Bicariana

Bicarian Republic Ilhas Bicarianas
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Dominus illuminatio mea ("The Lord is my light")
Anthem: True Islands of the North
Location of Bicariana (dark green) In the Levantine Union (light green) and Levantia (gray)
Capital and largest city	Nevada
Official languages	Cartadanian
Religion	Catholic Church
Demonym(s)	Bicarian
Government	Unitary Presidential republic
• President	Valter Borges
• Vice President	Débora Matos
• Orator Princeps	Alziro Rocha
Legislature	Emissary Assembly
Establishment
• Colonized by Cartadania	1826
• Transferred to Urcea	2021
• Independence	2030
• Constitution	2031
Population
• Estimate	1,627,073
GDP (nominal)	estimate
• Total	$93,722,658,946
• Per capita	$57,602
Currency	Taler

Bicariana, formally the Bicarian Republic, is an island nation off of eastern Levantia in the Sea of Nordska. The island group consists of the islands of Ceniza, Lluvia, Nevada, and Niebla. The total land area of the territory is 12,716 square kilometres (4,909.68 sq mi). The territory's capital is Nevada on the identically named island.

In 2010 the population was 1,602,551 of primarily Cartadanian or Gaelic ethnic origin, resulting in the formation of a unique Bicarian culture. Tourism is the primary economic activity, although there is a significant rum manufacturing sector. Farming is done on a relatively small scale on Lluvia and Ceniza, although it has seen a slow revival in recent years.

Previously the Gletscher Iselns of Fiannria, theislands were sold to Cartadania by Fiannria in the Treaty of the Gletscher Islands of 1826. They were classified as an organized, unincorporated Cartadanian territory. The Islas Nubes were organized under the 1966 Nevada Act and have since held five constitutional conventions. The first proposed Constitution, adopted by the Fifth Constitutional Convention in 2005, was rejected by the Cartadanian National Congress in 2006, which urged the convention to reconvene to address the concerns Congress and the Hernandez Administration had with the proposed document. The convention reconvened in October 2008 to address these concerns, but was not able to produce a revised Constitution before its October 31 deadline. In 2021, the island was transferred from Cartadanian control to Urcea, and the territory became an overseas Rectory of Urcea. In the same year, it was incorporated as part of the Levantine Union. In 2030, Urcea agreed to grant the islands independence as a new member-state of the Levantine Union, with a Constitution for the new republic finally adopted on 2 February 2031. As part of that agreement, Urcea retained the right to place a Royal Navy base in the country.

Bicariana is a member of the Levantine Union and League of Nations.

Etymology

The name "Bicariana" and "Bicarian Republic", and the geographic term "Bicarian Islands" are derivative of the Cartadanian name for the islands, Ilhas Bicarianas. The term bica, in the Cartadanian language, means "spout", referring to the volcanic activity common throughout the islands. The first appellation of the term "Bicaria" and "Bicarian" is not generally known, but the term was in official use in Cartadanian documents soon after their acquisition in 1826.

The islands have several names. In the Faekst language of Fiannria, they were called the Gletscher Iselns prior to their sale to Cartadania in 1826.

Geography

The Bicarian Republic consists of four islands in the Sea of Nordska called Ceniza, Lluvia, Nevada, and Niebla.

History

Early history

Bicariana has been settled multiple times throughout human history, with intermittent periods of interest and disinterest from nearby Levantines. Scholars disagree significantly as to the first long-term settlement on the islands. A small consensus exists that the islands were always used by traveling fishermen and whalers dating back to antiquity, but little convincing archaeological evidence exists for this conclusion. The first universally accepted use of the islands was by Levantine Catholic monks as a place of intense seclusion, beginning in the 7th century. Many of these mystics would spend decades in seclusion on the islands, eventually dying there (usually preparing to die in order to prevent being eaten by animals) and being buried by the next wave of arrivals. As these arrivals were all male, no permanent population was established on the islands. The so-called mystical era of the islands came to an end with the beginning of the Gothic Viking Age in 800. Northern raiders arrived on the islands in around 803, establishing it as an important outpost from which raids could be launched against eastern Levantia, with resulting loot being hidden on the islands and boats repaired before returning home with the goods. Eventually, in around 825, a small settlement called Vikingshavn by historians was established near modern Nevada. Vikingshavn consisted of a few homes and craftsmen, namely shipwrights and smiths necessary to make Bicariana a more developed outpost for raiding Levantia, and a small population of fishermen also migrated to Vikingshavn to maintain the settlement. It is thought Vikingshavn reached its max population in or around the year 925 with about 1,500 inhabitants. As interest in small Viking raids gradually waned in the late 10th century, Vikingshavn became less relevant and disappeared from the historical record, though archaeology suggests it was still in use as late as 1100 before being completely abandoned.

The next permanent use of Bicariana came in the 16th century, with the establishment of a Pharisedom.

Treaty of the Gletscher Islands and early Cartadanian influence

Sold to Cartadania as a means to pay of significant war debts from the vicious wars the newly found Commonwealth faced in it's early years.

Cartadanian control

Fiannan efforts to regain control

Beginning in 1890, the Commonwealth of Fiannria sent an offer to purchase back the Bicarian Islands (Gletscher Isles) annually on the anniversary of the original sale on June 30th 1826 as in accordance of the Treaty of the Gletscher Islands of 1826, which Fiannans call the "Tragic Sale". Every year, Fiannria sent a letter offering to buy back the islands from Cartadania, and later Urcea, with a different dollar amount every year, but always based on the value it was sold at in 1826. The letter continually cited the territorial, genealogical, and historical importance of the islands to Fiannria and request its return.

Corresponding with this, beginning in the early 1830s, native Levantines held protests and marches that eventually organized in 1853 in a Fiannan nationalist self-determination movement generally opposed to at the time Cartadanian occupation and Cartadanian settlers. Called the Braithre Gletscher, the movement was never inherently violent but typically was a political and social organization with annual demonstrations. However, it would be noted on two separate occasions in recent memory that the Braithre Gletscher demonstrations became violent. In 2006, following the rejection of the Fifth Constitutional Convention, and in 2021 amongst the news of transfer to Urcea instead of Fiannria.

Between 1966 and the independence of the islands, besides the annual letter requesting purchasing the islands, the Government of Fiannria made no official political issue or active support to the Braithre Gletscher, but among Fiannans to this day it remains a political talking point of territorial and nationalistic duty to bring back their lost siblings. These sentiments gradually declined following the independence of the islands.

Government and politics

The Bicarian system of government follows a modified form of government to that of Cartadania. It is a Presidential republic, though due to its size Bicariana is a unitary republic with a unicameral legislature, called the Emissary Assembly.

Politics

Bicariana's political parties originated as regional committees of the Cartadanian political parties due to its long association with that country. Accordingly, like in Cartadania, there are three major political parties: the Social Democratic Party, the Union Conservative Party (prev. United), and the Progressistas Party. Due to lasting Levantine influence, all three parties are slightly to the right of their Cartadanian equivalent; additionally, the Union Conservative Party is the majority governing party in the country following the 2031 special election. Many political issues are present in Bicarian society, especially to what degree should the new republic adopt the social mores and governing customs of its Levantine Union neighbors, such as those countries' more conservative stance on social issues relative to Cartadanian views.

Culture

Bicarian culture is descended from the Cartadanian and Fiannan cultures due to the various waves of settlement on the islands that have occurred since the medieval period, and accordingly it heavily incorporates traditions from both.

Demographics

In the 2030 Urcean census, Bicariana had a population of 1,627,073.

Religious Demographics

Religious affiliations in Bicariana (2030)

  Catholic (72.3%)

  Collegiate (8.7%)

  Rolvite (7.5%)

  Irreligious (7.4%)

  Islam (various sects) (2.4%)

  Other (1.7%)

By percentage, Bicariana is the most religiously diverse nation in the Levantine Union, with about 20% of the population holding a religious belief other than Catholicism and about 7% of the population describing themselves as irreligious. Many of Bicariana's non-Catholic population are of foreign background, predominantly from Vithinja or from western Audonia. The 8.7% of the population that are members of the College of Levantine Churches are primarily Bicarians with a long-term Bicarian heritage, being either recent converts from Catholicism or descendants of religious refugees from earlier centuries.