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Lovia

Flag of Lovia(Details)

Coat of arms

Name Lovia
Full name Kingdom of Lovia
Capital Noble City
Official language(s) English
Demography
Area 9352.1 km² (3610.8 miles²)
Population 282,892
Density 21.9/km² (56.8 miles²)
Demonym Lovian
Government
King King Sebastian I of Lovia
Prime Minister Oos Wes Ilava
More information
Currency Lovian Dollar[1]
Time zone UTC-9/DST-8[2]
Internet TLD .lo
ISO 3166-1 LOV
Lovia-Settlements

Lovia, officially the Kingdom of Lovia, is an island nation in the Northern Pacific Ocean, consisting of the islands of the Lovia Archipelago, off the Californian coast. Lovia is a sovereign constitutional and parliamentary monarchy. The capital and most populous city is Noble City.

The first settlers, led by Arthur Noble, arrived in the 1870s. The nation evolved into an isolationist monarchy under King Arthur I, who was then succeeded by his descendants. Over the years, five states have been created. In the twentieth century, a slow process of democratization started, replacing the undemocratic though popular royal government. Since 2003, there has been a fully democratic Congress, which has been reformed into the nation's most powerful institute from 2007 until present. Former monarch, King Dimitri I of Lovia, initiated many of these reforms and led the nation to renewed political and economic success.

Lovia has about 280,000 inhabitants, ranked 174th in the world, with most of North American and European origin. A very urbanized nation, the majority lives in or around the nation's largest cities and towns, Noble City, Newhaven, Hurbanova and Sofasi.

The country ranks amongst the most developed countries and has a small but highly technological economy. Lovia is known as a progressive nation with high education rates, a low religiosity rate in urban areas and many investments in ecological industries. Its main economic partners consist of the United States, Canada, the European Union, and Libertas, though the nation has promoted an isolationist policy for many years.

Lovia is a founding member of the International Wiki Organisation, and cultivates relations with wikinations across the globe.

Geography

Arrow right Main article: Geography of Lovia.
Arrow right See also: Lovia Archipelago for more information on the archipelago.
Google map of Lovia

Google map of Lovia in relation to the surrounding area (click to expand)

Lovia is a small archipelago in the northern Pacific Ocean, with an area of 9352.1 km² (3610.8 miles²). It comprises one major island, Peace Island, and about ten smaller islands. Peace Island lies on the 131st degree of longitude and on the 33rd degree of latitude[3]. It is situated in the Alaska Time Zone[4], sometimes called the Alaska-Lovian Time Zone.

The smaller islands are mostly flat and fertile. Several contain many hills and green areas. There are large forests on these islands. Agriculture is more difficult in the inland due to more rugged terrain.

The country is divided into five states: Clymene, Kings, Oceana, Seven and Sylvania. All of these states have a capital town or city. These towns and cities, listed alphabetically, are: Hurbanova, Kinley, Newhaven, Noble City, and Sofasi.

Archipelagos

Nation Archipelago

The Nation Archipelago is one of the archipelagos of Lovia. It has the largest number of islands of any of the archipelagos. The name is due to the fact that a large number of the islands are named after nations.

The Nation Archipelago is made up of two separate groups of islands. The first group is in the east of the archipelago and consists of seven islands, which together make up the state of Seven. A large number of islands are named after countries, hence the name of the archipelago. The second part is formed by Asian and Truth Island, making up the state of Clymene.

The famous Rock of Arnmod is located about 60 feet off American Island in the archipelago.

City Archipelago

The City Archipelago is the smallest of the Lovia Archipelago, situated in the far west of Lovia. There are only two small islands: the Isle of London en the Isle of Frisco, both named after important English language cities. In the past, the City Archipelago had a third island, namely Isle of Bratislava, which sank after the 1903 earthquake and heavy floodings.

Peace Archipelago

The Peace Archipelago is one of the Lovian archipelagoes. It is not the one with the most islands, but it has the largest area. The largest island is Peace Island, on which Noble City lies. It covers two whole states (Kings and Sylvania) and the largest part of the state of Oceana.

Climate

The Lovia archipelago lays between the cool California current and the warmer currents in the west. The Mediterranean climate makes agriculture attractive.

In January the temperatures are mostly in between 8 and 18 °C (48 to 64 °F). In July the temperatures range from 16 to 29 °C (63 to 84 °F). The highest recorded temperature in Lovia is about 40 °C (104 °F).

Typhoons and hurricanes are uncommon in the nation, though periodically there are a few that manage to make direct impact, including the most recent Category 3-strength Severe Typhoon Chi Wai, which traversed through Peace, Truth, and Asian Islands, claiming 5 lives and injuring 21.

History

Arrow right Main article: History of Lovia.

The islands are not mentioned until the 1580's. Then, Francis Drake discovered the coasts of Latin America and California. After the San Francisco Bay Area, he went western. In his diary a small and green archipelago is mentioned. Nowhere in his diary he says he visited the islands, but some historians think he and his crew were here for a couple of days.

In 1849, gold was found in California and thousands of Asians came over. Some of these transports passed the Lovia archipelago, although nor the crew, nor the passengers were aware of this. In 1852 a Chinese ship was shipwrecked near the Lovia archipelago. Some of the passengers reached the most northern island of the archipelago, now called Asian Island. They were picked up four months later and seemed well fed. After years, one of them went working for a Californian newspaper and published a story of the Pacific Islands, as he called them.

Arthur Nobel, a young Belgian man, moved to San Francisco in 1872. He was a journalist and going through the archives of all the papers, he found some writing material. That same year he found the article on the Pacific Islands. He found an investor and chartered a ship, Francis II, to go to the mysterious archipelago. It didn't take long and after a few days they reached Lovia. Arthur Nobel set up a first settlement and went back to San Francisco in 1875. He published hundreds of advertisements in American and European newspapers and returned in 1876 with more than 1,500 people. The settlement Noble City was named after their new king, Arthur Nobel. His name was changed to Arthur Francis Noble the First or Arthur I.

The population grew, as well as the trade and the wealth. Noble City had become an important port between California and the Far East.

Around 1955 the population growth stagnated. Lovia suffered from severe famines. Fortunately the harvests became better in 1957 and the problems seemed to be over. Since then, the economy of the Kingdom of Lovia has been doing well.

In 2007, King Arthur III had died, and there wasn't an obvious heir to the throne. For months the economy recessed. In November, King Dimitri I, a nephew of the former king was chosen and crowned. Th, economy improved and popular unrest decreased.

In 2011 the October Coup took place as well as the Lovian Civil War, which did some massive damage to the infrastructure of the states of Seven and Clymene. I. G. La Blaca, prominent UNS politician, is said to be responsible for the violent revolt in which at least many people had died as of October 23, 2011. In an effort to call an end to the violence, a United Nations peacekeeping force was deployed as of October 8. The war became a turning point in Lovian history. The Civil War ended with the defeat of the rebels, but not without heavy military and civilian casualties as well as serious infrastructure damage. Financial and development aid poured in following the war's end, both from UN organizations and others like IDEA (Brunant) and CIDA (Canada).

In 2014, Lovia was invaded by Burenia. The Burenians took control over Hurbanova and Plains but did not have much success in their attempts to capture other settlements, and were forced to withdraw within a couple of months after foreign intervention.

Economy

Arrow right See also: Economy of Lovia for more detailed information on the Lovian economy.

Lovia has a strong and stable economy despite the fact that the country only counts about 280,000 inhabitants. Though, the economy in Lovia has never reached the growth level that - for instance - Libertas had. The most important branches of Lovian economy are agriculture, energy and technology, transportation, art production, and several others. Some large companies include Walker Inc, Ecompany, Lokixx Comp., and Alphabet Media. Lovia is unofficially a tax haven, with low taxes, and so many rich people are located in the country. However, the 2011 Second Congress debated where to raise taxes.

Primary sector

Arrow right See also: Agriculture in Lovia for more detailed information on Lovian agriculture.

Politics

Seal of the Congress

The Congress is the federal legislative organ

The political system of Lovia was reformed after King Arthur III died in 2007. Under King Dimitri I the new Constitution was officially accepted and the 2003 formed Congress was enlarged. At the beginning of 2008, the 2008 Federal Elections were held, in which Yuri Medvedev was elected Prime Minister and he and the monarch formed the Medvedev I Government. The State Elections started in the same period and were still running for months in some states.

In May 2008, 2008 Mid-term Elections were held, electing five more congresspeople. In 2009, elections for the 2009 Congress were cancelled due to inactivity and political problems caused by debate about whether to elect a new congress annually or every two years. It consisted of members of the 2008 Congress. It fell in August, but was immediately reinstalled as the 2009 Republican Provisional Congress.

Prince sebastian

The current ruling monarch, King Sebastian I of Lovia

The 2009 Republican Provisional Congress was replaced on own request by a new, demissionary provisional congress that would govern the country in the months before the elections, called the 2009 First Provisional Congress. In 2010, finally the new proper congress was elected in the 2010 Federal Elections in the form of the 2010 Congress, leading to the inauguration of the Medvedev II Government.

After the end of the 2010 Congress, the 2011 Federal Elections resulted in many more conservative candidates, and a conservative government, the Donia I Government. After the Galahad v. The Brigade Trial, the government collapsed, resulting in the selection of the 2011 Provisional Congress, in which a progressive government was put into office, known as the Villanova I Government. After protests occurred, demanding that a popular elected government be put in office, the 2011 Special Federal Elections took place. Due to the 2011 State Reform, the Congress had been reformed into a one hundred member legislature. After the elections ended, the 2011 Second Congress took control of the country. This lead to the inauguration of the Villanova II Government, which had more conservative representation.

Long time in the making tensions soon boiled over into the Lovian Civil War, which resulted in a government victory after over a month of fighting, followed by a rebuilding process led by the 2012 Congress under the Ilava I Government, elected by the 2012 Federal Elections. This was followed by the 2013 Federal Elections which elected the similar 2013 Congress under the Ilava II Government.

The 2014 Federal Elections returned the more left-wing 2014 Congress under the Abrahams I Government, which was interrupted after inactivity by the Burenian invasion of Lovia, causing, after the withdrawal of Burenia following international intervention, by the 2014 Special Federal Elections that elected the 2014 Provisional Congress under the Hoffmann I Government, intended to make Constitutional changes. This too became inactive, and the 2015 Federal Elections were delayed until March, but returned the most left wing Congress since 2010, the 2015 Congress.

After the torturous 2015 government formation process, left-wing firebrand Anna Maria Whithdonck-Malsky passed the Whithdonck-Malsky I Government, but was forced to resign a month later after the defeat of her budget proposal. Ilava emerged as a unity candidate following the collapse of the previous government, leading the Ilava III Government, but the congress soon became inactive again, and federal elections have not been held since then.

Government

Government in Lovia is dominated by the federal government, of which the lawmaking part is Congress. Members of the Congress are citizens who have been elected by the people. The Congress proposes and votes on proposals for both the Constitution and the Federal Law. Congress elects a Prime Minister, along with other ministers that, along with the rest of the ministries, make up the executive branch. There is also a Supreme Court, which makes all judicial decisions.

States are governed by a Governor, elected in the State Elections, assisted by a state council. States have relatively few rights, as the government of Lovia is unitary. Most of the powers that governors do have can be overridden by Congress.

Royal family

Arrow right Main article: Royal family of Lovia.

The royal family of Lovia is not privileged, except the ruling monarch and their partner. The ruling monarch is also one of the two heads of state, together with the Prime Minister, who is also the head of government. The King has an important role in Lovian politics, but isn't a dictator at all and has only executive power, as their legislative power was repealed in the 2011 State Reform. The current Lovian king is King Sebastian I of Lovia, who took over following the abdication of his first cousin Prince Dimitri of Lovia in August 2013

There is no further nobility in Lovia. Under Arthur III, the beautiful Castle Donia was build in the Emerald Highlands and the Donia Clan rose to prominence under August Magnus Donia, who declared himself Baron of Donia (now held by Ygo August Donia), but the baronage is not accepted by the King, nor is the Heretow 'Oshenna, currently Oos Wes Ilava.

International relations

Lovia has a strong relationship with the United States of America due to their proximity. Furthermore, the Kingdom has very good relations with Canada, the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan as well, but also with less rich regions such as Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

Lovia used to be a member of the United Wiki Nations until April 11, 2008[5], which was an international organization that made dialogue and collaboration between several wiki nations possible. However, Lovia decided to quit the UWN after a conflict with Adlibita and other members after international involvement in the Hurbanova Crisis. Relations with Adlibita and the Limburgish nation Mäöres worsened a lot after the crisis in March and April 2008, but are considered to be normalized nowadays. After a period of isolationism, Lovia joined the International Wiki Organisation, a successor to the UWN. Lovia has relations with many IWO member countries. Lovia tends to remain neutral on international issues such as the status of Palestine.

Lov building

The Lovian Museum for Modern Art in Newhaven is the largest and best known art museum in the entire nation

Culture

The Lovian culture is very rich, and may differ from region to region. In Oceana, the culture is rather Eastern European oriented, while the four other states are more regarded as to be Western (i.e. American and Western European). Many artists and writers are known as true Lovians, such as poets Oscar O'Neill and Yuri Medvedev, or writer George Smith and singer-songwriter Joe Lecoeur. Lovian art history is also of great international importance, as Lovia is a surprisingly high art producing nation and has displayed some of the world's greatest artworks, in several museums like the Lovian Museum for Modern Art, the Royal Art GalleryMuseum of Art or the Starovlah Institute.

Lovia is also well known abroad for the fact that many companies, schools, towns, and other organizations have their own seal.

A famous legendary hero of Lovia is Andreas van Velthoven. The fable The Raven and the Mockingbird is well known as being one of the earliest pieces of Lovian literature.

Religion

Arrow right Main article: Religion in Lovia.

Religion in Lovia is remarkable both in its low adherence level compared to the neighboring United States as well as its unbalanced spread across the country. The most common religious viewpoints in Lovia are of Christian and irreligious nature, both comprising 46% of the population. Most Christians are Mainline Protestant or Roman Catholic. Buddhism is the second most prevalent religion. There are some small Christian Orthodox, other Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, and other communities.

Transport

Overview

The Lovian islands are, though Lovia is a small country, well connected by ferries, and even bridges such as the Connection Bridge between Kings and Sylvania, and the Noble Bridge between Asian Island and Truth Island. On the islands itself are numerous highways, railways, hiking and cycling trails, and even rivers. There are four airports in Lovia.

Roads

Highway Jan 2011

State of the Lovian highway system as of January 2011. Highway 7 is the last project to be finished, by February 2011

Roads are generally of good quality, ranging from graded gravel to cobblestone to fine macadam. The Department of Transportation recently reported that four wheel drive was no longer even seasonally required in any inhabited area. Vehicles are required to have registration plates.

Highways

The highway system is in an excellent state since 2010 Highway Plan, a project by Secretary Andy McCandless. Two new highways were constructed, while two existing highways were largely extended.

The new Highway 6 was added separately of the original plan, and began construction in June of 2012.

Ferries

A number of ferry lines connect inhabited and visited island pairs not served by bridges.

Railways

Domestic transport on several islands is supported by railroads supplying both freight and passenger service. Technologies emlpoyed range from restored steam to pure electric. The main railway company is the PRC, which provided the following routes:

Aviation

Airlines

Airports

Arrow right Main article: Airport.

Education

Lovia has had a long history of higher education, thanks to the Nobel University. This university, founded in 1887, fused into the new Blackburn University. Blackburn, based in both Noble City and Newhaven, is the greatest educational institution in the country and also offers a wide range of research projects. Beside Blackburn, there is another higher education institution, the International College of Lovia. This college also has two campuses, one in the rural town Kinley and another in Citizen Corner, Noble City.

Etymology

The origin of the name 'Lovia' is not well known. It is mostly thought of as Lovia is derived from 'love'. Though both Lovia (IPA: /'loʊvi.ə/) and love (IPA: /lʌv/) are pronounced in a very different way, this is the most common theory. The name was probably created by King Arthur I and the Founding Fathers, but no written sources confirm this.

Some argued the name is derived from Lovendegem, a town in Belgium, from where the Noble family would descend. Recently some historians came up with the idea that Lovia would derive from Latvia. Neither of these theories are accepted by scholars.

References and notes

  1. The Lovian Dollar replaced the US Dollar as the official currency on May 10, 2011. However, the US Dollar is still legal tender.
  2. DST stands for daylight saving time or summer time.
  3. Google map of 131º W, 33º N
  4. More information: Wikipedia.
  5. Source: Second Chamber, Congress.
  6. In fact, Clymene State Airport flies on California as well, but still it is considered a national airport.

See also

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