Ruotsaland

Flag of Ruotsaland

Ruotsaland, officially the Republic of Ruotsaland, is a country located in northeastern Elisia, bordering the Arctic Ocean to its north, the nation of Pervincia to its east, and the nation of Kor to its west. To the south is, as of yet, a wild frontier to which no one knows particularly well what lies beyond. The capital and largest city is Helsingfors. Other major cities are Mariehamn, Pohjanmaa, Åbo, and Björneskog. Ruotsaland's population is 40 million (as of 2023), the majority of whom live in the cities along the coastal regions of the nation flanked from the interior by valleys of incredibly fertile, silty soil.

A relatively linguistically diverse nation, many languages possess official status: as a share of the population, 75% of the population of Ruotsa speak Swedish as their first language, while 10% first speak Finnish, 5% of the population first speaks Estonian, and approximately 1% speak Saami languages as their first. The remaining 8% to 9% of people who live in Ruotsaland that do not fall into these groups are often either of recent immigrant background and extraction, or immigrants themselves, and speak a plethora of languages as their first, with strong majorities of these populations being from the neighbours next door, Pervincia and Kor.

Ruotsaland is a unitary parliamentary democracy of 8 regions divided furthermore into 201 municipality regions with equal population sizes for parliamentary elections anywhere from every 4 to 5 years. Within this structure also rests an autonomous region of Ruotsaland, known as Soeder-Oear, which has devolved control over local affairs within their area, located north of the mainland.

Over 17 million people live in the Greater Helsingfors metropolitan area, with just over 10 million people living within the city proper. This is followed in population, in declining order, by Mariehamn (5 million within the city proper), Pohjanmaa (4 million within city proper), Åbo (2.7 million within city proper), and Björneskog (1.1 million within city proper).

Cities of Ruotsaland

Helsingfors

The capital of Ruotsaland, it serves as the location of the functions of government; it is here where the Riksdag is located, where the Prime Minister live, in the Ministerial Office of the Republic of Ruotsaland, and where the President lives, in the Executive Palace of the Republic of Ruotsaland. The headquarters for the Army of Ruotsaland is also located in the city. As the capital, it also serves as a huge economic hub for international trade and innovations in the goods and services industry, with many corporations, such as Spisto and ÅKA, having their headquarters within the city. Government-led public services, such as the state-run locomotive service, RSB, finding its headquarters in the city as well. Most diplomatic missions done by Ruotsaland are located in Helsingfors.

Mariehamn

The second biggest city in Ruotsaland, Mariehamn, serves as both an important port for international trade and the primary intake station for immigration and customs for the entire nation. Culturally, it is considered one of the most important places for the development and proliferation of the Swedish language at home and abroad, as it is here where the Global Swedish Council (Världensvenskarådet) is located, and Mariehamn University is considered as one of the best schools in the world to study in the humanities, with a speciality in Swedish and the other Germanic languages of the world.

Pohjanmaa

Pohjanmaa, the third biggest city, is a city that has a long and profound history in naval affairs. As such, the Navy of Ruotsaland has its largest fleet located in this city, as well as Pohjanmaa being an exceptionally great stopover point for cruise ships and yachts travelling on the continent or even internationally. The Pohjanmaa Forest, a blanket of green that contrasts with the colourful tones of this city, is a notable nature preserve which allows for most biologists to find some of the largest fauna within Ruotsaland with relative ease, especially the Northern Lion, the national animal.

Åbo

Similar in status to Mariehamn, Åbo, the fourth largest city, is considered one of the best places in the world to study Finnish, as Åbo University (or as the locals prefer to call it in their language, Turku) is located in a very powerful location to learn the language, as well as others like it in the Finnic groups, such as Estonian and even the Saami languages, the latter spoken in the frontier in the south and past the borders of any yet known nation in this interior; academic life within Åbo in studying these languages are second to none. Besides the academic, Åbo offers an active nightlife, being a notable global location for gambling and legal drug use for cannibis, which are a hit on the continent with young people from all over. However, despite the rosy picture, international incidents have happened that have encouraged police to crack down on the gaiety, with more than a few young foreign nationals from Kor studying at the university, or simply visiting, being found attempting to smuggle some of their drugs they bought in Åbo over the border to back home, among other things. As a result, both Ruotsi police and those from Kor have checkpoints on the border to examine people attempting passage into Kor with such contraband.

Björneskog

The fifth largest city, and the only one in the top 5 cities within Ruotsaland to have no coastal access, is Björneskog, located deep in the internal frontier, which has been a large reason to its astonishing growth over the past few decades. An area surrounded by natural forests for most of its history, Björneskog acquires a lot of its tourist traffic and revenue from its traditional way of life that the residents have learnt to commercialise to great success. From the forging for sale of custom kvinnörshugts, to guided forest expeditions to teach eager tourists the way people used to survive out in the unforgiving forests of inner Ruotsaland, Björneskog is for all intents and purposes ‘the de facto capital of the wilderness’ in the nation. Due to the wild persona of the city and its region, many coastal Ruotsa have summer homes within the vicinity, avoiding the brutal snowy environment of winter in the region, but enjoying the bounty of summer's beauty in the area.