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[Factbook] The Federal Republic of Ostronia


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Overview

Ostronia, officially the Federal Republic of Ostronia (Kalmash: Forbundsrepublikken Ostronien, Orioba: Apapo Orile-Ede Ostronia, Ausa: Jamhuriyar Tarayya Ostaroniya, Ebo: Goomenti Etiti Ostronia), is a developing country on the eastern coast of Nur. With a population of 32.9 million, it is the third most populous nation on the continent and the tenth most populous in the world.

Humans have inhabited present-day Ostronia for tens of thousands of years. However, it was not until the early 12th century AF that Ostronia was first named as such by Kalmachian explorers.  From their early trade port at Stenhavn (present-day Gida), Kalmachian expeditions steadily expanded their colony in the search for more land and the sources of the gold, ivories, diamonds, dyes and other luxuries they had previously traded in. By 1228, the Royal Colony of Ostronia had reached its modern borders. For the next 127 years, the colony provided its overlords with various luxury and industrial goods, especially rubber and textiles. Kalmach settlers and missionaries contributed to the colony’s acculturation and the suppression of native cultures, including through the notorious dormitory school system. In the 14th century, however, the improving education of the native population led to growing agitation for independence, especially during the chaos of the first and second Kalmach civil wars (1314-1315; 1345-1347). In the 1355 Treaty of Gida, the United Nations of Kalmach formally recognized Ostronia’s independence. After independence, Ostronia saw rapid improvement in economic growth, literacy, life expectancy, and infant mortality, but this development slowed and stagnated by the 1380s. In 1390, the economic woes aggravated ethnic tensions and sparked a brief but bloody civil war, which ended with the help of Kalmach peacekeepers in 1392. After the civil war, as part of the reconciliation process overseen by the UNK, a new constitution was drafted which devolved some power back to individual states within Ostronia in a more federal system. Since the turn of the fifteenth century, a new development policy focused on education and entrepreneurship (popularly referred to as “New Adakunomics”) under the New Ostronia Party has helped restart sluggish economic growth and improve the lives of millions.

Ostronia is an ethnically heterogeneous country, with more than twenty recognized ethnic groups and four official languages. The largest ethnicity is the Orioba people, comprising 40 percent of the population. Other major ethnic groups include the Ausa and Ebo peoples, as well as the descendants of Kalmachian settlers. All government records, forms, official publications and road signs are written in Kalmash, and subtitled depending on the location in Orioba, Ausa, or Ebo. In the past, ethnic tensions have been the cause of significant violence, including the Ostronian civil war, but improved power-sharing between the national and state levels under the 1395 constitution have helped the country to remain stable.

Ostronia is a federal presidential republic where the president serves as both head of state and government. He can veto laws passed by less than 3/5ths of the federal legislature, the National Assembly, but otherwise must sign them into law. His cabinet appointments must have the majority approval of the Assembly. The president serves for a 5-year term and there are no term limits. The National Assembly, which drafts legislation for the entire country, is a unicameral body with 96 seats. Each of Ostronia’s twelve states receives the same number of assemblymen: eight. The third branch of the federal government is the High Court, consisting of seven judges who hear appealed cases and determine whether laws passed by the National Assembly and signed by the president are constitutional. Judges sit for life once appointed by the president with the approval of the National Assembly. Below the national government, each state has its own legislature called a State Assembly which may enact state ordinances so long as they do not contradict national law. Unlike the National Assembly, state assemblies are proportionally represented. The current President of Ostronia is Johannes Gbenga. The current Speaker of the National Assembly is Erling Adaku. The current High Judge of the High Court is Holger Hansen.

As a developing country, Ostronia has a GDP of $374 billion or $11,354 per capita, the second lowest on the continent. The country’s major exports include textiles, agricultural products, jewelry, diamonds and gold. The country’s major imports include wheat, rice and refined petroleum. Ostronia’s largest trading partner is its former colonial overlord, the United Nations of Kalmach.

Ostronia’s armed forces are geared towards internal pacification. The country has a small brown-water navy and aging air force. While the professional army is an all-volunteer force, male and female non-students aged 18-20 must serve two years of national service in the non-combatant Youth Corps. The Youth Corps is employed by the government in development projects including infrastructure construction, teaching and nursing. Ostronia has security agreements with its former colonial overlord, the United Nations of Kalmach, which include the indefinite lease of a naval and air base at Tristhavn.

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History


Prehistory

The partial remains of a fossilized human skeleton named Adda (a Fola name meaning "older sister") were discovered in 1311 by Kalmachian archaeologist Hans Jorgen Hessen in Folastat in southwestern Ostronia and initially dated as anywhere from 8,500 to 9,500 years old. However subsequent radiometric dating in the 1370s determined Adda to be 11,600 to 12,100 years old, indicating humans have inhabited present-day Ostronia for at least twelve thousand years.

The earliest human cultures in Ostronia were lithic: stone tools have been found across much of western Ostronia where the drier climate and soils have better preserved prehistoric artifacts. Complex societies evolved along the ancient shores of Lake Gotel, which was much larger due to higher rainfalls in the prehistoric era. Basic flaked cores were replaced by more sophisticated bifaces and later, as stone knapping became more precise, smaller and smaller points for spearheads, arrowheads and even fishhooks. Such tools were used in the construction of the Misau canoe, a dugout canoe around 8,500 years old discovered near the village of Misau, one of the oldest boats in the world and probably used to fish on the Dufuna River nearby. More recent stone tools have also been uncovered in eastern Ostronia.

While initially it was believed that metalworking was not present in Ostronia before iron-working appeared in the 1000s BF, more recent scholarship in the 1380s discovered evidence of basic copper working in modern Ausaland at least a thousand years earlier around 2200 BF. The techniques used were clearly indigenous and not imported: local sources of native copper were used rather than ores of copper, mostly to produce jewelry and other small items. Iron-working, also indigenous to the area, quickly supplanted any copper-working and promoted long-distance trade along the region's major rivers from sources of iron ore in the interior to the growing population centers in the wetter and more fertile central and coastal areas. These population centers would form the bases of power for the earliest recorded kingdoms in Ostronia's history.

Early kingdoms

[WIP]

[Ausa] Empire

[WIP]

Kingdom of [Ebo]

[WIP]

Trade with Kalmach

[WIP]

Crown colony (1228 - 1316)

[WIP]

Imperial dominion (1316 - 1355)

[WIP]

Independence and the Adaku era (1355 - 1376)

[WIP]

Post-Adaku era (1376 - 1390)

[WIP]

Civil war (1390 - 1392)

[WIP]

Modern era (1392 - present)

[WIP]

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Government and politics


Government

The 1355 Treaty of Gida which granted Ostronia its independence from the United Nations of Kalmach also formally recognized the Ostronian National Assembly, then only an unofficial gathering of representatives from the colony's various provinces, as the supreme legislative body of Ostronia. The president of the National Assembly, Karl Adaku, was also recognized by the treaty as the new nation's chief executive. Although several drafts for a more permanent constitution were introduced in the assembly in the years after independence, fierce debate between the various proposals divided their support. The new president also appreciated the flexibility the lack of a formal constitution provided him, and thus opposed any proposed constitution. As Adaku's influence and popularity grew over the course of his five successive presidential terms, discussion around a formal constitution was mostly dropped except among the shrinking opposition.

The lack of constitutional limits placed upon the chief executive and assembly, however, exacerbated the ethnic tensions and civil strife leading up to the Ostronian civil war (1390-1392). The government banned all unauthorized media, confiscating printing presses and radio equipment and imprisoning journalists critical of its heavy-handed response to the crisis. Opposing political parties were also banned and their members removed from the National Assembly. These authoritarian measures inflamed the subsequent conflict.

At the end of the civil war, the Ostronian government met with rebel forces under international observation in the Ostronian Peace and Reconciliation Committee, which drafted the country's first constitution as part of the negotiations. This proposed constitution was ratified in 1392 by a nationwide popular referendum. The constitution enshrined the inviolable rights of all citizens and devolved the central government into a more federal system. Under the new constitution, the executive and legislative branches are separated and balanced against each other, and Ostronia's sixteen states are empowered with state legislatures that may draft new laws so long as they do not contravene existing federal law. The judiciary, especially the High Court of Ostronia, has also been given the power to strike down state or federal laws which violate the rights of Ostronia's citizens.

Anton Adebayo

Ostronian Minister for Trade

Henrik Dauda

Ostronian Minister for Foreign Affairs

Administrative divisions

Foreign relations

Human right violations

Security issues

Political parties

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