Asucki

Federal Republic of Asucki Reapuublikae Aesuucki
Flag Seal
Motto: Libertaera Bie Vuenaura Liberty is Peace
Anthem: Vaektrana, Asuckianin!
Capital	Novaera
Largest city	Aurinnen
Official languages	English, German
Recognised national languages	Aubauna
Demonym(s)	Asuckian
Government	Federal Presidential Constitutional Republic
• President	Sean Cooper
• Vice President	Callen Reynolds
Legislature	Congress
• Upper house	Senate
• Lower house	House of Representatives
Establishment
• Middle Waters Confederation	1748 - 1933
• Unification	October 7, 1933
Population
• 2020 census	7,050,169
GDP (nominal)	2020 estimate
• Total	278.9 billion
• Per capita	$39,559
HDI (2021)	.79 high
Currency	Florin (ƒ) (ASG)
Time zone	MWQ
Date format	mm/dd/yyyy
Driving side	right
Calling code	+388
Internet TLD	.asck

The Federal Republic of Asucki is a nation located in Teremara occupying the largest landmass in the region's Middle Waters. Census data lists the population as approximately 7.1 million people, the majority of which are scattered throughout the nation in small towns and rural villages. The geographically largest city is Novaera, which lies on the country's eastern coastline where it serves as a center of industry and government. The most populous city is Aurinnen on the opposite coast.

Celtic and Polynesian tribes migrated to the Asuckian Isles from at least 700 B.C. up through the first century A.D. These largely nomadic tribes eventually found the region to be highly suitable for agriculture, leading to feudalization and the formation of various small city-states and kingdoms. Christianity was brought to the Isles in the sixth century by missionaries from continental Teremara, which would culminate in the Schismatic Wars between Roman Catholic and Orthodox states between 1054 and 1065. With the rise of international trade and colonialism, the area's relative isolation and easy access to to the sea caused a mass migration of pirates seeking fortune. These pirates dominated the smaller Asuckian states before being pushed out by the major Teremaran colonial powers as well as the large kingdoms of Aurinnen and Novaera. As time went on, the various smaller states became more heavily influenced by Novaera and Aurinnen, eventually resulting in the formation Middle Waters Confederation in 1748 and ultimately in the consolidation of all territories into one federal republic in 1933.

Asucki is a developing country economically, with performance in various metrics ranging from below-average to good. Historical policies of autarky and political isolationism have resulted in a largely subsistence-based domestic economy with an emphasis on exporting services. Economic liberalism and regional integration have resulted in major gains in both nominal and PPP GDP statistics in recent years. Politically, Asucki is considered a free and highly developed country, scoring a 98.3 on the International Freedom Index. The Asuckian Isles were historically heavily influenced by the Enlightenment and the nation's laws uphold, among others, the freedoms of speech, press, religion, and makes other guarantees, such as freedom to create trade unions, protection from unlawful imprisonment, and firearm rights. Asucki is a member of the United Teremaran Economic Conference and a prospective member of the Teremaran Security Organization.

History

Early History

Archeological records show that the Asuckian Isles had permanent human inhabitants as early as 700 B.C. with nomadic groups being likely even further back in history. The earliest permanent inhabitants were Celtic, most likely originating from the territories of modern day Greater Orcadia and Osatana and elsewhere in far-western Tavlyria. Over time, the remoteness of the Isles led to the cultures, languages, and religious beliefs of these tribes to develop along separate lines than their mainland counterparts.

Hujana nomads hailing from the areas of modern-day Hutanjia and Kenega in Wishtonia made landfall sometime towards the turn of the first century. Seeing the region as rich enough in farmland and fishing to support themselves, they settled in the west. Though this left them mostly separate from the eastern Celts, skirmishes and disputes arose between them almost immediately and continued as territories expanded and they were forced closer together.

This political situation resulted in the two groups influencing each other through invasion and trade. By the sixth century, the two had become more or less melded into one largely homogenous cultural group. The Aubauna, as this ethno-cultural would come to be known in early anthropological literature to contrast from arrivals from later eras, became completely distinct from any earlier Polynesian or Celtic cultures, developing their own traditions, practices, language, and religious pantheon.

Christianization and Schismatic Wars

In the early sixth century, Christian missionaries from continental Teremara arrived and began conversion efforts. The specific doctrines and loose nature of Séaiil, the predominant pagan faith system at the time, left many open to conversion. The increasingly Christian populace caused it to soon become politically convenient for rulers to convert as well. By the seventh century, Christianity was the majority religion in the Isles and a self-governing patriarchate had been established.

The early Church was fundamental in the development of the Isles. Christian missionaries helped develop systems for written Aubauna, which had only been expressed orally until that point. They also made the first efforts to unify the Aubauna dialects into one system, now called Church Aubauna, which remains in use in Asuckian liturgical rites of various denominations. Asuckian architecture and engineering sciences experienced a rapid overhaul as larger church buildings became necessary to hold all of the faithful.

In 1054, the Great Schism between the western and eastern churches greatly affected Asuckian religious practice and resulted in several conflicts. The insular nature of the Asuckian Church left it largely politically separate from either side, so there was no consensus as to which to remain in communion with. Rulers chose one or the other either due to personal conviction or in attempt to separate from their neighbors. Others chose to use this period to justify expansion with religious reasons, causing a period of violence between Orthodox and Catholic states. The Schismatic Wars, as these conflicts came to be called, ended in 1065 with the Treaty of Raun, in which all major rulers involved entered a mutual agreement to permanently stop utilizing religious differences as justification for war.

Nameless Republic

The colonial era brought a number of small trading posts organized by Terre des Gaules and Asuckian nations, especially with the then-kingdom of Aurinnen. News of the Isles' ease of access and advantageous position soon reached continental Teremara and beyond. Asucki's location between the two major Teremaran continents did, however, encourage the development of piracy, who sought to raid trading vessels which carried valuable goods between Madurin and Tavlyria. Secret enclaves were established across the Asuckian coastlines, which were then utilized as bases for raiding and storing stolen goods. It is widely suspected that dozens of these hideouts remain undiscovered to this day, hidden throughout the rugged and deadly northern coasts.

In some areas, especially smaller city-states, the pirates' accumulated wealth and martial skills aided them in rising to positions of power within the various legitimate governments of the Isles. By 1645, the vast network of buccaneers had transformed into a system of ruling which operated as the de-facto executive of the island. This government, referred to as the "Nameless Republic" for its underground and covert nature, ruled most areas of modern Asucki from the shadows for the next few decades.

Aeksaen Evaer was a legendary Aubauna captain with great influence among the bands of pirates. Though the pirates of the Nameless Republic held a secure position in the Middle Waters, Evaer recognized that the major powers would eventually attempt to end his trade. Evaer's charismatic personality and naval prowess made him a feared sight, both on the battlefields of the Middle Waters and in backroom meetings with weak Asuckian rulers and lesser pirates. The pirate government's informal structure never had an official leader, but Evaer ruled as de facto executive for much of his life. Using his influence, the captain made deals with various powers at various times for privateering contracts and non-aggression agreements, which historians claim likely extended the lifespan of the Nameless Republic drastically.

Evaer died peacefully in 1689. Without his charismatic leadership, the leaders of the Asuckian piracy industry were quickly caught up in personal rivalries and territorial squabbles. Novaera and Aurinnen, the two largest governments on the Isles which had been able to resist the influence of the pirate government, took the opportunity to strike back. Together, they began cracking down on piracy within their territories. Novaera's navy underwent a series of radical reforms and major restructuring to address the issue. At this time, many less committed pirates abandoned the trade and settled down, buying land for farming or taking legitimate jobs in the growing cities of the Isles. The remaining pirates were met by a series of major naval defeats near the Isles. Piracy migrated southwards towards Cinqfreres, a Gaulic colonial territory, where it was swiftly defeated by a coalition of Novaera, Aurinnen, Gaul, and several colonial power. Piracy was all but eliminated by the turn of the eighteenth century.

Middle Waters Confederation

For their aid in dismantling the Nameless Republic, The Kingdom of Novaera (Caelriggaen Novaera) and the Grand Principality of Aurinnen (Tiilriggaen Aurinnen) emerged among the other Asuckian nations as respectable entities willing to and capable of defending the Isles. For much of the early eighteenth century, the numerous smaller independent states began to align themselves with one or the other. As this continued, both sides feared a major conflict. The Vinae Conventions, held between 1746 and 1748, sought to create an agreement that would prevent such an occurrence and strengthen the Asuckian nations against outside colonial powers.

These conventions culminated in The Articles of Free Association of Novaera, Aurinnen, and the Territories of the Isles, which established the Middle Waters Confederation. The MWC included 92 territories, some of which were simply independent homesteads and villages. The Articles accomplished much in unifying the Isles, including formally recognizing their shared cultural identity and establishing intergovernmental means of resolving issues between the various signatories.

Republican Era

Around the same time, the ideas of the Enlightenment Era, previously relatively limited in influence due to the isolated geography of the region, began taking a foothold in the Isles. Members of Beaufort's republican Chartist Movement fled to Asucki prior to and during the Beaufortian Revolution to avoid persecution by royal authorities. Local governments allowed these Chartists to freely publish their ideas, which were then disseminated among both Asuckian and eventually Beaufortian audiences.

With the spread of the Enlightenment, the traditional monarchist structures of the larger Asuckian nations became highly controversial. The Grand Principality of Vinae, a neighbor to Novaera, was the first hereditary monarchy to collapse, with reigning Prince Eilain II abdicating peacefully after a series of referenda. Several other small, independent principalities and duchies experienced similar scenarios throughout the next several decades.

The capstone of the Republican Era, as the extensive period between 1760-1804 came to be called, was the dismantling of the Aurinnenite monarchy. In 1798, the League of Silver, a legally unrecognized union of workers mining silver in crownland mines, began a series of strikes over low pay and hazardous working conditions. Reigning Prince Aeliin IV utilized military force to end the strikes, which sparked riots across the Principality. Tensions continued to build for two years, until armed conflict broke out in the early months of 1800. Most of those in mining or adjacent careers either stopped working to join the revolt or were forced out of work by the revolutionaries seeking to cut off the government's income. The Aurinnenite Revolution continued until 1804, when revolutionaries were able to forcibly depose Aeliin IV and the royal family. A democratic government of the workers and peasants took over the nation and established a secular Jacobin republic.

Despite the revolutions and reforms in neighboring states, the monarchy in Kingdom of Novaera retained its power, owing to the heavy influence of the Church on internal politics and the general popularity of the ruling House of Viiraen. Although the monarchy remained strong, several liberalizing reforms were introduced throughout the nineteenth century which competed with similar laws being carried out by republican neighbors. The General Council, or Raem, a parliament which had evolved out of the councils of landowners, nobles, and representatives of the peasantry held since time immemorial, expanded and became more influential. The peasant class, empowered by this, began pushing for various reforms of both the government as a whole and the Raem itself. Nobles saw their influence drastically decrease as the peasants mobilized. The last vestiges of feudalism were eliminated from the Novaeran economy by the middle of the nineteenth century. Nobles were soon forced to surrender their holdings to the peasants who lived on them, in turn bringing about the rapid growth of rural agricultural landowners and a decrease in centralization. By the turn of the twentieth century, the Raem had been reorganized into a fully democratic institution, typically referred to as the Vaelkraem, or People's Council, which was responsible for lawmaking and advising the monarch, who remained a powerful but not absolute figure.

Unification Era

Many prominent Asuckian thinkers of the early 1900s put forth serious suggestions for a full unification of the Asuckian peoples into one state. Among these were Aerael Schaen, an economist and political theorist who believed it necessary for the region's economies to unite to defend themselves from the overwhelming monetary resources of the continental powers, which now had easy access to the Isles due to globalization. Novaera's United Federalists, heavily influenced by the philosophy of Schaen and other similar theorists, as well as the general rise of nationalistic ideas worldwide, began political and paramilitary campaigns to promote a unified Asucki.

Between 1920 and 1933, the United Federalists and other similarly-oriented smaller groups across the various member states of the Middle Waters Confederation consolidated power, resulting in the formation of the modern-day Federal Republic of Asucki on October 7, 1933.

The ideology of the United Federalists following unification and through the majority of the twentieth century existed in the form of a nationalistic republican system with influences within the membership of the party itself ranging from Enlightenment liberalism to classical fascism. The economy was nationalized and transitioned into an autarky in order to fit the party's nationalistic grounding. Neo-Schaenism became the formal policy of international interaction. In contrast to the traditional understanding of Schaen's economic work, which was largely focused on the financial benefits of a united economy against the encroaching economy of larger powers, neo-Schaenist thought translated this concept into all areas of governance, including foreign relations. The Isles were to unite and manage themselves completely free from any kind of international influence. As a result of this dominant ideology, Asucki remained removed from the majority of the events of the twentieth century.

The new federal government also enacted several policies with aims to restore and preserve pre-Nameless Republic Aubauna cultural identity. Among these were the re-introduction of Aubauna as a national language for usage alongside the vastly more common English and German. The party pushed for devolution of political power to the provinces and localities, seeing itself as the guardians of the ancient rights afforded to small governments on the Isles. At the same time, the United Federalists seized control over most of the nation's economy, banning foreign imported goods, creating state-operated manufacturing enterprises, and issuing quotas and other crop policies to the nation's farms, which remained privatized.

Inil Ćaeva and Early Reformers

The policies of the United Federalists were met with a mixed national response. Conservatives generally supported the new government, but many felt that total bans on imports were too harsh. Some also felt that the farmers, who were a strong conservative faction, had been betrayed by the government's domineering policy. Others believed that economic isolationism and state control was better for the farmers than competition in a free market. Asuckian leftists supported many of the party's internal economic reforms, especially those emphasizing workers' rights and social equality, but rejected its nationalistic messaging. Over the course of the early years of the new republic, the United Federalist Party became increasingly "big tent," focusing on practical relations with the nation's political factions. This broad support, combined with the prestige gained by uniting the Isles, resulted in the United Federalists ruling under a de facto one-party state. Whether this could actually be considered a kind of dictatorship or not is subject to debate; those who support the theory cite the party's usage of its significant paramilitary forces to intimidate voters, while opponents note that there were never any serious attempts to usurp it anyways as most political newcomers simply joined a wing of the party rather than attempt to oppose it.

As the 1930s reached their close, the United Federalists had more or less secured their power. The federal government and those of the provinces eased into a state of general understanding and cooperation. Early disputes over the commerce rights to the Innel River Delta between Lonn, Suel, and Triil were mediated by the federal government, which defended an agreement made with the Lonns prior to Unification and guaranteed the shared commercial rights of all three governments to the basin and river itself.

On October 17, 1945, the nation's parliament swore in Inil Ćaeva, a senator from New Austrakia, as Chancellor. Though initially somewhat unknown, Ćaeva went on to become a prominent and respected figure in the Isles. He was a member of the United Federalist Party's progressive wing and carried out several reforms during his time in office. His administration took actions to limit discrimination against women in society, who were prevented from working and, in some areas, not allowed to own land, and that against Slavic immigrants, who were struggling to integrate into the nation. Ćaeva also adjusted the federal government's economic policy, returning a significant amount of financial power to the provinces and lessening the state's control over agriculture. At the same time, he strengthened the state-run manufacturing sector in Novaera.

Liberalization of the 1980s and 1990s

Cracks began forming in the strong neutrality and autarky of the 20th century towards the end of the 1980s. The Asuckian Liberal Democratic Party was formed in 1987, supporting free trade and international relations. Congressional elections in 1990 saw them gain several seats, disrupting United Federalist domination of the political sphere. The first major Liberal Democratic legislative victory was the Nuclear Energy Act of 1991, which replaced all government managed coal and wood power plants operating on domestic fuels with nuclear plants that required the importation of uranium.

Modern Day

Asucki made its way into the twenty-first century as a rising power dealing with a series of internal political conflicts. The ultra-conservative block of the United Federalist Party began a campaign of pushback against the liberalization of the eighties and nineties. The office of the chancellor slowly lost much of the power it had possessed since the founding of the nation as the legislature responsible for his election became more and more divided. Political analysts often refer to the "Ten Year Slump," a period between 2000 and 2010 where they argue the chancellor accomplished nearly nothing in the way of a political agenda, as representative of the era.

In 2022, United Federalist political candidates in active military service won a large number of seats in the legislature, prompting outrage from liberal factions and fear of a potential military takeover and reversal of reforms. In response, the provinces of Aurinnen, Vinae, Esail, and Archipelagiae protested, calling for a convention to be held regarding the potential of a restructuring of the nation's constitution, which had been unchanged since its writing in 1933. Under pressure from these provincial governments as well as scattered groups of citizen protestors, the federal government authorized the second Asuckian constitutional convention. Votes were held at a provincial level, and any individual capable of acquiring more than ten percent of the popular vote in their province was sent to the convention.

After two months of deliberation, the new draft was finalized, and eventually approved by overwhelming majority vote on June 27, 2022. The most significant alteration was the replacement of the chancellor with a popularly elected president with full executive authority. With the people still concerned about a potential military takeover, presidential candidates were given a remarkably short period of only ten days to make their campaigns. Then-Minister of Defense Sean Cooper, who campaigned primarily on economic issues and restoring the people's trust in the military, eventually went on to win the presidency. On July 6, 2022, he was officially named the first president of Asucki and remains the incumbent.

Geography

Asucki is based on an island in the northern Middle Waters and also controls an archipelago which lies to the southwest. Southern areas are flat and smooth with hills developing in the north and culminating in the jagged, rocky coastlines of the far north. The central and southern regions are home to the majority of the nation's farmland. Farms in the center of the nation are typically smaller and oriented around family ownership while southern farms are much larger and more explicitly commercial. Sprawling forests coat much of the country, with woodlands often coexisting closely with farms and developed land. Many forests are protected as national parks by federal legislation or as private parks by landowners.

Asucki has three major bodies of fresh water, those being the Inain, Innel, and Aurinnenite rivers. The Inain River, running from its mouth at Novaera all the way across the country to the opposite coast, is the most culturally significant of the three, lending its name to a province. The Innel River runs north-west and meets the main body of the Inain at a major junction. The Innel is used extensively in the transportation of goods by waterway. The mouth of the Innel on the nation's southern coast is an area subject to conflicting claims of ownership by provincial governments. The Aurinnenite river runs northeast-southwest from the farthest north coast of Asucki into the city of Aurinnen.

Two major inland lakes are formed by the Inain and Innel Rivers. Lake Litaen is the largest lake in the country and a popular vacation destination. It was named for Litaen II of Novaera, an early monarch of the Eastern Orthodox city-kingdom who managed to stave off a major religious war with Roman Catholic rival Aurinnen through his cooperation with the ecclesial and secular authorities on both sides of the issue. The nation's other lake, Lake St. Michael, is fed by the Innel River.

The Asuckian mainland is roughly 90,000 square kilometers in area. To the west of the mainland lies several small islands ruled under a single provincial government as Archipelagiae. All of Archipelagiae's constituent islands are fairly isolated from the rest of the nation and to each other, resulting in an atypical culture. Historically, these islands saw use as naval outposts, but all current Asuckian naval facilities are on the mainland. The islands of Archipelagiae are home to monastic communities of both Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christians.

The climate is considered to be continental with the addition of a significant amount of precipitation throughout the year. Summers are generally very hot and winters very cold. The entirety of the Asuckian Isles go through a period of melting at the end of the winter. Considering the large quantity of precipitation throughout the year, this leads to a period of deep mud throughout most of the early spring, traditionally referred to as the "Kneading Days," in reference to the difficulty in traversing the thick ground. This period stresses underdeveloped infrastructure in rural areas, leading to numerous reported cases and historical folk stories of people in isolated areas relying exclusively on foot or horse travel until the weather improves towards the beginning of summer.

Economy

Silver, mines of which lent the name to Aurinnen and encouraged the growth of the nation's silver-backed currency, is Asucki's primary precious metal resource. Copper, tin, and zinc are also very common, resulting in a strong alloying industry that has existed since the earliest Asuckian civilizations. Due to their prevalence, these metals and their alloys, especially brass and bronze, are often utilized in place of more valuable resources. With the abolition of economic isolation, foreign steel imports have supplemented or replaced copper alloys in manufacturing and household goods significantly, but several providers still produce household goods in the traditional alloys.

The nation's energy production is primarily based on an interconnected network of publicly owned and operated nuclear fission plants. These plants provide for roughly 72% of the grid, the rest of which is fulfilled by gas (~20%), solar (~5%), and wind (~3%) generators. Nuclear plants are powered by imported enriched uranium, but government energy policy in recent years has moved towards utilizing thorium and other difficult-to-weaponize radioactive fuels due to the lesser political ramifications involved in their acquisition. Asucki has not seen any major nuclear incidents in its near half-decade reliance on nuclear fuels.

Agriculture is a major Asuckian industry. Owing to the United Federalist policy of self-sufficiency, Asucki's domestic industry was organized to be capable of supplying food for the entirety of the nation without foreign imports. The long-standing policy has historically resulted in a heavily-subsidized agriculture industry focused on the production of inexpensive and efficiently-grown food crops and animal products. Major crops include corn, wheat, and soybeans, which are grown almost exclusively for human or livestock consumption and have significant cultural importance. Sheep, goats, and poultry provide the majority of animal products, although there are notable populations of cows and swine kept in larger southwestern farms.

An estimated one-third of the agriculture industry is made up of subsistence farming, but this has been in steep decline over the past three decades. Over this period, the combined influence of greater economic freedom and access to foreign imports has brought food prices down, resulting in a more flexible consumer economy. Following this decrease of value in food crops, Asucki's agricultural industry has slowly began diversifying. Promising results have been found in farming spices, especially mint, for export.

Aquaculture is a similarly rising industry. Fishing was a core component of the Asuckian lifestyle for thousands of years, with the early societies of the Isles making use of the region's vast seas to sustain themselves. The founding mythos of the city of Novaera claims that it was originally a small fishing outpost which grew rapidly due to its position at the northern mouth of the Inain river. The fishing industry took major hits following Unification as the ruling United Federalists oriented their policy around livestock and land-based crops, which were seen as cheaper, more easily sustainable, and in some cases, morally superior. Like agriculture, however, the aquaculture industry has been growing and adapting as the nation adjusts into a liberal capitalist economy. Near-shore and inland aquatic farms are increasingly popular. Companies such as Acorn Seafoods and MacGregor Fisheries Limited have sprung up in the past decade, rising to prominence with quality products able to economically compete with more conventional livestock meats. Asuckian cuisine has seen a resurgence in the popularity of pre-Unification seafood dishes with this growth of inexpensive and sustainable aquaculture.

The private security industry is deeply rooted in Asucki and remains a dominant force in the Novaeran economy to this day. During the medieval age, a system of "free companies" was developed in the Isles, made up of groups of deserters, mercenaries, military veterans, and, later, ex-pirates. These free companies roamed the Asuckian countryside, often selling military services to wealthy independent landowners or small city-states without standing militaries. This adventurous, rugged lifestyle was quickly romanticized in Asuckian mythos and the majority of free companies would slowly transform into entities more akin to militias and clubs of outdoorsmen, losing traditional elements of the career such as serious violence and robbery. The more serious companies who wished to maintain their more violent lifestyles migrated to the east into Novaera, where they operated illicitly from taverns and reading houses. Later immigration brought disillusioned veterans and petty criminals from continental Teremara, who integrated quickly into the structures of the well-established Novaeran companies. In 1988, major disputes between companies resulted in a series of violent outbursts, called the Novaeran Conflicts, which resulted in the federal government pushing back against the influence of the industry as a whole. Despite this, private security services remain one of Novaera's largest international exports, and companies such as Kestrel Military Contracting are ubiquitous entities.

The Asuckian florin is the official currency, having been adapted from the pre-Unification currency utilized by merchants in Aurinnen. The florin is pegged to the silver standard, with one florin being equal in value to one gram of silver. Early United Federalist policy placed special emphasis on this arrangement as it kept the florin independent of foreign fiat currencies and limited the government's ability to overspend. The nation's reliance on a commodity-backed currency has largely kept the money supply stable, limiting inflation at the cost of decreased economic growth. The issue of currency has become somewhat controversial in the Asuckian political sphere, and controversy will likely continue as the government increases spending and international firms trading in fiat currency become more ingrained in the nation's economy.

Demographics

Religion

Christianity is the largest religious family on the Isles. It was brought by continental Teremaran missionaries in the early sixth century and has remained a dominant cultural and political force. Roman Catholics make up the majority, equalling approximately 32.1% of the general population. Catholic practice is more common in western regions, where the historical presence of the powerful Catholic Grand Principality of Aurinnen held most of its authority and carried out trade with predominantly Catholic Terre des Gaules. Eastern Orthodoxy is slightly smaller at 31.7% of the overall populace. The Kingdom of Novaera, a dominant force not only near modern Novaera but also throughout the entirety of the Isles, was a confessional Orthodox state throughout its existence and the areas within its sphere of influence remain predominantly Orthodox in the modern day. As a whole, the influence of the Eastern Orthodox Church is greater than that of the Roman Catholic Church in most regions of the country. Miniscule populations exist of non-Orthodox eastern Christians, including the Oriental Orthodox and Church of the East, but practice is largely confined to small immigrant groups. Protestantism, legally considered to be entailing all Western Christian groups outside of Roman Catholicism, is the smallest of the three major groups at 23.5%. Lutheranism is the largest Protestant sect in the form of the Asuckian Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Deism is the most sizeable singular non-Christian religion in Asucki. Historical review leads to the conclusion that Deism as a belief system emerged on the Isles in two forms simultaneously. Deistic views apparently developed naturally in some areas while continental influence, mainly from Beaufort, brought the faith to other regions. Many thought leaders of the Republican Era were outspokenly Deistic in their thinking. Evidence gathered from personal documents suggests that several nobles of the period held Deistic beliefs in secret. Following a Republican victory in the Aurinnenite Revolution, Deism was briefly the religion of the city-state's early republican government. This was accomplished through a state sponsored Cult of Divine Reason, influenced by the actions of similar anti-monarchist revolutions elsewhere in the world. Specific beliefs of Deists vary, but in a 2011 poll conducted by the Asuckian Deistic Society, most respondents described themselves as either "Pandeists" or "Christian-adjacent."

Communities of other faiths exist throughout the nation. The extremely liberal immigration policies of the pre-Unification era brought religious groups from across the world, many of which were oppressed or endangered in their homelands, to what would eventually become Asucki. Islam is the third largest religious group (or second, if Deism is considered to be within the Christian religious family) at 2.7% of the population. There is also a sizeable Jewish diaspora centralized in Novaera.

Historical non-Abrahamic religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism and Gespurna all have small presences as well. Whereas most Abrahamic faiths were brought in and kept alive by immigrant populations, the overwhelming majority of adherents to these religions are native-born converts. Modern spiritual and religious movements such as New Age, Wicca, Witchcraft, and Modern Paganism are of comparable sizes and compositions.

Language

The official languages of Asucki are English and German. The overwhelming majority of Asuckians are fluent in one or both. Aubauna, the language of the early governments of the Isles, is federally recognized as both a cultural pillar and a minority language for isolated Aubauna peoples. It is often used for ceremonial purposes, comparable in role to that of Latin in other nations. Due to the simplicity of certain dialects, Aubauna is often chosen as a second language. Other minority languages include Serbo-Croatian, Polish, and Russian, but these are not formally recognized by the government.

Asucki's dialect of English aligns closely with that of American English. Adoption of AmE's spelling and phonetic reforms occurred well before Unification and was largely brought on by the printing guilds, who saw several advantages to the model. The simpler and shorter spellings of words decreased the overall amount of labor required to complete the printing process. Further, the greater usage of the letter "z" in AmE simplified the process of English printers publishing German-language media.

German has little dialectical variation, with the federal government formally utilizing Standard High German for its official German-language publications. Umlauts and the Eszett are rare in early Asuckian media as many printers operated in both English and German, necessitating the avoidance of letters not standard in the English alphabet for the sake of cost effectiveness. Following the advent of modern printing techniques, these two elements of the German language were largely restored. New Austrakia's provincial Ministry of Education allows for the usage of both the umlaut and Eszett in English and Aubauna media, a spelling irregularity common within the province. New Austrakia has the nation's highest concentration of German speakers and identifies strongly with the Germanic cultural heritage of its namesake Austrakia. German linguistic influence exists even in areas with negligible Germanic populations. For example, motor vehicle fuel is unilaterally referred to as "Benzin" (sometimes "Benzine") throughout the nation.

Culture

Sports

In comparison with literature and the arts, the role of sports in Asuckian culture is relatively muted. Professional sports are fairly rare sights, with most being played on the casual or university level. Ice hockey, gridiron football, and baseball all have sizeable followings. Baseball is the only sport with a televised major league. The Novaera Constellations (colloquially referred to as the 'Stels) are a dominant force in the Asuckian baseball world, having won the Asuckian Championship Series four seasons out of the past six.

Motorsports are generally more popular than conventional athletics within Asucki. Rally racing is the most popular. The Federal Asuckian Rally Association sanctions televised professional events. FARA regulations are notable for being significantly less restrictive than many other national and supranational governing bodies. The non-professional rally scene is also quite large, with amateur drivers participating in unsanctioned races throughout the nation's rural regions. These unregulated races have been cited as safety concerns by traffic authorities, who note that rally-related incidents are a leading cause of vehicular death in provinces with extensive dirt road networks and minimal regular traffic.

Asucki's Ćaeva Manufacturing Company is a major force in the nation's motorsports field. The company sponsors racing teams in several disciplines and also owns controlling interest in Crown City Motor Speedway, an oval track used for stock car racing. Though Asucki has no real domestic F1 scene, Ćaeva has contributed components to unified Teremaran efforts in extra-regional Grand Prix events.