Aimilia

Aimilian Republic Despublika amideziz
Flag
Capital	Kakzazna
Official languages	Aimilian
Ethnic groups	Aimilian, Gaullican
Demonym(s)	Aimilian
Government	Democratic parliamentary republic
• President	Kabentim Teguzboded
• Chancellor	Manham Batsatindim
Legislature	Kazbastad
Independence from Gaullica
• Granted	1935
Area
• Total	60,000 km2 (23,000 sq mi)
Population
• 2019 estimate	6,700,000
• Density	111/km2 (287.5/sq mi) (167th)
GDP (PPP)	2018 estimate
• Total	$100 billion
• Per capita	$15,021
GDP (nominal)	2018 estimate
• Total	$80 billion
• Per capita	$12,090
Gini (2018)	41.5 medium
HDI (2018)	0.798 high
Currency	Katap (KAT)
Time zone	UTC-1 (AST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-1 (not observed)
Driving side	right
Internet TLD	.ai

Aimilia is a landlocked country in northeastern central Euclea. It has a population of 6.7 million and a land area of almost 60,000 square kilometres. The official and most spoken language is Aimilian. The country is largely flat, of temperate climate, and touches two of the Eleutherian lakes. Its capital and largest city is Kakzazna.

The Aimilii tribes inhabited the area at the time of the Solarian Empire, resisting its expansion out of modern Gaullica in the Aimilian Wars. After several unsuccessful military attempts to take over the area, with the Aimilii tribes having united under a single leader to prosecute the war, the Solarian Empire offered special status to the Aimilii which would allow them to stay and settle on the land but enjoy the benefits of connection with Solarian civilisation; in exchange, they would defend the frontier. This agreement was accepted, and the five main surviving tribes of the Aimilii settled roughly in the areas of the five Judicatures, which in turn correspond to the provinces of modern Aimilia. The largely successful defence of the Aimilii against those to the west has had the survival of Solarian civilisation in Gaullica attributed to it by some historians. In the medieval age, unity largely broke down, with the Judicatures being at various times independent, conjoined, or part of neighbouring powers such as Gaullica or Sunrosia. By the time of the Great War (Kylaris), four Judicatures had been Gaullican for some time, and one Swetanian. After the war, independence was granted to the traditional territory of the Aimilian Judicatures which were part of Gaullica, forming the Aimilian Republic; Boziskag remains part of Swetania. Shortly after establishment, a dictatorship took over, ruling with support from Estmere and Werania until the 70s. The lengthy Aimilian Spring eventually saw the country turn into a unitary, liberal, constitutional, parliamentary, multiparty democracy, with a notably strong judiciary.

In part owing to its history, Aimilia is among the countries of Euclea with weaker institutions and economy. It is nonetheless capable of being characterised as medium or high income, with a nominal GDP per capita of €12,090 and PPP of €15,021, giving it a total GDP of €100 billion PPP and €80 billion nominal. A notable proportion of the country's national income comes from those working in the Euclean Community or Swetania. It is the only country in Euclea with a high HDI, as opposed to a very high HDI. At times Aimilia has been a candidate for accession to the Euclean Community, but has never met its requirements. Contemporarily, Aimilia is known for its musical scene, which often makes use of the Aimilian language.

Etymology

"Aimilia" comes from the Solarian Aimilii, which was the name for the tribes living in the area given by the Solarian Empire. It is generally accepted that it comes from a self-designation of the tribes in Old Aimilian, related to the contemporary Aimilian amidez, meaning "Aimilian" (mutation of [l] into sounds such as /d/ is common in Aimilian). It is speculated that this appellation meant something along the lines of "free people" or "independent people".

History

Antiquity

The Aimilii inhabited the area around the time of the Solarian conquest of Gaullica; some speculate that they had only recently migrated into the area of modern Aimilia at that time, while others suggest they were there for much longer. The Aimilian Wars saw generally unsuccessful attempts by the Solarians at conquering the modern day area of Aimilia. Eventually, the Aimilian peoples, organised as five tribes, agreed to become clients of a sort of Solaria. Over time, they were increasingly integrated, but by-and-large maintained the Aimilian language, culture and borders, fighting successfully against barbarians to the west on behalf of Solaria.

Medieval

When Solaria fell, the Aimilian subdivisions became independent. During the medieval era their basic units, known as Judicatures and ruled by Judges, were preserved, but they were frequently ruled from abroad such as from Sunrosia or Gaullica, or were partially united with each other by a local ruler.

Modern

At the time of the Great War, four of the five Judicatures were ruled by Gaullica, and one by Swetania, all having been integrated with their respective states for some time. During the war, many Aimilians were conscripted by the Gaullican state, but some also joined an Aimilian Legion fighting against the Entente.

After the war, the Gaullican Aimilian territories were split off as the Aimilian Republic by the Grand Alliance, as a buffer state, and seeking to reduce Gaullica's dominance in Euclea. This new state's first action was to expel Gaullicans and encourage ethnic Aimilians abroad to return. However, many Gaullicans in Aimilia simply claimed to be Aimilian rather than leaving, and so stayed; they became known as Paper Aimilians, for the manner in which their nationality was said to exist only on paper. The capital was also then established at the then-small settlement of Kakzazna, with the four old Judicatures becoming provinces, but with territory split off from all four to create the new capital province of Kakzazna. The fifth historic Judicature, Boziskag, remained integrated with Swetania, and remains so to this day as a canton with minority rights.

The regime, while nominally democratic, failed to build robust institutions and became a dictatorship within a few years. Despite a succession of dictators and the involvement of the military in politics, the postwar economic boom and the support for the regime by Estmere and Werania kept things quiet. However, by the 70s, the economy was in a very poor state, and welfare programmes could no longer be maintained, and a wave of liberal sentiment saw the largely bloodless ouster of the dictatorship, in favour of a liberal democracy. Following in the footsteps of the original intentions of the founders of the Aimilian Republic, a very strong judiciary was established.

Contemporary

Liberal multiparty parliamentary democracy has persisted to this day. Several attempts were made to apply to the Euclean Community during the period after the establishment of democracy, mainly by National Liberal governments who held power for most of the time until the present since then, but they never progressed very far, as Aimilia did not meet requirements. The Conservative Group came into government at the head of a coalition in 2015, becoming the largest party for the first time, ending several terms of National Liberal-led government; an economic downturn began shortly before that time and has persisted until the present day. In 2019, very large protests occurred against that government, and became known as the July Spring; however, they did not cause the resignation of the government as was their goal.

Geography

Aimilia is relatively small in size and in population, and landlocked, which has at times been an obstacle to its integration with the global economy. It borders the Euclean Community to its east, with Gaullica, and Swetania to its north, through their canton of Boziskag, which is a historically ethnically Aimilian region.

Geology

Aimilia is largely located on the Eleutherian Craton. Its soils tend towards being clay.

Hydrology

Aimilia touches two of the Eleutherian Lakes, and its border with Gaullica is a river that flows between these two; shipping, fishing, tourism and pumping are conducted there. Almost all of the country is part of the watershed of those two lakes, which flow onwards to the Sweta, the most significant river of Swetania. Aimilia has a generally healthy water table, but in parts it is being depleted by the use of bore water for agriculture.

Climate

The climate of Aimilia is temperate, with frosty winters, fairly hot summers, and various rains all throughout the year. It is suitable for grain agriculture or for intensive livestock cultivation, both of which are notable economic activities.

Administrative subdivisions

Aimilia has five provinces, four of them historic Judicatures and the capital province, Kakzazna, formed out of them at the end of the Great War. They are all roughly equal in size and population, and are all governed directly through the unitary administration. Kakzazna, the capital city being its capital of the same name (Kakzazna) is the most populous province by a small margin.

Politics

Aimilia's unicameral legislature is the Kazbastad, and the head of government is the Chancellor. The President, the head of state, is appointed by the Kazbastad, and is essentially ceremonial but for their role in government formation. The current Chancellor is Manham Batsatindim, since 2015 leading a Conservative Group government (in coalition with the National Liberals until the July Spring in 2019), and the current President Kabentim Teguzboded, also a Conservative, from the same year. The majority of elections since democracy in the 1970s have been won by the National Liberals, and this is the first Conservative Group-led government.

Elections

Elections take place with a closed list proportional representation system which uses the provinces as electorates and the largest remainder system to assign seats; there are presently 8 seats per province, creating a legislature of 40, but the Electoral Court of Aimilia is empowered to redistribute seats dependent on population.

Judiciary

Aimilia has a strong judiciary, with the Declaration of Universal Natural Rights having been incorporated in the Natural Rights Act, a piece of law second only to the Constitution (formally the Constitution Act), at the foundation of the country shortly after the Great War. However, democracy and rule of law were not established until the fall of the dictatorial regime in the 1970s, and so the independent Aimilian judiciary only dates since that time. Since then, it has become one of the more respected institutions in Aimilia, and one of the more respected judiciaries in Euclea, because of the quality of its judgments and the institutional strength with which they are backed up. It is considered that this was achieved because of the strength of the Constitution and the Natural Rights Act, Aimilia's long and storied judicial history and culture, and to some extent, circumstance.

Economy

Aimilia is a capitalist market economy, with agreements with both the council communist Swetania to its north and the similarly capitalist Euclean Community to its east. The framework of liberal democracy protects property and promotes individual initiative. However, Aimilia's economy is among the poorest in the region, with relatively low GDP per capita and growth, relatively high inequality, relatively high unemployment, and a relatively low Human Development Index. It has been suggested that this is the result of lack of access to the sea, few natural resources, small size, few ties to others in the region, corruption, recent history and generally inappropriate government policies.

The service sector is the single largest sector of the economy in Aimilia, but its more lucrative activities such as accounting, legal services, information technology and consultancy tend to be focused in the capital, Kakzazna. Other industries are significant, including both light and heavy manufacturing, food processing, logistics, dairy, grain agriculture, vegetable agriculture, poultry and tourism. There is also some table salt mining, which was historically more significant. Tourism tends to be for music, the Eleutherian Lake beaches, history (Solarian, medieval and Great War), or sex, which is decriminalised.

Notable corporations in Aimilia include Montecaran company Bànca Ultramarìn (which sponsors the Ultramarin Stadium in Kakzazna), Jindanese company Fang-su Corporations, and the domestic Paskapaz Holdings. Many participate in the Aimilian Chamber of Commerce. The peak union body of Aimilia is meanwhile the Union of Unions, whose members include the General Industrial Union, the Agricultural Union, the Light Manufacturing Union, the Federation of Service Workers, the Transportation Union, the United Professional Union and the Public and State Union and the Union of Shopkeepers, Textile, Lacustrine and Distributive Workers. Unionisation in Aimilia is low but significant.

The main stock index in Aimilia is the PKE, since the 1990s. The currency is the Katap, which is managed by the reserve bank and has a floating exchange rate.

Demographics

Aimilia has a population of 6.7 million, and is a middle-aged country. An overwhelming majority of the country is of Aimilian ethnicity. The dominant language by far is Aimilian but Gaullican is a very common second language. It is fairly urbanised, with over 50% of the population living in a provincial capital (including Kakzazna).

Culture

Aimilia has a small but notable music industry, which has some reputation across wider Euclea. It has a historical epic. The March Against Discrimination is a LGBTQ+ event that takes place around the middle of each year, during summer.