An Overview of Nohol

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For an updated overview, check The Wiki Page of the UFPR

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Nohol or the Popular Republic of Nohol is an island country of the north of Andere. It is around 1872 KM (1010 Nautic Miles) away from the Continent (Okoteja) and is separated from it by the Bename Gulf (Fr: Golfe de Béname [silent e]).
Nohol borders the Bename Gulf at its West, South and East and the Matindi Ocean to its North.
Nohol is a Unitary Decentralized Constitutional Parliamentary Republic, made of 5 not independent nor autonomous Regions.

Its Constitution separate the Executive: The Government, made of Ministers (Ministres), State Secretaries (Secrétaires d'état) and Commissars (Commissaires) ruled by the Chief of the Union (Chef de l'Union); and the Legislative: the Parliament made of Deputies (Députés) and kept organized by a Speaker of Parliament (Président du Parlement) and in theory ruled by the Vice Chief of the Union (Vice-Chef de l'Union). The understanding of the "couple" Chief of the Union (Head of State, Head of Government) and Vice Chief of the Union (Head of Parliament, member of Government) and its functioning, are essential to understand Politics in Nohol as they are the hard core of the State.

The Country is a Popular Republic with a limited number of [allowed] parties, which means that even if citizens can only vote for left parties, they can still choose the kind of left they want. Political spectrum goes from Liberal Parties (The Union) to Radical Socialist Parties (The Coalition) with Moderate Socialist Parties (The Confederation) at the center.
Nohol can't be described as a Socialist or a Communist Republic as depending on elections it can be Liberal, Marxist, Social Democratic, Syndicalist or even National-Militarist-Socialist (or Social-Populism). Noholian MP prefer the term of: (République du Peuple alignée à Gauche) Left-aligned People's Republic, which is way too long and often shorten to form People's Republic (which is, according to everyone, very stupid because a Republic that put away its people isn't a true Republic because the "Res" isn't "Publica")

Culturally, Nohol is a French-Speaking Country, with however a large Breton-Speaking (Celtic) minority, it shines through its Naval (Wood) Carpentry Industry, its Wine Industry and its Gastronomy in general. Technologically Nohol is a decade left and if you omit the wars and revolutions, life in Nohol is good but very cheap for other developed country, its HDI is near 0.82 but could have been higher without the recent revolution.

There are several gaps between the southern provinces and the Grand-North one, in term of population (8.4 Million - 600 K), GDP/capita (Grand North GDP/c is 60% of the average South), Weather (North is 3°C to 6°C colder in average; there are 10 more mm of rain/month in average in the North) and in Life Expectancy (10 years lower in North, infant mortality is also more common and the risk of being killed is 60% higher in North due to the Civil War).

Internationally, Nohol has just put an end to its long Isolationist Policy and has opened diplomatic relations with few nations, Europan Union from which Nohol originate, the Holy and Greater Mongolia, Nohol's only Monarchist friend qualified by former CDU André Lijoy as "a surprisingly good fruit among the usually rotten ones of Monarchy".

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Etymology:
Nohol has been named by its Breton discoverer and its etymology is by consequent, Breton.
It comes from Noz (night) and oll (entirely/fully), probably because Cartier arrived in the island by night, during winter and the proximity of the island from the polar circle makes Nohol's night very long (in the northern half of the country)

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History:
Early Times:

Before its colonization by the Hyonians around 1400, Nohol was empty. there was no mention of any Pre-Hyonian tribes.

The first men who circumnavigated, mapped and landed in Nohol was the Breton Jacques Cartier in 1550. He gave cultural breton names to the places he founded.
During a second travel in 1561 he founded the town of Sant-Nazer (today, New/Nouvelle-Nantes, since 1637) with a thousand men. The early colonization was difficult, but after a few years, it became self-sufficient and not starving anymore.
The current capital, Frédéric-des-Peuples, former Frédéric-le-Roi, was founded only one century after Nouvelle-Nantes as Fort-Frédéric.

French and Breton progressively arrived to Nohol, most of them fled Justice, war or simply poor conditions in their homeland, the Europan Union in hope for a better life. Between 1561 and 1583, Nohol was an anarchy. Villages were independent, they trade and bartered with each other. The many villages on the eastern coastline produced fish and imported a few foreign goods, then traded it in exchange of locally produced goods (mostly grapes) in Inland's and West coast's settlements.

At first, only the south of Nohol was colonized The Breton mostly established themselves on the East Coast, the Occitan on the West Coast and the Oïl French in between. However, Nohol had an uneven population, with 70% of male, the country struggled developing itself. The port authorities began selling local products (Fur, food, wood) to pirates, raiders and slave traders to buy women from various countries, Nouvelle-Nantes 1626 dockyard register indicate that 60% of the boats repaired in the town were owned by smugglers and women-traffickers. This practice ended in 1645 with the "Decree of the 30th March 1645".

In the early 1580's, a breton and french trading aristocracy started appearing in Sant Nazer and the East Coast. The East began effectively dominating the island and organized itself into the "Province on the Loire" centralizing the power of more than 100 villages and settlements into one city. The Province influence grew westward to incorporate the Oïl French, creating the "Province on the Bename". In 1583, the two Provinces united into the "Commonwealth of the Noholian Island", officially ending the time of Anarchy in the Island. The Occitan lands of the West Coast were incorporated into the "Province of New Retz".
Many anarchists and optimistic settlers, mostly occitans, fled the islands for the Continent founding Elnorde, in modern-day Okoteja. Nohol lost 50% of its Occitan population, it paved the way for a French expansion westward.

Since 1585 and during the entire 17th Century, Nohol was a Plutocracy under protectorate of the different powerhouses of the time. A powerful Council of Administration ruled the country and had a huge power over trade and production. An aristocracy began appearing and is usually split in two categories:
The Bourgeoisie, which regrouped artisans, traders and were city-dwellers
The Landowning Aristocracy, which regrouped plantation owners, serf-owners and were essentially country-dwellers.

Both thrived during the 17th Century. The Bourgeoisie turned Nohol into a beacon of trade, art and patronage and created a huge disparity between the developed South-East, full of powerful cities and ports and the rural South-West. The Bourgeoisie established many forts and garrison in the West, unofficially occupying it: for example, in 1659, Fort-Frédéric was founded. It was organized as a citadel in the middle of occitan lands and many French emigrated from the East to Fort-Frédéric.

In 1713, Antonin Kernoz, Governor of Fort-Frédéric marched into La Nouvelle-Nantes with the help of the local soldiers, executed the Council of Administration and proclaimed the Monarchy and the full independence of the country. The current Noholian Princely Family descended from him.

[note: not approoved yet]List of Protectors of Nohol, from the 1580s to 1713
1585-

Monarchy:

For Historians, the Monarchy Period is divided into three smaller one
The Age of Absolutism (1713-1839)
The Age of Reform (1839-1933)
The Modern Age (1933-2020)

The Age of Absolutism is called as such because of the Prince didn't share any of his powers. He appointed and dismissed Minister as often as he wanted and no Parliament existed (at the begining)
The age was blessed by a golden period (Economic Boom of 1713-1777), doomed by a dark one (Economic Recession (then Crash) and Harvest Crisis of 1777-1828; Harsh Winters of 1777, 1779, 1786, 1824) and ended with the Industrialization of the Country (Industrial Development of 1828-1850)

Politically, the country firstly suffered of the first Great Protest of 1787 where he made concession to the Bourgeoisie (Reinstatement of Free Trade), it marked the creation of the first Parliament of Nohol (since 1713) made of an House of Landlords and a House of Bourgeois, the two not influencing each other and only having Legislative powers (the Executive was still jealously kept by the Prince), the House of the Bourgeoisie only concerned the Free Towns (basically since ~1640 the biggest town of the island that had more rights than others, especially concerning trade rights and port rights) while the House of Lords concerned the rural lands apart of the Crownland.

It was followed by the Crisis of 1824-1825 where a failed revolution was crushed by force and finally with the Grand Industrial Crisis of 1837-1839 that put an end to the Age of Absolutism.

This Crisis was the simultaneous revolt of the Working Class and the Peasantry (both serfs and free-peasants or villein) against, firstly, the Bourgeoisie (for the W.Class) and the Grand-Landlords (for the peasantry). During winter-spring 1837, the lower class wanted more rights, the end of serfdom (for peasantry) and better working conditions (for w.class) but after being joined by the Low Bourgeoisie (the town dweller rich enough not to be employee of someone but too poor to own workers) during summer 1837, it became a Liberal Revolution, wanting the establishment of a House of Commons at Parliament and the authorization of Political Parties within Nohol.
the oldest party still existing in Nohol, the Conservative Party, even if not allowed at Parliament currently has been created in August 1837 to represent the Monarchist at an eventual futur Parliament. It has however changed a lot, incorporating many rightist parties during its existence it started as a Monarchist-Constitutionalist Right-wing Party and is currently a Republican Traditionalist Party.
Proto-Socialists joined the revolt in automn-december 1837 quickly followed by the Social-agrarian Party (the second oldest party still existing) which was created in January 1838 (before, it existed many local agrarian parties and some were Christian-Agrarian and didn't join the Social-Agrarians or Red-Agrarians) and their ideas quickly conquered the mind of the working class. The Marxist Party was not yet created in Nohol and these reds can't be described as marxist or communists. At the time, they were simply called "Social/Sociaux" (Social(s)) or "Parti(s) Ouvrier(s)" (working party/ies).
Between January and October 1838, the Prince did not recognizes the new parties and sent his army in revolted towns.
The 21st October 1838, 17 year old Grand-Princess Augusta de Kernoz, first daughter of the Prince absconded the Palace of Frédéric to join the Constitutionalist-Liberal Party's Seat at New-Nantes. While we now know that she wanted to convince them to revolt for the abolition of Male Succession in the Princedom, his father the prince was convinced that she was kidnapped after a Social Plot and sacked Porninre and Castelnoir, two big industrial towns, as reprisal.
This was a disaster for the Monarch as moderate parties supporting the Monarchy joined the revolt.

The 29th October 1838, he approoved the creation of an House of Commons, made of the House of Bourgeois (representing 52% of the new house) and newly created seats for Province's Elected representative. It angered both the Revolted, who wished for more seats, and the Bourgeoisie, who had to share their House. Plus, none of the Working Class' and Peasantry's, the first to revolt after all, demands were listened to and anger grew more and more.
Calm went back for one month but revolts started again in December 1838.

The People's Front, dominated by the Socials and made of the Agrarians, The Radical-Republican and many syndicats (which were firstly created in late 1837); the Holy Union, made of the Conservative party, the Monarchist Front and many rightist and even noble parties; and the Liberal Federation of Parties, made of bourgeois parties, all sent an ultimatum to the Prince to abolish Absolutism as well as the List of their Grievances

The Prince refused theses grievances and declared Martial Law.

Revolution of 1873 and failed revolution of 1891

The Glorious Revolution:
WIP (Basically we were Glorious)

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Geography:
The island of Nohol is divided between a very rural North and a very industrialized south.
In the northern half of the country you can find the Mount Vanguard (former Mount Royal), an extinct volcano and the highest point of the country (1751 M/5744 feet), the Duke Nominoë Hills and Cliffs (north-west of the country) and the Nohol's Plains (North and North East of the Country)

The limit between the North and the South is the Isthmus of Saint-John, many politicians wanted to build a canal there but the idea was abandoned during the Revolution. Note that this limit is geographical but also social and demographic.

The South, where 93% of the population live is divided between the very small New-Rezt's Hills (actually an extension of the Duke Nominoë's Hills) and the Plains of the Revolution (former Antonin Kernoz's Plains) where the 7 biggest cities of the country are

Climate:

Nohol is located in a Temperate Climate. Its proximity with the Northern Polar Area makes the weather very cold for the northern half of the island but the south is warmer.
Nohol's Climate is essentially Oceanic for the southern half, Oceanic-Continental for the centre of the Grand-Nord Province (called Les Terres or the Inlands) and Polar for the northernmost part of the island

Subdivision
The country is split in 5 Provinces, the biggest but also the less populated being Le Grand-Nord while the smallest, Frédéric is the most populated.
As Nohol is a unitary state a Province's Governor, elected by the people for 3 years doesn't have much powers. His Provinces is given a yearly budget for its development

Name	Province	Population Intra Muros
Frédéric-la-Grande/Frédéric-des-Peuples	Frédéric	1, 830, 000
La Nouvelle-Nantes	Nouvelle-Loire	1, 510 000
Porninre/Pòrtnegre	Frédéric	1, 220 000
Port-Adèle	Océanie/Adélie	1, 115 000
Jura Reginae	Océanie/Adélie	895 000
Villebelle-la-Grande	Saint-Jean	740 000
Castelnoir/Castèlnegre	Frédéric	560 000
Nouveau-Malo	Nouvelle-Loire	270 000
Fort-Ardoise	Frédéric	265 000
Fort-Louis	Le Grand-Nord	200 000

Politics
Dispatch on Parties and Parliament

Legislative:

The Parliament is elected by the people one month before the CDU (Chef de l'Union, Head of the State and Government), the two political entities are elected for 6 years in March-April.
One day after the CDU's election the newly elected Parliament meet for the first time and choose its Head who will also be Vice Chief of the Union (VCDU)

The Parliament is monocameral and vote the Laws and Capital (= adjective for the Chief of the Union) Decrees
The 235 Members of the Parliament are elected in the 211 Electoral Counties (subdivisions of Nohol only used for elections) and the 5 province (5 seats/southern province and 4 for G.Nord=24 MP)
Electoral counties represent 37 000 Citizens for the less populated and 49 000 for the most but, on average, they represent ~40 000 Citizens each.

An House of Communes also exists and can be summoned by the Parliament to issue important matters, its summons can however be contested by the CDU.
The HoC is the assembly of all the mayors of the country (usually not in the same room because they are many).

Executive:

The CDU, "chef de l'union", Chief of the Union is the Head of the State and of the Government, he is elected by the People every 6 years. As of now (the Constitution isn't entirely written) the CDU and his Government are totally independent from the Parliament at the exception of Impeachement that must be done by Parliament.
The CDU can however talk to Parliament to convince them to support one of his policy

The VCDU, "Vice-Chef de l'Union" or "Second de l'Etat" second [person] of the State is "the link between the Parliament and the Executive", both the Head of the Parliament and the second most important of the Executive. He replaces the CDU if he can't assume his functions anymore. His position is however very weak as both the Parliament and the CDU can force him to leave.

The Chief of the Union must appoint the Vice Chief of the Union to a post of Minister, usually an important one, like Foreign Affairs, Order or Economy depending on the VCDU's skills. If the VCDU leaves his office, he also looses his post of Minister.
As a Minister, the Head of the Parliament and second man of the Executive he has not a lot of time to occupy all the positions. This is why he appoints a "Speaker of the Parliament" or Président des Sessions Parlementaires after consulting the CDU who is in charge of doing his job of Head of the Parliament.
The VCDU can however, as often as he wants, assume his charges of Speaker-Head of the Parliament.
It is customary that the VCDU will mostly focus on his function of Minister and Second of the Executive while oftently doing his main job of link between the Parliament and the Government
Some call him "Minister of Executive-Legislative relations"

When the CDU and Vice CDU are not from the same party (unlikely) they can either choose to dissolve the Parliament, or the CDU can resign (the Vice CDU become CDU) or they can choose to Collaborate however, without the support of the Parliament, the CDU can't do all his reforms

The Constitution doesn't list the Ministers: "any post of Minister may be created by the CDU after Parliamentary Consultation" it however list the ones that can't be supressed:
- Minister for Order and Interior
- Minister for Foreign Affairs
- Minister for Army
- Minister for Justice
- Minister for Economy, Budget and Finances
- Minister for Education
- Minister for Health
- Government Spokesperson

A CDU can only rule for two mandates (12 years), consecutive or not. former Chiefs of the Union can occupy the post of Special Advisor of the Government if required by the current CDU

Judiciary
There are on Suprem Court in Nohol, the Constitutional Council or Constitutional Court can cancel a Law or a Decree if it decides it is anticonsitutional and can summon a member of the Executive or Parliament to appear to the Court of the State. The Court of Administration has the same power than he Court of the State but only judge Mayors and Province's Governors.

Judges are choosen by the Minister for Justice.

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Culture, Society and Cuisine.:

Cuisine:
Noholian Cuisine was firstly based on the French Salaixian one, with Breton and Occitan influence but evolved to be more adapted to the local ressources

A. Beverages:

I. Wines:
Wines are mostly produced in the Plains of the Revolution in south-est Nohol. There are two main varietals in the country:
Néo-Loire: mostly at the end of the New-Loire river (that goes from Mt Vanguard to East Coast), after Breton introduced Muscadet white wine from around Nantes into Nohol, the grapes proliferated along the river

Rouge-Frédéric: The story for Rouge-Frédéric is the same than for Néo-Loire, it was introduced by French from Anjou who took Cabernet grapes with them. This varietal of red wine is made along the Belle-Elise river (going from Mt Vanguard to Frédéric Bay), near the estuary, where the climate is warmer.

The Noholians drink a lot of wine in comparison with other alcohol. Wines, in the country, can be very expensive or very cheap depending on the varietal or its quality, which explains why the Noholians, rich and poor, drink so much.
Under the Monarchy Wine-related laws didn't exist, legally, it was as water or juices
Under the new Socialist government there will be new Laws to stop wine drinking but nothing is done yet.

II. Spirits and other Alcohols:
While beer and liquors are almost non-existant in Nohol, and while the southerners essentially drink wine, the 600 000 northerners are big fan of "strong alcohol". The richest of them import wine from the South but for the poorest, alcohols made of potato and wheat are very common. The most famous of them being the Brûlegorge (throat-burn) sometimes diluted with milk for children or apple-juice to make a cocktail. It is especially strong in alcohol in the rural areas where farmers usually make their own alcohol in their basement.

III. Juice and non-alcoholised drinks:
Along the rivers of the Plains of the Revolution, in the many local vineyards, farmer made wine and grape-juice. In the north of Saint-John Province and the South of the Grand-Nord Province, many orchards, producing apples and pears are used to make juices

Sodas are almost non existant in Nohol due to not being imported by the Kings and Queens of Nohol, the Socialist Government announced it will continue this way. However imported lemonade is very popular in southern Nohol during summer

B. The Noholian meals
I. Morning Meal 'Breakfast' or Déjeuner:

The Breakfast is the first meal taken by Noholian, it usually consist on bread, without anything for the poorest, with butter or pig-fat for the city-dweller of the middle class and with butter and/or jam for riches and country-dwellers.
the richest may also eat viennoiseries or pastries.

Noholian also usually drink something during breakfast, it may be coffee (the only cheap imported beverage), tea (more expensive), milk or juices (for children), some may put alcohol in the morning-drinks, which is more common in poor rural areas.

Noon Meal 'Lunch' or Dîner:
The lunch is the second meal of the day.
While the poorest may not eat anything, or just some bread, everyone usually eat a very small lunch, it can be a salad or something similar to what is eaten at diner but in a smaller portion.

Evening meal 'Dinner' or Souper:
The Dinner is the third and last meal of the day. It usually consist on something warm except in the south during summer where it can be a salad. The low-class may eat soup, sometimes with potatos and vegetables in it, or even with meat or fish. The middle-class and upper-class may eat a correct dinner with main-course and dessert. There may sometimes be a first-course (salad, cold meats with bread, ...) but if it is a salad it is sometimes eaten after the main course

Order for a full-dinner, usually served at a ceremony a wedding or any particular events

- Apéritif avec Amuse-Bouche (aperitif with appetizer)
- Soupe (Soup) or Consommé
- Entrée (First-Course): usually a salad or cold meats
- (Sometimes) Trou Normand (apple liquor)
- Poissons (Fishes)--> with white wine
- Viandes (Meats)--> with red wine
- Fromages (Cheeses): with lettuce (and bread of course)-->with red wine
- Dessert (there may be several)
- Digestif (alcohol)

C. The Food:
I. Food Produced in the country

Nohol's cuisine is mostly based on fish and seafood in general, there's almost no livestock in the provinces of Béname, Frédéric and Nouvelle-Loire, most of the rural lands are made of fields and the consumption of meat is culturally not present in the south's cuisine. However the northern you go (Provinces of Saint-Jean, Grand-Nord) the more meat replace vegetables and cereals. The first fish producing provinces are Bename, then N.Loire

Also, the kind of fish eaten vary between the North and South as the water are colder in the North, some fishermen of the North may also fish wales and seals for the fat and the flesh. freshwater fishes are also more present in the south's cuisine than in the north's.
Crustacean and molluscs are also commonly eaten, mostly in the south

For the meats, it is mostly eaten by the middle and upper classes, the main meat producing province is St-Jean followed by G.Nord (mostly the south and east of the province). In these provinces, mostly beef and pork meats are produced and are consequently very present in the local foods.
In the southern provinces, chicken, pork followed by other birds (mostly duck, geese, turkey and pheasants), are the main eaten meats

Vegetables are mostly cultivated in the southern Provinces and the cuisine of St-Jean and G.Nord don't oftenly include vegetables (mostly potatoes, which are not vegetables)

The main crops (vegetables and non-vegetable included) are:
- Wheat (mostly for flour)
- potatoes (mostly for food and alcohol)
- flax (for linen and for clothes)
- carrots (the main vegetable produced in Nohol)
- cabbages (all kind)
- tomatoes (mostly in the south)
- beans (mostly in St-Jean and N.Loire)

Dairy products are very popular in Nohol, mostly cheese, milk and butter.
Nohol is also autonomous in salt producing 120% of what it needs (44 000 000 Kg/year) mostly with salt flats.

II. Famous Dishes:
The National Dish of Nohol is the Kaletez (buckwheat pancake) usually filled with ham (or other meat) and an egg, served with cider or wine. This is a dish from Breton culture imported by them since the very beginning of Nohol's colonization.
Its "little sister" the sweet crêpe (very thin pancake) of Brittany (made of wheat) is served as dessert with sugar or jam.

Other famous dish include the Poule-au-pot (boiled chicken), a meal imported from France consisting on a chicken boiled with vegetables and potatoes. The Coq-au-vin (Rooster with wine) is also a french dish, similar to the boiled chicken, but braised in wine, with lardons and mushrooms.
In general Noholian braised or boiled dishes have bay.

Served, in general, in ports, for rich customers, the Plateau de Fruits de Mer (platter of seafood) consisting on different kind of shellfishes, served on a platter.
It usually include crabs, oysters, shrimps, urchins, clams and a lobster (the lobster is the main part, considered to be a costly, fancy seafood), usually served with white wine.

III. Dessert
the Dessert is an essential part of ceremonial meals, it can consist on a cake, pastries or special dishes. For some ceremony, several desserts can be served.
The Dessert is usually followed by Coffee or a Digestif (after-dinner liqueur).

The most emblematic noholian cake is the Nantes' Cake, a round pound cake made with the normal ingredients of the pound cake (flour, egg, butter and sugar) plus some rum (traditional) or brûlegorge potato alcohol (Noholian version) and some almond flour, with on the top a sugar glaze.

French-Noholian cuisine is also well known for its french pastries, the éclairs, turnovers, and so on

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Downtown of Frédéric-des-Peuples with the old Fort

A beach in Béname Province