Someria
Someria Сомерия Sumerland | |
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Flag | |
| Capital | Blaustadt |
| Official languages | Venadian, Somer German |
| Demonym(s) | Somerian |
| Government | Volost of the Republic of Venadia |
• Governor | Valentina Borinova |
| Legislature | Regional Veche |
| Area | |
• | 232,139 km2 (89,629 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• Estimate | 4.4 million |
• Density | 19.0/km2 (49.2/sq mi) |
Someria (Venadian: Сомерия, transcript: Someriya. Somer German: Sumerland) is a Volost of the Republic of Venadia and the homeland of the Somer Germans, the only native Germanic ethnicity in Venadia. It is located in southern Venadia, and is considered part of the South-East Region. Someria is the location of the Somer Lake, the biggest lake in Venadia, and has a continental and temperate to semi-arid climate with warm summers and cold winters. It ranges from steppe landscape in the east to mountainous in the south and temperate in the central and western regions. Despite being the homeland of the Somer Germans, ethnic Venadians are a majority of the population. While they are unrecognized by the Republic of Venadia, the Somer Germans have their own traditional aristocracy who account for 9% of the Somer German population (between 120,000 to 130,000 individuals).
History
Someria's original population were part of the Enada culture in the 14th to 10th century BC. They lived largely around the Somer Lake, and were among the first to take to permanent settlement in modern-day Venadia. The culture was wiped out sometime in the 10th century BC, likely as a result of plague. The area was later settled by Ghananok-speaking people related to the Boldirians and Undreshi, absorbing what remained of the Enada culture. Like the Enada, the Ghananok took to sedentiary lifestyles, quite unlike their eastern cousins.
The territory converted to Islam in the 5th century AD, just a few decades after the conversion of the Undreshi and Boldirians. The Somer area fell under the influence of the Boldiria in 647 after the death of the last Ghananok Emir shortly after he had slain all his brothers during the inheritance struggle. Emir Ulir reportedly was slain by his own assassin, who confused him for one of his brothers.
Boldiria lost control of the territory during the Northern Crusades, and the area fell under the control of the Order Militant of Knights of the Blessed Virgin in 988. The Sovereign Order was a collection of German-speaking knights who had joined the Venadian Crusades, and with the conversion of the pagan looked eastwards. Despite attempts by both Boldiria and Ilveria of driving the christian crusaders out, the Sovereign Order maintaned control of the territory they dubbed Someria.
The Order-State of Someria controlled the territory between 988 until 1454. Grandmaster Rudolf von Barendorf surrendered the Order's sovereignity and most of its land to the Republic of Venadia in return for their aid in their struggle against the Ilverians, who had managed to make gains on Christian territory. The Order Militant itself largely disbanded in its current form, with the bulk of its former knights serving as officers and soldiers in the Venadian Army. The Venadians pushed the Ilverians back during the Venadian-Ilverian Wars.
Someria gained its present borders in 1521, including some territory annexed from the Ilverians with christian minorities. The area was structured as a Volost, with the von Barendorfs serving as hereditary Princes until 1847 when it became an elected position on par with most of Venadia. Someria was under the occupation of Arlelli communist forces betwen 1937 and 1942, with the communists waging an outright war on Someria's domestic aristocracy, descendant of noble families of the Order Militant who had settled the area.
Politics
Someria is split between conservatives and socialists, with the Liberal-Republicans having relatively little hold in the district. The Somerian People's Party (Somer German: Sumerischer Volkspartei) is the third party within the region itself, but does not contest national elections. The district is currently ruled by a SPP/Socialist coalition.
2013 Election
| Party | Votes | Percentage | Seats | +/- | ||||||
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| Socialist Party | 804,532 | 38.8% | 51 |  1
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| Unity Party | 708,285 | 34.2% | 44 | 2
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| Somerian People's Party | 363,522 | 17.5% | 23 | 
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| Liberal-Republican | 85,194 | 4.1% | 5 |
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| Civil Rights Party | 61,110 | 2.9% | 3 |  3
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| Patriotic Party | 22,577 | 1.1% | 0 | |||||||
| Others | 28,948 | 1.4% | 0 | |||||||
| Total valid | 2,074,168 | 97.3% | ||||||||
| Invalid/blank votes | 57,632 | 2.7% | ||||||||
| Total (Turnout: 64.6%) | 2,131,800 | 126 | ||||||||
| Source: Venadian Electoral Commission | ||||||||||