Vredlandia

Free State of Vredlandia Freistaat Vredenland
Flag of Vredlandia Flag Coat of arms of Vredlandia Coat of arms
Motto: "Our Shield is the Sword."
Anthem: "The Republic Calls"
Secondary Anthem "Fly High, Red Eagle"
Capital and largest city	Eldburg
Official languages	Gaullican
Recognised national languages	Weranian, Vreden
Recognised regional languages	Möllska, Otti, Bjerven
Demonym(s)	Vredlandian
Government	Unitary semi-presidential one-party state
• Holy Father	Franz III
• Seneschal	Arthur Treuwegen
Legislature	National Assembly
Historical Dates
Population
• 2015 estimate	65,571,408
• 2011 census	65,428,594
GDP (nominal)	2015 estimate
• Total	2.596 Trillion $
• Per capita	39,690 $
Gini (2014)	38.0 medium
HDI (2014)	0.880 very high
Currency	Vredenmark (VRM)
Date format	dd.mm.yyyy
Driving side	right
Internet TLD	.vr

The Free Republic of Vredlandia, commonly known as Vredlandia, is a nation on the planet of Kylaris.

History

Main article: History of Vredlandia

Kings of Vredlandia

Geography

Vredlandia is located in Northern Central Euclea. It's bordered by Werania, Hennehouwe, Kesselbourg, Gaullica, Ostrozska, Estmere and Weiderland - ranked by the length of their shared border. To its Northern coast lies the Sea of Dragons. Part of the coast borders the Bay of Seals, which is completely under Vredlandian dominion. Vredlandia's Western regions are mostly flat, with many Seas and rivers, while the East is more mountaineous. Vredlandia's biggest lake is the Lac d'Or, which it shares with Gaullica and Ostrozska. Its highest mountain is Mont Curetti at .... m height.

Demographics

Ethnicities

Vredlandia has a history of being ethnically diverse. Even before the arrival of Weranians in Vredlandia, there would have been no clear ethnic majority within Vredlandia's borders. Nowadays, Ethnic Weranians are the plurality in Vredlandia, with around 46%. Only the Vreden are more plenty, with around 50%. They are not a culturally and ethnically coherent bloc, though, but consist of various smaller minorities - The Möllsk, Otti and Bjerven merely the biggest among them. 2% are Atudites, who can be full citizens without converting, 1.8% citizens with a migration background and 0.2% non-converted citizens with a migration background. Immigrants who are no citizens of Vredlandia are not included in the statistics.

Languages

Vredlandia has designated Gaullican as its official language ever since the years of Gaullican rule. It is obligatorily taught in every school, usually with the addition of a locally dominant language. Around every second Vredlandian also learns at least one foreign language, with Estmerish and Althiric being almost evenly split in usage.

Public authorities communicate in Gaullican, but it has become a rule to allow communication in the recognised national languages Weranian and Vreden as well -- at least on the highest levels of governance. Regionally, Möllska, Otti and Bjerven may be recognised by the administration as well. Save for Gaullican, which is obligatory throughout Vredlandia, the recognition and use of languages is a decision of local communities.. Thus bi- or even trilingual signs aren't uncommon in Vredlandia. The designation of languages is a regular source of conflict in local elections, too.

Parliamentary Procedure only allows for Gaullican.

Economy

Tourism

Vredlandia has a booming tourism industry. With its many historical cities, long & clean beaches and high amount of (touristic) infrastructure in mountaineous regions, it is well suited for a large audience. Tourism hit its first big wave when foreign nobility came to Vredlandia. After and during the Great War, international visitors were reduced drastically. Only in recent decades the international audience has rediscovered Vredlandia and the biggest growth factor currently. Most Vredlandians go on vacation twice a year, and often stay "at home" in Vredlandia.

Agriculture

Vredlandia's Western regions are agriculturally rich. With the decline in significance of farming, however, the industry is highly subsidized and barely financially rewarding. That's why Vredlandia switched its focus to agricultural machinery and chemical nutrients relatively early which, unlike food sales, is successful internationally.

Industry

Vredlandia has a big industrial sector. Most businesses are mid-sized or family enterprises. Industrial strengths of Vredlandia can be found in the chemics industry, car manufacturing, avionics and the arms industry. Notable names on an international stage include VredoChem (Chemics), VredoWagen (Car manufacturing), Curetti Avionics (Avionics), Block (Weaponry), Beyr (Weaponry) and VQE (Electronics & Software).

Mining Industry

Modern mining mainly concerns Salt, Gypsum, Tungsten, Coal, Iron, Lithium and some minor others. Lead, Copper and Gold are nearly irrelevant today and most of those mines were closed.

Financial Industry

Ever since the Great War, and partially before, Vredlandia is an established location for international finance. Its neutrality is often considered a guarantee for the safety of assets, which is aided by Vredlandia's relentless and stubborn reluctance to reveal financial data of customers of their banks. Financial institutions from Vredlandia are among the world's most successful with investments, even though the government has enforced strict oversight over any risky deals. With the decline of industry, Vredlandia's financial industry is thought to play an even bigger role in the future.

Politics

Holy Father

The Holy Father is Vredlandia's Head of State and religious leader. He is democratically elected in several rounds and serves for his life. The Holy Father can call national (or single seat) elections, gives the government his blessing, heads the judiciary by appointing judges and giving them guidelines and is the nation's highest moral authority.

Government

Vredlandia's Government is elected by the National Assembly. The Holy Father will nominate someone to the National Assembly, which will then vote on them and other candidates. The winning candidate nominates other Cabinet members. All members of Cabinet have to be Assemblymembers, too. Technically there is no limit on Cabinet offices, but several offices have been used for centuries now: The Minister of Law, Minister of Coin and since the Great War also a Minister of Foreign Affairs and one for Defence. All other Ministries have changed more or less often, but the general areas additional Ministries cover relate to social and cultural matters, as well as education. Since the 2015 elections the Cabinet of Vredlandia is led by Raivo Kloth, but he recently announced his resignation in light of a referendum loss.

Legislative

The National Assembly is directly elected with a First-Past-The-Post system. To that end, Vredlandia is divided into 500 constituencies. Only followers of the Vredlandian Reformed Church (and Atudites) can vote and be elected. While that has led to criticism before, even within Vredlandia, the Supreme Court ruled the limitations fully legal. The limitations on democracy (and only them) would be warrented by the systemic and fundamental inclusion of the Vredlandian Reformed Church in all matters of state and life in Vredlandia. All 500 members of the Assembly belong to the Unity Party of Vredlandia, and its General Secretary Vitas Hüld officially serves as President of the Assembly. Any Assemblymember can bring forward a bill with the signature of 25 of their colleagues (5 % of all Assemblymembers). Decisions of non-constitutional nature are made with a majority of 50 + 1. Occasionally, legislative matters are decided via national referendum.

Foreign Policy

Vredlandia is neutral on the world stage and constitutionally committed to it. Peace and liberty for all is what has been described as Vredlandia's core Foreign policy effort. This is sometimes undermined by news of Vredlandia harbouring or making deals with controversial figures on the international stage. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs justifies those by saying they, too, are integral to retaining influence internationally. Vredlandia's Holy Father takes a very limited role in Foreign Policy, but an audience is the highest honour of Vredlandian Diplomatic Protocol. The Freistaat is no member of the Euclean Community, but still close allies with Gaullica and Werania. It is a member of the Community of Nation's Euclea Central Division. Vredlandia is also a member of the GIFA and the ITO.

LGBT & Women's Rights

There is no legal discrimination of women. Positive discrimination is meant to enable them further in society: Quotas for university (40%) and supversisory boards (30%) -- if there are enough applicants -- are meant to eradicate the last remaining cultural/systemic difficulties women may face. Vredlandia hasn't had a female Seneschal or Holy Father yet, but 216 members of the National Assembly, so nearly half, are female.

Same sex-marriage has been legalized in 2014. Homosexuals may donate blood and have access to methods of getting a child. However, hate crimes against members of the LGBTQ+ community have risen slightly recently and are still worryingly high. To combat discrimination, Seneschal Raivo Kloth (heterosexually married and with kids) joined a campaign where he would kiss a fellow man. The video went viral in Vredlandia, but also led to outcry from some more conservative factions. With Carl Woywod and Anna Thielmann from the start, and later also Johan Radlinger and Eric Töjben, the Cabinet has members who openly belong to the LGBT+ community for the first time.

Culture

Literature

Fictional books dominate the market. Reading is heavily encouraged in school. One of the most famous TV shows in Vredlandia is a discussion forum about books, old and new alike. It is coming nearer to its twentieth year since it aired for the first time. The National Library in Lerth has one of the largest collection of books worldwide.

Religion

Vredlandian Reformed Church

Population

Largest Cities

Template:Kylaris

Rank	City	Population
1	Eldburg	4,680,842
2	Vredensund	1,927,508
3	Ragnvald	1,893,864
4	Lerth	1,191,062
5	Königsbrück	986,720
6	Koncord	890,471
7	St.Marienburg	668,152
8	Merevaiklinn	621,933
9	Ronisauen	580,307
10	Eisenring	491,684