Ostrov

Ostrov
Flag dark blue for historical relations with Lurynia, white for the First Unknown, an upwards chevron for the future
Motto: Justice and Progress
Anthem: Onwards
Ostrov is located by the northern half of the continent of Dacia
Status	Independent State
Capital and largest city	Southport
Official languages	Common
Recognised national languages	Lurynian
Religion	secular state
Demonym(s)	Ostrovian
Government	Republic
• Prime Minister (Head of State and Government)	David Chatham
Discovery
• originally discovered by First Unknown	1361
• organisation into a state	by 1390
Area
• Total	2,525 km2 (975 sq mi)
Population
• 1611 census	63,000
GDP (nominal)	estimate
• Total	$1,008,000,000
• Per capita	$16,000
Currency	Lurynian Sparek (LS)
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy
Driving side	left
Calling code	+47
Internet TLD	.os

Ostrov is an island state in northern Dacia, located to the west of the main continent. Although it lies in the Winter Ocean, the Lurynian bureau of meteorology has categorised the nation as being dominated by decidious woodlands; it is also located on a flat island, which means that temperatures across the nation at any given point will be fairly similar. While largely rural and agrarian, several towns also exist; the largest of these is capital city Southport, where around 8,000 of the 63,000 Ostrovians live.

History

Pre-Charter Ostrov (1361-1390)

The island of Ostrov was discovered by the First Unknown when they arrived on the planet of Sparkalia in 1361.

A New System of Measurement (1364)

"Christina Broadbent" redirects here. For information about the discovery of the Grae system, see Units of measurement in Sparkalia.

Christina Broadbent was part of the First Unknown wave of 1361 AR (1955 GD). While much of the population, including her husband, had taken up farming for subsistence, Broadbent was renowned as one of the leading ladies' dressmakers on the island for the first few months it was inhabited. In those days, there was no common system of measurements and many local farmers had decided to avoid them altogether.

However, Broadbent suddenly disappeared from the island in Umbra 1362. Her friend, corn farmer Michael Smith, wrote in his diary on Umbra 5th that she was "extremely upset" at the farming community's "inconsistent output" and had told him a matter of days previously that "she would set out, at any cost, to discover how to improve the abysmal situation."

Broadbent did not plan to reach any particular destination, although she arrived in the Solarius Empire - modern-day Nova Solarius - in 1363 AR (1957 GD on the Solarian calendar) after making the lengthy boat trip west along the north Pythian coast. Details of her time there are scant; it is understood that she was met with some hostility, given the War of Space, but was taken in by an anti-war rural family and learned about the local Grae system of measurements during her few months there.

Around Lyncis of 1364 AR (1958 GD), shortly after her return, Broadbent distributed over 100 copies of a handwritten pamphlet entitled A New System of Measurement, an impressive achievement on an island of roughly 800 inhabitants. Her pamphlet outlined the history of the system, the mathematics underpinning it, and what she saw as the need for a common system to be used among labourers. It is universally accepted that Broadbent's campaigning led to the universal adoption of the Grae system in Ostrov.

Megan Richards, the wife of David Chatham (who was Prime Minister as of Hilaria 1612), is one of Broadbent's 592 great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren.

Politics

Government

Given the size and population of the island, politics in Ostrov is highly centralised and relies on two major parties. Historically, the Farmers' and Workers' Union have been a socially conservative party which historically sought to abolish tariffs, and today supports reducing income tax dependence and introducing a sales tax (although this regularly meets with opposition from more moderate Union politicians); their base is among farmers and other rural workers. The Justice Party is a democratic socialist party which supports maximising personal freedoms, but wants to introduce a progressive income tax so that higher earners - particularly productive farmers who export to Lurynia - pay more; they enjoy heavy support in towns.

The government is currently made up entirely of the members of the majority party of the Ostrovian council, which is currently the Union. There are four cabinet ministries. David Chatham is the Prime Minister, head of state and government; he is broadly responsible for representing Ostrov on the Sparkalian stage and dictating the priorities and direction of the government.

While the state is limited, Ostrov regularly engages in deficit spending. Ostrov only collected around 8.3% of its GDP in tax revenue in the 1610 fiscal year. In that year's budget, healthcare took up 5.7% of GDP, education took up 3.8% and policing took up 2.3%. These figures have been fairly constant in previous years.

Although there is a common trope that many Ostrovians live in "rural areas" away from centers of population, everybody in Ostrov is in fact assigned to a town for administrative purposes. All towns have their own councils, but the power of towns is limited.

Parliament

"Ostrovian Council" redirects here. Results from the most recent Council election are available.

The makeup of the Council as of Pax 1611 (which remains accurate as of Hilaria 1612):

  Farmers' and Workers' Union: 18 seats (majority)

  Justice Party: 10 seats

  Independents: 1 seat

  The Speaker

The Farmers' and Workers' Union hold a majority in the Council as of Hilaria 1612, with eighteen seats to the Justice Party's ten. There are two independent councillors: Stephen James is the Speaker of the Council, who presides over its meetings and keeps order. Esther Braddock, who was elected to a historically Union-held district in the Lux 1609 election but rapidly broke with Justice Party leadership on multiple issues, lost the Justice whip in Audax 1609 after cosponsoring a failed Budget amendment by a Union backbencher which would have introduced LS6 ($6) user fees for GP visits.

Foreign Relations

Other than with Lurynia, which has served as the nation's main trading partner for almost its entire existence, Ostrov has largely been isolated from the rest of Sparkalia.

Visa Policy

"Ostrovian visa policy" redirects here. For basic information about which visitors to Ostrov require a visa, see Visa Requirements of Sparkalia.

Ostrovian police automatically assume that anybody without a visa is staying for less than six months and not seeking employment. But anybody who plans to stay in Ostrov for more than six months in a contiguous twelve-month period, wishes to work in Ostrov at any time, or seeks to permanently move to Ostrov with their children must - depending on their nationality - either obtain a Work Visa or an Employee Sponsorship Form (ESF). Tourists cannot apply for a Work Visa or ESF while they are in Ostrov.

All workers from outside Lurynia must apply for a Work Visa. They must pass a Common or Lurynian language test, and seek a named employer to sponsor them and give them terms of employment. (A list of employers is available on request from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.)

Lurynian workers may enter the country without a Work Visa. They are exempt from the language requirement, but must also be sponsored by a named employer; at the Ostrovian border, they must present proof of their Ostrovian nationality and sign an ESF, which is a sworn affirmation that they have a named sponsor.

Foreign workers who work for an employer that is not sponsoring them, or otherwise without a Work Visa or ESF, are liable for deportation, unless they seek a new named sponsor or citizenship. Anybody who works and pays income tax for eight of the past ten years is, in theory, eligible to apply for citizenship; permanent resident status as such does not exist.

There is one small university on the island, the Polytechnic of Ostrov, which specialises in science, medicine, engineering, mathematics and economics. About 300 domestic students, a quarter of each year's cohort, are accepted for study - although the vast majority of them reside in Southport, which has the best-funded schools of any town and where the University is located. There is a quota of 50 international students; prospective students must apply for a Student Visa between Nox 15th and Florentina 15th in the year before they wish to begin studies. Applications are shared with the Polytechnic, who will make recommendations as to which students are of sufficient academic calibre to attain a good degree.

All students whose Student Visa application is successful will hear back by the end of Lux and be guaranteed a place, subject to attaining certain grades equivalent to those that Ostrovian students must achieve. Holders of Student Visas may remain in the country for six months after finishing their degree, during which they may seek a named sponsor employer and obtain a Work Visa without the requirement to complete a language test or fill an ESF. However, they are not treated as tourists if their Student Visa expires without them switching to a Work Visa or marrying an Ostrovian citizen, and will be removed from the country upon detection.

The Ostrovian police force will seek the deportation of anyone who moves to Ostrov simply so their children can be educated in the Ostrov primary and secondary school system. However, parents with Work Visas, Student Visas or ESFs do not need to apply for a visa for their children: they are entitled to an education on the same basis as an Ostrovian citizen. And non-Ostrovian citizens who are married to, or the children of, an Ostrovian citizen may enter and live in the country without any documentation as if they were an citizen themselves - so long as they can prove their spouse or parent is an Ostrovian.

Demographics

Ostrov is entirely populated by humans; in particular, almost everybody in the country is of Ostrovian ethnicity. Although the Ostrovian census - which is conducted once every five years - does not collect statistics on religion, surveys carried out by private organisations suggest that the vast majority of Ostrovians are atheist. Analysts have suggested this could be an effect of Ostrov being populated by members of the First Unknown, who generally prefer relying on their own technology than on magic.

Culture

The creative arts in Ostrov are limited: there is a single museum and no dedicated venues for the performance of music, although some Ostrovian recording artists have made a name for themselves on the domestic stage, by releasing singles and performing in social venues in towns such as pubs. There is no television signal; ownership of radios is common and many Ostrovians will listen to Lurynian radio stations, although there is a single locally-owned radio station called Radio Sky which broadcasts pop music by Ostrovian and Lurynian singers.

Personal computers do exist in Ostrov and are widespread; many households, especially those without computers and printers, still have typewriters. However, there is no internet connection and all government communications, for example, happen in person or on pen and paper. Should the internet be introduced in future years, they have been assigned the .os TLD - although Prime Minister Chatham has ruled out this possibility, citing cost issues and the "potential for illegal activity."

Common is the official language of Ostrov; while the Ostrovian government publishes in both Common and Lurynian, the Common version prevails in the event of any disreptancies. The names of people, places, landmarks and important institutions in Ostrov are more representative of Common-speaking cultures, Common is taught in schools, and virtually all Ostrovians have at least some grasp of the language. However, Lurynian is the most commonly-spoken language, owing to Ostrov's historically strong ties with Lurynia; Ostrovians are generally expected to understand it, and many speak and write it to a high level.

While a Common-language market for literature exists and domestic authors have risen to modest fame for much of Ostrov's existence, most books in circulation are Lurynian. Today is the oldest and only major Ostrovian daily newspaper, having been first published in 1389; most of its content is in Lurynian, although every issue will contain a few pages of general Common-language news. Smaller, town-level newspapers exist, but are generally unremarkable and written solely in Lurynian.