Lucrecia
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Most Serene and Federative Republic of Lucrecia | |
|---|---|
 Flag
 Coat of arms
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Motto: Libertas ("Liberty") | |
| Capital and largest city | Mérida del Mar |
| Administrative center | Toledo dos Prados |
| Official languages | Isurian Pelaxian |
| Ethnic groups | |
| Religion |
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| Demonym(s) | Lucrecian (Noun) Lucrecian (Adjective) Lucrecians (Plural) |
| Government | Federal semi-presidential diarchic semi-aristocratic directorial republic |
| Amadeo II | |
• Consuls | |
• Edile | Eduardo de San Francisco |
• Censor | Fernando Jimenez |
| Xulia Valladares | |
| Legislature | General Assemblies |
| Senatorial House | |
| Centuriate Assembly Popular Assembly | |
| Establishment | |
• Founding of Emerita Maris | 750 BC |
• Independence declared | 570 BC |
• Emeritan Republic established | 178 BC |
• Caphiric suzerainty established | 731 AD |
• Independence reaffirmed | 1172 |
• Founding of Toledo dos Prados | 11 June 1343 |
• Isurian Generality established | 15 June 1343 |
| 28 February 1561 | |
| 14 July 1582 (statutes) 8 August 1970 (Popular Amendments) | |
| Area | |
• Total | 181,998.46 km2 (70,270.00 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• Estimate | 15,108,800 |
• Census | 15,103,636 |
• Density | 82.99/km2 (214.9/sq mi) |
| GDP (nominal) | estimate |
• Total | $984.75 billion |
• Per capita | $65,177 |
| Currency | Denario (LUD) |
| Mains electricity | 230 V–50 Hz |
| Driving side | right |
| Calling code | +378 |
| Internet TLD | .lu |
Lucrecia, officially the Most Serene and Federative Republic of Lucrecia (Isurian: Serenísima e República Federativa de Lucrecia; Pelaxian: Serenísima y República Federativa de Lucrecia), is an archipelago country in the Kindreds Sea's Catenias, consisting of three major islands. It is characterized by its bilingual, bicultural nature, consisting of both Isurian-, and Pelaxian-influenced cultures.
Lucrecia is a sovereign federal diarchic directorial republic under a semi-presidential system. Although the highest rank in the country is that of the grand duke, it should be noted that the title is purely ceremonial and cultural; it carries no authority nor designation as the head of state (hence why the title uses "in" instead of "of"). Its federal structure is highly complex, consisting of both highly autonomous cantons, of which there are four (the Emeritan Republic, the Isurian Generality, the Merida-Presidential Canton, and the Toledo-Administrative Canton), and linguistic communities, of which there are two (the Pelaxian Community, and the Isurian Community). The Presidential and Administrative cantons are officially bilingual in Pelaxian and Isurian. This complex form of government, formed from linguistic diversity and sociopolitical conflicts, is reflected in the fact that there exists no less than seven different governments within Lucrecia.
The country derives its name from the Pelaxian translation of the name "Lucretia", itself in reference to Lucretia, a Caphiric noblewoman whose brutal murder at the hands of a son of King Admoneptis inspired an aristocratic revolt that overthrew the Caphiric monarchy in favour of the Caphiric Republic, of which Lucrecia derives its form of government from and retained in an unchanged form from the establishment of the Emeritan Republic in 178 BC until the 1970s when a series of reforms dubbed the "Popular Amendments" federalised the nation as well as rationalising and democratising the legislature. With the traditional foundation date being 178 BC, Lucrecia lays claim to being one of the oldest extant sovereign states, as well as the oldest constitutional republic.
The federal government is unique in that it consists of a diarchic head of state, those being the Consuls, as well as a tricameral legislature, itself consisting of the Senatorial House, representing the aristocracy, the Centuriate Assembly, representing the cantons and communities, and the Popular Assembly, itself consisting of the Tributary Assembly, representing the provinces, and the Common Assembly, representing the people. According to the constitution, the Consuls are elected for a two-year term by the Centuriate Assembly; the Consuls serve concurrently and share equal powers.
As a popular tourist spot, one of the largest sectors of the Lucrecian economy is in tourism, as well as services, and retail.
History
Antiquity and the first Emeritan state
It is generally accepted that Lucrecia was settled by the broader Glaistic civilization during the prehistoric period, but when they arrived and the extent of their settlement is the source of considerable debate. The only record of them comes from the first Adonerii settlers on the archipelago, who arrived in 750 BC. Until the 21st century, it was generally accepted that Lucrecia was the southernmost Adonerii settlement during the Latin Heroic Age, though some modern archaeology and scholarship has suggested Lucrecia served as a staging ground for further expeditions south into modern Chrobonsk. Whatever the case, the Latin city of Emerita Maris was established at their first arrival and became the predominant cultural and political force in the archipelago. Historians generally agree that Emerita Maris served as the primary southern outpost of the intricate Adonerii trade network, filtering exotic goods from South Sarpedon back to the other Adonerii cities in exchange for weapons, food, and other goods more common in Urlazio and beyond.
With the collapse of the Adonerii league, Emerita Maris became an independent power in the southern part of the Kindreds Sea. It began to establish its own colonies and trade network throughout eastern Vallos. It soon expanded to rule over other settlements on its home island, eventually culminating in the establishment of the Emeritan Republic in 178 BC, with a form of government that closely followed that of the Caphiric Republic, that being a diarchical consular republic. Its first consuls were Sextus Luria Rufus and Marcus Cornelius Scaevola, two prominent merchants who have greatly expanded the trading networks between the Emeritans and the other polities in Vallos.
Domination by the Imperium
The First Emeritan Republic remained as an independent state up until the 8th Century when the Caphiric First Imperium began to involve itself in Emeritan affairs. As a Latinic state, the Emeritan Republic enjoyed a higher degree of political participation within the Imperium than most vassal subjects had at that time. Although nominally independent, the Consuls-designate were subject to the approval of the Imperium, which had made itself the permanent designated dictator of the Republic (a practice that would eventually return nearly one thousand years later under different circumstances), and the imperial government may at any time decide to unilaterally remove one or both Consuls from office if it deemed it necessary. This exercise in consular oversight was only ever used once, that being in the year 846 when the Imperium decided to unilaterally remove both Consuls when the two had failed to put down a plebian uprising.
For the most part, the Republic remained stable throughout much of its suzerainty under the First Imperium as well as under the turbulent Second Imperium until the Great Civil War began in the year 1127 and lasted for forty-five years. During this time, the Republic began to gain more and more autonomy in its internal affairs which culminated in the unilateral termination of the Imperial Dictatorship in 1170, making the Republic nominally under Caphiric suzerainty by that point now that the Imperium was too busy trying to keep itself together to bother intervening, though independence was not yet declared due to fears of a military insurrection which had become a commonality during the civil war.
Second Emeritan Republic
The collapse of the Second Imperium in 1172 is considered to be the start of the Second Emeritan Republic, which had very little change from the First Republic asides from the creation of the role of dictator, a role that was appointed by the Consuls from amongst the senators for a term of one year. The reasoning behind the creation of such a powerful yet time-limited role was to provide the state with a means to ease internal tensions without risking a potential civil war like what happened to the Second Imperium. The Republic was among the first vassal states to formally secede from the Imperium as the remaining garrisons have either left to go home or stayed and pledged loyalty to the Republic.
During the second era of Emeritan independence, the Republic experienced a renaissance of its own as interest in the Adonerum began to surface after the discovery of a treasure trove of lost Adonerii manuscripts and theses in the year 1246. With the recovery of Adonerii documents that were long-thought missing or destroyed, there began an interest in the idea that the Republic was the heir to the Adonerum and the ideals of bringing back certain aspects of Adonerii culture that were abandoned during the years of Caphiric suzerainty.
The first century of the Second Republican era was also marked by a few attempts to restore the classical Caphiric Republic, with prominent Emeritans arguing that the collapse of the Second Imperium has proven that there were many fundamental flaws with what they deemed to be the "royalist disgrace" that has emerged since the fall of the Caphiric Republic and that the only way to restore stability and prosperity is to establish a stronger republic based on the ideals of the classical era while making a few necessary modifications to prevent the rise of perceived royalist demagoguery that was said to have plagued the latter years of the Caphiric Republic. However, the Republic was at the time too far away from mainland Sarpedon and too small to effectively wield enough influence to do anything beyond declaring themselves to the true heirs of the old Caphiric Republic, and any and all ambitions of restoring the old Republic on the mainland were soon dashed with the emergence of the Third Imperium in 1283.
Pelaxian suzerainty
Although the Republic would never fall under direct Caphiric suzerainty, it would soon find itself under the suzerainty of a nascent and newly-unified kingdom in western Sarpedon, the Kingdom of Pelaxia. First contact with the Pelaxians began in 1499, by that time Pelaxia had already established a colonial empire in Vallos. Because of the Republic's relative stability compared to most of the polities in Vallos and overall Latinic homogeneity, the Republic was not to be made into a colony, but rather a protectorate wherein the Republic will be allowed to maintain its internal affairs without interference while in return they allow the Pelaxians to hold the exclusive right to maintain a military presence as part of its efforts to maintain its hold in the Southern Route to Alshar.
The establishment of Pelaxian suzerainty over the Republic saw the emergence of a pelaxianised Latinic culture within the span of fifty years as Emeritan elites took on Pelaxian customs, traditions, and even a new vernacular of the Pelaxian language with many Latinic loanwords. By the year 1554, the Emeritans had effectively became a Romance ethnic group, a far cry from when they had seen themselves as a Latinic ethnic group.
Isurian Generality
On a similarly-sized island neighbouring the island that the Emeritan Republic was home to there were multiple settlements that were home to the descendants of Isurian peasants who had first arrived on the island in the year 1343 on their attempt to establish a new and independent homeland away from mainland Sarpedon and away from any form of authority beyond that of God himself. These settlements made up the Old Isurian Generality, a republic of peasants under a loose confederacy. It had no head of state, but rather a popular assembly in which anyone may attend on any given day, except for Sundays and religious holidays, and take part in the political process. Such a form of government was, and still is, a rarity, and to the Emeritans it was seen as a perversion of republican ideals due to the notable lack of a hierarchal class structure and the amount of power the peasantry had in the Old Generality. This sparked many fears that the Emeritan peasantry may very well attempt to overthrow the Republic and establish their own republic in emulation of the Old Generality.
Nobles' Treaty
To combat the perceived threat the Emeritan elites saw in the Isurian Generality, they began to discuss several possibilities on what to do with the neighbouring peasant republic. There was universal agreement that no matter what they choose to do, they have to make sure that the hypothetical union would be under the aristocratic Emeritan form of government and not the seemingly mobocratic Isurian form of government. The possibilities that were put forward ranged from invasion plans to plans for colonisation, from enforcing a protectorate status upon the Isurians to a tactful manipulation of the populace so as to encourage many Isurians to support the idea of joining up with the Emeritans. These discussions, known as the "Peasantry Question", lasted for well over a century until the year 1557 when it was decided that the best course of action was to tactfully manipulate the people of the Generality into thinking that there was an imminent invasion coming from mainland Vallos and that the Republic was more than happy to ensure their protection, so long as they unite with the Republic and form a new union. Surprisingly, the gambit worked and by 1561 delegates from both the Republic and the Generality met up to draft a treaty confirming a perpetual union between the two republics. The treaty, known as the Nobles' Treaty was signed and put into effect on 28 February 1561, forming the Most Serene Republic of Lucrecia, named after the island on which the Emeritan Republic was located upon.
Early post-treaty years
With the unification of the Emeritan Republic and the Isurian Generality being deemed official, the Emeritan elites began to dismantle the peasant-based system in the Generality, establishing new provinces, appointing new provincial governors, and integrating the populace into the low rungs of the social hierarchy. Some ambitious Isurians, in a desperate attempt to retain political relevance, have opted to convert to the Emeritan culture, adopting Emeritan customs, taking on Emeritan names, and pledging loyalty to the Consuls. These so-called "new Emeritans" were often given high positions of authority which made them obscenely wealthy at the expense of their former peers in the Generality. It is through these converted Isurians that the worst aspects of anti-Isurian rhetoric arose, with them deeming themselves to have been civilised and that they have accepted the natural hierarchical order while calling those who have not converted, that being the vast majority of Isurians in the new republic, as being incapable of having the ability to assert themselves in the new political sphere and rise above their peasant origins. Despite this rhetoric, the Isurians were for the most part allowed to keep speaking their language, but they would have to learn Pelaxian if they were to enter politics and have a successful career.
Formal partisan politics began to coalesce around this time. In previous years, Emeritan and early Lucrecian politicians were not necessarily formally affiliated with one of the two informal political factions, that being the aristocratic Viejos Leales (Old Loyalists) and the proto-populist Demagogos (Demagogues), with many career politicians "switching" factions so as to prolong their time in the Senate. By the mid-17th Century, newer generations of Lucrecian politicians began to identify more and more with their faction of choice as proto-ideological convictions began to take hold, eventually culminating in the formation of the Courtier and Countrymen parties. With the formalisation of the party system came the rise in political tension between the two parties, with many cases of senators getting into duels while in the Senate over even the slightest of ideological differences. The tensions were so bad that Lucrecia was on the verge of falling into a state of civil war, and in such a crisis it was customary for the consuls to designate a dictator from amongst the ranks of the Senate, but with the Senate being in a state of constant disarray, there were fears that designating a senator to assume the role of dictator, even for a span of twelve months, would actually make things worse.
In the name of preserving the young republic, the consuls agreed, ironically, that they would need to look outwards and appoint a junior member of one of the Occident's royal families to serve as a permanent designated dictator, believing that a non-partisan dictator would serve the republic's best interests. After an extensive search, the consuls selected a junior member of the House de Weluta, Archduke Niall of Urcea to serve as Lucrecia's permanent designated dictator. This necessitated the creation of royal titles, which, to ensure commitments to republicanism and so as to placate their suzerain, would be purely ceremonial and not replace the consuls as Lucrecia's joint heads of state. The first Velucian dictatorship from 1685 until 1686 proved to be a tremendous success, with both main political factions eventually settling down and ceasing hostilities soon thereafter.
Liberal reforms
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In the mid-19th Century, there were a few reforms that were enacted in an attempt to break the near-monopoly the Senate held in the legislature. For many centuries, the classical Emeritan system was in the form of an aristocratic republic where the nation's uppermost house, that being the Senate, was the most powerful legislative house. It was this aristocratic system that was in desperate need of some reforms to modernise and democratise the Republic. These reforms were pushed by politicians of the nascent Revolutionary Democratic Party, which was the legal successor to the Countrymen Party, which by the mid-1850s held a majority in the Senate as well as the Centuriate and Tributary assemblies. These reforms were relatively minor, but they were vital in separating the Centuriate Assembly and the Tributary Assembly from the long-held grip of the Senate. Under these reforms, the centurions were to be elected by the governorships of each of the provinces while the tributaries, who became the leaders of the Republic's municipal collectivities thanks to the reforms, were to be elected by mayors and other local leaders. These were the first major changes to the political institutions of Lucrecia during its long process of democratisation. The last aspect of these reforms, which would allow females to participate in politics, would not pass until 1890, the year before the election of Inez Ocasio as the first female Consul of Lucrecia.
Early 20th century
Lucrecia stayed neutral throughout the First and Second great wars. This was mostly to maximise profits during both conflicts by keeping trade open between the two factions, though some have argued that Lucrecia may have favoured Caphiria more when it came to trade, giving the Imperium some of the more generous trade deals during this time. During the later years of the interwar era, Lucrecia came under the rule of the National Fascist Party, inspired by the form of Caphiric Fascism that was formulated by Galdo Bertocca. During the PNF years, Lucrecian nationalism veered heavily towards a highly nationalistic form of Emeritanism, which originated in the 19th Century as a moralising mission in support of converting the Isurians of Lucrecia into Emeritans. This new form of Emeritanism doubled down on forcibly converting Isurians into Emeritans, with many Isurian intellectuals fleeing the country out of fear of being taken away by the secret police. With the end of the Second Great War resulting in a loss for Caphiria, fascism in Lucrecia quickly became perceived as being a sham by much of the populace. As the regime continued well into the mid-to-late 1940s, more and more people throughout Lucrecia began to demand a return to the democratic system, often resorting to acts of civil disobedience.
In a last-ditch attempt to assert the regime's authority after multiple embarrassments, the Consuls opted to grant the reigning Grand Duchess Maria-Adelaida the role of dictator. During the Marian dictatorship of 1947, the last time a dictatorship was granted, the Grand Duchess used her temporary dictatorial powers to dismantle the fascist regime over the span of twelve months, replacing PNF members in the government with members of the moderate christian democratic Anti-Revolutionary Party, and even putting down an attempted fascist coup supported by her first cousin Prince Juan-Carlos in Lucrecia, who was subsequently stricken from the line of succession along with any of his descendants. By the end of 1948, Lucrecia's fascist regime was so thoroughly dismantled by the Grand Duchess that even the laws passed during the regime were forcibly repealed, and the rampant and explicit persecution of the Isurian populace was put to an abrupt end.
Popular Amendments of 1970
Although the persecution of the Isurians of Lucrecia had ended after Emeritanism was thoroughly discredited by the fall of fascism, the Republic was still heavily biased in the socio-political sphere, with Emeritans still holding onto the centuries-old monopoly on power. It was during this time that Isurian intellectuals and left-wing elements of Lucrecian society began to support the nascent ideology of Isurianism and the Generality movement which called for Isurian representation along federal lines and the elevation of Isurian into the status of co-official language alongside Pelaxian, sparking the beginnings of the language struggle as the nation's Isurian population began to seriously question the high status of the Emeritan elites. The entirety of this movement also called for the democratisation of Lucrecia, putting an end to the overbearing socio-political influence of the aristocratic Senate. This soon culminated in the Great Isurian strike of 1968 where Isurians from all professions refused to work until the government was willing to negotiate. Fearing economic collapse, the Lucrecian government reached out to the leadership of the Generality movement and began a series of negotiations that would form the basis of the "popular amendments" in 1970, a series of constitutional amendments that would not only federalise Lucrecia along linguistic lines, it would also introduce sweeping reforms designed to democratise Lucrecia from the bottom-up, with the Centuriate Assembly now representing the new cantons and linguistic regions, the Tributary Assembly representing the provinces, and the Common Assembly representing the people directly; the latter two assemblies would soon merge to form the Popular Assembly.
Present history
The federalisation and democratisation of Lucrecia was a gradual process that transformed an aristocratic republic into a bilingual federal republic by the 1990s. The end of the centuries-long Emeritan monopoly on socio-political power led to the rise of a new Isurian elite as the newly-reestablished Generality began to receive the economic development it had never gotten many years prior. It was around the time of democratisation and federalisation that Lucrecia had its first Consul of Isurian ancestry, Veronica Franco who, alongside Maria Zorreguieta, served concurrently from 1985 until 1987; they were also the first all-female consulship. Another consequence of the federalisation along linguistic lines was the linguistic segregation of the political parties, with the old political parties splitting up into smaller, more regionally-oriented, political parties; no single party would be able to attain a majority of the legislature unless they form a coalition with other political parties, with many recent compositions of the Popular Assembly involving so-called "grand coalitions" across ideological and linguistic lines to combat the emerging popularity of the populist and ultranationalistic Party for an Independent Generality (PXI) and its partner party ILUCED.
Economically, the Lucrecian economy experienced a boom as the nation moved towards handing out free trade agreements with other nations regardless of geopolitical affiliation once the Occidental Cold War ended mutually with the signing of the Assumption Accords. Among the nations that the republic has entered into a free trade agreement with, the most notable of these are with their neighbours on the Catenias, that being Burgundie (Port de Vent), Caphirira (Coribus), and Kiravia (Krasoa Islands), with a couple more free trade agreements being proposed for Vallejar on mainland Vallos and Pelaxia on mainland Sarpedon.
Geography
Lucrecia is a small sub-archipelago within the Catenias consisting of three islands, two major islands and one small island. The major island that is closer to mainland Vallos is often known in Ænglish and throughout Levantia as Emerita, although officially, and throughout Sarpedon, it is known as Isla Lucrecia from which the nation gets its name from. The other major island is known as Illa Herba Linda, often known in older maps as Isla Yorba Linda (yorba being the Emeritan pronunciation of the word yerba, itself a Vallos variant of the Pelaxian word hierba, meaning herb). The small island off the coast of Illa Herba Linda is referred to as Illa Vitoria.
Altogether, the three islands covers just over 181,998 km² of land, with Illa Herba Linda being the largest of the three and Illa Vitoria being the smallest. As a nation that solely consists of islands, much of Lucrecia's geography is predominately just above sea level, with Illa Herba Linda being the sole exception being home to the nation's sole mountain and highest point, Mount St. Andrew's. The lowest point of the country is Sextus's Crator, an oddly-shaped valley located in Emerita that was long thought to have been the impact site of a meteorite that struck the planet in the 2nd Century BC, though more recent analysis have since debunked this theory, stating that it is nothing more than a deep U-shaped valley that came to be due to glaciation from long before the supposed date of impact and that there have been no evidence to support that a meteorite had struck Emerita in the 2nd Century BC.
Climate
Located within the tropics, the climate in Lucrecia is generally warmer and more humid than in most areas outside of the tropics. However, due to it being very close to the Tropic of Capricorn, the climate is generally more temperate compared to the climates of areas further within the tropics such as that of Rumahoki or Equatorial Ostiecia. Overall, Lucrecia experiences a mostly mild seasonal variation, though the coldest parts of the country are in settlements that straddle Mount St. Andrew's, much of which experience colder winters and milder summers compared to the rest of Lucrecia, with summer averages that reach no more than 18 degrees Celsius and winter averages as low than -12 degrees Celsius in contrast to the averages for the rest of the country (summer averages in most of Lucrecia are often as high as 25 degrees Celsius while winter averages can go as low as 10 degrees Celsius).
Government and Politics
Lucrecia's government is organised under the framework of a semi-aristocratic diarchic directorial republic under a federal semi-presidential system. The consuls are the heads of state, with the edile serving as the head of government. The government of Lucrecia is based on that of the Caphiric Republic, albeit with some rationalisation, federalisation, and democratisation since the Popular Amendments of the 1970s.
Executive
The consuls are elected by the Centuriate Assembly and serve concurrently for a two-year term and share equal power with each other. In the name of political fairness and balance, as well as to prevent cases of cohabitation, the consuls are traditionally members of opposing parties meaning that there is almost always a left-wing consul and a right-wing consul serving together. Of the powers granted to the consuls, this includes the ability to appoint an edile if both are not satisfied with the Popular Assembly's choice of edile, the ability to appoint members of the curia, and the ability to issue dictars, meaning executive decrees, so long as the dictar is not in violation of the constitution or federal law.
The edile is elected by the Popular Assembly and serves for a three-year term. The election of an edile is held in the month of March, and in theory any Lucrecian citizen may run for edile, but in practice the edile is often selected from amongst the ranks of the governing parties. The winning candidate is then sent to the consuls who either approve of the candidate or reject them. In the event of a rejection, or if the Popular Assembly is unable to elect an edile, the consuls may either ask the Popular Assembly to run another election or appoint an edile; the latter case may not be rejected by the Popular Assembly.
The Curia is the main executive organ headed by the edile and chaired by the consuls. The Curia is dually accountable to both the consuls and the legislature, thus meaning that the Curia has to not only command the confidence of the legislature, but also the approval of the consuls. An edile, or even the entire Curia, may be dismissed by the consuls or be removed in a vote of no confidence by the legislature.
Dictator
The role of dictator in Lucrecia refers to an extraordinary executive office that, under normal circumstances, is left vacant. According to the constitution, the dictatorship can only be called if both Consuls agree to bestow the role of dictator upon the head of the nation's royal family, who holds it for a span of twelve months. A dictator is given full authority to resolve which ever problem they have been assigned to deal with if it was considered to be a crisis that has proved to pose an existential threat to the Republic or to its stability. The last time a dictatorship was assigned was to Grand Duchess Maria-Adelaida in 1947 to resolve an ongoing crisis that was posing a threat to the ruling fascist regime; she instead opted to dismantle the twenty-year-long fascist regime and restore the democratic rule of law even at the risk of being overthrown in a attempted fascist coup which ended in failure.
Legislature
The legislature of Lucrecia is the General Assemblies, a tricameral legislature that is composed of the Senatorial House, the Centuriate Assembly, and the Popular Assembly.
The Senatorial House is made up of 500 senators, members of the aristocracy appointed by the consuls; senators serve "for good conscience", meaning that a senator serves for life until they either retire, pass away, or are removed. The Senatorial House was historically the most powerful legislature in Lucrecia, but the reforms done since the 1970s have done away with much of its power, delegating much of said powers to the Centuriate and Popular Assemblies, but the Senatorial House does retain quite a few powers, such as the ability to petition the Supreme Court of Lucrecia to investigate either the consuls or the curia, the ability to prevent bills from passing into law, and being the sole legislative assembly to introduce bills.
The Centuriate Assembly is made up of 150 centurions who are appointed by the legislatures of the cantons and linguistic communities and serve for five years. The 150 centurions are allocated as follows: 32 are appointed by the legislature of the Isurian Community; 21 are appointed by the legislature of the Isurian Generality; 16 are appointed by the Isurian language group of the Toledo-Administrative Canton; 8 are appointed by the Isurian language group of the Merida-Presidential Canton; 29 are appointed by the Pelaxian Community; 20 are appointed by the Emeritan Republic; 16 are appointed by the Pelaxian language group of the Merida-Presidential Canton; 8 are appointed by the Pelaxian language group of the Toledo-Administrative Canton. It is the sole legislative assembly in charge of electing the consuls, the sole legislative assembly in charge of drawing up information reports, and it serves as the main platform for the discussion of matters pertaining to the cantons and linguistic communities (making it the mediation chamber in the event of federated legislative conflicts of interest).
The Popular Assembly is in fact two legislative houses that have been merged as one federated legislative house since the 1990s. The two segments of the Popular Assembly are the Tributary Assembly and the Common Assembly. The Tributary Assembly is made up of 200 tributaries who are directly elected under the system of first-past-the-post voting within eighteen constituencies, and serve for three years. 109 tributaries are from the Isurian language group, and 91 tributaries are part of the Pelaxian language group. The Common Assembly is made of 200 popular representatives who are directly elected under the system of open list proportional representation, with an electoral threshold of 5%, and serve for three years as well. Unlike the Centuriate and Tributary Assemblies, the Common Assembly, being directly representative of the citizens, is the only part of the legislature, other than the Senatorial House, that does not make use of quotas to allocate seats amongst the two language groups.
Presently, the Popular Assembly holds the greatest amount of power and has the second-highest precedence in the General Assemblies when it comes to "ordinary legislation" (the Senatorial House retains the final say), including the ability to elect the edile, with the winner being subject to approval of the consuls, and, alongside the consuls, holds responsibility for the political control of the Curia.
Despite the Isurian language group holding a majority of the tributaries and centurions, the Lucrecian constitution mandates that both linguistic communities hold equal power in both the Centuriate and Tributary Assemblies. Indeed, bills may not necessarily require a majority in both language groups save for bills pertaining to the linguistic communities.
Judicial
The judicial system is the sole remaining institution in Lucrecia that has not been federalised based on linguistic lines. Instead, the legal system is based on that of Caphiria's, albeit with some modifications to reflect the highly republican nature of Lucrecia's government although some elements of the Caphiric judicial system remain (most notably the concept of dignitas and the principle of "telling the truth unless proven conclusively otherwise"; being declared a known perjurer is a major blow to one's dignitas in Lurcecia which often leads to one getting a huge decrease in one's dignitas score). Lucrecia is divided into propretoritos, with each cluster of propretoritos being known as propretorios, each conforming to provincial borders. Above the propretorios are the propretorian circuits, which span multiple provinces. The highest court in all of Lucrecia is the Supreme Court of Lucrecia, which is composed of twelve pretors, the most senior of them being designated as the Chief Pretor of Lucrecia. The pretors are elected by the Centuriate Assembly. After holding office for a two-year term, former pretors are generally guaranteed an appointment to the Senatorial House once there is an opening.
Political culture
Even before the Popular Amendments of the 1970s, Lucrecia's political institutions has been noted to be among the most complex in the world. With much of the power held by the Senatorial House being delegated to the Centuriate and Popular Assemblies since the 1970s, it has been the main cultural communities that have held much of the political power in Lucrecia. Indeed, this is even reflected in the composition of the nation's political parties, which have been split both ideologically and linguistically. As such, the four main groups in partisan politics are the Catholic conservatives, the liberals, the socialists, and the nationalists. Of these four groups, only the conservative, liberal, and socialist groups have in place a "federal pact" between their respective linguistically-aligned parties within each group; the nationalists are only united in their wish to openly support separatism. Of course, there does exist the occasional "unitarian" party which has not split between linguistic lines, often representing single-issue matters or wishes to reform and further modernise the current system.
Federated entities
Historically, the upper classes of Lucrecia have spoken either the Emeritan vernacular of the Pelaxian language or Emeritan Latin while the Isurian language was deemed as being just a "less refined dialect" of Pelaxian, effectively preventing those who could only speak Isurian from reaching the governing classes without having to learn Pelaxian. This, on top of the dominance and power of the Senatorial House, had led to an alliance of both the Generality movement and reformists who sought to strip the Senatorial House of much of their powers and delegate them to the Centuriate and Popular Assemblies.
These demands were met starting in the 1970s with the introduction of the Popular Amendments, a series of constitutional amendments that not only decoupled much of the senatorial powers in favour of delegating them to the centurions and tributaries, it also reformed Lucrecia into a bilingual federation under a tri-level power structure. The three levels being the federal government, the linguistic communities, and the cantons. Although this should give the federalised Lucrecia five curias and legislatures, there exists the Presidential and Administrative Cantons, effectively two capital regions, which are both under the jurisdiction of both linguistic communities, and both with their own curia and legislature, boosting the amount of curias and legislatures up to seven; these two cantons respectively contain the cities of Mérida del Mar, and Toledo dos Prados, respectively designated as the presidential and administrative capitals of Lucrecias.
Demographics
Self-reported ethnicities in Lucrecia (2032)
Ethnic groups
In Lucrecia, there are two main ethnic groups: the Emeritans and the Lucrecio-Isurians. The Emeritans are the direct descendants of the Latinic people of the Adonerum who have settled on the island that would become the Emeritan Republic, and make up the second-largest ethnic group in the country. The Lucrecio-Isurians are the direct descendants of Isurian settlers who came from mainland Sarpedon to settle the island upon which the Isurian Generality was established, and make up the largest ethnic group in the country. These two groups comprise almost three-quarters of the population of Lucrecia (39.8% Lucrecio-Isurians; 32.7% Emeritans). The next two largest ethnic groups are the Pelaxians and Delepasians, related to both the Emeritans and the Lucrecio-Isurians, but have had differing origins from them; they make up just under twenty percent of the population; 9.1% being Pelaxian, and 8.3% being Delepasian. Lucrecia is also home to a sizeable Latin minority, the last remaining descendants of the Adonerii who have not been pelaxianised; they are often referred to as the "Old Emeritans" in reference to uninterrupted Latinic heritage, and make up nearly seven percent of the population. The remaining three-and-a-half percent of the population belong to other ethnic groups that are not listed separately due to having numbers that are too negligible to warrant their own category.
Languages
Lucrecia is a bilingual state; its two official languages are Pelaxian, a vernacular of the Pelaxian language that makes use of Latinic loanwords, and Isurian, the traditional language of the Isurians. Historically, the language of Lucrecia's elites was Pelaxian, it having displaced Latin during the years under Pelaxian suzerainty. During this time, the Isurian language was seen as the language of peasants, with many high-class Isurians opting to learn Pelaxian so as to retain their status. It was not until the enactment of the Popular Amendments in 1970 that Isurian was raised to an equal status to Pelaxian.
According to the most recent census, the percentage of Lucrecians who speak Isurian (Lucrecio-Isurians) is around 53% of the population, with the percentage of Pelaxian speakers (Emeritans) being around 47%. Asides from the official languages, there are a number of minorities who can speak a non-official language alongside one of the official languages (all residents of Lucrecia are required by law to be fluent in one of the nation's official languages), the most notable being the Emeritan vernacular of the Latin language, one of the only two colloquial forms of Latin, the other being Caphiric Latin, in the world, and the Standard and Rumahokian vernaculars of Pelaxian from amongst the Pelaxians and the Delepasians who reside in Lucrecia.
Religion
Lucrecia, like much of Sarpedon, is a nation in which a majority of its people adhere to a denomination of Christianity. The vast majority of the nation's Christian population are a part of the Catholic Church, with a vast majority being a part of the Caphiric Catholic Church which is a particular church in communion with the Pope in Urceopolis. Historically, and even to this day, Lucrecia is one of the few nations in Sarpedon in which the Caphiric Catholic Church is the majority faith, although the years of Pelaxian suzerainty has given the Caphiric Church in Lucrecia a distinct Levantine character; it should be noted that since 1924 there exists a movement within the Catholic clergy of Lucrecia aimed at de-Levantising the Church and returning it to its Caphiric roots, this is known as neo-Caphiricism. A very slim minority of Christians are members of denominations that are not in communion with the Pope, essentially forms of Protestantism for the most part. The next-highest group are people who identify as irreligious, people who hold no religious beliefs or practices whether out of disinterest or an active rejection of faith. The final group are religions that do not fit within either category, most often associated with the nation's minorities
Culture and Society
Dignitas
Lucrecian society places heavy emphasis on prestige and overall trustworthiness, much like the concept of dignitas in Caphiria. Unlike in Caphiria however, Lucrecian diginitas is entirely based on one's achievements rather than a combination of birthright and achievements like in the former. Although once a status that had no exact numerical value placed upon it, with the advent of computers in the 1980s there emerged a numerical scoring system that quantifies one's current dignitas. Called the Dignitas Scoring System, it is a national credit rating that has been developed by the Curia since 1987, complete with a purplelist (purple being deemed the colour of high prestige in Lucrecia) and a blacklist. The idea behind the Dignitas Score is to encourage government institutions, citizens, and businesses to strive towards good deeds and achievements. Being on the purplelist is said to net certain privileges to those who are on it, mostly favourable discounts in public transport and parking, an easier time navigating through the highly complex government bureaucracy, and even favourable interest rates from banking institutions; purplelisted businesses are also much less likely to be inspected beyond the absolute mandated minimum set by the Curia so that regulators may focus on investigating businesses that are not purplelisted.
Education
The school system in Lucrecia is the responsibility of the linguistic communities, though both communities' school systems have only few differences between the two, with little involvement from the Curia beyond determining the mandatory schooling age (currently from age 3 until age 18) and providing funding for the linguistic communities. Both communities' school systems are primarily based upon Caphiria's school system at least in terms of structure and standard curriculum arrangements, albeit with a greater degree of decentralisation since federalisation from the 1970s onward. Below the level of the linguistic communities, the school districts are handled by the cantonal governments in close cooperation with the linguistic communities (the two capital cantons cooperating with both linguistic communities, having school districts for both languages within their borders). It is the school districts, which span multiple provinces within a canton, that are in charge of the school circuits, run by, and are contiguous within the jurisdiction of, the provincial governments. The lowest-level division in Lucrecia's school system are the educational parishes, so-called due to the Catholic Church's former role in providing education in the republic, and are currently jointly-run by local governments.
Royal family
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Although constitutionally a semi-presidential republic, Lucrecia has given a branch of the House de Weluta an official role as recognised in the constitution. The Lucrecian royal family has existed since 1685 when Archduke Niall of Urcea was invited to become the Republic's permanent designated dictator, a role that remains with his descendants to this day. The head of the Lucrecian branch of the de Welutas is given the title of Grand Duke in Lucrecia, a legal fiction that was created as a royal title that would not be in violation of the constitution nor in violation of Pelaxia's then-suzerainty over Lucrecia. The current Grand Duke in Lucrecia is Grand Duke Amadeo II, who inherited the grand ducal title from his mother Grand Duchess Veronica after her death on 30 September 2015. Dictatorial designation aside, the Grand Duke wields no political influence nor is he the head of state of Lucrecia, instead serving a purely ceremonial and cultural role under normal circumstances.
Symbols
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One of the most well-known symbols of Lucrecia are the Arces of Emerita, three forts that date back to the early years of the Emeritan Republic and are located on the island of Emerita's hill range. The most famous of the three forts is Vieto Retenor (Old Retainer). First built in the 2nd Century BC, its current form was not built until during the years of Caphiric suzerainty in the mid-10th Century; it houses a museum to honour the nation's history. Torres Sacilla (Chapel Tower), so-called due to its accompanying chapel within the fort, was built initially as a temple for the Latinic faith before being converted into a chapel upon the introduction of Christianity to Lucrecia; its modern form was built in the 12th Century and it currently serves as a monastery, having been converted into one in 1293. El Eremitaño (The Hermit) is the smallest of the three forts and is currently a private residence owned by Isurian billionaire Iago Castro; the current tower was built in the 16th Century as part of an attempt to scare the inhabitants of the then-independent Isurian Generality that an invasion from the mainland was imminent. All three forts are depicted in the nation's coat of arms.
Another well-known symbol of Lucrecia is the Civic Crown, a representation of one of the nation's highest civilian honours, that being the Order of the Old Liberty, is an ancient symbol that has existed since the Classical Era. Originally a military decoration given to Emeritans who saved the lives of fellow Emeritan citizens, the civic crown became the headpiece for members of the Order when it was first established with its first member being Marcia Heroina Reipublicae, an elderly woman who was said to have thwarted an attempted conspiracy to subvert the republic and transform it into a hereditary monarchy; the leader of the conspirators was exiled alongside his family and was subsequently condemned to damnatio memoriae.
Economy and Infrastructure
Lucrecia's economy is a capitalist mixed economy with its three major sectors being the tourism industry, services, and retail. As the sole sovereign nation in the southern islands of Vallos, Lucrecia is also an established global logistical centre as well as a key financial centre in the area. Because of its key position, the Lucrecian economy is known for being one of the most innovative in the world as well as one of the freest and easiest to do business in, with robust competitiveness. Through agreements, certain major corporations are given tax breaks and all neighbouring nations have been given very generous free-trade agreements. Although it has consistently ranked high in economic freedoms, the nation also has a significant disparity in income between the wealthier Isurian Generality and the stagnating Emeritan Republic, a dual nature that has existed ever since federalisation in the late 20th Century.
Since federalisation, the Lucrecian economy has grown by an average of over 7% annually between the years 1975 and 2015, making Lucrecia a highly developed nation. It attracts a large amount of foreign investment, as well as indirect influence, as a result of its location, economic freedoms, corporate tax breaks, free-trade agreements, and global trade connections. Lucrecia also has one of the world's largest foreign exchange reserves.
Tertiary and secondary sectors
The tertiary sector comprises a major proportion of the Lucrecian economy, with tourism, services, retail, shipping, and banking making up the primary components of this sector. Lucrecia is currently the seventh-largest trading entity measured by imports and exports, trading an amount of goods worth more than its total GDP. The nation’s Toledo Stock Exchange is among the largest in the world by market capitalisation, at $5.9 trillion as of Q3 of 2034. Its major banks, the People's National Bank, the Federal Credit Union and New United Bank, are among the largest in Vallos, and have been ranked as the 3rd, 4th, and 6th most stable and strongest banks, respectively. Lucrecia also maintains a small secondary sector; focused on the manufacturing of electronics such as terminals for Rumahoki's Videocom service.
Currency
Lucrecia's currency, the denario, is one of the few currencies in the world not to have been decimalised, instead being divided under the ratio of 1:20:12, a rationalisation of ancient pre-decimal currencies. Notes are exclusively issued by the National Bank of the Republic, the nation's central bank, and coinage are exclusively minted by National Mint of the Republic. Because of Lucrecia's global connections and key position in global trade, the Denario is one of the strongest currencies in Vallos.
Regional wealth disparity
Although with one of the highest GDP per capita in the world, Lucrecia continues to have wealth disparity issues, which have been an issue plaguing the nation since its founding. Although wealth is not tightly concentrated in the hands of high income-earners, wealth has historically been concentrated in one of the two main regions of the nation. Before federalisation, wealth was mostly concentrated in the hands of the Emeritan elites and in the Emeritan Republic. However, with the advent of federalisation and globalisation, the economic centre of Lucrecia has shifted away from the stagnating and elitist Emeritan Republic and towards the Isurian Generality due to its more central location and potential for development. This disparity is only predicted to grow as the Isurian areas of the country continue to grow and develop economically and remain the focal point of international trade.
To help combat this without changing its economic policies, the Lucrecian government has been giving the Emeritan Republic a monthly stipend since 2030 to aid in keeping the region's economy from further stagnating. These stipends, although met with support from most parties, has seen its greatest opposition from the United Isurian Caucus, particularly from the PXI, seeing it as a considerable drain on the Generality's finances. Most Isurianists wish to either turn Lucrecia into a confederation or, if that is not possible, secede the Generality from Lucrecia; one of the most well-known Isurianist slogans is "Isurian money for Isurians; no more stipends!" in reference to their most brought-up talking point in elections.
Housing
The wealth disparity between the regions can also be seen in real estate. In the wealthy Isurian Generality, the rate of home ownership has risen sharply since the late 1990s as wages in the region began to surpass that of their counterparts in the Emeritan Republic, with the most recent figures indicating a home ownership rate of 83% in the Generality. In the Emeritan Republic, although real estate values have risen sharply since the early 2000s, wages in the region have been stagnant since the 1980s and there exists a lack of open land to build additional housing units which has led to a decline in home ownership rates in the Emeritan Republic, with most recent figures estimating a home ownership rate of 57%. Since 2018, the term "high working class" has emerged to refer to a growing middle-class income group that are not impoverished enough to qualify for welfare, but are still not affluent enough to own their own homes.
According to the office of the Censor, this disparity in housing can be primarily traced back to the transfer of the nation's economic centre from the Emeritan Republic to the Isurian Generality and a lack of government intervention for fifty years until the introduction of the stipends. The lack of government intervention can be linked to the lack of political will for keeping the Emeritan economy from stagnating, especially with the rise of the first generation of Isurian elites in Lucrecian politics who sought to prevent any form of welfare for the Emeritans from being enacted. With the rise of the second generation of Isurian elites, this approach has been softened considerably as these new elites grew up with little to no memory of the years of Emeritan dominance in national politics.
Military
As one of the oldest extant armed forces in the world, the Lucrecian armed forces was established as the Emeritan Army and the Emertian Navy during the early years of the Emeritan Republic when it was a city state. With the emergence of the Republic during the 2nd Century BC and the rise of the First Caphiric Imperium, the armed forces took on a more Caphiric character, with the army soon becoming the Emeritan Legion as it moved away from levies and conscripts to professionals and volunteers. The Legion and Navy would survive the Nobles' Treaty and remain in existence as the Lucrecian Republican Legion and the Lucrecian Republican Navy, with the Lucrecian Republican Air Force eventually being formed in the early 20th Century as the invention of planes brought in a new air-bound theatre to future conflicts. Asides from the three main branches, there also exists the Lucrecian Republican Gendarmerie, serving as the militarised arm of the nation's police service, the ceremonial Lucrecian Republican, Pretorian, and Consular Guard for the protection of government officials and the royal family during functions and parades (with everyday protection being provided by the Federal Protection Unit, itself a branch of the nation's civilian police force the Lucrecian Federal Police), and the Lucrecian Republican Civil Force, the nation's military reserve force for all three of the main branches of the armed forces.
Notes
- ↑ Although technically a higher rank than the consuls, the grand duke serves a purely ceremonial role and exists solely to promote Lucrecian identity and harmony between the two main ethnic groups and is not designated as the nation's head of state. As such, Lucrecia is officially and internationally not called a monarchy, but rather an aristocratic republic.