Imperial State of Constancia

This article is for the current state. For its predecessor, see Free Associative Kingdom of Constancia.

Imperial State of Constancia Aftokratorikí Politeía Konstantínou Keshvar-e Shâhanshâhi-ye Kostantiniyye
Flag Coat of Arms
Motto:
Anthem: Imperial Majesty File:Constancia anthem.ogg
Map versions	16.3.0 - Present
Capital	Astérapolis (Ceremonial) Petropolis (Administrative)
Largest city	Aqaba, Nivardom, Raspur
Official language(s)	he Vey diálektos, Babkhi
Official religion(s)	Patriarchal Orthodox Faith
Demonym	Constancian
- Adjective	Constancian
Government	Constitutional Monarchy
- Basileus	Esmeralda al-Osman
- Autokrator	Iñigo
- Legislature	Imperial Synklētos
Establishment	1667 AN AN
Area	1,215,756 sq km
Population	84,482,267 (1726 AN)
Currency	Imperial stater
Calendar
Time zone(s)	CMT+2 / CMT+3 (de facto)
Mains electricity	230 V. 50 Hz
Driving side	Righthand side
Track gauge	400 mm (Narrow Gauge) 2,642 mm (Broad Gauge)
National website	[1]
National forum	Forum
National animal	Falco pelegrinoides
National food	Constancian salad
National drink	Sand coffee, Milk Tea
National tree	Moria
Abbreviation	CON, CO

Constancia, officially the Imperial State of Constancia, is the successor state to the Free Associative Kingdom of Constancia. It is located in the continent of Eura. Its population is approximately 34,547,424 as of 1698 AN, the majority of whom, around two-thirds of the total, enjoy citizenship rights. Its population as of 1708 AN was 46,139,206. Petropolis is the capital whilst Astérapolis is remained the seat and island stronghold of the largely ceremonial monarchy. Its largest city is the port of Aqaba. The state was officially established on 10.IX.1667

History

The Imperial State of Constancia (Aftokratorikí Politeía Konstantínou / Keshvar-e Shâhanshâhi-ye Kostantiniyye) came into being upon the promulgation of the Magna Carta of 1667 by Basileus Petros III on the 10th day of the 9th month of Artemisios 1667, 48th year of His Imperial Majesty's Reign. Article 76 of the Magna Carta explicitly repealed the Constitutional Settlement Act of 1463 and its accompanying Constitutional Amendment Acts, making a clear break of legal continuity with the previous dispensation.

General points to cover:

• The Primokratía and Second Euran War
• Reconstruction and the reconstitution of the nation (The Great Undertaking)
• Pan-Euranism and the Raspur protectorate
• Corporatism and party politics in the age of oligarchy
• Five Year Plan
  • thalassokratia (sea power) vs kratikistikís anaptyxiolagneía (statist developmentalism)
• Famine of 1669/1670–1672 AN - became known as the Great Euran Famine, claimed the lives of 1,590,000 - mostly Iterans, Kuls, and rural Constancians as food was requisitioned from the countryside to feed the work force in the cities of Aqaba and Nivardom.
• occupation of Arak (1670)
• Landings at Zylenisí (Zylenia) (1671)
• Maritime Treaties:
  • Los Liberados
  • Florian Republic
  • Beneluccas
  • Altus / Alduria
• Kalirion Fracture (1671) dashed hopes of a Benacian investment led revival and led to instead to the "Pivot towards Natopia".
• In due course the pivot towards Natopia was complemented by increased inter-Euran cooperation with Alduria, established by Alexandrian and Caputian settlers in the land of Alkhiva, formerly known as the Mahoz HaSephardim. Oil rich and materialistic, the Aldurians soon established a consumer society that, when not constrained by the limitations of the inimitably hostile Euran environment, would go on to feed its insatiable appetites with orders placed with Constancian manufacturies. Moreover the lucrative carrying trade would fall steadily into the hands of Constancian companies such as the Honourable Company and its foremost competitor, entities well versed in leveraging inherent positional advantages to the detriment of new entrants to the marketplace.
• In 1676 the Imperial Synklētos reformed the citizenship laws of Constancia, restoring all Constancian and Raspurid subjects to full citizenship rights whilst bestowing citizenship upon resident nationals from Raspur Pact member states and Alduria. This order was however poorly enforced and ill-received. Whilst favoured minorities were indeed emancipated, the holders of purchased Life-Service Bonds were loathe to relinquish their investments and senior officers of the Imperial Constancian Armed Forces also made known their refusal to obey any order that would confer liberty upon the Androphaghoi or captured foreign nationals brought into Constancia through the razzia campaigns unless they were paid compensation for the values of the lucrative kul-rents that they would be asked to forgo.

(Third Euran War)

(Expansion into former Thraci territory)

(Membership of the Euran Economic Union)

(Membership of the Community of Goldfield)

(Primo deposed as Autokrator by his wife and elevated to a ceremonial position of kingship, which she eventually inherited after his death)

Constancia was once again trapped into a grinding regional conflict following the implosion of the Bassarid Empire. The rise of the Confederacy of the Dispossessed challenged the ambition of the Suren Confederacy to conquer the Eastern Eura Trade Association and obliged the Trans-Euran Command of the Raspur Pact to stage a massive intervention in the Norasht campaign to stave off a threatened Surenid collapse. The Imperial Constancian Armed Forces shouldered the largest burden by far during the campaign, with the Home Guard compelled to do most of the fighting and dying on foreign battlefields whilst the Military of the Suren Confederacy reconstituted itself. By 1722, the end of allied intervention, the Constancians had lost half a million men to wounds, desertion, and a little over one-hundred thousand fatalities.

The extent of the losses were such that the Constancian authorities made great efforts to obfuscate the exact scale of the calamity and the true figures. Nonetheless, resentment, especially amongst the subjects of Nivardom and the Raspur Khanate, where nearly everyone knew a family which had been touched by the tragedy of a recent death, spiked to levels far beyond the abilities of the State Protection Authority to effectively monitor, let alone manage, by their usual methods.

Geography & climate

The Imperial State of Constancia is located in Central Eura along an west to east axis connecting the Gulf of Aqaba to the Nivardom Channel which leads into the Gulf of Zinjibar. The continental borders of the Imperial State bisect the continent and border onto the northern edge of the Durranian Highlands. The entirety of the Constancian territorial range lies between the latitudinal degrees of 21 to 40 South and the longitudinal degrees of 19 and 64 East. As a southern hemisphere country the seasons on Eura are the reverse of those in Benacia.

The aridity and contamination of Central Eura is a noted problem, while the islands of the Gulf of Aqaba are exposed to sub-tropical anticyclones, and the Nivardom Channel is exposed to turbulent tropical weather fronts funnelled into the Gulf of Zinjibar. Mehrshahr and Shâhibâgh in eastern Eura meanwhile enjoy a favourable oceanic climate, with mild summers and wet winters. The cities of Nivardom and Bandar-e Saghi can be said to be situated in the subtropical hinterland, often dry with a short wet season. Seasonality in the Gulf of Aqaba, excepting the anticyclonic spikes in precipitation, tends to be moderated. The hinterland of the city of Aqaba tends to be influenced by the aridity of central Eura. Arak and the islands of the Crownlands, particularly Astérapolis, are comparatively benign with conditions lending themselves to viticulture and olive growing.

The state calendar of Constancia differentiates between a Dry Season (Month V / Haliotropios / Esfand to Month XII Agrianios / Shahrivar) and a Growing Season (Month XIII / Panamos / Mehr to Month VI / Heliotropios / Bahman) around which appropriate programmes of work in agriculture and construction are planned.

Demographics

By citizenship category

As of 1708 AN:

• Full citizen: 27,500,468
• Servile (kul): 18,638,738

By ethnicity

Citizens	Number
Alexandrian / Luthorian	955,786
Antican	104,390
Babkhi	12,337,659
Batavians	33,456
Benacians	1,209,953
Caputians	307,444
Constancians	10,517,874
Florians	53,034
Natopians	565,935
Norse	30,456
Wechua	1,384,481
Total	27,500,468

Kuls	Number
Sephardim/Ladino	77,213
Androphagi	6,119,658
Black Travellers	7,481,734
Corians	9,540
Iterans	4,153,337
Ruthenian	200,850
Šlovedks	596,407
Total	18,638,738

Politics

See Main Article: Politics of the Imperial State of Constancia

Government

The Imperial State of Constancia is an autocratic constitutional monarchy based on the Magna Carta of 1667. The Magna Carta outlines the roles of the Basileus, His Government, the Imperial Synklētos and The Courts of the Imperial State.

Local Government

Local government is not mandated by the Magna Carta of 1667. The Imperial State of Constancia is administratively divided into several provinces and polities: the Prosgeiosi Basileus, Aqabah, the Principality of Molivadia, the Principality of Nivardom, Shahzamin, Nouradin, the Republic of Vey, the Ecclesiastical Mountain Republic, Zylenisí, and Augustinium.

Judiciary

The Magna Carta of 1667 provides:

Article 57 Justice shall be exercised and dispensed by the Courts of Law according to law, in the name and by authority of the Basileus. The organization of the Courts of Law shall be determined by law.

Article 58 The judges shall be appointed from among those, who possess proper qualifications according to law. No judge shall be deprived of his position, unless by way of criminal sentence or disciplinary punishment. Rules for disciplinary punishment shall be determined by law.

Article 59 Trials and judgments of a Court shall be conducted publicly. When, however, there exists any fear, that such publicity may be prejudicial to peace and order, or to the maintenance of public morality, the public trial may be suspended by provisions of law or by the decision of the Court of Law.

Article 60 All matters that fall within the competency of a special Court, shall be specially provided for by law.

Article 61 The rules of courts shall be promulgated by the aforesaid courts.

The Courts Act 1642, enacted prior to the Magna Carta, specifies the establishment of several courts:

Anótato Dikastírio tis Vasíleio (The High Court of the Realm), which is primarily responsible for interpreting the constitution and deciding on the constitutionality of actions or lack of actions in any way connected to or impacting on the Imperial State. The Anótato Dikastírio will also consider other matters with the approval of the Imperial Synklētos, the Autokrator, or the Basileus. It is the court of last resort and highest appellate court in Constancia, aside from the Autokrator and the Basileus.

Dikastiríou tou Laoú (The People's Court) is charged with responsibility of interpreting all Constancian laws. There shall be such courts in all major cities, established by the Basileus upon advice of the Council. Each Dikastiríou tou Laoú consists of at least 3 judges and not more than 24 judges. At present, one such court (the only one) sits in Aqaba City, and has 3 judges.

Aside from the aforementioned Courts, there are two special courts with absolute jurisdiction and authority: the Court of the Crown, which is convened by the Basileus whenever it pleases him, and the Autokratorial Court, which is convened by the Autokrator of Constancia, also at pleasure.

Criminal justice is usually dispensed via officials of the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government, who hold commissions as justices of the Autokratorial Court.

Armed Forces

See Main Article: Imperial Constancian Armed Forces

Economy

See Main Article: Economy of Constancia

Economic and infrastructure losses in light of the loss of the economic capital, Vey, as well as the homeland via the Euranikon Revolt was significant. Most Vey-based enterprises were ruined with the sudden loss of their main offices, employees, and markets, and the insurance sector hovered near collapse until a meeting with the Autokrator, who was also Kyvernitis of the Basileusan Bank. In time, restructuring of the Basileusan Bank and the national loan portfolio was deemed necessary.

The Constancian Commercial Exchange Corporation, owner and operator of the Constancian Stock Exchange, was persuaded by the government to postpone organized trading until 1668. In the meantime, despite the best efforts of government, a bustling black market in goods and securities could be found in both Nivardom and Aqaba.

To prevent use of captured currency from the Basileusan Bank vaults in Vey, an entire series of Staters was cancelled and demonetized. To temper inflation (reaching as high as 36%) caused by the government printing itself out of fiscal trouble, a new issue of currency, the Imperial Stater, backed by the remaining international reserves on deposit in Aqaba and abroad, was announced in 1667, and launched in 1668. Heavy borrowing from creditors and Raspur Pact allies helped tide the new Imperial State over, as it struggled to industrialize and restructure a new export-oriented economy.

With unemployment hovering at a dangerous 27%, conscription into the Armed Forces and organization of labor battalions were seen as stopgap measures, merely buying time for the private sector to reestablish itself, thanks to heavy borrowing and grants from government and foreign capital partners.

In 1670 AN the Constancian government announced the opening of its borders to the merchants of all non-USSO nations, with a series of measures including the easing of visa restrictions and the introduction of tax breaks, in an effort to increase direct investment and stimulate export-led economic growth. The new economic policy was especially geared towards establishing trade relations with the Iron Company, the OIEC, and the Hoennese merchant diaspora. The door to the Hoennese trade was however soon closed as the Nijimaga rose up in 1674 on the occasion of Severance, which was the sudden closure of the portal to Terra. The economic slack was taken up by increasing trade relations with Natopia, Alduria, Los Liberados, and the Florian Republic, in approximately that order of importance.

See Main Article: Imperial Bank of Constancia

Transportation

International transportation to and from the Imperial State of Constancia is served by air and sea transport.

Air

Airlines

• Air Constancia
• Imperial Constancian Airways Corporation

Airports

• Aqaba Airport
• Arak Airport
• Cario Airport
• Ithonion Airport
• Nivardom Airport
• Raspur Airport

Sea

Seaports

• Aqaba
• Arak
• Edgardia
• Nivardom
• Nisyros
• Petronium
• Port Aguilar

Land

Railway

• Trans-Euran Railway

Highway

• Pan-Euran Highway

Culture

See Main Article: Culture of the Imperial State of Constancia

Sand coffee