Xirnium
12-02-2008, 07:14
Xirnium
Officially the Eternal Republic of Xirnium, occasionally and colloquially the Bright Republic, a highly developed, hyper-civilised, postmodern, postindustrial and humanist Western democracy of ancient origin, located in northwest Europe. Xirnium lies in the Atlantic Ocean, near the Arctic Circle and to the northwest of Scandinavia, north of Amestria her closest neighbour. The country comprises four main islands and a number of smaller islands, collectively the Home Islands. Her capital is Närväryn, the Dreaming City of the North.
The Eternal Republic began to emerge from a loose confederation of provinces and city-states towards the end of Europe’s Dark Ages, led by an elected emperor in thrall to a powerful feudal aristocracy. Today she is home to a well-established parliamentary government that dates from the seventeenth century and an unwritten constitution based on the principles of popular sovereignty and the rule of law. Following her defeat in the Second World War, which Xirnium fought on the side of the Axis powers, the country pursued a policy of unarmed neutrality and nonalignment that she has been slow to abandon, but which is beginning to fray. Contemporary Xirnium is one of the foremost advocates of building a community of nations based in international law.
Consensus defines the Eternal Republic’s political landscape – dominated historically by broad-based leftist coalitions – and if the socialists have moderated their ambitions for nationalisation, then an impotent liberal right has long since resigned itself to extensive governmental intervention in the nation’s economy. An idyllic quietness has been the legacy of such harmony, but ennui is its curse. Tellingly, the cherished social model continues to escape real criticism, despite Xirnium’s flagging economic growth and ever rising taxes.
To be a citizen of the Eternal Republic once implied a standard of affluence and education rarely equalled in the Western world, it assured political stability, an enviable welfare system and indulgent living standards. Xirnium has become a byword for excellent public hospitals and world-class state schools, but also for stagnation, complacency and indolence. Her people are cynical as a rule, insulated from reality within the dense, crawling cityscapes and over-ornate, airless sitting rooms that they have abandoned their halcyon countryside for – more than four-fifths of Xirnium is mountainous and most is heavily forested – they are contemptuous in their libertine perversity, sophisticated and bored.
Today the Eternal Republic is a nation in the October of her incredibly long-lived history, poisoned by Decadent philosophy and choking on cultural elitism. She is dying of civilisation. Having peaked, Xirnium is in the slow decline before her fall.
Conventional long form: Eternal Republic of Xirnium.
Conventional short forms: Xirnium; Eternal Republic.
Form of Government: unitary multiparty republic with two legislative houses (Parliament; National Assembly [510]; Council of the Estates [220]).
Chief of state: Lord Protector.
Head of government: Prime Minister.
Capital: Närväryn.
Population: 5 172 679 812 (Feb, 2008).
Official languages: Xirniumite English; Metropolitan French.
Official religion: none.
National anthem: Hail to Thee in Splendour Everlasting.
Monetary unit: 1 Xirniumite aythir (Xn A) = 100 aythir cents; valuation (12 Feb, 2008) EUR € 1 = Xn A 1.20.
Officially the Eternal Republic of Xirnium, occasionally and colloquially the Bright Republic, a highly developed, hyper-civilised, postmodern, postindustrial and humanist Western democracy of ancient origin, located in northwest Europe. Xirnium lies in the Atlantic Ocean, near the Arctic Circle and to the northwest of Scandinavia, north of Amestria her closest neighbour. The country comprises four main islands and a number of smaller islands, collectively the Home Islands. Her capital is Närväryn, the Dreaming City of the North.
The Eternal Republic began to emerge from a loose confederation of provinces and city-states towards the end of Europe’s Dark Ages, led by an elected emperor in thrall to a powerful feudal aristocracy. Today she is home to a well-established parliamentary government that dates from the seventeenth century and an unwritten constitution based on the principles of popular sovereignty and the rule of law. Following her defeat in the Second World War, which Xirnium fought on the side of the Axis powers, the country pursued a policy of unarmed neutrality and nonalignment that she has been slow to abandon, but which is beginning to fray. Contemporary Xirnium is one of the foremost advocates of building a community of nations based in international law.
Consensus defines the Eternal Republic’s political landscape – dominated historically by broad-based leftist coalitions – and if the socialists have moderated their ambitions for nationalisation, then an impotent liberal right has long since resigned itself to extensive governmental intervention in the nation’s economy. An idyllic quietness has been the legacy of such harmony, but ennui is its curse. Tellingly, the cherished social model continues to escape real criticism, despite Xirnium’s flagging economic growth and ever rising taxes.
To be a citizen of the Eternal Republic once implied a standard of affluence and education rarely equalled in the Western world, it assured political stability, an enviable welfare system and indulgent living standards. Xirnium has become a byword for excellent public hospitals and world-class state schools, but also for stagnation, complacency and indolence. Her people are cynical as a rule, insulated from reality within the dense, crawling cityscapes and over-ornate, airless sitting rooms that they have abandoned their halcyon countryside for – more than four-fifths of Xirnium is mountainous and most is heavily forested – they are contemptuous in their libertine perversity, sophisticated and bored.
Today the Eternal Republic is a nation in the October of her incredibly long-lived history, poisoned by Decadent philosophy and choking on cultural elitism. She is dying of civilisation. Having peaked, Xirnium is in the slow decline before her fall.
Conventional long form: Eternal Republic of Xirnium.
Conventional short forms: Xirnium; Eternal Republic.
Form of Government: unitary multiparty republic with two legislative houses (Parliament; National Assembly [510]; Council of the Estates [220]).
Chief of state: Lord Protector.
Head of government: Prime Minister.
Capital: Närväryn.
Population: 5 172 679 812 (Feb, 2008).
Official languages: Xirniumite English; Metropolitan French.
Official religion: none.
National anthem: Hail to Thee in Splendour Everlasting.
Monetary unit: 1 Xirniumite aythir (Xn A) = 100 aythir cents; valuation (12 Feb, 2008) EUR € 1 = Xn A 1.20.