Sulatia

Republic of Sulatia Kuljemaan Tasavalta
Flag National Cockade
Motto: Ei Jumalia tai Kuninkaita, vain Ihminen "No kings, no masters"
Anthem: Rohkeat työläiset, eespäin, mars Brave Workers, Forward, March!
Location of Sulatia (green) within [Continent] (light grey) Location of Sulatia (green) within [Continent] (light grey)
Capital	Karvistonpuoli
Largest	Varppe
Official languages	Sarvalian
Recognised regional languages	Jatilian Lamalian Vogarian
Demonym(s)	Sulatian
Government	Unitary directorial republic
• Committee	Hyvärinen Ilmari (President) Kuoppala Yrjänä Vepsäläinen Eevi Keskula Janek Sepp Kati Maijala Aulikki Kimmo Veli
• State Secretary	Isometsä Aliisa
Legislature	Eduskunta
Formation
• Duchy	ca. 850 CE
• Grandy Duchy	2 August, 1083
• First Republic	29 May, 1800
• Second Republic	17 January, 1916
• Current constitution	11 October, 1987
Population
• 2015 census	34,569,842
GDP (PPP)	2018 estimate
• Total	$1.275 trillion
• Per capita	$36,890
GDP (nominal)	estimate
• Total	$1.220 trillion
• Per capita	$35,279
Gini	23.1 low
HDI	0.902 very high
Currency	Sulatian markka (SUM/ℳ)
Date format	yyyy-dd-mm CE
Driving side	left
Calling code	+08
Internet TLD	.su

Sulatia (Sarvalian: Kuljemaa), officially the Republic of Sulatia (Sarvalian: Kuljemaan Tasavalta) is a sovereign, unitary parliamentary directorial republic located in East Auressia. The nation borders, from clockwise, X, Y, and Z.

The area of Sulatia has been inhabited since roughly 60,000 BP. Bronze working was introduced ca. 3000 BCE with several cultures, most notably the Kaarre culture, arising during this time. The cultural continuity of the Kaarre continued into the 1st millennium BCE with the transition to the Iron Age believed to occur between the 300s and 100s BCE. The Iron Age saw a transition from pastoralism to nomadism, with the culture spectrum of Keranic groups being collectively referred to as Iron Age Nomads. Migration eastwards culminated in the Sulatian conquest of Teno River basin over the course of the 8th century CE, and is largely considered by both archareologists and historiographers to be the end of the Keranic Iron Age.

The settlement of the Teno river basin saw the semi-nomadic tribal alliance of Sarvalians, Jatilians, and Lamalians transition to a pastoral life style and, together with the Vogarians who had settled the region sometime during the 4th century CE, formed the Duchy of Sulatia. The duchy was a loose confederation of the settled Keranic tribes, and various warlords ruled as semi-independent polities. The lands of Sulatia were finally united under Kaarloman I, and, in 1280, was crowned as Grand Duke. The proceeding centuries saw Sulatia expand southwards, incorporating various Isaric and !Slavic polities in what is termed Pohjanasettava. By the 17th century, Sulatia reached its territorial height, incorporating parts of Tyrnica, X, and Y. This territory was gradually eroded as a result of the [War] and [Second War] fought against X and Y. Inspired by the Rythenean Revolution of 1790, republican revolutionaries toppled the monarchy, and by 1801, had instituted a republican form of government.

The era of the First Republic of Sulatia was marked by the implementation of authoritarian measures carried out by the Popular Tribunal in efforts to effectively quash royalist sentiment. Additionally, the nation found itself at war with its neighbors in an attempt to spread republicanism. While Sulatia was defeated in these wars, the opposing powers failed to manage a total defeat of the nation, and its republican government managed to survive into the post-war years. In 1874, Erkkilä Toivo was elected as President of the Popular Tribunal and began a policy of normalization with the other Auressian states. The outbreak of the Great War saw Sulatia emerge as one of the victorious powers, however the nation was never fully able to reap the benefits of victory. Economic and social strife caused by the war saw a second revolution occur, with the Second Republic of Sulatia being proclaimed in 1916. The new national convention passed several reforms aimed at wealth equality, workers' self-management, and social ownership of property. Despite its adoption of many socialist ideas and theories, Sulatia does not claim to be a socialist state.

Politically, the nation is officially a unitary directorial republic. The Eduskunta, the nation's legislature, enjoys legislative supremacy as the primary representative of the people, from whom sovereign power is derived. The 7-member Committee of Public Safety acts as the collective head of state and of government and is chosen for 4 year terms by the Eduskunta. While the entire committee is responsible, each member oversees one of several of executive directories. The President of the Committee of Public Safety is the head of the committee, and is elected by the committee itself. Unlike other nations, the President of the Committee is not the head of state nor head of government, with the role being for administrative purposes as the president chairs meetings of the committee. Likewise, the position of State Secretary is purely technocratic in its nature, and is also appointed by the Eduskunta. One political party exists, the League of Workers and Farmers, although several internal factions exist within it and are effectively political parties in their own right.

Largely considered to be a middle power, Sulatia boasts considerable soft power as its status as the preeminent left-wing nation. It consistently ranks highly in economic equality, workers' rights, and other socioeconomic issues. The nation is categorized as post-industrial with a very high standard of living. The national economy is unique for embracing Marxist and socialist economic ideas and theories. It is characterized by the complete absence of private ownership of businesses, with syndicalist, workers' self-management, public ownership, and community ownership serving as its replacement.

Etymology

The pre-Keranic name for Sulatia is Remosia and is believed to ultimately derive from the Proto-Indo-Auressian root werbh- meaning "to turn, twist, bend." The name was given to the area by !Greeks and is first referenced in the 4th century BCE when the geographer Kleisthenes had the area labelled as such. The !Greek name for the area was Rhemosion (Ρεμοσιον), later Sabarinized as Remosia, and is believed to originate from the aforementioned Proto-Indo-Auressian root. Modern scholars have cited the Teno river and its tributaries as being the cause for the name.

The Rythenean name for the country, Sulatia , first appeared in the 14th century and is a direct transcription of the Sabarine name for the area, Sulatia. Sulatia itself is a Sabarinization of the Sarvalian Suulahti. The word Suulahti is an agglutination of the Sarvalian words suu and lahti and roughly translates to "the mouth of the bay" or "mouth of the gulf," and refers to the nation's location on the [Gulf]. This differs from the endonym of the country, Kuljemaa, a compound of the Proto-Keranic kulke and mëxe. The compound can be translated to as "land [I] walked to."

History

Before 850

• Caucasian tribes
• Greek colonization(?)
• Contract with Sabaria
• Ingrian invasion in the 300s CE
• Finno-Esto-Karelian conquest in the 9th century

Medieval Sulatia

• Early Sulatia was a tribal confederation of Finns, Estonians, Karelians, and Ingrians
• Remained semi-nomadic
• Powerful warlords acted as semi-independent polities; continued to raid neighbors
• Diarchy system existed between the "duke" (Sotapäällikkö - "war chief") and the "high elder" (Ylivanhin - "chief village elder")
• Chiefdom society changed to a state society following "unification" under Kaarloman, crowned himself "Grand Duke" in 1083
• Pohjanasettava - "settlement of the North" - begins in the 1100s and sees the colonization of traditionally !Slavic and Germanic lands by Finns, Estonians, etc.
• Interregnum from 1405-1413 greatly weakened monarchical power
• Matias the Great elected in 1313, defeated regional warlords and re-established monarchical power.
• Matias the Great would extend Sulatia's borders with the conquests of X, Y, and Z

Politics

President of the Committee of Public Safety Hyvärinen Ilmari

State Secretary Isometsä Aliisa

Sulatia is officially a unitary republic with a directorial style of government. The nation combines traditional parliamentary representative democracy with socialist and syndicalist direct democracy. Despite the nation's extensive use of council democracy, Sulatia is not officially socialist nor syndicalist. There is no singular head of state or head of government. Instead the 7-member Committee of Public Safety serves as the collective head of state and head of government. The head of the committee, known as the President of the Committee of Public Safety, or simply "president," performs the roles of a traditional head of state for international purposes when necessary. The Committee of Public Safety is chosen by the Eduskunta for four-year terms, with no term limits. In addition to their roles as members of the committee, each individual minister oversees one of several executive directories. The state secretary also falls under the jurisdiction of the executive. The position is strictly technocratic and holds no real political power.

The nation's legislature, the Eduskunta, holds legislative supremacy and is the basis from which all government institutions derive their power. This is because of the nation's usage of council democracy and the belief that sovereign power is derived from the citizenry, which the Eduskunta is the primary representative of. The legislature is unicameral and is composed of 643 seats. 443 of these seats are elected directly through direct election and 200 seats indirectly elected through labor syndicates, trade unions, and the military via soldiers' councils. Additionally, the Eduskunta functions as the nation's constitutional supreme court, and the constitutionality of laws is verified by a vote. A special Constitutional Law Directorate exists, however, and in practice functions as a constitutional supreme court.

Only one party exists within the nation, the League of Workers and Farmers. However, several political groups exist within the party themselves and can largely be considered to be political parties in their own right. The largest of these groups include: Radicalists, Reformists, Totalists, and Internationalists. The current government is a coalition of Radicalists, Internationalists, and Autonomists. The current President of the Committee of Public Safety is Hyvärinen Ilmari and the current State Secretary is Isometsä Aliisa.

Government

The Committee of Public Safety constitutes the national government, directs the national administration of the state, and serves as the collective head of state. The committee is a collegial body composed of 7 members appointed by the Eduskunta for 4-years, with the ability to be re-appointed ad infinitum so long as they hold a seat in the Eduskunta. While the committee as a whole serves as the collective head of government, each individual member is the head of one of the seven executive directories. These directories are: State Commissariat of the Environment and Infrastructure, State Commissariat of Internal Affairs, People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs, State Commissariat of Finance and Economic Affairs, State Commissariat of Education, Women and Minority Rights, and Sport, State Commissariat of Defense and Civil Protection, and the State Commissariat of Justice.

Each committee member heads a government department, much like the ministers in the governments of other countries. Colloquially, committee members are referred to by the department they head, i.e: the head of the State Commissariat of Justice being referred to as the "People's Commissar of Justice" although no post officially exists. In addition to their own departments, committee ministers are responsible for the running of the other departments, and the conduct of the state government and national administration as well.

Decisions taken to vote before the committee are the responsibility of the department that it relates to. For example, the ability to issue sanctions or similar diplomatic protests against a country would be proposed by the head of the State Commissariat of Foreign Affairs. Prior to votes, however, written proposals are distributed to all members of the committee. These are written by the senior professional official of their departments, most of the time the professional heads of the various offices that make up each departments. These proposals are circulated to the other committee heads, who then task their own senior officials to prepare written responses to the proposal, offering criticism and improvements to the original proposal as appropriate. Votes are formally taken by voice vote, although the committee primarily operates through consensus decision-making.

The Committee of Public Security operates through weekly meetings, held typically on Friday in the executive capital of Varppe. In addition to the seven sitting committee members, the state secretary, Responsible Secretary of the League of Workers and Farmers, and the President of the Eduskunta attend the weekly meetings. These attendees do not vote in the decision making process of the committee itself, but are allowed to participate in the discussion. Nonetheless, their influence over the committee, particularly the responsible secretary's, have led to them being unofficially referred to as the eighth, ninth, and tenth members of the committee respectively.

The head of the committee is the President of the Committee of Public Safety. Unlike the committee itself, the position of president is chosen by members of the committee among themselves. The president serves for the entire 4 years that the committee is in session for. The position is primus inter pares with the other members of the committee. Nonetheless, the president is considered to be the highest ranking Sulatian official within the apparatus of the state and performs representative duties that are considered the business of the head of state in other countries. In the scope of the function of the committee, the president has no power above and beyond that of the six other members, aside from presiding over meetings of the committee. In urgent situations where a committee decision cannot be made in time, the president has the ability to act on behalf of the committee.

Legislature

Plenary chamber of the Eduskunta.

The Eduskunta is the unicameral legislative body of Sulatia. It is composed of 643 total seats, with 443 being elected through direct voting and 200 being indirectly elected through labor syndicates, trade unions, and soldiers' councils. Elected members of the Eduskunta, called councilors, serve for 4 year terms and can be re-elected ad infinitum.

  Internationalists: 109 seats

  Radicalists: 87 seats

  Autonomists: 36 seats

  Totalists: 87 seats

  Republican Socialists: 62 seats

  Reformists: 49 seats

  Ecologists: 13 seats

  Independents: 200 seats