Brettaine

The Kingdom of Brettaine is a country in south-central Boreas, bordered to the south by the Green Sea. Neighboring countries include Aquitania to the west, Boreasthree and Boreasfour to the north, and Aresura to the east.

Brettaine has been in existence in one form or another since the late thirteenth century. Originally, the area that now comprises the Kingdom was divided between French Brettaigne to the west and Anglan Daventry to the east. The two rival factions united under the House of Montaigne in 1395, in what became known as the First Union. A dual monarchy was established between the two kingdoms in 1547, but this union fell apart with the overthrow of the House of Montaigne in 1789. For twenty years afterwards, the Kingdom was known as the Republic of Daventry and was plunged into a bloody civil war. In 1814, royalists defeated the dictatorial regime and established the Kingdom of Brettaine as an Anglophone nation, in what became known as the Second Union. Brettaine ceased to be an absolute monarchy in 1863 with the establishment of the Parliament of Lords and Commons.

In August of 1914, Brettaine became a constitutional monarchy when the Parliament of Lords and Commons was dissolved and replaced instead by the modern day Parliament and universal suffrage was granted to all adults aged 18 and over. Since its ratification, Brettaine has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system as a Constitutional Monarchy. The population is approximately 22.6 million, with approximately 46 percent concentrated around the coastal cities of St. Marys, Melbourne, Adelaide, Halifax, and Pembroke. The nation's capital is Ashtonfield, in the Capital District. Approximately 51 percent of Brettaine's population live in the provinces of Aquitaine, Nassau, and Norfolk, and approximately 79 percent live within the coastal provinces.

A prosperous developed country, Brettaine has one of the world's largest economies. Brettaine ranks highly in many international comparisons of national performance such as human development, quality of life, health care, life expectancy, public education, economic freedom and the protection of civil liberties and political rights.

History
Brettaine can trace its history back to 1185, when the first Aquitanian Templars set foot on the Îles de Saint-Honorat. Ten years later, a splinter group from the Templars, calling themselves Bretons, sailed for the mainland landing along the shores of present-day Berengaria. In 1266, the Principality of Brettaigne was established, and the Grand Duchy of Brettaigne was sanctified by Papal edict in 1307 at the same time as that of the Grand Duchy of Aquitania. The Francophone Bretons settled along the Bay of Berengaria and the Aquitaine Peninsula, with heavy influence in the national capital of Sainte-Marie (present day St. Marys).

In 1196, a year after the arrival of the Bretons in Berengaria, a group of dissidents fleeing from King Harold I landed in Melbourne, along the present day Norfolk Peninsula. They would move inland quickly, establishing the Grand Duchy of Daventry at Richmond in 1292. The Daventrans would come to control a majority of present-day eastern Brettaine, although the Brettish would control most of the important port cities and major resources along the western coastline.

The two factions occasionally warred for the following century. In 1395, upon the marriage of Prince Charles of Brettaigne and Princess Maude of Daventry, the two Duchies were united as the Kingdom of Brettaigne and Daventry, with Charles crowned as King. This union provided that the two areas maintained separate government systems and separate foreign affairs while providing for a united kingdom. This arrangement would change in 1547, when an uprising in Richmond changed how the monarchy worked.

Map
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/sharpanimation/BrettaineMapE11AshRes.png

Politics
Brettaine is a constitutional monarchy with a federal division of powers. It uses a parliamentary system of government with King Paul II at its apex as King of Brettaine. Supreme executive authority is vested by the constitution of Brettaine in the sovereign. The most notable exercise of the King's reserve powers outside a Prime Minister's request is the dismissal of government during constitutional crises.

The federal government is separated into three branches:


 * The legislature: the bicameral Parliament, comprising the King, the Senate, and the House of Representatives;
 * The executive: The King as advised by the Prime Minister and the Ministers of State;
 * The judiciary: the Supreme Court of Brettaine and other federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the King and confirmed by Parliament.

In the Senate (the upper house) there are 76 senators: five from each province and one non-voting representative from the Capital District. The House of Representatives (the lower house) has 150 members elected from single-member electoral divisions, commonly known as "electorates" or "seats", allocated to the provinces on the basis of population, with each province guaranteed at least three representatives. Elections for both chambers are normally held every three years, simultaneously; senators having overlapping six-year terms thus having only 40 of the 76 put into each election.

Voting is compulsory for all enrolled citizens 18 years and over in every jurisdiction, as well is enrollment. Although the Prime Minister is appointed by the King ceremoniously, the position is constitutionally held by the leader of the majority party or coalition in the House of Representatives.

There are two major political groups that usually form the government: the Conservative Party and the Reform-Labour Coalition, with the latter having had a majority in Parliament since 1988. Independent members and several minority parties, including the Greens and the Democrats, have achieved representation in Parliament, mostly in the Senate.

Provinces and Districts
Brettaine has fifteen provinces–Aquitaine, Berengaria, Berkeley, Cumberland, Daventry, Essex, Fairfax, Kenamond, Kent, Lancaster, Nassau, Norfolk, Northumberland, Teck, and Westmoreland–as well as the Capital District where Ashtonfield is located.

Each province has its own parliament–unicameral in Lancaster and Northumberland, and bicameral in the other provinces. As per the conditions of the Second Union, the provinces are sovereign entities, although subject to certain powers of the Kingdom as defined by the Constitution. The lower houses are known as the Legislative Assembly, and the upper houses are known as the Legislative Council. The head of government in each province is the Premier. The King is represented in each province by a Governor, and in the Capital District, the Administrator.