Uppmanland
| Community of Uppmanland Uppmanlands edssamfund (Uppmanlandic) | |||
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| Capital | Vansta | ||
| Official language(s) | Uppmanlandic | ||
| Recognised language(s) | Common Tongue, Lakkvian, Amalandic | ||
| Official religion(s) | Church of Uppmanland | ||
| Demonym | Uppmanlander | ||
| - Adjective | Uppmanlandic | ||
| Government | Confederation | ||
| - Storting President | Erik Åstad | ||
| - Councillor | Lisa Andersdotter | ||
| - Legislature | Storting | ||
| Establishment | 1757 | ||
| Area | 299,268 km2 | ||
| Population | 12,500,000 | ||
| Currency | Skilling (ULS) | ||
| Calendar | Norton (AN) | ||
| Time zone(s) | CMT+3 | ||
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| Driving side | left | ||
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| Abbreviation | UL | ||
Uppmanland (Uppmanlandic: [ˈɵpːmanlan:]) is a country in western Keltia. It borders Amaland to the north, the Hexarchy to the southeast and the Pearl Sea to the south and west. With a population of 12.5 million, it is a mostly rural country, with a few larger cities including the capital Vansta.
Etymology
The name "Uppmanland" has the literal meaning "land of the uppman". "Uppman" (singular; plural "uppmän") is a term for people living above or uphill from somewhere, in this case the capital. While each landskap has its own demonyn, the "uppman" term is common for all residents of the country.
Geography
The mainland part of Uppmanland mainly consists of rolling fields of crops, with relatively narrow bands of forest delimiting regions and landskap. A few areas, especially in the west and northeast, have denser forests. There are several larger rivers cutting through the landscape, often having their source in the east and northeast. On the western peninsula there is a partly forested plateau reaching around 300 meters over sea level. From the central parts of the mainland, the elevation slowly rises moving east, with another plateau, also largely covered in forest, in the northeast, rising to above 500 meters. Here is also the highest point on the mainland, the flat ridge Himsås which reaches 548 meters above sea level.
The Dark Berry Islands (Uppmanlandic: Mörkbärsöarna) on the other hand have a much more varied elevation profile. The northern island, Askö (Common Tongue: Northern Island), is dominated by the foothills and peaks of the highest mountain in the country, Askeberg (Common Tongue: Mount Ascophosyna), rising up to 986 meters above sea level. The northeastern and southern parts are lower, covered in dense brushland. The southern island, Surö (Common Tongue: Southern Island) more closely matches the character of the lower parts of the northern island, but with the southern half consisting of a flat meadowland. In between the two large islands is Ellö (Common Tongue: Fyre Isle), dominated by the caldera and caldera lake of a dormant volcano.
Politics
Government
The Storting is vested with supreme legislative, executive and judicial power on the national level, and within the competences that the constitution mandates. The legislative mandate is exercised by the Storting in its entirety, for which it is organised into various committees. The speaker (Uppmanlandic: talman) serves as the head of state of Uppmanland and, when exercising that office, is titled Regent (Uppmanlandic: samfundsföreståndare). The executive power is delegated to the committee on government affairs (Uppmanlandic: samfundsstyrelseutskottet), whose chairperson is the head of government. The judicial power is delegated to the court committee (Uppmanlandic: domstolsutskottet), whose chairperson is considered the chief justice of Uppmanland. From these two committees, certain decisions can in certain cases be appealed to the Storting in its entirety.
Committee on Government Affairs
The Committee on Government Affairs is the de facto executive government of the confederal government, tasked with executing the laws and decisions made by the Storting. The committee is chaired by the Councillor (Uppmanlandic: rådman), and the committee is colloquially called the Council (Uppmanlandic: Rådet).
Administrative divisions
The parish (Uppmanlandic: socken; plural: socknar) is the fundamental territorial, political, and communal unit of society. Originally centered on a parish church, the (civil) parish functions as both the primary unit of local government and the basis of collective popular sovereignty. Parishes in coastal areas are called skeppslag, while parishes where the main economic activity is some form of mining are called bergslag. The main activity in a skeppslag is usually fishing.
The institution traces its origins to the ancient church parish, which historically served as both an ecclesiastical and civil community. In the modern interpretation, the historical concept has been retained and expanded into the foundation of the constitutional order. New parishes may be established through the construction of a new parish church and the recognition of a new local community. The civil and ecclesiastical parishes are technically separate legal entities.
Sovereignty is held collectively by the people of each parish rather than by the state itself. Membership in the political community is established through the Parish Oath (Uppmanlandic: sockened), sworn by every adult citizen upon reaching the age of majority or acquiring citizenship. The oath is made to the other sworn members of the parish, creating a mutual bond of loyalty, solidarity and obligation. Sovereignty therefore exists as a network of mutual oaths rather than descending from a central authority.
Individual parishes entered into sworn alliances with neighboring parishes. Neighboring communities, often delimited by various geographic features, developed a common identity. These areas constituted the ancient provinces (Uppmanlandic: landskap), areas with a common identity and culture, but no common political or administrative structure. In 1757, the parishes within each traditional province entered into sworn relationships, finally formally forming the provinces. Unlike the parishes, the provinces are not the original holders of sovereignty. Instead, they derive their authority from the voluntary association of constituent parishes. Uppmanland was formed as a sworn alliance between the provinces.
Admission into a parish marks both political adulthood and inclusion within the local community. The ceremony traditionally combines civic and religious elements. Historically it took place at the local church, but in modern times most communities conduct the public oath at the local ting (assembly), allowing all residents to participate. Nazarenes usually take the oath in front of the parish priest and the ting as a whole. The exact form of the ceremony varies between parishes, reflecting local traditions.
The parishes hold an annual public gathering during the summer, immediately before the harvest season. New members are formally admitted, communal affairs are discussed, and preparations are made for the agricultural harvest. The timing symbolizes that every full member of the community shares in both its rights and its obligations.
The parish remains the principal source of local identity. While provinces preserve historical and cultural identities, everyday political life is centered on the parish and its assembly. The oath of membership is regarded as the defining rite of passage into adulthood and citizenship.
Cities constitute a historical anomaly within the constitutional structure. Since sovereignty resides with the people rather than with rural communities specifically, cities likewise form through collective oath relationships. The cities elect a representative city council, unlike the parishes where public power is exercised at the parish assembly, the annual meeting of all sworn residents.
Provinces
Uppmanland is divided into 27 provinces (Uppmanlandic: landskap). They are historical, geographical, cultural and administrative regions. Many of the provinces have their own distinct dialects and a few also have sizeable linguistic minorities, primarily speakers of Common Tongue, Lakkvian and Amalandic. Together with the cities, they federate to create Uppmanland. The cities are traditionally part of a province, but are all administratively separate from them.
Cities
The cities (Uppmanlandic: stad; plural städer) are organised on the same level as the provinces, but have more limited autonomy. Many of the regulations governing the cities are made by the Storting, although the actual enforcement and administration of those regulations are left to the individual city councils. Traditionally, the cities had a monopoly on trade and manufacturing, although this distinction is less pronounced in modern times. The borders between the cities and the surrounding provinces are also frequently adjusted when suburbs connected to the cities grow over the city limits. Disconnected suburbs are under the jurisdiction of the provinces though, constituting anomalies in the largely rural parts of the country.
| City | Traditional province |
Population | Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amsel | |||
| Brosund | |||
| Ramstad | |||
| Vansta | |||
| Västerborg |
Demographics
Religion
The Church of Uppmanland (Uppmanlandic: Uppmanländska folkkyrkan) is a Reformed Nazarene church in Uppmanland and its state and national church. It is a descendant of the Norman Church of Amaland, but organisationally and doctrinally separate from it. Headquartered in Amsel, with around 10 million members, it is the largest Nazarene denomination in Uppmanland. The church consists of 14 dioceses (Uppmanlandic: kräkelhållardöme), divided into parishes, which outside the cities are coterminous with the civil parishes. The Primate of the church is the Archbishop (Uppmanlandic: överkräkelhållare) of Amsel.
Language
Approximately 85 percent of the population speak Uppmanlandic, a Hurmu–Norse language in the Normarkic group of the Pancontinental languages, as their first language. It is also the sole official language. There are two recognised minority languages, Common Tongue, spoken by about five percent as a first language, primarily in the Dark Berry Islands and by a large share of the population as a second language, and Lakkvian, spoken by less than five percent as a first language, primarily along the southern coast. A small group of speakers of Amalandic live in the provinces of Västerammark and Österammark. Around five percent speak various immigrant languages.
