Aloria

The Democratic Republic of Aloria (commonly referred to as Aloria) is a federal constitutional republic comprising five states and a federal district. The country is situated in Northwestern Artania, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Dorvik to the northeast, Kirlawa in the east. Dundorf in the southeast and Rutania to the south. The blue waters of the Verranderlijke Ocean form the western borders.

The nation was founded as a monarchy in the 14th century, occupying the most of current Aloria. On June 26, 2110, they issued the Alorian Constitution, which proclaimed their formation of the Democratic Republic of Aloria.Aloria is best known for it's large devolution and famous federal system. It was the first country in the world with a fargoing devoluted federal system. Aloria is also one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.

Etymology
Aloria is named after Caius Alorius, a Selucian conqueror leader who unified the areas between the rivers Krentori and Verita under one rule. Although the empire was officially named the Holy Empire, many people reffered to it as the Holy Alorian Empire or Alorian Empire, because it was ruled for several hundred years by the Alorius dynasty (descendants from Caius Alorius). After the collapse of the empire in 1054, many still called the area Aloria, and the many duchies in wich the Holy Empire fell apart, were known as the Alorian Duchies. In 1306, king Charles I used Aloria for the name of his new created kingdom. The standard way to refer to a citizen of the Democratic Republic of Aloria is as an Alorian.

Geography


Aloria occupies Antaria's northwest corner. On Aloria's northeastern border is Dorvik; on its eastern border is Kirlawa; on its southeastern border is Dundorf; and along its southern border is Rutania. The blue waters of the Verranderlijke Ocean wash ashore on Aloria's West Coast.

Aloria has five states: Gavonshire, Krentori, Kurmal, Sildar and Ultran

Physiographic divisions
Aloria has a varied topography. A broad, flat coastal plain lines the Verranderlijke Ocean shores from the Alorian-Rutanian border to Ultran City, and includes the Sildar peninsula. Areas further inland feature rolling hills and temperate forests, most notably Sildar Forest. The Yellow Mountains form a line of low mountains separating the western seaboard from the Great Plains. Western Aloria contain subtropical forests and, near the Krentori River Delta, mangrove wetlands, especially in Krentori. Along the coast of the Sildarian Penisula is a series of low mountain ranges known as the Sildarian Coast Ranges. Much of the Alorian Northeast coast is inhabited by some of the densest vegetation, as well as some very vertile valleys.

East of the Yellow Mountains and the Kaunlaran River lies the Great Plains, also known as the Midwest. The Kaunlaran and Ultran Valleys and the Midwest consist largely of rolling hills and productive farmland. A large portion of the country's agricultural products are grown in the Great Plains. Before their general conversion to farmland, the Great Plains were noted for their extensive grasslands, from tallgrass prairie in the western plains to shortgrass steppe in the eastern plains. Elevation rises gradually from less than a few hundred feet near the Kaunlaran River to more than a mile high in the east near the Verita River.

The Great Plains come to an abrupt end at the Kurmal Mountains. The Kurmal Mountains form a large portion of Eastern Aloria, entering from Dorvik and stretching to Dundorf. The Kurmal Mountains are a high, rugged, and dense mountain range. It contains the highest point of the country, Mount Belmore,(14,505 ft; 4,421 m).

Climate
Due to its large size and wide range of geographic features, Aloria contains examples of nearly every global climate. The climate is temperate in most areas, subtropical in western Krentori, semiarid in the Great Plains, Mediterranean in coastal Sildar and arid in the Midwest. Its comparatively generous climate contributed (in part) to the country's rise as a an economic power, with infrequent severe drought in the major agricultural regions, a general lack of widespread flooding, and a mainly temperate climate that receives adequate precipitation.

The main influence on U.S. weather is the polar jet stream, which brings in large low pressure systems from the northern Verranderlijke Ocean. The Sildar Coastal Range and Yellow Mountains pick up most of the moisture from these systems as they move eastward. Greatly diminished by the time they reach the Great Plains, much of the moisture has been sapped by the orographic effect as it is forced over several mountain ranges. However, once it moves over the Great Plains, uninterrupted flat land allows it to reorganize and can lead to major clashes of air masses. In addition, moisture from the Krentori River Delta is often drawn northward. When combined with a powerful jet stream, this can lead to violent thunderstorms, especially during spring and summer. Sometimes during late winter and spring these storms can combine with another low pressure system as they move up the North Coast and into the Verranderlijke Ocean, where they intensify rapidly. These storms are known as Nor'easters and often bring widespread, heavy snowfall in Ultran. The uninterrupted flat grasslands of the Great Plains also leads to some of the most extreme climate swings in the world. Temperatures can rise or drop rapidly and winds can be extreme, and the flow of heat waves or Arctic air masses often advance uninterrupted through the plains.

History
main article: History of Aloria

Government


The Democratic Republic of Aloria is a constitutional federal republic, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law." It is fundamentally structured as a representative democracy. The government is regulated by a system of checks and balances defined by the Alorian Constitution, which serves as the country's supreme legal document and as a social contract for the Alorian people. In the Alorian federalist system, citizens are usually subject to three levels of government, federal, state, and local. In almost all cases, executive and legislative officials are elected by a plurality vote of citizens by State. Every four year, there are elections for the State and Federal parliaments. The voting results from the State elections are used to determine the number of seats in Federal Parliament.

Federal Government
The President is the Head of State of the Democratic Republic of Aloria. He represents the Nation, guarantee its independence and see to it that the Constitution is observed, and also chairs the Cabinet, and thus is also Head of Government. The President shall be elected for a term of office of four years (48 months). The President performs all executive functions in defense and foreign affairs--i.e., functions requiring prompt, decisive action. The President is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

The federal government is composed of three branches:
 * Legislative: The unicameral National Congress makes federal law, approves treaties, has the power of the purse, and has the power of impeachment, by which it can remove sitting members of the government.
 * Executive: The president is the commander-in-chief of the military, chairs the Cabinet and appoints the Cabinet and other officers, who administer and enforce federal laws and policies.
 * Judicial: The Supreme Court and lower federal State courts, whose judges are appointed by the president with Congressional approval, appoints, interpret laws, and can overturn laws they deem unconstitutional.

State Government
Most of the states are governed by an executive office led by a Minister-President, together with a unicameral legislative body that has a different name for each state. The states are republics with their own legislature, and the relationship between their legislative and executive branches mirrors that of the federal system: the legislatures are popularly elected for four years (and elections are hold together with the federal and presidential elections, and the Minister-President is then chosen by a majority vote among the State Parliament's members (he is commonly from the largest political party in the State). The Minister-President appoints a cabinet to run the state's agencies and to carry out the executive duties of the state's government.

Political Parties and the National Congress
Listed below are the active political parties in Aloria and their respective share of seats in Congress as of October 2703, arranged by seat share largest to smallest:

The Alorian Cabinet
See also: Alorian Cabinet



The Alorian Cabinet is composed of 12 ministries. It is chaired by the President.

1. President of the Democratic Republic of Aloria

2. Ministry of Foreign Affairs

3. Ministry of Internal Affairs

4. Ministry of Finance

5. Ministry of Defense

6. Ministry of Justice

7. Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport

8. Ministry of Health and Social Services

9. Ministry of Education and Culture

10. Ministry of Science and Technology

11. Ministry of Food and Agriculture

12. Ministry of Environment and Tourism

13. Ministry of Trade and Industry

Population
The most populous areas are in the north and east. The northern region consists of the largest and most populated cities in the country. 25% of the population lives in the province of Ultran. The highest population is concentrated around the cities of Ultran and Port Liberty, which is one of the largest towns in the country. The province of Kurmal, the largest province of Aloria, is also a very populated region. In Gavonshire, Sildar and Krentori the most populated areas are only concentrated in and around the large cities.

Origin
Alorians are a mix of natives known collectively as Alorian Indians (mostly Vetari and Concordia Indians), and settlers from Dorvik and Kirlawa settled in the Kurmal mountains and a small amount of liberal Jews from Quanzar looking for a new life settled down on the Krentori coast in the 3rd century BC. These people were, and still are, considered as the native population of Aloria. During the 9th century, white explorers and pilgrims, mostly people exiled from Selucia, who traveled up the Artanian west coast settled down on the Sildar peninsula. More then a thousand years later this resulted in a mixed white and native Alorian race. Today, they form the majority of the population, while the native-Alorians were reduced to less then 5% of the population.

From the 21st Century on, immigrants from other parts of the world came to Aloria, mostly from Quanzar, Cildania and Darnussia. Those immigrants still form a minority in Aloria, but their cultural influences are very effective on today's society.

Ethnicity
The two main ethnic groups of Aloria are Latin-Alorians who mainly speak Alorian and are descended from Selucian conqueror pilgrims that mainly live in Northern Sildar and the Krentori Delta that make up about 30% of the Alorian population and Anglo-Alorians that speak English, are a mix of Alorian Indian and Dundorfian settlers, and comprise about 45% of Alorians. These two peoples who frequently mix comprise the bulk of the Alorian culture and are considered collectively to be "Alorian". About 6% of Alorians are the aboriginal Alorian Indians, otherwise known as Native Kurmalians, who mainly live in Kurmal as blue collar workers and a few, about one percent, speak Kurmali. Another race is the Black peoples that comprise 7% of the Alorian people who are descended from the men and women imported from abroad and traded and sold as slaves by the upper class starting in the 1600s up until the early 1800s; they were used as servants like maids and butlers, and never did find much widespread use as hard laborers. Around one percent of Alorians still identify themselves as "Makans" and generally practice orthodox Judaism, but tracing back their lineage they are a Semitic people who migrated from Quanzar.

Language
English is the official language in Aloria, and is spoken by almost 75% of the population. English in Aloria is notable for its Alorian dialect, or the Alorian slang, which is most common in the rural areas of the country. 23% of Alorians, mostly in the Krentori Delta area and Kurmal speak Alorian, a Romance language with Artanian influences directly descended from Romance languages such as Selucian imported through colonization. Small minorities of Alorian Indians in the east still maintain their native language, which is called Kurmali. Generally those who speak minority languages as a first language also speak English as a second language.

Religion
The official church of Aloria is the Alorian Christian Church, which is voluntary. The largest religious group of the Alorians are Alorian Christians(about 45% of the population), while other Chrisitan groups are Lutherans and other Protestants(15%) and Catholics(10%, mostly Selucian Catholic).

Foreign missionaries brought Early Christian influences to Aloria, and many of them built monasteries high in the Kurmal Mountains that still stand today. A second strand of influence came from the many immigrants moving into Aloria late in the 21st Century. Three Protestant movements started Aloria: Quakerism which comprises 2.5% of the Alorian population, Baptist doctrine that has about 1.5% support in Aloria, and the Alorian Christian Church. About 11% of Alorians are Protestant Lutherans. The Christian Archbishop is the highest Christian religious leader in the country and leader of the Alorian Christian Church.

Aloria's native religion is Bogism, which comprises 12% of Aloria's population and finds a very devout following in the Alorian Indians which comprise a little under half of it's following. Aloria's second largest minority religion is Judaism. The religion found support among about 8% of the population. Libertia and Sildar City have the largest Jewish pockets. The third largest minority religion in Aloria is Islam (6% of the population). Islamic followers immigrated to Aloria mainly in the early-22nd Century. They are mostly concentrated in harbor cities as Port Libertia, Port Aloria and Ceres. About 4% of Alorians are either Agnostic, Atheist, or unaffiliated.

Economy
Aloria was, before the occupation by the New World Order, a great economic force in northern Artania. Since Reconstruction it has rebounded, thanks to its friendly climate for progress and generally stable environment. Many people in Terra are affected by Aloria's exports, chiefly their automobiles and entertainment media.

The Sildar Beach movie industry is one of the leading makers of movies and television shows in the English speaking world, and classic movies such as Gone with the Breeze and A Wonderfully Great Life were made there, and children's icons such as Morton Mouse and Bernard Bunny were also Alorian creations.

Alorian cars are some of the most advanced in the world, with Fjord Motor Company at the forefront. The Alorian steel and mining industry makes cars in Aloria cheap to build, as they are close to raw materials.

One anomaly in the current economy is the concentration of wealth, Rockygroup Incorporated currently controls eight percent of Aloria's wealth and growing. While leftists plead for anti-trust laws to be passed against companies getting this large, the Alorian majority has turned dismissed it as being unnecessary and most Alorians are in support of Rockygroup.

Aloria's chief exports are steel, automobiles, livestock/meat, grain, motion pictures, and natural gas. Aloria must import chemicals, oil, and other items that aren't easily found within Aloria

Here is a list of the five most profitable Alorian businesses:

Culture
As one of the oldest democracies on Artania, and one of the oldest nations in general, Aloria has a long cultural lineage that dates back to the time of the Kurmalian Clan Society, the Holy Alorian Empire, and into the modern age. Alorian culture has been exported, mostly through movies and music, all around Terra to many English(and non-English) speaking countries.

Literature
Alorian literature, unlike its counterparts in movies and television, is relatively a domestic art. Alorian writers have written about everything from philosophy to everyday life and continue to do so. Some important Alorian writers include Edmonde Alls Poe the great horror writer of the 19th Century, Emily Peterson wo is widely considered the best Alorian writer in history, and Otis Hemmings one of the most influential writer of the twentieth century. Since then, Alorian literature has declined in outside popularity but has stayed strong on the domestic market where it mixes with literature from other nations.

Movie and Television
The Alorian movie and television industry centered in Sildar Beach is one of the most famous in the world. Famous stars like Adam Griffith and Samuel Stallone have been actors in the industry. Animated characters like Morton Mouse and Bernard Bunny have also gained prominence throughout the world through the export of Alorian media. Entertainment media, chiefly movies, is one of Aloria's top five exports.

Visual Arts
Selucian inspired sculpture prevailed. Expressionism gained hold.

Landmarks
Presidential Palace

Peach Orchard

Executive Mansion

The Senate Building

National Congress Building

Lambrecht Office Complex

Old Executive Office Building

Alorian Trade Center

Antarian River

High Temple of Bog

Kurmal Mountains

Sildar Beach