Unnuaq Mission State

The Unnuaq Mission State is a country in Cusinaut. The country was formed out of a region populated by eighteen Catholic missions and the towns that sprang up around them. Though the missions have existed in the Unnuaq region for centuries, the political apparatus of the territory only began in the 2010s as the Unnuaq exclusion area mandated under the Treaty of Narasseta. The eighteen missions in the region began to see to self-governance as a league of mission-town governments, but the end of the treaty threatened both the newly fledgling government and the missions themselves. The Armed Forces of the Apostolic Kingdom of Urcea assumed control of the exclusion zone during Operation Mission Shield, which was primarily launched to ensure the security of the mission zone. Following months of military occupation, the local missions received sufficient guarantees from the Government of Urcea and declared their independence on 2 May 2017. The country is a formal protectorate of Urcea, and the Apostolic King of Urcea is invested as Protector-General of the country, a largely symbolic executive position within the Mission State's domestic governance. The Unnuaq Mission State is a member of the Nysdra Sea Treaty Association.

History
More Information: Treaty of Narasseta, Operation Mission Shield

Government
The Unnuaq Mission State is a federal republic based on the territorial jurisdictions of the eighteen Levantine Catholic Church missions within the country. Its government has existed since the early 2030s, though it only became formalized following the country's independence in 2037. Each of the eighteen missions is administered by a Abbot-General, who is the overall administrator of the mission area in addition to being the abbot of the central monastic mission community. These Abbot-Generals are subject to the appointment of their religious order, making administration within the country fluid. In order to ensure continuity of operations given the unusual nature of religious life in the Mission State, the religious orders in charge of the missions typically assign priests or monks already in the Unnuaq region as Abbot-General. Within each mission, the Abbot-General functions as executive administrator, and in lieu of an official executive agency, the operations of the monastic community under his purview function as the governing bureaucracy of a mission in addition to many other responsibilities. Within each mission, the Abbot-General oversees a Popular Committee, a consultant body of local notables and citizens responsible for providing popular input into the affairs of government. Unlike traditional governing apparatus, public administration is largely a collaborative work between the local monastic communities and the local population. Police responsibilities were initially done by local militias, but since independence the country has collaborated with the Armed Forces of the Apostolic Kingdom of Urcea to employ military police in combination with local neighborhood watch programs in order to enforce local laws.

Each of the eighteen Abbot-Generals meet several times per year in an institution known as the All-Mission Council. The All-Mission Council serves as the legislature for the Unnuaq Mission State, though in practice much of the responsibility of governing is handled at the mission level. Since independence, the Council has been responsible for ratifying treaties and is additionally responsible for regulating the State's relationship with Urcea and others. The Unnuaq Mission State has a very small central government, consisting of the All-Mission Council, the Counsel to the Missions, the Trade Administration Board, and the Defense Administration Board, which combined make up approximately 150 full time employees. The Personnel Administration Board, not an official "government agency" but the human resources and personnel division of the government overseeing the other parts of the central government, has an additional 15 employees. Not including members of the country's defense force, priests, or the Abbots themselves, the government has no more than 165 administrative personnel.

Demographics
The Unnuaq Mission State is unique in Crona for its religious demographics; as of 2037, it is the only state to have a Catholic majority besides New Yustona, and it is the only semi-independent state to have a Catholic majority. The foundation and nature of the Mission State is largely responsible for the Catholic population, and consequently the urban areas that were established surrounding Catholic missions are overwhelmingly Catholic. The minor M'acunist minority typically live in smaller settlements and rural areas on the southern border of the country or in the extreme northern polar sections.