Sante Reze
This article is for the Ajax-canon Santheres or Sante Reze. For the generic canon, see Santheres
Most Eminently Serene Noble Republic of Sante Reze | |
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 Flag
Coat of Arms
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Motto: "Patria fideles defendit." | |
Anthem: "Valze Rezi" "Rezese Waltz" | |
| Capital | San Gianpiero |
| Largest | Porte Viro |
| Official languages | Rezese, Latin |
| Recognised regional languages | Quechua, Roqxo |
| Ethnic groups (2016) | Rezese, Yacuyare, Ucayare, Runakuna, Lamanite, Nephite |
| Demonym(s) | Rezese |
| Government | Noble Republic |
| Establishment | |
• Kingdom | 1006 |
• Ecclesiastical Republic | 3 May 1502 |
• Noble Republic | 1702 |
| Area | |
• Total | 2,588,375 km2 (999,377 sq mi) |
• Water (%) | 0.83 |
| Population | |
• 2016 estimate | 105,500,000 |
• 2016 census | 105,430,000 |
| GDP (PPP) | 2017 estimate |
• Total | $3.75 trillion |
• Per capita | $35,590 |
| Currency | Lire (SRL) |
| Driving side | right |
| Internet TLD | .sr |
Sante Reze (IPA /sɑnta. ɹeɪt͡ʃʌ/) (SAHN-tuh RAY-chuh), officially the Most Eminently Serene Noble Republic of Sante Reze is an equatorial country located mostly in the southern hemisphere. It controls approximately forty percent of the continent of Oxidentale, including the majority of the Ucayare rainforest. It borders the nations of Deseret to the south, and Caripe and Mutul in the northwest.
There are twenty-three administrative regions, discounting all foreign dependencies, and nine major noble families. Sante Reze is an economically powerful nation, and focuses widely on humanitarian action, both on a national and on a more personal scale. Sante Reze trades globally, but its primary partners are Belfras, Deseret, Mutul, and Latium.
History
500 - Yacuyare seafarers come into contact peoples across the Thalassan ocean in what are now Intermaria, Sydalon, and Yisrael
550 - Further Yacuyare voyages bring them into direct contact with the Latin Empire.
600 - Christianity is brought to Oxidentale but struggles against local religious. Some adopt the name and various Christian trappings, though they remain outside of potential communion.
700 - By this time, Yacuyare traders have grown in wealth and power through their dominance of trade with eastern peoples. They are known for speaking Latin, which has become the trade language from the Yacuyare to the Periclean.
996 - Sante Reze forms as the ocean-faring merchant princes use their immense wealth and power to supplant Yacuyare monarchs and landed aristocracy.
1006 - After putting down myriad rebellions amongst the Yacuyare people against what they perceive as foreign invasion, the merchant princes - known as duxes - campaign to pacify the people under a single banner, language, and culture. They elect a king.
1490 - The Patricide occurs as Principe Livia Savina kills her father and rather than assuming the throne, abolishes the monarchy, hoping for the duchies to revert peacefully to independent rule while collaborating under a general council, the idea being that the dukes will meet twice yearly to settle disputes. Instead, war immediately erupts between almost every duchy, some of which break into civil wars themselves. Trade guilds hire mercenaries and incite mobs to cease control of port cities and remove the aristocracy.
1502 - After twelve years of war - much of which was fairly low intensity - the Church negotiates a ceasefire between a coalition of noble houses from the interior and an alliance of merchants and trade guilds which were slowly winning the war by cutting off food supplies. The Church forms an ecclesiastical republic and the guilds agree that the houses can keep their lands and titles if they don't challenge them. Some merchants, notably those dealing in spices, form a cartel which dominates sea trade. They have been using their wealth to manipulate the ecclesiastical government, but mostly behind closed doors and subtly.
1503-1510 - Many new parishes are created in communities that previously could not afford them, swelling the ranks of Church electors. Dozens of new monastaries are also built by wealthy benefactors seeking favor with the church.
1513 - Low-level church electors turn out in droves to elect a puppet of the guilds into leadership, who promptly replaces all ministers with allies of the guilds. The ecclesiatical republic remains only in name as merchants and trade guilds seize control over the north and every port city. It is suspected that the key electors were all low level because they were put in place by the guilds nearly a decade previous specifically to ensure that this would occur. The cartel has grown and is known to be the most powerful authority in the country.
1684 - The cartel removes the top officials of the government from power, flaunting their power and executing several, when the republic condemns the guilds' growing practices of usury and debt-bondage. As word spreads, there are riots which are quickly and violently put down. The cartel sends the nobles houses a reminder that they are not to interfere with guild business if they want to be left with what they still have.
1685 - House representatives arrive in Belisaria seeking aid
1699 - Nobles rise in rebellion against trade cartel domination. As they do not have any ships, it is difficult for them to make much headway against the major cities, all of which are ports. This changes with the arrival of naval support from Vannois and Sydalon.
1701 - The Giarelli family marches into Porte Viro, which has been blockaded by the Vannoisian fleet and starved for two months. The garrison surrenders when they run out of food and the residents riot, seizing control of one of the gates and letting in a Giarelli vanguard. This is the first major loss for the cartel.
1702 - The Noble Republic is proclaimed on what would have been the 200th anniversary of the ecclesiastical republic.
1708 - The war officially ends with the seizure of EASTERN_CITY. Many surviving guild ships begin their turn to piracy along the Oxidentale, Norumbrian, and Scipian coasts.
Stuff happens
Geography
Sante Reze consists primarily of rainforest and mountainous cloud forest in the west; and broad, flat tropical savannah in the northeast, south, and along much of its coastline. These are generally separated by mountains and cloud forests. Some of the rainforest has been cleared for human settlement over the several millennia of human habitation, but the vast majority of it remains as natural as possible, in part due to cultures of sustainable living and programs over the last century for revitalization. Much of the coast is protected by harsh cliff faces, but wide beaches dot these at fairly narrow intervals and there are large natural harbors. Rainfall is heaviest in the western Ucayare provinces.
Climate
Temperatures in Sante Reze can reach over 38ºC (100ºF) and rarely sink below 18ºC (65ºF). The yearly average is approximately 26.5ºC (80ºF). Humidity is high year-round - especially in the west - and there is no dry season in most of the country as rainfall averages at least 4 inches every month, often more. Sante Reze is almost uniformly tropical, and experiences no difference between summer and winter except in the far south; it is hot and wet throughout the year, with heavy rains at least two days out of the week in most of the central regions of the country. The change in temperature between day and night is decidedly larger than the average change in temperature between "summer" and "winter" months in the majority of the country.
Much of the rainforest experiences over 750 cm (295 in.) of rainfall a year, a product of heavy precipitation on a nearly daily basis. The eastern and southern savannahs, however, are naturally drier and do have relative dry seasons which average less than 5 cm (2 in.)of rainfall in each of the summer months.
Politics
As a noble republic, various members of the noble class are elected to offices. The Corpe Signorie - the body of lords, a legislature - and the Consiglie dei Diexi - the Council of Ten - are the two elective branches. They operate elections in different fashions, however, with the Signorie requiring first a vote from the commons to establish how many seats each House controls. Other branches do not make use of common confidence votes; Council elections are done solely out of the body of the nobility.
No-confidence votes may be called for at any time, for any member of the government, no matter their title, role, or how long they have been in office. These votes have tended to succeed historically, removing the offending member from office, and as such have historically served as useful tools in keeping politicians in line.
Government
Administrative Divisions
Crime and Law Enforcement
Law enforcement in the Most Eminently Serene Noble Republic is primarily the responsibility of the carabinieri, which is also tasked with keeping the peace between the houses since 18XX. Other national-level agencies such as the FBI_ANALOG have specialized duties and operate in conjunction with the carabinieri, though are outside of the traditional military structure. Jurisprudence operates on a common law system, and all trials start at the lowest rung in the court system and may move up through appeals to the provincial level. Lacking a national constitution, there is no constitutional court.
Criminal punishment is centered around rehabilitation, with incarceration available in cases determined to be outside of the realm of mental illness or minor offense. Incarceration rates are extremely low due to the social policies of the country, with fewer than one prisoner per 100,000 persons. Rehabilitation rates bring the total number of held criminals to 59 per 100,000 persons.
Capital punishment is illegal in Sante Reze, and has been since shortly after the war which founded the Noble Republic.
Military
The national military is comprised primarily of the carabinieri, which acts mostly in a domestic policing role, and the condottieri, which are the standing armies of the great houses. It would be inaccurate to describe the condottieri as private military forces, as the houses are also the majority of the national government itself, and any large operations must either be run directly by STATE_DEFENSE, or approved by the STATE_DEFENSE to be run without their direct oversight.
Foreign Relations
Economy
Sante Reze has a stable, prosperous, and high-tech economy, maintaining a high per capita GDP relative to its population. The Rezese lire remains a strong currency with a relatively low inflation rate.
The Rezese job market is very flexible, and the unemployment rate is low, particularly among the indigenous Oxidentali peoples. Its foreign citizen population is fairly high, as much as 9%, though most people employed by Rezese corporations and their subsidiaries are employed in foreign nations, particularly in Mutul, rather than being relocated to Sante Reze.
Energy
Electricity generated in Sante Reze is 60% solar and wind, 39% hydroelectric and tidal, and 1% nuclear, resulting in a near-completely CO2-free electricity-generating network. Remaining CO2-producing electricity production belongs solely to the use of gas-powered generators, particularly amongst tribal peoples. In 2005, one anti-nuclear initiative was turned out, but another less drastic initiative was passed in 2006, limiting the expansion of nuclear plants and aiming for a reduction in nuclear power within ten years. The initiative was tempered by forbidding the construction of CO2-producing plants in any effort to prevent nuclear expansion, which has had the side effect of limiting any development of geothermal production.
Many energy firms have been pursuing the further expansion of offshore wind parks and tidal harnesses to replace land-based windmills and nuclear plants. There was also been a continuous drive to develop more advanced solar and wind technologies for mass deployment in urban centers.
Though fossil fuels have been almost entirely eliminated for the purposes of electrical generation, they do continue to be used in limited capacities, notably for military vehicles. Most forms of transportation, however, are either hybrid or full electric.
Infrastructure
Sante Reze has a well-used public transportation system based primarily around light rail and fast rail. The fast rail network carries over XXX million passengers annually, and the light rail network is said to carry over XX million. Though congestion is common on the few, small routes which pass through the Ucayare, all sides of the country are very well-connected. The rail systems make use of the "smart rail" technologies pioneered by Azende Viro Generale and Anacom Industries to maintain total surveillance of all tracks and trains for improved security and maintainability.
The road network is funded primarily by road tolls and vehicle taxes, and is a regular recipient of donations by the great houses. The high-speed autoroute system requires the purchase of a permit for one calendar year in order to use its roadways, for both passenger cars and trucks. San Gianpiero international airport is Santheres' largest international flight gateway and handled XXX million passengers in 2011. The other major international airports are XXX (XXX million passengers), XXX (XXX million passengers), XXX, XXX, XXX, and XXX. Most cities are served by dozens of airports besides their main gateways.
Environment
Sante Reze has one of the best environmental records in the region. It is heavily active in recycling and anti-littering regulations and is one of the top recyclers in the region, possibly the world, with 85-95% of recyclable materials being recycled, depending on the area of the country. Rezese houses also operate recycling centers in various other nations, most notably Tarsas.
The domestic paper industry has among the most efficient recycling systems and a highly profitable farm system, which makes it a large but low-impact Rezese industry. Sante Reze is also home to an advanced alternative energy industry and seeks to cut fossil fuels from domestic use entirely.
Western Sante Reze is dominated by the Ucayare rain forest and Mantiqueira mountain range, which cover the central regions of the continent; the Ucayare extends beyond the mountains, almost to the ocean in the south and west. The northern savannah is home to the largest cities and has been historically much more intertwined with Belisaria than the rest of the country has been. The Ucayare is heavily protected by the Rezese government, as are the tribal peoples (contacted and uncontacted) which live within.
Demographics
Education
School is mandatory from ages 5 to 15, where children are considered to be legal adults. University is also mandatory, though not for those serving instead in the armed forces; in theory, this means that everyone either attend university or opts out by joining the military. This is mostly true, though research on the subject has shown that many of the poor manage to get by without accomplishing either one due to their general invisibility to parts of the bureaucracy. This is especially true for the white and tribal minorities, though tribal Ucayare have an unofficial exception due to their voluntary-at-best style of handling of their Rezese citizenship.
The Rezese education system has been heavily criticized for its stress-inducing speed and comprehensiveness and has been cited as a primary reason for smaller than average programs for post-graduate degrees and a shortage of doctoral graduates.
Religion
The largest Rezese religion is a local syncretic faith which has borrowed heavily from Fabrianism, but is ultimately founded on various local religions.
Languages
The Rezese language evolved from the foreign Latin language which had been adopted as a trade language by the predecessors of the oldest noble houses in Sante Reze.
Health
Culture
Music and Art
Sports
The national sport of Sante Reze is fencing, which the vast majority of nobles learn, though they don't normally devote much time to it. Professional fencing is dominated by commons who have done little else but compete in the many circuits and championships. There are thousands of teams throughout the nation, none of which have any remaining basis on social strata, and there are hundreds of leagues for each class and many more for both.
Other popular sports include tennis, football, competitive swimming and diving.
Cuisine
Rezese cuisine varies greatly by region, and incorporates many elements from cultures around it. The most popular food in Santheres, however, often contains a holy trinity of fish, garlic, and dende oil, though the latter is sometimes replaced (or used in conjunction) with coconut milk. Seafood, especially shellfish, is extremely popular in coastal regions, where most of the population lives. Exotic fruits like açaí, cupuaçu, and hog plum are among the local ingredients used in cooking, along with more common tropical fruits like mango and pineapple.