Stretta

Stretta is an island nation situated in the region of Astyria. Its government is formed by an elected First Minister (Head of State) and a cabinet that is built from trusted advisors, who are based within the capital city of Giroux. A second political party holds the government to account over important issues, but there is currently no set house of governance such as a parliament or senate.

Its main exports include information systems and beef products, but its largest industry by far is tourism thanks to the variety of locations within the nation, from Mediterranean beach areas to lush forests.

It is a nation that holds its heritage close, which can be witnessed in both the flag design and currency, both of which date back to times of monarchy and barter-economics. The people were given an open referendum on each of these aspects of their national identity, and overwhelmingly replied in favour of keeping both flag and currency unchanged.

Politics

Government

Stretta is officially a republic, with the head of state (First Minister) being elected by popular vote, who is then free to draw a cabinet of officials, usually from his or her own party, who are given power to govern. The elected government is kept in check by opposition parties who hold the government accountable for their decisions.

Future plans have been drawn up to form a parliament or senate, based on the Westminster system of government, whereby a regular meeting of party officials will take place, allowing for greater discussion on future law-making processes.

Law and Criminal Justice

Strettan law is based on a system of common law, first laid down in history by regal judgements made by the King or by regional officials of the monarchy. Today, law is formed by judges in courts of law, who preside in courts on three levels - Magistrate Court, Court of Appeal and High Court.

The Magistrate Court is split into two tiers, the first, the Lower Magistrate, dealing with petty crime and bail hearing, which may then refer cases to the Upper Magistrate. This is the main court for all crimes pertaining to citizens, and will hear all cases ranging from serious theft to murder. The Magistrate is helped by a jury of peers, and decisions reached are deemed final, with verdicts of "guilty", "not guilty" or "not proven" given. If "guilty" is found, sentence is then determined by the Magistrate. Any result but guilty, the accused is released without charge. If unhappy with a result, both prosecutor and defendant can ask for a trial to be referred to the Court of Appeal. Here, the evidence supplied in the original case may be re-examined, further evidence added, or further testimony taken. There is no time limit on referral. If still unhappy with a verdict, the High Court may, at its discretion, hear the case one final time. The High Court is a judge-only court with no jury present, and is responsible for handing out so-called "definite justice", where any verdict is non-appealable.

A High Court may be the only court that hears trials relating to treason or governmental matters, which ignore Magistrates and Appeal courts due to their sensitive nature. Furthermore, decisions made by the High Court will form common law unless repealed by government. Decisions in lower courts are also reviewed periodically by High Court, which may enter verdicts from these trials into common law also.

Military

The Strettan armed forces are formed of three components, an Army, a Navy and an Air Force, and is officially referred to as the Armed Forces of Stretta (AFoS). Together, all three branches employ around 1.1 million personnel, of which around 580,000 are in active full-time duty. They are currently engaged in the responsibility of defending the sovereign borders of Stretta and its allies, as well as the region of Astyria. The government recently announced a major restructuring of the armed forces, a plan that will take 7 years to complete and will result in the complete re-equipping of the nation's armed forces, and a restructuring of its command structure.

Economy

Currency

The economy operates on the Gold Piece, a throwback currency to the days of barter-economics, where gold bars would be split up by the Royal Treasury and stamped to produce a tradable currency, and were hence "pieces of the King's gold", or gold pieces. Today, this takes the form of paper and coin currency. Paper notes are in denominations of 100, 50, 20, 10 & 5 Gold Pieces. Coins carry values of 2, 1, 0.5, 0.25, 0.10, 0.05, 0.02 and 0.01 Gold Pieces. Total amounts are commonly referred to by locals as "207 and quart" (207.25GP) or "207 and 1" (207.01GP). Exchange rates are approximately 1GP = $1.33.

Economic System

The economy of Stretta is a partially regulated market economy. The government does not play any part in pricing structures of business, but does levy business taxes, import taxes and small excise duties on valuable commodities such as fuel, tobacco and alcohol.

Demographics

At last count, the population of Stretta stands at 176 million, with 6 major cities housing the largest percentage of the population. Giroux houses around 16% of the total population, and is the largest city in the country. The nation is predominantly caucasian (White Strettan - 76%), with Black Strettan making up the majority of the remaining 24%.

Education

All Strettan children attend compulsory schooling from 4-16 in a mixture of private and state schools. After this time, optional 16-18 education is provided for by Colleges, and 18+ education is provided for by Universities. Universities can be found in all major towns and cities, with the University of Landstown consistently ranking as the top university in the country.

University loans are available to students meeting certain financial criteria, allowing disadvantaged young people to continue their education.

Literacy and numeracy rates are over 99%.

Healthcare

Both private and public healthcare systems exist in Stretta. Public healthcare is free for all through state-run healthcare facilities, while private healthcare is administered on private grounds. An emergency ambulance service will serve both private and public healthcare patients, but will only deliver patients to state facilities.

Sport

Sport is big business in Stretta, with the sports of Darts, Ice Hockey and Gridiron Football fighting for dominance. Stretta fields competitors in all of these sports internationally, with its most successful team being its Football team who claimed victory in the Baptism of Iron, their first international tournament