Malentina
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Presidential Confederacy of Malentina | |
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 Flag
 State seal
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Motto: Walaan, wakinee, nikeewolthu. ("Our waters, Our freedoms, until the end of time.") | |
Anthem: Kabun Kabi Hierlini (The Song of three Moons) | |
 Location of Malentina (green) in Crona (gray). | |
| Capital | Salcojina |
| Largest city | Hierkuun |
| Official languages | |
| National language | Ænglish |
| Regional languages | |
| Ethnic groups |
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| Religion |
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| Demonym(s) | Malentine |
| Government | Confederal presidential directorial republic |
| Siwasyan T'ukri Daniel Duke Pedro Čivok | |
| Colin Ross | |
| Churan Illiari Nicholas Miller David Čošescok | |
| Legislature | Trissembly |
| Senate | |
| Gathering of the West House of Commons Northern Assembly | |
| Establishment | |
• First mainland settlers arrive | 756 AD |
• First Colonial Settlements | 1692 AD |
• Self-Governance of Portlunara | 1899 AD |
| 1933 AD | |
| 1987 AD | |
| Area | |
• Total | Template:Convinfobox/sec2 |
| Population | |
• 2019 estimate | 19,448,971 |
• Density | Template:Convinfobox/sec2 |
| GDP (nominal) | estimate |
• Total | $450 billion |
• Per capita | $23,121 |
| Currency | Malentine Pound (MTP) |
| Driving side | right |
| Calling code | +334 |
| Internet TLD | .mt |
Malentina (Maalit: Mááleen'ti; Qabóri: Mâlintunóc; Tiiu: Amtàà'uska), officially the Presidential Confederacy of Malentina (Maalit: Mááleen'ti Uqaalatikis Aptúúnala; Qabóri: Tascena'ató Kuscant Mâlintunóc; Tiiu: Poha'abíísdataabus Amtàà'uska), is a country in southern Crona in the western parts of the North Songun sea. The nation is made up of as a set of three larger islands just of the coast of Istrenya. Beyond it's closest neighbour Malentina also has maritime borders with Kelekona and Arcerion. While Malentina is connected to the rest of the world through the ocean, this is at great risk to the nations sovereignty as the nation is by far the weakest of those bordering the Songun Sea. Especially Arcerion and The Cape both hold immense influence thanks to the Warrington Strait and the Songun Straits forming natural chokepoints when exiting the Songun Sea.
Malentina was historically a notable North Songun civilization before their collapse. Although severely hurt by the collapse, Malentina came out of it in better shape than most others, in large part thanks to it's relative security from Varshani Hunts. During the 18th century Malentina became a somewhat important colony for the Ænglish-descended settlers from Ardmore as they settled the mostly unsettled, or some argue abandoned, island of Hileenkop. This would lead to numerous conflicts between the Ænglo-Ardmori settlers and the Maaleen and Tinuud natives known as the Canoe Conflict.
In the modern day Malentina is a somewhat wealthy but still struggling nation in southern Crona. Their economy is mostly built around agricultural products, a mixture of cash crops like tobacco and sugar as well as fishing products like crustaceans and squid. They do suffer from some insurgency issues partially caused by a severly lacking military which still tends to lead to minor international meddling, mainly by Arcerion but more recently also by Tierrador.
Most of the nations struggles are rooted in the demographic conflict between the Ænglo-Ardmori and native populations. Ever since the genocide of the Starlit Revolution, Ænglish-speaking nations such as Arcerion and Alstin have held a particular investment in ensuring the local Neo-Waakabii extremist cells are destroyed post-haste. Because of these foreign interests it has been commonplace for the last 30 years for Malentines to be the target for foreign airstrikes. In recent years, however, Malentina has seen a shift in their approach to local insurgencies. With military assets provided by Tierrador they have started cracking down on terrorist cells on their own, while at the same time distancing themselves from Arcerion. These actions have caused a diplomatic incident surrounding Malentina which risks becoming a flashpoint for a power struggle over who holds influence over Malentina.
Etymology
Malentina is a somewhat modern name taken from the term commonly used in Ænglish to refer to the indigenous tribes living on the islands that the nation now encompasses, that being Malentinu. This term developed from combining the names of the two most populous indigenous tribes on the islands, which are the Maaleens and the Tinuuds. The name was created by the indigenous tribes as a way for them to "reclaim" their home islands, which by the time of the name's formulation had been under the rule of Occidental colonists for many years, for themselves. There still exists a small minority within the Ænglo-Ardmori population who still use the former colonial name of Pertooluna from before 1933; ironically Pertooluna comes from the butcherization of the name used for the Cartadanian colony of Puerto Luna
Geography
The many islands that the make up the Malentine archipelago are dominated by the three main islands of Tikaandu, Hileenkopp and Wolviikipp, in order of size. These three islands have mostly quite similar features although Tikaandu features by far the most fresh water making it the centre of the Malentine part of what was once the North Songun civilization. One of the most notable features of the island is that the islands are incredibly flat with only short hills cut by shallow valleys. Except for several smaller regions in the northern-most and southern-most parts of the islands. This made the islands ideal for plantation agriculture, before the earth of it's vast plains were eroded by years of exploitation.
Climate
Throughout the islands one can find a quite diverse climate, featuring everything from mangrove swamps, to forest covered plateaus.
Because of economic pressures the vast majority of the island has been reduced to agricultural fields, with only small forests dotting the landscape with a few national parks as the only exceptions. In modern times there have been significant attempt to reverse these changes at least partially, at the very least to an extent which may prevent further destruction of the islands natural ecosystem.
History
Pre History
With the help of a small amount of archaeological findings within on the islands it is believed that the cultural history of the indigenous Malentine peoples date back to around 1600 BC. Very little is known about this period, especially as the island's geology have made it very difficult to find any archeological artifacts, and interest in the prehistoric era of the islands have largely been suppressed by the Malentine government for fear of encouraging rebellious sentiment. The earliest instances of what is known about the early history of Malentina is connected to the era of the North Songun Civilization, whose largely well-preserved records first mention the islands and their indigenous peoples as early as the year 700 BC.
When traders from the North Songun Civilization first encountered the indigenous islanders they were noted for their excellent navigational skills, making use of well-crafted canoes, as well as fishing expertise. What likely drew the traders' attention the most, however, would be the vast amounts of wealth that was primarily displayed through an abundance of pearls. These pearls were among the first things that the North Songun traders would start buying for use in their trade networks, the pearls having first entered the North Songun capital of Maktalin as late as approximately 500 BC. The first urban settlements would soon be established on islands by the year 350 BC, slowly integrating the indigenous tribes into the larger North Songun Civilization. Many records would consider Malentina to first exist as a truly civilized entity around the period of the 5th to 3rd Centuries BC, although modern scholars have largely debated upon this subject with many claiming that Malentina would not be deemed a truly civilized entity until much later.
North Songun Civilization
Although these North Songunese settlements have started off as a group of smaller colonial city-states that were established primarily to facilitate trade and cooperation between the various indigenous insular tribes and the North Songunese traders, Malentina would eventually grow to be one of the most significant and wealthiest regions of the North Songun Civilization, which became much more apparent as the heart of the North Songunese lands was beginning to collapse. Malentine sources at that time have proven to be largely vital for modern scholars as they have described in great detail the events that have happened during the collapse, which is especially important as most of the other North Songunese lands would collapse to the point of having little to no scholars left to record these events.
For the period of time between the years 400 BC and 100 BC, the islands were mostly just trading posts at the edge of much greater lands on mainland Crona. The primary purpose behind these trading posts would prove to be exactly what would lead to Malentina transforming from a backwater on the edge of the North Songunese lands to one of the most well-developed regions within the North Songun Civilization; this in stark contrast to the small trade cities that were initially established. Cities that dot the western coast would serve as vital centers of trade between the great cities in the North Songunese heartlands and the various settlements to the south of the islands. This slow rise would quickly scale up exponentially in the 3rd and 4th Centuries as the expanses of land in what is now Tierrador began to develop into stable and lucrative places to trade with.
What is perhaps much more important than the vast amounts of wealth that have been flowing through the Malentine cities during this period of time was the cultural exchange, as elements of the North Songunese culture began to fuse with not just the indigenous insular culture but also with cultural aspects from the lands to the south of the islands. Although the cities were massively profitable, the indigenous tribes on the islands would still prove to be just as vital to the overall prosperity of their homelands, mostly thanks to their ability to gather certain valuable materials such as pearls, but most especially as warriors whom the cities would recruit for protection from neighboring cities mostly. From the growing mainland civilizations to the north and south, the islands would also learn a lot about proper administration and statecraft, allowing for the emergence of very effective forms of centralization. Such invaluable knowledge would bring forth a level great stability and prosperity to the cities that by the time of the 6th Century Malentina could no longer be considered to be a mere extension of a much greater civilization, but rather as the second-wealthiest region of the North Songun Civilization, with only the heartlands in what is now Kelekona and Arcerion being wealthier still, as the three largest city-states on the islands grew to great prominence in not just among the islands, but among the entirety of the North Songunese lands. Each of these cities controlled large amounts of territory along the western coast of the islands, with them spending many years competing over alliances with the various smaller settlements that were nearby.
This golden age would soon end, however, as the 11th Century brought forth an era of wars and devastation as conflicts emerged between the city-states and the tribal mercenaries who have rebelled over both payment and supposed snubs. The rebellious mercenaries were successful in conquering some of the North Songun cities on the islands, soon causing a division between the wealthy coastal North Songun city-states and the traditional natives further inland. This period of sectarian conflict would soon end by the late 1030s as relations between the North Songunese and the indigenous tribes would normalize once more with trade resuming relatively quickly. The period of time since the late 1030s has been known as the Malentine silver age, a time when the islands would experience another period of long-term prosperity which began with the formation of an alliance between the city-states by the year 1040. This alliance was a loosely-connected league of the seven most powerful cities on the islands, each representing the seven major cultural groups on the islands, which even included most of the indigenous tribes on the islands.
The Collapse
The silver age would soon come to an end since the late 13th Century with the rise and growth of the Varshani realm to the west of the heartland of the North Songun Civilization, much at the expense of the latter. It was during this time that trade across the seas would begin to slowly dwindle, and yet ironically not only would Malentina be relatively unaffected by what was largely the slow and painful death of what was once Crona's greatest civilization it would also become the center of the North Songun remnants as a result. Indeed, although much of the history of the North Songun Civilization have been lost thanks to the collapse, several highly important scholars and many other wealthy and influential individuals from the North Songun heartlands would flee the mainland for the safety of the islands, becoming the ancestors of Malentina's largely wealthy Kelekonese and Telekonese minority. By the end of the two-century long process towards the ruination of the North Songun Civilization, the former heartlands were largely in ruins and soon the Varshani would turn their sights towards the islands and began to conduct raids. However, due to the insular advantage and sheer distance from the Varshani heartlands, these raids were complete failures as the indigenous warrior tribes proved themselves to be an effective and formidable foe. At the same time, however, the indigenous islanders began to push towards militarization once more, soon becoming a far greater threat to the seven city-states than even the invaders.
Era of Isolation
The Varshani did not give up so easily though, they would continue to attempt further raids throughout the next hundred years, but once again they were failures for the most part. Due to their resilience and survival, the seven city-states saw themselves as the last of the North Songun Civilization. This view would soon evolve, with scholars arguing that it was at the behest of the wealthy refugees from the mainland, with the cities beginning to consider themselves to be the rightful successors to the entirety of the North Songun Civilization, and that it was their destiny to reclaim the former heartlands. The many refugees from the mainland, who would often refer to the islands as the qhispina ("haven"), would soon add to the growing problem that was emerging on the islands. Although the seven city-states have depicted themselves to be a united front, they were in truth nothing more than a loose collection of alliances and not a centralized power. This led to there being an immense imperative to try and centralize the city-states alongside an immense imperative to militarize through the use of the warrior tribes even though those same warriors were finding themselves to be once again outsiders in their own homeland, especially as many new people arrived to the islands and causing further social unrest. This would soon reach a tipping point in the early 17th Century with an event that has since been given the name the "Crisis of the Twelve", or as one famous scholar at the time would name it in some of his final writings, the "Fall of the Haven".
Qabóri settlement
To further exacerbate the social and cultural troubles that were already plaguing the islands was the arrival of migrants from the south. Although they had come to the islands not as refugees but rather people looking for a new life outside of their homeland, the emergence of yet another foreign group on the islands made the indigenous Malentine tribes feel more and more isolated. These newcomers were the Qabóri people, who hail from the Qabóri Woqalate, which was at the time of the first arrival of the Qabóri people onto the islands on its way towards becoming southern Crona's great indigenous civilization in opposition to the growing northern power of Varshan. The apprehensive reaction the indigenous tribes had towards the newcomers were made worse when they felt that the Qabóri were being treated better by the North Songun elites of the city-states. Indeed, the nascent Qabóri population of the islands had ideas of their own, that being that the islands should be greatly centralized under the rule of a powerful monarch known as a Woqali, the Qabóri term used to refer to monarchs, specifically a lesser Woqali under the suzerainty of the Qabóri Woqalate. The Qabóri had hypothesized that this would ensure that the islands would serve as a buffer state against the growing threat of Varshan. This stood in direct opposition to what the North Songun elites had wanted, which was to reclaim the former North Songunese heartlands by directly confronting the Varshani forces. It is from this rivalry between the recently-arrived Qabóri and the North Songunese that the two main political factions amongst the Cronan Malentine elites would emerge, those being the Qabóri Woqalists and the North Songunese Qhapaqists.
Crisis of the Twelve
A series of smaller revolts and notorious cultural clashes would result in the creation of the Great Council around 1616, who would bring forth all of the issues currently being faced by the league and seek solutions through large-scale reforms decided on by the ruling class. This great council would prove a great failure however, as a large series of errors and miscommunications would slowly descend the islands into chaos, slowly escalating towards discriminate violence between different groups.
During the following years various bloody revolts, civil wars and tribal conflict breaks out. These were mainly caused by the quick separation of the traditional tribal natives who included the warrior tribes fighting against the quickly collapsing cities. During this time, one of the most successful Arzali raids against the islands ever attempted crushes any hope for the northern cities to recover. This would ironically enough unite the tribes into a new confederacy, and only a few raids afterwards would return with even the smallest success, leading to the slave raiders mostly ignoring the islands starting around the year 1690.
The final result of this time of trouble was what many consider the final end of the North Songunese civilization, as the people who escaped the heartlands are believed to have died out almost completely and the cities that first connected the island natives to the surrounding civilizations were reduced to a fragment of their former selves. Of the seven cities only two remained anything more than ruins. It is estimated that at least two thirds of the islands population died out in less than 100 years. It is around this time that the islands would see their first settlers on the eastern coast, peoples from a land far distant from theirs. The first cartadanian explorers visited the island in 1689, arriving on the now nearly deserted east coast that had always been the backwater of the island.
Sails and Oars
The timely arrival of a new group of foreign sailors would've been met with exceeding hostility if they had first landed anywhere else among the three islands. But the empty lands they found only had a few small tribes inhabiting them. These tribes were suspicious of the strange foreigners but would slowly be convinced to work with them. These small tribes have very little history that survived to modern day, leaving their exact origin a mystery. A missing piece of history that would likely not matter at all if it wasn't for the 35% of modern Malentine tracing their origins to these tribe, mainly among the Ardmistizo and Costizo population.
Throughout the final years of the 17th century Cartadanian settlers would be the first Occidental nation to inhabit the islands, building the first settlement of Salcojina, which mostly served as a trading post. While there is consensus on the native tribes being somewhat hostile at first the historic claims that a very gregarious expedition leader convinced them to quickly build a strong trading relation is somewhat disputed. In Malentina the more commonly held view among both scholars and citizens is that three translators who had been allowed to visit the foreign Occidental lands convinced the various tribes of the vast wealth they may be able to achieve by working with the colonials. Either way the agreements made between the first settlers and the eastern tribes would lead to friendly relations that would last for over a century.
During next few decades before 1750 cartadanian explorers would continue mapping out the islands. They listened to the one grave warning that the eastern tribes had given them and mostly avoided making landings. At least the expeditions that survived did. One of these expeditions would discover a series of vast ruins of what seemed like once was a grand city. Drawn towards the possibility of wealth he would consider ignoring the tribes warning, finally being convinced by his men to survey the city. But as they scouted the coast for a good area to make camp, they discovered that they were not the first to have that very idea. The burnt remains of another ship and a camp laid in ruins would prove a convincing reminder that the warnings from the eastern tribes were not to be taken lightly.
Although the western islands remained hostile several new settlements would be established on the island of Hileenkopp, known by the settlers as "La Isla Hallare". All but one of these settlements would be established by Cartadanian settlers, the only exception being a single Coscivian settlement on the islands northern tip (naming the islands Sáfach). These settlements would bring wealth and power to the eastern tribes, who united into a single confederation to protect themselves from the hostile acts of the Malenti tribes.
A notable demographic shift would start to occur around the year 1750, as many of the people who migrated to the island would not be of Cartadanian or Coscivian origin. Instead the island was quickly developing a large Ænglo-Ardmori community.
Puerto Luna gold rush
A previous small trading post, the town of Puerto Luna would become the centre of the islands' development after gold discovered in the surrounding hills. This would push the already notable migration to the island into overdrive, especially among the Ænglo-Ardmori. As a result by 1777 the town of only about 2000 had grown to over 50 000 citizens in less than 20 years, becoming the largest city with an Ænglo-Ardmori majority.
In the 1780s and 1790s, Ardmore was starting to gain an interest in expanding into Crona. Although the gold rush had started to normalize at this point the Ardmori crown payed a significant sum to Cartadania as well as the various trading companies who actually owned the settlements to gain control of the island.
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1780-1900 Ænglo-Ardmori are not as good at dealing with the natives as Cartadania. Although they are way better at getting rid of them.
1780-1850 Purchase of colony is almost immediately followed by conflicts between settlers and natives. This quickly ignites into full blown war. Although there are short periods of peace during this time, most of it is made up of various conflicts against the natives. Natives while mostly being on the loosing end don't get crushed in large parts thanks to successfully staying mostly unified against the foreign threat. A lesson learned from the Arzali invasion and Haven's Fall, which at this point is among the most important legends in the Malentine culture.
1850-1900 Natives and Ænglo-Ardmori make an unease peace, although incidents of violence between the two continued consistently through the period.
20th Century
1900-2000 Colony no more. But violence remains.
1899 Colony is granted self-governance soon followed by independence. Although foreign influence is still strong. Government is mostly focused on the immigrant population, with natives being side-lined and mistreated often.
1933 Natives successfully mount a violent revolution, focused on acts during moonless nights where the revolution gets its name. Despite being outnumbered conflict goes the natives way. Until they very clearly go genocidal on the immigrant population. Specifically targeting full blooded whites over those of mixed heritage, and notably focused on attacking upper class members such as plantation owners and government officials. Even with a swift intervention championed by Arcerion over 70% of the white population of the islands are wiped out in a matter of months. Aftermath would lead to a short period of total occupation soon followed by an international mandate mainly lead by Arcerion and Cartadania.
1987 After 50 years of occupation a new state is created to finally replace the international mandate, once more letting the nation be free. This is however with a very harsh limit to their military capability, or rather military asset ownership. The agreement establishing the new state also allows Arcerion to enforce a demilitarization of the nation.
Modern
2000+
In the early 2000s Malentina violates the Arcerion demilitarization after several incidents of what they consider Arcerion overreach violating Malentinan sovereignty. This has caused somewhat of a cold war to develop between the nations, with the only reason it not breaking into all out war being international intervention.
Malentina has connections with Arcerion, Tierrador, The Cape, Cartadania, Ardmore, Alstin and Vithinja.
Government
The government of Malentina is primarily inspired by the confederal system of Arcerion despite how it appears to be at first glance. Indeed, although many of the highest offices differ greatly from Arcerion's system, it retains many similarities in its functionality. The government of Malentina has four main components, those being the Senate, the Trissembly (contains the three subnational legislatures), the subnational cabinets for the country's three main components, and the national cabinet for the country in its entirety. Another very notable difference is the fact that the Malentine system functions as a presidential republic as well as the fact that Malentina is a directorial republic and thus has no one-person head of state.
Because the Malentine government in its current state has only really existed since 1987, as well as the tension between the largely poor indigenous groups and the largely wealthy foreign groups, with many mixed-race peoples being within the latter group, the government currently suffers from a lack of popular legitimacy in the eyes of approximately two-thirds of its populace. The actions of previous governments have also soured Malentina's relations with many Occidental nations, which it has only recently began attempts at repairing these relations since the late 2000s; Malentina has instead resorted to closer ties with its fellow Cronan nations such as Kelekona and Tierrador as well as non-Levantine powers such as Daxia and Caphiria.
Executive
According to the Malentine constitution, which itself is in compliance with the 1987 Treaty of the New Confederation, Malentina is required to separate its executive branch into three separate institutions, all of which function somewhat differently from one another. The directorial presidency is commonly referred to pejoratively by the indigenous Maaleens and Tiuuds as the "Treaty Triad", though officially it is referred to as the "Presidency". Each member of the Presidency makes up the head of state and government for each of their respective confederated republics, effectively meaning that Malentina has three presidents. Each president is obligated to bring with them a number of cabinet members to assist them in serving the roles of external affairs as needed for the Presidency as a whole. Executive actions for the confederacy at large, such as determining highly important trade agreements, are required to be carried out through the use of a simple majority compromise system of voting wherein each confederated republic receives one vote and is to vote either for or against the proposed executive action.
Elections for each of the presidents differ between each of the three confederated republics. Although each presidential election takes place every seven years, each confederated republic has their own institution for the purpose of carrying out these elections. The northern republic makes use of the two-round system where multiple presidential candidates compete in the first round, and only the top two presidential candidates in the first round compete in the second round assuming that no candidate has been able to attain a simple majority in the first round; this system arguably ensures that a candidate is guaranteed to win a majority. The eastern republic makes use of an electoral college system where the president is elected by the House of Commons based on a direct advisory vote; all members of the House of Commons are not legally obligated to vote based on the wishes of their constituents, however, and may vote for any presidential candidate as they wish. The western republic makes use of the instant-runoff voting system, a form of preferential voting that eliminates the candidates with the fewest votes until one candidate has a simple majority of votes. Traditionally, no president stays after serving a single term, but there exists no legal mechanism to enforce this.
Each of the confederated republics' internal governments have their own domestic departments which handles the internal affairs of each republic separately. While each of these internal cabinets have their own differences in offices and even functions, they all still share many similiarities thanks to the influence of the Arcer political system.
Legislature
The Malentine legislature is split between the Senate, serving as the collective upper house for the three republics, and the Trissembly which itself consists of the legislatures of the three confederated republics; the Gathering of the West for the western republic, the House of Commons for the eastern republic, and the Northern Assembly for the northern republic. Each of the three confederated legislatures work separately and independent from one another in domestic legislation for each of the confederated republics, but they may meet up together to form the Trissembly which is when they work together to handle legislation on the national level; the Trissembly serves as the lower house counterpart to the Senate, and is formed once every spring and once every fall for a span of one month for each session.
The Senate consists of highly important and powerful citizens who hail from either the old aristocracy, the so-called "Starlit families" in reference to these political dynasties having emerged during the Starlit era, and noted academics and businessmen. Although the Senate was originally intended by the Treaty to be a largely ceremonial legislative house with great limitations to their power and ability to propose and pass new laws and resolutions, their association with the political elite of Malentine society has allowed for it to steadily grow influence over time through the manipulation of the Presidency and the use of corruption. Although the Constitution stipulates that laws proposed by the Senate should be debated upon by the Trissembly in order to be passed, it has become a common trend for many of these proposals to by duly approved without prior discussion or debate. Indeed, proposals that have been drafted by the Trissembly have largely been rejected by the Senate in recent decades, which is in stark contrast to the early years of the confederacy when proposals drafted by the Trissembly were largely approved without further issue.
The member legislatures of the Trissembly consist purely of elected positions, itself through a proportional voting system, and each of them have their own number of seats and domestic responsibilities. However, because there is no set equilibrium for the amount of seats for each of the member legislatures of the Trissembly thanks to the Treaty explicitly stating the amount of seats each of them should get, there is an immense power imbalance within the Trissembly as all three members must have equal voting power, thus leading to the scenario where the western and northern legislatures each technically hold more power than the eastern legislature does even though the latter has more seats than either the western or northern legislatures. This in turn has led to many issues arising over the perception of a seemingly clear bias in legislative decisions and the counting of votes. This problem is further exacerbated by the length of terms within each of the member legislatures of the Trissembly; the House of Commons holds an election every two years, the Gathering of the West holds an election every five years, and the Northern Assembly holds an election every seven years. The variation in legislative term lengths has increased the chances of there being a confederated president whose legislature is controlled by an opposing party, with the northern president most likely to have a legislature that is not as likely to be held by an opposing party.
Local governance
Malentinan municipalities hold a great deal of local power and create even more complications which has allowed the spread of sever corruption in some of these local jurisdictions.
Culture
The culture of Malentina is a complicated intertwining of the various tribes who inhabited the islands before the arrival of the first colonists from the east, the coscivian-sarpic colonists who made the first settlements on the islands, the aenglo-carnish immigrants who had the most cultural footprint, and the mestizo populations who fall somewhere in between them all. Although large parts of these groups have integrated and melded with each other there are still parts of the nation that work to maintain the old traditions of their culture of origin.
One of the most impactful components of Malenti culture, based in ideas from the earliest tribes, is a focus on nightly activities. Almost all holidays in Malentina are celebrated between dusk and dawn. The focus on leisure happening after dark goes far further however. In Malentina it is actually quite typical for sleep to be divided between a longer nightly rest and a shorter daily one, with the most common division being six-to-two hours. This is also supported by most stores and workplaces to close for a few hours around noon, with work being divided between the morning and afternoon. While the previous behaviors vary greatly across the nation and is less common on the eastern coast one thing that is true almost everywhere is a post-dusk nightly meal eaten just before going to bed.
Cuisine
Food in Malentina is heavily focused on a mixture of large variations of fish, crustaceans, large insects and lambs, served with corn cooked in a variety of ways as well as a number of local spices.
Demographics
The demographics of Malentina is noted for having a large amount of diversity in the religious, cultural, and political spheres. This has led to many situations wherein there exists a great power imbalance between the average citizenry who are largely indigenous to Malentina and the political elites who are largely foreign to Malentina whether they be Occidental or Cronan. It is only through the support of radical elements which ensure a fiercely loyal armed forces that the ruling classes of Malentina has been able to keep the indigenous Maaleens and Tinuuds from rising up in revolt against them.
Ethnic Demographics
Self-reported ethnic origin in the Confederacy (2024)
There are currently five main ethnic groups in Malentina, each of whom with differing ethnic origins that happen to have a few similarities in some cases. The largest ethnic group is the indigenous Maaleen people, with the indigenous Tinuud people coming close as the second-largest ethnic group in the country. Overall, the Maaleens and Tinnuds make up 67.5% of the population, and yet they are among the poorest and least socio-politically influential people in the country. The Ardmistizo people, people of primarily mixed indigenous and Ardmori ancestry, make up the third-largest ethnic group in the country, and are closely related to the Costizo people, who make up the smallest denominated ethnic group in the country. The names of these two ethnic groups are respectively the portmanteau of Ardmori and Mestizo, and Coscivian and Mestizo; Mestizo, meaning "mixed person" in Pelaxian, is a word that originates in Vallos and was used to describe the descendants of mixed race Vallosi-Pelaxian couples who lived in the interior areas of the Viceroyalty of Los Rumas; Mestizo is also used to collectively refer to the Ardmistzo and Costizo populations, and is also used in official census documents which state that they currently make up 16.4% of the population.
The fourth-largest ethnic group in Malentina, making up 8.9% of the population and yet is supposedly one of the more powerful ethnic groups due to their greater amounts of wealth on average, are the Ænglo-Ardmori people; the descendants of Ænglish Protestant refugees who have fled to Ardmore from mainland Levantia due to Ardmore's relatively tolerant attitude towards Protestants. They are also closely related to the Arco people of Arcerion and have historically played a huge role in Ardmori, Arcer, and Cronan history as a whole. The smallest ethnic group are small groupings of indigenous people and Occidentals who are not of a significant enough population to be given their own category; they are mostly Kelekonese, Telekonese, Qabóri, and non-mixed Coscivians and Cartadanians. The Kelekonese and Telekonese people in Malentina are usually either the descendants of North Songunese people who have moved to the archipelago during the height of the North Songun civilization or the descendants of refugees who have fled Kelekona in the late 1970s, and the Qabóri people are the descendants of settlers from the Qabóri Woqalate (now Tierrador); all three groups are, much like the Ænglo-Ardmori people, wealthier on average compared to the indigenous Maaleen and Tinuud populace.
Linguistic Demographics
There exists four main linguistic groups in Malentina, which are primarily based upon ethnic origins, but they may also be described in terms of the environment that a given demographic has been raised in; for example, a Maaleen family raised in a primarily Ænglo-Ardmori neighborhood is more likely to pick up Ænglish than a Tinuud family raised in a primarily Costizo neighborhood. The main linguistic groups are as follows:
- People of mixed-race origins, those being the Ardmistizos and Costizos, are the most likely group to be multilingual; mixed-race people typically speak an indigenous language, such as Maalit or Tiiu, and an Occidental language such as Ænglish and Cartadanian; the Conscivian language, although not classified as an Occidental language due to Kiravia's largely longtime insular isolation, is often grouped in with Ænglish and Cartadanian for the sake of simplicity;
- People of largely Occidental origins, such as the sizeable Ænglo-Ardmori minority and the smaller groupings of both Cartadanians and Coscivians (again, Coscivians are generally not classified as Occidental; they are grouped in with the other two ethnic groups for simplicity's sake); these three groups often speak their own languages, though Ænglish has been picked up as a sort of a nationwide lingua franca due to its sheer prevalence;
- People of Maaleen origins primarily speak Maalit, an indigenous tongue found in Malentina;
- People of Tinuud origins primarily speak Tiiu, another indigenous tongue found in Malentina;
- Although these languages have not been given their own category due to the low amounts of them in Malentina, the North Songunese tongues of Kelekonese and Telekonese are spoken amongst the Kelekonese and Telekonese minority in Malentina;
- Similarly, there exists those who speak the Qabóri language as their primary tongue; although not an official linguistic group, this minority is noted to have enough political influence to make Qabóri an official language in Malentina.
Religious Demographics
Self-reported religious identity in the Confederacy (2025)
Most of Malentina follows some variation of the Arcer-originated denomination of the Ænglican Church. Although the largest plurality of adherents of Ænglicanism follows its traditional episcopal branch, more than half of all Ænglican followers are part of smaller divergent branches, with only one of which, the Ænglo-Samuelites, being even close to being comparable to the mainline branch albeit with some elements considered to be liberal. Most of the other branches within Malentina range from attempted reformations of the Ænglican faith to largely congregationalist and evangelical branches; the most extreme of these evangelical branches is known as the Fellowship of Timothy, often derisively referred to as "snake-handlers" due to their propensity to handle live venomous snakes as part of their observed rites.
Other than adherents to Ænglican-based denominations, the nation is mostly split between various indigenous belief systems. These beliefs have developed mostly separately from the religions found on mainland Crona due to the isolated insular livelihood of these indigenous tribes. The collective name for these beliefs is Waakbiism and it describes a group of beliefs and ideas that are exclusively found on the Malentine islands, although it still shares many similarities to other animist concepts found in the coastal regions within the Malentine Sea. Wakabiism is split into three main groupings, although even smaller outliers do exists despite many of them slowly becoming extinct due to proximity to either an Ænglican-based denomination or a mainline Wakabiist group. That aside, all variants of Wakabiism focus on the concepts of animism as well as a few ideas in particular. These ideas include ancestral deification, the display of gratitude and reverence for both the natural elements, such as plants and animals when they are being harvested as well as the people responsible for harvesting them, and even the study and use of the phases of the moon and the positioning of the stars for use in spiritual guidance, the tracking of time and significant religious holidays, and the astrological implications for the perceived destinies of newborn children.
The largest of the main Wakabii branches is the Neomaalit branch, a reformed branch that is focused on the implementation of nationalistic and socialist ideas into existing religious concepts to formulate a sort of syncretic ideology. Many of these ideas can range from largely conservative policies such as the equity of the nation's citizenry and a form of protectionism that heavily taxes and regulates international entities working within the nation to more radical and revolutionary ideas such as the liberation of Malentina from its Ænglo-Qabóri-Songunese elite ruling class and the complete transition towards a socialist planned economy. Although the Treaty has stipulated that joining the socialist radicals within Neomaalit Wakabiism is considered a treasonous act against the Confederacy, this stipulation has largely remained unenforced and political parties that support the ideas espoused by this radical left-wing form of Neomaalit Wakabiism have not only been able to openly and actively campaign without consequence, they have also managed to win representatives within the member legislatures of the Trissembly.
The other two main branches of Wakabiism are Tinastii Wakabiism and Maalit Wakabiism, which both hold beliefs and ideas that are nowhere near as concise as the beliefs and ideas held by Neomaalit Wakabiism. These two smaller forms of Wakabiism have largely shied away from active involvement in politics and instead have opted to focus on providing adherents with philosophical guidelines to live a righteous and good life instead of making use of strict religious dogma. The most common element found within all other branches of Wakabiism regardless of size and popularity is the strong rejection of the Neomaalit branch of Wakabiism, with many non-Neomaalit adherents of Wakabiism accusing Neomaalits of being nothing more than a group of desecrating heretics who actively corrupt the faith to lure in those among the faithful who do not suspect a thing on their journey to the true path of faith.
The final two groups are those who profess a form of irreligiosity, who presently make up just less than a quarter of the top 1% of Malentine society. Irreligiosity used to make up a larger portion within Malentine demographics until the victors of the Starlit Revolution began to persecute them greatly, thus forcing many to flee the country and never return even after the revolution was swiftly put down by foreign intervention from Arcerion.
Economy
Malentina as a whole is mainly an agricultural economy with exports focused on sugar, liquor and tobacco. This agricultural sector has moved back and forth between producing enough food for the nation to be self-sustaining.
The nation also maintains a steady mining sector, mainly focused on cheap metals like nickle and zinc. The islands used to produce a good amount of paper products in the 19th and 20th centuries but a combination of deforestation and preservation efforts have almost wiped this sector out completely.
The islands also happen to be a great place to catch large amounts of high value crustaceans as well as other fishing products to a lesser extent.
While the nation still largely relies on hydrocarbons for energy generation thanks to it's very flat geography improved further by the reduction in forested areas the islands are perfect for wind-power turbines. At this point they have successfully implemented enough turbines to make up 17% of their electrical output, with plans laid to double this by the end of 2040.
Military
The Malentinan military is a shadow of it's former self. A nation who ones heavily focused on their ability to project naval power and punch enough above their weight to actually have the ability to contest other nations in their region now only maintains a pretty basic land military force with a complete lack of military tradition and suspected of large-scale corruption.
The only military institution that may deter external invaders is the Lunar Revolutionary Guard, a reservist force built on the old guerilla tactics used by the islands natives since pre-colonial times. They remained the greatest obstacle for international intervening forces, especially League forces from beyond Crona. during the White Death War. By using the islands heavy vegetation as well as tunneling systems as cover, while utilizing a mixture of traps, night-time ambushes and raids on logistics to make the war a living hell for the occupying forces.