A Rough Guide To Calladan

Calladan

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The Matriarchy of Calladan (commonly called Calladan), is a liberaly governed nation in The West Pacific. NATION covers 3000 square miles and has has a moderately fast rate of population growth. Calladan comprises of Twenty Seven Districts (arranged for administrative purposes, rather than territorial or geographical).

Calladan has had very little interaction with the rest of the world, other than taking part in a number of WA debates.

Etymology

"CALLADAN" quite literally means "this land" - named by the original eleven tribes of settlers nine hundred years ago in their original language of tikkiana, the name has persisted due - in the most part - to laziness and no desire to rename it, despite the fact that (due to a quirk of history and it being "one of those things") in the other original language of the settlers (akkiana), "CALLADAN" translates as "your grave".

The standard way to refer to a citizen of Calladan is as a "Calladanian". There are, apparently, other ways to refer to citizens of Calladan, but they are somewhat profane and obscene and do not belong in an official (albeit informal) government document.

History

A Note on Dating Convention

While Calladan uses the generic date index that the rest of the world follows, we also have three "internal calendars" that are used to track our own history.

Epoch Name	Description	Current Date
Creation Epoch (CE)	The number of years since Calladan was founded	The current year is 912 CE
Darkness Epoch (DE)	The number of years since the "Seven Years of Darkness" was brought to an end	The current year is 229 DE
Current Tri-Arch Epoch (CTE)	The number of years since the election of the (current) Tri-Arch	The current year is 32 CTE

Generally, CE is used for most dates. However when some proposals are being debated in the various "Houses" (centres of government), specific reference is made to DE and CTE dates because it provides a better context for the content of the proposals.

Major Events

Year	Event	Notes
0 CE	Calladan Founded	Calladan was founded by eleven tribes of settlers who wandered into the area by the shores of Lake Carver.
0 CE - 500 CE	The eleven tribes spread out across the country that is now considered Calladan. Cultural, linguistic and other splits lead to various settlements across the country	By 500 CE, there are 33 districts.
500 CE - 601 CE	6 of the 33 districts disappear	Some through merging, some through invasion by other nations and some through natural disasters
		During this time, the foundations of government are formed.
603 CE	Hayley Lee Hanson is elected as Tri-Arch	Mrs Hanson is the first Tri-Arch elected to office.
664 CE	Andrea Mayhew (Blessed Order of The Star Chamber) elected to District 3	Miss Mayhew is the first member of The BOSC elected to government.
664 CE - 670 CE	Further members of The BOSC are elected to government.	By 670 CE, members of The BOSC have a 95% majority in all governmental houses.
670 CE	Carla Masterson appointed Tri-Arch	Other members of The BOSC are appointed to positions of power, giving them complete control of the government.
670 CE	Start of The Seven Years of Darkness	Tri-Arch Masterson declares herself Guardian of Calladan, suspending all laws.
671 CE	The BOSC rewrite Calladan's laws to reflect their religion.	Blasphemy is punishable by death, lack of faith is treated with enforced medical procedures, elections are suspended, law enforcement is run by the religious police (The Angel Order) and all schools are replaced by Star Chamber Educational Centres.
673 CE	District House 3 is blown up, killing all the members of The BOSC (including Andrea Mayhew)	Responsibility is claimed by The Calladan Liberation Corps.
673 CE - 677 CE	The CLC continue their war against The BOSC	Support for The CLC grows, becoming almost universal by 677 CE
677 CE	On the 6th of August, The CLC strike the three Arch Houses and The DHC, overthrowing The BOSC and ending the war	The leader of The CLC (Tiffany Le Chance) is appointed temporary Tri-Arch.
677 CE - 683 CE	Tri-Arch Le Chance (and aides) rebuild the government and the country	Over the space of six years, all twenty seven districts, nine regions and three Arcs are rebuilt.
683 CE	Le Chance stands down when Sophie T Baneless is elected	Mrs Baneless is regarded as "The First Tri-Arch", although she is only the first of the modern era (Post Seven Years)
721 CE	Tri-Arch Baneless dies in her sleep.	Pri-Arch Edward Lee is appointed as temporary Tri-Arch.
722 CE	Eloise Z Wingfells is elected as Tri-Arch	Pri-Arch Lee stands down.
879 CE	Tri-Arch Darsinia V Lasker is forced to resign	Lasker is convicted of tax fraud, arson and misconduct in public office. He is the first Tri-Arch to resign their office.
880 CE	Lucinda G Doyle III is elected as Tri-Arch	Miss Doyle promises to improve the reputation of The Tri-Arch's office.
902 CE	Tara Alyson McGill is appointed as Ambassador at Large to The First Tri-Arch	Mrs McGill is the youngest person elected to the post.
912 CE	Calladan joins The World Assembly

Demographics

Population
Calladan's population is around twenty six million people, spread equally throughout the country.

Language
Calladan's primary language is English (since it is used in communications between countries), while tikkiana and akkiana (the two languages of the original settlers) still have widespread use across the country.

All official documentation is produced in all three languages, while the District Houses (the seat of local government) have the final say over language choices for things such as road signs and so forth in their district.

Religion
Calladan has no formal religion - following the reign of terror imposed by the government of The Blessed Order of The Star Chamber, there was a universal desire for no future government to use religion as a tool to get people to follow it.

Since the end of The Seven Years of Darkness, it has been general government policy to prohibit any endorsement of a specific religion. This includes state and private school curriculums, and any government sponsored or government operated event.

However - while there is no formal religion - the citizens of Calladan have complete freedom of religion. There are numerous churchs, mosques, synagogues and other houses of worship throughout the country, and although all religions are required to follow the District, Regional, Archal and National laws, there are no overt restrictions on any religion.

The most popular religion is The Followers of The Great God Zorp. Imported from a town named Pawnee in the year 36 DE (719 CE), it is obviously an entirely fake religion. However because it is fun and lacking any kind of seriousness or hint of hellfire and damnation, it is universally adored, and even devout and fanatical followers of other religions are proud to say they are Followers of Zorp (all hail Zorp).

Race
Calladan is has a relatively diverse racial mix, descended from the original eleven tribes, spread out across the country.

Largest Cities

Rank	City	Metro area population	District
1	Lesser Leadworth	750,000	District 4
2	Tiffin	690,000	District 9
3	Andromeda (Capital)	680,000	District 10
4	Maglavor	620,000	District 1
5	Greater Leadworth	601,000	District 24
6	Winderville	580,000	District 12
7	Calladan City	550,000	District 1
8	Ice-Town	520,000	District 15
9	Lake Town	490,000	District 2
10	Krashwan Village	420,000	District 21
11	Capeside Dock	400,000	District 24
12	Covenston	390,000	District 5

Government
The government of Calladan has four levels - National, Archal, Regional and District.

District Government
There are twenty seven Districts, each imaginatively numbered from 1 to 27. The seat of each District government is called District House 1 to 27, and each DH(D) has control over the issues of the district, such as sanitation, waste management, local funding, budgets and taxation and so forth.

District governments have a twenty four members, with elections taking place every seven years.

Regional Government
There are nine Regions, each of which has control over three Districts. Much like the Districts, the Regions are numbered 1 to 9, although the arrangement of which Regions control which Districts is more geographical than numerical.

Regional Houses 1 - 9 are the seats of Regional power, and control over the general policies for the Districts within the region. This includes budgets, taxes, recycling policies, education, healthcare and welfare policies and so forth.

Regional governments have twelve members, with elections taking place every five years.

Archal Government
There are three "Archs" - each Arch controls three Regions. The three Archs are based in Arch House 1 to 3, but the Arch Houses are generally not based in the same District as a "Regional House" (to avoid the overcrowding and to avoid over-stretching the resources of a given city or District)

Archs have control over the budgets for the Regions, as well as setting the general direction for Regional policies.

Each Arch is run by a Pri-Arch (who also serves as Deputy Tri-Arch), with an executive council of eight members. The Pri-Arch and executive council are elected every three years.

National
The national government is headed by The Tri-Arch - the person responsible for setting the tone and direction of the policies that are operated over all four levels of government (Healthcare, Education, Budget, Taxation, Welfare and so forth) and is in charge of setting the policies that are set at national level (Defence, Justice, Policing, Constitutional and so forth).

The Tri-Arch is assisted by an executive council made up of the leader of each District government and a further thirteen elected members (who - like the District government representatives are elected every seven years). The council sits in The DHC (District House (Central)).

The Tri-Arch is the Head of State as well as the Head of Government.

The Tri-Arch is elected for life, however - as has been shown by history - Tri-Archs are not immune from criminal prosecution should they break the law.

Constitutional Issues
Following the events of The Seven Years of Darkness, Tiffany Le Chance rewrote large parts of the constitution to ensure that another group like The Blessed Order of The Star Chamber could not stage a coup d'etat and take over the country.

Since The Le Chance revisions were adopted, the fundamental laws that make up the country's legislatative constitution can only be changed by a majority vote in all District Houses, a majority vote in all Regional Houses, the support of all three Pri-Archs and the unanimous vote of the Tri-Arch's executive Council as well as The Tri-Arch themself.

However, even if a change passes this test, it must then be affirmed by seventy five percent of the country in a national referendum in order to become law.

As this only applies to the fundamental laws (which cover the most basic facets of life in Calladan), no government has attempted to use this provision within the Dark Epoch.

Foreign Relations and Military

All of Calladan's foreign relations are conducted through the Ambassador at Large, including all interactions with The World Assembly.

The post of Ambassador is currently held by Mrs Tara McGill, who has been in post for ten years. The previous incumbent (Alan Barry) left the post due to family commitments.

Calladan's military is mostly defensive in nature, and the general doctrine on use of force is that as Calladan wouldn't want other countries to interfere in our internal politics, we do not feel qualified to interfere with the internal politics of other countries.

Politics

Calladan has no formal political parties - due to the large number of districts, and the wide range of issues across the districts, citizens tend to vote for specific people to represent them in The District Houses rather than voting for a party.

The political spectrum in Calladan is more or less the same as most other countries - left, centre left, centre, centre right and right. There are a few fringe candidates and politicians who occupy positions on the far left and far right, however they are so few and far between that they have no real influence in the government.

The current Tri-Arch Lucinda G Doyle III is generally considered to be centre left - generally liberal in nature but with a few more moderate views.

The Legal System and Judiciary

The Judiciary operates with much the same levels that the government does, although they are entirely independent.

To become a judge, a citizen must be at least twenty one, and must take all the appropriate and relevant examinations, and pass the judicial examinations. Once qualified, the judge then serves in one of the twenty seven districts.

When a judge feels ready, and providing they have had at least five years experience, they can take the next set of examinations to become a regional judge to serve in one of the nine regions. Regional judges are still occasionally called to sit on district cases, if there is a shortage or a request for a properly impartial judge. (All judges are considered to be impartial and independent, however judges are forbidden from sitting on any case that they have any potential connection to, in order to maintain the impartiality and independence they are required to have).

After at least six years as a regional judge, a judge can take the next set of examinations to become an Arch-Judge and serve in one of the three archs. Again, Arch-Judges can serve at either of the two lower levels if requested.

Finally, after at least five more years, a judge can take the national exams and serve at the national level. While national judges to not tend to preside over cases on a day to day basis, they are required to adjudicate on changes in laws, on decisions by the government and various government agencies and in general are considered to be the watchdog body of the government. In addition, they serve as the appeals court for all of the lower courts and are considered to be the final voice on all legal decisions within Calladan.

Judges of any level are appointed for life, however judges at the national level can require judges from lower courts to take the examinations again if at least nine of the national judges decide it is appropriate to do so - this rarely happens (once within the DE) but was put in place because judges (at all levels) hold the most important position in Calladan - arbiters of justice and fairness - so if one of them goes off their rocker, it is probably a good thing they can be replaced.

While it is a purely ceremonial title, the Chief Judge of Calladan is the national judge who has been in service the longest. This is currently Muffy Winters, who has served Calladan as a justice for nearly forty five years.

Law enforcement on a day to day basis also works in the same way as governments - there are district, regional, arch and national police forces. District forces operate solely within their district, while regional forces deal with crimes that occur at a regional level. Arch forces, as you would expect operate at the Arch level, and the national police force deals with country wide crimes, such as drug smuggling, people smuggling, terrorism, gun running, espionage and so forth.

While the police are answerable to the government (specifically Legal House) they are politically neutral and the rank and file can only take orders and directions from their senior officers - politicians and government ministers are not permitted to interfere directly with police operations.

Sub-Judice Laws

The Sub-Judice Laws in Calladan were brought in as part of the reforms enacted at the end of The Seven Years of Darkness.

During the reign of The Blessed Order of The Star Chamber, trials were conducted under the purview of The Angel Order and were incredibly corrupt and biased.

Devout followers of The BOSC were generally shown leniency, while those who were viewed as heathens or blasphemers were generally convicted without the bother of such trivial things as evidence or witnesses.

As a result of this, thousands of innocent people were jailed, and thousands more tortured or executed.

Because of this legacy, the right to a fair trial has become sacrosanct in Calladanian law and Calladanian society and is considered one of the highest duties of government to ensure. Hence the creation of the Sub-Judice Laws (that govern reporting of crimes and suspected criminals in the news).

The exact implementation of the laws is somewhat complex, however the summary of the laws can be expressed relatively simply - nothing in the press can even hint (either directly or indirectly) at the innocence or guilt of a person who is a suspect in a crime.

While this sounds simple, the ramifications can be somewhat extensive.

(For further details see the Factbook entitled "Media Regulation in Calladan", coming soon)

Economy
(coming soon)

Culture

As would be expected, The Seven Years of Darkness has had a huge impact on all aspects of Calladan culture. Political independence features quite strongly in laws governing most media and art, while all news broadcasters have a requirement for political neutrality, and most newspapers endeavour to follow the same policy (although it is not a legal requirement).

There are also strong sub-judice laws governing ALL "tangible" providers of news and opinion (news broadcasts on tv, radio and the newspapers and magazines that are available in Calladan) - this has yet to fully spread to the internet, but those "tangible" providers that have an on-line presence are required to follow the same rules.

There is a thriving television and radio industry, and a commercially viable movie industry (although it tends to service the internal market, rather than making movies for export).

There is official national sport, but football and badminton are popular across most of the country.

Nearly every house has high speed internet access with the roll out to the remaining population on going.

There is a solid "art" base of museums, theatres, galleries and so forth.

Media

Film
There are a number of independent film studios in Calladan, making films mostly for the internal Calladan market. All film studios are privately owned, with no subsidies or other government funding.

The three major studios are Calladan Recording Artists Productions, Professional Calladan Productions and Fun Loving Original Products.

(Calladan film studios make excellent films, however they are not so good at finding names).

Television
Television in Calladan is split into two types - independent channels (which are privately funded and generally advertiser funding) and state operated channels (which are funded by the state).

The nine independent channels are required to program according to the decency standards set by Broadcast House (regarding nudity, swearing, violence and so forth) however the general content is entirely up to the operators/owners of the channel. The only exception to the content rules that each channel must provide two hours of news per day, which cannot contain any advertising. They receive no public funding, but pay no fees to the state for operating their channels.

The six state owned channels are also required to program according to the decency standards set by Broadcast House (like the independents), and are required to provide at least sixteen hours of educational programming a week. The most important thing about the state owned channels is that, while they receive all their funding from the state, the state takes absolutely NO part in the operation of the channels. The regulations under which the channels operate forbid government interference, and the administrative boards are politically independent.

(For further details see the Factbook entitled "Media Regulation in Calladan", coming soon)

Radio

As with television, Radio is split into state and commercially owned channels as well. And - as with television - the state owned channels are also entirely independent, with no government interference at any level.

A radio channel has to adhere to the decency standards set by Broadcast House (although they mostly relate to swearing, since nudity and violence are far harder to get across on the radio).

There are around fifty five commercial channels, both local (spread around the twenty seven districts) and national. These are generally advertiser funded, however some are owned and operated by individual backers.

There are nine state owned radio stations, all of which are national channels available throughout Calladan. As stated before, they are funded by the state but are not beholden to them in terms of content (other than the standards they are required to stick to).

The Press

There are around two dozen national newspapers in Calladan, and a further three dozen or so local papers, servicing the various districts and regions.

All the newspapers are commercially owned and operated - the state doesn't own or operate any print media, although (through the government print shop) it does publish bulletins, documents and reports about government activity.

As previously stated, all newspapers (both national and local) are politically independent, and while there are no laws regarding the political neutrality of their content, most of the national newspapers do tend to stick to a neutral stance (although this would appear to be more of a commercial decision to appeal to a wide audience, rather than any ideological reasons). The local papers tend to be more likely to take a political stance, however that does tend to be limited to local matters rather than national ones.

The sub-judice laws that govern news broadcasts in the media are also strictly applied to all newspapers (whether local or national). Any papers found to be violating them can be fined, forced to suspend publication or even closed down, with the reporters who are at fault at risk of fines or jail time.

Sport
(coming soon)

The Arts
(coming soon)

Infrastructure
(coming soon)

Energy
(coming soon)

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The office of Ambassador McGill wishes to thank the following people for help in compiling this document :-

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