NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: I give credit for the layout to Thrashia (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=569066).


The Official Factbook of the Republic/Το επίσημο βιβλίο γεγονότος της Δημοκρατίας

History/Ιστορία

The Republic of Aresium is one of the world's many nations; created by the descendants of Ancient Greek settlers and sailors who took control of the land from local white tribes and, subsequently, mixed with them to create the Aresian race. At first, a long lineage of kings that descended from an Ancient Greek general ruled the land with a benevolent but iron fist but short lived democratic reforms helped drive the Platonic Republicans to power in the 1950s. Aresium, since then, has been governed along the lines of Platonic political thought.

Society/Κοινωνία

The Republic of Aresium's culture was syncretically created by the mixing of the Ancient Greek culture with that of the native tribes which inhabited the land prior to the arrival of the Greeks. As a result, many parts of Ancient Greek culture such as games and clothing (some Aresians publically wear Ancient Greek style clothing as part of a cultural movement) are still visible in the Republic along with many names originating from Greek mythology and legends. Historians commonly state that Aresian mythology was created by mixing Greek mythology with the myths of the native tribes. The Aresian language has plenty of Greek influences and the majority religion, known simply as the Old Faith, has been influenced by Greek philosophical thought. It is a widely known fact that Aresium was named after the Greek god, Ares (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ares).

Politics/Πολιτική

After the National Referendum took place on the 5th of March in 1953, the Platonic Republicans took power in the first democratic election in Aresian history with the vast majority of Aresians supporting the creation of a Platonic state under the leadership of Orestes Aran and his associates who dissolved the newlyborn democratic system and replaced it with a one party state. Aresium is generally governed according to Plato's Republic with significant influences in the legal code from Plato's Laws. A literalist interpretation of Platonic thought was rejected during the Transition according to historians but many Aresians have advocated literalism as the correct version of Platonic thought. Aresium is effectively governed by the Supreme Guardian who is first among equals in the ranks of the Guardians and who reigns alongside groups such as the Guardian Council and the Council of Twelve (led by the Supreme Guardian) which effectively manages foreign affairs, defense and other matters of state. There is not much democracy in Aresium save for when the people nominate political superiors for office and when they deliberate on issues in the Municipal Councils which manage cities and towns. When a Supreme Guardian dies or resigns, he or she is able to choose who shall succeed but if he or she is impeached, then the Guardians of the Laws, numbering about eighty six, nominate their own candidate. The people may have a voice but are generally unable to select their own leaders in terms of who shall lead the Aresian nation. All Supreme Guardians rule for life until impeached, dead or otherwise unable to rule.

Important Figures/Σημαντικοί αριθμοί

Philomena Kosseri (http://images.askmen.com/galleries/model/kelly-brook/pictures/kelly-brook-picture-1.jpg): The current Supreme Guardian of Aresium, Philomena Kosseri was the first of the two children born to Jason and Hera Kosseri best known for her ardent belief in the preservation of her father's policies and for her somewhat liberal tendencies towards openness in the political process which translates into allowing people more of a voice in than more power over the system. She has not served as the Supreme Guardian for long since she was recently chosen following the death of her father but much is expected of her by the people of the Republic. She is a single virgin, is twenty seven years old, and can trace her ancestry back to Ancient Greece.

Lanus Triton (http://images.inmagine.com/img/photoalto/paa229/paa229000027.jpg): Lanus Triton is the former commando who was enlisted by Jason Kosseri to be the bodyguard of Philomena Kosseri when she was only thirteen years old and who is well known for having been a teacher of self defense along with his role in helping to train prospective soldiers and agents. He is in his thirties and keeps a well structured routine of exercise and pleasure. His family, the Tritons, are well known for their links to the government.

Adra Zaril (http://www.theprintedgiftshop.com/images/ladies_blouse.jpg): Adra Zaril is the Commander of the Armed Forces (Councilwoman for Defense) of the Republic and second only to Philomena Kosseri in the chain of leaders of the Armed Forces of Aresium. Born into a patriotic family with links to ultra-nationalist cliques, Adra Zaril recieved a Spartan education during her childhood and developed an interest in warfare and military strategy alongside typically feminine hobbies which motivated her to join the Army after college. Rising through the ranks, Adra Zaril became the Commander of the Armed Forces during Jason Kosseri's term as Supreme Guardian. Adra is well known for her hardliner stance on most issues which originates from her ultranationalist upbringing; she is well known for her devotion to the Platonic Republic. She is in her thirties, married, and has two children.

Shandor Saran (http://images01.trafficz.com/cache/h3w4/500_1195261865_dressy_sxc.jpg): Shandor Saran is the Councilman for Economics best known for his defense of the participatory distributist system that was created during the term of Orestes Aran and for his ability to keep the economy afloat during world economic crashes and recessions. Born into a modest middle class family, Shandor Saran worked as a businessman for over twenty years before he joined the government as the Councilman for Economics. He comes from a influential family in the business world as well.

Levana Flaman (http://pro.corbis.com/images/CB039944.jpg?size=572&uid=%7B20DFBF7D-EF51-415B-9091-1B5A06C2F3AE%7D): Levana Flaman is the Councilwoman for Foreign Affairs best known as the foremost lesbian politician of Aresium. She was only a mere diplomat when she was appointed by Jason Kosseri to her post on the Council of Twelve before he died. Alongside her duties in politics, she publically campaigns for lesbian rights and often appears at charity galas for lesbian issues. She is single with no children.

Merikano Vadoma (http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/01/20/dragan_wideweb__470x387,0.jpg): Merikano Vadoma serves as the Councilman for Education best known for supporting the preservation of Spartan values in Aresian schools and for his refusal to allow municipal and provincial school boards to make their own cirriculums which implies his support for the National Cirriculum which all schools must teach. Originally a headmaster at a private school, Merikano Vadoma joined the Platonic Republican cause after reading Plato's The Laws (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_(dialogue)) and eventually became the Councilman of Education during Jason's term in office. He is also known as the oldest member of the Council.

Sophocles Piran (http://www.potlawyer.com/images/main/michael-walz-pot-lawyer.jpg): Sophocles Piran is the Councilman for Justice and former lawyer best known as a leading icon of Aresian conservatism and for his devotion to ensuring that all trials are fair and efficient and to ensuring all laws are obeyed.

Yani Loran (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/77/KostasGeorgakis.jpg): Yani Loran is the personal assistant of Philomena Kosseri who usually is seen following her at public events and military parades to help her when she requires assistance.

Detailed History (Λεπτομερής ιστορία)

Long before the Ancient Greeks accidentally discovered Aresium, the Republic was populated by tribesmen who mostly lived under the rule of chieftains including Manderas who would eventually unite all Aresian tribesmen under his rule about fifty years before the first Greek colonists arrived. Much is known about Manderas due to the recollections of Samus, an epic poet best known for composing the Manderiad which effectively turned Manderas into the founding father of Aresium and as the all conquering and wise hero who saves the people from destruction. Although the nation of Aresium will often be said to have been officially founded by Cleomenes, a Greco-Aresian warlord, Manderas is hailed as the founder of Aresium in general since historians separate the creation of Aresium (Manderas) from the Kingdom of Aresium (Cleomenes) in textbooks.

Both Samus and Manderas died before the Greeks arrived to colonize the north which was still open to settlement despite being effectively under Aresian control. The leader of these colonits was Anaximander of Corinth who was a sailor best known for his service in the wars that plagued ancient Greece. He and his fleet were driven off course by a storm that led them straight to Aresium where they were recieved by the native Aresians who gave them shelter and protection. Anaximander of Corinth eventually made his way to the King of Aresium where he was given so much praise by the people that Anaximander was not only given an honorary post but also the hand of Manderas' daughter in marriage; it was his marriage to Adara Rutuli that produced the long line of Greco-Aresian kings and queens who would soon reign over the land after a bloody civil war took hold. The men who formed the fleet of Anaximander mostly took Aresian wives or made their way back to Greece to be with their families. It is unknown whether they made it back successfully or not.

Although the purely Aresian line of Manderas died out within the span of several years following the beginning of Greek settlement which brought about a civil war between factions that competed with each other for control. The Greco-Aresian line soon came into the spotlight when Cleomenes of Thales emerged from relative obscurity to claim control of vast tracts of land whilst marrying a highly dreaded Amazon queen by the name of Adara of Themiskyra who was well known for leading her armies at the forefront of battle and for her ruthlessness towards enemies which earned her infamy all over the nation. A courtier by the name of Perses writes that the two were so madly in love that they fought together in battle as merely a romantic gesture towards one another and that they were feared as the lovers who bathed in blood.

It took six years according to Perses for Adara and Cleomenes to claim total control of Aresium and the year of Aresium's creation corresponds with the death of Alexander the Great. The Annals of Perses record that their coronation was celebrated with mass executions and jubliation and that the children were docked out in all sorts of luxurious fineries with the heir to the throne being Cleomenes II who was the first born child. Perses recorded that Cleomenes II was well known as the muscular and rugged young man who spent many days in romantic flings with a girl by the name of Aspasia whose slutty behavior effectively ceased after one night with Perses according to legend. Another legend says that Cleomenes II was making love to his wife during a meeting with his ministers but some historians believe this legend is more of a joke generated at the expense of Aspasia who was well known for acting like a slut around the father of her children.

The Hellenization of the Aresian Natives did gain significant ground following the creation of the Kingdom of Aresium but was unable to displace the Native Aresian culture which endured the rise in the adoption of Greek traditions and customs such as the wearing of Ancient Greek clothing which is still done to this day thanks to the Ancient Revival Movement. Temples were built to the deities of Greece amidst the already standing groves and temples dedicated to the Aresian deities and religious syncreticism began to occur with the mixing of Greek and Aresian mythological tradition. There was an elaborate court system of religion in which the King and Queen would routinely offer thanks to Zeus for his blessings over them. Zeus Olympios became the official court title given to the supposed Father God who reigned over them in unison with the other deities. It has been suggested that the Greco-Aresians followed a mixture of Greek and Aresian mythology while the pure blooded Greeks and native Aresians followed their own traditions and refusing to mix them with the traditions of others. There was also the importing of Spartan values into Aresium due to the Spartan soldiers who not only called Aresium their new home but who still lived by their austere militarist code of life. Experiments in Athenian style democracy were ended with the creation of the centralized government which governed the land entirely from the Royal Palace in Thales where philosophers of both Greek and Native Aresian philosophy would gather and debate amongst themselves. It has been suggested that Zeus, Athena and Ares were the favorite deities of the Greeks who had political authority in the Kingdom and evidence includes the construction of massive temples dedicated to them along with the numerous references to these deities by numerous orators and scholars. Cleomenes II was the only King of Aresium to put a great emphasis on worshipping Aphrodite which he did for the entirety of his reign in thanksgiving for having Aspasia as his wife in the Temple of Aphrodite Morpho which he built in Thales. When Cleomenes II died, Aspasia lived out the rest of her life as a celibate priest in a shrine dedicated to Aphrodite which she had built for her own personal use and which still stands to this day as a sign that Aspasia sincerely loved the man she married.

Cleomenes the Third was born in 323 BC about six days after the coronation of his grandfather as the King of Aresium and was given a rigid Spartan education by the teachers of the court whom his father had appointed for the task of making him into an ideal man. The lessons were deeply rooted in the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle along with plenty of athletic exercise coupled with military training as requested by Cleomenes II according to court records which also state similar lessons were requested for the siblings of the heir to the throne although each child generally had a distinct education. The family lived in a massive compound generally called the Royal Palace out of its status as the home of the Royal Family where they lived and made offerings in the temples built in the compound for easy access. This compound was in use until 1857 when the Royal Government moved to Laches after turning over the deed to the Royal Compound to a charitable organization that maintains historic landmarks.

The reign of Cleomenes II was relatively peaceful save for the brief Prisoners' Rebellion which was rooted in the old feuds with other factions started by the King's father during his campaign to unify Aresium and which was easily smashed after the Battle of the Plains in which the army of vagabonds and escaped prisoners were routed by Antigonus the Lysian who was later the namesake of the Antigonid branch of the Cleomenid Dynasty when he married Princess Iphigenia of Aresium who was the eldest sister of Cleomenes the Third. There were other branches of the Cleomenids founded out of the marriages of Prince Hector and Princess Cassandra and all three of these branches are not only recognized as the foremost branches of the Cleomenid Dynasty but which still have living members to this day who hold all sorts of authority in the worlds of business and religion among others. The Prisoners' Rebellion was the only rebellion of major significance in the reign of Cleomenes II since the other rebellions were generally recognized as too insignificant to mention extensively rather than in just brief statements. It was suggested by the Annals of Ptolemy the Elder that Cleomenes II did not care at all for the rebels and that his only command to Antigonus was that he simply go and kill them all. Cleomenes II died from heart failure with only his wife by his side since he had expressly requested that he die with only her around. Aspasia's death was registered about one year after that of Cleomenes with allegations that she had died of a broken heart since she was otherwise in good health. Cleomenes III was coronated about four days following his father's death. Ptolemy the Elder makes note that Cleomenes II had celebrated his coronation by making love to his wife till sunrise but that Cleomenes III celebrated by praying for hours at the Temple of Zeus in the hopes he would be blessed with a good reign. Cleomenes III was best known as being the man with a Spartan body and an Athenian mind according to modern historians.

Ptolemy the Elder writes that Cleomenes III formulate