Switzerland (The Great Calamity)

Switzerland, officially named The Swiss Confederation, is a small landlocked nation located in and around the Alps Mountains and in bits of Central Europe. Being one of the few nations to escape The Calamity relatively unscathed by war, Switzerland is today one of the most technologically advanced nation on Earth and maintains a strong export economy as head of the Geneva Pact - a trade alliance of French and Mediterranean nations and city states.
Switzerland is a federal semi-direct democracy with one of the highest standards of living in the world. Its people enjoy some of the strongest civil and economic rights in the world. Though social attitudes within the nation remain largely liberal and open to foreign trade and tourism, anti-immigration sentiments are still widespread as a result of centuries of isolationism, aggressive waves of attempted immigration in the 21st and 22nd centuries, and a strong sense of national pride and cultural preservation.
==History==
===The Dark Ages===
Upon the commencement of terrible nuclear warfare in the early 21st century, the Swiss people retreated to underground bunkers, with nearly the entire population disappearing overnight thanks to centuries of state-sanctioned military preparedness training. Sometime around the year 2024, not long after the end of The Great Calamity, the first bunkers began to open, and soon the entire population of Switzerland had emerged to a new world - one of anarchy, nuclear wastelands, tyranny, and hopeful attempts at organising peace. 
Despite being one of the only nations to emerge from The Calamity relatively unscathed, Switzerland nonetheless suffered from massive economic hardship due to a loss of its export economy, Within weeks a state of emergency was declared and Switzerland placed under martial law, resulting in civilian technocratic dictatorship for the first few decades following The Calamity. 
===The Middle Ages===
===The Early Renewal and Modern Day===
==Government==
Switzerland is a semi-direct democratic federal republic. The federal legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the Federal Assembly: the National Council and the Council of States. The Federal Council holds the executive power and is composed of eleven power-sharing Federal Councillors elected by the Federal Assembly. The judicial branch is headed by the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland, whose judges are elected by the Federal Assembly.
The Swiss Confederation consists of 26 cantons which are federated states. They have a permanent constitutional status and, in comparison with other countries, a high degree of independence. Under the Federal Constitution, all 26 cantons are equal in status, except that 6 (referred to often as the half-cantons) are represented by one councillor instead of two in the Council of States and have only half a cantonal vote with respect to the required cantonal majority in referendums on constitutional amendments. Each canton has its own constitution and its own parliament, government, police and courts.
===Federal Council===
The Federal Council directs the federal government, the federal administration, and serves as a collective Head of State. It is a collegial body of eleven members, elected for a four-year term by the Federal Assembly, which also oversees the council. The President of the Confederation is elected by the Assembly from among the eleven members, customarily in rotation and for a one-year term; the President chairs the government and executes representative functions. The president is a primus inter pares with no additional powers and remains the head of a department within the administration.
The government has been a coalition of the four major political parties, each party having a number of seats that roughly reflects its share of the electorate and representation in the federal parliament. The four major parties since the 2210s have been the Free Democratic Party, the Swiss National Party, the Social Liberal Party, and the Moderate Alliance.
===Federal Assembly===
The Swiss Parliament consists of two houses: the Council of States which has 46 representatives (two from each canton and one from each half-canton) who are elected under a system determined by each canton, and the National Council, which consists of 250 members who are elected under a system of proportional representation, reflecting each canton's population. Members serve full time for 4 years. When both houses are in joint session, they are known collectively as the Federal Assembly. Through referendums, citizens may challenge any law passed by parliament and, through initiatives, introduce amendments to the federal constitution, thus making Switzerland a direct democracy.
===Federal Supreme Court===
The function of the Federal Supreme Court is to hear appeals against rulings of cantonal or federal courts. The Court's 15 judges are elected by the Federal Assembly for 12-year terms.
==Military==
The Swiss Armed Forces (German: Schweizer Armee, French: Armée suisse, Italian: Esercito svizzero, Romansh: Armada svizra; lit. 'Swiss Army') operates on land and in the air, serving as the primary armed forces of Switzerland. Under the country's militia system, regular soldiers constitute a small part of the military and the rest are conscripts or volunteers aged 19 to 34. 
The regulations of the Swiss militia system stipulate that the soldiers keep their own personal equipment, including all personally assigned weapons, at home, or in an armoury. Compulsory military service applies to all male Swiss citizens, with women serving voluntarily. Males usually receive initial orders at the age of 18 for military conscription eligibility screening. About two-thirds of young Swiss men are found suitable for service, while alternative service exists for those found unsuitable.
===Swiss Army===
The Swiss Army is the Swiss Armed Forces' land warfare component, and consists of 145,000 soldiers. Of these, 75,000 are part of the Swiss Standing Army, and 70,000 are part of the Swiss Army Militia. The majority of both arms of the Army are conscripts with only 15,000 career soldiers in the Army altogether. 
All conscripts first serve in the Standing Army for a minimum total of 30 weeks before optionally transferring to the Army Militia where they become part time soldiers and have their pay reduced significantly under the expectation that they will find civilian work. Those who remain in the Standing Army continue to serve for an additional 30 weeks. Those in the Army Militia must serve for an additional 50 weeks, but can only be called to duty for a maximum of 50 days over the course of those 50 weeks, unless exceptional circumstances occur (eg. natural disaster, war, civil conflict, etc.).
The Swiss Army Corps of Engineers are particularly renowned for their infrastructure projects, including national railways and bridges. Discharged Engineers often enter into employment with civilian engineering firms. The same can be said for the Swiss Army Corps of Electronic Warfare which regularly churns out entrepreneurs and employees for tech startups.
===Swiss Air Force===
The Swiss Air Force is the Swiss Armed Forces' aerial warfare component, and consists of 21,000 airmen. Of these, 7,000 are career airmen while 14,000 are conscripts. The Swiss Air Force fields a fleet of 221 aircraft, including 70 fixed-wing combat aircraft, 35 attack helicopters, and various other aircraft.
==Foreign Relations==
==Economy==
==Technology==
Swiss technology today remains one of the most advanced in the world, though it is noticeably behind North America and the Vijayanagar Empire in space and naval technology, for obvious reasons. Switzerland is commonly cited as the only nation whose technological progress remained largely unaffected by The Calamity. As a result the tiny landlocked nation became one of the only peaceful havens of scientific progress during the Dark Ages in the immediate aftermath of The Calamity.
===Transportation===
The entire nation's transportation is autonomous in nature. Public transport is still the most popular form of travel with Maglev LRT and trackless-Maglev buses most common. Maglev cars are also a common sight though cycling remains the vehicle of choice for less well-off citizens.
===Energy===
50% of the nation's power is produced by nuclear fission power plants, most of them built in the century following The Calamity. Another 30% is sourced from renewable resources, mainly hydro-power. Around 37% of the nation's power comes from a technology that is still mostly Swiss in design and manufacture: nuclear fusion. Switzerland is the main exporter of nuclear engineers and to this day is home to the headquarters of 6 out of 7 of the world's nuclear power firms, thanks in large part to a very early head-start in nuclear fusion research amidst the Dark Ages
===Communication===
The Swiss population benefits from a (now mostly privately owned) Swiss Internet system. The system, having been set up a mere 10 years after The Calamity, is the oldest surviving internet system in the world. As of the 2360, the Swiss Internet has undergone much infrastructure expansion in order to connect to and incorporate the many fledgling Internet systems developed by Switzerland's Continental neighbours and new trade allies across the Atlantic.
==Demographics==
Category:The Great Calamity
Category:Switzerland
Category:Post-Apocalyptic