Map of Nulkia

The name of Nulkia is a contraction between two Mother Tongue common words. This language was commonly spoken in certains parts of the region in late Antiquity & the early Middle-Age, and it precisely is at the origin of the many regional languages that emerged and later evolved into a merged, unified nulkian language.
Centuries ago, the nation was called Nülkya in Old Nulkian and was, even before that, referred to as Nulkea in the original exemplaries of the sacred union and during the reigns of the first few rulers. The full original name in Mother Tongue, a language already defunct for centuries at the time, Ræxōmae Sōberane Nulkea, is considered the most pedantic and formal name, although not in use outside certain academic literature.
The first syllabus of Nulkia originates from nua in Mother Tongue, itself derived from latin roots novis, nova meaning new, never-before-seen. The second part refers to Mount Fulkia, known as Fülkya in Old Nulkian and which name was Völkea in Mother Tongue. This famous and holy pagan mountain, located in the north of the country, is where the nulkian sacred union was ratified by the 5 lords paramount who merged their lands and people into a single realm: Nulkia.

During Middle-Age, the region was a war place for all tribes and fiefdoms. That was the case too, in Nulkia's part of the continent. Indeed no less than 500 cities and lordships were fighting each other. Over centuries, many alliances, submissions, destructions took place and ravaged populations. Yet unexpectedly, capitalising upon several arranged marriages, a ten of families shared power over this part of the region with one another. Conspiracies killed three of them. Two religious wars decimated four more. A nine-year continental war ended three illustrious houses. A forty counts and barons rebellion assassinated the most oppressing lord and all his relatives, leaving no descendants. A useful precision that in these darker times, no unified country nor lord reigned over anyone else as there were no kingdom nor empire. At that juncture remained no more than five great houses whose four had the four largest provinces of the region. The fifth house, the Sova dynasty, was the oldest and wealthiest one. In 1520, Sovereign Prince Julian of Sova proposed his neighbours, i.e to the four major lords and three other, to create a single country governed by a yearly-appointed and rotating King from amongst the eight lords. One of minor lord was attacked from another resulting in both of them answering negatively. A neighbouring Duke died a few weeks later and his Heir was against a y sort of union as proposed by the Sovas. Finally, on March, 11th 1531, five historic and powerful lords signed the 'Nulkian Sacred Union' after having elected Prince Julian's son, Felix of Sova, to be the permanent and hereditary Köny fo Nülkya, King of Nulkia in Old Nulkian. The de facto royal capital city was Sovacity, until the creation of Felixcity.

Nulkia at the center of the World of the LKE (March 2021)

Nulkia is located in the Land of Kings and Emperors.
Nulkia is composed by mountains at the north, the highest point is Mount Fulkia with 1200 meters, where scientists measured about -49°C in winter. There is a great desert in the south east of the country, especially in the South which is crossed by the Tropic of Capricorn and where it's sometimes up to 60°C. There are also wetlands in the south west, in particular in the Vale which is the most rainy and greenish region. In the middle of Nulkia is a more tempered and liveable zone. Moreover, there is the Stormland to the east, a province where hurricanes and storms often occur and that is separated of other provinces by River Strange, where a unique fauna & flora of strange fishes and aquatic species live.
Nulkia offers various landscapes and many different fauna and flora all around the country.

The institutional, financial and political capital city of Nulkia is Felixcity, Sovaland. The King's residence is Lonea Palace in the east of the city and the Prime Minister's residence is at 31st Zomer Garten District in the south-west of Felixcity intra muros. The national parliament is hosted in the historic city centre as well. Felixcity, thanks to its ideal position on the banks of Crown River, was once a commercial centre and has always been a central place in the kingdom.

The King's flag

Nulkia is a constitutional monarchy led by a King or a Queen. The Monarch has an oversight power over all Nulkian institutions and citizens acting of their behalf.
The Government, led by an elected Prime Minister, holds executive power and may exceptionally release executive decrees even though Parliament retains full legislative powers.
The Parliament is historically divided into two houses for an improved representation. Indeed the Senate, whose members are elected, represent the people while the House of Peers, whose members are appointed -generally for life but non hereditary - by the Monarch, represent the interest of provinces.

The country is longtime and culturally structured by five provinces, each headed by a Warden heir to the lords paramount who entered the nulkian sacred union. The King himself currently is the Warden of the Sovaland and delegates his duty to a Lieutenant-general. The provinces however no longer carry as much weight as they once did, and it is now the regions - subdivisions of the Provinces - that enjoy a series of administrative, executive and legislative powers. Each region elects a legislative assembly and an executive council, the latter being headed by the local lord (either a viscount, count, marquis or duke) and a prefect appointed by the Government. Regions are themselves divided into several baronies or districts, i.e. a territory grouping together several dozen towns under the authority of a council composed of either the local baron or an elected official and, in any case, towns representatives. The basic unit of administrative division in Nulkia is the city or the town, regardless of its number of inhabitants or surface area.

A simplified chart of administrative layers would be: nation > province > region > barony or district > town.

The lords ruling regions or baronies are called "land lords" and their title of appeal is "[title] [surname] of [region/barony]" or "Lord/Lady [surname], [title] of [region/barony]", while lords appointed by the Monarch but without any attachment to land are called "seat lords" because they obtain a seat in the House of Lords by right, like the land lords. According to custom, the title of appeal of seat lords is "Lord/Lady [surname], [title] [place]" without the "of" and without referring to an existing region or barony. For example, previous Prime Minister Schtuliae (PM 2012-2020) is called "Lord Schtuliae, Baron Haimet" while the Baron of Sunray is called either "Baron Smith of Sunray" or "Lord Smith, Baron of Sunray".

Before 11th March 2020 and the passage of a constitutional amendment, another important body existed among Nulkian institutions. Indeed, the Magister was led by the King as First Consul and had the power to block a royal decision/order. It was made up of 24 members among the leaders of some institutions, and was declared unconstitutional by a Supreme Court ruling in 2018 as the body couldn't respect the principle of separation of powers, all leading to the Magister's suppression.

4.1 Current Nulkian Government

Official Government logotype

Government Theeryn 1
(since 24th Nov 2020)
-Prime Minister: Dame Juliet Theeryn CC
-Deputy Prime Minister: Lord von München, Marquess of Texcoalt
--Government's Spokesperson: Damian Shilling
--Secretary of State for Relations with the Parliament: Dame Ambroise LC
-Lord Chancellor: Lord Van Kreuzuh
-Minister of Justice: Eudes of Grand-Castle
-Home Secretary: Hadrian Julius CC
-Foreign Minister: Jeremy White CC
-Minister to the LKE and NS Affairs: Lord von und zu Linzburg, Viscount Linzburg
-Minister of Devolution: Norbert Nowak
-Minister of the Crown for the Royal Domain, Minister to the Protectorates: Lord Schtuliae, Baron Haimet CC
--State Councillor for Salardan: Ser Joseph van Helle
-Minister of Agriculture and Environment: Thomas Addison
--SoS to the Energies: Tom van Hollan
--SoS for Food and Rural Affairs: Jaime Yallen
-Minister for Health: Alienor Defray CC
-Minister for Education: Felipe Granda
-Minister of the Armies: Lady Monthwing, Baronness Eaststorm CC
--SoS for Veteran's Affairs: Olenna Tayrell
--SoS to the RIO: Captain George Dumont
-Lord Royal Treasury: Lord Maupequet, Count of Valya CC
-Minister for Higher Education: Ser Gildas KC
-Minister to the Culture: Lucian Lang
-Minister for Labour: Hugo Demisz

CC: postnominals of a member of the Crown Counsel

4.2 Previous Governments

Civil War Flag of Nulkia

The Nulkian Armies (always plural) are under the command of the Monarch due to their title as Lord/Lady High Commander of the Nulkian Armies. The NA is made up of the Royal Air Force (RAF), the Royal Navy Force (RNF), the Royal Land Force (RLF), the Royal Gendarmerie Force (RGF), and the Royal Guard (RG). All are war or armed units, though the Gendarmerie serves as a police force and judiciary enforcer in rural and mountain areas and Royal Guards protect national building and important persons such as the Monarch, Ministers or Senators. All act under the Defence Secretary save the Gendarmerie which is under co-management by Defense and Justice Secretaries

There are also civil police forces under the responsibility and scope of regions, cities, or group of cities depending on regional laws.
The civilian Jail Guard (JG) protects Courthouses and keep prisoners in prisons. This corps is under the theoretical command of the Premier President of the Supreme Court of Nulkia, even if they are in practice led by the Justice Minister.

6.1 Infrastructure
WIP

6.2 Energy

The Nulkian Government has made a priority to develop renewable energies, especially solar panels and tidal energy in order to "decrease human pollution and stop nature destruction" according to Minister of the Environment and Public Health Ser Fuisp in 2017. A net zero carbon emission target for 2050 was announced the year after.
However, the Government has decided not to close the several nuclear plants of the country before their planned end-of-service deadline in the 2030's.

In January 2024, 57% of Nulkian energy is produced by nuclear powerplants, 16% solar sources, 11% hydroelectric & tidal dams, 10% wind turbines (onshore and offshore), 4% natural gas, 2% biomass, <1% oil, <1% coal, <1% geothermal. In the end 39% of Nulkia's electricity is provided by renewable sources and 96% by low-emission sources.
Hydroelectric, inertial and battery storages were also widely spread as high response buffer substitutes to gas, oil and coal, juggling between the inertia of nuclear production and fast evolving solar & wind productions.

In comparison July 2020 figures mentioned that 59% of Nulkian energy was produced by nuclear power, 12% hydroelectric & tidal dams, 8% solar panels, 7% oil, 7% wind turbines (onshore and offshore), 4% natural gas, 3% coal. The electricity consumption has increased since, supported by proactive public policies in favour of electric home heating and mobility.

Research on hydrogen-powered buses and trucks resulted in fields experiments and creation of a new market expanding over 5% a year. Yet public funds were directed at developing freight trains infrastructure over road trucks' engine, given track's better energy/cost/distance score.

The country is highly dependent on uranium mines, but some reserves were found under the Nulkian soil in the early 1960s. However, the realm imports almost a half of the uranium consumed because it is cheaper abroad, and then the country sells its own enriched uranium at a higher price to other "developed" countries. A similar scenario was set up in the 1980s by the military regime (1950-2011), in agreement with third world countries producing low-cost oil. This allows Nulkia to sell its own refined resource at a high enough price so that it never runs a financial deficit on energy, and is even a significant source of income for what is now a monarchy. Over 90% of the country's coal mines and oil wells were dismantled since the 1950's, while existing uranium mines' licences were reconducted. Highly controversial licences were granted to lithium, cobalt and hydrogen mining companies since the 2015's. Many are contested by locals and nature NGOs in courts and some where halted by judges.

7.1 Population
The nulkian population is diverse and multiethnic, Nulkia being a melting point between several cultures and a crossroad for economic exchanges for a long time, even under the XXth century dictatorship.
A law was passed in 2023 to reinforce anti discrimination policies, specifically prohibiting any poll, work requirement etc from asking personal information about ethnicity or skin colour. It incidentally prevents quotas based on these information from being introduced e.g. in TV shows or company boards.

7.2 Language

Nulkia's official language is the modern nulkian since the middle 17th century, this one is originated from the old nulkian (~1400-1650) being one of the many regional languages spoken in the pre-Nulkia era, like the 'söwaa' (sova) spoken in Sovaland, the 'syouna' (syouna) in the South or the 'upör kreuzjak' (high krozyack) spoken to the north of North. Some ancient regional languages arise from latin, like the 'lutinu' (old lutinu) spoken around of the Riverland, next to the current Felixcity, or from the mother tongue, which is a somewhat unified language which origins are unclear and subject to debate in the linguistics sphere. Some of these regional languages are still used today, although more local idioms are rarely into a single writing system. All of them, regional of local ones, are protected by the Provinces' and regions' laws, that encourage their learning at school.

7.3 Religion

The main religious organisation in Nulkia is the Nulkianist Church, being separated from the Catholic or Orthodox Churches for centuries. The King is the head of the Nulkianists, as Pontiff.
However, the second "religous" organisation is made of atheists, non-religous and other agnostic people. It has been observed that during the military regime (1950-2011), the percentage of irreligious citizens increased by 14 points, from 5% to 19%.

7.3 Largest Cities

The largest cities in Nulkia are the capital city of Felixcity and the four other regional capital cities, namely Oltenburg in the Vale, Nightfall in the North, Sunray in the South and Holyhell in the Stormland. In addition, 2 other cities of great historical importance are also considered among the largest ones in the Kingdom. These are Sovacity, former capital city of the Sovaland, and Valya, former capital city of the Vale.

8 Culture
still WIP

9 International Relations

Great coat of arms of the Von Arcadia-Sova dynasty

The Sovereign Realm recognizes and is allied to a lot of LKE nations, and maintains embassies and consulates in some of them.
As for an example, in July 2020, the King's Office officially announced that the good and prosperous relation with Chrismark took a new turn with the opening of several consulates in Julioburg, Toledo, Bata, and Bourges.
Other examples of succesful relationships with foreign countries are often linked with the royal family, being itself linked to foreign monarchies by blood. This is the case with Arcadia (Emperor Rayregalia being King Julio's foster brother), Cunaris (Crown Princess Corinne being married to Prince John of Cunaris), Grand Mythral, Leondore, the Allistair Union (through the Von Arcadia-Sova family) etc.
Nulkia is member of the Council of Rulers, and of the LKE Imperial Bank & Market, and maintains good relations with international alliances, such as the AMA Alliance (between Arcadia, Grand Mythral & Allistair Union).

Flag of the Emirate of Salardan, a Nulkian protectorate

The Nulkian realm is sometimes quite active militarily, especially in terms of external intervention, often as part of a coalition to fight a failed regime or a one committing atrocities against its people. The most recent example took place in June 2020, with the invasion of the Kingdom of Salardan, then its division into two sectors, of which the Nulkian part was quickly transformed into an emirate under Nulkian protectorate, with the royal land force still serving as police force there.

Further information on Nulkia can be found on the LKE regional forums
See in the Factbooks and National Information thread.
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