User:Finium/Sandbox8

Republic of Argathel Poblacht an Arghaelte
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: Pleugh Song
National Cockade
Location of Argathel
Capital and largest city	Dunbeithe
Demonym(s)	Argathic
Government	Semi-Presidential Republic
• President	Aulay Ketelglenn
• Vice President	Craig Wreit
• Chairman	Amarach Ceilog
Legislature	Public Directories
Establishment
• Perendite Bill of Loyalty	1533
• Decameralisation	1910
• Sovereign default	2002
Population
• 2020 estimate	9,981,213
• 2002 census	10,209,322
Currency	Southern Cùinn

Argathel, officially the Republic of Argathel, is a nation located in western Auressia, bordering Tirmon to the north and Castelana to the east. The nation is composed of approximately some million square kilometers, all located in Auressia. The easternmost point in Auressia is located at Corrdhoend Point in Rollant, Argathel. The capital is located at Dunbeithe, which governs over nine million inhabitants divided into six provinces.

Argathel was inhabited by pseudo-pannager Insular Auressians by approximately 40,000 before present and later developed into a non-linear pottery culture. Cereal farming had several false starts in Argathel because of the widespread wetlands, which both provided easy access to food for knowledgeable gatherers and made farming difficult without intensive irrigation. Eventually, however, the widespread planting of fruiting trees by local inhabitants successfully created stable enough environments for small-scale glade agriculture. The Glade Clearing Culture existed from approximately 6000-1000 BCE and were slowly assimilated or replaced by Old Ghaels, who were the primary population in Argathel west of Carmacia by 800 BCE. Argathel, along with Tirmon, was historically incorporated into the Sabarine territory of Fuoriterra, although Argathel spent more time under imperial rule and less time in revolt than the northern parts of that territory.

In 2002, Argathel defaulted on its sovereign debt and had its finances restructured by an international coalition with support from the Confederacy and Albrennia. As a part of the plan to eliminate Argathel's public debt, foreign and domestic advisors formed a new commission to advise the government. Some of those suggestions included a reduction in public allowances for small-scale farming, which both composed a disproportionate sector of the population, but also contributed to other public costs such as free healthcare in rural areas and landbanking, which was a traditional activity of the state. The ongoing crisis and international intervention in the economy has greatly restricted the government and their ability to act at home and abroad; some commentators consider Argathel to be a colony of the Invisible Empire.

History

• Antiquity
  

  The Old Ghael statue from Cathairon (South of modern Edarleid)
  • 800 BCE Old Ghaels complete their colonization of Fuoriterra (Bancarn is abandoned)
  • 600 BCE Fortress of Cathairon is established by the Ghaels at their border
  • 400 BCE Cathairon is destroyed by the Caitasi who expand northwards
  • 350 BCE Caitasi colonize the Boiran foothills and establish a kingdom in Fionglennfhada/Fingliffard
  • 100 BCE First Sabarine incursions, conquest of Caitasi and Mormaigh; Carmacia is built as a new capital for the governor of Riania
  • 40 BCE Sabarine conquest of eastern Mòrainea, Peace of Ùrraon
  • 10 BCE Saberina conquest of Indaelaen and Rollant; Bancarn is rebuilt
  • 20 CE Sabarian governor at Bancarn begins extracting tribute from Bocadhar
  • 100 CE Sabarine conquest of Mòrainea and Innsea
  • 300 CE Sabarine conquest of Adaua
  • 475 CE Sabarine withdrawal from Fuoriterra
• Middle Ages
  • 501 CE 2nd Sabarine Empire is formed
  • 600 CE 2nd Telirian conquest of Indaelaen; Cargloine is razed
  • 700 CE 2nd Sabarine conquest of Mòrainea and Innsea
  • 800 CE 2nd Sabarine conquest of Adaua
• Late Middle Ages
  • 920 CE Treaty of Breun acknowledging the independence of Blayk from the Sabarine Empire
  • 1411 CE 4th War of the Eagles
• Early Modern
  

  Cathelène, Marchioness of Carhain and a scion of the Blaykish de Cuscairies, prompted the Seven Day War with Rollant and her son became the first independent ruler of Carhain
  • 1500 CE Ghàel rebellion, 33 Dark Years
  • 1533 CE Hegemony of Mòrainea, southern states pay tribute
  • 1697 CE Riania is incorporated into Castelana along with Carmacia, a border is established at the fortress of Dunerman.
  • 1799 CE War of the Siarach League, formally incorporates some tributaries into Mòrainea and transitions Tirmon to a constitutional monarchy. In the south, Mormaigh becomes the new hegemon on the remaining independent states, especially Caitas and Ibary.
  • 1819 CE 2nd Sabarine Empire is reformed into the Confederacy
  • 1830 CE The Seven Day War between the Caitronites and the city of Rollant establishes a new, independent Duchy of Carhain in Casanclaiche. The Caitronites are extremely regressive and favored highly decentralized, rural aristocrats with few checks on their power.
• Modern
  • 1908 First Great War; Argathel sides with its longtime ally in Tirmon against Rythene and Castelana
  • 1912 Tirmon Socialist revolution; revolution spreads to Argathel, but so do loyalists fleeing Tirmon
  • 1914 First Great War ends; the large number of fleeing political refugees from Tirmon makes Argathel the "best managed state in Auressia"
  • 1937 Second Great War begins; Argathel is in the first wave of states to fall to Palia, there are many sympathizers in government
  • 1943 Second Great War ends; Coalition occupation deposes the monarch and appoints a transitional government
  • 1950 CoNA talks prompt Argathel to exist its 'transitional' stage, but there is almost no change in form
  • 2002 Argathel defaults on sovereign debt

Geography

Argathel has a generally consistent elevation with some large foothills in the north central region of Ibary and a large ridge spur from the mountains called Cnaenhardaen, which splits the nation into two rough units. North of Cnaenhardaen there is a large complex of brackish wetlands covering over 100,000 km2 created by a slight variation in coastal elevation that traps rainfall in a large depressed region with only one major outflow. South of Cnaenhardaen there is another region of small, dry karstlike hills known as Casanclaiche along with the Mormaigh coastal plain. At the eastern terminus of Mormaigh, where the River Giles meets the ocean, a large estuary forms the nation's other major wetland zone.

Various forests have formed in the nation, many of them isolated from one other by mild arid zones, which has increased the diversity of forest ecosystems.

Politics and government

Argathel is a semi-presidential republic with a independent executive president and a large number of independent deliberative commissions which act as the nation's legislature.

The president is the head of state and serves an unlimited number of five year terms. The president's primary responsibility is the formation and dissolution of the nation's various deliberative assemblies; the ability to dissolve a commission is often considered a de facto veto power, but the president has no de jure ability to counteract the actions taken by commissions once formed. The president has been entrusted with some duties by various commissions over time to ensure continuity of government, but generally commissions act as their own executive office without presidential input.

Commissions are formed by presidential order and members are elected in a first-past-the-post system, either five or seven members to begin with. After formation, these commissions act more independently and are allowed to increase the number of members involved or request a dissolution from the president if the members feel their objectives have been met. Some commissions, such as the commissions governing taxation or diplomacy, have their own budgets and staff which they manage collegially; other commissions provide advice to the president or another commission (in this case they are "subcommissions").

Because of the variety of elected positions in government, political parties in Argathel do not tend to dominate every election cycle or form majorities on every commission. A plurality of elected officials run independently and are backed by a coalition of local towns who vote as a block for a particular individual. The largest parties tend to seek representation on the finance, labor, or agriculture commissions and generally compete for votes from the largest cities whose have enough diverse interests and voting share to earn more than one candidate a seat. The largest party in Argathel, with 18% of all commission seats, is the United Socialist Labour Party a sister organization of the Tirmoni part of the same name and they are often consulted on major political decisions even if their members do not sit on a given commission. For this reason, the chair of the USLP is sometimes called the head of government, although this is primarily for the sake of convenience and does not reflect the broadly conservative mindset of the general public.

Conflict between commission orders and strategic plans is not uncommon and a robust, independent judiciary with many resolution mechanisms to solve day-to-day problems of government. For long-term projects that overlap commission jurisdiction, however, members sometimes request that the president form a special joint commission to achieve limited ends. The judiciary appoints and promotes is own members and has funds provided by the justice commission. One of the most important ways that commissions avoid conflict is to issue a strategic statement after every election and to amend it annually. The president maintains records of these plans and has the responsibility of advising commissions of potential conflict.

Military

Most military affairs are under the direction of the Commission on the Armed Forces, which oversees the apportionment of funds, the selection of officers, and issuance of decorations. There is a dedicated subcommission for the general staff, which acts as the non-civilian deliberative body for the military. If a declaration of war is issued, the president calls for a commission on that particular conflict, that commission absorbs wartime powers and directs the prosecution of the conflict. Wartime precedence is generally respected by other commissions which will simply issue concurrence orders with the conflict commission.

Foreign relations

Diplomacy is carried out through a joint effort of the foreign affairs commission and the president (who acts as the host for foreign dignitaries). Since the advent of telecommunications, commissioners themselves are sometimes given ambassadorships to international organizations, allowing them to directly enact orders.

Economy

Argathel's economy is highly developed with a GDP over 200 billion per year and a large service sector employing 70% of the population. Despite generally high income, Argathel is often considered an uncompetitive economy because of it's low growth and relatively high (23%) agriculture employment. Although there is a high agricultural employment rate, the sector generates relatively few exports from its highly decentralized family farming operations and state funded wildlife management.

The Southern Cùinn, Argathel's national currency, has struggled to compete with the Commonwealth Mark centralized currency and other dominant currencies. From 1983 to 1998, the Southern Cùinn was pegged to the Commonwealth Mark, but the slow rate of economic growth over that period made that association progressively more and more detrimental to domestic markets. After 1998, the Southern Cùinn was a floating currency, although the central bank did intervene, periodically making leveraged buys Southern Cùinn. At the same time, a broad regime of price controls on food and other essentials was introduced to compensate for price fluctuations.