Gfiewistan

Republic of Gfiewgjknsiorjgiostan
Flag
Motto: Gfiewgjknsiorjgiostan Forever, and After
Capital		Hatariew
Largest		Capital
Official languages		Gfiewish
Recognised regional languages		Siortan, Tlulmerdi
Minority languages		South Jutean, Osterian, Atruozan and Maponic languages
Demonym		Gfiewian
Government		Federal non-partisan parliamentary republic
Legislature		Parliament
Independent
-	United as a monarchy	897
-	Abolition of monarchy	1852
Area
-		611,639 km2 236,155 sq mi
Population
-	2018 census	2,456,275
-	Density	4.02/km2 10.4/sq mi
GDP (nominal)		2018 estimate
-	Total	62,848,710,000
-	Per capita	25,587
Gini (2016)		0.43 low
HDI (2016)		0.67 medium
Currency		Gfiewgjknsior (GFW)
Time zone		GFST (SCT+8)
-	Summer (DST)	Not observed (SCT)
Drives on the		right
Internet TLD		.gf

Gfiewistan (Gfiewish: Gfiewgjknsiorjgiostan [gʷɪəʍ.ʒəʝɘ.knʂɪʊɹ.jɘ.ʒɪʊʂ.tɐn]), officially the Republic of Gfiewgjknsiorjgiostanian, is a country located on the continent of Ystel, bordering Mermelia and South Jute to the north and Osteria to the south.

Etymology

Gfiewgjknsiorjgiostan is etymologically a word compound, which are common in the Gfiewish language. It literally comes from "Land of the People near (the) Rocks in (the) Sea.

History

Having been inhabited by humans for about three thousand years, it remained a land divided into small agricultural societies until the Siegfried the Pious arrived in Gfiewgjknsiorjgiostan in the 9th century and united the nation under the religion of Iovism, and installing himself as the God-sanctioned king of all Gfiewgjknsiorjgiostanians. Reformation attempts failed and the country remains orthodox to these days. In the 19th century, romantic nationalism and revolutionary movements lead to the monarchy being abolished in 1852, and feudalism gave way to a mostly free market economy.

Geography

Situated in a cold climate, the nation is covered mostly by boreal forests with some mixed forests in the north. The southeast wetlands are home to the Gfiewjknsior beast, a frog species native to the country. The nation is rather mountainous in the southeast but the remainder of the land is rather flat, with the areas near the coast in the southwest as well as along the three major rivers, Ersaj, Takenfa and its bigger tributaries and Mewe only being few meters above sea level.

Politics

Government

A chancellor is governing the nation with the help of half a dozen ministers, representing the executive branch, elected by the parliament. The members of the parliament, the legislative branch in turn are elected by the population every four years, with five members coming from each state, resulting in a total of 75, plus speaker of the parliament. The judiciary branch is made up by the supreme court and fifteen state courts, with the district judges elected by local politicians concerned with justice and the district's parliamentary members in conjunction. Furthermore, most counties have their own court, with the exception of those forming a county union, where a county union court exists instead.

Foreign relations

Non-interventionism and advocating for free trade (including labor) have been the pillars of the foreign policy for the longest time of the existence of the republic, which can therefore be summed up with "as little as possible, as much as necessary", or free-trade isolationist. However, in recent decades the necessity of collaboration with neighbors have become more obvious and has led to some joint command structures between Mermelia and Gfiewistan as well as other strategic alliances with states across the globe.

Furthermore, while a International Congress membership is still rejected, the general opposition to multilateral agreements and international organizations has been dropped and the country is now a leading member of the Ystelian Community, as the benefits of a shared regional market were found to overweigh any sovereignty and national security concerns. Even interventions are no longer ruled out by all political movements and only the libertarians still uphold the earlier principle of strict non-interventionism.

Military

Conscription is mandatory, and everyone aged 18-20 has to serve either in the military or in accredited charity services for a year after completing education. Whereas the relatively large military was originally founded purely to defend the country in the case of war, it is now used for limited reconnaissance and local peacekeeping as well as expanded deterrence missions as well and participation in interventions are considered a possibility by some.

Economy

With the cold, clear water bordering the nation on one side, and lush forests in much of the rest of it, fishing and hunting have traditionally been the strongest sector of the economy, and continue to be to this day. Animal husbandry has been historically important as well, though it has lately been replaced by Tourism as the second most important industry. Recently, the soda industry has been shown to be very successful both domestically as well as abroad, too.

Transport

Roads are kept well in shape, as the car is the most common way of transport in the nation. Trains used to be of major importance but these days only three lines remain, going from Hatariew to Swofiewkust at the sea coast in the south, to Weishriew in the East and between Gordxersma and Dillariewis in the central south. Ferry connections exist on the lake Slakkariew and on the river Takenfa and is tributaries and connect there various towns.

Public transport only exists in the five biggest cities, the capital Hatariew, the old residential city, Slakkariew as well as Weishriew (where the first train station in Gfiewistan was built), Tanlariewis and Dillariewis. Most remaining towns are, if they don't have a ferry line stop or railway station, only served by country buses, and some lack this as well.

Energy

Fossil fools are still largely used, though investments in alternate energy forms have been made and an effort to transition to them is being planned.

Demographics

The rather cold climate and somewhat remote location lead to the population never growing as high as in some other nations. Only lately, with the onset of modernization in agriculture, has the population been increasing, from 595,000 in 1852 (first census) to 2,456,275 today.

Ethnic groups

Together with the isolationist policies, this has resulted in it remaining largely homogeneous (though there are two native ethnic minorities, the Siortan and Tlulmerdi), with many people being able to knowing their ancestors in Gfiewgjknsiorjgiostan up to several hundred years ago, but the recent success of the economy has caused a change a trend reversal, with now more and more people from abroad coming to Gfiewgjknsiorjgiostan in search for jobs. Most of them are from neighboring countries or lands, especially Mermelia, South Jute, Osteria and Translira.

===Urbanisation===r

About half of the population lives in the five biggest cities, with the rest living in various smaller towns and rural settlements.

Largest cities:

	City	IPA	Metro area population	District
1	Hatariew	/Xat:ɐrɪəʍ/	528,023	Hatariew
2	Slakkariew	/ʂlak:ɐrɪəʍ/	184,230	Slakkariew
3	Tanlariewis	/ʈɐnɭaɹɪəʍɪʂ/	125,286	Tanla
4	Weishriew	/ʍɘɪʂhəɹɪəʍ/	67,237	Kauslat
5	Dillariewis	/dɪɭ.ɭaɹɪəʍɪʂ/	53,467	Hemmswill

Language

Gfiewish, the national language spoken by virtually all people in the land, is a rather isolated language and while several theories about its origin have been put forward, none so far have been widely accepted, and so its relationship with other languages remains a mystery for now. Only a few immigrants speak other languages, mostly at home, but almost everyone of them knows Gfiewish as well.

Religion

The overwhelming majority remains Orthodox Iovist, though not as many are practicing Iovians as a hundred years ago. There a few Reformed Iovist communities, and very few people with other religions, mostly in the capital, which has the only Mysticism temple of the nation.

Culture

The population is rather devout, but has a largely "help yourself" mentality and is knwon for being stoic and not very talkative. Politically, most people are heavily right-wing libertarianism-leaning, supporting a individualist, capitalistic (that is, right-wing) economy while being sometimes more liberal on social matters, where it doesn't clash too much with their religion.