Faneria

Faneria (Fhasen: Fhainnlannacharean) is a unitary parliamentary republic situated in northern Levantia. Largely dominated by a Fhainnin Gaelic population in its more heavily populated southern regions along the Vandarch Sea, the country includes Coscivian and Aenglish-origin minorities for a total population of over 351 million. It consists of 29 metropolitan provinces, one overseas province, two territories, and two semiautonomous Republics which span roughly 1.9 million square miles; it borders Kiravian Scapa to the northwest by sea, Caergwynn to the north and east, and Fiannria to the east, as well as sharing maritime borders with several nations across the Vandarch. The national language is Fhasen.

=Geography and Climate= Main Article: Geography of Faneria

Vandarch Sea and the Ninerivers
For much of its early history, the Kingdom of the Fhainn was bound to the northern coast of the Vandarch Sea, with the conquest of lands reaching the Kilikas being a major turning point in the country's history and accelerating its expansion significantly. The Vandarch is incredibly culturally important to Faneria, and the northern Vandarch Basin forms what is colloquially termed the Ninerivers for its nine major waterways. The Ninerivers forms the geopolitical core of Faneria, with the most dense population centers, economic hubs, and infrastructure concentrated there and branching inland and out to the west coast. It varies from a somewhat cool to a temperate climate, with occasional harsh winters and heated summers. The eastern Ninerivers is the largest agricultural region in Faneria, and the Ninerivers as a whole is a breadbasket for rye and barley crops as well as temperate crops. The Vandarch Sea itself is a major source of food and has a warming effect combined with southerly winds from Dericania.

Deamhainns and Interior
The center of Faneria's metropolitan area is dominated by several massive mountain ranges. Of these, the Deamhain and Croilaen Mountains divide Faneria's northwest and southwest, while Conn's Mountains and the Giath Mountains saddle the border between Faneria and Caergwynn in the east. The Deamhains and Croilaens have a number of gorges, passes, divides, lake valleys, and nooks which allow for seasonal passage through the mountains, though underground trains and plane travel have since overcome the physical limitations imposed on travel. The effect of these natural boundaries on social development between the north and south are crucial to Faneria's history, and divides the nation into largely geography-bound local subcultures.

In the east, the Giath and Hadraeon Mountains sit on either side of the Turlanns, a flat basin draining out through the Torr River into northern Fiannria. The Turlanns are much drier and cooler than coastal Fiannria or southern Faneria due to being shielded by numerous mountain ranges, and vary seasonally between frigid, sparse winters and cool, wet summers, with cool air travelling overland and bearing oceanic moisture. The area is prone to dry thunderstorms, and agriculture in the area is dominated by potatoes and other hardy vegetable crops.

Kilikas Coast
The northern coast of metropolitan Faneria consists of two major regions - the West Coast and the North Coast. The West Coast is a relatively highly developed region that continues to be of increasing significance nationally, whereas the North Coast is notably cooler, prone to being struck by storms, and less populated as well as being physically separated from the South by large mountain ranges.

Nordska Coast
Formerly connected to metropolitan Faneria by land, the overseas province of Sorhaithe sits on the bitterly cold Nordska Sea. Sorhaithe is distinct from both Faneria proper and the bordering nations in terms of culture, geography (with the exception of neighboring parts of Fiannria), and climate (as it rests on the transition between subarctic and continental climes), and consists of dense coastal isles and inlets which often freeze over in wintertime.

Transisthmus
The Transisthmus region is a geographically distinct region of Faneria spanning the Ereglasian Isthmus into the northern Gothic Ultmar. Its climate is temperate, with brief warm seasons and longer, mild cold seasons; the region is exposes to oceanic storms on the exceedingly rare occasion that a storm swerves through the Isthmus overland to dissipate in the extreme west of the Vandarch. =History=

Antiquity and Cassical Era
The first settled people of Faneria were the Fenni, a pre-Levantosarpedonic people with admixture with both proto-Finnic peoples and Ĥeiran Coscivian peoples living along the western coast of Levantia as early as the Neolithic period, displacing sparse migratory tribes in the region. The Fenni had a somewhat advanced copper-using culture with permanent settlements around the Vandarch Sea, but were largely wiped out by the arrival of bronze-making celtic peoples beginning in the 1900s BC and roughly ending in the 1400s BC. The exception was the northern Fenni, who were subjugated by a celtic tribe known as the Oestrynetes. The Oestrynetes mixed with the Fenni, with the celtic languages presumably erasing the Fenni tongue in common use. Over time, the Oestrynetes intermarried with their subjects, forming a unified Fheadhainn culture. Both names meant 'The first people' in the celtic tongues spoken by the Oestrynetes in what is believed to have been an attempt to co-opt the history and mythology of the Fenni, though in practice the culture was primarily a celtic-speaking yet ethnically indigenous population. However, early Latin exploratory records which described them as Feinii recorded them as a group of related gallic tribes, which historically and to the present day has resulted in the Fhainnin people being considered gaelic outside of anthropological circles, aided by centuries of mixture with Gothic, other Gaelic, and Romance peoples thoroughly altering the physical traits of the average Fhainnin person. By the time of Latin exploration, early Fhainnin civilization had a thriving trade economy stimulated by pelt-hunting in the north levantine mountains, a robust fishing and rye farming economy, and cross-Vandarch sailing in simple boats using the many islands and the shallowness and relative calm of the inland sea to trade with gothic peoples in southern Ultmar.

During early Latin imperial expansion, Fhainnin peoples fought a number of low-intensity conflicts against Latin settlers, ejecting several colonies along the northern Vandarch coast. This culminated in the Gallian Wars, where a confederation of tribes in the northeastern Vandarch fought against and lost to Great Levantine legions. The Vandarch remained difficult to conquer in spite of the Imperial presence due to both distance from the centers of power in the south and constant raids and occasional invasions, though the Imperial Province of Vandar Orientalis would eventually be overrun not by Gaelic liberators or the repeated local rebellions, but by Gothic tribes in the Xth Century BC under Odar II. The Odarian gothic kingdom similarly struggled to integrate the local population, and would be destroyed by the Seventh Great Confederation under the warlord Eleglass of Cranwyrth, who effectively ruled the northeastern Vandarch basin until his death, after which the Confederation disintegrated.

Middle Ages
During the early middle ages, Christian missionaries to Ultmar found fertile grounds in the Ninerivers, with many tribes accepting Christian teachings, albeit only as another god in the local pantheons. This would change as a majority of the region began to include Christ in their rituals, as preachers emphasized worshipping God first as a primary, then a sole deity. While many nominally Christian people retained family or minor local deities in a variety of syncretic traditions, such practices insulated the Christian community from expulsion by pagan majorities as their faith filtered further into Fhainnin culture.

Unlike southern Levantia, the later systems of feudalism struggled to grow in the region's trade and crafts-based economy, which enabled a great deal of social mobility among Fhainnin classes relative to the era. The later introduction of the Great Plague destabilized this state, coming on the heels of centuries of bloated naming conventions, complex inheritance chains resulting from the surnaming conventions of the culture, and the first crusade launched against pagan peoples in the interior of modern Faneria in 1324, which deeply damaged the existing trust between faiths and cemented the divide between pagan and Christian communities which had been tolerated for over seven centuries prior. The Great Plague shattered Fhainnin society, and while peasantry remained free and paid for their labor, local lords came about in the Romantic fashion through the hiring of the many resulting bandits and mercenary groups as private armies. Such warlords, the largest of which claimed the title of Prince similarly to the elected leaders of local city-state confederations, fought and in many cases conquered city-states, creating a mix of republican and democratic cities intermingled with autocratic statelets which fought over access to trade routes and tried, in the case of the warlords, to bind the lower classes to the land, usually resulting in peasants' rebellions.

Kingdom of Fhainnlannachaeran
The Kingdom of the Fhainn came about in the aftermath of the Great Plague, with the ambitious Ruaridh Màrtainn taking several inheritances from blood relations through assassination and subterfuge. His son, Rethys Màrtainn, proclaimed himself 'King of the Fhainn' and created the title from whole cloth in 1398. Immediately upon coronating himself, he waged several wars across the central Nineriver Basin to put down the Confederation of Cranwyrth and the Principality of the Rydheas, the two largest states in the region. In doing so, he defeated the only states capable of outright defeating his army, which heavily incorporated mercenary cavalry units which had seen combat in southern Ultmar, and established the Màrtainn dynasty in the central Ninerivers.

Princes' Wars
1519-1545: First Princes' War

1571-1583: Second Princes' War

Northern Expansion
1676-1712: Tundra Wars

1712-1715: Sutharine Succession Crisis/1st Kin War

other Kin Wars up to 1880s on and off

Civil War and Fhainnin Popular Republic
Civil War 1906-1909

Postwar Faneria
Lean Years

Vandarch Canal crisis: 1991-1992

Modern Faneria
=Culture and Demographics= Main Article: Fhainnin Culture

Settlements and Population
The bulk of Faneria's population is settled in the Ninerivers Basin, along the coast of the Vandarch and in the lands leading up to the Deamhain Mountains. The major secondary population centers sit in the eastern interior, along the West Coast, and in the Transisthmus.

The country's largest city by population is Teindùn, a conglomeration of several cities north of the capital, Oirthidùn, both of which lie along the _____ branch of the Rhydwel River. Its second largest city is Sethsport, with Rihsport third, Oirthidùn itself fourth, and Leighlinbridge fifth. Sethsport, Rihsport, Carthaigh, Caileansdùn, Cionhaen, Comghallport, Mwynsdùn, Torrcirit, Mullcirit, and Leighlinbridge are the country's major commercial ports, with Rihsport and Mullcirit being the largest located outside the Vandarch.

Ethnicities and Language
Main Article: Gaelic people, Fhasen

Gaelic peoples make up the vast majority of Faneria's population, with local minorities of Aenglish and Derian immigrants and Coscivian colonists in the eastern Vandarch and western coast, respectively. A large number of Gothic peoples additionally live in the Transisthmus and eastern Ninerivers. Of the Gaelic peoples in the country, the Fhainn are the most prominent branch, with the related Sheafhainn, Cascufhainn, and Parvefhainn making up most of the others. Some Caenwynin live in parts of the northern coast and mountain highlands as well as Faeskt concentrated in parts of the east. Normally, these other Gaelic groups are generally able to communicate, as Fhasen is distinct but related to Faeskt and Caeric Gaelic, although communication is not particularly reliable without some translation. The groups within the country, conversely, generally speak fluent Fhasen due to centuries of forced integration, although the Cascufhainnin dialect remains distinct from Ninerivers Fhasen.

Of Faneria's major cities, all except Sethsport are majority Fhainnin or a Fhainnin subgroup. Rihsport has a large minority of Sheafhainn, though these are the closest related group to Ninerivers Fhainn; Mullcirit and New Kurikila have large Coscivian minorities.

Ethnic tensions are relatively lax in Faneria, excepting the clash between fringes of the Cascufhainn community and the state over greater autonomy or even independence, as the Cascufhainn have a history of rebelling against southern Fhainnin rule. The culture is accepting of immigration, although it pushes for naturalization strongly, as evidences by the large Aenglish and Derian communities around and in Sethsport and the aforementioned Coscivian and mixed-race groups in the west. The largest source of tension is the Gothic minority, who historically faced severe discrimination under Fhainnin rule as well as forced migration and occasional deportation; Gothic communities, especially those in the Transisthmus, have launched several relatively recent separatist movements in the 19th and early 20th Centuries.

Religion
Main Article:Religion in Faneria The pagan Fhainnin pantheon, like most indigenous Gaelic faiths, revolved around a large myriad of local gods, especially nature, water, sun, and storm spirits. By the 5th Century AD, religion in the Ninerivers had resolved into a pantheon of several dozen deities with distinct roles, though many local alternative legends and names for the same deities existed. The general theme of Fhainnin faith held that the star god, Braess, had been killed by another deity, and his death created the Vandarch sea, with freshwater being his blood and his fall throwing arable land onto the world. The Fire, Storm, and Death gods repeatedly try to destroy the world (in the Death god's case, he is attempting to bury Braess to fulfil his duty, making the world end in the process, while the others are simply vengeful), while a few major deities ensure that the sun rises and sets every day and the Fire and Storm gods inadvertently foil each other's attempts. A host of minor patron gods also overlook aspects of human life and the natural world, although some are occasionally malicious, such as nature gods, who are fickle.

Old custom holds that redheads are 'blessed' by the gods, a tradition that carried over into Christian Faneria. As a result, red hair, particularly natural-looking red hair, is often associated with fertility and wealth in Faneria. Long, loose red hair is associated with naturalist movements, while styled red hair is a commonly-desired beauty standard.

When Christianity was first introduced to the Fhainn, Jesus Christ was adopted readily as the minor god Hesus, a patron god of forests and woodworking. The god Benelus, Braess' steward and the Sun God, was gradually combined with the concept of God the Father, and worship of Hesus eventually absorbed the roles of healing god and, after several sectarian wars within the local principalities, freshwater as well. The subversion of the freshwater concept of the polytheistic lore was the turning point for Christianization in Faneria, with churches being raised and locally-trained priests teaching the Roman Catholic tradition. Most polities in the Ninerivers permitted this for a while or converted, with Christianity being the dominant faith in the Vandarch Basin by the time of the foundation of the Kingdom of the Fhainn in 1398.

Religious tolerance was forced by most Kings of the Fhainn, although religion was commonly used as a casus belli in campaigns in mountain regions against local clans throughout Faneria's history. The largest and most notable Crusade in Faneria took place in the Sixteenth Century against a Protestant sect based in Kurikila, on the West Coast. The Kurikilan Crusade effectively broke the Protestant movement in Faneria even though the King only a decade before had been a Protestant; in later centuries, Protestant factions would come under heavy attack, leading to frequent uprisings in the north in particular until religious toleration was enshrined as a state policy in the late Seventeenth Century.

Pagan faiths are still fairly common in Faneria, as Protestant rebellion after the Reformation was always a greater threat to the country, and even the more pious kings throughout the centuries had to keep pagan peasantry in most areas pleased. After the advent of irreligiosity in Faneria during the Republican era, Christianity is the majority religion by plurality only, with agnosts and pagans being the next largest groups. Fhainnin Christianity retains some elements of old pagan tradition, such as emphasizing the relation of Christ to water rather than light. The Northern Rite, a form of mass somewhat distinct from the traditional Catholic Rite in process, has become increasingly popular since the 1950s.

Health, Wealth, and Education
Faneria sits at around the average in terms of quality of life among developed countries. The average age of death for Fanerian residents is xx, and the country retains a public health system in parallel to private healthcare. There is a somewhat large degree of income inequality, with the average income at just under 50,000 Talers per annum (xxxx barra). Roughly xx% of the country lives below the poverty line, and the country has an ongoing issue with its deep mountainous interior being much poorer than the Vandarch coastal regions. Public services are also less accessible on the North Coast.

On average, a Fanerian resident will be expected to attend xx years of schooling. The country has a 98% technical literacy rate and a 92% functional literacy rate among otherwise capable adults.

Holidays and Practices
Faneria officially observes some Christian holidays, namely Easter Sunday and Christ's Mass, despite not having an official religion; the largest national holiday is Revolution Day (February 15th), the anniversary of the beginning of the Fhainnin Civil War. Other national holidays include most League of Nations-sanctioned holidays, as well as National Veterans' Day, Unity Day, Summer and Winter Heights (a modernization of pagan Solstice celebrations), Keg Day, and others.

Major holidays are typically marked as days of national rest, while minor holidays are optional for employers to give off, though it is customary to shutter business for them for many businesses. Minor religious holidays are widely observed but not officially marked as holidays.

Cuisine
Rye bread features heavily in the Fhainnin diet as opposed to wheat bread, as rye grows better in the hills and northern regions of Faneria as well as in the drier northeast interior. Potatoes, clams, fish, crab, tomatoes, and leafy greens are also staples, while more specialized local foodstuffs include hardier varieties of apples. Chicken and beef are the primary non-aquatic meat sources in Faneria, although pork, turkey, lamb, and others are available through import within the Vandarch and occasionally are raised locally. Seafood, namely crab, cod, mussels, clams, and lobster, feature in most local cuisine, though Ninerivers food also contains eel, seaweeds, freshwater fish varieties, and on rare occasions, some types of algae mat that grow in dense patches on the Vandarch's coast in spring (though this is generally pressed into dried cakes for wintertime as a food of last resort).

A common feature of Fhainnin cuisine is it is often served as hot as can be stood; given the propensity for frigid winters in the north and along the mountains, this should come as little surprise. Most families put a great deal of effort into stocking their kitchens well, as the dining room is the central feature in most traditional radial home plans and meals with family or guests are an important customary aspect of the culture. Snack foods are widely available but are generally derided in particularly traditional circles, though this 'metropolitan' trend is becoming more common, and ready-to-eat restaurants are very popular. Highly-processed foods are restricted to a degree by government sanctions on some artificial preservatives, leading to a large market of ready-to-eat canned fruits, candies, trail mixes, chips, dips, and salted snack meats to form around native companies rather than import snack foods. Faneria still imports a massive volume of fruits yearly, particularly peaches, while others, such as banana, are considered ingredients rather than snack foods in their own right.

Philosophy, Art, and Literature
=Government and Politics= Main Article: Political Parties of Faneria

Faneria's government, the Republic of the Fhainn, is a unitary republic with its capital situated in Oirthidun. It is the legal successor state to the Fhainnin Popular Republic and the earlier Kingdom of the Fhainn, which were also referred to colloquially as Faneria. It has no state-approved or mandated religion, but is formally linked in its function and its Constitution to the Fhainnin ethnicity in particular, although naturalized foreigners are capable of attaining citizenship. Faneria's political zeitgeist has wavered considerably over the last century and a half, with a traditionalist monarchy being overthrown by a radical revolutionary republic in the 1900s that later transformed into a semiauthoritarian hybrid state in the 1950s. Its policies are typically nationalistic and focused on economic growth and public wellbeing along with soft power projection. It formally claims some border regions currently possessed by Caergwynn, and although it has good relations with its neighbor Fiannria, the ethnic makeup of Fiannria's coastal region along the Vandarch and the territory's history as a battleground between HLE troops and Fhainnin armies makes Faneria's formal renunciation of claims seem shallow.

Government Structure
As a republic, Faneria's government is divided into four branches - an executive, legislative, judicial, and administrative; these are called the Directorate, the National Assembly, the National Audit Council, and the Administration Board, respectively. Each interacts to counterbalance the other, although Faneria has a strong executive position compared to contemporary republics abroad.

Directorate of the Republic
Main Article: Directorate of the Republic of the Fhainn

The Director of the Republic is Faeria's head of state, with the powers of the Head of Government resting nominally in the office of the Taesteach. The Directorate is an elected position selected for by a two-stage vote (see Main Article). The term of office for the position is five years, with a hard limit of six terms - however, no Director has ever held the position for more than five terms, which is generally considered a soft limit out of respect for the Republic's first head of state, Callac Cananach.

National Assembly
Main Article: National Assembly of the Fhainnin Republic, Taesteach

The National Assembly is the legislative body of Faneria's government, and is a tricameral legislature composed of the Peoples' Council, the Party Council, and the National Council.

The Peoples' Council is elected with one representative per county for terms of three years with a maximum of three terms. It has the power to propose laws, veto laws prior to ratification with a 3/4 vote, and to request amendments to the budget by a 2/3 vote. It is overseen by the Peoples' Speaker.

The Party Council is elected on a proportional model across the entire country; there is one representative for every million registered citizens. These representatives are elected every five years for a maximum of two terms. The Party Council may propose laws, veto laws prior to ratification with a 3/4 vote, and propose alternative budgets if the National Council refuses to approve a budget twice. It is overseen by the Parties' Speaker.

The State Council is not elected, but consists of the Taesteach, the two Speakers of the other houses, the chief ministers of the eight Offices of government, and one representative of the Audit Council. It is observed by the ministers of every government Bureau. As a result of its makeup, it has no term limits or terms contingent to itself, and members are removed and added as the positions associated with a seat are changed. The National Council approves laws passed by the lower houses, with the Audit Council representative having tiebreaking power. The State Council also acts as a forum for frank communication with the Director and coordination between government organizations. It is headed by the Taesteach.

In the event of a meeting of all houses of the Assembly, the Taesteach takes control of proceedings. The Party and Peoples' Councils may also meet without the National Council, in which case the Parties' Speaker takes priority if present; together, the two lower houses have the sovereign power of veto over decisions by the Director if passed by a 3/4 margin. If a 2/3 margin is reached, the Audit Council is required by law to immediately meet and review the executive order in question.

National Audit Council
Main Article: National Audit Council

Administration Board
Main Article: National Economic Administration Board

The Administration Board is headed by the Taesteach and consists of a selected panel of specialists, bureaucrats, and representatives from the Audit Council. It is informally structured and ensures the budget is carried out and the various civil services of the state continue to function. It works closely with the Director, State Council, and the Audit Council.

Offices of Government
The mundane functions of the government are organized into eight major Offices, each of which oversees subordinate Bureaus that break down into Departments:

The Office of the Courts manages the justice system and mediates intragovernmental disputes along with the Office of Political Security. It additionally liaises with the League of Nations International Court. It responds to the Audit Council.

The Office of Civil Services manages the bulk of day-to-day civilian services, from education to general infrastructure to utilities to business regulations and bookkeeping. It often reaches into areas normally under the auspices of other Offices and is easily the largest of the Offices in both form and function. Its function is technically overseen by the Administration Board, but it is common for a sitting Director to interfere in situations deemed to be of 'immediate national interest', typically through or with the consent of the Taesteach.

The Office of State Security handles the mundane aspects of international relations, public relations, and cybersecurity, as well as its most widely known function of acting as an investigatory body with regards to the rest of the civilian government. It responds to the Audit Council and may take requests from the Assembly or the Director at the Audit Council's approval.

The Office of Foreign Affairs deals in immigration, emigration, customs, tariffs, foreign aid, and exploration. It is generally under the control of the Administration Board, but foreign relations are under the control of the Director.

The Office of the Treasury runs the Central Mint and oversees most aspects of state investments and funding of private entities, along with tax collecting. It reports directly to the Audit Council, and recieves orders for the budget from the National Assembly.

The Office of the National Army manages the armed forces of the state, as well as the commissioning of materials and equipment for said forces. It answers directly to the Directorate.

The Office of Commerce

The Office of Culture

Constitution
Main Article: Constitution of the Republic of the Fhainn

Political Parties and Movements
Main Article: National Popular Party, Federal Party (Cananachist and Modernist factions), Social Party, Thunderstorm Party, Old Ways Party

Administration
As a unitary state, the administration of Faneria is organized top-down, and subunits of the national government are answerable to their superior administrative divisions and subject to their rulings, although rulings are occasionally passed for specific circumstances. As of 2020, the country is organized into three overseas possessions (two of which are administrated by the military and one of which is split into counties) and fifteen provinces. Each province has its own Governor and Provincial Taesteach and is split into counties, which are divided into rural and urban counties. County types are updated annually as needed, with the primary difference being that urban counties and rural ones are eligible for different types of central government funding and support, and urban counties have a Civic Taesteach added to head a municipal council. Some urban areas can span multiple counties, and cities care also divided into multi-county and single-county cities. Multiple-county cities have a municipal council that works with the local mayors of each of the city's counties rather than a single county, but are otherwise the same as the councils in single-county urban areas. Rural and urban counties both have Mayors.

In some instances, the national government will mark a county or several contiguous counties as 'special interest areas', either for targeted infrastructure programs, poverty relief work, or on rare occasions, the institution of martial law or emergency response measures.

Military
=Economy=

Faneria's economy is highly diversified, with the highlights of modern industry laying in chemical manufacturing, medical devices, electronics and software, and industrial machinery. It also has a strong mining and timber industry along with woodworking industries, a fishing sector spanning three seas, and a comparatively small but productive military export market. In the last several decades, the banking and financial management sectors have expanded considerably along with export products including high-end train systems, commercial vessels including icebreakers and small submersibles, airliners, and electronics-intensive home appliances and industrial parts. Many of these sectors exist despite comparative disadvantages, which are countered by tax breaks from the government aimed at a semi-protectionist 'home economy'. This provides a safety net for several at-risk industries - namely consumer goods manufacturing, which is being artificially pushed to make the automation of manufacturing preferable to companies moving operations to the second and third world - and encourages technological development for both economic growth and in some cases to satisfy the ideological puritanism of many political blocs.

Faneria net imports a number of key resources such as some rare earth minerals, glass, tropical fruits and other foodstuffs, clothing and other cloth products, chemical precursors, electricity (in select cases), and oil for personal vehicles. Faneria produces oil of its own but the production lines are state-owned and limited in volume enough to be restricted for military use.

The economy is considered mixed, with the government owning several companies that produce some military hardware and goods used by state functions, such as paper mills, office computers, and other goods. These companies subsidize supportive policies for the private economy by selling surplus, and the government maintains a shortlist of 'key companies' which are vetted and used to fill gaps in military procurement, infrastructure construction, and other state needs. Such key companies are also the subject of considerable government support, though since the 1970s this informal system has been reworked to minimize further consolidation into a fully oligarchic economy as part of economic initiatives, which have been a source of endless political contention and bureaucratic scrutiny for decades. =See Also=