Rhodellia

Kingdom of Rhodellia Königreich Rödelia
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Komm und nimm es dir" (Come and take it)
Anthem: "Halten Sie Ihr Gewehr an Ihrer Seite" (Keep your rifle by your side)
Status	Independent State
Capital	Friedrichstadt
Largest city	Neuhafen
Official languages	Alemannisch, Anglish
Religion	90% Atheist 6% Christian 4% Other
Demonym(s)	Rhodellian
Government	Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
• Monarch	August III
• Prime Minister	Philip 'Phil' Seymour
Legislature	Reichstag
Establishment
• Dolchlander colonies in Roedelia	1594
• Rhodellian Commonwealth	1643
• Kingdom of Rhodellia	1755
Area
• Total	89,200 km2 (34,400 sq mi)
Population
• 2021 census	10,000,000 (estimate)
GDP (nominal)	estimate
• Total	$450,000,000,000
• Per capita	$45,000 (estimate)
Currency	Rhodellian Thaler (RTR)
Time zone	UTC -5
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy
Driving side	left
Calling code	+64
Internet TLD	.rd

Rhodellia, officially the Kingdom of Rödelia (Alemannisch: Königreich Rödelia), is a sovereign country in central Aurelia, in Eurth. Rhodellia is situated on the Gulf of Auriel's northeastern shore, mostly around Waldseemüller Bay. It covers an area of roughly 89,200 square kilometres (34,440 square miles) and accommodates an estimated population of 10 million people. These people are settled across 6 provinces (Königsheim, Janbourg, Rabeswalde, Nordwalde, Gottesthal, and Westfalen) and 10 Native Aurelian reservations. Its national capital is Friedrichstadt, its financial centre is Silberstadt, its most populous city is Neuhafen, its technological centre is Ahrensbucht, and its industrial centre is Eisenthal.

Rhodellia has a millennia-long history of human settlement dating as far back as the Neolithic period. Its present-day territories were once home to several ancient Native Aurelian cultures. These range from the Powanaki civilisation, which rapidly conquered much of the region before mysteriously collapsing between 2500 and 2300 BCE, to the Empire of Kimsantinsuyu, an advanced civilisation that controlled the southeastern Paranne Mountains and most of the Waldseemüller Bay area before its collapse in 1736 at the hands of Dolchlander colonists. Dolchlander colonisation began in the late 16th century, when eight Dolchlander colonies were established along the Gulf of Auriel's northeastern shore. These colonies would later unite into the Rhodellian Commonwealth in 1643 and then declare independence as the Kingdom of Rhodellian in 1755. Between the late 16th and 19th centuries, Dolchlander pioneers aggressively expanded outwards from the shores Waldseemüller Bay, gradually incorporating new territories along the way. New lands came under Dolchlander control or influence often through military conquest or the diplomatic annexation of Native Aurelian allies and vassal states. Dolchlander expansionism displaced many Native Aurelians and played a significant role in the collapse of several major Native Aurelian civilisations. Rhodellia would lose many of its border provinces after they were overrun during the First Anéantic War, conceding them to various neighbours in the 'Black Peace' of 1922. During the Second Anéantic War, in 1940, Rhodellia launched the Rhodellian Crusade to reconquer many of these lost territories but failed to decisively defeat its opponents and force an advantageous peace treaty, resulting in the inconclusive Armistice of 1948. Rhodellia saw significant civil unrest during the Nordwalde Troubles from the 1960s and onwards, in which several Native Aurelian separatist organisations, the largest of which being the Native Aurelian Liberation Army (NALA), fought to secede from the kingdom. Some separatist factions have successfully achieved de facto independence for their respective regions after forcing the Rhodellian military to withdraw south of the River Nordfluss. With this, Rhodellia was reduced to its core provinces as of the mid-17th century. With the exception of a few treaties signed with the Empire of Greater Zaxar, all recent efforts to secure lasting peace between Rhodellia, Native Aurelian separatist organisations, and its immediate neighbours have all resulted in failure.

Rhodellia is a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy and representative democracy. Its monarchy serves a purely ceremonial role. Its ruling dynasty, the House of Rödel, has reigned since Rhodellia declared independence as a kingdom, though members of the clan have served as colonial governors and officials starting with Friedrichstadt Colony in 1595. The current monarch is King August III, who has reigned since 2015. Rhodellia has a long history of egalitarianism and democratic rule starting with the Colonial Assembly of Friedrichstadt in 1594, which was open to all of the colony's permanent residents above the age of 16 regardless of gender, ethnicity, social status, wealth, or property ownership. Rhodellia has a long history of multiculturalism shaped by millennia of migration, immigration, conquest, and creolisation. As such, the country is a diverse melting pot of cultures and ethnicities. Rhodellia is a developed country with a strong mixed economy. The country ranks highly in some international metrics of education, healthcare, protection of civil liberties, labour rights, consumer protections, freedom of the press, and government transparency. Its citizens have access to universal healthcare, universal basic income, free higher education, subsidised housing, and a comprehensive social security system. Levels of perceived corruption are low. However, the Rhodellian government has received criticism for its militarism, heavy-handed and often violent suppression of Native Aurelian separatism, the mass surveillance of its citizens, and its refusal to properly confront the darker aspects of its colonial past.

Etymology

Rhodellia is derived from an Anglish misspelling of Rödelia, which the country has stopped bothering to correct since the 19th century. Rödelia is derived from Rödel, a metonymic occupational name of Dolchlander origin for a scribe or registrar, which is in turned derived from the Middle High Alemannisch word 'rodel', meaning ‘list’ or ‘roll’.

Rhodellia was named after the Rödel family, a wealthy landowning Dolchlander clan that historically served medieval Dolchlander kings as bureaucrats and government officials. The Rödels were the primary sponsors of the exploratory expedition where Dolchlander explorer, cartographer, and scholar Martell Waldseemüller accidentally sailed to Western Aurelia and disembarked where the city of Friedrichstadt is situated today. Mistaking it for terra incognita, Waldseemüller claimed the surrounding region for Dolchland and named it Rödelia after his benefactors in the Rödel family. Dolchlander colonists would continue to attribute the name 'Rödelia' to all of the land surrounding Waldseemüller Bay. The Rhodellian Commonwealth (Alemannisch: Rödelisch Bund) would be named after this geographic region in which its core colonies were located, as would the later Kingdom of Rhodellia (Alemmanisch: Königreich Rödelia).

The earliest known Anglish collective name for Dolchland's Waldseemüller Bay colonies, Rodellia, first start appearing in the early 16th century when knowledge of the colonies' existence started spreading to other parts of the wurld. It is likely a phonetic spelling. The modern-day term Rhodellia first appeared in Anglish records soon after during the mid-16th century. The 'h' was likely added by mistake by an unknown Anglish official, merchant, or bureaucrat. But nevertheless, it caught on. Outside of Dolchland and its overseas colonies, Rhodellia would gradually become the dominant spelling, supplanting Rodellia, Roedelia, and Rödelia. The Waldseemüller Bay colonies, the Rhodellian Commonwealth, and the Kingdom of Rhodellia made no serious attempts to correct the spelling error until the 19th century. But by then, it was already too late as usage of the 16th-century spelling error became too entrenched among other countries' cartographers and governments to be suddenly replaced. Rhodellian government officials then had no choice but to accept Rhodellia as the official Anglish spelling for their country's name.

Geography

(WIP. Temperate climate. The capital city Friedrichstadt is located either along the coastal and/or Riverside, preferably close to a river delta.)

History

Early modern period

• 1594: [Insert Dolchlander kingdom here] establishes some distant overseas colonies starting in 1594. Their explorers name the region 'Rödelia' after initially mistaking it for a new, undiscovered continent. Their chosen location happens to already be settled by native peoples, who are already well-aware of colonialism and its consequences. Half of the locals try to destroy the colonists on sight. The other half try to exploit the colonists to their own advantage, but end up being assimilated into the Dolchlander colonies over time. The colonists expand outwards using 'Manifest Destiny' as a casus belli. Their progress is soon checked by larger, developed (and still hostile) native civilisations. They put up better fights than smaller tribes and minor kingdoms, and thus would survive to become Rhodellia's historic long-time rivals.
• 1643: The Dolchlander colonies form the Rhodellian Commonwealth together in 1643 so that they can more easily coordinate defense and the pursuit of common interests.
• 1755: The colonies merge together into the Kingdom of Rhodellia in 1755 in a bid to improve their international standing and attract potential allies. However, the new royal family only played ceremonial roles. The old colonial assemblies and Parliament maintained their authority.
• Rhodellia and its neighbouring rivals frequently war with one another, primarily over arable land and natural resources.

20th Century

• 1914 to 1921: Rhodellia is repeatedly invaded by its immediate neighbours. It loses. Rhodellia loses a significant chunk of its population during the fighting and is forced to concede large swathes of territories in a traumatically humiliating peace treaty signed in 1922.
• 1922: Rhodellian left-wing populists incite a popular uprising against the 'traitorous' and wildly unpopular government. The Prime Minister is coerced into stepping down and organising a snap election. The new parliament after the 1922 General Election is dominated by a coalition mainly consisting of the Rhodellian Socialist Party, The Social Democrats, and The Communist Party of Rhodellia.
• 1938: Rhodellia has recovered enough to start re-annexing some of the old territories it lost in the 1922 treaty. This triggers another major war in 1940.
• 1944: Against all reasonable expectations, Rhodellia does exceedingly well in the early stages of the renewed conflict. However, Rhodellia's momentum stalls as what started out as a war of manouevre gradually shifts into a war of attrition not too dissimilar to the previous war. The war becomes 'completely unwinnable' by 1944, if it was ever winnable in the first place.
• 1948: Rhodellia is forced to sue for an armistice in 1948 because by that point it lacked the manpower, access to natural resources, and industrial output to continue fighting. Its enemies are similarly too battered to see prolonging the conflict as worthwhile. So they accept the peace offer. No territories end up exchanging hands, so Rhodellia remains with its 1922 borders.
• Rhodellia and its long-time rivals focus on reconstruction and economic growth so that they may continue where they left off at a later date. For various reasons, their elected leaders never get around to escalating their tensions beyond occasional border skirmishes.
• Rhodellia initiates a campaign to attract highly skilled and well educated foreign immigrants to help rebuild and help repopulate itself faster. Its socialist-led government tries to entice newcomers with promises of workplace democracy, reasonable living and working conditions, fairer compensation for labour, universal healthcare, free further higher, and universal basic income.
• Historians accidentally uncover the true scale of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and cultural erasure of native peoples at the hands of Dolchlander colonial governments between the 16th and 19th centuries. Knowledge of their shocking discoveries proliferate quickly thanks to Rhodellia's freedom of press laws, leading to a major separatist movement being formed by outraged Rhodellians of native descent. Their common goals are to 'liberate' their native-descended brethren and protect their local cultures from eradication by an increasingly centralised and 'Dochlanderised' Rhodellia.
• The Rhodellian government tries to crush the insurgencies with superior violence. These early attempts at counter-insurgency go very, very poorly. A few insurgencies succeed in making Rhodellian forces cut their losses and withdraw. This results in further territorial losses as some regions become de facto independent.

21st Century

Rhodellia is trying to secure its own survival by growing its economy, making more friends on the international stage, and building up soft power.

Politics

(Government. Separation of powers. How rules, how, and for how long? What levels of government exist? How about the local level? Who makes the laws? Who deals out your justice? Which government services exist? What is the name of your police? How are the armed forces organised? Foreign affairs, alliances, membership of international organisations.)

Economy

Rhodellia has a developed mixed economy with a social capitalist economic model rooted in Rhodellian egalitarian values and tempered by liberal and socialist ideals. It features a mix of private enterprise and significant state ownership in key sectors. It benefits from a highly educated, highly skilled, and highly motivated workforce; high levels of innovation; and low levels of perceived corruption. Rhodellian citizens enjoy low unemployment rates, lower-than-average income inequality compared to other capitalist market economies, extensive consumer protections, and strong workers' rights. The vast majority of Rhodellian workers are members of trade unions. The Rhodellian economy supports a strong welfare state that actively seeks to eliminate poverty and ensure a good standard of living for all of the country's citizens. As such, Rhodellia ranks very highly on the Human Development Index (HDI). However, Rhodellia's economic policies have also resulted in high taxation (tax revenue accounts for roughly 46% of Rhodellia's total GDP), higher-than-average barriers to entry, higher-than-average overhead expenses, higher-than-average costs of living, limitations to the growth of big businesses, and businesses of all sizes facing fair but increasingly stiff competition.

The quaternary and tertiary sectors account for a fairly significant portion of the total GDP. Research and development flourishes as a major component of Rhodellia's quaternary industry. Rhodellian businesses and state enterprises are consistently trying to increase their competitiveness on the global market through the application of science, technology, and engineering. Their most common solution is to enhance productivity with robotics and automation. Retail, telecommunications, information technology, mass media, security, education, and transportation comprise the largest portions of the tertiary sector. The country's most notable tertiary industry is its private security industry. Rhodellia has a long, distinguished history of producing high-quality mercenaries, forged by a strong martial culture, longstanding military traditions, and centuries of near-continuous warfare. As of 2021, tens of thousands of Rhodellians are continuing the time-honoured tradition of mercenary work by offering their services as private military contractors in conflict zones around the wurld.

Rhodellia has been a post-industrial society for several decades, though its secondary sector remains fairly sizable and continues to see significant growth and investment. Due to Rhodellia's strong martial culture, gun ownership being a legal requirement, extremely lax laws regarding civilian weapons ownership, and long history of near-continuous warfare, the arms industry has historically dominated Rhodellian manufacturing in terms of industrial output and revenues. The country is also seeking to re-grow its domestic automotive, aviation, and shipbuilding industries. These industries were crippled by sabotage operations and strategic bombing campaigns during the Second Anéantic War and never managed to fully recover. The country's prosthetics industry has also seen significant investment and growth in the past decade as significant numbers of Rhodellian soldiers, private military contractors, and civilians continue to be maimed in accidents, conflicts, or by the remnants of conflicts. This creates a growing demand for affordable prosthetics and drives innovation for more advanced prosthetic technology. Construction has been another major secondary industry since the end of the Second Anéantic War. Successive governments have worked to redesign and rebuild damaged towns and cities as well as construct a larger, more advanced network of modern transport infrastructure.

The primary sector comprises the smallest percentage of Rhodellia's total GDP. Rhodellia is not particularly rich in natural resources aside from lumber and stone. However, mining still comprises the largest industry within the country's primary sector. The country is a modest producer of a variety of metals such as iron ore, tungsten, aluminium, platinum, titanium, copper, molybdenum, beryllium, silver, and palladium, and lead. It is also a minor producer of petroleum and rare earth metals. However, the country's production output when it comes to natural resource extraction pales in comparison to those of many other countries that export the same resources. This is usually due to either limited availability, difficulty of extraction, or environmental concerns. Rhodellian governments have attempted to compensate for this by either prospecting for more resource deposits or importing resources from other countries that sell for them cheaper. Rhodellia's agriculture is also fairly advanced and productive. The country is self-sufficient in its food needs thanks to high availability of arable land, the use of GM crops, extensive irrigation systems, mechanisation, and acknowledgement of its vulnerability to naval blockades. It is also not uncommon for Rhodellian agriculture, mining, and forestry operations (particularly in militarily strategic locations along the country's western, north-eastern, and south-eastern land borders) to encounter unexploded bombs, artillery shells, and landmines left over from the First and Second Anéantic Wars. These hazards have resulted in the creation of large 'Red Zones' where human habitation and economic activity is either temporarily or permanently forbidden.

Culture

(WIP. Primarily a mixture of German, American, English, and Native American cultures. I envision Rhodellia as being a very diverse, multicultural, and creolised country, so people from across a wider variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds tend to feature in my posts.)