Sekowo

Sekowo (pronounced English: sɛˈkoʊwoʊ), officially the Federal Commonwealth of Sekowo, is a nation located on the continent of Dovani. It is bordered by Greater Hulstria to the north, the Bay of Lodo to the west, the Free Republic of Lourenne to the south-west and the F.C.S of Argos to the east.

History
The history of Sekowo is a long and complicated one, reaching back over two-thousand years. A significant amount of Sekowo's history up until the age of Aretism was recorded by various peoples for even more various reasons. Unfortunately an estimated 40% of historical records were destroyed during the Aretic reign, however thanks to preservation efforts during and shortly after the Aretic era around half of this information has been recovered.

Sekowan history is split into six "eras"; Ancient, Classic, Colonial, Union, Aretic and Modern Sekowo has no one original peoples, but rather has been comprised of many different cultures and civilizations.

However, while Sekowo has been the home to many different cultures, Sekowan history has only been primarily influenced by three of them. The Greco-Roman culture(s) of the coastal city-states, in which influence can be seen in Western Bizena, Lorrod, and to a lesser extent North-West Undarro. The Gao-Showa people and there ancestors have lived in the region for over a thousand years, however as Sekowo marked the western most part of the traditional Gao-Showa range Gao-Showan influence has historically only truly been seen in Hasowar and South-East Undarro. The third major culture was the Nordic Sørna, a group related to Kazulians, whom primarily influenced North-East regions of Sekowo, there presence can be seen the most in Hikhala, in which the old Nordic names for the regions are still used as the names for the Polis of Hikhala today and to a lesser extent Eastern Bizena and North-East Hasowar. Sekowo has seen significant change, going from the many kingdoms and city-states of the Ancient and Classical eras to the bringing of 'Western' civilization during the Colonial period to the turbulent Union era to the dark days of the Aretic age.

The modern era is considered to have started in the early 24th century, however the modern era itself, as the previous five is split into seperate sub-eras itself.

Government
The Federal Commonwealth of Sekowo is a Federal Semi-Presidential Commonwealth comprised of three branches of government, the Executive, Legislative and Judicial.

Executive
The Executive is comprised of the C'valyi (HoG), Tennō (HoS) and the Cabinet.

The Tennō is directly elected by the people through a two-tier system of instant run-off voting. The C'valyi and cabinet are chosen by the Tennō.

Politics
Sekowo is comprised of several diverse parties which most of the time have near equal seats, requiring them to work together with little chance of any party gaining a majority.

Military
The Federal Armed Forces of Sekowo, collectively known as the Sekowan military is comprised of the Army, Air Force and Navy.

The Sekowan military is comprised almost entirely of new vehicles and equipment, mostly do to massive expansions in the size of the military in the last twenty years.

Geography & Climate
Sekowo is comprised mostly of three different geographic zones.

The Northern part of the country is comprised of high mountains, because of this the area has a temperate climate in the summer and cold and snowy winters. The middle of the country is comprised of small mountains and mostly hilly terrain. The climate in the area is a mixture of Temperate and Sub-tropic with Summer and Winter temperatures varying year by year, though in all it is a mild and comfortable climate. The Lower South-East of the country is comprised of the Western most part of the Great Dovani plains. The climate in the area tends to be very warm, with summer highs in the triple digits.

Administrative Divisions
The Federal Commonwealth of Sekowo is a five-tiered government comprised of the Federal government, state governments, Poli governments, region governments and Municipal governments and the Federal city of Kasmenai that falls under Federal jurisdiction.

States
The States make up the primary administrative division of Sekowo. Since Sekowo is a Federation, each State has some semblance of a state itself, with a democratically elected Executive and Legislature and the ability to decide on there own local issues, but overall is a subsidiary geopolitical unit of the Sekowan Federal Commonwealth as a whole. Each of these areas, along with Sekowo itself are all states in the Sekowan Federation with their own elected head of government, head of state and Legislature.

Currently there are eleven states;
 * Argos
 * Cho'kun
 * Kurageri
 * Lýore
 * Medina
 * Midway
 * Rapa Pile
 * Sekowo proper
 * Shiratoku
 * Teoitan
 * Tropica

Regions
The regions make up the second level administrative divisions of Sekowo. Each state is comprised of five regions.

There is no single term for the regions as each state decides on the terms themselves. The current terms in use are; Federal District, District, Province, Prefecture, Région and Terra.

Polis
The Poli's make up the third level administrative division of Sekowo. Each region is comprised of five polis giving each state twenty-five. There are currently two-hundred and seventy-five Poli's in the Commonwealth.

The Poli's make up the County level of government, dealing with issues primarily effecting the municipalities and towns within them.

Municipalities
Municipalities make up the fourth and smallest administrative division of Sekowo. Municipalities are primarily made up of large cities or towns that are close-by each other.

The number of Municipalities in the Commonwealth is not a concrete number do to the creation and, merging and splitting of them happening every few years, however as of 2598 there are 5,588 Municipalities throughout the Federal Commonwealth of Sekowo.

Economy
Sekowo has a mixed economy, as well as a very developed social protection system. After the economically counter-productive Aretist period, Sekowo began a very long and painful process of regulated market liberalization and modernization quite successfully. Following its first decade of post-Aretist government, when the economic situation was disastrous, Sekowo made an impressive recovery, building a modern and diversified economy. Now the country is classified as a middle-income country, with large possibilities for continued development.

The actions of the cabinets during the last two decades to implement a far-reaching program of macroeconomic stabilization and structural reform aimed at maintaining price-stability, creating conditions for sustained growth, and alleviating scarcity are seen as the cause of Sekowo's recent economic growth, as well as the rise of a new dynamic middle-class capable of economic expansion.

The population in extreme poverty has decreased from 54.7% to 1.7% in the general population and from 74.1% to 6.7% in rural areas since the founding of modern Sekowo, and the GDP annual average growth over the long term has averaged 2-7%. Sekowo is a founding member of the Dovani Common Market Area, though it trades with several other countries as well.

Demographics
With a population of 249 million, Sekowo is the 5th most populous country in Dovani and 49th in the world. Sekowo's annual population growth has seen substantial increases as well as slower growth periods, however it is currently increasing at a rate of around 2.35% every five years. The average life expectancy is 95 (92 male, 98 female).

Immigration
Sekowo has been historically home to a number of immigrants from the surrounding countries, mostly from Hulstria (10%), Lourenne (10%) and Kazulia (5%). Many of the other significant immigrant groups are from the various territories of Eastern Dovani, including Gao-Showa and Kli'kut.

A growing number of immigrants have come from Talmoria, Vascania and the Kerisian nations.

Ethnicity
Like most nations in Dovani, Sekowan ethnicity is characterized by being a conglomeration of different peoples both from within the country itself as well as immigrants. The two largest ethnicities in Sekowo are that of Caucasians, the descendants of the original colonies as well as the Nordic populations form the North and the Asiatic, primarily comprised of Gao-Showa. The native Amerindian ethnicities, including, but not limited to the Kli'kut make up about 10% of the country in terms of ethnicity.

While over half of Sekowo is comprised of two main ethnicities there are in all five ethnicities that make the vast majority of Sekowo with a small amount of other Ethnic groups making up the rest.

Language
Sekowo is one of the most diverse countries in terms of languages. Sekowo has four official languages and three recognized languages.

The three most common first languages in Sekowo are English (30%), Gao-Showan (17%) and French (15%).

Normand, Pailesian and Greek make up the three largest minority languages.

Infrastructure & Transportation
The Infrastructure and Trasportation systems of Sekowo are extensive and highly developed.

Infrastructure
Sekowo's infrastructure system is extensive do to over a century of government ownership and investment ito various areas.

The communications infrastructure system is considered one of the most extensive and developed in Dovani with telecommunications lines connecting every home, office and building. The average Internet connection speed in Sekowo is 25 mb/s.

Transport
The transportation network of Sekowo consists of two primary transport systems, the railways and road system.

While roadways were at one time the most prevalent transport system in Sekowo following decades of environmental regulation laws in place the rail system replaced it as the primary means of transport.

The rail ysystem of Sekowo is unique in that roughly seventy percent of existing rail lines have been converted into MagLev routes connecting much of Sekowo proper and linking the major cities and population centers of the overall Commonwealth.

Culture
Sekowan culture is incredibly diverse do to Sekowo's population being comprised of many different groups from differing cultures. However Sekowan culture is most influenced by the Greco-Roman cultures of the coastal city-states, Nordic culture of the North-East, the Kli'kut and related cultures of the South and the Gao-Showan cultures that permiate the Eastern half of the country.

Holidays
While many holidays are celebrated in different regions there are several national holidays celebrated throughout the nation.

Three multi day celebrations are also celebrated throughout the country, the Summer Celebration that lasts from June 27th to July 10th, the Winter Holiday that lasts from December 19th to December 31st and the New Years menagerie which lasts from January 1st to the 5th.