Olmeria: Difference between revisions

The term Olmeria itself can first be seen in in writings from the Great Chieftain [[Marco Reud]] in 856. Reud writes about the loss off "Olmeria" in the national community, seemingly referring to unity or national spirit. His use of the postfix -eria is the first such recorded example outside of soldiers and their families. Presumably Reud had picked up the trend from his men (who he was famously close to) and was attempting encapture the idea of "oneness" or "feeling of being one" by using a postfix that had become so commonly associated with such abstract concepts.   

The concept of "Olmeria" was not regularly revisited over the next few centuries until it came to the official establishment of the nation sometime in XXXX. At this point, senior chieftains and intellectuals revisited Reud's work looking for inspiration from the nations history to embed into the [[1st Constitution (Olmeria)|1st Constitution]] (a fact easily noted by historians for the clear annotations in the margins of many copies of Reud's works). What they found instead was a solution to the long running debate over the name of the newly established nation, one which had been raging for almost 3 years as various historic tribes and families vied to have their titles acknowledged in the modern country (a fact which lead several early drafts of the nation name to be over 3 pages in length). The idea of "Olmeria" or "Oneness" appealed greatly to those leader and intellectuals who desperately craved a clean sheet from the simultaneously troubled, violent and stagnant early history of the land. In fact the contempary chronicler [[Loke Åberg]] (who was also a senior advisor in the Council of Chieftains) noted how "the incessant roar of conflict that have plagued these halls for so many months were, so suddenly, cut to silence by the shouts of one, junior, advisor, who cried at the topmost end of his voice that he had found the perfect solution". Little more is know about the exact events that immediately followed this but drafts of the constitution dated just a few days later began to use Olmeria in the title and text. suggesting the response was at least close to unanimously in favour of the new name.   

Curiously, following the adoption of Olmeria as the nations title, the use of postfix -eria once again dropped of a cliff and is now rarely, if ever, seen in the modern Cordish language.   

However other historians argue that such a change in spelling is itself impossible, discounting "Elmne" as a legitimate predecessor. Many suggest that in the ancient world the meaning of "violent collision" would be closer than a contempary audience may imagine, given much of the religious imagery of the time focussed on worship by throwing rocks at idols to establish some sort of spiritual connection. While little is known about the old faiths to confirm this, it is plausible that the association between collision and spiritual worship allowed "Olne" to develop it's meaning faster than many other words at the time. Others suggest there was a reference to a senior deity as "The Great One" or similar, once again associating the two concepts. This is, however, contradicted heavily by the fact use of the word Olme to mean the numerical value one was not predominant in its early use, or in fact until much later in the 2nd millennia.   

Small scale tribal conflicts over the early years of Tarsan settlement began to settle into something much more organised around 150 BC, when, driven by a need for co-operation in the brutally harsh conditions, smaller tribes began forming alliances stretching far beyond the fleeting military ones made during the early tribal conflicts. Gradually, the tribes became so interlinked that after 100 or so years (c.50 BC), they had pretty much merged into 5 distinct tribes around Tarsa, each claiming their own lands and ruling according to their own laws and customs. Each of these became ruled by one "Great Chieftain", a term gradually adopted at the time. The next 600 and more years became defined by side deals, hostile negotiations, and outright conflict between these 5 chieftains and their descendants. In 512 AD the chieftains signed the [[Early Constitution (Olmeria)|Early Constitution]], unifying the tribes in a confederation that would eventually become Olmeria. While internal conflicts remained, as the tribes kept large parts of their autonomy, the power of the Chieftains began to naturally decline, tamed by their 4, equal, counterparts. Additionally, from around 600 AD, democratic tribal councils began spread in popularity, slowly reducing the Chieftain's role to that of a diplomatic figurehead. This didn't, however stop them remaining at least somewhat influential until the final, formal unification of the nation under the name "Olmeria" in 1062.

Olmeria is a Unicameral Democratic Republic, divided into the executive [[Council of Chiefs]] (presided over by the [[President of Olmeria]]), and legislative body [[The People's Senate]]. The nation is split into 200 Multi-Member Constituencies which elect representatives according to the STV voting system. Olmeria also has 82 [[Administrative Districts of Olmeria|administrative districts]] managed by regional and local councils, in addition to 4 metropolitan zones. General elections are held after every set 4 year term to elect the Senate and President, while local elections are held annually (excluding General Election years) with 1/3 of councillors up for election each time.

While the president can be deemed the highest power in the state, in accordance with the [[2nd Olmerian Constitution]] the power of the President is fully accountable to veto by the Council of Chiefs and People's Senate by a series of constitutional safeguards. Any one President is limited to a maximum of four consecutive terms in office and a total of 6 in their lifetime.   

Local government in Olmeria is organised into two tiers. Upper tier authorities consist of regional boards presiding over the the nations 16 official provinces, usually encompassing a substantial area, and metropolitan councils presiding over the nations 4 designated metropolitan zones. These authorities hold responsibility for enacting government initiatives, allocating money for larger spending projects, and managing province wide networks such as high speed rail links. Lower tier authorities sit underneath their relevant upper tier authority, and consist of local councils presiding over much smaller local municipalities. These authorities are responsible for more menial management of local affairs such as road maintenance and local public transport. Local government below these two tiers, such as town and village councils, are not considered part of the national government structure and as such are named "[[Sub-state Authorities (Olmeria)|sub-state authorities]]".  

There are 20 upper tier authorities in Olmeria, and 62 lower tier authorities, making a total of 82 administrative districts. These districts are run by elected councillors, or regional representatives (shorthand: regional reps) in the case of regional boards, and metropolitan councillors in the case of metropolitan councils.  

Historically, Olmeria used to operate a [[:en:First-past-the-post_voting|First Past the Post (FPTP)]] voting system, a well known system renowned for it's tendency to create a two party system. As such, the nations political landscape for the first X centuries after the formal establishment of the democratic system, were defined predominantly by the competition between the center-left [[Unity Party]] and the more extreme socialist [[Olmerian Socialist Union|Olmerian Socialist Union (OSU)]], which dominated party politics for more than XXX years. In XXXX, Olmeria transitioned to the revolutionary STV voting system (pioneered by political philosopher [[Wilhelm Svensson]]), threatening the dominance of these two parties. Over the following X decades, both parties went on to form long-term parliamentary agreements, with the Unity party adopting the [[Liberal Party (Olmeria)|Liberal Party]], and later the [[Christian Democratic Union (Olmeria)|CDU]], to form the more centrist [[Unity Coaltion|Unity Coalition]], and the OSU joining with the original [[1st Olmerian Workers Party|Olmerian Workers Party]] (now reformed under the same name), and the [[Trade Union Socialist Congress (Olmeria)|TUSC]] to form the similarly left wing [[Progress Coalition (Olmeria)|Progress Coalition]].  

Now, due to the use of highly proportional voting system single transferable vote (STV), Olmerian politics are nuanced and variable, usually relying on some form of power sharing agreement. In fact in the XX years since the modern voting system was adopted, only 3 governments have ruled with an outright majority, with 2 of these including existing party agreements. The most recent of these majority rules was by the [[Progress Coalition (Olmeria)|Progress Coalition]], following it's inaugural election success in XXXX.

The biggest parties in the current Senate are the [[Unity Coalition|Unity]] and [[Progress Coalition (Olmeria)|Progress Coalitions]], with the liberal [[Justice Party (Olmeria)|Justice Party]] and conservative [[Jönsson Pact]] also holding significant presence. After winning the most seats in the 2031 elections, the Unity Coalition is currently the major partner in a centrist coalition government with the [[Justice Party (Olmeria)|Justice Party]], together holding a 44 seat majority in the Senate. [[Këil Frieden|President Këil Frieden]], Speaker [[Orvar Göransson|Prs Orvar Göransson]] and 11 of the 15 appointed chiefs are all Unity Party Senators, while Great Chieftain [[Esmë Droido|Chf Esmë Droido]] and 3 other chiefs represent the Justice Party.

Olmeria's formal state education system is non-linear, with multiple points where option is given to students to decide on their future paths of education. While optional earlier education exists, all children must start school in Lillë-bas Sköle<ref>''Literally - "Little Person School"''</ref> at the age of 4 years old, where they stay for three years learning very basic reading and writing and numeracy, and where the foundations of general learning and development principles are laid. At the age of 7, children move up to Förstskap Sköle<ref>''Literally - "First Step School"''</ref> , where they study for 4 years learning rudimentary literacy and numeracy, alongside science, geography and history, and then some of music, languages and technology depending on the school. As Lillë-bas and Förstskap Sköle are often combined into one institution, many children move schools for the first time at the age of 11, when they move up to Hövdsköle<ref>''Literally - "Mainschool"'' </ref>. Here students study what is know as the "Induction Years", where for two years they must take lessons in science, maths, cordish, history, geography, modern foreign languages (at schools discretion), art, music, theatre, technology and sports. After these two year, at the age of 13, students have to opportunity to narrow down their learning by choosing a combination of 7-11 academic (OSEC<ref>Olmerian Secondary Education Certificate</ref>'s) and vocational (PTSQ's<ref>Professional and Technical Secondary Qualification</ref>) qualifications, including mandatory subjects maths, cordish and combined sciences. Students may also leave Hövdsköle at this point, or at any time during the next two years of study, to attend a technical or professional college, however this is somewhat rare and only a few such colleges accept students of this age. Students study these selected subjects for three years until the age of 16, when they sit final exams/submit coursework for their selected subjects and receive relevant grades and qualifications. Here, students choose between remaining at Hövdsköle for a further two years to study for a General Standard/Advanced Diploma (GSD or GAD), moving to a focussed academic college to study for specific Standard or Advanced Diplomas, or leaving to a technical or professional college to study for PTAQ's, apprenticeships or Technical Standard/Advanced Diplomas (TSD/TAD's). University in Olmeria is known as Háskóli<ref>''Litterally: Place of Endeavour''</ref>.  

Football is the largest sport in Olmeria, and watched regularly by many households in the nation. Olmeria's reputable top division is the [[Første Liga]] (english: top league), followed by the [[Lëiga Liga|Lëiga Lige]]<ref>''English: Leaders League''</ref>, and then the [[Liga Olme]]<ref>''English: League One''</ref> and [[Liga Gret]]<ref>''English: League Two''</ref>. Below this Olmeria has a reasonably substantial community of so called non league football, with one national [[Liga Nul]] <ref>''Literally the "Nothing League"''</ref>, and then around 4-7 more tiers of officially recognised football depending on the specific region.