Nation Profiles

Name: Egriumian Confederation
Location: Honavar;

Motto: Non-Official; "One will stand for All; All will stand for One"
Language: German and French; German officially recognized in the North, French officially recognized in the South. Those regions are comprised by geopolitical divisions called provinces, and divided by natural means, that is, a major river that crosses the nation from West to East. This division has separated culture in the nation in early times, and as a consequence, the languages were officialized in the country to properly suit the culture in it.

Weather: In Egrium, where the height above sea-level ranges from 200 to 4,900 metres, many climates are naturally found, from the regions of olives, vines, oaks and beeches, pines and firs, to those of the high mountain pastures, rhododendrons, and of eternal snow.

In most inhabited regions of Egrium, at lower altitudes, the weather is generally moderate. On the Plateau, freezing temperatures generally occur during December-early March with an average temperature of 9 °C for elevations between 500–600 metres. On the Plateau the average precipitation is 1,000 millimetres with a range of about 800–1,300 millimetres. The higher elevations naturally cause lower temperatures and glaciers exist in the Eastern half of Egrium's borders, as the mountains in that region are higher. The South typically has more precipitation, with an average of 1,200–1,600 millimetres, while the high Southern Mountains may have over 2,500 millimetres. The Southern border region has sub-tropical vegetation and is usually 2–4 °C warmer, and wetter than the Plateau.

In the Köppen climate classification, the Plateau is classed as Maritime Temperate or Oceanic climate and the Southern Mountains are considered Tundra climates. A maritime temperate area will have changeable, often overcast weather. Summers are cool due to cloud cover and winters are milder than expected due to latitude. The East and South will be slightly cooler due to higher altitude. Within the Southern Mountains, temperatures and snow fall correlate to altitude.

Geography: Egrium is divided in three main geographic regions; the Southern Mountains, the Central Plateau and the Northern Mountains. The first, the Southern Mountains, are part of the mountain range that completely surrounds Egrium, and are where the highest mountains in the nation are found. The second, the Central Plateau, is where most cities are found and where the highest population density is observed. The Northern Mountains are a sub-alpine, moderately inhabited region. In terms of area, the Southern Mountains constitute about 60% of the country, the Plateau 30% and the Northern Mountains 10%. The rugged terrain of the Southern and Northern Mountains are very sparsely populated, except for some small to large valleys, where the population is often rural and mostly self sufficient. Most of the population lives on the Plateau where the country's major cities are located.

Egrium has a great percentage of all freshwater reserves in the continent. The country shares five river basins and some of the largest lakes in the continent with its neighbours. It is the source of several major rivers in the continent. Most of the great Egriumian rivers, being in their origin mere mountain torrents, tend to overflow their banks, and hence much has been done to prevent this by embanking them, and regaining arable land from them. Egrium has considerable reserves of groundwater and a large number of lakes, large and small, can be found in most areas. The two most extensive balance each other, as it were, at the south-west and north-east corners of the land. Smaller Mountain lakes are innumerable, and often constitute popular tourist destination. Since the twentieth century a large number of dams have been built in the Southern Mountains and elsewhere, resulting in many artificial lakes.In total, lakes and reservoirs contain 50% of the stored water, glaciers 28%, groundwater 20% and rivers 2%.

Population: 10 million. 91% of the population is Egriumian. The species are mixed, but birds of prey are the dominant group, with 43% of the population falling to the group. 78% of the population is composed of birds and 94% of them are theropods, with about 98% being dinosaurs and 2% representing all the other species. The low foreigner rate is due to Egrium being difficult to get in due to its policies.

About:

The light blue line shows the river that separates the French-speaking South and the German-speaking North. The map also shows the province borders. While still named the "Egriumian Confederation" for historical reasons, modern Egrium is a federal directorial republic consisting of 13 provinces. Egrium is landlocked and fully surrounded by mountain ranges. Egrium has been neutral for 175 years, taking no position in wars and fighting its last war in 1803. It will establish trades with any nation, as long as the contract does not force it into anything else but trading and will always enter trading contracts that can be ended at any time in case at least half of its population decides that the contract must be finished.

The provinces of Egrium are separated in two regions and four subregions. The South and North regions contain 8 and 5 provinces, respectively. The subregions are Southwest, Southeast, Northeast and Northwest, containing 5, 3, 3 and 2 provinces, respectively. Southern provinces have French as their official language, while Northern provinces have German as their official language. Nonetheless, both languages are present in signs all over the country to help the population. Provinces can govern themselves, but must follow The Constitution. Foreigners have to go under a series of tests and must be approved in order to be able to enter the country, while citizens are free to leave and enter the country as they please. Most of the population has at least one gun. Gun-related crime rates, however, are very low in the country, as it is very difficult to obtain a gun in Egrium without being approved in a test first. Gun owners can attend to free shooting lessons. Gun owning policies are the same as with cars. A person is allowed to shoot and kill another in Esgrium in the case they have fired two rubber bullets first, as they serve as a warning and so, if the person has been killed after this, the situation is seen as self-defense; however, the person is encouraged by law to shoot non-lethal areas, and only leaving the attacker defenseless instead of killing the person. This makes the murder rate in Egrium very low, as citizens are able to defend themselves from attackers. The fear of being shot is the reason why most people do not commit crimes in Egrium.

Political System: The politics of Egrium take place in the framework of a multi-party federal directorial democratic republic, whereby the Federal Council of Egrium is the collective head of government and head of state. Executive power is exercised by the government and the federal administration and is not concentrated in any one person. Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the Federal Assembly of Egrium. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

Egrium is very close to a direct democracy. For any change in the constitution, a referendum is mandatory (mandator referendum); for any change in a law, a referendum can be requested (optional referendum). Through referenda, citizens may challenge any law voted by federal parliament and through federal popular initiative introduce amendments to the federal constitution.

The same system is used for the three administrative levels municipality, province, country. If the community is small enough like in little villages, the parliament representing the people does not exist. Also the ordinary law does then not exist, only the constitution of the village. The term "council" is used ambiguously, sometimes it refers to legislation, i.e. parliament, sometimes to the execution, i.e. government.

Egrium features a very unique system of government: direct representation, sometimes called half-direct democracy (this may be arguable, because theoretically, the Sovereign of Egrium is actually its entire electorate). Amendments to the Federal Constitution of Egrium, the joining of international organizations, or changes to federal laws that have no foundation in the constitution but will remain in force for more than one year must be approved by the majority of both the people and the cantons, a double majority. Any citizen may challenge a law that has been passed by parliament. If that person is able to gather 50,000 signatures against the law within 100 days, a national vote has to be scheduled where voters decide by a simple majority of the voters whether to accept or reject the law. Also, any citizen may seek a decision on an amendment they want to make to the constitution. For such a federal popular initiative to be organised, the signatures of 100,000 voters must be collected within 18 months. Such a federal popular initiative is formulated as a precise new text (general proposal initiatives have been canceled in 2009) whose wording can no longer be changed by parliament and the government. After a successful signature gathering, the federal council may create a counterproposal to the proposed amendment and put it to vote on the same day as the original proposal. Such counter-proposals are usually a compromise between the status quo and the wording of the initiative. Voters will decide in a national vote whether to accept the initiative amendment, the counter proposal put forward by the government if any, or both. If both are accepted, one has to additionally signal a preference. Initiatives (that are of constitutional level) have to be accepted by a double majority of both the popular votes and a majority of the provinces, while counter-proposals may be of legislative level and hence require only simple majority.

Nuclear Position: Egrium supports the use of nuclear energy carefully, but is against the use of nuclear weapons.