Begroun

The Democratic-Consulate Socialist Republic of Begroun, commonly referred to as simply Begroun, is a small nation in the center of Zapita. It directly borders Dracea, and is near Exshire, Haravenia, and Junodina. Begroun is governed by a democratically-elected president, who may serve a maximum of three 4-year terms in office, and is controlled by a Grand Consulate of twenty-four appointed officials who each fulfill a specific administrative duty to the nation. Begroun is heavily politically left-leaning, and is by official policy a non-religious state. Around 70% of the population are humans, with the other 30% comprising species minorities from across Kanita, Zapita, and Sivalat.

## The Democratic-Consulate Socialist Republic of Begroun

### Government type

Representative democracy balanced by self-appointed consulate

## Etymology

Begroun has its origins as a colloquial name for the region, appearing in many similar variants in Mikinian and Dracean texts from the 1300s onward. It is believed to originate from extensive bastardization of archaic Rutherish terms related to arable land. Beginning in the early 1800s, Mikinian government annals of the area refer to a series of unsuccessful popular uprisings in the area as "flying the banner of Be-Groun" or "Be-Growne." The name of the nation as it exists today was a deliberate choice by the various grassroots movements directly preceding its incorporation, to hearken back to the efforts of their kindred spirits from the past.

The official title "Democratic-Consulate Socialist Republic" refers to Begroun's peculiar system of government and economy. During the establishment of Begroun's constitution and related documents, extensive debates were held on which terms to include in the title and in what order to arrange them. Several disputes over these same specifics arose in the following years, but the current title has stood for twenty-three years of agreement.

## History

#### Mikinian occupation

For the majority of recorded history, the region now occupied by Begroun was controlled by the Kingdom of Mikini. Originally seized from local hamlets organized under a variety of small feudal lords sometime in the 300s, the area was coveted for its rich soil and temperate climates. However, over the next thousand years, a series of large-scale weather phenomena resulted in arability and temperature dropping significantly. By the 1500s, due in part to this shift and in part to heavy taxation by the crown, Begroun was a remarkably poor area with few natural resources to offer. As a result the area experienced a substantial manual-labor boom, with craftspeople and miners becoming commonplace.

Due to lack of any substantial infrastructure, and continued exorbitant overheads charged by the ruling family in Mikini, quality of life in Begroun continued to worsen throughout the next several centuries. It was not until the implementation of the sail-and-portage trade route across the Zapitan Inland Sea that the populace were exposed to any kind of luxury, and with it, the idea that a better life was possible. This resulted in the From-Nothing Riots of the early 1800s, a sustained campaign across at least thirty years wherein organized militias of citizens resisted occupying forces using clandestine tactics and improvised weaponry. Eventually, a prominent quarry town was liberated from Mikini, leading to the royal military mounting a rout of the territory and returning Begroun to subjugation.

#### Mikini declines

Beginning in the mid-1900s, the Mikinian crown began to command less power and respect. Primarily due to modern disregard for monarchy and a general trend leftwards in global politics, it became apparent that the royal family did not possess the resources to maintain their expansive territory forever. In Begroun, which had gained some infrastructural support but was still one of the poorest parts of the kingdom, grassroots mutual-aid movements began to spring up by the dozen. With them came the hope that a self-determining government was possible, and as democracies and republics began to establish themselves abroad, the people's minds turned to action.

Taking inspiration from their ancestors of the previous century, several movements established networks of communication and began training for combat. The next several decades would see widespread protests throughout the region and frequent raids on Mikinian government and military offices. This came to a head in 1983, when a coalition of several paramilitary organizations calling themselves the Independent State of Begroun declared independence from Mikini. The declaration was delivered at a time when royal PR among the citizenry was exceptionally low, and so after heated negotiations it was agreed that Begroun would remain a dependent state of Mikini for a transitory period of twenty years, after which time they would be able to form an official government and incorporate themselves as a nation.

#### Incorporation

On 1 January 2003, the Founding Body of Begroun (comprised of twenty-four prominent revolutionary figures) came together to publicly sign and ratify the Constitution of Begroun, officially declaring it an independent nation and renaming it from Independent State to Democratic-Socialist Consulate People's Republic. In addition, the Constitution also established the Founding Body as the first Grand Consulate, guaranteeing their positions of authority over various aspects of the nation and allowing them to appoint successors at such time as they should retire or be incapacitated. A Presidency was also established, with the campaign trail taking place over the next year and voting occurring in the last week of December 2023. The first President of Begroun, Adelard Jekyll, was sworn in on 1 January 2004.

#### Modern Developments

Since incorporation, Begroun has made great strides in infrastructure of all sorts, establishing official currencies, developing extensive social programs, and creating the region's first fully-integrated utilities systems. The Grand Consulate have proven to be somewhat overbearing, but regardless of their influence, census data has shown consistently-improving quality of life every year.

One of the first amendments made to the Constitution was the abolition of organized religion, a decision that drew public outcry and remains one of the most unpopular to date. The justification for this ban, as stated in the amendment itself, is that "religion and similar venues of magical thinking invite speculation about god-given rights, and grant power-hungry individuals a handy lever by which to exert unearned and unjustified power over the masses." The Constitution as originally penned does stipulate that "a person is afforded the rights they may claim from a benevolent master, or pry from the grasp of a malevolent one."

Begroun has also claimed adjacent territory over the past few decades, and the discovery of oil wells in these areas has led to a significant hike in GDP. Oil extraction and processing is a common career, and together with refinement and manufacturing it comprises the majority of employment in the nation. The public school system is also known for producing incredibly efficient bureaucrats and accountants, and the export of these personnel to other countries accounts for a non-negligible fraction of income. In recent years, the relatively small standing army has also seen a significant influx of resources. There is currently deliberation within the Consulate and presidential administration on whether to implement a mandatory term of service upon reaching the age of majority.

## Geography

Begroun comprises approximately 50,000 square miles between the Peecific Strait and the Zapitan Inland Sea, much of which is relatively undeveloped. It shares its eastern border with the Republic of Dracea, which has been defined by the Treaty of Spheres of Influence since 2053. Its nearest non-bordering neighbors are Haravenia (50 miles at shortest distance) and Exshire (150).

The majority of Begroun is arid grassland and tundra, with large areas in the southern part of the nation used for farming and pasture. Some forests line the northern border of the nation. Oil wells exist in the newer western territories of the nation, and as a result, the area is rapidly being urbanized and industrialized, with the city of New Quarry on track to surpass the capital, Begropolis, in population as early as 2062.

#### Climate

Begroun is on the colder side of being a temperate region, with temperatures ranging between -10 and 30 degrees Celsius in the south and between -30 and 20 degrees Celsius in the north. It is a relatively flat region with very little in the way of windbreaks, and as a result strong sea breezes are prevalent throughout the area. The majority of the nation experiences a continental subarctic climate.

Begroun is positioned in a peculiar area of the jet stream, resulting in frequent variation in weather patterns year by year. An El Niño/La Niña cycle is present in the area, with an average cycle length of ten years. Summers are typically warm and humid and last from late May to early September, and winters are typically frigid and snow-filled and last from late October to late April. Brush fires spanning large swaths of grassland are not uncommon in the spring and fall, and many municipalities employ controlled-burn programs to mitigate this risk.

Despite relying on the oil industry for much of its GDP, Begroun employs mostly green energy sources, utilizing its oil as plastics and similar refined products instead. The primary source of energy in Begroun is wind, followed by solar, hydroelectricity, and geothermal.

#### Topography

Begroun is currently able to function as a single contiguous jurisdiction, but in anticipation of a future date where this is no longer the case, a program is in development for implementing a system of provinces, each with a governor and local consulate. These provinces will likely be named for instrumental figures in the Begrouni revolution.

## Government and politics

Begroun is a unitary state under an elected president, checked and balanced by a Grand Consulate of twenty-four appointed officials. The President is given the majority of executive and a select few legislative duties, and the majority of the legislative and the entirety of the judicial branches are controlled by the Consulate. The President is able to approve or veto any legislation the Consulate brings forward, and the Consulate may encourage or forbid the President to make certain foreign policy decisions, such as sanctions or declarations of war.

#### Constitutional principles

Begroun's Constitution was written between 1967 and 2002 and codified in 2003, and has since received twenty-eight amendments, most of them modifications of language or guarantees of rights that have come into existence alongside the emergence of new technology. Generally speaking, the Consulate recognizes the principles of the Constitution to be "freedom conditional upon obedience of the law, equity for all citizens, and refusal of any other authority than that of the people, their representatives, and their Consulate."

Either the President or any member of the Consulate may propose an amendment to the Constitution. Such amendments are subject to an extensive drafting process before being brought to a private vote of relevant officials, followed by a public vote of the citizenry. All approved amendments are ratified and incorporated into the Constitution on the first day of the January following this vote.

#### President

The President of Begroun is an elected official who serves a maximum of three 4-year terms in office. Presidential elections take place on years divisible by four, and the President-elect is voted upon throughout the last week of December and sworn in on 1 January the following year. Since Begroun is a multi-party state, primary elections are held during the last week of June the same year, but an overwhelming majority is consistently held by the state-sponsored Begrouni People's Working Party, and so their primary candidate typically sweeps the general election with ease. The only notable upset in this trend occurred in 2032, when the Working Party candidate was discovered to be at the center of a large-scale sex trafficking operation, and lost 60%-40% to his runner-up in the polls, who was running on behalf of the Common Citizens' Labor Party of Begroun.

#### Consulate

The Grand Consulate of Begroun is composed of twenty-four individuals whose identities are unknown, but who each serve key roles in managing domestic and foreign affairs. Each Consul is granted the right to appoint their successor, but in the event they are unable to do so, this duty falls to the First Consul, or the Second if the First is the emptied position. In the event that the entire Consulate are incapacitated, emergency authority is granted to the President to replace them as they see fit. A separate order of succession is used to determine who the President is in the event of the loss of them and their staff.

Many Consuls in public-facing positions have one or several unofficial titles and/or nicknames, but official documentation refers to them using the first through twenty-fourth ordinals, and presumably enumerates the full scope of their responsibilities. Consulate business is typically kept highly classified and well away from the public eye, to the degree that it is uncertain where exactly they are headquartered, if it is indeed one distinct place.

#### Administrative divisions

Begroun is administered as a single contiguous region, but there is a program in development to subdivide the nation into several provinces with governors and local consulates similar in relationship to the President and Grand Consulate in the event that the nation amasses enough territory to effectively administrate in this manner. Large cities elect mayors every two years who may sit a maximum of eight terms, and these mayors periodically appoint administrators to smaller municipalities and suburbs in the surrounding area, making for a system that does not officially have a name but is similar to the city/county system. Mayors and administrators are responsible for holding semiannual town-hall sessions wherein citizens may propose legislation and suggest changes to local policy, and working with their cabinets to collate these suggestions into line items to be voted upon by the populace in the last weeks of the months spaced exactly between these sessions.

#### Foreign relations

Begroun is a member state of the Allied Effective, having joined in early 2053. Its closest allies are its neighbors Dracea and Exshire. In the past, tensions have flared between Begroun and Haravenia over minor territorial disputes, but these issues have typically been quickly and harmlessly resolved. As a stipulation of its independence, Begroun and Mikini are engaged in a strict non-aggression pact.

Begroun has established a presence in Ailou in the form of embassies in Korlan, Kantouba, and Deagua, and has provided arms and soldiers to the Effective's conflict against Vau'sena and Great Hegi. It is also engaged in a bustling oil trade with many other nations in the Effective.

#### Law and criminal justice

Begroun's legal code is somewhat byzantine from an outside perspective, but citizens are taught from a very young age how to properly navigate day-to-day life with such laws in place. The state itself is fairly authoritarian, boasting a large domestic police force and likely several secret police forces controlled by various persons or groups of interest within the nation. The court in Begroun is overseen and managed by the Seventh Consul, who appoints judges to the Supreme, domestic, and criminal circuits.

Crime in Begroun hovers relatively low, with the highest recorded annual incarceration rate being 214 in 100,000. This is attributed to the diligent work of the police, combined with robust social programs designed to assist lower-class individuals in obtaining necessities and stabilizing their finances.

#### Military

The Armed Forces of the Democratic-Consulate Socialist Republic of Begroun consist of three branches. The largest of these by far is the Begrouni People's Army, a land-based force consisting of infantry, transport and combat vehicles, and light and medium artillery. Relatively equal in size are the Begrouni People's Navy and Air Force, with the Navy consisting of approximately two hundred vessels, including fifty battleships and ten aircraft carriers, and the Air Force consisting of approximately five hundred aircraft, including three hundred two-person fighters, twenty troop transports, and five stealth craft. These numbers are rapidly growing in anticipation of a global-scale conflict, and a military-affiliated space program is currently in very early stages of development.

The military primarily evolved out of guerrilla forces remaining from the Revolution, who organized themselves into a proper standing army and began recruiting young adults as they came of age. The first vehicles and large artillery were procured and introduced to the Army in 2018.