Victoria

Victoria, officially the Victorian Republic, is a unitary constitutional republic located in western Larania. The nation is bordered to the north by NATION, to the east by NATION, to the south by Tanguan, and to the west by the Gennet Ocean. Victoria has a population of 17'187'278 people according to the latest 1922 census, and has a land area of LAND AREA, making it the third most most populous nation on the continent. Victoria's capital city and largest urban area is Port Victoria, though other important cities include Lemminghurst, Hartcastle, and Kessiaq.

Victoria was originally inhabited by a wide range of ethnic peoples who spoke a related group of languages called the Kwawatia people, though other groups in the area included the Sailians, Tsigili, and I'qquuituoans, who all began inhabiting the area we know as Victoria nearly 10,000 years ago. Their settlements relied on hunting and fishing, and their houses were often woven thatch ones. The earliest Davintharian settlers moved westward across Aesurdah in the "westward expansion" throughout the 1750's and early 1800's, with the first settlement becoming New Wellington. This colony was led by heiress to the Cabot family fortune, Victoria Cabot, and when she moved to New Wellington in 1781, the city, and subsequently the colony, were named after her. The colony saw rapid expansion as the Cabot Company, the Federal Mercantile Corps, and the Western Aesurdah Company all began to pour stock into the region for its fur trade and timber, though it was the discovery of gold in Kwuiisuit Pass in 1803 that caused the colony to take off, becoming an official organized colony by 1815, and Victoria became the capital. Many people who attempted to strike it rich in the rugged forested terrain failed, and rather settled down in small fishing and timber villages along the coastal inlets of the region. Victoria became an organized Autonomous Dominion by 1835, with James Addington becoming the first Prime Minister after independence, the son of a rich timber conglomerate. The nation saw several socialist strikes as the nation industrialized throughout the 1840s - 1860s, which the government responded to by expanding peasant and workers rights slowly over the next decade. The nation was part of the Davintharian Overseas Corps, and invaded the Xin colony of Tanguan to the south in the Great War, after which the nation was granted full independence in 1883. The nation slowly liberalized and with the introduction of women's voting rights in 1885, and the introduction of proportional representation in 1891 the nation's democracy flourished, and the economy slowly began to transition away from one based solely on timber and fishery, to one based on financial services as policies enacted boosted the education rate, infrastructure was drastically invested in, and the population became relatively urbanized. The nation also established the Public Health Insurance scheme in 1895, and expanded the social safety net. By 1905 the nation was a booming metropolitan area, and several generations of people who had fled war-torn Myeon, Xinhao, and Tanguan had made their way to Victoria, establishing businesses and boosting the economy. The nation became a green power hub, as hydroelectricity became a huge power source and green energy could be exported to nearby nations.

Prehistory
Victoria was originally inhabited by a wide range of ethnic peoples who spoke a related group of languages called the Kwawatia people, though other groups in the area included the Sailians, Tsigili, and I'qquuituoans, who all began inhabiting the area nearly 10,000 years ago. Archeological evidence from the region proves that humans first arrived in the region on smaller boats from eastern Asania, arriving in southern Victoria before migrating to the rest of the continent. The people who settled into the region settled along the inlets, rivers, and coasts of the region, living in villages with houses made from woven thatch, using the abundant fish and seafood populations to feed themselves, and developing several distinctive cultures.

These cultures also made their existence foraging for nuts, berries, and edible roots while hunting and trapping larger and small game for food and furs. The Sailisian people developed sophisticated and complex land management practices linked to ecosystem health ad resilience. Forest gardens on Larania's northwest coast included crabapple, hazelnut, cranberry, wild plum, and wild cherry species. With the passage of time there is a pattern of increasing regional generalization with a more sedentary lifestyle - leading to larger settlements and villages in the region, usually along the coast. The largest cultural group of the region was the Kwawatia people, who had expanded their culture up and down the northwestern coasts of Larania by the time the first Avanorans had arrived in the eastern coasts of Larania in the 1440's.

The many cultures of the region developed shared cultural identity, while maintaining several unique aspects of their own cultures. The arrival of Avanoran settlers in western Larania in 1701 led to warfare between several tribes up and down the western coasts, though the Sailisians and Kwawatians signed the Treaty of Victoria with Gelenia in 1710 which allowed for permanent Avanoran settlement in the region, and further signed numerous agreements with the government of Gelenia that finalized the place of the region's tribes in the global fur trade.

This fur trade was lucrative in Avanor, and drew thousands of settlers to the area, with several cities dotting the region by 1738. Finally, in 1739, the Gelenian government authorized the formation of the Colony of Victoria, bringing Victoria's history into the colonial era.

Colonial Period
Settlers from Avanor had moved onto a small island in Kuissat Sound, which housed a sizable Kwawatian village, in the 1710s along with the first arrival of the Avanorans into the region. The town soon became Gelenia's base of operations in the region, as more and more Gelenian migrants made the town its home. The settlement was originally named New Wellington, and became the colony's administrative and economic centre after its organization as an official colony in 1739 by the Gelenian government. The colony became a centre for trading furs, fish, and timber to the rest of the Gelenian Empire, and throughout the 1740s and 1750s the colony expanded in population as peasants from Gelenia, as well as businesses from its growing cities sought to capitalize on its wealth. Xinhao's arrival in Larania to the south prompted Gelenian fears that the colony would be overrun, and so several forts were built throughout the countryside and along the coasts. These forts brought needed security to the region, and soon settlements grew from these forts, such as the fort at Leminghurst, which remains one of Victoria's largest cities in the modern era. Xin and Gelenian settlers soon came into conflict in the south with Tanguanese settlers, as the land border between the two colonies remained undefined, with Gelenia pressuring the Xin government to establish a permanent border numerous times. Finally, in 1783, the Gelenian government signed the Treaty of Leminghurst which established the southern border of the colony as the Qiang River, and further stabilized the situation for Gelenian settlers in the area.

By 1789, the region had become a prosperous trading hub, with more settlers pouring into the region by the day. A train network across the continental interior of Larania built by the Gelenians and Caliantene further solidified the migration of people into the area, and linked the goods of the west to the regions of the east. Eventually in 1794 the Gelenian government began the process of lending control of colonies to national companies. The colony was transferred to the ownership of Cabot Industries, and Victoria Cabot, the daughter and heiress to the Cabot Family, moved to the colony to administrate the region, the colony's name was changed to Victoria, and New Wellington was renamed to the Port of Victoria, in order to honour her commitments to the colony as a whole.

The colony saw rapid growth in terms of both population and wealth as Cabot Industries, the Federal Mercantile Corps, and the Western Laranian Company all began to pour stock into the region for its fur trade and timber. The 1800s saw Victoria named Gelenia's western jewel. The importance of the region was only made more apparent when, in 1803, the discovery of gold in the Kwuiisuit Pass in 1803 brought even more people to the colony. Port Victoria was named the official capital by Cabot Industries, and its port became vital for Gelenia's military presence in the Gennet Ocean.

The colony prospered throughout the 1810s, with many of those who arrived in the gold rush and migrated for the fur business settling in the cities are starting new communities in the forested frontier. Between 1810 to 1815, the colonial government registered the creation of nearly 219 new settlements with a minimum of thirty families in them. Many people protested rule from Cabot Industries, and demanded democracy in line with the ideals of the Gelenian Revolution. This led to numerous strikes and protests throughout the 1820s, and by 1825, Cabot Industries entered negotiations with local residents and the Gelenian government to sell the colony. An agreement was reached in 1827, which sold the colony back to the Gelenian government, and provided limited self government to the colony elected by the people, satisfying protestors demands.

Self Government and Industrialization
After the implementation of self government in 1827, the first governor of the colony was James Addington, the son of a wealthy timber industry boss. His push to liberalize Victoria's economy and push the country to industrialize led to the boom in population of the region, and further the drastic development of many mill towns in the woodland interior. This economic boom lasted throughout much of the 1830s, and in that time, Port Victoria became the largest city on Larania's western coasts. Addington's policies did have the unintended effect of rallying the socialist voices in the colony, who protested his government's loosening of worker's regulations and supported the implementation of a worker's rights bill. This led to the creation of the Social Front, an alliance of socialists and progressives who called for constitutional reforms to the government, as well as workers protections, an end to militarism, and, in some extreme cases, independence from Gelenia. These movements resulted in the Social Front emerging as the official opposition to the Liberal Democratic Party in 1851, and eventually forming a government of socialists in 1854 under John Colewright. The Colewright government introduced many of Victoria's important reforms: introducing the unemployment and pension scheme, placing restrictions on how long an employee could be forced to work, and even extending the right to vote to women and men above the age of 21.

As tensions with Xinhao rose beginning in the 1850s, Gelenian troops positioned themselves on the southern border with Tanguan, and when the Great War broke out in 1871, Victoria and Miyadaka jointly invaded Tanguan together to seize its resources from the Xinhao war machine. Victorians also died fighting in Avanor, Asania, and Korasha for the Gelenian Empire during the war, and many in the country just wanted an end to the fighting. When the war ended in 1878, Victoria was given the chance at independence from Gelenia if the people approved it in a referendum, which passed in 1879. On 13 Wintertide, 1880, independence came into full effect for the people, and Victoria was an independent power.

Modern Period
Victoria became independent and was faced with an uncertain world. As attempts at decolonization in Korasha led to a rise in oil prices, nations had to switch to other fuel sources to power their economies. Victoria naturally had waterways that provided plenty of hydroelectric power, and as such the country was able to flourish with cheap electricity to power its economy. The government also managed to expand the electoral law to allow for proportional representation in 1886, greatly expanding the democratic representation in the nation. In the 1889 General Elections, the Liberal Democratic Party split into the Liberals and Democratic Parties respectively, with the Liberals being a centre left party, while the Democrats were an economically liberal party.

The government also introduced the Victorian Health Service to help promote the health of the population at no cost to the private citizen, the first country in Larania to offer such a program. After Tanguanese independence, Victoria became a strong partner with the new democracy, cooperating with the country to propose several joint programs: the main one being the Laranian Defense Pact and the Organization of Laranian Nations, both created in the 1890s. The nation also experienced a transition from an economy of farmers, lumber workers, and fur trappers, to one of financial services, retail, and tourism. Many towns modernized in this period, while Leminghurst and Port Victoria remain some of the most vital centres in terms of economics on the Laranian continent.

In the 1900s, Victoria maintained its level of economic prosperity, and has further become a hub for innovation, with Leminghurst College becoming a vital centre of learning in the western world. The nation has become involved in the Korashan Crisis, which caused much controversy with several protests breaking out in cities across the country in 1905. In 1917 the country experienced the 1917 Economic Crisis alongside the rest of the world, which caused the government to expand social welfare spending to never before seen levels to prevent mass unemployment.

Geography
Victoria is a nation in the northwestern region of Larania. It borders Gelenian Northwest Larania Territory to the east as well as the Central Laranian Republic, with the borders primarily being created by the INSERTNAME River, with the Qiang River forming the border between Victoria and Tanguan to the south. To the west of Victoria lies the Gennet Ocean, and its northern border with NATION lies mostly along the INSERTNAME Forrest line. The nation has a vast landscape

Victoria is part of a region known as the Gennet Northwest, a term which always refers to at least Victoria, Tanguan, and NATION, and may or may not include some parts of the Gelenian Northwest Larania Territory. The nation is enveloped in rivers and has a mountainous terrain in the east,, due to the Kuissat Mountains which gently slopes towards rolling plains and numerous inlets in the west.

Forests cover the country's landmass.

The majority of the population

Demographics
Victoria

Government, Politics, and Law
Victoria is a unitary semi-presidential parliamentary constitutional republic located in northwestern Larania which is governed under the Constitution of Victoria. The government is divided into three branches: the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. The executive branch is composed of the President of the Republic, who is directly elected in a ranked choice election every three years, and serves as head of state, though the President has no real power other than to appoint the Prime Minister on the advice of the Assembly, and to welcome and authorize diplomats. The head of government is the Prime Minister, who is elected by a majority of parliament following each parliamentary election. The Prime Minister is the commander in chief of the armed forces, chairs and appoints cabinet, has the power to initiate legislation in the Assembly, represents the republic's interests abroad, sets the government's general governing guidelines, and to steer the general course of federal policy.

The legislative branch is composed of a unicameral legislature known as the Legislative Assembly, which has 175 total members elected in general elections every three years through proportional representation of the populace who has reached 16 years of age. The Legislative Assembly is chaired by a Speaker of the Assembly, who directs the legislative process, while party leaders usually lead debate in the chamber, with powers over amending the country's laws, providing general oversight to cabinet's functions, providing hearings for members to question the Prime Minister, as well as other cabinet ministers. The judicial branch, meanwhile, is composed of the Federal Supreme Court, which is tasked with ensuring that the provisions of law passed by the Assembly and cabinet are in line with the provisions of the Victorian Constitution. The last General Elections in Victoria took place in 1922, where a coalition of the The Progressive Front, The Greens, and The Liberal Party took office, led by Finn Carter, who at the age of 24 at the time of his first election in 1919 became the world's youngest sitting head of government, and remains the youngest to this day.

His Progressive Front party has won both the 1919 and 1922 General Elections as the largest party in the Assembly, marking the first time that neither the Liberals or Moderates have been head of government in decades. His government has led several progressive reforms, including easing citizenship requirements, speeding up the economy's transition to renewable energy sources, and expanding the social welfare state. His government has maintained high approval ratings throughout his term, though they did dip slightly during the Nuclear Protests of 1923, which were in response to the Carter government promising to expand the creation of nuclear power plants throughout the country. The Carter Government has, on the foreign affairs front, expanded diplomatic ties of Victoria into the Gennet Ocean, promising to cooperate more on defense matters in the region.

Military and Foreign Affairs
The Victorian Constitution tasks the federal government with the creation of the Armed Forces of Victoria, which are comprised of the Victorian Army, Victorian Navy, Victorian Air Force, and the Victorian Special Forces. Victoria takes part in the Laranian Defense Pact, and as such has extensive cooperation with other Laranian states - especially Tanguan, Alluitguit, and Nagansett.