United Kingdom of Ottonia
United Kingdom of Ottonia | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
| Capital | Aschenburg |
| Largest city | Wahlpurt |
| Official languages | Allamunnic |
| Ethnic groups | Allamunnae, Eoni, Draakuri, |
| Demonym(s) | South Ottonian |
| Government | Constitutional Monarchy |
| Vitus I | |
| Joerg Kleiner | |
| Establishment | |
| September 21st, 1872 | |
| January 1st, 1922 | |
| Population | |
• 2023 estimate | 31,644,871 |
| GDP (PPP) | estimate |
• Total | USD$692.14 billion |
• Per capita | USD$21,872 |
| Currency | Ottonian Krona (OKR) |
| Time zone | Western Belisarian |
| Driving side | right |
The United Kingdom of Ottonia, often referred to as South Ottonia, is a country in the area of Ottonia on the continent of Belisaria. The country is bordered to the north by North Ottonia, to the south by Sudemark, and shares a maritime border to its west with Draakur. The country was created as a result of the Ottonian Civil War, being the portion of the country of Ottonia held by the Army of the Glorious Restoration at the time of the ceasefire of 1922. Draakur became de facto independent from South Ottonia following the March 2022 Crisis.
The country is a executive constitutional monarchy, and has been since its founding, ruled by the House of Sproek-Kristhulm and the 200-member Ottonian Senate. The capital is located in the city of Aschenburg. The current monarch, called the Storkeneg or High King, is Vitus I, who governs with the aid of Chancellor Joerg Kleiner. The official language is Allamunnic, which is also the only language used in official government business. The state religion is the Sarpetic Honorian Catholic Church, although other faiths are nominally tolerated within the country.
Geography
In theory, the UKO claims the entirety of the Ottonian zone as its territory. In practice, since 1956 the country has been confined to roughly the southern third-to-quarter of the Ottonian states, comprising the territories of Staalmark, Onneria, Haelynd, and Meuse. South Ottonia disproportionately controls the most fertile and clement lands of Ottonia, holding the Ainslynd lowlands.
History
See Also: Ottonian Civil War, Great Ottonian War, and Ottonian Reunification
Inter-Ottonian Conflict
In 1917 the Royalist Movement rose against the federal government of the Ottonian Federation in an attempt to change the national government to a monarchy in emulation of the ancient Ottonian Empire. This sparked the Ottonian Civil War (1917 - 1922) that would end in a divided Ottonia, split between a monarchist South and a republican North. An uneasy peace followed for the next decade or so, when the conflict was renewed in the Great Ottonian War (1935 - 1941), which saw the southern United Kingdom of Ottonia invade the North with the assistance of the Ghantish under Emperor Nathan III.
Military Government
The peace treaty with the North in 1941 led to widespread anger and disaffection within the military towards the Royalist leadership, which came to a head with a soft coup by a military cadre led by Karlus Klaussunn, who essentially forced the UKO's monarchs to name him prime minister. For the next decade and a half, Klaussunn would oversee a rearmament and militarization program for the South, with the assistance of the Yisroeli Azoulay regime through Operation Bamidbar, preparing for another war with the North. Klaussunn would get his chance when he successfully provoked a conflict with the North in the winter of 1956 through his harsh suppression of an insurgency in the Bluwaald Mountains. However, instead of the sweeping victory Klaussunn and his political allies had envisioned, what ensued was a humiliating defeat by combined Northern and Bluwaalder forces, resulting in significant territorial losses and a crushing morale defeat. Klaussunn was forced to resign in disgrace in April of 1957.
Post-War Years
The decade of military government meant that following Klaussunn's resignation, the monarchy and its allies aggressively restructured the governance of the UKO, facilitating the process that was already underway of traditional aristocrats marrying into and investing in private businesses and being installed into hereditary positions of government authority to ensure the long-term loyalty of those institutions. The practice of commission purchasing, previously discredited, was introduced into the Royal Army, and the joining of the aristocracy into private business, government, and the military ensured a dwindling gap between the former two in particular. This effort was largely the work of the reigning monarch, Karlus, and his trusted Chancellor, Lothar Saaring.
As rebuilding occurred and foreign connections were cultivated, along with increasing attention from Ghantish, Latin, and Arthuristan quarters, a rise in foreign investment and commerce saw the country experience a major economic boom in the late 1970's and early 1980's. This boom was accentuated by the privatization and then elmiination of a number of the country's few social safetynets, implemented prior to the Partition, resulting in record profits. Gaudy profits and GDP numbers masked a widening wealth gap that had begun growing in the 1930's but only accelerated in the postwar years.
Detente
Newfound prosperity and confidence, as well as the rise of more liberal and even pseudo-capitalist governments in North Ottonia in the 1980's saw a new avenue explored for the possible reunification of Ottonia, a peaceful one via diplomatic means. Dialogue between the two competing states increased over the course of the 1980s and early 1990's, resulting in the relaxing of many of the strict border and communication controls between citizens of the two countries. Even as North Ottonia's government swung leftward in the 1990's in response to a stagnating economy, these attempts at thawing the Ottonian cold war continued, leading to the establishment of exchange programs and the first real attempts at economic integration between the two states.
While suspicion and hostility remained between the two governments, the next two decades would, generally-speaking, see a continued thaw in relations. There was a brief period of renewed chill around 2007, when a government report urging major reforms in the UKO brought suspicion of Northern infiltration of the government, but once investigations concluded that to not be the case the general course continued. While movement between the two countries largely remained controlled, communication became easier than ever. While this helped ease commerce, it also brought with it an increasing recognition among the working and lower classes of the South the difference between their lifestyle and their northern counterparts. Together with efforts by the still-criminalized South Ottonian chapter of the Universal Labor Front, labor agitation and protests for better social safetynets accelerated as the 2010's drew to a close and the 2020's dawned.
Politics
South Ottonia was nominally a constitutional executive monarchy, in which the monarchs of the House of Sproek-Kristhulm act as the heads of the armed forces and national police forces, charged with enforcing laws. Legislative authority was mostly vested in the unicameral legislature, the Royal Senate.
Since March of 2022, the country has been under the administration of the Emergency Transitional Administration, headed by Stevan Grimmeburger, following the South Ottonian Revolution and the subsequent Flight to Draakur. Although ruling in the name of the Storkeneg, the ETA largely governs as it sees fit, and has embarked on a number of dramatic reforms following the UKO's collapse on the mainland.
Emergency Transitional Administration
In the immediate aftermath of the South Ottonian Revolution, the government and its loyalists evacuated to the islands of Draakur, which had largely escaped the violent uprising which swept the rest of the country due to independent actions taken by the military governors of the islands, including the promise of reforms demanded by protestors. When the subsequent arrival of the UKO's government in the Flight to Draakur threatened a relapse in regards to public order, the military authorities on the island insisted on a provisional government to oversee the process of relocating the UKO's government and military onto Draakur, as well as implementing the reforms needed to prevent further violence.
Part of the process of implementing the Emergency Transitional Administration involved the abdication of Storkeneg Rodrik I in favor of his son, Vitus, who in turn named Draakur's former deputy governor, Stevan Grimmeburger the Director of the ETA. The ETA includes Grimmeburger, who reports to the Storkeneg, as well as an assortment of civil servants and administrators, tasked with restructuring the government and consolidating Draakur as the sole remaining territory of the UKO, as well as the drafting and issuance of a new governing charter.
Monarch
The UKO's executive position is held by the High Royal House of Sproek-Kristhulm, which was established via dynastic marriage between the Houses of Sproek and Kristhulm in the late 19th century. The current monarch is Vitus I following the abdication of the previous monarch, Rodrik I in April of 2022.
Some observers have noted that the monarch appears to have been reduced to a figurehead under the governance of the ETA, although it is unclear if this indicates a new power dynamic or a desire by Storkeneg Vitus to allow the ETA to carry out necessary reforms.
Senate
Prior to March of 2022, the Senate consisted of a mix of 100 members selected by the various constituencies of South Ottonia, as well as 50 high-ranking military officers, 50 clerical officials from the Honorian Church, and 100 life members from amongst the aristocracy, and served as the country's legislature in tandem with decrees from the Storkeneg.
Since March of 2022, the Senate has been made defunct by the ETA. Director Grimmeburger has indicated that the Senate may, at the conclusion of the emergency, be restored in a diminished capacity, but that it "serves as an impediment to good governance" in its original form and will not be restored to such a state.
Military
Originally organized as the Ottonian Royal Armed Forces, following the March 2022 collapse, the armed forces of the UKO have undergone radical restructuring to accomodate their new realities.
Home Guard
The Royal Army was functionally abolished in April of 2022 by the ETA, reorganized into the Home Guard, a hybrid army and gendarmerie. The Home Guard also incorporates the now-defunct Ottonian Royal Air Force's land-based elements.
Compared to the Army, the Royal Navy survived March 2022 mostly unscathed, and in large part transferred to Draakur, giving it a very large navy relative to its size and population. As part of the reorganization, the Royal Navy also absorbed the Ottonian Royal Air Force's sea-oriented elements.
Economy
During its time as a part of the larger United Kingdom of Ottonia, Draakur was largely considered something of a backwater. Although it was a port (or, more accurately, a series of ports) of significant importance, and developed some industry correspondingly (including some shipyards of significance, and, accompanying that, a major South Ottonian naval base), a significant amount of Draakur's economy remained tied to fishing and agriculture.
Now that the UKO is confined to Draakur, the economy is already beginning to diversify, including more demand for administrative and civil service jobs.
Demographics
As of July 1st, 2022, the UKO is estimated to contain approximately 5.6 million persons. The majority of this population is concentrated in the Bay of Draakur area, a multipolar urban zone surrounding the central bay separating the northern and southern halves of the Island of Gran Draakur, as well as the island of Fentyera, and typically extended to the Bronnsburk metropolitan zone on the island of Grenolm.
Human Geography
Although each of the 13 islands have human settlements upon them, an estimated 4 million of the archipelago's estimated 5.6 million inhabitants reside in the immediate coastline of the Bay of Draakur or in the immediately-adjacent western peninsula of Grenolm.