Aswick

United Kingdom of Aswick and Scotia
Flag Coat of Arms
Motto: Parvis Numero, Magnus Merito (Latin)
Anthem: "Aswick the brave"
Map of Aswick, oriented south
Capital and largest city	Winchester
Official languages	English
Ethnic groups	70% Aswickan 20% Aquitaynian 10% others
Demonym(s)	Aswickan
Government	Monarchy
• King	William Stonebridge
• Prime Minister	John MacAllen
Area
• Total	115,500 km2 (44,600 sq mi)
Population
• 2017 estimate	60,182,000
GDP (nominal)	2018 estimate
• Total	2.92 trillion
• Per capita	48,519.49
Currency	Aswickan Pound (ASP)
Time zone	(UTC)
Date format	dd-mm-yyyy
Calling code	+316
Internet TLD	.asw

Aswick, officially the United Kingdom of Aswick and Scotia, is a sovereign monarchy in central Astyria. In the first decade of the seventeenth century, Aswick and Scotia signed the Acts of Union, thereby unifying the two countries into one. For a time, the country was a puppet state of Aquitayne. It is a founding member of the Astyrian Treaty Organization. The country is bordered by Thomaion to the west, Glisandia to the North, Belka to the East, and PLACEHOLDER to the south.

Aswick is a founding member of the Astyrian Treaty Organization, though it left the pact in 2017 to pursue other alliances.

History

Pre Colonial era

The Aswickan people originally came from the area that is now known as Caledonia. Unhappy with life there, they moved south where they began forming clans. The strongest of these clans was that of House Stonebridge's, and quickly united part of what is now the United Kingdom of Aswick and Scotia into the Kingdom of Aswick.

On 1 May 1207, the united Kingdom of Aswick and Scotia came into being, the result of Acts of Union declared by the King of Aswick and Scotia to ratify the 1205 Treaty of Union and so unite the two kingdoms. Not long after that, there were two civil wars known as the Wars of the [insert thing] between the Aswickans and the Scotian people. After the first war, the Scotians' rights were severely limited. After their second attempt at Scotian independence the King decided to get rid of the worst of the troublemakers and banished them.

This United Kingdom was ruled by the House of Stonebridge for over three hundred years, until 1536. In that year, a pretender from the House of Castletown claimed the throne. The Royal family was forced to flee, and they sought refuge in Aquitayne.

The new King maintained the status-quo during his 50-year reign. Meanwhile in Aquitayne, the former King, Richard, was granted a minor County that amounted to little more than a token gift. Over time, the County grew and became prosperous, allowing the son of the King to raise a force that would become the core of an Aquitaynian Army. Having successfully petitioned the Aquitaynian crown, he was put in command of an Aquitaynian expedition to claim Aswick for Aquitayne.

In 1587, precisely 51 years after being ousted from the lands, the Stonebridge family returned to Aswick. In that same year, the armies of Aquitayne and Aswick clashed. While they fought valiantly, the Aswickan soldiers could simply not stand up against the superior might of the Aquitaynian troops. Following a decisive victory, the Stonebridge-led forces marched to the capital. A short siege ensued, but after a month the defenders surrendered.

Richard the second was installed as the ruler of the country, and was given the title "Prince of Aswick".

Aswick as a puppet

In the 1650's, Aquitayne was annexed by the Empire of Exponent. Aswick, being part of Aquitayne, was forced to join the empire as well. Imperial forces arrived not long after, though they remained mostly in the city of New Atlium.

In 1734, Aquitayne declared its independence from Exponent. Aswick was thus faced with an important decision, but ultimately decided to join Aquitayne and declared independence from the Empire. Whatever forced Aswick could rally were rallied, and so began the Aswickan war of independence.

The war was bloody for both sides. Aswick could not match Imperial forces man for man, and while there certainly were big battles, overall the Aswickan war effort relied on guerrilla tactics. Ambushing supply convoys and unsuspecting troops became the order of the day. Aswick made the Imperial forces bleed every day they stayed in the country.

[More to be added later]

Great Astyrian War 1

During the first Great Astyrian War, Aswickan troops fought in the Blackhelm Confederacy along with Aquitaynes. As the casualties went up, and the demands for new troops kept growing, discontent with Aquitayne rose. The people began calling for an end to the war, and for a break with Aswick's best friend Aquitayne.

Though they got part of their wish when Aswickan troops pulled out of the peninsula, the Aswickan King refused to break entirely with Aquitayne, though Aswick did begin to distance itself from the country.

Interbellum

During the interwar period, the still newly crowned King had a lot to do. For one, he needed to build an entirely new economic infrastructure. Before the war Aswick had had a lot of help from Aquitayne, but the country was now wanting to distance itself. One of the many changes was the decimalisation of the Aswickan currency, settling on shillings and pounds.

The Aswickan Armed Forces also underwent a modernisation. New equipment and tactics were bought or developed for the Army. The newly created Air Force received state of the art aeroplanes, and the Navy began construction of modern battleships and even a carrier.

Great Astyrian War 2

To be added later

Recent history

In 2007, Scotia declared its independence from Aswick. They had been preparing this for several years, and as a result the Aswickan Army was unable to defeat the Pictish forces. An 8-year stalemate followed. Aswick had been too proud to call for help from Aquitayne. They had to prove that they could handle this internal problem on their own.

In 2010, King Marcus and Crown Prince John were killed in a tragic plane crash. The next in line, William Stonebridge reluctantly accepted the crown.

In 2016, the King finally pushed aside his pride, and called for help from Aquitayne by invoking the Aswickan Guarantee, signed in 1963. They accepted, and with Aquitaynian help the Aswickan forces managed to push Scotia forces back. Ultimately, they capitulated, and rejoined the union.

As of 2017, Army forces are still in place in Scotia in a police capacity, though a drawdown has begun, and is expected to be completed in 2018 when the last of the new police force has been trained.

In August of 2017, Aswick narrowly avoided entering a shooting war with the United States of Caprica in the West Caprican Sea.

Government & Politics

Main article: Parliament of Aswick

Parliament

Aswick has a parliament that consists of the House of Commons of Aswick, and the House of Lords. These being the lower and the upper house respectively. While the King still wields absolute powers, it is Government's prerogative to assist the monarch in his duties.

Name	Abr.	No. of MPs
Government
Aswickan Party	AP	321
Conservative Party	CP	77
Opposition
Labour Party	LP	223
Unaffiliated
Green Party	GP	9
Liberal Democrats	LD	39
Scotia National Party	SNP	22
Independent		59
	Total Seats	750

Cabinet

Portfolio	Minister	Party
Cabinet Ministers
Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Minister for the Civil Service	The Rt Hon. John Borisson MP	Aswickan Party
First Secretary of State Minister for the Cabinet Office Paymaster General	The Rt Hon Michael Gibbs MP
Chancellor of the Exchequer Second Lord of the Treasury	The Rt Hon. Mitchell Darsby MP
Secretary of State for the Home Department	The Rt Hon. Oscar Flannán MP
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs	The Rt Hon. Russell Parker MP
Secretary of State for Defence	The Rt Hon Sir Richard Bush MP
Secretary of State for International Trade President of the Board of Trade	The Rt Hon. Elvin Morna MP
Secretary of State for Justice Lord Chancellor	The Rt Hon. Kristy London MP
Secretary of State for Education Minister for Women and Equalities	The Rt Hon. Ashlie Bronagh MP
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy	The Rt Hon. Webster Sibéal MP
Secretary of State for Health	The Rt Hon. Arthur Calum MP
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions	The Rt Hon. Shaw Headly MP
Leader of the House of Lords Lord Privy Seal	The Rt Hon. The Baron Ross of Ross HL
Secretary of State for Transport	The Rt Hon. Terrence McNabb MP
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government	The Rt Hon. Uilleag Cox MP
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs	The Rt Hon. Donovan O'Hannigain MP
Secretary of State for International Development	The Rt Hon. Brogan Powers MP
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport	The Rt Hon. Cole Virgo MP
Also attending Cabinet Meetings
Leader of the House of Commons Lord President of the Council	The Rt Hon. Lanford MacClery MP
Chief Whip in the House of Commons Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury	The Rt Hon. Laurie Warner MP
Chief Secretary to the Treasury	The Rt Hon. Coby Banks MP
Attorney General	The Rt Hon. Kevin McIntyre KC MP
Minister of State for the Home Office	The Rt Hon. Willard Lyndon MP

Foreign relations

Aswick is best friends with Aq. The best of friends. I know friends, and let me tell you: better friends have never existed.

Military

Main article: Aswickan Armed Forces

The armed forces of Aswick—officially, His Majesty's Armed Forces—consist of three professional service branches: the Royal Navy and Royal Marines (forming the Naval Service), the Royal Aswickan Army and the Royal Air Froce. The forces are managed by the Ministry of Defence and controlled by the Defence Council, chaired by the Secretary of State for Defence. The Commander-in-Chief is the Aswickan monarch, William I, to whom members of the forces swear an oath of allegiance. The Armed Forces are charged with protecting Aswick and its overseas territories, promoting the country's global security interests and supporting international peacekeeping efforts. They are active and regular participants in several international coalitions, including dotdotdot.

Administrative Divisions

Flag	Province	Capital	Map
	Leamington	Winchester	File:Map Aswick Leamington.png
	Winchester	Lincoln	File:Map Aswick Winchester.png
	Southern plains	Norrich	File:Map Aswick Southern Plains.png
	Ladenses	Strafford	File:Map Aswick Ladenses.png
	Elmet	Gloster	File:Map Aswick Elmet.png
	Rales	Jamestown	File:Map Aswick Rales.png
	Monmouth	New Atlium	File:Map Aswick Monmouth.png
	Sandown islands	Bamburgh	File:Map Aswick Sandown Islands.png
	Storm Islands	Middleham	File:Map Aswick Storm Islands.png
	Scotia	Scotia City	File:Map Aswick Daria.png
	Crediton	Holbrooke	File:Map Aswick Marsden.png
	Sheffield	Sherbourne	File:Map Aswick Grissom.png
	Camelford Islands	Preston	File:Map Aswick Miral Islands.png
	New South Faer	Newcastle	File:Map Aswick New South Faer.png
	Ascension Islands	Lydbury	File:Map Aswick Ascension Islands.png

Demographics

A census is taken simultaneously in all parts of Aswick every ten years. The Office for National Statistics is responsible for collecting all data. In the 2016 census the total population of Aswick was 63,181,775. In mid-2014 and mid-2015 net long-term international migration contributed more to population growth. In mid-2012 and mid-2013 natural change contributed the most to population growth. Between 2001 and 2011 the population increased by an average annual rate of approximately 0.7%. This compares to 0.3% per year in the period 1991 to 2001 and 0.2% in the decade 1981 to 1991. The 2016 census also confirmed that the proportion of the population aged 0–14 has nearly halved (31% in 1911 compared to 18 in 2011) and the proportion of older people aged 65 and over has more than tripled (from 5 to 16%). It has been estimated that the number of people aged 100 or over will rise steeply to reach over 626,000 by 2080.

Aswick's population in 2016 was found to be 53 million. It is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, with 420 people resident per square kilometre in mid-2015. with a particular concentration in London and the south-east. The 2016 census put Scotia's population at 5.3 million, Scotia's at 3.06 million and the Islands' at 1.81 million. In percentage terms Aswick has had the fastest growing population of any country of Aswick in the period from 2006 to 2016, with an increase of 7.9%.

In 2012 the average total fertility rate (TFR) across the country was 1.92 children per woman. While a rising birth rate is contributing to current population growth, it remains considerably below the 'baby boom' peak of 2.95 children per woman in 1964, below the replacement rate of 2.1, but higher than the 2001 record low of 1.63. In 2012, Scotia had the lowest TFR at only 1.67, followed by Scotia at 1.88, Aswick at 1.94, and the Islands at 2.03. In 2011, 47.3% of births in the countries were to unmarried women. The Office for National Statistics published an "Experimental Official Statistics" bulletin in 2015 showing that, out of Aswick's population aged 16 and over, 1.7% identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (2.0% of males and 1.5% of females). 4.5% of respondents responded with "other", "I don't know", or did not respond.

Healthcare

Main article: Healthcare in Aswick

Healthcare in Aswick is a devolved matter and each country has its own system of private and publicly funded health care, together with alternative, holistic and complementary treatments. Public healthcare is provided to all Aswickan permanent residents and is mostly free at the point of need, being paid for from general taxation. Since 1979 expenditure on healthcare has been increased significantly to bring it closer to the average. Aswick spends around 8.4% of its gross domestic product on healthcare, which is 0.5 percentage points below the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average.

Regulatory bodies are organised on a country-wide basis such as the General Medical Council, the Nursing and Midwifery Council and non-governmental-based, such as the Royal Colleges. However, political and operational responsibility for healthcare lies with four national executives; healthcare in Aswick is the responsibility of the Aswickan Government; healthcare in the Islands is the responsibility of the Islands Executive; and healthcare in Scotia is the responsibility of the Scotian Government. Each National Health Service has different policies and priorities, resulting in contrasts.