Hawshire Free State

Hawshire
Subdivision type:	Dependent Territory
Capital:	Acra
Population:	2.3 million
Largest Cities:	Hawshire
Local Leadership Title:	Governor
Local Government:	Colonial
Current leader:	Katharine V of Octavius-Teleni
Local language:	Common Tongue
Local Religion:	Holodomatic School, Hhinto, Cedrism

The Hawshire Free State is a subsidiary of the County Palatine of Kezan. Its head of state is a Governor appointed by the Count Palatine and, de facto, a member the House of Octavius. In 1696 AN, the Governor of the Hawshire Free State is Katharine V of Octavius-Teleni.

Until the Kalirion Fracture, Hawshire was a Shirerithian protectorate called The Kingdom of Hawshire-Dura, governed by an appointed Steward-Count until such time as the line of kings could be renewed (the last King of Hawshire-Dura being Sir William Strauss, the throne remaining vacant since 1568 AN).

Control over the Hawshire-Dura islands was imposed in 1675 AN, removing the last vestiges of the previous government and imposing the current colonial model. By this point, construction of Acra, a highly-fortified citadel in the hills above the City of Hawshire, had been nearing completion under the guise of an economic aid package. Since then, authority has been maintained through air superiority and the rigorous deployment of troops from the Kezan Sea Battalions.

Geography

The Hawshire Free State consists of an archipelago off the coast of the Natopian demesne Arboria. The largest island is Dura, where most people live.

Demographics

The population of the Isle of Dura is, as of 1656, 3,264,001, of which 43,761 are nobles. 950,000 of these live in the most populous and dense urban centres, the capital city and the nine Cities of Hawshire-Dura.

• Hawshire City: 350,000
• Trampet: 113,000
• Ifhyoea: 95,000
• Iftarr: 85,000
• Offtarr: 85,000
• Alumnity: 58,000
• Bornhet: 56,000
• Cripet: 45,000
• Montrir: 38,000
• Olypet: 28,000

The rest live in smaller towns and municipal centres. The other 50% of the County's population live in rural environments; 60% of the working population are employed in agriculture, mainly in fishing communities or raising livestock and cultivating crops.

The Isle of Dura's area is approximately 21,600km^2 and so the population density of ~140 people per km^2.

Education

Education in Hawshire-Dura is teetering on the brink between a privilege and a right. Modern comprehensive education has developed over the last thousand years since the association with Shireroth, before which the population was mainly rural and illiterate. Education of any kind was previously the preserve of the wealthy, the aristocracy and the clergy. The traditional form of education, by personal tutor, gave way to the foundation of schools as the population increased and the middle class emerged. Schools developed hand in hand with the explosion in urban population. Because the clergy had long been the most educated sector of society, religious schools were the first to be set-up as agreements between the Danubises and Reibas of the Church and local upper middle-class. These were merchants and owners of property who were not so rich as to be able to employ the clergy for one-to-one education.

This has developed to the point where local Circles are jointly responsible, with the County government, for the primary education of all local residents. Usually this amounts to the arrangement of tutors and registration of students, with a power to appropriate property for the purpose of the education of children of up to the age of 12. This phase is called "Common Education" though there is no national cirriculum and the quality of education wildly varies depending on the tutors available and the proactivity of the Reiba in charge of the Circle. It is not unheard of in rural Circles for a Protegos, a member of the military order dedicated to the defence of their local Circle, to be commissioned for the role of teacher. Budgets are handled by the Danubis, or local bishop.

The vast majority of the poor either do not complete Common Education or leave the educational system after that stage, either way most likely to contribute to the trade of their families in agriculture, be it harvesting crops or fishing. The joyous escape of these children from the halls of learning is in reality their spirits' solemn march as they begin their lives of relative poverty and thankless backbreaking manual labour- an unlucky few in the small industrialised sectors of mining and manufacture. However, the Circles that give them their first education will forever be their spiritual home and will nurse their aches and sores until one day their bodies, after so much toil, break, and they will be submitted to Morde and Miurta, the sister gods ruling over Death and Fate respectively, who will adjudge on their reincarnation.

The years of 12-15 for the children of the wealthy (and those persons, incredibly rare, who by sheer merit of genius are paid some scholarship by a wealthy family) are the start of a lifetime of learning, and these years are referred to as "Uncommon Education". These three years are, by Tetochette cyclical, mandated to be spent being introduced to the three Branches: the first, life as a Gentleman; the second, life as a Warrior; the third, life as a Priest. Each Branch concerns one aspect of the world and future careers. The Gentleman represents businessmen, diplomats, lawyers, managers, civil servants, and a multitude of other roles which may require specialist knowledge but certainly require a key set of skills and the quality of quality. The Warrior Branch offers the martial life of discipline, one dedicated to loyalty and order, as a religious Protegos, a soldier, a policeman, a bodyguard or even a travelling doemalion serving one master after another as Champion. The Priest, obviously, stands for roles in the Church, but also secular teaching roles, men of learning in higher educational institutes, and the medical profession. Each Branch gives opportunities for work in the County and abroad and will consist of a theoretical and religious introduction to each area, as well as speeches from the various employees actually serving in these roles discussing what each Branch means to them. These three years are meant to be spent as a learning experience, with the child, in conference with its parents and the local Reiba as well as other interested parties, deciding which of these three branches it shall take. Sometimes this is decided when the child is born if the family has a significant say, in which case sometimes the parents and Reiba agree to bypass the other two years, with special (costly) dispensation from the Danubis.

Naturally, next follows Branch Education, a varied period of life for young wealthy people, between the ages of 15 and 18. The first year is a more in-depth appraisal by tutors of the Branch as a whole, although again by dispensation this may be skipped. The focus is the second two years: in these years the student is free to build a course of education in as many of the roles that they are interested in, interwoven with practical placements lasting up to three months. These years can see the student travel far and wide, to specialist colleges for intense short courses on a particular aspect of a particular career, or to see the life of an employee in another part of the County- or, if the student's parents are wealthy enough, anywhere in Shireroth or even Micras. By the end of the three years, the hope is that the student will be fully aware of all the options within the branch, with in-depth knowledge of a few precise options which are then discussed with the local Reiba and their parents before they enter the next stage at 18. It is possible for students to transfer to another Branch, but only for a costly dispensation. The purpose of Uncommon and Branch Education together is to find a place for every person (who can afford the education) in the world - as a Reiba-Initiate, as an accountant, as a Doctor, or even an academic. It is therefore clear how greatly this Branch must vary.

So ends the Education system in Hawshire-Dura for the majority of even the wealthy. Higher Education is available for anyone who, again, can afford it, but it is not a requirement for most roles that are not religious or academic. In Duran culture, great emphasis is placed on finding your place in the world - pinpointing the purpose that underlies your current incarnation - and fulfilling that role. Therefore it is more important to Durans to see a career in action via a placement or apprenticeship, then learn key skills on the job. Examinations are held at the end of each Educational phase, and some careers require high grades due to competition and competence required, but the only stress that students experience is from themselves. The approach of society at large, and most (but not all) parents, is that students will find their place eventually - if they fail an Examination, that is simply evidence they were never meant to be a Doctor, or a high-ranking administrator, although if they can prove themselves on the job, that contrary evidence must be taken into light. The theory accomodates the poor very happily: some people need to undertake manual and agricultural jobs, and since some people already lack money, it follows that they were born in this incarnation to undertake that role. If they work diligently for their whole life, no doubt Morde and Miurta will smile on them and see them reincarnated as a Prince.

Sport

The island retains its own national football team which competes in FMF competitions. It retains the name of the island of Dura.