Vithinja: Difference between revisions

[[The Viking Contentment Period|The Contentment Period]] (1220-1505) represents the slowly progressing change among Vikings away from large-scale conquest, raiding of large settlements and migratory invasions. They would instead turn to in some part smaller scale piracy but mainly they would become the largest part of the merchant class in north Ultmar, never truly being replaced even though they were later to a large degree implemented into the Burgundine merchant empire.

=== The Noborea-Ultmar Templar Wars ===

Ultmar Crusade was started in the 12th century by the kingdom of Cuhlfros, supported by a number of more southern holy orders. However it did not truly reach Noborea until the start of the 13th. This first Noborean crusade was a massive failure, as the Crusaders could not make up for the superiority of pagan seafaring in a region defined by land barriers and islands. It was not helped that the strange threat from the south proved that the Viking realms were not as divided as thought, as many of them, especially those from the Borea mainland, would ally together against the southern incursion. Most of the Latin crusaders chose to focus on fighting along the rivers of the Vandarch after this failure. The few that didn't mainly turned to the more local northern christian elements of Caergwynn and Cuhlfros, hoping to learn how to fight a foe whose tactics were foreign to them.

With the arrival of 1350 the Great Plague ended up hitting Levantia hard. One of the most important effects of this was the reduction in reinforcements for the templar orders, forcing them to become more aristocratic and levy troops from local populations. These troops mainly came from the local celts, although those with close connections toward the Caerics were often found to be almost as reluctant as the viking descendants. Meanwhile, the pagans of Nordska saw a monumental change, in part because of the rumors of the distant plague striking the Christians. They would reject the Christian feudal institutions that had helped elevate Ruthinja 200 years earlier, and instead look to the ideas of holy warriors fighting for the divine. This would lead to the ''Judgement of Lords'', where a group of tribal leaders would declare war on their own ruling class, overthrowing them and instituting a militaristic holy order, who would become known as the ''Valkeer''.

==Geography==

Vithinjas varied geography is both a blessing and a curse. Although large portions of the lands are difficult to impossible to inhabit, they hold some of the most beautiful landmarks to be found in the world. Between the innumerable fjords covering the coast to the northern villages surrounded by the sights of huge tall mountain ranges, large glaciers that glimmer in the sunlight and if any visitor is lucky, the wondrous northern lights. This would make it a better tourist location if the temperature didn't drive most foreigners away.

The climate in Vithinja is defined by the separation between the warmer coastal regions including the Vithinjan isles, the fjord covered northern coastlines the northern mountainous regions and the subarctic lake regions. The nations economic centers have always been tied to the coastal regions, with very little agricultural lands excluding the Vithinjan islands. A few local grains being hardy enough to survive the boreal summers thanks to the north-blowing winds. The coastlines nearest joining the two landmasses of Vithinja together however are constantly a target of the cold arctic winds from the north.

==Politics==

===Syndicalist Government===

The Vithinjan syndicalist way of governing has been classified by experts as a kind of '''Hierarchical Top-Down Syndicalism''', with some extra complications from the '''Monarchical Exception''' and it's institutionally-enforced anti-liberal '''Neotribalism'''. This definition can be broken down as thus: '''Syndicalism''' as in the establishing of a system where people may freely form organizations that hold political influence to affect the legislative and executive powers and process of the state. '''Hierarchical''' as in these organizations being expected to form smaller joint organizations with representatives from each, who work together to help take care of matters that is in each of their interests, continuing upward as is necessary to join all organizations together at the highest point. '''Top-down''' as in these organizations were first created with a set of leading organizations above, whose powers where then divided into smaller portions for which new organizations attempted to be established, creating a starting point for the Syndicated systems powers that were then handed down a ladder of smaller organizations until it reached the local level.  

==== Governing Parliament ====

The Vithinjan parliamentary body is separated between the legislative ''Naþionelförsamligyn'' (National Assembly) and the executive ''Ällänsþinget'' (National Council).

===== National Council =====

While some may worry that this would simply lead to the ''Ällänsþinget'' holding full authoritarian power, they are limited by the constitution to some degree, most importantly as they do not control the length of their terms. As each chancellor must be chosen by a union at the lowest level before they are able to start climbing the hierarchy, any chancellor who is seen as failing in their duty to the lower unions may simply be replaced, no need to even wait for an election as the ''Fholktinget'' held to determine the chancellor may be called at any time by those making the decision. This representative election is generally not referred to as an election as it is not a choice of the majority, as this is considered democratic republicanism, something that the state specifically attempts to distance itself from. Instead it is rather an agreement that is not protested by any member.

===== National Assembly =====

Despite attempting to generally distance themselves from party-like organizations as to not appear too democratic the current Vithinjan government can generally be split into certain factions. While each of the members of ''Naþionelförsamligyn'' (the National Assembly) is and individual and may choose to not follow the lead of others in the same faction, these factions give a general idea of the power balance among those leading the nation.[[File:Vithinjan-National-Council.png]]

Finally, the '''Liberal Monarchists''' [Light Blue] who only joined the assembly five years ago hold a decent 8 seats. Many believe that they movement had no chance to ever enter into the assembly, which was true for more than 50 years. But with the efforts of their leader, white-representative [[Aron Watch]] as well as suspected support from the somewhat popular [[Valker Sortvit|Prince Valker Sortvit]]. They currently push ideas that seem to be mainly inspired by a combination of Burgundine and Caeric views on liberalism. Meanwhile, chancellor Watch is most famous for being the first representative to get into a brawl with his own chancellor, Riordan Mayor, over an attempt to pressure white-representatives into supporting the national syndicalists. He attempts to gain support both among his own but also from the ''Environmentalists'', in part by pushing a progressive set of ideas but that are more in line with the common culture within Vithinja.

==== Top-Level Union ====

=== Judiciary ===

The strangest and probably most important two unions below the high seven is the Union of the Lower Courts and the Higher Justice Union. These both represent the courts, one representing the higher courts and the other the lower courts. Despite their obvious connection they belong to different higher unions. The lower courts belong to the red-collars and the higher courts belong to the black-collars. This is because of one of the compromises in the constitution, where the syndicalists received control of the sub-regional courts while the king remained in control of regional and national courts.  

=== Constitution ===

The Vithinjan constitution, a product of the [[Vithinjan Compromise]], is an unorthodox work as it is a product of three origins. The constitution borrows a few things from the constitution of the old Boreal Republic, however this is the smallest component in the text. Secondly and thirdly it is sourced from the compromise between the government of the royal Sortvit family and their supporters as well as the ''Syndicalists'' that made up the nations labor unions during the [[Second Great War]]. This has caused large parts of the constitution to have proved over the years to be a convoluted mess that contradicts itself in more than a few places. Because of the constitutions contradictory nature most of the time the national council and the king both simply use the powers that previous rulers have used, avoiding actions that may cause a constitutional crisis.

Despite this decree it is today quite common for Vithinjans to refer to their selection process as an election and being elective, in part because more than half of all unions make their choices in very democratic-like ways.

===Citizenship and Residents===

Because of the Syndical institutions putting themselves in opposition to common democratic institutions the idea of citizenship doesn't quite exist in Vithinja. However there is still a way for any resident in the country to affect the political makeup of the nations leadership. This comes in only through a single way: union membership. The difficulty of joining a union varies greatly by profession and region. All of this effectively means that if only members of a union are considered citizens (which most agree is a fact) only about 82% of all Vithinjans above the age of 16 (And ~30% of 14-16 year olds) are citizens, leaving 18% to simply be residents.

Because of the remnants of a strong warrior culture Vithinja has always had a loose view of weapon ownership. Since the Syndicalization this idea of privately owning a firearm has continued to be encouraged, with the exception of those who could be seen as residents, for whom owning a firearm is illegal. Vithinja has one of the highest rates of firearm ownership, with over 125 firearms for every 100 people.

==Demographics==

===Population===