Whales

Natopian demesne Whales
Flag Coat of Arms
Motto: TBA
250px|Location of Whales|frameless
Map versions	TBA
Capital	Kujira-kei / Hauptstadt Walstadt
Largest cities	n/a
Official language(s)	Saxon, Sangunese
Official religion(s)	None
Demonym	Whaler
- Adjective	Whaler/Whales
Official full name	鯨國公國 Fürstentum Walstaat Principality of Whales
Government under the Constitution of Natopia	demesne
- Demesnial Charter	Constitution of Whales (suspended)
- Empress of the Natopians	Vadoma I
- Prince	Daniel Lors Simrani-Kalirion
- Grand Pensionary	Augustin Engels-Kammersdorf, Lord of Abnendinsel
- Demesnial Legislature	None (1719 AN)
- Part of (Demesnial Union)	-
Key Historical Dates
- Establishment	1592 (as the Principality of Walstadt-Kujirashi) 1648 (Renamed The Two Martyrs) 1688 (Renamed Principality of Whales)
Area
Population	683,035
Key Landmarks	Mandible Hill
Abbreviation	TBA (FMF abbreviation)
Administrative divisions of Natopia

The Principality of Whales (Sangunese: 鯨國公國, translit.: Kujiraguni Kōkoku, Saxon: Fürstentum Walstaat) is a principality and demesne of Western Natopia. Historically known as Walstadt, Wahlstadt, Kujirashi (鯨市), "whale city", and the Two Martyrs, its economy is largely based on whaling and fishing, with some mining and land management on the side. Recently, tourism has started to become a noticeable part of the local economy.

The Principality is organized in five provinces, the Province of Asara Eliana (historically known as the Principality of Walstadt) which includes the demesne's territory on the south eastern-corner of the Cibolan mainland (except Volksburg) and Province of the Islands of Light, Monovia (located along the southern coast of Cibola, including two islands), Volksburg, a province and one lordship of its own, and Shintakushima, the island that was until recently occupied by Birgeshir.

Name

The name of the demesne is (the) Principality of Whales in Istvanistani, (das) Fürstentum Walstaat in Saxon, and 鯨國公國 (Kujiraguni kōkoku) in Sangunese.

The Istvanistani name is Whales, and although it is a plural word, it is normally referred to in the singular, such as "Whales is a principality" rather than "Whales are a principality". The name is derived from the earliest name of the Principality, Walstadt (Whale city) and its Sangunese equivalent Kujirashi (鯨市, also "whale city").

The modern Saxon name, Walstaat (literally "whale state") is, in a way, a pun on the old name, Walstadt (whale city, which also remains the name of the principality's capital in Saxon), and the only difference between these names is the pronunciation of the last "a" (long in the new name, short in the old name and the city). Only in careful speech is this observed. Saxons around Whales tend to pronounce Walstaat as if it were spelt Walstadt.

The Sangunese name, 鯨國 (Kujirakuni), literally means "whale country". The characters were chosen to have the native Sangunese reading, rather than the Tieyan-inspired reading Geikoku. However, "principality", 公國 kōkoku do not carry the native reading but rather the Tieyan-derived one. As such, the official name, 鯨國公國, carries the character 國 twice, but in the official name it carries two different etymologically unrelated pronunciations.

Prior to the establishment of the Principality of Whales, the demesne was called the Viceroyalty of the Two Martyrs. In Saxon, this was rendered as the Vizekönigreich der beiden Märtyrer (literally translated as the "Vice-kingdom of both the Martyrs"), and in Sangunese as 二人殉教者総督省 (Futari Junkyōsha Sōtokushō, literally "the two martyred persons' province"). This name was highly unpopular in the demesne, in both of the national language communities.

History

See also Rulers of Whales

Pre-principality

• 1500: Asara Eliana and Volksburg colonized by Germania
• 1505: Asara Eliana and Volksburg brought under the Free State of Saxony (under the Germanian Federal Republic)
• 1506: Germania collapsed, went back to the Green
• 1516: Asara Eliana and Volksburg brought under the Kingdom of Monovia
• 1528: Asara Eliana and Volksburg Brought under Craitland's Zandarijn
• 1573: Craitland/Zandarijn vacated Asara Eliana and Volksburg
• 1584: Asara Eliana and Volksburg occupied by Rossheim-Slavonia-Volksburg within the Kingdom of Sangun, Riskai and the Idunn Isles
• 1591: City of Walstadt founded by whalers from Rossheim-Slavonia-Volksburg within the Kingdom of Sangun, Riskai and the Idunn Isles.
• 1592: Raised to principality under Elijah Ayreon.

Blutwasser era

Reign of Ludwig (1624–1627)

Ludwig von Blutwasser is adopted by Mirza Jonathan Merlingsson Ayreon-Kalirion, the Prince of Kujirashi-Walstadt. After the death of his adoptive father in 1624, Ludwig ascends the throne. At the time, the demesne's legislative powers are held by the House of Nobility, which is unlikely to support his agenda. Luckily for Ludwig, he has twenty-seven children who he all gives titles to create a family majority in the House of Nobility. With this newfound majority, the Prince swiftly introduced a new Instrument of Government, in which all legislative power was moved to the Prince, with the House of Nobility only becoming an advisory council.

1647–1648: Fall of Walstadt

Main article: Fall of Walstadt.

Two Martyrs (1648–1688)

Following the deposition of the last Prince of Walstadt, politics in the demesne were unsettled. The deposition caused some unrest between the two major ethnic groups, the Walstädters and the Kujirashijin, who for many years refused to cooperate with one another on a new constitution. The Caprine Code charged the nobles of the Two Martyrs to write a new constitution, but this failed at several times. The temporary government was then vested in Kaiser Ayreon IV, as Patriarch of the House of Ayreon-Kalirion, and, after his untimely death, in his daughter Kaiseress Salome. Once Salome came of age, she took an interest in the situation in the Two Martyrs and appointed her eldest brother, Prince Kir, Lord of Kigazeki, once he was old enough, to be her representative and viceroy in the Two Martyrs. He set up a constitutional convention which began its slow work in 1685. As of 1687, a constitution was being drafted, but emotions between the various groups are tense, and the commoners of the demesne are demanding more and more freedoms. This threatens, in the view of Prince Kir, the fragile economic stability on which any new constitution would depend. There are also loud calls, particularly from the Association of Whalers and Fishermen of Walstadt and Light, for independence of the Two Martyrs.

Principality of Whales (1688–present)

In 1688, following the conclusion of a long constitutional convention, the demesne changed its name from the Viceroyalty of the Two Martyrs to the Principality of Whales, with a new flag, constitution, and political system. At the same time, Prince Kir was named Prince of Whales.

On 2.VII.1703, Kir was found dead in a deconstructed state upon arrival in the Walstadt Gate, having travelled there one second earlier from Huyenkula Gate. A formal investigation was launched, with the hypothesis that the gate was malfunctioning. The last will and testament signed in Kir's name, appointed Daniyal ibn Daniyal as his successor. After receiving assurances for her safety and the safety of her children Kir's widow was provided with the means to depart Walstadt for Shirekeep. She took with her an ornamental urn, presented by the executors of the Will as containing the indicative remains of her late husband. Matters pertaining to the inheritance and the succession in Whales were administered by employees of the Honourable Company in Cibola, thereby ensuring an orderly transition of power.

On 19.VI.1704 AN Daniyal ibn Daniyal took direct control of the judicial arm of the state, appointing himself as Tribune of the Court of Cassation & the Court of Admiralty, with Frederik Anders the Younger, commander of the ESB garrison at Chur appointed as Chief Notary to control the administration of justice and the determination of which cases should be heard before the courts.

In spite of efforts to maintain a cordial relationship between the species, the safir of Whales became increasingly discontented with their position within Humanist-led Whales; accordingly, on 9.IV.1707 AN, the community leaders of the lordships in which the safir predominated presented a petition to the Prince asking that their request to emigrate en masse to Opaeghia, the demesne with the second largest concentration of their sisteren, be unopposed. Upon deliberation with his council, the Prince responded to the delegation four days later, promising that the Principality would provide financial and logistical support to whomsoever amongst wished to emigrate. Moreover, the Prince gave the community leaders a four-month period of grace in which to put their affairs in order, but also to reconsider their desire to emigrate should they so wish, at the end of which period all forms of transportation would be ready and available to convey them hence. After that grace period, those tasked with statistical oversight of the emigration noticed that passenger numbers deeply failed to meet the Whelsh safir population theretofore, with many vehicles chartered for the occasion being empty, suggesting that the Prince's plea to reconsider was largely successful.

On 2.XIV.1708 the Second Ludwiggian-Monovian War saw an unprovoked native attack carried out against the Whaler commercial settlement in Nieuw Rotterdam. This siege, conducted by a significant host that had been armed and equipped by the Ludwiggians, resulted in the expulsion of the small colony of commercial factors. In reply therefore, the Prince of Whales authorised the wronged investors of the Nieuw Rotterdam venture to recoup their losses by taking cargoes from the maritime trade of Stadt Sankt Ludwigshafen, Louisville, and Oudorp. The Prince also gave orders for a razzia to be conducted against the Zandt communities of the border region and the Green. To Frederik Anders was given the task of ensuring that satisfactory restitution would be made.

When the envoy from Whales finally arrived in Stadt Sankt Ludwigshafen he was invited to a meeting with a delegation from the Stadtparlement. He was presented with an offer for Sankt Ludwigshafen to buy the plantation, along with all associated rights and duties for according to the value it had before the assault. In addition Sankt Ludwigshafen would pay a premium to compensate for the unfortunate circumstances and it would organise and pay for the funeral services for all that had perished, and would provide widow and orphan pensions to family members left behind. After a bit of haggling on the price, an agreement was signed and Whales and Sankt Ludwigshafen returned to what was hoped to be cordial relations.

These hopes were misplaced, however. Tensions with what was to become the Lanzerwald quickly resurfaced with the appearance of scouting parties along Whales' northern border resulting in generalised hostilities towards the end of 1709 AN. The complicity of dissident lords in guiding scouting parties and a survey mission through the portions of the Green facing Whales was sensationally confirmed by the confessions of two scouts captured by ESB-Cossacks. The testimony was enough to convince Frederik Anders to authorise the arrest of the Lord of Mandible Hill, Timur Osman von Szintakuszima, on charges of suspected treason. The erection of a set of gallows on Mandible Hill was, for the most part, pure theatre since it would require a special derogation from the Emperor of Western Natopia for a formal execution to be carried out.

From 1712 AN onwards Frederik Anders the Younger acted as regent for the Prince, receiving custody of the great seal of office.

The eleventh month of 1716 AN saw the outbreak of riots in Walstadt following the news that Frederik Anders, the harsh regent of the demesne, had departed for Lindstrom to assume the position of Secretary of Defense in the Imperial Court of Natopia. In his place would soon be arriving Daniel Lors Simrani-Kalirion, the grandson of the Prince, to assume the regency. Not only was this youth wholly untried and untested, but his sole experience of Whales had been a three year stint at the recently opened Humanist Institute on Mandible Hill. This particular detail hardly endeared him to the Lords either. The latest round of insane fratricide on the northern frontier had already set the communities of Whales on edge and at variance at each other. Even the security apparatus was beginning to show signs of disaffection, with rumours of the impending abandonment of Chur eating into the morale of the garrison from the Honourable Company consigned to that dismal outpost.

For many of the lords the final straw came when news began to leak that the mere boy was to be granted the revenue of four vacant lordships with which to commence his regency.

In the fifth month of 1719 AN, Daniyal ibn Daniyal made over Whales to Daniel Lors Simrani-Kalirion, enjoining him to rule directly and to remake the constitutional order. To this end Daniel appointed Augustin Engels-Kammersdorf, hitherto the obscure lord of Abnendinsel, to serve as his "Grand Pensionary", and oversee the remaking of the Constitution of Whales, which was withdrawn for revision. During this period of constitutional reordering, Daniel was to exercise direct rule. The lords were however assured that their titles and domains would be respected and the safir received a further guarantee that they would not be subjected to expulsion or any other form of punitive actions, contingent upon all subjects adopting a constructive attitude towards the process of reordering.

Languages

Languages of Whales
Official	Saxon Sangunese
Main	Natspeak
Minority	Âirumâli

The national, or official, languages of the Principality are Saxon and Sangunese. However, cross-community interaction occurs in Natspeak (Istvanistani). More recently, with increased immigration of safir to Whales, the standing of the Âirumâli has increased so much that it is regarded as de facto official on the principality level.

Lordships

See also Lordships of Whales

The territory of the demesne is carved up into various lordships. Land is owned only by lordships, the people living on them are tenants or leaseholders. In most cases, a lordship consists of a manor (with the same name as the lordship), and a village for the workers of the estate and related businesses (clinic, schools, shops, specialized businesses, etc.). Inland, the estates generally derive their income from mining, quarrying, and, in some cases, hunting. While coastal lordships often have the same opportunities, they can also derive their income from the sea in terms of fishing and harvesting other sea animals (excepting whaling, which is under the monopoly of the Saint Andre Trading Company).

The lordships of Walstadt–Kujira-kei, Volksburg–Hitoshi, Lichtstadt-Kōkei, Genf, Zürich, and Bern, are urbanized. These lordships derive their income from tenancies and leases (which is generally considered a type of tax for local municipal services). In order to move from one lordship to one another, one requires the consent of the lordship to which one seeks to move. In most cases, this is a matter of formality.

Lordships are legally one indivisible corporation vested in its lord. While it cannot be carved up, it can be sold, traded, and inherited – for as long as the new owner is one physical person. In practice, lordships are kept in the family, inherited by usual rules of primogeniture.

Vacant lordships have the viceregal government as its lord, though profits must be reinvested in the lordship in question.

The lordship of Elfinschenheide (妖精林 Yōseibayashi) was destroyed, which occurred in 1688 due to Vanic contaminations. Later, the same year the lordships of Eliaskoog, Richardskoog, Jonathanskoog, Sperrwek and Heinrichskoog were destroyed and carved up by their neighbouring lordships due to insolvency.

The New Territories, formed from newly annexed coastal land, constituted one lordship from 1689 until 1694, when it was carved up into ten lordships.

Geography

See also Maps of Whales

Society

Whales considers Sangunese and Saxon its two national languages. They are equal to one another in all respects. Âirumâli, spoken by most safir in Whales, is a protected language by law, with near-equal status to Sangunese and Saxon.

Roughly 85% of the population are human, 15% safir or naga.

Of the population, roughly 35% has Saxon as its native language, 30% Saxon, 9% Âirumâli, 4% Batavian (mainly in the Volksburg area), 2% Thraci, and 20% other languages (mainly Istvanistani, Īnēmāli, Zandt, and Monovian) as a native language. Istvanistani is the language of cross-culture communication, as it is considered neutral.

The two main cultural groups of the demesne, the Sangunese (often calling themselves Kujirashijin) and the Saxons (calling themselves Walstädters) have historically had a bad relationship with one another. Consequently, they tend not to intermingle with one another unless necessary. They have their own schools, cultural organizations, and labour in the lordships is often organized on linguistic grounds.

The economy of the demesne is dependent on fishing, whaling, quarrying, and mining. Before 1688, the Caprine Code stated that, "The right to conduct whaling operations from the Viceroyalty of the Two Martyrs is invested in the Saint Andre Trading Company (SATCo) as sole proprietor of the operation in perpetuity." This meant that the largest employer in the demesne was the Saint Andre Trading Company. Whalers are almost all organized in the union-cum-political party Association of Whalers and Fishermen of Walstadt and Light (AWFWL), which is the largest organization in the demesne. However, after 1688, SATCo lost its monopoly on whaling.

Football

Main article: Football in Whales

There are a few cultural things that bring the cultural groups together, one is the shared joy of football (often including mixed cultural/linguistic teams), where usually a lordship would sponsor the local team in an effort to foster a sense of local patriotism and shared identity. It is mainly through football that local identities in Whales are developed – other identities generally relate to one's ethnic, linguistic, cultural, or professional background (a local saying goes: "My ancestors, all blacksmiths, elected me blacksmith" taken from a poem by Zait Gaist).

Politics

Political situation

The Constitution dictated: "The title of Prince of Whales shall be governed by the law of absolute primogeniture among a late Prince's legitimate descendants, with respect to the primacy of a late Prince of Whales' will. Without a will, and without legitimate descendants, the title shall pass to Prince Kir's father's descendants under the same law of absolute primogeniture."

The constitution was however withdrawn in the fifth month of 1719 AN as Daniyal ibn Daniyal transferred the principality into the possession of Daniel Lors Simrani-Kalirion, allowing the boy to earn his spurs by assuming direct rule over the remote territory.

The principality is presently administered on behalf of the Prince by a "Grand Pensionary", exercising the delegated powers permitted to a Natopian demesne.

Frenzy

For purposes of the Natopian Frenzy elections, all Natopian citizens of Whales may vote in the Lesser Frenzy elections. Each province is one constituency, and members are elected by the method of first-past-the-post. See 1685 Two Martyrs Lesser Frenzy elections.

For the Greater Frenzy elections, the lordships in Monovia send 4 representatives, the Jazâ'ir an-Noor 3, Shintakushima 1, Asara Eliana 3 and Volksburg 1. The provincial council of lords decide on the delegations. See 1685 Two Martyrs Greater Frenzy elections.

See also

• Administrative divisions of Natopia
• Demesne