Cuthland

Kingdom of Cuthland-Waldrich Cingdom of Cuþland-Waldrice (Cuthish) Keninkryk Cutlân-Wâldryk (Waldish)
Flag
Motto: "God, Cing, and Rich" (Cuthish) "God, Kening, and Lân" (Waldish) "God, King, and Country"
Anthem: "Loofsong of Hallow Wybert"(Cuthish) "Hymne fan Hillige Wybert" (Waldish) "Hymn of Saint Wybert"
Capital	Kingsham (executive and administrative) Grienfjild (legislative and judicial)
Largest	Kingsham
Official languages	Cuthish Waldish
Ethnic groups (2020)	76.5% Cuthish 22.1% Waldish 1.4% Other
Religion (2020)	88.5% Christianity 3.4% Unaffiliated 8.1% Other
Demonym(s)	Cutho-Waldish
Government	Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy
•      Monarch	Edwin IV
•      Foresitters	Clifford Goodwin (protecting) Ale Dykstra
Legislature	Wittenmoot
• Upper house	House of Nobility
• Lower house	House of Burghers
Establishment
• First Cuthish Empire	21 February 1444
• Partition	7 October 1758
• Second Cuthish Empire	19 June 1841
• Dual monarchy	30 March 1921
• Current constitution	2 September 1923
Population
• 2020 census	33,794,500
GDP (PPP)	2020 estimate
• Total	$1.293 billion
• Per capita	$38,248
GDP (nominal)	2020 estimate
• Total	$1.066 trillion
• Per capita	$31,536
Gini (2020)	27.4 low
HDI (2020)	0.877 very high
Currency	Pund (CWP)
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy
Driving side	right
Calling code	+39
Internet TLD	.cw

Cuthland-Waldrich (Cuthish: Cuþland-Waldrice, Waldish: Cutlân-Wâldryk), officially the Kingdom of Cuthland-Waldrich (Cuthish: Cingdom of Cuþland-Waldrice, Waldish: Keninkryk Cutlân-Wâldryk) is a sovereign state located on the Telmerian Peninsula in northern Berea. It lies between the White Sea to the north, Lake Sigismund to the east, and the Dentrian Mountains to the west. The nation shares borders with Mascylla, Lilienburg, X, and X. With a population of approximately 33.8 million and spanning an area of approximately X square kilometers, Cuthland-Waldrich is the Xth most populous and Xth largest state in Aurorum.

Cuthland-Waldrich is governed as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. King Edwin IV serves as head of state, while Foresitters Clifford Goodwin and Ale Dykstra both serve as the diarchic heads of government. Although constitutionally limited, the monarchy maintains substantial powers that gives the crown considerable influence over domestic governance, leading many international observers to label the nation as authoritarian and a de facto absolute monarchy.

Cuthland-Waldrich is a multinational state consisting of the two autonomous constituent countries of Cuthland and Waldrich, each with its own distinct ethnic identity. The Cuthish are the country's largest ethnic group and constitute a slim majority of its population at 76.5%, followed by the Waldish at 22.1%. This ethnic diversity forms the basis for Cuthland-Waldrich's unique structure, which splits many institutions between the two constituent countries. The country is officially multilingual, recognizing both Cuthish and Waldish as official languages. Kingsham, the country's largest city and the state capital of Cuthland, serves as the federal executive and administrative capital, while Grienfjild, the country's second largest city and the state capital of Waldrich, serves as the federal legislative and judicial capital. Other major cities include Whitford, Alderport, Fenmouth, Meerboarg, Newbridge, and Wealdbury-upon-Cyne.

Telmerian settlement in modern day Cuthland-Waldrich dates back to classical antiquity. These early tribes began to coalesce into various pretty kingdoms and duchies at the dawn of the Early Middle Ages, leading to the region's dominance by Four Kingdoms from the 6th century onward. During the 11th century, Edmund the Great of the Kingdom of Meerland unified the Cuthish states into the Kingdom of Cuthland. Cuthland and its southern neighbor, the Kingdom of Waldrich, remained geopolitical rivals for the next four centuries, culminating with the Cuthish conquest of Waldrich during the 15th century and the establishment of the First Cuthish Empire as the most powerful state in Telmeria. Cuthland continued to expand throughout the early modern period, conquering parts of X, western Mascylla, and the northern Dentiran Peninsula while establishing one of the world's first colonial empires in Alvinia and northern and eastern Pamira. During the mid-18th century, Cuthland's dominance in Telmeria began to falter due to increasing ethnic tensions within the empire and the rising prominence of Aldia. The shifting balance of power culminated in the outbreak of the Cutho-Aldian War in 1755, ending in 1758 with Cuthland's partition and loss of its colonial empire.

A wave of nationalism swept through Cuthland during the mid-19th century, leading revanchist Foresitter Harold Farnham to declare war on Mascylla in 1839 in an effort to reclaim the lost territories of the Cuthish Empire. The war ended with the Treaty of Alderport in 1841, which restored continental Cuthland to its pre-1758 borders and returned large portions of the Mascyllary colonial empire to Cuthish rule. Cuthland enjoyed a second period of international prominence in the 19th and early 20th centuries, expanding its colonial empire in Caphtora and Pamira and challenging Mascyllary dominance. Tensions between Cuthland and Mascylla and their respective power blocs led to the outbreak of the Great War in the 1910s, ending in a Cuthish defeat which saw the abolition of the monarchy, the cession of many of Cuthland's eastern territories, and the loss of its colonial empire. The nation subsequently experienced an economic collapse and the outbreak of a three-way civil war between communist, republican, and monarchist forces in 1919 following a failed coup d'état by communist revolutionaries. The war ended with a monarchist victory in 1921, with the Treaty of Newbridge restoring the Cuthish crown as a dual monarchy in which both Cuthland and Waldrich hold coequal status.

The newly reorganized Kingdom of Cuthland-Waldrich established an authoritarian regime, carrying out thousands of extrajudicial killings against political dissidents during the Royal Terror. Cuthland-Waldrich assisted Melasian revolutionaries against Mascyllan colonial forces during the Melasian Crisis, ultimately leading to a brief military conflict with Mascylla that reestablished Cuthland-Waldrich as a global power and marked the beginning of the Cold War. Cuthland-Waldrich and its allies, known as the Mageiros League, remained the primary challengers to the geopolitical dominance of the X bloc until the Recession of 1967, which severely weakened the Mageiros powers and led to rioting and unrest across Cuthland-Waldrich. The unrest led to a series of economic reforms throughout the 1970s and 80s which opened up the nation to foreign investment and transformed its economy into one of the most developed and diverse in the world. Following the collapse of communism in Aurorum during the late 1980s and early 1990s, Cuthland-Waldrich once again emerged as the primary anti-democratic global power.

Modern day Cuthland-Waldrich boasts a developed mixed economy, which is Aurorum's Xth largest by total nominal GDP. The nation maintains a comprehensive social safety net and ranks highly in measures of education, life expectancy, and health. It is one of Aurorum's major military powers, maintaining the Xth largest nuclear arsenal and Xth largest number of active military personnel. The nation is a member of the Mageiros League and Assembly of Nations, serving as a founding member of the former. Due to its substantial economic, diplomatic, and military strength, Cuthland-Waldrich is widely considered to be a great power in the international system.

Etymology

"Cuthland-Waldrich" is a double-barrelled name combining the names of the nation's two constituent states, Cuthland and Waldrich. "Cuthland" is derived from the Cuthish Cuþland, which translates to "known land" or "famous land". "Waldrich" is derived from the Waldish Wâldryk, which is itself derived from the Old Waldish Waldrīke, meaning "forested realm".

Politics

Government

Clifford Goodwin
Foresitter (protecting) from Cuthland since 2018

Ale Dykstra
Foresitter from Waldrich since 2014

The political framework of Cuthland-Waldrich was established by the nation's current Constitution, ratified in 1920. It is structured as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a unique division of power that reflects its status as a multinational and multicultural state. Cuthland-Waldrich's two constituent states, Cuthland and Waldrich, are granted substantial autonomy over their internal affairs, and most of the federal political institutions are divided between the two states.

Legislative power is vested in the bicameral Parliament (Cuthish: Wittenmoot, Waldish: Wittenmoet), which consists of the House of States (Cuthish: Huse of Rices, Waldish: Ryktenshûs) and House of Burghers (Cuthish: Huse of Burgers, Waldish: Boargershûs). The House of States is the upper house, consisting of 100 seats evenly divided between the states. Members are elected to staggered four year terms, with half of the seats up for election every two years. Constitutionally, each state determines its own method of filling its allocated seats in the House. In practice, however, members from both states are elected through a nearly identical process by the respective state legislature. The House of Burghers is the lower house, consisting of 223 seats (220 minimum + 3 overhang) allocated based on the population of each state. All members of the House of Burghers are directly elected every two years by mixed-member proportional representation. Half of the seats are elected by equally populous single-member districts using single transferable voting, while the other half are elected statewide by an open party-list with a 5% electoral threshold in order to balance out the seats proportionally by party.

The executive branch is diarchic, consisting of two Foresitters (Cuthish: Foresitters, Waldish: Foarsitters) who collectively serve as head of state and head of government. They are elected by a joint session of Parliament to two year terms. One Foresitter is elected from each state, chosen from a list of five candidates nominated by their state's legislature. The Foresitters hold the reciprocal right to veto, and no executive decision is considered official unless both have consented. One Foresitter is always considered to be "protecting" (Cuthish: warding, Waldish: beskerming), a position which rotates between the two on an annual basis. The protecting Foresitter is considered to be primus inter pares, and has the ability to make emergency decisions during times of national distress without first consulting his counterpart. The Foresitter who is not protecting may veto an emergency decision at any time, and must be consulted by the protecting Foresitter within 30 days of its enactment. The current Foresitters are Clifford Goodwin (protecting) from Cuthland and Ale Dykstra from Waldrich.

Cuthland-Waldrich's highest court is the High Court (Cuthish: Hih Þing, Waldish: Heechgerjocht), which is the final court of appeal in the federal judicial system. The High Court consists of 7 justices, who are appointed to 14 year terms staggered every 2 years. Appointments for all federal justices are proposed by the Foresitters, and must be confirmed by a two-thirds supermajority vote of a joint session of Parliament.

Political parties and elections

Cuthland-Waldrich operates under a dominant party system, with the populist and pan-nationalist Union of Farmers, Laborers, and Shopkeepers (UFLS) maintaining power in every federal and state election since 1945. Other political parties with federal representation include the left-wing Democratic Alliance for Reform (DAR), center-left Liberal Progressive Party (LPP), and right-wing Dísitrúar Union (DU). Following the 2019 elections, the UFLS holds a supermajority in both houses of Parliament.

Cuthland-Waldrich has been described as an illiberal democracy by observers. The 1945 Constitution places heavy regulations on the formation and activities of political parties, notably banning movements that advocate certain stances and objectives from engaging in the electoral process. Additionally, the voter registration process is highly complex and restrictive. Prospective voters are required to fill out a lengthy application and appear before a local Electoral Conduct Board (Cuthish: Walish Bearing Board, Waldish: Ferkiezingsgedrachsbestjoer), with supporting statements from two currently registered voters who can vouch for the applicant's status as a "hard-working and upstanding member of society". A 2011 study on global political freedom by the Assembly of Nations stated that institutional barriers to competition have made Cuthland-Waldrich a de facto one-party state, with the UFLS holding "nearly uncontested authority" over the nation's sociopolitical institutions.

Demographics

Language

Native languages in Cuthland-Waldrich
Cuthish			55.9%
Waldish			36.2%
Rethish			6.2%
Widdalian			1.1%
Fawstonian			0.6%
Other			0.8%

Cuthland-Waldrich is linguistically diverse, and maintains a policy of official multilingualism at the national level.  The Constitution establishes the responsibility of the federal government to protect the nation's linguistic heritage, recognizing Cuthland-Waldrich as the homeland of the Cutho-Waldish languages. Both Cuthish and Waldish enjoy official language status, and serve as the primary native languages in Cuthland and Waldrich respectively. Cuthish is the most widely spoken language in the country as the native tongue for 55.9% of the population, followed by Waldish at 36.2%. The federal government is legally required to provide all services in both languages, which is overseen by the Office of Linguistics within the Ministry of Cultural Preservation.

In addition, several minority languages native to Cuthland-Waldrich are recognized as regional languages. Regional languages are constitutionally protected, and the state governments are mandated to ensure that they receive equal and co-official status in their respective cultural regions. All local and state government services in minority regions must be multilingual, including road signage, school instruction, and legal proceedings. These regional languages include Widdalian in Widdal, Fawstonian in Heihfirthshire and Stanworthshire, and Rethish on the Island of Reth.  

As a result of Cuthland-Waldrich's unique linguistic situation, language instruction is heavily emphasized in the educational system. All students nationwide are required to study both Cuthish and Waldish, with those in minority regions receiving further instruction in their regional tongue. The nation consequently has extremely high rates of bilingualism and trilingualism, with nearly 95% of all citizens claiming the ability to speak more than one language.

Linguistic purism is a major political issue in Cuthland-Waldrich. The purist movement began with a series of language reforms during the Peninsular Fervor, in which Peninsularist revolutionaries reverted many of the changes that had been imposed on the Cutho-Waldish languages under Cornice rule. These reforms saw the establishment of regulatory agencies within the federal government over the use of Cuthish, Waldish, Rethish, and Widdalish, which largely focus on removing Latin loanwords in favor of terms derived from Hesurianic roots. The continued use of the Latin script has been a point of particular contention in recent years, with many hardliners pushing for a return to the runic script used prior to the Cornice period.