My contribution regarding the Nahrin Union
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Nation Profile: Nahrin Union
The Republic of Nahris, also known more commonly as the Nahrin Union, is an island nation in the southern eastern part of the East Pacific region. It has it’s origins in the loose collections of tribes, kingdoms and fiefdoms descended from the ancient Nahrinese tribes who emmigrated from what is now modern day Dannistaan to their current location. For several centuries, the Nahrinese fought one another, content that each deserved their own patch on their somewhat insignificant island. This resulted in a patchwork of around 150 kingdoms.
It was around the 17th century that the benefit of a more cohesive nation came to the fore. The few larger tribes started to amalgamate the smaller groups by various means. Some by diplomacy, some by trade, most by sheer brute force. This ultimately lead to a dramatic reducation of of the 150 kingdoms to around 36 in the 18th century. The remaining 36 kingdoms ultimately proved too large, initially, to conquer each other. This resulted in the equilibrium that resulted in all the kingdoms deciding to unite into what became known as the Nahrin Kingdoms.
The Nahrin Kingdoms pooled together their economic as well as diplomatic resources to draw in international trade. It provided opportunities for goods to be exported as well. The liberalisation of trade did not allow for the liberalisation of civil rights though, as even the most light hearted jokes at the Joint Monarchies of Nahris resulted in severe punishment, usually an almost immediate beheading or an unappealable lengthy sentence. This carried on until the early 20th century where the toll of international wars and famine proved too much for the people.
Change was promised by one leader within the Trans-National Imperial Nahrin Army, the combined land armed forces of the Nahrin Kingdoms. The officer, a General Alan Theodore Smyth, lead a popular uprising in March 1939. He first overthrew King Winston XXI in the kingdom that employed him, the Winston Emperium, now forming part of the modern day Winston County, that then spread to the other 35 kingdoms. This resulted in most of the members of the Joint Monarchies being executed for treason and crimes against the state. Only a few surivived, there whereabouts unknown. However shortly after the uprising General Smyth instead of making good his promises of Democracy cracked down harder on the populace than what the Joint Monarchies had done. He banned all opposition to him on June 1940, declaring the establishment of the People’s Free Democratic Republic of Nahris and performed a further rationalisation of the 36 kingdoms to 12 counties. In practice these 12 counties had next to no authority, with General Smyth having the final say in any law. Smyth ruled with an iron grip, enacting bizarre laws which would be repealled the same day, such as banning a type of alcohol that he was inebriated on out of offence only to repeal it and allow the consumption and manufacture of it the next day.
Smyth’s strange behaviour only worsened with age. He was a staunch Catholic and claimed a lot of his actions were dictated by God. Even those that were excessively cruel. This including the forced conversion of those of other faiths and none and the use of torture. His excommunication from the Catholic Church in April 1963 angered him to the point where in a strange and lavish ceremony held a month later he declared himself the true sucessor to the Papacy and founded a new branch of the Catholic Church in that year, even going as far as creating a new calendar system. Despite his absolute rule, he never gave himself an official political position until October 1969, where he declared himself “President for Life” in another lavish ceremony at the old Royal Central Palace in Nahris City, the capital. It would prove to be his undoing as the cost of the ceremony was too much for the hard done populace.
The now President Smyth ultimately would fall to the same sword he used to fell the Joint Monarchies. Factions of the now renamed People’s National Army of Nahris, led by his former right hand man, General Jim Jones, started a violent uprising against Smyth. Though initially unsucessful and resulting in General Jones and his supporters going into hiding, the insurgency lasted long enough to take it’s toll. Smyth ultimately losing support of key sections of the army and ended up being arrested on Sepetember 1974 in the Royal Central Palace. General Jones was declared Acting President and in one of his first acts of power, Jones had Smyth tried for 50 charges of treason, all of which he was found guilty. Smyth was then executed by hanging on May 1975. President Jones then put in all manner of checks and balances that prevented the military ever taking power and put all authority in the civilian Government. Thus founding the modern Republic of Nahris/Nahrin Union.
Currently the sole official language of the Nahrin Union is English although some minority languages may have a special recognised status for local use. Spelling tends towards British English with some American exceptions. Due to the problems caused by President Smyth’s Catholic beliefs, Secularism is strictly enforced and any talk of religion is at best strongly discouraged and at worst resulting in admission to a special Secularism Rehabilitation class. This also results in the strict regulation of religious buildings and iconography. All churches, temples, mosques, synagogues and other religious buildings are of a standard nondescript design and are not allowed to have any reglious designs on them and are limited to showing one sign to show their use.
The current Governmental structure revolves around a Parliamentary Republic with some elements from a Semi-Presidential system. The sole legislative body is the 400 member National Assembly of Nahris, or Nahrin National Assembly. The Executive, the Government of Nahris, consists of 12 members of the National Assembly, 10 ordinary and the Prime Minister, usually the leader of the majority party or coalition, and his/her Depute. The President of the Nahrin Union, though theoretically the highest ranked politician, in practice is more of a figure head and although he/she has some reserve powers these are rarely used. The Judiciary is the Supreme Court of Nahris which decides the constituational nature of any laws passed.
The Nahrin Union itself is divided into 12 counties, two of which have slightly more autonomy than the others. Each county is run by a County Council which enacts the policies decided by the National Assembly. The capital in Nahris City in Nahris County in the middle of the island. Most of the counties have one city designated as a local administrative centre, officially a County Seat. Tourism is not a priority for the Nahrin people, who live in effectively an economic autarky. Trade with other nations is minimal and almost all goods and services are produced domestically. As a result of the lack of tourist facilities and attractions, Nahris is known for being a very utilitarian state with few sites of interest. It also does not help that is isn’t easy to get into the Nahrin Union in the first place. All foreigners undergo extensive background checks and any discrepency is enough to bar entry to the nation. Use of Government minders to tail foreigners of ethnic groups known to cause trouble in the Nahrin Union is not unknown. Leaving the nation as a citizen is more difficult due to schemes such as the infamous Restricted Travel List, which as the name suggests, restricts travel to the nation until it is removed from the list. Most common cause of an RTL sanction is being remotely near the site of a warzone or being diplomatically involved with combatents in a warzone.
Culturally the Nahrin Union is akin to a mix between France and Singapore, though damental right and private hospitals are rare and strictly regulated although higher quality healthcare is available at them where they exist. Education is also state funded and controlled and there is plenty of Social Security benefits. Minority as well as majority rights and civil rights in general are fiercely protected and anything seen as an infraction of those rights is vehemently challenged. Ironically it is impossible to go anywhere without running into one of the many omnipresent CCTV cameras in the nation. Birth control is encouraged as the population nears 70 million and the concern for the environmental damage and impact on resources is high on the Government agenda. This has gone as far as tax benefits to couples willingly taking abortions or keeping families very small. This attitude has been dubbed as “Pro-Abortion” as compared to Pro-Life and Pro-Choice by it’s opponents.
The issues of environmental damage go as far as Nahrin transport policy. Getting a driving license and an automobile to use is best described as problematic. It is expensive and made as deliberately hard as possible. Even after obtained a license and a vehicle freedom of the road is not guaranteed as priority is always given to public transport and goods vehicles and even operators of those have issues with their own licensing regulations. All private cars have satellite tracked speed limiters that do not allow any vehicle, except for emergency service ones, to exceed the speed limit. Attempting to force the vehicle say by revving the engine repeatedly only results in an automatically triggered shutdown and an indication to the police. The police also have the ability to call for a vehicle to be remotely shut down on request, say if a car has been stolen and used in a crime. Ultimately people are encouraged to use the admittedly very efficient and clean public transport system covering an extensive mainline railroad network, extensive metro system and bus links to almost anywhere in the nation.
There is no “Second amendment” and no recognition of the “right to bear arms”. Instead the overwhelming right to public safety overrides almost everything else and is enshrined as a fundamental civil right in the Nahrin constitution. Even if firearms would be needed as part of a job in other nations, the Nahrin Government will not issue any firearms licenses except in extremly exceptional circumstances such as law enforcement and military. Instead civilians make do with alternative tools and advice on situations that require use of a firearm such as pest control. This has resulted in innovative non-firearms pest control measures however.
The Nahrin Unions economy mostly revolves around domestic consumption centering around agriculture and light industry. This has it’s own problems with stagnation and inflation. The Government so far has no plans to introduce more exports to equalise the situation, instead relying on “financial fiats” to peg inflation and growth to artificially imposed levels. As things stand the general public is ambivalent to any foreign trade. It’s foreign policy is also somewhat combative as any foreign nations attempts to suggest change are seen as unwelcome forms of interference and threats to it’s national sovereignty. Whole diplomatic missions are known to be declared as “Persona non Grata” and expelled in days. Few ever get that status reversed, especially if their home nation has already poor relations with the Nahrin Union.
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