United Provinces
| |
| Nation | The United Provinces of Disparatus |
|---|---|
| Planet | Disparatus |
| Government | Parliamentary Bureaucracy |
| Motto | "Progress Brings Peace" |
| National color(s) | Blue and Silver |
| Population | Approx. 685,000,000 |
| Demographics | 81% Human (Including Neophytes, Centurions, etc.), 5% Thuwadian, 1% Alibaas, 8% Mixed Ancestry, 5% Other (Is known to have an unusually large cyborg and centurion population.) |
| Location | Northern Hemisphere. West of Handora, Southeast of Ostfold, North of Arenan Alliance. |
| Primary Languages | Universal |
| Founded | 0 AE as Laa Buillo ; 21 August 753 AE as the United Provinces |
| Capital | Eutropia |
| Owner | Community Nation (Formerly Dave) |
Overview
The United Provinces of Disparatus, more commonly referred to as the United Provinces or the UP, is a nation located in the northern hemisphere of Disparatus, and is the most populous nation on the planet, containing more than 30% of the world's population.
The climate varies depending on the region of the country, but the majority features a temperate climate, while its northern areas are covered in snow year-round, and the southern areas see a subtropical climate.
The nation is split into a number of Provinces with their own levels of self-government. To date, only one Province and two colonies have ever seceded from the nation: North Svaldenstadt (Now known as Svaldon), De la Arena (Now known as the Arenan Alliance), and Ostfold.
Behind the scenes, the nation is mainly run by a few very powerful corporations, the chief of which is the TTT Corporation.
Government
The country is run very much like a corporation, except that the people are free to elect its board members and CEO (the senate and the Prime Minister). However, secretly, the elections are indirectly rigged by the nation's large corporations. Efficient and powerful, the Provincian government has almost complete control over its population without having to be a police state or show public force.
Senators for the Provinces are elected in May, once every two years (every even-numbered year), with no standing term limits. Each of the 15 Provinces are represented by 3 Senators, with Eutropia getting representation by one Senator, for a total of 46 Senators. In Senate meetings where the Prime Minister is not present, the most senior member of the Senate performs his or her duties. The most senior Senator is the one who has served the most total time in the Senate, regardless of gaps in their service. In the event of multiple Senators fitting this description, the oldest Senator is given seniority. As of October 2324, the most senior member of the Senate is Mikaela Strommund.
The Prime Minister is selected once every five years, in years ending in 0 or 5. An election can be held sooner pending a vote of confidence by the people, held at the Senate's choosing. Even if a new election is held due to such a vote resulting in a re-election, a new election must still be held at the next election date. The P.M. is elected in November so as to not interfere with Senatoral elections. If the P.M. dies in office, the most senior member of the Senate is named Acting Prime Minister, and a special election is held for a full replacement. The Senate can also vote to remove the Prime Minister from office. However, as this requires at least 35 votes in favor of removal, such motions rarely succeed.
In the past, the Prime Minister was selected through different processes. Before the position of Prime Minister existed, the Senate was mediated by a similar, non-voting member, known as the Senatoral Minister. In 1097, the position of Prime Minister was established as a replacement, with the office-holder being the most senior member of the Senate, granting them mediation over the Senate, and a tie-breaking vote. In 1525, this was changed to its current form, where the Prime Minister is elected by the people.
The incumbent Prime Minister of the United Provinces is Peter Huxley, who was first elected on 23 November 2325.
Prime Ministers of the United Provinces
The following are various notable Senatoral and Prime Ministers of the United Provinces.
Senatoral Minister (794 AE - 1097 AE)
- Horace Vanderwell (794 - 800): First Senatoral Minister.
- Errol Danver (1089 - 1091): Senatoral Minister during the first part of The Northern Revolution. Was sacked due to his inability to keep order during the heated debates over the war.
- Olaf Kron (1091 - 1096): Senatoral Minister during most of The Northern Revolution. Was eventually sacked for favouring the dissolution of the then-current Senate system, which had shown major flaws during The Northern Revolution.
- Gregory Williamson (1096 - 1097): Final Senatoral Minister. His short term saw the dissolution of the early Senate system of the United Provinces.
Prime Minister (Senior-Most Senator) (1097 AE - 1525 AE)
- Rudolph Ivanford (1097 - 1100): First Prime Minister.
- Olivia Brunsten (1365 - 1376)
- Pyrus Winster (1376 - 1379): Oldest person to hold the office of Prime Minister, at the age of 101. Died in office.
- Robert Hardwick (1508 - 1512): Prime Minister during the Svaldic War of Independence. Lost re-election by a wide margin.
- Samuel Jerrow (1521 - 1525): Final Prime Minister under the seniority system. Had been one of the chief proponents of building the new system through his term, but declined to run for the new system's first election.
Prime Minister (Modern) (1525 AE - Present)
- Paul Evemont (1525 - 1535): First Prime Minister under the current system.
- Victoria Rackham (1585 - 1595): First female Prime Minister under the current system.
- Millard Archer (1735 - 1760): The longest-serving Prime Minister, and longest-serving member of the Senate overall, having served for a total of 64 years. He first took office as a Senator in 1696 at age 29, and held the position of Prime Minister from age 68 to age 93, at which point he retired. He later died at the age of 109.
- Horace Milhouse (1825 - 1830): Famously gave a speech following the United Provinces' manned moon landing in 1830, where he boastfully took full credit for this feat. This led to him losing re-election later that year by a landslide.
- Isaiah Pell (20 November 1995): The shortest-serving Prime Minister. Was assassinated during his inaugural address, less than an hour after being sworn in.
- Thomas Barber (2170 - 2177): Made a speech two years into his first term, where he spoke out about the extent of corporate control over the Provinces' government. Although he fully expected to be silenced by the corporations for this, they instead kept their cool and allowed him to keep saying whatever he wanted about them, and even permitted his re-election three years later. This quickly destroyed public opinion of him, and he resigned from office after a little over a year. To this day, people who insist that the corporations actually run the Provinces are referred to as "Barbers".
- Frank Aegis (2195 - 2197): Most recent Prime Minister to be forcibly removed from office, by a Senate vote of 38 to 7, wth two abstaining. Had attempted to force UP military intervention in the Arenan Civil War against the wishes of the Senate, which had pledged neutrality.
- Donovan Formith (2265 - 2275): Famously participated in the Black Rock Tournament of 2270 in the midst of his re-election campaign. Although he lost in the semi-finals, he used this to propel himself to victory in the 2270 election.
- Christine Candera (2275 - 2290)
- Jeremy Breckenridge (2290 - 2295)
- George Yeager (2295 - 2301): Most recent Prime Minister to die in office, having suffered a stroke during a speech.
- Mickey Rodriguez (2301 - 2305): Began his term as Acting Prime Minister, and won the remainder of Yeager's term in a special election a few months later.
- Megan Trist (2305 - 2310)
- David Simmons (2310 - 2320)
- Reuben Miller (2320 - 2325): Prime Minister during the Two Year Gap and the Faerie/Zombie War.
- Peter Huxley (2325 - Present): Current Prime Minister of the United Provinces. Half-Human / Half-Thuwadian.
Military
The Provincian military is funded by the TTT Corporation and other companies, giving them a control over the nation through it. The military is rather technologically advanced, with most of its weapons, research, and training coming from the TTT Corporation. The nation has one of the largest standing armies on the planet, second only to Dragonoa.
History
Early History
The earliest iteration of the United Provinces was founded in the year 0 AE with the signing of the New World Ordinance, where various human colonies began to form around the continent, called Laa Buillo by the native Alibaas. Within the coming decades, the united human colonies of Laa Buillo gained control over most of the continent, and by 75 AE they had control over all but the Orkan colonies to the west.
From 86 AE to 98 AE, the nation participated in The Great Alibaas War, the first war it had been in since its formation. Although the war itself went badly for the humans, the end of the war allowed for them to launch an assault on the Orkans' colonies on Laa Buillo, forcing the Orkans to leave the landmass, giving complete control of Laa Buillo to the humans.
Birth of the Provinces
The next few hundred years passed relatively smoothly, with some wars from time to time, and a failed conquest of Handora in the early 7th century. The colonies, operating under a united Laa Buillo banner, thrived in this time.
By the mid 8th century, the nation found itself in a massively changed political structure and corporate focus, with the early systems of government the colonies had used now in need of reform and centralization. A new constitution was drafted up to replace the former charters of the early years, and on the 21st of August 753 AE, the nation reformed as the United Provinces of Disparatus.
Under this new constitution, the 18 former Laa Buillo colonies were rebranded as Provinces, with some having their borders redefined in the process. (Additionally, the Magpie Island and Shepland Island colonies were merged into Halford Province and Milworth Province, respectively, lowering the total number of Provinces to 16.) Each Province was granted a governor, as they had before, and a single representative to the National Senate in the new capital of Eutropia. This 16-man council lasted for 41 years before expanding in 794 AE to include 5 Senators from each Province, for a total of 80. The position of Senatoral Minister is established as a non-voting mediator for the Senate, selected by the Senate itself.
Three centuries later, in the late 11th Century, The Northern Revolution broke out, with the United Provinces and the Great Handoran Empire allying with each other against the Sons of Vidar. Although the Provinces were victorious, the large Senate's squabbling in the venture showed the growing flaws in the system. Thus, in 1097 AE, the Senate was reduced to three Senators per Province, for a total of 48. Additionally, the position of Senatoral Minister was replaced with the position of Prime Minister. At the time, this position was given to the most senior member of the Senate, and allowed them a tie-breaking vote.
The Arenan Venture
Over the next few centuries, the Provinces primarily stay put, only attempting to form new colonies on rare occasion outside of their borders, with the main ones attempted being on nearby islands. In the mid 14th century, however, the Petrarca Collective (a conglomerate of several United Provinces corporations) established a colony for the Provinces on the Arenan Continent known as De la Arena. This acquisition only lasted 13 years, however, before De la Arena bought its independence from the nation.
Less than a century later, the Provinces launched an attack on the Handoran colonies on the remaining section of the Arenan continent, taking control within a few years, but almost immediately losing this territory to De la Arena.
Corporate Battles
In need of resources and land, nine years later the Provinces launched an expedition from the Province of North Svaldenstadt to the Orkans' former homeland in the northern continent, where they find a treasure trove of resources left behind. The Provinces renamed this land Ostfold, claiming it for itself. Several companies from the Provinces secured the rights to harvest these resources to sell them to the government, which lacked the means to do so on its own, and colonies began to form in Ostfold.
As the corporate competition there raged on, many of the companies were driven out by larger ones. By the end of the 15th century, the last of the companies from North Svaldenstadt were driven out after having devoted a large amount of resources into the Ostfold expeditions. Tired of its economic struggles under the pressure of the mainland monopolies, North Svaldenstadt seceded from the United Provinces to become Svaldon. After two years of war between the two nations, the United Provinces reluctantly granted independence to Svaldon.
With this, the total number of Senators was reduced to 45. As such, the Prime Minister held little more voting power than any other Senator, as there could now only be a tie in the Senate if someone abstained. Between this, and a need to please the citizens who were unhappy with a government which had just lost an entire Province, in 1525 AE the position of Prime Minister was made a seperate post from the rest of the Senate, elected by the people themselves, which it has remained to this day.
Meanwhile, over time, the colonies of Ostfold began to surge in population as more corporations began to take hold in the continent. Unable to ignore the demands of the colonists for long, two provisional Senate seats were created in 1704: One for the eastern Ostfold colonies, and one for the western colonies.
To The Stars
At the outset of the 19th century, the United Provinces turned its attentions skyward. Ever since the Great Exodus 1,800 years before, no nation had sent people into space. Although many unmanned satellites had been launched into orbit before, manned space flight had not been a priority until this point. After years of working on a space program, the United Provinces achieved Disparatus' first manned space flight in 1818 AE, followed by a manned moon landing in 1830 AE.
The next fifty years saw the Provinces' space program thrive, even inspiring Svaldon to form its own space program, becoming the second nation to achieve a manned space flight. However, the Provinces soon realized that there wasn't much to do past landing on the moon. The primary goal of the program, a manned mission to Earth, began to look more and more unlikely as time went on, and was eventually abandoned, and their space program was downsized.
During this time, over in Ostfold, their culture and social institutions had become so different from those of the mainland Provinces that a large movement began to become an independent nation. After working out an agreement, Ostfold was granted independence soon after, in 1839 AE.
One last major change came to the nation with the Provincial Redivision Act of 1961, which redefined the borders of various Provinces. The most significant changes were the splitting of Ganley Province into East and West Ganley, and Eutropia Province being abolished in favour of making Eutropia its own specialized district with its own Senator, bringing the total to its current count of 46, apart from the Prime Minister.
Modern Times
Things have been relatively quiet for the United Provinces in recent years. The most signifigant recent event for the nation was their participation in the Faerie/Zombie War in 2322 AE.
Religion
Mainly atheist, with sprinkles of smaller religions here and there.
Notable Locations
Eutropia: The capital of the United Provinces, located in its heart. Several of the larger corporations in the Provinces have their headquarters here. Eutropia is the largest city on Disparatus, with a population of approximately 12 million.
Yusifiah (New Terra Province): One of the nation's larger cities, featuring arguably the highest crime rate in all of the United Provinces. Heavily controlled by the SAHBER corporation.
Ivory Arch (Nestwick Province): A coastal city that features the Ivory Arch Stadium, which hosted the Ivory Arch Tournament in 2322.
Erillia (Casmark Province): Located on the cornermost edge of the province and known as the "city of a thousand rails", Erillia is a bustling coastal town with a notable college and youth population. It's particularly noticable for its gravity-defying skyscrapers downtown, and complex transportation system. It also contains the nation's only remaining space exploration and research center.
Bristol (East Ganley Province): Located on the eastern peninsula of East Ganley, Bristol is a historic port city of the United Provinces, having long been the greatest source of trade with Handora and fishing in the ocean between the two nations. It's a noted home of sports, the arts, and houses the United Provinces' National Arboreum, which is undergoing regrowing following its razing in May 2322. Bristol is definitely not Boston.
Valbank (Devingside Province): A sprawling port city which came under attack during the Faerie/Zombie War in 2322. The city sustained relatively low damage and casualties due to an early evacuation. The city of Faldon is nearby, further inland.
WaterPlay (Devingside Province): A popular waterpark which prides itself on having "the most thrilling rides in all of Disparatus", including a dragon waterslide which shot people through a wall of fire, one with a four-story drop, and a wave pool with an average of 10 drownings per month.
Queens Ascension (Casmark Province): A popular amusement park founded in 2225. Known for its beloved Skullcrusher Mountain ride.
Hastfell (Devingside Province): A calm, peaceful town on the Isle of Rensley which serves as a tourist trap during the summer months.
Provinces
There are fifteen Provinces in the nation, with Eutropia as a seperate sixteenth district from the rest.
New Terra: The oldest land in the Provinces, New Terra was the location of the Umbra Terrans' arrival during the Great Exodus, and was named in 0 AE. The Agate Mountains are a small range in the middle of the Province.
Svaldenstadt: Formerly South Svaldenstadt. Renamed after Svaldon was granted independence. Contains the highest percentage of Svaldic speakers in the Provinces. The Stratinden Mountains serve as its eastern border.
Farthings: Northernmost Province of the UP.
Halford: A third of this Province consists of Magpie Island, the largest island in the Provinces.
Kanovia: Having been formed by various ethnic minority groups in the early days of Laa Buillo, this Province still features some of the largest percentages of ethnic minority populations in the nation.
East Ganley
West Ganley
Vangrove
Lington
Casmark
Borsdam: Much like Svaldenstadt and Kanovia, this Province has a rather large proportion of ethnic minority groups, albeit less than the other two. It's also the only Province to neither border Eutropia nor the ocean.
Nestwick
Milworth: Shepland Island, the second-largest island in the Provinces, is located in the south of Milford.
Devingside: Contains the Isle of Rensley to the south.
Rowhurst
Former Provinces
Eutropia: Until the Provincial Redivision Act of 1961, the greater area surrounding Eutropia was a seperate province under the name of the capital.
North Svaldenstadt: North Svaldenstadt seceded from the Provinces in 1510 to become the nation of Svaldon.
Ganley: East and West Ganley were originally one Province until the Provincial Redivision Act of 1961, which split them at the Morsmith River and extended West Ganley's western border.
