Ottonia
The Ottonian Federal Republic | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
| File:FASWikiMap.png | |
| Capital | Roan-Ottonia |
| Largest city | Vaalhulmspurt |
| Official languages | Ottonian |
| Demonym(s) | Ottonian, Allamunnic |
| Government | Federal Semi-Democratic Republic |
• Premier | Sofya Rudulf |
• Director of Oversight & Compliance | Stevan Grimmeburger |
| Establishment | |
| April 17th, 1754 | |
| January 1st, 1811 | |
| September 21st, 1872 | |
| September 21st, 2011 | |
| Area | |
• | 642,915 km2 (248,231 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• 2017 estimate | 86,568,490 |
• 2010 census | 80,068,236 |
• Density | 134.65/km2 (348.7/sq mi) |
| GDP (nominal) | estimate |
• Total | USD$1,569,140,449,740 |
• Per capita | USD$18,126 |
| Currency | Oto (Ø) (OtØ) |
| Driving side | right |
The Ottonian Federation, commonly referred to as Ottonia or Allamunnika is a country on the northwestern end of the continent of Belisaria in Ajax. It is bordered to the east by Ostmark, Ommelanden and Liothidia, and to the south by Lyncanestria. Ghant is in close proximity to the west.
History
Pre-History (pre-300 BCE)
The Era of Tribes & City-States (300 BCE - 750 CE)
Christianity and the Ottonian Empire (c. 750 - 1200 CE)
Post-Ottonian Allamunnic Kingdoms (c. 1200 - 1700 CE)
The Rise of Pan-Allamunnic Nationalism (1710 - 1856 CE)
Unification (1856 - 1870 CE)
The Early Federal Era (1870 - 1915 CE)
The Royalist Revolt (1915 - 1922 CE)
Consolidation and Centralization (1922 - 1935 CE)
War Time and Revolution (1935 - 1949 CE)
Ghanto-Ottonian War of 1935 - 1939
Ottonian Revolution (1943 - 1949)
By 1942, the general mismanagement of the rebuilding efforts had created a seething air of resentment throughout the country, especially on the cities of the Western and Jormundean coasts, which had been hit hard by the Ghantish Invasion. In addition, there was endemic anger left over from years of economic exploitation among miners in the highlands of Staalmark and the Bluwaalds, and among struggling small farmers in the Riverlands. The first overflow of this resentment was seen in a wave of strikes late in 1942, which prompted a public response and token action from the regime of Kaarlus Klaussunn. However, as the spring of 1943 dawned, precious little had changed, and reconstruction dollars still flowed overwhelmingly to wealthy allies of the regime and big businesses.
Organizers working feverishly finally saw their efforts bear fruit on October 20th, 1943, when workers all across the country walked off the job. The strike immediately took the Klaussunn regime's full attention, and Federal Guards were called out to watch the strike and prevent violence. However, as the strike dragged on for several days and the country ground to a halt, an order was given, somewhere along the chain of command, for Guardsmen to fire on protesters in the city of Leifspurt.
When the order was given by the commissioned officer on the scene, a non-commissioned officer (later identified as one Sergeant Baeryk Koermunn) ordered the guardsmen not to fire. An altercation took place in which the CO, one Lieutenant Alyssa Doransburg, shot Sgt. Koermunn, prompting some of the guards under her command to fire at her in response, killing her. Other guards, who had been ready to follow the order, retaliated at the other guards, and the guard contingent in Leifspurt devolved into a full melee between groups of guards. A few attempted to follow the order to fire on the strikers, tipping the strikers to the nature of the battle, and many began to join the sympathetic guards, often helping to pull injured ones to safety.
Similar events began to occur in other cities, often with panicked guards firing on crowds in cities the guards had been drawn from, resulting in similar fractiousness in the ranks. By the time federal troops were called up to put a stop to the fighting, many guards had deserted their posts to join the strikers. When troops were ordered to fire on protesters in Dunnmaar, rather than dispersing, the protestors rushed the troops and, despite losing several compatriots to gunfire, successfully drove the soldiers off with heavy casualties of their own. Disorder spread, and as it became increasingly clear that the government valued profits and the restoration of order over the concerns of the vast crowd of protesters, the Army and Air Corps and, to a lesser extent, the Navy all began suffering large numbers of desertions of their own.
The Hendrsunn Administration (1949 - 1981)
Jaalist Reaction (1981 - 1999)
The U'Daanyl Administration (1999 - 2019)
The New Republic (2020 - present)
Geography
In the country's northeast, there is the Jormundean Highlands, consisting of the Bluwaald Mountains and the Spaal Plateau, a rainy, mountainous region which includes the states of Staalmark, Jormundea, and the northern part of Skraelingia. This area is densely-forested, even in the present, and receives considerable precipitation year-round, receiving rain in the spring, summer, and early fall, and snow in the late fall and winter. Temperatures tend to remain chilly in this region year-round, and the northeastern half of the region, the Spaal Plateau, also tends to receive high winds coming off the Dewedish Sea.
In the country's southeast is Ainslynd a rolling grassy plain, once densely forested, crisscrossed by rivers flowing out from Lake Grimmea. This area covers the states of Innia, Skraelingia, and the eastern half of Onneria. This area receives moderate rainfall and plenty of sun, and is the most agriculturally-fertile part of the Federation. It tends to have warmer summers and colder winters (its temperatures vary more widely than either other region).
Finally, there is the Tyrrslynd Coast, which covers the western coast of the country, including the states of Tyrrslynd and the western half of Onneria. The area is relatively flat, scoured flat by ancient glaciers. The West Coast is windy with a relatively narrow range of temperatures year-round. It is prone to storms blowing off the Thalassian Ocean, and receives considerable rainfall year round. However, the southern part of this region also receives some of the warmest temperatures of anywhere in the Federation, and the constant rainfall helps make that area agriculturally-productive.
Government
The Ottonia is a federal state, in which a national-level government presides over the entire country, with significant local responsibilities designated to state governments which correspond to the pre-unification Allamunnic nations.
At the national level, the Ottonia are a presidential republic, headed by an unelected chief executive (the Premier) and a bicameral legislature, the lower chamber called the Federal Assembly, presided over by the Chancellor, chosen from among its members. The upper chamber is called the Council of Regents, composed of representatives ("Regents") appointed by state and provincial governments, three per state, and one per province for a total of 41 (6 states + 22 provinces + 1 federal district). The Regents are nominated by the executive of the respective constituency, and confirmed by their respective legislature.
Nationally, there are three major political coalitions, containing a multitude of political parties. These correspond roughly to the left wing (Popular Front), center (Federalist Alliance), and right wing (National Front). In the Federal Assembly, the Federalist Alliance currently holds a 135 seat plurality in the 347-seat chamber. The Popular Front holds 114 seats, while the National Front holds 98 seats. The current Chancellor is Anessa Maarks.
The Federation is divided into six states (divided into 22 provinces) and one Federal District. The states roughly correspond to the pre-unification Allamunnic states, while the Federal District excludes the national capital of Roan-Ottonia from the jurisdiction of any one state. The provinces are in turn divided into a total of 129 prefectures.
The states of Ottonia (with their constituent provinces) are:
Military
The armed forces of the Allamunnic States are the Allamunnic Federal Defense Service, which is comprised of the Federal Army, Federal Navy, Federal Air Corps, and Federal Guard Services. Of the three primary branches, the Federal Army is the largest and best-funded, with the Federal Navy being the smallest of the three regular branches.
The Federal Guard Services actually comprises several services. This includes the Federal Guard (a hybrid National Guard/Army Reserve/Gendarmerie service), the Marine Guard (a coast guard), and the Frontier Guard (the border guard).
The AFDS, between its military and paramilitary branches (and including reserves) is composed of 1,250,000 personnel. The AFDS has an annual budget of FD$79,084,678,667.
Foreign Relations
The Federation maintains ties to the North Ajaxi Treaty Alliance (NATA) as a cornerstone to a foreign policy geared primarily toward the defense of the Federation. Due to the presence on the eastern Ottonian border of the despotic Liothidian regime, the diplomatic isolation of Liothidia, and the deterrence of any aggressive action by them are of the highest priority. Although cooperation with all of NATA occurs, the Federation has a notably close relationship with Arthurista.
Despite their mutual alliance through NATA and recent years of close cooperation, the Federation has had a rocky relationship with neighboring Ghant, which arguably reached its nadir during the 1935 invasion by Ghant of Ottonia. Relations have thawed significantly since then, although the late Jaal administration saw some strain between the two countries.
Economy
The Federation's economy is primarily geared towards heavy industry; there is a significant service sector, while the primary sector, while not negligible in terms of their impact on the workforce and Allamunnic culture, are more or less negligible as a function of the Federation's GDP. While other manufacturing exists within the country, the country's primary products are heavy machinery of various types, including automobiles, tractors, and specialty machines.
The Federation has a high degree of public spending which helps to offset what would otherwise be significant income inequality. The Federal government levies high punitive tax rates against the highest income brackets to ensure that various government priorities are funded without squeezing average citizens too much.
The Federation's largest employers are the Federal Government and FAS-based multinational corporations VHI, and Svaartaron.
Demographics
At present, the Allamunnic States have a population estimated to be in excess of 86 million people. This gives the country a population density of just under 135 people per square kilometer.
The Federation has a number of large population centers. Its largest cities are Vaalhulmspurt, Roan-Ottonia, Onneria, Dunnmaar, Rikardsburg, the Triple Cities, Spaal, and Leifspurt. Approximately 75% of the Federation's population resides in urban areas.
The Allamunnic States are a relatively young country; but the fertility rate is only a little ways above replacement levels at present. Still, the Federation enjoyed a recent minor baby boom in the late 2000's and early 2010's.
The Federation does not enjoy a particularly high rate of immigration, but neither does it seem to lose many residents to emigration. Foreign-born residents overwhelmingly tend to live in major cities.
Culture
Transportation
When it comes to getting around Ottonia, the logical choice is usually to go by rail: the Federation has a well-developed rail system that connects all its major cities and the vast majority of its towns of any note. Most major cities also have extensive mass transit rail systems, usually augmented by street cars or buses. These aid in getting around the city despite the cramped confines of Allamunnic cities (which tend to be densely developed). The major cities of Ottonia are linked by the Pan-Allamunnic High Speed Rail Network (PAHSRN). All major rail-lines in Ottonia are state-owned, usually augmented by private partnerships.
Primary entry points to the country by sea include the ports of Vaalhulmspurt, Leifspurt, Dunnmaar, and Spaal. Over land, Aldhuld is the country's major eastern entry point.
That said, the Federation has a significant auto industry, and automobile ownership is far from unusual, especially in suburban and rural areas. Ottonian automobiles tend to run smaller than those from some other nations, including having a special designation called Light Economical Vehicles which are intended to give special benefits to particularly small cars, trucks, and vans, which are cheaper to own and operate than larger vehicles, help reduce fuel consumption, and enable car ownership even among less-wealthy Ottonians. Some of the safety issues inherent to vehicles as small as most LEVs are ameliorated by the Federation's rather low national speed limits. Ottonian automakers make heavy use of biodiesel vehicles, including bio-diesel-electric hybrids, as well as making a concerted push to proliferate electrical vehicles.
Religion
Although Ottonia is a religiously-tolerant nation, the country is primarily divided between two major religious denominations. For much of the history of Allamunnika following the Ottonian Empire, the area was dominated by the Honorian Church. The Honorian rite of Christianity was initially spread by a missionary from Latium, now known as Saint Honorius, for whom the sect is named. It was spread throughout Allamunnika by the conquests of Otto the Invincible, and institutionalized by the Ottonian successor states. In many places, the conversion process was largely superficial, and local religious and spiritual traditions continued almost uninterrupted, integrated into Honorian practices or continued in secret.
Honorianism's dominance was first challenged in the 17th century, when the discovery by antiquarians of ancient Allamunnic runic texts spurred a wave of interest in pre-Christian Allamunnic religious practices among scholars. Over the next century, this knowledge base would grow, further feeding the interest and spreading it among wider segments of society as printed texts became more-widely available.
This interest culminated in the early 18th century in Sygrun Vaalhulmsunn's 1733 volume Knowledge of the Volur, which, while presented as a scholarly work, represented the first, and arguably definitive attempt at reconstructing the indigenous pre-Christian Allamunnic religion. The actual scholarly rigor of the work is sometimes questioned, but its impact is not: the religious tenets described in the work and ascribed to pre-Christian Allamunnae were circulated widely and were the basis of the religion of Tyrrism, which began to spread rapidly throughout Allamunnika, especially in the northern regions, where Christian conversion efforts had been the least thorough, and on the rapidly-secularizing Western Coast. Over the ensuing century, Tyrrism spread throughout the Allamunnic-speaking region, and rapidly became associated with the burgeoning Pan-Allamunnic Movement. The lone Allamunnic polity which was largely successful in suppressing the new faith was Onneria, which remained overwhelmingly Honorian.
In the century-and-a-half following Ottonian Unification, although Allamunnika's government has largely secularized and Honorian worship in most of the country has declined, Tyrrism has remained fairly stable; the percentage of the population that self-identifies as Tyrrian has remained mostly stable since the late 1920's, but shrines in Ottonian polities have reported higher attendances at festivals and solemnities, and between 1964 and 2016 the number of Ottonians who said they had taken some part in Tyrrian observances rose by 54%, a number which included more than a few people who otherwise identified as Christians.
Although the Ottonian government is secular, it has been accused at various times of giving unfair preference to Tyrrian congregations in its policies, although officials contend that this is generally because Honorian parishes tend to generate more income that makes them more liable to be taxed as well as a greater inclination to engage in political advocacy which makes them vulnerable to fines.
The Ottonian government maintains statistics on the religious breakdown of the nation. The most recent statistics, derived from the 2015 Census Data, indicate the following breakdown:
- Tyrrism - 53.1%
- Christian - 43.6%
- Honorian or Fabrian Christianity - 36.2%
- Lutheran Protestantism - 5.3%
- Reformed Denominations (Calvinist) - 2.1%
- Other Assorted Religions - 3.3%
- Judaism - 0.3%
Food
Ottonian food tends to be fairly plant-heavy by Western standards; meat is relatively expensive in the Federation, meaning that while it's not unusual for a lot of foods to make use of meat, they tend to do so in relatively small quantities. Due to the nature of Allamunnic agriculture, potatoes feature prominently in a lot of Allamunnic dishes. A lot of staple Ottonian foods are stews, roasts, and soups, meant to stretch smaller quantities of meats (usually beef or venison, sometimes pork or on occasion, lamb) with starches (such as potatoes, more rarely turnips) and vegetables (usually carrots, celery, broccoli, asparagus, and onions, white beans, and butter beans). Sweetening tends to be done with honey or sugar derived from sugar beets.
To supplement the relatively light quantities of meat in the Ottonian diet (at least by Western standards), Ottonians consume significant amounts of eggs and dairy products, particularly cheeses. Wheat, rye, barley, and potato-based breads are all also considered staples. The FAS also grows walnuts and hazelnuts in some quantity. Apples are also grown in large numbers.
The Allamunnae are prolific producers and consumers of alcoholic beverages, tending to produce mead, cider, or beer.
Fashion
Traditional and general trends in Allamunnic clothing and fashion are somewhat unusual in light of their more-permissive sexual mores, in that trends and fashion among Allamunnae (particularly of the working classes and, to a lesser extent, the nobility) tend to be conservative (in terms of how much skin is shown). For reasons that are not entirely clear, Allamunnic culture tends to equate a person's level of dress/undress with their level of emotional vulnerability or openness. As a result, nudity in the presence of anyone but a spouse is vanishingly rare among the Allamunnae.
Trousers (and their variants) are common among both men and women, but dresses and skirts are essentially exclusive to women. Men do have an equivalent, in the form of work robes (usually worn by those in professions that require greater amounts of covering or warmth) which flare in a manner not dissimilar to a dress. Earth tones are more common, and usually either solid colors, plaids, checker, and pinstripe patterns are most common on traditional Allamunnic clothing. Head coverings are common, especially in more rural areas. The preferred forms of headwear tend to be knit caps, bandanas (particularly during warmer weather) and, in more recent years, caps with visors (sometimes called baseball caps), although other styles of caps are reasonably common.
Sex & Gender
The Allamunnae have long been fairly egalitarian when it comes to gender roles. Men and women have long both worked outside the home, including in business and even in war. As a result, women in positions of leadership in politics, warfare, business, and religious life are all treated as normal. That said, in general, men are still a little more likely to work outside the home, while women are more likely to engage in child-rearing or in-home work; the disparity exists, but is not as great as in more patriarchal nations (and it is expected that both partners contribute to maintaining the home and in rearing children).
In addition, Allamunnic sex and gender norms tend to be permissive of gay and lesbian persons, who in rural communities especially often help to raise orphaned or abandoned children. This is a frequent enough occurrence, historically, that in the Federation, there is a stereotype that childcare workers are disproportionately-likely to be gay or lesbian.
Allamunnic culture is reasonably accommodating to those who opt to live as a gender different from the one they were assigned at birth. Although discrimination is not unusual towards transgendered people, there is a fairly long-running tradition of tolerance that has helped avert some of the worst of such bigotry, even if having a non-binary gender identity is still no picnic in the Federation.
The Allamunnae are oddly permissive when it comes to sexual activity, at least as it relates to sexual contact outside of marriage. Allamunnic culture permits, even outright encourages sexual activity between couples, even prior to marriage; the Allamunnae consider sex to be a normal part of romantic relationships, even prior to marriage. That said, sexual activity between persons not in a committed relationship is considered foolish, stupid, and shallow, and is considered to still reflect badly on those involved. And, should a man impregnate a woman, it is considered extremely shameful (worthy of exile or corporal punishment) for him to abandon her and his child, and strong social pressure is exerted to ensure that fathers take responsibility for their offspring.
Education
All children in the Federation receive mandatory basic public education from the age of five until the age of sixteen. At the age of sixteen, students have the option of dropping out, although statistically-speaking, relatively few take this option; most students continue until the age of eighteen.
At the age of eighteen, students receive their placements, based on their grades and examinations. Students receive placements to either public universities, technical or vocational schools, or to other placements. For those who choose to not continue their education, the most common course of action is to enlist either in Ottonian Federal Defense Services, or in the Federal Service Corps, a public work and training program.
There are, of course, private educational institutions. These typically cater to the children of the socioeconomic elite, with some specialized schools even catering exclusively to the nobility and royalty. While students at private schools are able to attend public universities or vocational schools afterward, the most common path for those who attend private school is to continue to a private university. Private universities are also open to students of public schools, provided they can afford the costs.
Public schools are funded and administered at the state level, although the federal government exerts oversight over these programs to ensure that national standards are met. A system of both state and federal schools, colleges, and universities exist for post-secondary education throughout the country, of varying degrees of prestige.
Sports
The Allamunnic States is home to a unique sporting culture within Ajax. The preeminent sport within the Federation, occupying a special place in Allamunnic culture, is the sport of gridiron football. At the professional level, the sport is contested in the Allamunnic Gridiron League (AGL) consisting of 24 teams. The sport is traditionally played from September through February. The other major sport within the Federation is ice hockey, contested at a professional level in the Allamunnic Hockey League, which plays from December through May.
Other sports played at a professional level within the Allamunnic States include association football (played from March through August) and baseball (played from June through November). These sports are considerably less-popular than gridiron football or ice hockey, but they have their own reasonably devoted followings. Of the two, association football is the more popular sport.
Most sports at all levels in the Federation are played on a co-ed basis. Despite this, the gender ratios in both gridiron and ice hockey, due to the physically-punishing methods of play in both sports, tend to skew towards being mostly male. Due to this, gender ratios in association football tend to favor female players in general, while baseball is a little nearer a 1 to 1 gender ratio.