Eternia

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The United States of Eternia, known in short-hand as Eternia, was formerly known as the Union of Frigia, Vulcania, and Koralia. Eternia is a unitary state located on a mostly frozen subcontinent southwest of Eura, known in ages past as Pacary. Known by various names to outsiders, it was originally referred to alternatively as "Frigia" due to the icebound region explorers and traders made first contact with. Despite knowledge that the country was called The Union of Frigia, Vulcania, and Koralia, it lacked a shorthand name, frustrating the natives for years.

Rather upset at the lack of balance in treatment to the rest of the country (specifically being named for less than half of itself), it was clear that the polity needed a shortened name its prominent leaders could agree with. Looks at the few remaining archives of the island's history failed to produce good results. After a deadlock in the country's small parliament, they turned to the King, then a purely religious figure. It was then that the King, after contemplating the nature of the divine, claimed that the gods revealed to him a long-forgotten name for the islanders: Eternia. The name represented an unchanging balance, an eternally frozen yet hospitable land unlike any other. A referendum in the core regions was held, which approved the name overwhelmingly.

The island takes a near-pacifist stance to foreign relations, instead preferring to conduct diplomacy through commerce and cultural exchange, while collaborating with major partners for self-defense on a bilateral basis. Because of the very low crime rate on the island and its high level of prosperity, the otherwise quiet and peaceful country offers itself as a niche tourist destination that has been increasing in popularity since its application for recognition by the MCS in 1718 AN. During the summer the country is a paradise for vacationers, although during the winter there are some parts of the country still hospitable for tourists to visit, if they're willing to brave the ice to get into the deep interior.

History

The country peacefully unified in the years leading to 1715 AN, through a long and quiet process. The country is led by King Sozin III, a formerly tribal leader who lived in Vulcania as the region's paramount chief for many years. The quiet country is known for the contrast of its hot springs in the interior, and harsh polar climate near most of its coastline, which remains nearly uninhabited save for the sparse natives and their exotic-looking flying mounts.

In recent years, as the country gained recognized sovereignty on Micras, it signed a infrastructure and maritime defense deal with the Imperial Federation in exchange for near-uninhabited islands off the country's northwest coast. In return, Eternia gained a vast sum of cash, as well as large infrastructure contracts to develop the island's most desolate regions, enabling it to gain sufficient strength to apply for MCS membership in 1718 AN.

Geography

The island of Eternia is a polar island in the far south of Micras that, were it not for its interior volcanic activity, would be entirely frozen and completely uninhabitable. The country consists entirely of this island and nearby islets, and a group of larger, icebound islands to the south. Most of the population lives in the interior, with only a single major city on the west coast able to operate off the coast year-round. (Population centers dot the otherwise frozen coastlines, but even the larger towns barely boast more than 5,000 people.)

Eternia is located southwest of Eura, and east of Tapfer, on the eternally icebound subcontinent known in ages past as Pacary. The country borders Athlon off its east coast, where the two have no contact due to the polar landscape preventing contact for many years. The Florian overseas territory of Etourney lies, for the most part, off to the northeast coast, with a tiny exclave sharing a land border with its polar northeast. No contact yet exists there either. Finally, the Imperial Federation holds island territory on its northwest coast, having purchased the land at a very high monetary and material cost to themselves.

Thanks to its interior's low-level yet widespread volcanic and geothermic activity, the island's interior is warm, with the Eternia's central caldera forming an island that contains the largest city and only year-round interior port in the country, named Vulcania. Most of the island is taken up by three provinces. Frigia occupies most of the western portion of the island, as well as much of the north. Koralia is found to the east, and holds the most ice-bound territory of the island. Vulcania's three districts form the country's interior, serving as a capital for the country's two halves.

Demographics

Only the interior is heavily populated, although the country has various port towns on the coast used to export exotic polar products, rare minerals, and in turn import foodstuffs and crops found elsewhere on Micras.

The island has a population of some 7.9 million people, most of which live in the interior districts. The island country has a tiny coast guard, and a small but highly advanced air force and ground force. Some flying dragonoid creatures call the islands home, but only the polar native tribes tame the creatures for hunting and transport, with the creatures avoiding the warmer interior parts of the country for reasons unknown.

Government

Eternia is led by a King, who in turn leads the country's unicameral Parliament. The Parliament consists of fifty representatives apportioned by population from those districts comprising Frigia, Vulcania, and Koralia. As Vulcania is the most populous in the country by far, its representatives are capped at half the Parliament, with the caveat that the King would always be a Vulcanian.

The Cabinet comprises a total of fifteen officials chosen by the Prime Minister, with approval from Parliament and given with the King's assent, as with all measures, according to the country's constitution.

Other than being able to veto legislation and appointments, the king's job is mostly religious, although post-unification he is supposed to weigh on political matters during rare times of gridlock in the country's parliament. The current king Sozin III, jokingly named the "Ice King" by foreign leaders, has nonetheless become a respected figure in the country due to his moderate stance in dealing with even the most contentious issues. The country's religious capital is on the island of South Frigia in the town of Agni-Qai, where the king journeys every winter for a ceremony of renewal and holds a special session of parliament.

Foreign Policy

Because of the country's almost total lack of a navy (relying instead on vast polar terrain as a potent natural defense against invasion) is nominally a protectorate of the Imperial Federation when it comes to coastal defense. In exchange for this and the transfer to Eternia of a vast sum of money's worth of infrastructure and defense deals (as well as hard cash), the Imperials hold the islands of North Frigia.

Despite their reliance on the Imperials for naval support, the otherwise isolated Eternia nonetheless enjoys independence in foreign policy thanks to its strong interior defenses. Rumor has it that the island's frigidity is what long deterred colonization outside of occupation of islands off the north coast, but this has been unconfirmed. However, the same frigid nature of most of the country's outer coastlines stimy trade with most of its neighbors, so Eternia has taken a slow pace to foreign policy, preferring to find unaligned partners or nations with friendly reputations to conduct business with.

Military

Eternia is, nearly by default, a pacifist country compared with most of the powers of Micras. The country's self-defense forces are small, although the interior is extremely well protected by both natural and manmade defenses. However, thanks to a combination of its relatively small size, the extremely small navy, and lack of exterior-facing military logistics, the army lacks the ability to deploy in force outside of the country to any real effect against powers with a comparable land size. While this also hurts trade, the country maintains just enough infrastructure to maintain trade routes during certain times of the year through its various port towns, for those nations that actively maintain trade with Eternia.

Despite its small military and near-lack of a navy, Eternia is ironically one of the most well-defended nations on Micras, relying on its vast trackless, polar wastelands to act as a natural barrier to invasion and on its advanced technology to counteract the small numbers of its troops. This two-pronged defensive stance does not allow for much external action, but allow the country to maintain its independence despite its proximity to some of Micras's strongest countries. The first prong is the hostile terrain itself. While foreign powers may hold Eternia's coastlines during an invasion, the lack of resources and the extremely harsh climate on nearly all of its outer coastline immediately grind the enemy down before defeated by the elements or by a well-placed strike from Eternia's relatively unaffected ground and air forces. The second prong in Eternia's defense is its technologically advanced interior, allowing the armed forces to easily repel attacks that actually make it inland.

The country's lack of a navy is a key vulnerability, though, as are its lack of infrastructure that allow its units to deploy quickly to the most frozen and far-flung reaches of the island without giving attackers the same advantages. The country, therefore, signed a defense agreement with the Imperial Federation, becoming an at-sea protectorate of sorts. To wean the country off the need for external defense, Eternia signed infrastructure deals with their new Imperial neighbors, as well as contracts to build the country's navy to a usable state. In exchange for these contracts (in addition to a vast sum of cash)), the Eternian government gave up its claims on the islands of North Frigia, allowing the Imperial Federation to use it as a strategic base between Eura and Tapfer as a part of the latter's Operation Icebox.