Vatakan
| Free and Associative Maritime City of Vatakan | |||
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| Top to bottom: Bauer Square, Vatakan Port, Kalisz Island | |||
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| Motto: "The City Must Survive" (Vat. "Miasto Musi Przetrwać") | |||
| Anthem: In the Name of the Free City | |||
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| Map versions | |||
| Official language(s) | Common Tongue, Vatkavish | ||
| Demonym | Vatakanian | ||
| - Adjective | Vatakanian | ||
| Government | Associative corporatist city-state | ||
| Premiere | Witold Karków | ||
| Legislature | Vatakan Board of Associates | ||
| Chairman | Radowid Dąbrowski | ||
| Establishment | 1680 AN | ||
| Area | |||
| Population | 1,917,647 (1680 AN) | ||
| Currency | Zaikir | ||
| Abbreviation | VAT | ||
| Time zone(s) | |||
| Patron | |||
| Animal | |||
| Drink | Darmowa Wódka | ||
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This article or section is a work in progress. The information below may be incomplete, outdated, or subject to change. |
The city of Vatakan (Vat. Watakan), officially the Free and Associative Maritime City of Vatakan (Vat. Wolne i Stowarzyszone Nadmorskie Miasto Watakan), is an independent city-state formally under the control of the Ciric Confederacy, but is de facto independent. Founded in mid-to-late 1680 AN, Vatakan was created by the Andromeda Tech Corporation, which bought the land from a group of frontierists representing the Vatkavish (Vat. Watkawski) people native to the Paroka region of the confederacy in order to create a trading port. The city was quickly built upon by the incoming corporatists, who saw the city as an immense money-making opportunity, and brought a swift increase in quality of life to the citizens of the city. In mid 1680, however, the city was formally placed under jurisdiction of the confederacy due to an agreement between Premiere Witold Karków of Vatakan and the Speaker Avingar Holstadt, which was an attempt to dissuade foreign states from taking the land that Vatakan had quietly grown on for the past year.
History
Vatkavish Settlement
The history of the city of Vatakan begins with its settlement in late 1679 AN to early 1680 AN by the Vatkavish people, who are an ethnic group in the region of Paroka in the Ciric Confederacy. The region is mainly known for its population of frontierists, and as such have ventured forth into various unclaimed regions of the world to create small hamlets and camps from which the confederacy draws some of its agricultural products. Vatakan was originally to be another of those small hamlets, with it being settled in a rather agriculture-friendly climate and excellent agrarian topography. Much of the peninsula (which was named the Klocław Peninsula by the Vatakanians) is flat, and the area receives warm rains frequently, which allowed the growth of the early Vatakan village into a town which was known prominently among the other villages settled by the Vatkavish, which promoted the city in the eyes of entrepreneurs and investors. The town became very quickly known for its agricultural products, which were transported by the Andromeda Tech Corporation back to the confederacy. This provided the town's first interactions with the corporation with which it would eventually become incredibly closely linked.
Andromeda Purchase
In early 1680 AN, the Andromeda Tech Corporation, which had had contact with the town through it providing much of the town's shipping needs as well as its early tentative expansions into the town, with the corporation providing much of the town's service based needs, due to the town having a primarily resource and export based economy at the time. The corporation gradually grew into a deeper integration with the town, eventually purchasing a secondary headquarters building in the town, despite it being, at the time, outside of any nation's sovereign territory and vulnerable to aggressive expansion. Around IV.1680 AN, the town underwent a massive governmental shift to accomodate its rapid growth, transitioning from its village-council based governmental system (in which the town was governed by an ealdorman elected to serve for life and advised by a village council) to an associative corporatist system. The Andromeda Corporation was instrumental in this shift, with the organisation assisting with much of the administrative tasks associated with this change, organising the town's first elections for the position of Premiere, who would become the chief executive power in the town. Following the election, in which Witold Karków was elected Vatakanian Premiere, the town became even more closely integrated with the Andromeda Corporation, owing to Karków's position as an executive in the company.
It was around this time that the idea of the Andromeda Corporation buying all of the land of Vatakan wholesale was first proposed. After the Vatakan Board of Associates initially vetoed the purchase, Witold Karków insisted that the idea at least be put to a vote amongst the citizens of Vatakan. After a reluctant governmental pause, the option was put to a democratic vote amongst city citizens. In the end, the results of the vote were 82.1% for and 17.9% against, with a voter discrepancy vs. overall population of 0.4%. It was clear at this point that the citizens were overall happy with the decision, and, against the wishes of the Board of Associates, the entire land of the city (and some of the land beyond the immediate city limits that were owned by the city government) was bought by the corporation at a value of 101.9 billion Zaikir. Though the company promised to allow the city to continue to operate with its current system of government, the Andromeda Corporation did institute a law that all members of government must be an employee of the corporation, as the land was now a company asset and had to be governed directly by the company. However, as this decision had removed forty-one out of the fifty-seat Board of Associates, as well as the Board Chairman, the city was forced to call an emergency vote. This restructured the government of the city quite a bit, with the Darmowe Watakan party becoming a majority, as well as the new chairman, Radowid Dąbrowski, being a member of the Darmowe Vatakan party. This election also forced the Ruch na Rzecz Dobrobytu party, which was the conservative party that had held a majority previously and instigated the veto against the corporation's purchase. Following this purchase, the city received a massive infusion of money from both the purchase itself as well as being run by the vast reserves associated with the Andromeda Corporation. This allowed extremely rapid growth, which pushed the city to the limits of the peninsula. Instead of increasing its residential districts inland, the city chose to build artificial residential islands on the opposite side of the peninsula from the Vatakan ports, notably choosing to create them in the shape of palm trees in a bid to increase tourism. The city also very quickly became the main port of confederate shipping, despite the city technically being outside the bounds of confederate territory at the time, with most goods shipped out of the confederacy that were destined anywhere other than Caradia being shipped first to Vatakan, and then moving on to its final destination.
Confederate Sovereignty
Following the massive growth of the city of Vatakan, the city came under a period of stability which was brought on by the aforementioned rapid growth as well as the average income spike that occurred around this time (at the time, the average income per capita in Vatakan was Ƶ67,000). It was this stabililty that indirectly contributed to the eventual transfer of city sovereignty from itself being under the sovereignty of no formal state other than itself into the formal hands of the Ciric Confederacy as a dependency. Already, the confederacy had been heavily involved in the growth of the city with the city serving being an extremely important port for confederate shipping as well as the city receiving many of the economic benefits of the confederacy, including the network of companies and corporations based in the confederacy as well as technological advancements, such as allowing the city to power its relatively massive population with a series of underground fusion reactors. In a bid to preserve the city's sovereignty, Premiere Witold Karków offered to transfer the city's sovereignty to the confederacy, which would prevent foreign states from claiming the land and forcing the city out. In mid 1680, this deal was accepted by confederate Speaker Avingar Holstadt.
After the transfer of sovereignty, the city continued to grow, continuing its work as a port city as well as a burgeoning tourist economy, with Premiere Karków using the city's wealth to construct a number of fanciful structures to promote tourism and develop a national identity, such as the famous Stużkicław Fountains near the city's centre at Bauer Square (named for Andromeda CEO Jacob Bauer), as well as the supertall skyscraper of the Vatakan International Financial Centre in the Przańsk District, which is the centre of the Bank of the Free City of Vatakan and intended as a mixed-use building, and has offices, museums, hotel rooms, and shopping centres. Additionally, the city constructed the Biskupiec, which is both the official homes of the Premiere of Vatakan and the meeting place for the Vatakan Board of Associates. The city also began building underground farming centres under many non-residential buildings in order to aid in self-sustenance, so that the city is capable of surviving without the assistance of the confederate shipping lanes.
Economy
The economy of Vatakan is dominated by a service sector, catering primarily in luxury services and tourism, as well as the city's excellent positioning as a port town, due to its location on the coast of Apollonia. The Andromeda Tech Corporation absorbed much of the city's financial processes when it purchased the land, which was both a blessing and a hindrance to the economy of the city. The most obvious benefit of the exchange was the prevention of foreign megacorporations from placing a hand in the city, and as such the city had little to fear from invasive foreign corporations. The Andromeda Tech Corporation has also placed much emphasis on maintaining the city's prosperity because of its position as a strong economic and strategic asset, and as such has poured money into the city to continue the city's growth and economic development. However, there is a present, if small, resentment for the activities of the corporation in the city; though the company presently has a friendly attitude toward the development of local companies and entrepreneurism, it has been known to be territorial in regards to its financial assets and services, and always has the possibility of the company's leadership changing to be more money-focused rather than worker-focused.
Tourism
The city of Vatakan's tourism industry is highly developed, and is one of the prominent cities in Apollonia for attracting tourists. The city is mainly visited for its architecture and reputation as a luxury retreat, with its high-tech and futuristic facilities stemming from its wealth being one of the main contributing factors to this reputation. The city has several areas of fanciful, futuristic development, such as the aforementioned Vatakan International Financial Centre and the Stużkicław Fountains, which put on a fountain show every weekend in front of the Sosnowiec building, where the Andromeda Tech Corporation's city headquarters is. The city also provides many amenities to provide for the tourists, such as transport services offering private helicopters or verakium hovercraft for similar prices that are offered for standard cars and trucks in other places, as well as having a thriving adventure sports environment. The city is also famous for its interest in cultural preservation, using its connections to the disparate Vatkavish villages and nomadic settlements in the Apollonian green to import artefacts found, and enshrining them in museums, the largest of which is the multi-floor museum that makes up the lower, public floors of the Biskupiec.
Natural Resources
The city of Vatakan supplants its shipping and tourism industries with its industry of offshore mining, which began shortly after the Andromeda Tech Corporation moved to the peninsula and made a discovery of rich quanitities of many different precious materials below the surface of the inlet on the west coast of the peninsula, including oil, titanium, gold, vanadium, palladium, terbium, and large pockets of hydrogen. Portions of the crude oil are regularly shipped to Caradia through the city's shipping network, though the rest of it is up for international sale. Many of the metals are used in foundries located on the mining platforms that transform the metals (excluding gold) into the valuable alloys utilised in large amounts by the Ciric Confederacy, including ferris fortis and verakium, while the hydrogen has been used in the cores used to power fusion reactors. While these resources certainly add to the wealth of the city, even from the city's inception plans have been put forth (mainly by Premiere Witold Karków) to enhance the city's tourism sector so that when the natural resources inevitably run out, the city will continue to make money and serve as a powerful, wealthy trade centre.
Government
The government of Vatakan is best represented as a parliamentary republic, with the city having a head of state elected by the people of the city in a popular vote, as well as a fifty-seat legislature also populated by members (called "associates" or "współpracownicy" in Vatkavish) elected by popular vote, with an elected chairman to preside over the legislature and serve as head of government of the city. While the institution is a minor element in Vatakan politics, the city also has a figurehead monarchy that serves as a method of injecting "foreign exoticness" into the city (which was also a bid to increase tourism); the Vatakan monarch is known as the "Free Prince" (or Princess) of Vatakan, and the current monarch is Free Princess Katarzyna Zamoyski.
Executive
The executive power of the city government is divided between the Premiere, who serves as the city's head of state, and the Chairman, who presides over the legislature and serves as head of government. The primary responsibility of Premiere is the implementation of policies, with the Premiere being responsible for the operation of initiatives and laws created and affirmed by the Vatakan Board of Associates. In order to allow the Premiere access to the power necessary to implement these things, the Premiere has limited power to control general economic and civil activities of the city directly, and the Premiere is also the main liason between the government and the Seacrest Company, which is a mercenary company under permanent employment by the city of Vatakan. The Premiere is also responsible for all diplomacy conducted by the city independent of its association with the Union Australis.
The Chairman, meanwhile, serves to preside over the Vatakan Board of Associates. The Chairman's official duty is to "serve as the assistant of the Premiere in implementing the policies put into motion by the Board of Associates and by the Premiere". As such, the Chairman has limited individual executive power. The Chairman is also meant to keep the power of the Premiere in check in case of corruption, and is as such required to countersign any documents proposed by the Premiere before they can be implemented into law (though the Board of Associates can overturn this countersignature or lack of countersignature with a 2/3 majority vote).
As previously mentioned, the city also possesses a figurehead monarchy, allegedly to provide a sense of mystique to the city and add another aspect desirable to tourists. The monarch, called the "Free Prince" or "Free Princess", and the title is currently held by Free Princess Katarzyna Zamoyski. The monarch of Vatakan passes through a line of succession of absolute progeniture, with the oldest child of the reigning monarch becoming monarch upon the ruler's death. The monarch and their family are important symbols of the city of Vatakan, with Princess Katarzyn and her husband, Prince Consort Piotr, having received a large portion of the money acquired when the city sold itself to the Andromeda Corporation, and companies residing in Vatakan having to pay a very small part of their income as a tax to the monarch, which is again more of a symbolic procedure than a necessary one. The monarch also signs laws to place them into effect, and the elective government is placed under review of the monarch before ascending to power. The monarch is also responsible for hosting foreign diplomats and state visits with the Premiere and Chairman in the Czaciskie Palace, where the monarch resides.
Legislative
The legislature of the Free City is controlled by the Vatakan Board of Associates, which is made up of fifty members and is elected by popular vote every four years. These associates have the ability to appoint judiciaries for the Grand Court of Vatakan, which is the judicial branch of the Vatakan government, and also to propose laws and amend the Vatakan constitution, which is called the Free Covenant of Vatakan (Vat. Bezpłatne Przymierze Watakana). This legislature is a unicameral one.
Judicial
The judicial branch of the Vatakan government is overseen by the Grand Court of Vatakan, which meets in the eponymous Grand Court (Vat. Wielki Sąd) in central Vatakan. The court is responsible for overseeing that the implementation of law is in line with the Free Covenant, and as such has the power to strike down executive orders by the Premiere and also to overturn laws or amendments to the Covenant enacted by the Vatakan Board of Associates. The court is made up of thirteen judiciaries, presided over by the Supreme Judiciary (currently Fryderyk Braniecki).
Culture
The culture of the city of Vatakan primarily revolves around the creation of an independent identity separate from that of the Ciric Confedearcy. To this end, the city reserves almost all above-ground and some subsurface structures for structures developing the culture of the city, and utilises the underground portion of the city for industrial complexes that do not add to the cultural landscape of the city as a whole, such as mining facilities, refineries, and factories; this principle is known as "vertical integration", and was implemented when the city began growing to its current size to avoid the city sprawling too much, by allowing space-consuming facilities and structures more room underground and leaving above-ground structures to expand upwards without too much interference.
Apart from the opulence and luxury endemic to the city due to its wealth, and perhaps because of it, a large amount of the culture of the city is concentrated in its architecture, which can be found in traditionally-built structures around the city, nestled in between the skyscrapers. The architectural styles are sourced from a variety of locations, including Babkha, Shireroth, and Jingdao; this is most evident in Bauer Square (named for Andromeda CEO Joseph Bauer), which is purposefully designed to incorporate as many design styles as possible, both as an indication of uniqueness as well as a method of attracting tourists.
Sport
Defence
The city of Vatakan takes defence very seriously, as it has no formal standing army, though the Seacrest Company does provide some measure of defence itself, the city is mostly protected through its proximity to the mobile bases housing the Northern Fleet, and through a system of static defensive structures called the Stalowa Osłona. These consist of a line of remotely piloted long-range artillery cannons placed along the shore near the port, called the Bronze Battery. These cannons are equipped with a main 40cm naval gun along with auxiliary missile launchers mainly supplied with guided missiles imported from the confederacy's mainland. They also possess smaller, 13cm guns on their sides for smaller and closer targets. The Stalowa Osłona also consists of some anti-air weapons embedded into the tops of the tallest skyscrapers, and larger ones nearer the outskirts of the city. These use a variety of anti-air techniques, such as laser weaponry and missiles. The system also uses one modified version of the Egidă system developed by Caradia that is manually piloted as opposed to heat-seeking.
