Halsuntria

The Federation of Halsuntria is a island nation located in the Kaldaz Ocean in Southeast Anteria. The nation has a cold climate with most of the country being in temperate and subarctic biomes and parts in the south being in the tundra biome. The nation is divided into 13 Departments & then further divided into 103 Boroughs. The capital city, Saluntberg is one of the oldest cities in Halsuntria dating back to 2000 BC and was the largest city until the 1970's. On the other side of the country, Telex, the largest city, is a port town and technological hub that had a rapid rise in population recently in the 1960's after popular tech companies Rater and Digiworld were founded there.

Federation of Halsuntria Federupskeat a Halsuntria
Flag of Halsuntria Flag
Motto: Fidelitas ad Invicem
Anthem: Serenity of the Tribes
Capital	Saluntberg
Largest city	Telex
Official languages	English, Tenurindji
Recognised regional languages	Scottish Gaelic, Belarusian
Ethnic groups	Halsunt (Hen, Gent, Oufrey, Kesgonther & Fuvern Tribes), Scottish, Belarusian
Demonym(s)	Halsuntrian, Halsunt
Government	Conservative Parochial Oligarchy
• Head Councilman	Xeggenek Pander
• Councilmen	Harry Dierecht (FD), Xiao Feng (CD), Igor Gantroshenko (SAHD), Derry Ihkals (RD) Padma Najestant (SMD), Olstan Nemorits (HD), Byron Phone (XD), Martin Reedman (MD), Yamiet Reman (GD), Norman Smint (MD), Adjanie Tarotivo (ND), Jaron Vormensen (TD)
Legislature	The Head Council
• Upper house	Borough Administration
Establishment
• Unification	January 9, 1562
• Organization	May 13, 1737
• Conversion	August 29, 1909
Area
• Total	529,344 km2 (204,381 sq mi)
Population
• 2020 estimate	12,500,000
• 2017 census	12,470,000
• Density	23.40/km2 (60.6/sq mi)
GDP (nominal)	2019 estimate
• Total	$735.73 billion
• Per capita	$59,000
Gini (2009)	34.0 medium
HDI (2013)	0.92 very high
Currency	Friekel
Time zone	UTC+7 (UTC HST)
Date format	mm-dd-yyyy
Driving side	right
Calling code	+631
Internet TLD	.hl

Etymology

Halsuntria's name is pretty straight-forward, it comes from adding the Tenurindji suffix -ia meaning land, to Halsunt, the natives of Halsuntria. The Halsunt natives named themselves after the land that they were on, the Hasuntland. However, the broader Halsunts get divided into 5 tribes with distinct names. The most popular theory for the meaning of Hasuntland comes from -land (another prefix for land) and Hasunt which is prefect in Ancient Tenur.

Geography, Climate & Geography

Halsuntria is split into three sections climate wise, the Temperate North, Taiga South, & The Tundra Deep South with each climate being its namesake. It is an island nation and therefore, doesn't border any nation. Its land includes the main, Hasuntland as well at the Kitrad Archipelago, Otran & Keenis Islands, and the Mykretan Archipelago farther southeast.

Mount Fedder at 13,109 feet in the Xylbdun Mountians.

Its lowest point is Aosteck Deep in Urfet Lake while its highest is Mount Fedder at 13,109 feet. Very few people have climbed the peak due to how cold it is and how steep the initial climb is.

The country is pretty rainy and gets a fair amount of rain to make the land suitable for farming despite its cold temperatures with most of Halsuntria being in Cf-&Df- on the Koppen Climate Classification.

Wildlife and Agriculture

The agriculture in Halsuntria has been limited due to its remoteness and its cold climate. The most notable plants here are evergreen trees as they are found everywhere and have been given many uses by the Halsunts. Mushrooms, lichen and other small plants are also plentiful and contribute to giving almost all of Halsuntria a distinctly green look. The more north you go in Halsuntria, the plants will get much more diverse including lots of flowers, nuts & food, and Burlok Trees, the some of the tallest trees in Anteria.

The Kesgonther Tiger spotted near a shallow riverbank

Animals in Halsuntria are much more numerous with large mammals such as Elk, Moose & Caribou being found everywhere in the country. Foxes and all types of insects can be found throughout the country as well. Although rare, the Kesgonther Tiger is found in southern areas and most notably in the Sir Amient Halsudnt Department where it is under protection by the Halsuntrian Conservation Office (HCO). The HCO does a good job at protecting species from going extinct and endangered with only 4 species going extinct since its founding in 1847. In the water, the Limofish is the national animal of Halsuntria and are huge fish that can grow up to 6 feet long. That along with a huge range of fish and sharks can be found in Halsuntria's ocean and contribute to a huge fishing culture.

Notable Landmarks

The Boninham Lakes, part of Boninham Lakes National Park in the South Department, is an expanse of wetland sprinkled with lakes home to many animals. It is a perfect example of Thermokarst, the melting of permafrost to form lakes. It is in the South Department and is home to animals including the Boninham Crab, a species found nowhere else in the world.

Temmerin Swamp getting frozen over in June.

Temmerin Swamp is a large swamp located in the Gent Department. It is in accessible to cross by road and leaves Gent Isle isolated and only road access through ferry. It too, is home to a large amount of wildlife including the Halsunt Heron and the Gent Turtle.

The Mykretan Archipelago is located far off the Halsuntria's east coast and has no permanent population. It is a research station and one-time nuclear testing station. It is most noted for its extreme land features however it is also home to walruses and penguins. It isn't open to the public because of its remoteness and is owned by the Halsuntrian government.

Xylbdun (pronounced chilb-dun) Mountains is the main mountain range of Halsuntria located entirely in the Xylbdun Department. It attracts thousands of visitors every year to its ski slopes, hiking trails and scenery. It is the only place in Halsuntria that was never inhabited for most of history.

Viogen Volcano in the only active volcano in Halsuntria and is located on Viogen Island in the Kitrad Archipelago. It last erupted in 1915 and caused widespread damage throughout Halsuntria. The island's population of around 2000 operate the tourism industry there with hotels, scenic trains, restaurants and tours.

The most notable land feature though, is Urfet Lake. Urfet Lake is in Gent Department in Southwest Halsuntria and is home to many fish found nowhere else in the world. The reasoning of this is believed to be that it got cut off from the ocean 800,000 years ago and its fish have evolved to be unique without influence from any other body of water. It is also the largest lake in Halsuntria.

History

Organization

In the years leading up to the Organization of Halsuntria, Halsunts wanted more rule and organization to take place and to start to make technological advancements to boost themselves on the world stage. So then, a leader from each of the Five Tribes met up in Nevfit to discuss how it should happen, they were there for 14 days and by the end, a governmental plan had came out and they were ready to start.

The Serenis Building currently in Nevfit.

On April 30, 1737, Rolet Treman (Gent), Holstek Ferlistov (Kesgonther), Venby Dair (Hen), Norm Uodlen (Fuvern) & Aston Drummels (Oufrey) met at the Serenis Building in Nevfit to discuss what should happen next. Nevfit was chosen to to its centrality in Halsuntria, it was sizable, but not big. They were considered the smartest and strongest of the tribes and if they couldn't do it, no one could. One of the first things they did was determine what type of government to have, an oligarchy. They chose this because it allowed for someone from everywhere in Halsuntria to have a meaningful say in what happens. They got cartographers to come to Nevfit to divide the country into 23 districts. The next was the location of the capital, it was going to be Saluntberg. It was the largest city in Halsuntria and was an obvious choice for the location. The last was how to contact the outside world. A big reason Halsuntria was going to make its government was so that it could contact and connect to the outside world. They decided to try to make big boats known as Machlanga, they were sailboats and rowboats that were the size of yachts, they could go 30 mph & they were unlikely to break.

18th-20th Century

During the 18th Century, Halsuntria started to get more organized under a single body instead of being sparse. They formed an Oligarchy that is still in use today in 1737. Most technological advances come later in their history but, time keeping and map making have became very important during this century. Due to them being so isolated time keeping and map making were unknown territories pervious to this era. In 1711, the Cartography Guild was formed to explore and map all of Halsuntria and is still in use to this day operating online maps. They discovered the Extreme Points of Halsuntria (the Eastern, Western, Northern, & Southernmost Points in Halsuntria) and climbed up Mount Fedder to map the uninhabited Xylbdun Mountains. The first accurate maps were made during this period as well as an established time zones. Art and Literature were greatly expanded on during this century with the Notsenevigen Alopen (Expanding Arts Period) being in full swing from 1760-1780.

The 19th Century was full of outside influence and technology coming in and turning Halsuntria into a industrialized powerhouse like the rest of the world. One of the most important of these technologies was the train. There was no efficient way to get around the island previous to this time and as soon an trains came, rails were built across the country and remain as the main way of interstate transportation in the country. Outside communication from the country was non-existent other than word of mouth for most of the 19th century until a major project called Project Kommunikate that linked telegram poles to the cities in Volgingrad and South Ildan from Halsuntria. One of the most important events during the 19th Century was the earthquake of 1832 that ravaged most of Halsuntria and left it in shambles for the next decade. It was an estimated 8.8 on the Richter Scale and many small villages were abandoned after the event because of the hassle to rebuild them. In 1866, Halsuntria made the Friekel its new currency becoming one of the last countries to have a currency. Foreign Relation during this period were greatly expanded making allies with Castilaria & New Sebronia.

The main event that happened in the early 1900's was the conversion to Departments from Districts. There were 23 Districts previous to 1909 and there are now currently 13 Departments. Halsuntria established one of the first nationwide system of telephones in 1915. Most of the time in the 1900's was used to build up on of the most technologically advanced Navies in the world. They also discovered in 1934 that they have plentiful deposits of 6 of the 17 Rare-Earth Minerals primarily in the Fedder Parish. Those include Thulium (largest producer), Gadolinium (largest producer), Neodymium, Ytterbium, Scandium, and Promethium (largest producer) and make up a large portion of their GDP. In the latter half on the century major reforms happened to the country under Head Councilman Gary Hyxler that made an effort to try and make technological advancements with the rest of the world as well as keeping close ties to traditional ways of Halsuntrians. This included using exclusively steam trains as passenger transport, and building traditional house complexes.

21st Century

An important improvement in the government was the addition of the Regional Administration in 2007 in which a representative from each of the 103 Boroughs (equivalent to US Counties) would gather Uoget (recommendations from the citizens) approved from the borough board. With the Uoget, they would narrow them down to recommendations that would best benefit the country, people and/or world and present them to the Council Members (It will be put in more detail later.) An important discovery for the study of mining and science was made in 2011 when natural reserves of Meitnerium (a previously synthetic element) were found in the South Parish. It was transferred to the Keenantown National Labs (a world-famous laboratory known for the studies of the Periodic Table) where it was studied. It was noted for having a very high half-life unlike lab-made Meitnerium and is expected to pioneer future studies of synthetic elements. With the coming of the internet, Halsuntria is famous for supplying free internet to its citizens and its social media sites which are spread throughout Anteria.

Demographics

The population of Halsuntria was 12,370,942 at the 2017 census for reference.

Ethnicity

From the 2017 census, about 71% of the population is Aboriginal (Halsunt) with White being next at 27%, then Black at 2% and others make up the remaining 1%. The least diverse Department was the South Department with 91% being Aboriginal and the most diverse was the Fedder Department with the majority being Aboriginal at 54%, then White at 39%. Of the white group, roughly 60% were Slavic, 20% were Celtic, 10% were Balkan & another 10% were Nordic.

Language

The main language spoken in Halsuntria is Tenurindji (often shortened to Tenur.) It is spoken by about 97% of the population and is in the Pama-Nyungan Language Family. This is followed with English that is taught in most schools and is spoken by 52% of the population. Minority languages spoken here include Belarusian, Scottish Gaelic, Bosnian & Faroese (Mykretonan). In the 2017 census, it said that 23% of the population is trilingual with most of them being minorities that speak their native language, English & Tenur. Most of the minority languages that came to Halsuntria came fairly recently apart from Scottish Gaelic. This was caused by the 1966 act to loosen immigration laws to make Halsuntria a more diverse place because nearly 93% were Halsunt. The Mykretonan language came from the natives of the Mykretan Archipelago that were forced out in the 1940's to make way for nuclear testing sites.

Economy

The Halsuntrian Economy has been limited mainly due to the fact of Halsuntria's small population. However, it has one of the highest GDP per capita in Anteria making it world class. It economy relies a lot on the mining industry as well as tourism, logging & IT. The mining industry is primarily done through Fedder Mining Co. due to most of the mining taking place in the Fedder Department. It is led by the supreme abundance of Rare-Earth Minerals found here including Promethium, Thulium, & Gadolinium. It is also supported by bismuth, iron & copper mining. The tourism is recently flourishing due to massive media campaigns across Anteria. Halsuntria has numerous amounts of tourist destinations and it has been limited due to its remoteness. It brings in billions of Friekels every year and it is run by the government-owned Halsuntrian Tourism and gets tons of funding. The logging business is a direct result of business owners of the 1800's using Halsuntria's resources to their advantage and chopping down large amounts of Halsuntria's forests. This could've been seen as a good thing and a bad thing. It cleared Halsuntrian land for roads and towns while making a slight profit in the process but they also eradicated wildlife from the region. The IT industry was grown exponentially during the 1960's in Telex and continues to be a technological hub to this day. The company Rater produces phones, mobile apps and gaming consoles while DigiWorld makes software for electronics as well as printers and provides internet. There are many smaller companies in the business but those two bring in the most money and are very well know throughout Anteria.

Infrastructure

Energy

Halsuntria currently uses almost entirely renewable energy. A bill in 2005 allowed for large projects of biomass stations, solar panels and wind turbines. Previous to that point, it had been using the last of its coal resources and was looking for a local solution before looking elsewhere for oil and coal. The largest wind turbine farm in the world is located offshore in the South Department and can produce 18,000 MW of power. There is also a large amount of wind turbine in the hills of the Fedder Department. Solar panels have been one of the smaller producers of electricity with Halsuntria not being a very sunny place and it wouldn't be as effective as other means. The largest of sector of energy is Biomass. Citizens and the Government realized how much potential the energy source had and started to make large strides to make the primary source of energy. Landfills were cleared and turned into energy and as Head Councilman Ergulat Trasgen said "It was the best decisions we've made. It was a win win situation, clearing landfills full of garbage into renewable energy." The Skrest Biomass Facility, the largest in Halsuntria, produces nearly 600 MW of energy and powers all of Telex directly from trash and wood.