[Zagadka]

((Trying to create an "official" mold to work from, by request of Demosthenes))

Onnela // subject to change, seemed the most fitting

This page was last updated on 17 April 2009

http://www.freewebs.com/aurumcorporatio ... cpofo2.png


Background

Viking occupation began around 900-1000 CE, establishing most of the major ports/cities, and leaving a lasting cultural identity. No evidence has been found of previous settlement, but no comprehensive archaeology has been done. The decline of the Vikings around 1300 CE left the islands relatively isolated and self-sustaining, with only some trade with another Viking settlement, Iceland, several hundred miles to the north. British and French explorers encountered the islands in 1512 CE, finding a Scandinavian patriarchal monarchy called the Bjarga dynasty. The sparsely-populated island's population exploded as British, French, and Dutch protestants began immigrating. The port cities thrived under a merchant class, as the islands were a popular stopping point for shipping to North America. Peasant immigrants moved further inland, making a large agrarian economy.

By the 1600s, the Bjarga dynasty swore allegiance to the British crown, and several forts were constructed. In exchange for their allegiance, the island was left largely on its own, though trade with French and Dutch merchants was eventually eliminated. After the American Revolution and during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812, the islands brashly declared independence in the Declaration of Sovereign Monarchy", sending the British governor, Sir Ralph Browne, to sea in a rowboat. With American and French backing, controlling the North Atlantic trade routes, and using the British forts, Onnela staved off British naval assault, and was granted independence in 1827. For two decades, trade with the British was limited, and Onnela developed strong ties to continental Europe and North America. In 1854, relations with Britain were normalized.

A Parliament was established in 1844, though only land owning men were allowed votes, with the Bjarga dynasty itself owning most of the farmland. The Industrial Revolution saw the development of monopoly industry in inland coal and natural gas fields. Railways soon connected most of the two main islands. The introduction of industry also saw a massive expansion of population and migration of an industrial working class. In 1892, the Bjarga family was formally dismissed by Parliament, and after a small standoff, rioting peasants and workers removed the dynasty and its land-owning Parliament from power, introducing universal suffrage.

The new government met in conflict for several years as socialist and workers' groups rallied against the upper class and monopolistic business practices common in the country. By WWI, an additional rift was introduced by the issue of being involved in the war. Eventually, in 1916, Onnela joined the British and French. In the post-war world, an oil boom brought in new profits lost by the shipping industry, and continued to fuel the rift between classes. The island-nation fared well through the Great Depression, thanks to high agricultural production, further raising tensions between rural Scandinavians and urban European industrialists, who had skimmed most of the profit from the interwar proceeds. Onnela, like Iceland, had little involvement in World War II, declaring itself free to trade with anyone; though never attacked by Germany, Onnela naturally supplied Britain and served as a fueling point and port for American traffic.

Onnela ratified the UN Treaty, but the signing was overturned by the next Parliament. Such changes in policy were common in the Cold War era. Oil production fell in 1954 and never reached a higher point; by the 1980s it had turned into a net importer of oil, but national gas and geothermal energy resources were not tapped because of an oil cartel. Torn between communist and capitalist populations, Onnela voted in a socialist party in 1958. A CIA-backed coup on August 23rd, 1959 overthrew the Parliament by militarising the ports. A puppet government put an ethnic English dictator, Thomas Ryan, into power in the newly created office of President. He dissolved Parliament several times, and clashes took place several times in the coming decades, notably in 1969, 1972, and 1979. In 1988, with support from Soviet intelligence, take control of several ports. US-backed militia responded quickly, cutting off the island and restoring order. In 1994, Ryan died, leaving no clear successor.

At one point, in 1997, three different parliments existed, each declaring itself sovereign. Division continued in a period of instability that lasted until 2004, when Western Europe mediated the created of a new constitution. The constitution was ratified by majority popular vote in 2006, and the first elections of the new Parliament began in April 2009.



Geography

Location:
Large island in the North Atlantic Ocean, west of France and south of Iceland


Coordinates:
40 10 North, 27 25 W

Area:
Total: 144,280 sq km

Area - Comparative:
Twice the size of Ireland

Maritime Claims:
territorial: 12 nm
fishing zone: 400 nm

Climate:
temperate maritime; modified by North Atlantic Current; mild winters, cool summers

Terrain:
Mixed, high cliffs and mountains in the north, interior plain with low hills in the south, lightly forested

Elevation:
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean, 0 m
highest point: Olmso Mountain, 1,487 m

Natural Resources:
coal, oil (on and offshore), natural gas, silver, limestone, lumber, thorium

Land use:
arable land: 56.2%
permanent crops: 4.6%
other: 39.2%

Total renewable water resources:
62.8 cu km

Natural hazards:
tsunamis, volcanoes, earthquakes, violent storms

Environmental issues:
Water pollution, air pollution, soil erosion, stop mines,

Environmental agreements:
N/A

Geography - note:
strategic location on air and sea routes, population evenly agrarian and urban


People

Population:
52,178,2

Age structure:
0-14 years: 20.9%
15-64 years: 67.1%
65 years and over: 12%

Population growth rate:
2.2%

Birth rate:
16.33 births/1,000 population

Death rate:
10.2 deaths/1,000 population

Life expectancy at birth:
69.8 years

Nationality:
noun: Onnelian(s)
adjective: Onnelian(s)

Ethnic groups:
Scandinavian 42%, English 21%, French 11%, German 9%, Irish 8%, Arabic/Persian 4%, Jewish 3%, other 2%

Religions:
Protestant 92%, Muslim 4%, Jewish 2%, other 2%


Languages:
English (official): 94%, Onnelian-Norwegian 4%, other 2%

Literacy:


total population: 94%

Education expenditures:
N/A


Government

Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Onnela
conventional short form: Onnela
former: Onnele, Onnelii

Government type:
Parliamentary republic

Capital:
name: ?
time difference: UTC -3
daylight saving: none

Administrative divisions:
N/A

Independence:
Several (to be updated)

Constitution:
Adopted 2006, effective April 4, 2009

Legal system:
Based on English common law

Suffrage:
18 years of age, universal

Executive branch:
chief of state: none
head of government: Prime Minister (to be decided)

Legislative branch:
100 seat parliament

Judicial branch:
?

Political parties:
Social Liberal Democrats, PoFo Unity Coalition, Conservative Alliance, Pan-National League, People of Pofo, Liberty Caucus, Socialism Now, Revolutionary Front

Political pressure groups and leaders:
Humanist Party, Blue Planet Alliance

Diplomatic representation:
N/A

Flag description:
N/A


Economy

Mostly agrarian, with large sectors in shipping, fishing, coal mining, and oil production.

GDP:
?

Labor force:
22 million (est)

Labor force - by occupation:
agricultural: 46%
industry: 35%
services: 19%

Unemployment rate:
8.4%

Household income:
lowest 10%: 3.1%
highest 10%: 48.6%

Budget:
?

Public debt:
?

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
9%

Commercial bank prime lending rate:
9%

Industries:
steel, lead, zinc, silver, aluminium, barite, thorium and gypsum mining processing; food products, brewing, textiles, clothing; rail transportation equipment; glass and crystal; shipping; software and telecommunications

(further economic details to come once we decide - I don't want to be the only person involved - for now, let's say that there is no accurate record since 1994)

[Dr House]

Viking occupation began around 900-1000 CE, establishing most of the major ports/cities, and leaving a lasting cultural identity. No evidence has been found of previous settlement, but no comprehensive archaeology has been done. The decline of the Vikings around 1300 CE left the islands relatively isolated and self-sustaining, with only some trade with another Viking settlement, Iceland, several hundred miles to the north. British and French explorers encountered the islands in 1512 CE, finding a Scandinavian patriarchal monarchy called the Bjarga dynasty. The sparsely-populated island's population exploded as British, French, and Dutch protestants began immigrating. The port cities thrived under a merchant class, as the islands were a popular stopping point for shipping to North America. Peasant immigrants moved further inland, making a large agrarian economy. By the 1600s, the Bjarga dynasty swore allegiance to the British crown, and several forts were constructed. In exchange for their allegiance, the island was left largely on its own, though trade with French and Dutch merchants was eventually eliminated. After the American Revolution and during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812, the islands brashly declared independence in the Declaration of Sovereign Monarchy", sending the British governor, Sir Ralph Browne, to sea in a rowboat. With American and French backing, controlling the North Atlantic trade routes, and using the British forts, Onnela staved off British naval assault, and was granted independence in 1827. For two decades, trade with the British was limited, and Onnela developed strong ties to continental Europe and North America. In 1854, relations with Britain were normalized. A Parliament was established in 1844, though only land owning men were allowed votes, with the Bjarga dynasty itself owning most of the farmland. The Industrial Revolution saw the development of monopoly industry in inland coal and natural gas fields. Railways soon connected most of the two main islands. The introduction of industry also saw a massive expansion of population and migration of an industrial working class. In 1892, the Bjarga family was formally dismissed by Parliament, and after a small standoff, rioting peasants and workers removed the dynasty and its land-owning Parliament from power, introducing universal suffrage. The new government met in conflict for several years as socialist and workers' groups rallied against the upper class and monopolistic business practices common in the country. By WWI, an additional rift was introduced by the issue of being involved in the war. Eventually, in 1916, Onnela joined the British and French. In the post-war world, an oil boom brought in new profits lost by the shipping industry, and continued to fuel the rift between classes. The island-nation fared well through the Great Depression, thanks to high agricultural production, further raising tensions between rural Scandinavians and urban European industrialists, who had skimmed most of the profit from the interwar proceeds. Onnela, like Iceland, had little involvement in World War II, declaring itself free to trade with anyone; though never attacked by Germany, Onnela naturally supplied Britain and served as a fueling poing and port for American traffic. Onnela ratified the UN Treaty, but the signing was overturned by the next Parliament. Such changes in policy were common in the Cold War era. Oil production fell in 1954 and never reached a higher point; by the 1980s it had turned into a net importer of oil, but national gas and geothermal energy resources were not tapped because of an oil cartel. Torn between communist and capitalist populations, Onnela voted in a socialist party in 1958. A CIA-backed coup on August 23rd, 1959 overthrew the Parliament by militarising the ports. A puppet government put an ethnic English dictator, Thomas Ryan, into power in the newly created office of President. He dissolved Parliament several times, and clashes took place several times in the coming decades, notably in 1969, 1972, and 1979. In 1988, with support from Soviet intelligence, take control of several ports. US-backed militia responded quickly, cutting off the island and restoring order. In 1994, Ryan died, leaving no clear successor. At one point, in 1997, three different parliments existed, each declaring itself sovereign. Division continued in a period of instability that lasted until 2004, when Western Europe mediated the created of a new constitution. The constitution was ratified by majority popular vote in 2006, and the first elections of the new Parliament began in April 2009.

I can't comment on any of this until it ceases to be a text wall.

Ethnic groups:
Scandinavian 42%, English 21%, French 11%, German 9%, Irish 8%, Jewish 3%, other 6%

I thought it had been decided there was a Muslim mass-migration problem, which explained the popularity of the PNL?

Household income:
lowest 10%: 3.1%
highest 10%: 32%

It had also been decided that there was an inequality and urban poverty problem, explaining the popularity of far-left politics. That level of income distribution is similar to Ireland's (or 1960 America's) and not enough to cause strife except for a minority of whiny liberals.

I would say lowest 10%: 1.8%, highest 10%: 49% is more appropriate.

Industries: [...]
chemicals, pharmaceuticals; machinery, rail transportation equipment

Less than plausible. If capital-intensive industries like that were successful in this country inequality would be less of a problem. In Puerto Rico the pharmaceuticals pay something like 210% of the country's median wage rate.

[Zagadka]

I thought it had been decided there was a Muslim mass-migration problem, which explained the popularity of the PNL?

OK, shall we call that 4% of the 6% "other"?

It had also been decided that there was an inequality and urban poverty problem, explaining the popularity of far-left politics. That level of income distribution is similar to Ireland's (or 1960 America's) and not enough to cause strife except for a minority of whiny liberals.

I would say lowest 10%: 1.8%, highest 10%: 49% is more appropriate.

Yes, I researched the statistics of several countries... Ireland in fact was one of my models (so was Ukraine and others). I calculated, though, that with just 32% owning the top 10%, that still leaves a lot of disparity for the 70-90% crowd to take. Maybe that can be adjusted, but 49% is quite high. Someone with more economics experience can be of help here.

Less than plausible. If capital-intensive industries like that were successful in this country inequality would be less of a problem. In Puerto Rico the pharmaceuticals pay something like 210% of the country's median wage rate.

I admit that I got lazy on that part and copy and pasted Ireland. :-p Pharmaceuticals will be removed, and chemicals. Machinery and rail transport are in line for urban workforce, though. This is part of the details that needs ironing out.



On a more general note, I tried to write the history in a way that we could exist, fit in the world, experience all of the major movements in Western society according to a realistic time scale, but not rewrite history too much, and leave us with a tabula rasa for the past 2 decades or so that allows for all types of social-political groups to have representation. We still need some cultural history of some sort; what I drafted is a rather dry history of events. We'll have some notable authors and such, I'll just randomly generate names. They are not functionally important, but history is nothing without society. We're kinda a mixture of Norway, Iceland, England, Ireland, several ex-Soviet states, and a dash of America and France.

And the working map we have (that I linked to) is nice... we jut need some Anglicized Scandinavian names and some English names for cities, rivers, the islands, etc, but the map is not my work. Obviously, nothing with "Saint". The port cities should be more Anglicized, the more rural areas and geographical features more (bastardized) Scandinavian.

I also left several sections unanswered, since either there is no data, the government is new and there are no measurements, or we simply don't have treaties with anyone yet (like the UN, NATO, the EU, etc) since we have been in a state of anarchy. We'll address those as they come along.

As I said, all feedback is welcome, nothing is written in stone, and it'll take a lot of people looking at it from different lights (like House did) to get a clear picture.

[Nattering Nabob]

We need a birth rate...this will effect immigration and various social policies...

If we avg European birth rates using 2004 figures we get 1.623 children per Pofoian woman.

Our population is shrinking...

In Europe 2.1 children per woman is considered to be the population replacement level.

These are national averages
Ireland: 1.99
France: 1.90
Norway: 1.81
Sweden 1.75
UK: 1.74
Netherlands: 1.73
Germany: 1.37
Italy: 1.33
Spain: 1.32
Greece: 1.29

Source: Eurostat - 2004 figures

[Zagadka]

True... but if we are half industrial/service, half agrarian, then our birth rate will not be in line with Europe; we'd need another analog. Not quite India or China, but more along those lines than Germany.


--

Edit for place-holding

I'll need to wait for the Parliament to make a policy, but I'll add the military/civil service requirements/numbers after that. I'm thinking a very small standing army, a moderate size navy, both in disrepair and using older European equipment (Mirage, etc).

[Nattering Nabob]

Economy

Mostly agrarian

Oh God...we're crackers!

[Dr House]

Additionally, we need a much lower population density to support the underindustrialized but wealthy narrative. As it stands, Onnela has a slightly lower population density than Rhode Island.

It doesn't necessarily have to have a low population density since it's an energy power, but something close to the European average (70/km^2, 181/mi^2) at least would be good.

Doubling the current size and reducing the population to 20 million would do this nicely.

As for economic stats, I'd say we're most likely in the low end of the high-development spectrum, or around South Korean level of GDP per capita, so...

GDP: ~$520 billion (Assuming 20 million people)
~$1.3 trillion (Assuming 52 million people)

GDP per capita: ~$26,000

Growth rate is also likely to be on the high end for a developed nation due to the recent commodities and agricultural booms, so probably about 5%. Gross fixed capital growth would also be a little on the high side due to increased foreign investment in commodities, so maybe 23-25%.

Inflation depends on how irresponsible the dictatorship that preceded this election was and what economic policies it pursued, which your history does not expound on.

[albionfagan]

It's 8% Irish and 11% French and Catholicism is under 2%??

[dilpill]

They were Huguenots and Irish Protestants, alibionfagan.

[Ollie Garkey]

That's the main reason that those groups migrated. Can I steal some of the Irish into my Gaelic seperatists?

[Ombrageux]

I really object t o the name 'Onnela'. What?

[Oxymoron]

I demand that Neo Paganism is recognized as a legit religion.

[Okonkwo]

I really object t o the name 'Onnela'. What?

I second that motion. Sounds like something out of a Dungeons & Dragons game.

[Ollie Garkey]

I'm going to have to go with Onkonkwo on this.

[Fasces]

Poforeik is best.

[Dave]

Couple of notes

-english is fine as the language, but a modernized version of norse would be more fun
-46% of the economy employed in agriculture makes no sense for a developed country with this many people. the idea is that we're a major agricultural power and preserved a lot of small farms, not that we're...poor. Japan has 7% of its workforce in agriculture and is very densely populated. The max we could have is maybe 30%, which is what the United States had in 1913.
-our largest manufacturing industry should be shipbuilding, see my biography for more details. I also wrote some fanciful/vainglorious stuff about history in the biography, including a brief civil war/secession in the 1980s called the Jomswar
-fish processing should be a major industry
-land area should be larger or population should be smaller (not many people seemed to want this though)
-there should be some pasture/grazing land
-geothermal energy should be listed as a natural resource
-why do we have english and irish but not scots?
-if we go with my fanciful bio 10% of the population should belong to the AEsir faith
-only 94% literacy?
-there should be administrative divisions
-i'll design a flag later

[Fasces]

I'm slowly expanding the land mass, if you check the map every now and then. I will add a third, large island to the east of the existing islands, though not as close.

The two western islands were purposefully placed close enough that Parliament could propose something like a Chunnel between the two.

I drew the islands with the following in mind:

Far north islands are rural, rely on fishing and agriculture. Probable home to the separatist minority envisioned by Ollie Garkey.

Northern island industrialized.

Southern island rural, with industrialized pockets.

Far southern island is urban, but relies on tourism, and some rural fishing villages.

[Korimyr the Rat]

I demand that Neo Paganism is recognized as a legit religion.

-if we go with my fanciful bio 10% of the population should belong to the AEsir faith

Seconded. Also entirely historically appropriate given ethnic composition and proximity to Iceland.

[Demosthenes]

-if we go with my fanciful bio 10% of the population should belong to the AEsir faith

I was thinking this as well, Asatrus w/out the racial stuff (Or in Dave's case...maybe with it). It would certaintly play into Dave's character, but would also explain the rest of the pagans.

Of course we Reds want nothing to do with such...opiates, but still...

Also, Zag, This is well done, and provides a great starting point. It's always easy for us to come in and modify as opposed to having to create the whole thing ourselves.

I do agree though, that adding some details about the "dictatorial period" would be helpful.

When possible without making this a project that will take you a lifetime, mention of various uprisings (particularly modern ones) will also be helpful. Just something we can work with.

[Dave]

I was thinking this as well, Asatrus w/out the racial stuff (Or in Dave's case...maybe with it). It would certaintly play into Dave's character, but would also explain the rest of the pagans.

Huh? There was no racial stuff in the Asatru stuff I wrote at all. Wotanism is the white supremacist AEsir "religion".