Haguenau

Federate Duchies of Haguenau Duchés Fédérés d'Haguenau
Flag Grand Royal Coat of Arms of Haguenau Grand Royal Coat of Arms
Motto: "Mos Maiorum."
Location of Haguenau (dark green) and Étlaurlande (light green) in Astyria (grey)
Capital	Angoulême
Official languages	French
Ethnic groups (2010)	98% White, 2% other
Demonym(s)	Haguenoi Haguenauvian
Government	Elective Monarchy
• Monarch	Stephen the Second
Legislature  King exercises legislative power in conjuction with the King's Council
Area
•	793,577 km2 (306,402 sq mi)Does not include Étlaurlande
Population
• 2014 estimate	72,023,934
• 2010 census	71,823,934
• Density	90.51/km2 (234.4/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)	estimate
• Total	$2.713 trillion
GDP (nominal)	estimate
• Total	$2.713 trillion
HDI (2010)	0.923 very high
Currency	Haguenau Livre (Ⱡ) (HGL)
Time zone	UTC+1 (HST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (HDT)
Date format	dd-mm-yyyy AD
Driving side	right
Calling code	+12
ISO 3166 code	HGN
Internet TLD	.hg

The Federate Duchies of Haguenau (French: Duchés Fédérés d'Haguenau), commonly know as Haguenau, is a sovereign country located on the Lorecian Continent of Astyria that includes overseas territories and colonies. The territory occupied by Haguenau on Lorecia is often refered to as Metropolitain Haguenau, and it is a relatively small territory, covering 398 772 km², and with a population of around 72 million. Haguenauvian colonies include Étlaurlande.

Haguenau is an elective monarchy and a counselled authoritarian democracy. Its capital is Angoulême, the nation's largest city and the main cultural and commercial centre. The current Haguenau monarch—since 7 April 1982—is King Stephen II.

Haguenau is an economically, culturally, politically, and militarily strong nation. Haguenau is a developed country, and its citizens enjoy a high standard of living, with the country performing well in various international rankings of quality of life.

History

The earliest recorded human presence in the current territory of Haguenau is believed to be that of nomadic Vikairuge tribes, from around 18,000 BC. Archaeological searches have revealed several Vikairuge landmarks and temporary settlements throughout Haguenau, however, structures or infrastructure designed to serve for more than a few weeks have never been found, suggesting that while the Vikairuge travelled through the region as some point in history, they never settled or otherwise occupied the territory in any permanent fashion.

The first permanent settlement of the territory occurred during the spring of 656, by Gaul settlers crossing into Lorecia from present-day south-east Nikolia, then occupied by the Gaul empire. The Gaul's expansion into Lorecia was considered to be highly successful, however, the Lorecian Gauls often disagreed with the decisions made by the Crown. After failing to convince the Crown to adopt reforms regarding the administration of the Lorecian territory, the nobles occupying and administrating Lorecian Gaul signed the Proclamation of the Sovereign Rights of Haguenau on the 15th of September 745, severing all ties with the Gaul government and declaring itself a sovereign state. With the Proclamation gaining massive support in Lorecian Gaul, leaving Gaul with little influence over its Lorecian territory, and the upcoming winter promising harsh conditions, the Gaul Crown opted to respect the declaration without conflict.

Politics

Haguenau is ruled by an elective monarchy; a monarch counselled by the King's Council, which is composed of the heads of historically-established noble houses. The Council helds some rights over the monarch's actions, such as a right to veto his actions if a unanimous vote is passed, and the right to demand the reelection of the monarch under the same conditions. Upon the death of a monarch, the Council elects a new ruler amongst its current members. While elected monarchs are often dukes, having lower vassals elected to the position is not unheard of.

Haguenau's government is often dubbed "Counselled Organic Democracy". Counselled Organic Democracy is a unicameral system in which all political power is vested in the Monarch and the King's Council. The members of the King's Council act in the interests of the entire estate they represent, including economic entities and its populace. The term "Counselled" comes from that fact that every noble estate has a Commons which any citizen may attend, but is usually attended by important economic powers and the "savonneux". The term "savonneux" ("soapy" in French, from the expression "soapbox") is a name commonly attributed to charismatic citizens who have a good understand of the government and have decided to dedicate their life, through communal or noble patronage, to represent the interest of citizens in Commons.

In these Commons, Citizens of all backgrounds are free to debate political matters, with their right to expression protected by laws so as to encourage controversial opinions without fear of prosecution. A representative from the noble estate administrating the Commons acts as a mediator, although the Mediator is actively encouraged to participate in these debates. The presence and attendance of these Commons is required by law, the idea being that these Commons allow citizens' concerns to be addressed by the government without relinquishing power and avoiding resort to extremes such as popular revolts or tyrannical rule.

However, the Commons have no executive or legislative power, and act merely as "popular councils", facilitating government-citizen communication. Noblemen have no obligations to heed to demands made by Commons, as the role of Commons is to provide an assertion of public opinion on government matters and to raise potential sources of unrest and allow the government to respond before they become problematic.

Following the advent of new technologies in the 20th and 21st centuries, the Commons scene has expanded to make use of new mediums, such as radio, television, and the Internet. Debates are often broadcast over various news channels or other governmental sources, such as the official Council website, which livestreams all its sessions. The Internet has also brought fourth new channels through which Government and Citizen hold dialogues. The Council maintains online forums for all Commons of Haguenau, where debates can be held with the same rights and in the same spirit as their real-world counterparts. Many noblemen have also established other links, such as adopting social networks or holding regular dialogues via webcasting.

The fairness of this system is under significant debate. Despite all legal powers residing in the monarchy and nobility, many parties, within or without Haguenau, consider the system to be functioning fairly and with minimal corruption, citing the Haguenau's rigid customs and culture as a counterweight to what would otherwise be a tyrannical rule. Other parties, however, accuse the government of employing Bonapartist principles, by supporting their rule with populist and democratic rethorics without granting citizens any actual power. Some have dubbed the Haguenauvian governance as one of Authoritarian Deliberation; a ruse to give the populace the impression that they have some influence over the government, whereas in practice they exert none.

International Incidents

Sassinia-led blockade of Haguenau (2013)

In May of 2013, the legislative body of Haguenau passed a law criminalising the public display of homosexuality on cultural grounds. This law was met with fierce opposition from a large number of foreign governements, many of which demanded the immediate repeal of this law and applied economic sanctions to pressure the Haguenau government. In response to an increasing number of hostile threats, several foreign governments backed Haguenau's sovereign rights and warned against taking military action. This eventually culminated in the formation of a formal 11-nation Defence Pact led by the Riysian Arab Republic, which pledged to intervene militarily should any agressive action be taken against Haguenau.

On May 4, the United Socialist Republic of Sassinia put in place a blockade of Haguenau's western coast, violating the terms set by Riysa and triggering a state of war between the newly-organised Defence Pact and Sassinia. Soon thereafter, the nation of Meinkraft joined the Sassinian forces in invading Haguenauvian territory. In the brief conflict that followed, the blockade and its accompanying invasion force were quickly overwhelmed by the vastly more numerous forces of the Defence Pact. The conflict ended with minimal losses from the defending side and the complete destruction of the Sassinian and Meinkraftian forces.

Military historians remain puzzled as to what lead Sassinia and Meinkraft to take agressive action against the Defence Pact. According to the Haguenau government, a total of 15 nations pledged to defend Haguenau in the event of a military conflict (including the 11 members of the Defence Pact), while the invading forces included only Sassinia and Meinkraft. The prevailing hypothesis is that Sassinia had gambled on the hope that their action and the ensuing escalation would draw in other foreign nations that had demanded Haguenau repeal the ban, but the plan backfired catastrophically when no other nation intervened in the conflict.