Gullnaland

Kingdom of Gullnaland Rike Gullnaland
Flag of Gullnaland Flag Coat of arms of Gullnaland Coat of arms
Royal anthem: "Kungssången"
Capital	Alþingvatn
Largest city	Níufingur
Official languages	Gullensk
Recognised national languages	Gullensk
Demonym(s)	Gullnan
Government	Constitutional Monarchy
• King	Bæring II
• Prime Minister	Sigurður Björnson
Legislature	Alþing
Establishment
• Sveinn the Navigator lands	872
• Raglanese Dominion begins	1439
• Home rule established	1822
• Independence	1898
Population
• 2015 estimate	401,012
GDP (nominal)	2015 estimate
• Total	$19,694,501,344
• Per capita	$49,112
Gini (2015)	27.0 low
Currency	Gullnan Krona (GLK)
Date format	mm.dd.yyyy
Driving side	right
Internet TLD	.gul

Gullnaland, formally the Kingdom of Gullnaland, is a small Nordic country in Kylaris with a tiny population of around 400,000. The vast majority live within the Capital District, as the country's rugged terrain and harsh subarctic and arctic climate make much of it difficult for human habitation. Originally colonized by settlers from Sveltlana and other Nordic countries who began exploiting the country's rich fisheries, it was eventually subsumed by the growing Raglanese Empire, which dispatched a small squadron in 1439 to secure the loyalty of the island nation's leaders. Gullnaland received its name from the small gold mines that were discovered on it originally during the 900s, and it was ruled by Raglan until 1898. Achieving home rule after the 1821 declaration and suppression of the First Republic in Raglan, it then gained independence after the failed Communist revolution of 1898. Not wanting to entirely sever ties with the mainland, the population decided to select a monarch in an 1899 plebiscite. A constitutional monarchy was established, with the Duchess of Safirvatn, Helena Nyström, elected as Queen of Gullnaland, with her descendants from the House of Nyström given the throne in perpetuity. Following the Great War and the destruction of the Raglanese Empire, a large number of wealthy nobles ended up fleeing to the country from what is now Sveltlana, and the fall of monarchies in Gaullica and Nusantara led some nobility and exiled leaders from around the world to seek refuge in Gullnaland (which was briefly and quietly occupied by the Democratic powers during the war). Now allied with the DITO, Gullnaland boasts one of the world's highest standards of living, and is one of the only countries in Kylaris to guarantee basic income to its citizens.

History

The first human inhabitants of Gullnaland began arriving in the mid-800s, establishing a few small seasonal fishing communities and ports on its southern coast, especially around the Hvítá river delta. The first organized settlement occurred under Sveinn the Navigator, who led an expedition that established the small town of Níufingur at the mouth of the delta (so called because of the delta's "nine fingers") and a few small farming settlements extending further inland. At the time, Gullnaland was heavily forested, and its fisheries were, as today, extremely abundant. Nordic peoples gradually expanded over the rest of the island over the course of the next two centuries, with most remaining along the southern coast (where terrain is gentler, the weather generally milder, and there are plenty of suitable anchorages for ships). As settlement began, the island also began to become deforested, due to a mixture of new construction, shipbuilding, and the grazing of the settler's sheep and other livestock. In the 900s, the first gold was discovered on the island, and it began to be commonly known as Gullnaland for the small mines that were then established. The island's settlers established the second-oldest (after the Carcosian Senate) legislature in the world, the Alþing, which met at a location on the shores of a lake that became known as Alþingvatn. The Alþingvatn site remains the official capital today, but most government offices are in nearby Níufingur.

In the 1400s, as its power swelled, Raglan turned an eye towards Gullnaland, which had previously been out of reach. Not long before the establishment of the Raglanese Empire, a small squadron of Raglanese ships and troops was dispatched to Gullnaland, landing at Níufingur and marching inland to Alþingvatn. The Alþing swiftly recognized the Raglanese Grand Duke as the rightful overlord of the island, and Gullnaland was brought into the Raglanese empire. A Raglanese viceroy was dispatched to govern the island, along with a small group of bureaucrats and soldiers, and the Alþing was kept intact to serve as an advisory legislature and to help enforce laws and decrees at a local level. During the 1400s and 1500s, the Raglanese crown gave several newly created noble families titles to lands in Gullnaland, and cadet branches of a few other houses also established themselves there. The island's fisheries, wool, and gold production made it a modestly valuable territory.

In 1822, following the short-lived rebellion in Sveltlana with the declaration of the First Republic, the Alþing was successfully able to lobby the crown to give Gullnaland home rule. The Raglanese viceroy was stripped of most of his powers, which were given to the Alþing, and the administration of the island put back under the Alþing's control. Gullnaland was made into a full-fledged kingdom in personal union with the Raglanese crown.

In 1898, the Communist insurrection in Raglan and Sveltlana nearly toppled the aging empire. In Gullnaland, there were fairly few rebellious elements, but the Raglanese government used its troops to cut off home rule and allowed the viceroy to harshly crush dissent. While the lone Communist cell in Níufingur was destroyed, the Gullnan people were quite vexed by the sudden end of home rule, and protests broke out, including the pelting of the viceroy's residence with rocks, eggs, feces, and incendiary devices. The Alþing declared itself to be re-asserting home rule, and after a tense standoff, Gullnan protesters and locally recruited soldiers who had deserted took control of Níufingur's small arsenal from the viceroy's Raglanese troops. Tense negotiations between Herfast and the Alþing and another brief standoff between a Raglanese gunboat and the shore defenses of Níufingur harbor eventually led to Gullnaland being granted independence on June 29th, 1899. In October, a referendum was then held to determine the composition of the new government, and the electorate decided it wanted a constitutional monarchy. A plebiscite in December on who the new monarch should be led to Helena Nyström being invited by the Alþing to assume the role of Queen and Head of State. The House of Nyström was among the oldest noble houses in Gullnaland and had deep connections to Raglan, and Helena herself was related (distantly) to the Raglanese emperor. Relations improved with Raglan once more, and Gullnaland began to forge a path of independence.

During the Great War, the aging Queen Helena and the Alþing were initially unsure of what position to take, with the rise of the Second Republic in Sveltlana complicating matters significantly and Gullnaland's tiny and insignificant military making declaring for one side or the other a dangerous proposition. Ultimately, the government waffled and decided to remain neutral, but Estmerish troops occupied the country anyways, fearing (correctly) that Raglanese forces would do the same. Gullnaland saw some action off the coast against Raglanese and Gaullican naval elements (mainly submarines and commerce raiders), and Asterian forces also built a large air base near Níufingur to transport materiel and search for enemy submarines. Several ports were also expanded to these ends, mainly that of Níufingur.

Following the war, a number of exiled nobles, mainly from Raglan but also from Gaullica and the former Nusantaran Empire, fled to Gullnaland. The House of Nyström became, by 1952, the House of Nyström-Sjöberg-Andresen-Marchand-Sarang, accumulating huge overseas holdings in a variety of sectors (particularly property). The incomes and estates of noble refugees arriving in Gullnaland also began to be taxed upon their arrival, swelling the treasury and also partially directly contributing to the royal house's coffers. The childless Queen Helena died and was succeeded by her nephew Bæring I in 1944, and the new king moved to expand the throne's financial interests.

The following eighteen years, during Bæring I's reign, would see significant conflict emerge between the Alþing and the crown, mainly driven by the royal family's increasingly vast accumulation of wealth and its various overseas business affairs. The king tried to sway public opinion by putting some of the growing royal fortune to work building new infrastructure projects, while the Alþing made efforts to legislate against the royal family's acquisitions and open up its fortune to the government. Public opinion was often sharply divided during this time, with supporters of the royal family's right to conduct its own financial affairs pointing to the king's infrastructure projects and stipends to the poor, and opponents claiming the king was working to usurp the Alþing and was engaging in corruption. Some opponents went as far as to say that the country's experiment with monarchy out to be ended, and when Bæring began constructing the Svanurhöll ("Palace of Swans") near Alþingvatn their views of the royal family as corrupt and manipulative were confirmed. Gullnaland experienced political turmoil during this time, with the Alþing and the king battling for influence, and at times events turned violent. In 1962, however, the situation came to a head, with a young, reformist prime minister forcing legislation that would expropriate 5/6ths of the royal family's wealth to be managed directly by the Treasury. The king refused to give permission for this to occur, and then unexpectedly died of a stroke. Many claimed he had been assassinated