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#+setupfile: ../headers
* The Country of Eittland
** Eittlandic Geography
Eittland is an active volcanic island. In its centre we can find the
most active volcanoes, surrounded by glaciers and some regular
mountains. It is surrounded by some taiga, taiga plains covered mainly
by ashen pines (/pinus fraxinus/), and a large cold desert covering most
of the centre of the island and its northern eastern part. Outside
this largely unpopulated region, Eastern Eittland mainly consists of
grasslands with some temperate rainforests on its southern shores as
well as some occasional wetland and marshes. On the other hand,
Western Eittland has a lot more temperate deciduous forests, temperate
rainforests and some more wetlands and marshes still. Three small cold
deserts spawn in Western Eittland, including one north-east of
Đeberget not far from the city. More details can be found in the map
below. Overall, the southern and western parts of Eittland can be
compared to Scotland in terms of temperatures, or a warmer Iceland.
This page was moved to [[https://wiki.phundrak.com/s/eittland][its dedicated wiki]].
#+html: <ImgFigure src="/img/eittlandic/map-biomes.png">Biomes of the Eittlandic Island</ImgFigure>
Eastern Eittland is also recognizable by its great amount of flat
shorelines, especially in its northern and eastern parts which are part
of the more recent paths of lava flows. On the other hand, its few
fjords and the numerous fjords found in the western part of the island
are characteristic of much older parts of Eittland. The Fjord
themselves were formed during the last ice age, while the smoother
shore lines formed since. Western Eittland also has two main bays
which are two very old caldera volcanoes. It is not known whether
they will be one day active again or not.
** Culture
The Eittlandic people share a common basis for their culture which
remained rather conservative for much longer than the other Nordic
people due to its resistance towards Christianity conversion. The
number of people adhering to Norse beliefs remained very high through
the ages and only recently began declining, going from 93% of
Eittlanders declaring themselves follower of the Norse Faith in 1950
to 68% in 2019. This decline is also due to either people converting
to a religion or due to the immigration boom from the last seventy
years, though the main reason is the decline in people identifying to
any faith at all --- the number of atheists went from only 2% of
Eittlanders in 1940 to 15% in 2019. The evolution of the religious
population is shown in the chart below, and a geographical
distribution of these in 2019 can be found in the map following the
chart --- note that only the main religion is shown in a particular
area and religions with fewer people in said area are not shown. You
can also see on said map the population repartition of Eittland.
#+headers: :cache yes :exports none :eval no-export
#+begin_src gnuplot :file img/eittlandic/religions.png :var data=eittland-religions
set title "Religions in Eittland since 1950"
set title boxed offset 0,0 font ",15"
set key invert reverse Left outside
set yrange [0:100]
set grid y
set ylabel "Percentage"
set border 3
set style data histograms
set style histogram rowstacked
set style fill solid border -1
set boxwidth 1
plot data u 2:xticlabels(1) axis x1y1 title 'Norse Faith', \
data u 3:xticlabels(1) axis x1y1 title 'Atheism', \
data u 4:xticlabels(1) axis x1y1 title 'Church of Eittland', \
data u 5:xticlabels(1) axis x1y1 title 'Christianity', \
data u 6:xticlabels(1) axis x1y1 title 'Buddhism', \
data u 7:xticlabels(1) axis x1y1 title 'Other'
#+end_src
#+html: <ImgFigure src="/img/eittlandic/religions.png">Religious Evolution of Eittland Since 1900</ImgFigure>
#+html: <ImgFigure src="/img/eittlandic/map-religion.png">Religious population of Eittland in 2019</ImgFigure>
There is also a regional cultural difference between Western, Eastern,
and Southern Eittland marked with some differences in traditions and
language. There is currently a nationalist movement in Southern
Eittland to create a new state within the Kingdom of Eittland. The
repartition of the different eittlandic cultures is shown in the map
below.
#+html: <ImgFigure src="/img/eittlandic/map-cultural.png">Cultural Map of Eittland</ImgFigure>
Standard Eittlandic is a relatively young language, created in the
1960s by the government in order to create a standard dialect to
facilitate communications between Eittlanders and make learning the
language easier. Standard Eittlandic is now enforced as the /de facto/
legal language of the High Kingdom of Eittland, used by its
government, schools, and universities, but the local dialects are
still widely spoken privately and in business which remains regional.
They still have a strong presence in popular media and are still
spoken by younger generations, however, a decline has been registered
since the 90s among young people living in cities, speaking more and
more in Standard Eittlandic instead. Dialects are also rarely used on
the internet outside private conversation. An estimate of 17% of
the Eittlandic population younger than 25 in 2017 do not speak any
dialectal Eittlandic outside of Standard Eittlandic, although only 2%
of them do not understand their family’s dialectal Eittlandic.
Standard Eittlandic also became the default dialect for Eittlandic
communities living outside Eittland --- in these communities the
inability of speaking other dialects rise to 61% while the ability to
understand them rises to 25% among Eittlanders younger than 25 in 2018
and who still have Eittlandic as their mother tongue.
It is estimated only 0.05% of people living in Eittland do not speak
any Eittlandic dialect, all of them being immigrants or children of
immigrants. It is therefore safe to say Eittlandic is still going
strong and does not face any risk of disappearing anytime soon,
although we might be at the start of the decline of the historical
dialects of Eittland in favour of Standard Eittlandic.
In this document, you will see references to both Standard Eittlandic
and Modern Eittlandic. Although some people use the terms
interchangeably, they are not. /Standard Eittlandic/ refers to the
official dialect described above, while /Modern Eittlandic/ refers to
all modern dialects of Eittlandic. This document focuses on Modern
Eittlandic in general, and when details about specific dialects are
given, the name of said dialect will be shared.
** Name of the Country
The origins of the name of Eittland are unclear, two main theories
exist regarding its etymology.
The first theory says the root of the name of “Eittland” is the
accusative of /einn/ (Old Norse /one/, /alone/) and /land/ (Old Norse /country/,
/land/). This is due to how remote it seemed to the people who
discovered, before Iceland and Greenland were known. Hence, a possible
translation of “Eittland” can be /Lonely Land/. The term “Eittlandic” is
relatively transparent considering the term “Icelandic” for “Iceland”
and “Greenlandic” for “Greenland”.
However, the second but least probable theory is the island is named
after /eitr/, a mythical poison from which the first Jøtunn Ymir was
created. Eittland’s waters near the volcanoes containing high amounts
of sulphur, a poison, could be what named the island. This association
with poison, as well as the association to the place where it was
found, /Ginnungagap/, could have acted as a deterrent to prevent people
outsiders from coming.
This last theory’s first recorded mention is from the 18th century,
while the first theory appears to be much older, and therefore much
more likely. It is possible the latter was thought of as a way to
re-invigorate Eittland’s identity as a pagan country unlike its other
Nordic counterparts, maybe even as a fearsome country.
Although the country is known as Eittland, the island itself bears a
few other names. Early records show the island being referred to as
/Vestrheim/ by early settlers, meaning /West Home/, and its inhabitants
being referred to as /Vestrheiming/ and /Vestrheimingjar/ (singular and
plural respectively). Around the same time, settlers living closer to
the mountains would also call the inner lands /Fjallheim/, meaning
/Mountain Home/, which stuck until now as a name for the Northwestern
peninsula of Eittland. Lastly, the name /Eldøy/, /Fire Island/, was used
to refer both to Eittland and Iceland due to their volcanic activity.
Nowadays, the name morphed into /Eldfjall/ to refer to the volcanic
cluster at the centre of the Island.
** History
*** Early Eittlandic History (late 8th century - 14th century)
According to historical records, Eittland was first found in 763 by
Norwegian explorers. Its first settlement appeared in 782 on its
eastern shores with hopes of finding new farmland. The population grew
rapidly after the discovery of the southern shores, and in 915
Eittland became self-governing with Ásmundr Úlfsonn declared the first
Eittlandic king. However, in order to avoid any unnecessary conflicts,
the new king swore allegiance to the Norwegian king Harald I
Halfdansson. Eittland thus became a vassal state to the Norwegian
crown while retaining autonomy from it, which was granted due to the
distance between the two countries.
Shortly after however, the beginning of the Christianisation of the
Nordic countries and especially of Norway created a new immigration
boost in Eittland with Norsemen seeking a pagan land untouched by
Christian faith. In 935, a year after Haakon I Haraldsson became king
of Norway and began trying to introduce Christianity to its people,
the newly crowned king Áleifr I Ásmundson of Eittland adopted a new
law forbidding the Christian faith to be imported, promoted, and
practised in Eittland. This decision forever weakened the alliance
between the two countries and deteriorated their relationship.
As more and more people in Eittland were moving to its western part
due to larger opportunities with its farmlands, king Áleifr I chose in
936 to move the capital of Eittland from Hylfjaltr to Đeberget and
split in half the country. He appointed his brother Steingrímr, later
known as Steingrímr I Áleifsbróðr, as his co-ruler and gave him
authority over Eastern Eittland while he kept ruling himself over
Western Eittland. This choice is due to the difficulty of going from
one side of the island to the other by land --- lava often flows from
volcanoes to the shores and destroy paths joining the two parts
together. This gave birth to the two states of the Kingdom of Đeberget
(also called the /Western Eittlandic Kingdom/) and the Kingdom of
Hylfjaltr (also called the /Eastern Eittlandic Kingdom/). More on that
in [[file:country.md#Political-Organization][Political Organization]].
*** Crusades and Independence (13th century - 1400)
As soon as the 13th century, and through the 14th century, the
Teutonic Order and the Livonian Order, backed by the Holy Roman
Empire, proposed crusades against Eittland to get rid of its Norse
faith. However, these never came to be due to the distance between
Eittland and mainland Europe, despite the papal authorizations in
1228, 1257, 1289, 1325, and 1367.
In 1397, the creation of the Kalmar Union kicked a new crusade, this
time backed by the Union itself as well as the Teutonic Order --- Eric
of Pomerania aimed to unify his country both religiously by getting
rid of the Norse faith in Eittland and politically by getting rid of
its established monarchy. A contingent sailed to Eittland to submit
the island, however they were met with fierce resistance by the locals
on arrival. Estimates show that while some 2,400 Eittlandic people
died during this first invasion, most of the 3,000 men sent were
either killed or taken prisoners.
In 1398, a new contingent of 12,000 men landed in Eittland. This time,
a much more prepared army of 14,000 men faced them on a battlefield
east of the eastern capital of Hyfjaltr. This resulted in an
Eittlandic victory, however the Monarch of Hylfjaltr Eiríkr IV
Ásgeirsbróðr lost his life during the battle. Coincidentally, the High
King Ásgeirr I Biœrgson died of unknown causes around the same time.
Historians still debate whether it is due to the ongoing conflict, and
if it is by whom. Theories range from poisoning by spies from the
Kalmar Union, to assassination by the next rulers, to a much more
simple, unknown health condition which coincided with the ongoing
events.
During the same year, the Althing elected Arvid I Geirson as the new
High King who nominated his brother Havardr I Arvidsbróðr as the
Monarch of Hylfjaltr. While the previous monarchs took a more
defensive approach, they chose to become much more aggressive,
striving for independence. After demands were sent to the Kalmar
Union, Eittland began a series of raids on its territories, ranging
from Iceland to the Faroese Islands to even two raids in Norway and
Denmark. These raids only aimed trade and military ships but severely
handicapped the Union’s marine.
On September 17th, 1400 High King Arvid I Geirson of Eittland and King
Erik of the Kalmar Union met in Reykjavík to sign the Treaty of
Reykjavík, during which the Kalmar Union recognized the independence
of Eittland and renounced its claims to the island. On the other hand,
Eittland ceded its Greenlandic colonies to the Kalmar Union. Both
parties agreed to end the hostilities towards one another.
While the Union no longer launched any crusades against Eittland, the
Teutonic Order attempted to land again in 1407 with 4,000 men.
Although the Kingdom of Hylfjaltr took a devastating blow during the
initial days of the crusade, loosing well over 6,000 men, the invaders
were ultimately defeated thanks to reinforcement from the Kingdom of
Ðeberget. This marked the end of crusades in Eittland.
*** The Absolute Monarchy (1400 - late 1700s)
Once independent, Eittland quickly became isolated among the European
nations due as it was perceived as a pagan nation by the rest of the
continent. For over a century, the country had to be almost entirely
self-sufficient. This lead to a more in-depth survey of the resources
of the land launched in 1421. Large quantities of iron were discovered
in 1432 in Western Eittland in the geologically older parts of the
island as well as copper and some gold.
Unfortunately for the island, no coal deposit ever got found, the
islanders turned to charcoal instead. During the following century, an
important deforestation of Eittland took place until the royal decree
of 1542 was proclaimed in order to protect the forests. It ruled that
for each tree felled in the next hundred years, four shall be planted,
and only one once the period ended. The only exceptions were for
creating new pastures with the condition of the request being
submitted and accepted by the local Jarl and its government.
The discovery of important marble deposits in the geologically more
recent parts of the island in 1512 was the event that reopened trades
with the continent. England was the first country to openly trade with
Eittland, swiftly followed by states from the Holy Roman Empire and
other protestant countries. The country became famous for its pure
white and green marble, which became its emblem. Walking in the
streets of major cities today, we can still see most of the monuments
and buildings from during that era made of marble. It is particularly
the case in Hylfjaltr, known by the nickname of “The White City” due
to the sheer amount of monuments made out of this material.
It is around this time religious wars broke out in mainland Europe,
and war refugees coming at first from Scandinavia and soon enough from
all Northern and Western Europe came to Eittland to seek refuge. They
were accepted on the condition never to try and spread their religion
on the island with the risk of expulsion back to continental Europe.
At the time, the influx of refugees represented around one percent of
its total population, with about two thirds of it being protestants
and the rest Catholics. The local protestant population officially
founded in 1587 the Church of Eittland.
You can find in the chart below a breakdown of the various countries
and regions religious refugees came from. Although Scandinavia was one
of the first regions to take refuge in Eittland, most refugees came
from the Holy Roman Empire and from France where religious wars were
particularly violent. It is estimated most of the Protestant
population of Eittland are mainly from French descent, while the Holy
Roman Empire and Scandinavian population came with mixes of Christians
and Protestants. On the other hand most, if not all, of the English
population was Christian.
#+header: :exports none :eval no-export
#+header: :file img/eittlandic/religious-refugees.png :cache yes
#+begin_src gnuplot :var data=nationality-religious-refugees
set title "Country of Origin of Religious Refugees"
set title boxed offset 0,-3 font ",15"
set style fill solid border lt -1
set style textbox opaque noborder
set boxwidth 1.0 absolute
unset key
set yrange [0:45]
set grid y
set ylabel "Percentage"
set border 3
set style data histograms
set style histogram cluster gap 1
set style fill solid border -1
set boxwidth 0.9
set xtic rotate by -45 scale 0
plot data u 2:xtic(1)
#+end_src
#+html: <ImgFigure src="/img/eittlandic/religious-refugees.png">Breakdown of the country or region of origin of religious refugees in the 1500s</ImgFigure>
With the beginning of colonization of Northern America, Eittland
became a naval hotspot. Its position allowed ships to cut in half
their journey if necessary and replenish their supplies. England and
the Netherlands were the first countries to halt in Eittland for such
reasons, participating in an important economic boom in the early 16th
century on a national scale. France later joined this trade route
starting in 1619 when going to their colonies in modern-day Canada.
On the 30th of March 1775, England demanded from Eittland a port to be
used as a military port as part of their war effort during the
American revolution. Eittland refused these demands, invoking a
neutrality concerning the ongoing conflict. In response, England sent
an ultimatum, asking the port of Vátrsteinn to be their military base.
On Eittland’s second refusal, England declared war and launched a land
invasion of the island. The general in charge of the invasion, Sir
Andrew Sapping, decided to avoid landing in fjords, judging it too
risky and prone to ambushes. Instead, English troops landed in the
flatlands west of Vátrsteinn. While Eittlandic troops were massing in
the nearby town of Vestrferðaróss, a volcano erupted into a
pyroclastic flow. The English landing site being on its path, half of
the invading English forces were immediately wiped out, and two thirds
of their vessels were badly damaged or destroyed. Immediately after
this, Sir Sapping surrendered to the Eittlandic troops which were
captured as prisoners of war. Due to this defeat and the sudden
reduction in available men and ships in the English army, the Treaty
of Hylfjaltr was signed on the 25 of May of the same year. While
England recognized its defeat, Eittland promised not to intervene on
any side in the current rebellion of the American colonies (which was
not the intent of Eittland in the first place).
After the independence of the United States of America, Eittland not
only retained its status as a maritime hotspot but also boomed as one
between Northern America and Europe. Its ports of Kóparváll and
Tvinnár, near Ðeberget and Hylfjaltr respectively, became the two
major ports in Eittland, with Tvinnár generally favoured by ships
coming from Europe and Kóparváll favoured by ships coming from
Northern America.
*** Industrial Revolution and Constitutional Monarchy (18th century)
By the beginning of the 18th century, Eittland begins to heavily
industrialize out of a need for larger and more effective ports,
requiring themselves lots of various machinery and base materials.
Mines in Western Eittland became much more active, extracting primary
resources such as iron, aluminium and other precious metals.
Due to a lack of coal in the Eittlandic island, the country had to buy
it from other countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States
or modern-day Canada. Coal stayed the primary source of power in
Eittland for most of the century up to around the 1880s when Eittland
found deposits off its Eastern coast. Oil extraction remains to this
day a significant part of the Eittlandic economy, although in decline
due to the deposits progressively drying up.
Industrial development mostly happened in Eastern Eittland due to its
flatter terrain compared to Western Eittland. Primary resources
extracted from Western Eittland were primarily brought to factories by
boat; although the country pushed towards building train tracks, the
eastern and western parts of the country remained separated due to the
frequent eruptions of the volcanoes in the central part of the island
cutting off any attempt to link the two regions.
Fishing also developed as a significant activity in Eittland, most of
its products was sold within Eittland for its people and only a small
portion became available for international market. Nonetheless,
Eittlandic fish slowly built a reputation of quality and became sought
after by Northern American and Western European elites. In 1895, fish
and seafood exports represented 35.3% of Eittland’s exports.
In 1826, the country underwent a change in its government, going from
an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. More details in
[[file:./country.md#constitutional-monarchy][Constitutional Monarchy]].
*** 20th Century, World Wars, and Europe
At the turn of the century, Eittland became an important hub of
commerce between Europe and Northern America with its two major ports,
Kóparvall and Tvinnár.
**** Women’s right to vote
On August 22nd 1902, a bill written by the House of the People led by
the Labourer’s Party is ratified by the High King. It gives women the
right to vote in any election open to the Eittlandic people. On March
15th 1915, a second law written by the Labourer’s Party is ratified by
the High King, giving women the right to be elected at the House of
the People while noblewomen got the right to inherit the title of
Jarl, making them eligible to the House of the Land. Quickly after,
Kari Nialsdóttr became the first woman ever elected to the House of
the People during the general election of September 1905, while Ása
Sigríðsdóttr became the first woman to enter the House of the Land
in 1934.
**** World War One
When World War I started, Eittland stated their neutrality regarding
the matter and continued business with any country willing to do so.
The only Eittlandic deaths recorded were three voluntary men of German
descent who went to mainland Europe in order to fight on Germany’s
side. Two of them died during the battle of the Somme while one died
of an unspecified illness.
**** 1920s and 1930s
As it was largely unaffected by the Great War, Eittland became an
important economic partner of the European countries affected by the
war, especially in terms of reconstruction. This further cemented
Eittland’s place in European economics. However, the country became
affected by the Great Depression too. Some twenty thousand Eittlanders
left Eittland at the time, fifteen thousand of them went to the
United States while five thousands left for European countries such as
Norway, Germany, the UK, or France. To this day, Chicago (Michigan,
USA) is known for hosting the only significant Eittlandic population
outside Eittland, and second-generation Eittlandic immigrants
retained their Eittlandic nationality despite most of them never going
to Eittland.
**** World War Two (1940-1944)
In the years leading up to World War Two, Nazi Germany spent great
efforts to develop a positive relationship with Eittland, mostly due
to their fascination for ancient Nordic culture and Eittland being the
only still pagan Nordic country. Eittland’s location would be also of
great strategic importance in the Atlantic with such a central place,
with the ability of acting as a relay between Northern America and
Europe, or as a base of operations allowing for a much greater range
of action. However, Eittland reaffirmed several times their will to
remain neutral in any conflict. After war broke out in mainland
Europe, the United Kingdom, fearing Eittland joining the Axis, offered
Eittland on January 23rd 1940 to join the Allies in order to not only
benefit themselves from Eittland’s geographical advantages, but also
avoid Germany to benefit from it. This proposal was once again
refused, yet again due to Eittland’s will of staying neutral.
However, on April 3rd 1940, Germany launched a surprise naval invasion
of Eittland, landing South of Hylfjaltr. This triggered an immediate
military response from Eittland, fighting back as they could the
German army. On the same day, Eittland called for help and joined
almost immediately the Allies. Three days after the beginning of the
invasion, British troops and ships arrived in Eittland, attacking the
German army from the sea while Eittlanders attacked from land. The
last German soldier surrendered on April 14th, eleven days after the
beginning of the invasion. Eittland became then a base of operations
of the Allies in the Atlantic, strengthening their position against
German U-boats and other warships.
Fearing a similar fate awaited Iceland, Eittland suggested to the
United Kingdom a preemptive occupation of the country by themselves.
Thus, on May 10th 1940, the British and Eittlandic navies invaded
Iceland, violating their neutrality. However, aside from diplomacy,
this went without any incident, and while the British army left
Iceland a year later, the Eittlandic army stayed for protection of the
country.
Eittlandic ports played an important part in bringing US warships and
war material to Europe, especially in the months leading up to D-Day
and the different landings in the Mediterranean Sea.
**** Eittland-Iceland Alliance (1948 - present)
When the war ended in Europe and Iceland gained its independence, a
referendum was held in both Eittland and Iceland on January 10th 1946
regarding the potential unification of the two countries, as both were
already close to one another both geographically and culturally. This
however never came to pass. In Iceland, 54% of voters voted against
the unification, while 64% of Eittlandic voters also answered “no”.
The two countries still entered a close alliance in February 1948,
Iceland relying on Eittland for military protection while an economic
alliance was made between both of them. While it evolved in the
following year inspired by the organizations that preceded the
European Union, some of its aspects later inspired the creation of the
Schengen Area some decades later. Iceland and Eittland integrated each
other’s economy tightly, while their industries interacted with one
another without any restrictions due to borders or customs. The
distinction in nationality also became largely irrelevant between the
two countries: only a few select governmental positions are still
reserved to the citizens of their birth country, generally linked to
high military ranks or secret services. It was thus possible for
citizens of both countries to move freely between Iceland and Eittland
and live in either country as any of its citizens would while goods
could also be freely exchanged.
Thus, in 1965, Páll Jónsson became the first Icelandic citizen elected
to public office as the Town Master of Eldheim in Western Eittland. In
May 1982, Bárður Márusson became the first Icelandic citizen to be
elected to the House of the People, while Valgeir Þórinnson became the
first Eittlandic citizen to be elected to the Icelandic parliament in
April 1983.
**** Computer Sciences Pioneering
Out of personal interest, the then Co-King of Ðeberget Ragnarr
Sigurðsbróðr asked the Dean of the Royal University of Eittland
(/Konunglig Eittlandsuniversitet/) to open as quickly as possible a lab
focused on the development of computers and computer sciences. While
the Co-King holds no power and is purely a ceremonial title, the Dean
obliged and founded the first Eittlandic computer science laboratory,
the /Konunglig Eittlandsuniversitetitsvétalsráðuneyt/ (litt. “Royal
Eittland’s University’s Computer Department”), or /Vétalsráðuneyt/ for
short. This accompanied a new law raising the annual budget allocated
to universities in Eittland to 9% of the nation’s GDP. As the first
lab grew in size and became more and more prominent internationally,
even becoming one of the leading laboratories along with MIT, Bell
Labs and CERN, numerous other laboratories both public and private
appeared in Eittland. Nowadays, the /Vétalsráðuneyt/ is still regarded
as one of the top research laboratories and university department in
Eittland, and the /Konunglig Eittlandsuniversitet/ often ranks in the
top five universities in the world regarding computer science.
What is now known as the Internet is born of a mix of ARPANET, the
American standard, and Skruggmál, the Eittlandic standard. Eittland
also became the first country off the coast of the United States to
become connected to the American continent. It also became the main
relay between mainland Europe and Northern America with one third of
internet connections between the continent going through Eittlandic
servers in 2015, although this number is slowly getting lower, as new
direct lines between Northern America and Europe are being laid.
Eittland became one of the first countries to pledge on a national
level in 1989 to conform to the Unicode standard when it would be
ready, which came in effect on the publication of the first version of
its standard on October 1992. The Teknikráðuneyt, the Eittlandic
Technology Ministry, remained a full voting member of the Unicode
Consortium from 1991 to 2006 and from 2015 until today. It is through
its lobby that the first version of the Unicode standard integrated
runes, Eittland’s official alphabet, and compatibility with the
=ISO-EI-1a= through =ISO-EI-5c= encoding systems as well as various
non-standard encoding systems used by minor Eittlandic operating
systems.
*** 21st century
**** Eittland and the European Union (1994-present)
Although it never applied for membership in the European Union,
Eittland is still part of the European Economic Area as well as the
Schengen Area, making it easy for European citizen as well as
Eittlandic citizens to move freely in Europe. It joined these two
organizations on their creation, in 1994 and in 1995 respectively,
after signing both in 1992 and 1985 respectively.
In 2008, due to the economic crisis and instability of the Eittlandic
Krúna (*EIK*), discussions opened with the European Parliament to adopt
the Euro. Brussels accepted the application in 2013 and the Euro
became the official Eittlandic currency in 2015. Eittlanders have a
ten years window to convert their Eittlandic Krúna in Euros, which
will become the sole currency accepted in Eittland starting January
1st 2026.
EU membership became an important debate topic in politics after the
2013 in the Eurozone, however the government sent no official
membership application to the European Union. Poll estimates paint
mixed feelings from the Eittlandic people with only a thin margin
putting either "yes" or "no" in front of the other when asked if
people would like Eittland to join the EU, as seen below.
| | Yes | No | Do not know |
|------+------+------+-------------|
| 1995 | 40.6 | 34.2 | 25.2 |
| 1998 | 41.2 | 36.3 | 22.5 |
| 2001 | 42.3 | 38.9 | 18.8 |
| 2005 | 43.0 | 40.1 | 16.9 |
| 2009 | 39.5 | 41.3 | 19.2 |
| 2010 | 43.4 | 44.3 | 12.3 |
| 2013 | 45.6 | 44.7 | 9.7 |
| 2015 | 46.4 | 45.9 | 7.7 |
| 2020 | 41.5 | 41.7 | 16.8 |
#+TBLFM: $4=100-($3+$2)
**** Internet and Computer Boom
Eittland is home to some of the largest websites in the world,
considered the European counterpart to the United States’ Silicon
Valley. Some of its best known websites are Raustr, a podcast and
blogging platform often compared to a Facebook or VK alternative, as
well as Sønmek, a video streaming and sharing platform compared to
YouTube and Twitch.
An entire governmental department of the Teknikráðuneyt got assigned
to developing and auditing the Linux kernel in 2011. Although it has
no official name, it is often referred to as the *pengvinsstyrsamhald*,
or *Penguins’ Battalion* in English. It was later integrated in a larger
department dedicated to open source software in general.
In 2014, the Eittlandic government announced fully switching to free
and open-source software on all levels of government. This became
fully effective in 2016, with all software developed for the
government changing their licence to the GPL-3.0 or AGPL-3.0 licences
and their source code available on the Teknikráðuneyt’s website.
** Political Organization
*** Kingdoms and Monarchy
While Eittland is a single country, it hosts two kingdoms: the Kingdom
of Đeberget in the western part of the country, and the Kingdom of
Hylfjaltr in its eastern part. This is due to a separation of the
country in two halves during the reign of Eittland’s second king
Áleifr I when he realized the difficulties he and the following
monarchs of the island would face trying to rule the country alone
while the latter is almost always split in two by active volcanoes.
Thus, while the two kingdoms operate very independently of each other
--- each have their own policies on economics, education, industry,
and so on --- they also operate in cooperation as the Eittlandic High
Kingdom with the king of Đeberget at its head when it comes to common
policies, such as military decision and international affairs.
#+html: <ImgFigure src="/img/eittlandic/map-political.png">The Two Eittlandic States</ImgFigure>
This means that while both governments are independent of each other
and are legally equals to each other, the western monarch is the one
with the authority to decide on national actions after negotiations
between them and the eastern monarch. This is reflected by the throne
rooms found in official buildings such as the royal palaces where
three thrones can be found: a central, very large throne surrounded by
two other identical thrones, the right one for the monarch of
Hylfjaltr and the left one for the king of Đeberget. Most of the time,
both monarchs sit on their side throne, including when they meet each
other as the monarchs of Hylfjaltr and Đeberget. However, when the
monarch of Đeberget is meant to act as the High Monarch of Eittland,
they step up to the central throne and then represent the country as a
whole.
At the end of the reign of the High King, either through abdication or
their death, his successor is enthroned within a month. Then, within a
year, the new High King has to appoint a new monarch for Hylfjaltr.
Traditionally, the new co-ruler is a brother of the current High
Monarch, however history showed it could be sometimes an uncle, a son,
a sister or even sometimes a daughter. When the eastern monarch either
abdicates or dies, the High Monarch has a month to designate a new
one.
Up until the 14th century, the monarch of Hylfjaltr was rarely the
successor of the High Monarch. However, High King Ólafr I changed this
tradition and created a new one. He named his brother and co-ruler
King of Eittland and his son Prince of Eittland. From here on, the
King (or occasionally the Queen) of Eastern Eittland was meant to
become the new High Monarch of Eittland and make the Prince (or
occasional Princess) the ruler of Hylfjaltr. Then, once the reign of
the King ends, the Prince becomes the new High King and nominates a
new King and a new Prince. This was done to ensure the upcoming High
Monarch would be prepared in ruling the whole country by first ruling
the state. If anything were to happen to the Prince or Princess of
Eittland while the King or Queen of Hylfjaltr is on the throne, they
would have to nominate a new heir among the other possible heirs
possible for the late High Monarch.
When the High Monarchs steps up to the central throne, they may
designate someone to fill in the role of the monarch of Đeberget for
the time being. They can also authorize the monarch of Hylfjaltr to do
so in case they are unavailable and someone needs to represent the
country in front of foreign representatives. The last example was
during the two last years of Eríkr V’s reign from 1987 to 1989 when he
could not act as High King due to his illness. While he did not
abdicate, he authorized king Harald III to act as High King while he
appointed his daughter and present-day High Queen Njall III as the
acting monarch of Đeberget.
*** Regions and Jarldoms
While each kingdom is ruled by a monarch and the country is ruled by
the High Monarch, the kingdoms are divided into several kinds of
subdivisions. The most common one is the jarldom, historically ruled
by and still represented by a jarl during ceremonies. “Jarl”
translates as “Earl” in English, and they were the nobles in charge of
managing parts of the land in the name of the ruler.
#+html: <ImgFigure src="/img/eittlandic/map-provinces.png">Eittlandic Provinces</ImgFigure>
Some parts of the land are directly under the control of the crown,
such as the districts of Đeberget and Hylfjaltr, which the ruler ruled
without intermediaries. They are the private possessions of the family
of the rulers.
On top of this the centre of the island is divided in territories, one
administered by the government of Đeberget and two by the government
of Hylfjaltr. These territories are supposedly not inhabited by anyone
and are currently natural parks. This is mostly where you can find the
mountains and volcanoes of Eittland as well as its cold deserts.
Due to the Last Royal Decree of 1826, jarls no longer rule their
jarldom themselves any more. Instead, a local elected government takes
care of this role now.
*** Governments
**** Monarchy and Things
The first form of government created in Eittland revolved around
Things (/þing/ in Eittlandic), assemblies of varying size occasionally
created at various levels of the state to decide on important matters,
with the Althing being the highest Thing to exist in Eittland. The
Things allow at first any adult man to participate, but as the
population grew some restrictions were put in place in order to limit
the amount of participants. Only one man could represent a household
starting from 982. Then, starting from 998, only jarls were allowed to
the ruler’s Thing, and only ten jarls from each kingdom, elected among
all the jarls from the same kingdom, would be allowed to attend the
High Monarch’s Thing. These jarls would then act as representatives of
the kingdom to the High King and his counsellors.
In 1278, the first formal ministry (or department) was created in the
Ðeberget Kingdom, called a /Ráðuneyt/ (litt. “fellowship of
counsellors”) with a /Ráðunautr/ at its head, to aid the King Hallþórr V
Gunhildson’s in administering agriculture. The Hylfjaltr Kingdom soon
followed, creating its own in 1283 by order of Eyvindr III
Steingrímson. From then, ráðuneyts were created as needed with a
growing number.
**** Constitutional Monarchy
In 1826, fearing the revolutionary climate in mainland Europe, Ólafr V
passed the appropriately named “Last Royal Decree” in 1826. This act
put in place a new form of government based on the British monarchy.
The king transfers all the royal power from the rulers of Đeberget and
Hylfjaltr to the House of the People and the House of the Land (the
equivalent of the lower and upper Houses respectively). The House of
the People is composed of men elected during general elections every
eight years. It was decided for each jarldom and district, one
representative would be elected plus another one for each percentage
of the population of the kingdom the jarldom represents.
A similar system was created for jarldoms in order to replace jarls
with locally elected governments, as well as the organization of
municipalities.
At first only male landowner of the Nordic Faith could vote and could
be elected. In 1886, all men of the Nordic Faith got the right to vote
and be elected in the general elections. In 1902, women gained the
right to vote, and they gained the right to be elected in 1915. The
law that allowed women to vote also made the authorities stop
enforcing the restriction on the faith of the participants --- while
the original texts of 1826 and 1886 were clear on the fact only men of
the Nordic Faith were allowed to vote and be elected, women had no
such restriction making it unclear if it only applied to women or if
this restriction was revoked for everyone. Organizers of the next
elections in 1905 chose not to enforce this religious restriction and
ever since then. In 1998, Queen Njall III exceptionally used her
powers of High Queen to pass a law to clarify this issue and formally
make Eittland a non-religious country. This also removed the long
unenforced ban on other religions in Eittland.
Note that while the rulers of Đeberget and Hylfjaltr have lost all
their power with the “Last Royal Decree”, the High Monarch remained
unaffected by the text though they act and are expected to act as if
it were the case. To replace them, the eastern and western governments
elect a single national representative meant to act as the head of
both states instead of the High Monarch who now holds only a
ceremonial position. However, it happens from time to time the High
Monarch passes a law, although they only write down in the law already
well established traditions, such as the ban on the religious
restrictions for voters which had not been enforced for almost a
century by that point.
Today, Ráðuneyts still exist, but their head is no longer designated
by the monarch but by the head of the House of the People. Here is the
list of Ministries that exist in Eittland in 2022:
- /Bærráðuneyt/ :: Agriculture Ministry
- Dæmaráðuneyt :: Justice Ministry
- Erlendslandsráðuneyt :: Foreign Affair Ministry
- Fræðiráðuneyt :: Education Ministry
- Heilsráðuneyt :: Health Ministry
- Konungdómráðuneyt :: Kingdom’s Ministry (State Affairs)
- Náttúrráðuneyt :: Nature Ministry (including ecology)
- Rógráðuneyt :: War Ministry
- Teknikráðuneyt :: Technology Ministry
- Kaupráðuneyt :: Economy Ministry
- Vinnaráðuneyt :: Employment Ministry
With the separation of the State with its religious departments
following the law of 1998, the /Heiðniráðuneyt/ (the Heathendom
Department) became an entity separate from the Government. Its
Ráðunautr used to be exceptionally appointed by the House of the Land,
unlike the rest of Ráðunautrs.
* Private Data :noexport:
#+name: eittland-religions
| / | < | | | | | |
| Year | Norse Faith | Atheism | Church of Eittland | Christianity | Buddhism | Other |
|------+-------------+---------+--------------------+--------------+----------+-------|
| 1900 | 97 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1950 | 93 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 1975 | 84 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0.5 | 4.5 |
| 2000 | 76 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| 2019 | 69 | 18 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 3 |
#+name: nationality-religious-refugees
| Country | Percentage |
|-------------------+------------|
| France | 36 |
| Holy Roman Empire | 24 |
| Scandinavia | 22 |
| United Kingdom | 14 |
| Others | 4 |
https://wiki.phundrak.com/s/eittland