the several Malayic fiefdoms in the region in 601 CE. The establishment of the Portuguese colony of Beira Leste in the mid-17th century marked the start of an era of European colonial competition. France annexed the Portuguese puppet state of the Kingdom of Ceriana in the mid-18th century, causing Portugal to transfer administration of its remaining territories to the United Kingdom. The War of 1778 resulted in France surrendering half of its colonial territory to the British. Colonial rule was met with fierce local resistance by the early 20th century, culminating in the then British colonies of Hertford, Indaya and Noules to jointly declare independence as the federation of Ceryana on 1 September 1948. The United Kingdom relinquished its last colonial claims on 1 November 1954, and France on 20 September 1966.

The country is governed under a parliamentary system, with roots in the English Westminster system. The dual-track legal system is based on both English common law and French civil law. The head of state is the directly-elected President and the head of government is the Prime Minister. The complex history of the country, along with high rates of intermarriage and relatively open immigration policies, have made Ceryana a multi-ethnic and multicultural society, which continue to shape Ceryan identity and national policies. The four national languages are Chinese, English, French and Suryanese, although the sole official language of administration on the federal level is English. Ceryana is officially a secular state, with nearly 50% of the population subscribing to no religion.

The economy of Ceryana grew at an average of over 17% annually for the first 40 years after independence, fuelled by its export-orientated manufacturing and shipping industries. Since being recognised as a developed country in the 1990s, the economy has shifted towards tertiary industries, with Noules becoming a global financial centre and Port Elliot a tech hub. It also ranks highly in quality of life, education, healthcare, safety, economic freedom, civil liberties and political rights.

Etymology

The name Ceryana is derived from classical Suryanese Malay Suryanagara. The name Suryanagara itself is a composed of the classical Suryanese Malay words surya (suria in contemporary Suryanese), meaning the sun, and nagara (negara in contemporary Suryanese), which means kingdom. Both surya (सूर्य sū́rya; 'sun') and nagara (नगर nagara; 'city') are derived from Sanskrit, an important literary language in the old Buddhist kingdoms that were located throughout the land of today's Ceryana.

Portuguese merchants made contact with the Kingdom of Suryanagara in 1654, and referred to the country as Cerianagara in written correspondence. Following the collapse of the kingdom, the Portuguese established the puppet state of the Reino da Ceriana, the Kingdom of Ceriana. This name was anglicised to Ceryana.

The French translated the Portuguese name Ceriana to Ceraine, however Ceryana was adopted as the official French name of the country upon independence to avoid confusion with the now-incorporated French ex-colony with the same name. Hokkien traders in the 14th century originally referred to Suryanagara as 溸掠 (Pinyin: sùlüè; Hokkien POJ: sò͘-lia̍h; Cantonese Yale: sou3 loek6). However, the name 溸雅 (Pinyin: sùyǎ; Hokkien POJ: sò͘-ngá; Cantonese Yale: sou3 ngaa5) was adopted upon independence to better fit the Mandarin pronunciation, which was chosen to be the standard Chinese dialect.

History

Pre-unification

Prior to the 7th century CE, Proto Suryanese people began settling throughout Ceryana around the 4th century BCE. Proto Suryanese communities were isolationalist and dispersed, and were headed by hereditary chiefs, known by their titles Hang.

The first recognisable centralised power was established in the early-6th century CE by Hang Indai, the chief of a village known as Pangkor near modern Bukit Gajah. Pangkor villagers had mastered gold panning and rice farming, resulting in stockpile surpluses. Hang Indai traded this surplus with neighbouring villages, allowing him to expand his sphere of influence over their chiefs. Hang Indai also started trading with Indian merchants, who brought along with the Hinduism and Buddhism. Hang Indai eventually converted to Buddhism in the mid-6th century, with many of the chiefs under his influence following suit. With expanding influence and increased trade, Hang Indai engaged Buddhist monks to start writing laws, creating a recognisable governmental system.

His son, Hang Wangsa, inherited the chiefdom in 591 and began subjugating neighbouring chiefs by threat of force for trade deficits. Eventually, Hang Wangsa claimed sovereignty over those villages and established the Kingdom of Indaya in 601, named after his father. The establishment of the kingdom saw the title of the ruler change to Raja, with Indaya continuing to expand until the 13th century, often by diplomatic force, eventually incorporating the lands that make up most of today's Ceryana.

A crisis in the inheritance of the Indayan crown occurred in the mid-13th century, when Raja Mahameru died with no male issue. This eventuated in the War of the Indayan Princes between Putra Wikramawira (Raja Mahameru's eldest brother), Putra Sri Nila (Raja Mahameru's second patrilineal uncle) and Putra Sang Muda (Raja Mahameru's youngest brother), which eventuated in the fracturing of kingdom into three principalities at the end of the century - Indaya, Surya and Nalus. The severely weakened principalities largely collapsed 50 years later, with warlords and hereditary chiefs seizing control over local communities in what was known as the Period of Fiefs.

Unification

The collapse of the

Government and politics

Ceryana is a federal parliamentary republic, with the federal constitution setting out the structure of the state and government. The system of governance is closely modelled on the Westminster system, a legacy of British rule over most of the constituent states. The federal government is divided into three branches:

• Executive: the President and the Federal Administrative Council, comprising the President-in-Council and the Cabinet (composed of senior ministers appointed by the President-in-Parliament);
• Legislative: the bicameral Parliament, comprising the President-in-Parliament, the Senate and the Assembly of Representatives; and
• Judiciary: the Supreme Court, whose justices are appointed by the President-in-Parliament.

Executive

The head of state is the directly-elected President, who acts on the advice of the Cabinet in most matters ("President-in-Council"). The Prime Minister is appointed by the President as the head of government and must command the confidence of the majority of the Parliament. The Ministers of State are similarly appointed to the Cabinet, but only must command confidence of the Priem Minister. While this is somewhat similar to the the constitutional conventions of the Westminster system, the constitution expressly recognises this legal arrangement where the President acts as the legal figurehead for the government's actions. However, the constitution also grants the President a few exclusive powers ("autonomous powers") which may be exercised "ex-Council", with the most significant that being the power to dissolve parliament.

The Cabinet consists of the four Offices of State, known as the Prime Minister's Office, the Home Secretary's Office, the Foreign Secretary's Office and the Defence Secretary's Office. While formal power is exercised by the Cabinet as a body, in practice the Prime Minister

Legislative

In the Senate, there are 72 senators. Each state has 10 senators, while the federal territories of Noules and Clermont-des-Indes have eight and four senators respectively. The Assembly of Representatives has 335 members elected from single-member constituencies allocated on the basis of population. Both senators and members of the Assembly are elected directly, although the former is elected on using a single transferable electoral system, while the latter an instant runoff system. Elections for both chambers are normally held every four years simultaneously, although only half of the Senate is dissolved before each election. Consequently, the term of a senator is eight years, while the term of a member is four years.

As the President can only appoint members of the Assembly to the Cabinet and on the advice of the Parliament, members from the

While a multiparty liberal democracy, federal politics in Ceryana has been dominated by two coalitions since independence. The National Alliance is comprised of the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats, while the People's Front is composed of the Labour Party and the Ceryanese Greens. In particular, the Conservatives and Labour have not cumulatively not held less than 300 of the 355 Assembly seats until the 2018 general election.

Judiciary

The Supreme Court is the highest court, acting as the final court of appeal from the federal courts and several state court systems. It also has original jurisdiction in several matters of importance, most notably in constitutional interpretation. which may have the consequence of striking out acts of Parliament and exercises of administrative powers. Common law tradition is followed on the federal level and five of the eight jurisdictions, with the other three being civil law jurisdictions. Customary law, notably Islamic law, is recognised on a voluntary basis in family law and certain other areas of law.

State and territories

One of the few autonomous powers that is granted to the President is the power to appoint a Resident in each of the six states, who act as the presidential representative in the states.

Economy

GDP growth in Ceryana since 1948

Ceryana has a high income market economy, characterised by low taxation, diversification and a sophisticated international financial and transshipment markets. The period known as the "Roar of the Ceryanese tiger" saw an annual average growth rate in the GDP per capita of 13.77% from $883 in 1970 to $27,766 in 1997, transforming the living standards of its population. As of 2023, Ceryana's GDP stood at $4.56 trillion in nominal terms and $4.68 trillion after PPP adjustment.

The Ceryanese economy is regarded as free, competitive, innovative and business-friendly. The city of Noules is one of the world's most significant financial centres and shipping port. Port Elliot acts as a global technology hub and Port-César as the nation's manufacturing powerhouse. The Noules Securities Exchange (NSX) and Port Elliot Securities Exchange (Pesex) have a combined market capitalisation of $5.45 trillion as of 2023, with the former accounting for nearly 80%.

Ceryana has a labour force participation rate of 66.3% comprising 50.7 million workers, of which 3.9% were classified as unemployed in 2022. The median annual income according to the 2023 census is £105,787 ($56,300). Income inequality is a growing concern in Ceryana, with the number of people living below the national poverty line increasing from 4.7% in 2000 to 13.1% in 2019. Nonetheless, Ceryana maintains a very highly developed society with an HDI of 0.910 in 2023.

The currency of Ceryana is the Ceryanese pounds (CYP or C£), issued by Reserve Bank of Ceryana. RBC also manages the monetary policy.

Demographics

Ethnicity

Ethnicity in Ceryana, 2023
Census responses			Percent
Mixed ethnicity			34.6%
Chinese			16.9%
Suryan			15.6%
English			9.7%
French			8.3%
Others			14.8%

Ceryana has long been marked by its ethnically heterogenous society. The term "Four Peoples" has been used to describe the four largest ethnic groups in Ceryana at the time of its independence, and remain the largest non-mixed ethnic groups today spread across the country. The Suryan people were the original settlers of the land and formed the majority up until the 18th century. The first wave of Chinese immigration began in the 1400s, but the community grew to become the largest community for a long time with the second wave consisting of labourers in the 17th century to the 19th century, and the third wave of refugees from wars in China in the 20th century. While the English and French have held different areas of Ceryana as colonies since the 18th century, mass immigration only commenced in the mid-19th century as a result of UK and French government policies encouraged immigration to the Ceryanese colonies to bolster their local influence.

Notable minority communities include the Indians and the Portuguese, with the former traditionally residing mostly in ex-English colonies and the latter in East Beira. Ceryana has a long history of interracial marriages, with a small but substantial Chinese and Indian Peranakan communities emerging in the early days of immigration. However, residents of mixed descent now form the largest single share of the population.

Language

First Languages in Ceryana, 2023
Census responses			Percent
English			29.1%
Chinese (incl dialects)			23.4%
French			18.9%
Suryanese			14.8%
Others			13.7%

Chinese, English, French and Suryanese are recognised to be the national languages of Ceryana. Together, more than 85% of residents speak one of these 4 languages as their primary language at home. The 4 national languages are afforded equal legal status under the Constitution, but designates English as the "official language of federal business". Practical consequences include federal government institutions conducting business in English predominantly, but that the use of any of the 4 national languages does not inhibit equitable access to those institutions.

While the Constitution also requires the States to afford equal legal status to the national languages, they are able to establish which of the 4 national languages will be used as their official language. East Beira, Hertford, Indaya and both federal territories use English, while Haut-Tebain, Sourène and Tebain use French. Nonetheless, education is required to be offered in all the national languages at the primary level, either as the medium of instruction or as a subject. As a result of these policies, most Ceryanese are at least bilingual and able to understand all 4 languages to varying proficiencies.

English is generally considered the lingua franca of the country, being the language most widely used in cross-state business and commerce. It is also the most widely used language at home among residents, and the only language which is a compulsory subject in all 6 states to complete secondary education. Ceryanese English largely follows British English conventions, owing to all Anglophone states in the country being former colonies of the UK. However, forms of spoken English can range from Standard English to Cenglish, an English-based creole incorporating features from the other national languages.

French is the second mostly widely spoken language in Ceryana, however is only the third most spoken language at home. This is a legacy of the former-French colonies adopting French as the official state language, hence being the second language for non-French native speakers within those states and serving as their lingua franca. Consequently, the French language wields disproportionate power in federal politics and a source of unique identity for those states. While colloquial French across the country can vary significantly, the Port-César standard is adopted as the national standard and is largely based on Standard French.

Chinese is the third most widely spoken language and the second most spoken language at home. Mandarin using Traditional Chinese is generally accepted as the official dialect of Chinese, being adopted as the medium for government communication and by educational institutions. Nonetheless, as most residents with Chinese ancestry are descendants of South Chinese immigrants, dialects such as Hokkien, Cantonese and Teochew are widely spoken and understood across the country. The Chinese script is the only non-Latin script that can be used on certain government documents such as birth certificates and passports.

Suryanese, the fourth most widely spoken language, is the indigenous language of the land and often serves a symbolic language of national heritage and unity. Notably, the national anthem Rahmat Bahagia, military commands and drills and the citation of Ceryanese orders and decorations are in Suryanese. The language is officially written in the Latin script based on the Bukit Gajah standard, however the Jawi and Pallava Grantha scripts also form part of the syllabus at schools.

According to the 2023 census, more than 13.7% of the population speak a language other than the 4 national languages as their primary language, with the largest groups being speakers of Tamil, Portuguese, Arabic and Punjabi.

Religion

Faiths in Ceryana, 2023
Census responses			Percent
Irreligion			48.5%
Buddhism			22.6%
Christianity			13.2%
Islam			9.5%
Others			5.2%