Staalmark

The Staalmark Folk Republic
Flag
Motto: "Justice burns hotter than the forge."
Capital and largest city	Staalburg
Official languages	Allamunnic
Recognised national languages	Eonese
Demonym(s)	Staalmarker
Government	Federal Semi-Presidential Democratic Republic
• Premier	Annette Muellenburg
• Chancellor	Soren Faalk
Establishment
• Creation as a March of the Ottonian Empire	985 CE
• Creation of the Principality of Staalmark	1922 CE
• Admittance to the FOR as the Staalmark Folk Republic	May 2nd, 2022
Population
• 2020 census	6,243,419
Currency	Otomark (OFØ)

Staalmark, officially the Staalmark Folk Republic is a constituent republic of Ottonia. From 1922 to 2022, it was part of South Ottonia as the Principality of Staalmark and prior to that it was a member of the Ottonian Federation (and before that, independent) as the Kingdom of Staalmark. It is located in the south-central region of Ottonia, bordered to the east by Bluwaald and Meuse, to the immediate north by Bluwaald and Eona, and to the west by Haelynd and Kanketya.

Geography & Climate

Staalmark is situated in a foothill and grassland region as the Kanketyan Coastal Plains give way to the foothills of the Bluwaald Mountains. This, along with the mild rainshadow provided by the mountains help make Staalmark agriculturally quite productive relative to the waterlogged, mountainous terrain further north. Rivers flowing down from the mountains crisscross the rolling plain, giving the region the name of Ainslynd, or, in modern Allamunnic, the Riverlands.

The relative separation from the coast means that while Staalmark does not receive as much rainfall as the coast and is largely sheltered from the worst of the Salacian Ocean's storms, it also means that Staalmark has a relatively high degree of seasonal temperature variation, with cold, dry winters and hot, wetter summers.

Politics

Up until March of 2022, Staalmark was a province of South Ottonia, which enjoyed some devolved powers under the direct rule of the House of Trynt. Following the South Ottonian Revolution, Staalmark was reestablished as the Staalmark Folk Republic, with a democratic government and a socialist economy on the model of the North Ottonian republics. It was formally admitted into the Federation of Ottonian Republics on May 2nd, 2022. At time of writing, the drafting of Staalmark's new constitution is an ongoing process, and the republic is administered by the provisional government of Soren Faalk.

Economy

Up until March of 2022, Staalmark was part of the South Ottonian economic system, a semi-state capitalist system in which the means of production, land, and most public spaces were owned or monetized by the ownership class, which included industrialists, aristocrats, and the monarchist government. Following the South Ottonian Revolution, Staalmark's model of economic structuring is undergoing dramatic reforms, with the republic poised to formally abolish private property on the same model as the rest of the FOR. Between these expected reforms and the flight of a large number of property owners, this has left the Staalmarker economy in a state of flux.

Staalmark operates a fairly diverse economy, with a substantial amount of agriculture and mining supplemented by heavy industry and manufacturing complemented by a modest, but significant service sector. Mines have typically been concentrated in the areas adjacent to the Bluwaald Mountains, where the foothills contain a number of industrially-useful minerals, while the more lowland regions have typically been dominated by agriculture.

Demographics

Staalmark is an ethnically fairly-homogenous republic, and religiously it is dominated by the Honorian Church, with modest minorities of Reytled practitioners and Corsanguine Sarpetics, although prior to 2022 both faiths were officially suppressed. Relative to points north, Staalmark has a relatively widely-dispersed population, with many people living outside of formal municipalities.

The republic's largest city is its capital, Staalburg.