Vithinja

The Syndicalist Kingdom of Vithinja (Ruþí: Viþjinsk) often simply referred to as The Cooperative is a constitutional monarchy located in Kiro-Borealis, but is more politically connected to Northern Levantia and it's various nations. It borders Caergwynn in the south among the vithinjan isles. Crossing the Kilikas Sea to the far west lies the island nation of Kiravia, while crossing the sea southwards one can find the lands of Faneria. Vithinja holds the only land crossing from Kiroborea to Levantia via the Vithins-Awraidd bridge project, a large set of bridges and underwater tunnels connecting the Kiroborea mainland to most of the Vithinjan isles and ending in northern Caergwynn. The Vithinjan capital is Rolvsvik, despite being only the 5th largest city in the nation. Rolvsvik holds importance as the historical seat of power of the various royal lines of the nation as well as the religious center for the Church of Rolv. The two largest cities are Tår Bringär and Cärssund, both of which lie within the vithinjan isles. Tår Bringär has long been the economic capital of Vithinja as it holds a large and deep natural harbor well placed for both safety and trading purposes. For most of North Levantian history the city benefited from strategically defensible geography, avoiding devastation from the many wars that plagued northern levantia but since the great war it has fallen in favor somewhat compared to mainland harbor cities. Vithinja has a population of ~64 million people. The vast majority of the population lives either in the vithinjan isles, or the more temperate southern coastline, but the northern lakes region still holds small population centers.

Vithinja is a relative newcomer among the nations of today in it's current state, only existing in it’s current form for the last 200 years. However the culture and traditions of a united northern nation has existed for almost a millennium. Unfortunately because the large variety in cultures, religion, traditions and more recently ideologies the nation has never truly been able to achieve stability. The nations origins is a tale of two very different peoples fighting each other for the reign but always united against foreign threats. The first traces of the two groups arriving in the north date back as far as 700 CE. From the evidence they were not the first people to live in the Vithinjan lands but whatever natives came before are long extinct. It is believed that the first group of settlers who would become the Ruthans left their homeland in western Levantia to sail for new lands in the north, while the celtic origins are even less certain. Both peoples started settling many of the islands along the northern coast of Levantia as well as finding the lands of Rutheria. (Ruþí:Fhres-Ruthirí) While the Ruthan people have generally been the rulers over both peoples the Gvergoles have almost always outnumbered them, to the confusion of many scholars.

The vithinjan population is mainly divided into the Ruthans, the former ruling people as well as the Gvergoles (Ruþí: Gärgöthe, Siarvish: Siargogle), who make up the majority of the population. While they once had huge cultural differences the two cultures are pretty well integrated into each other these days, making religion and ideology the more common cause of cultural differences than ethnicity in the country.

While not being a very populous country, thanks to a combination of large quantities of natural resources with a pretty high security for companies to extract them as well as good shared control of the northern Levantian maritime trade together with Caergwynn the Vithinjan people are quite well of. Maritime is especially secured thanks to the city of Tår Bringär, which holds the deepest large harbour in northern levantian trade.

Vithinja is a part of the League of Nations general assembly and the Kilikas-Boreal Cooperative Zone.

Tribal Era
The Vithinjan lands in Kiro-Borealis once housed small tribes of a somewhat unique culture. Little remains of these natives as most of their history is lost with only small amounts of archeological evidence that they ever even existed.

Two legends from two very different cultures speak of how the beautiful lands of Vithinja was once first discovered. The Ruthans take their name from the leader of the first settlers, Ruth, who left his home in western Levantia to explore the north, searching for a new home. At first he settled the island of Nordland, but near the end of his life he left to discover the Ruthinja mainland.

From the other side of Levantia a group of "old celts" lead by three brothers lead a small group of settlers to cross the ocean towards the Vithinjan isles. The legend goes that the three brothers traveled with a sizable fleet of settlers north of Levantia to find rich unsettled lands. When they found the first large island the first brother settled, stating he would build a great city there. His brothers both decided to continue on, searching for better lands. The remaining two brothers discovered another large island, this one with a large natural harbor. The second brother stated he would build a greater city than his older brother there. The youngest decided again to continue, leaving with only a small remaining group of settlers to find even richer lands. They ended up finding a huge island, even richer than the first two in everything one would need to build a civilization. He settled there, and within his lifetime, he had conquered both of his brothers and built himself a small nation of his own.

These two original groups of settlers are believed to have arrived in Vithinjan lands as early as 850, but it wasn't until 950 that these tribes made up large enough numbers to really start affecting the other tribes and nations in the region except for small raids. The few original settler tribes quickly expanded, spread then splintered into numerous smaller tribes. These smaller tribes did some fighting between each other but generally preferred going out to sea to find others worth raiding. The tribes living in the harsher lands of Kiro-Borealis ended up needing the supplies they could bring in from raiding, as they did not have enough to trade back. Despite having substantially different pagan beliefs the ruthans and celts both started traveling south to raid coastlines.

A small tribal king whose name has been lost to time was a powerful ruthan ruler in today's Ruthinja, ruling in the early years of the millennium shift. Many before him had tried and failed to unite the ruthan people, but this king had a different idea. Converting to the catholic faith to gain support he waged war on the many celts in eastern Ruthinja and the Vithinjan isles. From the many small celtic tribal rulers he was able to build a powerful kingdom, held together with the new faith he brought with him. Using the more numerous celts as a strong power base and the large kingdom the king built, his son, Rikart I, was the first ruler to ever unite the Ruthan people. By the year 1043 he had control of the entire north, bringing an end to the tribal rule that previously defined the region.

Kingdoms Era
The new united kingdom of Ruthinja quickly found a perfect rival, the nearby kingdom of Caergwynn held some control over the Vithinjan isles. The many wars fought between the ruthans and caerics over these islands was the only real external matters that the ruthan kingdom took part in. When not fighting the caerics the ruthans either went out raiding (the many who had not converted to Catholicism) or fought internally. While a feudal system existed in the regions mainly populated by the celts, the ruthan regions maintained a more elective tribal order, with a meeting of the various tribal rulers to decide what to do next. The fact that the king was never invited to these tribal meetings was a slight that lead to civil war more than once. In the end however, the kings of Ruthinja were never able to destroy these old tribal systems, mainly because the best warriors for his armies came from these lands as well as the economic boost from their raiding. Because of these raids however it was not rare for the ruthinjan king to find himself excommunicated.

This turbulent state of the nation existed until the early 14th century, when the instability of the nation finally caused it to splinter. The differences in religion, culture and government finally tore the nation apart into a number of smaller nations fighting over what remained. In this period between the early 14th and late 15th century a lot of the Vithinjan isles were lost to the kingdom in Caergwynn, who was more than happy to encourage the current disarray.

In the late 15th century a number of people had started to criticize the catholic church, spreading a new wave of reformist ideas. One of the people who found these ideas fascinating was a young christian duke name Rolv. Despite his christian upbringing he was heavily involved in the old traditions of the ruthan pagan faiths. Because of this he saw an opportunity present itself with this new wave of reformists. Together with a group of christian scholars who held similar beliefs, he created a new set of rules for a branch of christian beliefs, that would be acceptable to those holding on to the old faith of the north. He formed the Church of Rolv, although the name came long after personally naming the faith as the northern church. With this new political tool he was able to garner a lot of support from other small rulers, conquering those who would not bow in quick succession. He chose to name himself the ruler of two separate kingdoms, the kingdom of Ruthinja, claiming all that the old kingdom held, as well as the kingdom of Vithinja, laying claim to all of the islands the caerics had taken. While his home town lay in Ruthinja he would move the capital to the largest city on the Vithinjan isles to further enforce his control over the islands. After accomplishing all of this it is said he gave his crown to his grandson during the winter of 1512 and then walked out into a blizzard, never to be seen again.

1500-1800

The kingdom of Vithinja fought many wars with the many nations surrounding them, mainly in an attempt to gain full control of the northern Levantian trade.

After many wars fighting their neighbors and the monarchy being forced to leave the country Vithinja started down the path of collapse again. The only thing that loosely kept the nation together was the declaration of a federal republic in the early 17th century.

The Unforgotten Peace
The 100 Year Republic - Country was lead by a republic that attempted to change the nations values to be more multicultural and peaceful. ~1850-1950

The Great War - With the arrival of the great war the republic attempted to stay out of the war. However this only lead to those still following the old warlike culture resurrecting the monarchy and taking over the country through a hostile coup. ~1950

Third Kingdom - After the Great War the monarchy was struggling with recognition. The country was approaching a civil war. A powerful organization of Syndicalists approached the King with a demand of abdication. The monarchy levied the last of their power to reject this proposal, attempting to reach a compromise. The syndicalists had collected a lot of support by advocating for a peaceful power transfer, which in the end lead to what is today known as The Vithinjan Compromise.

Syndicalization
After giving ~1970

Geography
Vithinjas varied geography is both a blessing and a curse. Although large portions of the lands are difficult to impossible to inhabit, they hold some of the most beautiful landmarks to be found in the world. Between the innumerable fjords covering the coast to the northern villages surrounded by the sights of huge tall mountain ranges, large glaciers that glimmer in the sunlight and if any visitor is lucky, the wondrous northern lights.

Climate
The climate in Vithinja is defined by the separation between the warmer coastal regions including the Vithinjan isles, the fjord covered northern coastlines the northern mountainous regions and the subarctic lake regions.

Constitution
The Vithinjan constitution is an unorthodox work as it is a product of three origins. The constitution borrows a few things from the constitution of the Vithinjan republic, however this is the smallest component in the text. Secondly and thirdly it is sourced from the compromise between the government of the royal Sortvit family and their supporters as well as the national syndicalists that make up the nations labor unions. This has caused the constitution to have proved over the years to be a convoluted mess that contradicts itself in more than a few places.

Because of the constitutions contradictory nature most of the time the national council and the king both simply use the powers that previous rulers have used, avoiding actions that may cause a constitutional crisis.

Syndicalist Government
The Vithinjan way of syndicalism is quite strange mainly because of two reasons: it attempts to distance itself from democratic structures as much as possible and it doesn't maintain full control of the government.

The syndicalist government functions as a hierarchy of unions which function as both executive and legislative branches for various issues, generally divided by having the executive branch for an issue be the representatives one step higher in the hierarchy than those who form that issues legislative branch. One of the main purposes of this division of power was to ensure the each part of the government could take care of their issues swiftly and effectively. The national council refers to the members of the highest point in the hierarchy and they hold executive power to change which issues belong to which branch, while the lower council are all those with the power to determine the next national councilors as well as holding the legislative power behind the national council.

Among the unions the seven highest level unions that all under unions are subdivisions of are all based on the concept of collar colors that was a pretty popular concept as the syndicalization took place. At first there were only four collar-unions that represented the nation, but today that number has risen to seven. They are as follows: the blue-collar union, the white-collar union, the red-collar union, the black-collar union, the green-collar union, the pink-collar union and the new-collar union.

Among these the reds and blacks are considered special. The reds generally represent those who should directly support the syndicalists who created the current nation. Because of this there are many additional rules to high level members of these unions. Similarly the blacks represent the powers and interests of the royal family, having all higher level representatives among the black-collars being determined by the king directly. It is not law but tradition that no member of the royal family should take the position as union representative.

The strangest and probably most important two unions below the high seven is the Union of the Lower Courts and the Higher Justice Union. These both represent the courts, one representing the higher courts and the other the lower courts. Despite their obvious connection they belong to different higher unions. The lower courts belong to the red-collars and the higher courts belong to the black-collars. This is because of one of the compromises in the constitution, where the syndicalists received control of the sub-regional courts while the king remained in control of regional and national courts.

National Syndicalism
Ever since the syndicalization the movement has been splintered into a few main factions. One of the strongest of these factions have always been the national syndicalists. Their beliefs differ from most other syndicalists substantially, with one of the main differences being embracing a lot of the nations traditions, to many members even including the monarchy. Most controversial among their beliefs is the idea of ruthan superiority, causing substantial tensions with the gergole population.

Citizenship and Residents
Because of a lack of democratic institutions the idea of citizenship doesn't quite exist in Vithinja. However there is still a way to affect the political makeup of the nations leadership. This comes in one of two ways: members of a union or members of the military. To be an official member of the military a Vithinjan needs to be a full time serviceman. Reservists who want the power to elect need to join a union. The difficulty of joining a union varies greatly by profession and region. All of this effectively means that if only members of the military or members of a union are considered citizens about 82% of all Vithinjans above the age of 16 are citizens, leaving 18% to simply be residents.

Because of the mostly professional requirements for effective citizenship Vithinja is often considered to be a great place to immigrate too for people who have the right skills. It can take as little as a month to go from seeking a temporary residency visa to becoming a union member.

As there are quite a few who believe that either joining a union is too difficult or simply that there should be a union for those who could be classified as residents, there is a modern civil rights movement in the nation that in part advocates for these changes.

Military
The Vithinjan military can be divided into three distinct organizations: The Royal Army of Vithinja, The Union of the National Reserve and the Guards of the Revolution. Some would only consider the first two as actual members of the military and the third as a paramilitary organization, especially since the constitution contradicts itself when describing them.

Economy
Vithinja exports marine vehicles, engineering products, refined steel products as well as pharmacueticals and medical equipment. Vithinja also produces mostly for domestic needs: Weapons...

Resources
Vithinjas natural resources is mainly made up of a mixture of aluminum, fish, iron ore and crude petroleum. A lot of these resources are used to produce more refined goods for export.

Energy
Vithinjan energy is largely made up of hydroelectric and geothermal power, with the difference mostly being made up by nuclear power plants. As the economy generally produces a surplus Vithinja always looks to export whatever energy it can. Their main energy trading partner is Caergwynn.

Infrastructure
While large parts of the world started moving over towards building roads for cars, the Syndicalists of Vithinja stubbornly leaned away from car travel and towards trains. Because of this Vithinja is one of the worst places in the world to bring a car, but has some of the best railway connectivity of any nation. It also has one of the lowest per capita carbon emissions thanks to the lack of fossil fuel use both in transportation and power generation.

Taxes
Taxes in Vithinja are collected from the unions by the unions with the exception of the military tax, which is collected from everyone. Because of a convoluted taxing system when it comes to income tax Vithinjans pay a very sizeable tax rate which looks way less to the majority who is uninformed of the details of the taxing system. Vithinja has a pretty standard tax rate on inheritance and a huge tax rate on land ownership that is not owned by a union.

Military Industrial Complex
Because of the remnants of a strong warrior culture Vithinja has always had a loose view of weapon ownership. Since the Syndicalization this idea of privately owning a firearm has continued to be encouraged, with the exception of those who could be seen as residents, for whom owning a firearm is illegal. Vithinja has one of the highest rates of firearm ownership, with over 125 firearms for every 100 people.

Population
The Vithinjan population is officially broken up into three main demographics with a secondary break up based on languages. These three demographics are: the Ruthans, who make up just over 22% of the population; the Gvergoles, who make up almost 42% of the population; lastly the Ruth-Gvärs, who make up about 32% of the population. The numbers for these demographics are exact as it is a component of every persons recorded information at birth for the governments identification data.

Language
The official and most spoken language in Vithinja is Ruthi, a gothic language very unlike most other gothic languages. This is the expected language to use for any official work like research. Almost as common but not always allowed officially is Siarvish, a celtic language with a lot of similarities to Caeric. While in some regions one can easily live only ever speaking Siarvish it is difficult to achieve great success without also learning Ruthi. Both of these languages may be taught at schools but most schools either teach Ruthi or both.

On the Vithinjan isles, especially in the south there are many who still speak Caeric. While recognized as a regional language it is often discouraged, usually by the higher levels of unions, to use the language outside of private matters.

Religion
Vithinja is a religiously divided nation, caught between the royal Church of Rolv, the many who still follow the catholic church as well as the idea of abandoning the old beliefs often pushed by important members of the unions.

Church of Rolv
The church of Rolv is a branch of protestantism with some quite radical differences. It has added clauses for means by which one can enter into heaven that include military service and sacrifices for the good of ones people.

Education
Education in Vithinja is completely controlled by the government, as private schools have been made illegal by the union of education. While the government attempts to specifically encourage certain education paths, these efforts have generally lead to educating way more members than needed into a narrow field. Recently new efforts have been made to address these issues.

Health
Vithinja features a very extensive public healthcare system. The union of healthcare holds a lot of influence and has at numerous occasions pressured other industries towards decisions that would assist public health. One of these choices is a complete ban on smoking and huge efforts toward reducing drinking. Despite these efforts both smoking and drinking are still publicly practiced in many communities. Tobacco smuggling is an extremely profitable black market in Vithinja because of these efforts.

Crime
For being a nation in modern times Vithinja features a large indirect punishment for pretty much any crime: increased difficulty to join a union, which makes everything from getting a job to finding a partner more difficult and may lock one out of the political process. Despite this the number of people convicted for a crime has been hovering around 2.5% up until the last two years, where it has slowly increased to 3%. It is often noted that 95% of convictions are against those considered residents.

Literature
Vithinja features a lot of literature of various kinds from the time before the Syndicalization. However, with the new form of government most kinds of artistic literature are now discouraged

Music
Traditional North-Gothic and North-Celtic music are still an important part of the modern nations culture. Most musical productions in Vithinja today is either sourced from one of these two traditions or a more modern and partially controversial mix of the two.

Media
News and stuff

Early Cinema

Current Cinema

Hockey
While many other nations take the most interest in football the household sport in Vithinja has been hockey ever since the commercialization of the radio. This applies to both field hockey, which is more common to be played by youths and in private, as well as ice hockey, which is more popular professionally and gets more media attention. Vithinjan hockey referees are often less strict with more violent acts than what is common internationally, leading to Vithinja having by far the most penalty time assigned to them, to the point that they almost double the runner up nation. This has however not prevented Vithinja from becoming one of the most successful nations in international hockey.

Veterans
Vithinjan Tourist centers are often especially targeted at veterans. This is in large part because of support from the church of Rolv, who spends some of their income on efforts to attract and convert veterans.

Cuisine
Much of Vithinjan cuisine has been based around a mix of fish, hardy vegetables and grain mixed with rare meat from hunting. Because of the relative lack of farmlands there was never much room to raise cattle, leading to a near complete lack of cattle based food for a large portion of their history. By the time these products became more common they generally imported the way to cook meals together with the meat.

Holidays
Despite celebrating holidays like Christmas and Easter unlike most catholic nations vithinjans have incorporated their old pagan traditions into these holidays.

On top of that vithinjans also celebrate some of their own holidays. First of these holidays is Midsummer, which takes place during solstice. Earlier in the year, about a month before Easter, the Farewell takes place. At the start of fall the Union is celebrated.

For non-religious holidays vithinjans celebrate their national day on December the 14th. Although some consider this day to be religious, being a celebration of Rolv I ascension into Sainthood. Additionally the Syndicalization is celebrated on May the 3rd.