Eckland

**Eckland** (Eckish: *Ekki*), officially the **Republic of Eckland** (Eckish: *Republikki Ekkää*), is a sovereign state in Northern Eurea, bordered by Litunia to the west and southwest and Lemuria to the east and southeast. Its capital and most-populous city is Poorgu, located on the northern coast of the country.

Eckland was first consolidated in the 12th-century, forming the Kingdom of Eckland. After about two centuries of independent rule, the territory was annexed by Forsland and became a Forsish territory, with the Eckish monarchy disposed. In 1803, Eckland along with the Forsish territories of Litunia and Lemuria were granted independence as the Letuvian Federation. This government was short-lived, being conquered by the Kashan Empire and becoming Kashan Letuvia just five years later. Kashan rule saw mass migration of Kashans to Letuvia in an attempt to "purify" the population that they deemed to be savages. The territory was ceded to Helvaria in 1845, becoming Helvarian Letuvia. Helvaria expelled most of Letuvia's Kashan population back to Kasha, and moved in numbers of Helvarians in their place. After growing nationalist sentiment in the three nations of Letuvia, Helvaria granted them independence in 1902.

Since being granted independence from Helvaria in 1902, Eckland has established itself as a parliamentary republic. Its head of state is the President, who holds no actual power in Eckish politics and serves as a mere ceremonial figurehead; the President's powers are merely acting as the chief international representative of Eckland, serving as the commander-in-chief of the Eckish military, and being able to veto legislation they deem "politically unacceptable or unconstitutional". The President is elected indirectly every four years by the legislature of Eckland; after candidates declare their intentions to stand in the election, whichever candidate receives a two-thirds majority vote in the legislature may serve as President for a four-year term that can be renewed once. Presidential candidates must be non-partisan and cannot be registered with a political party or vote in an election during their tenure. If no candidate receives the two-thirds majority after three rounds of voting (with the lowest vote-getter eliminated after each round), then all candidacies are withdrawn and the two largest political parties in the legislature may select a candidate to stand in an election amongst the Eckish public, with the winner of the popular vote winning the election; it has come to this method four times in Eckish history. The Prime Minister is the head of government, and holds the most political power and influence. They are typically the leader of the governing coalition in the Maagukoorpuu, and thus can form their own cabinet of ministers. The national legislature of Eckland is the Maagukoorpuu, a unicameral body. The Maagukoorpuu consists of 101 seats, with its members being elected via proportional representation for each of the counties of Eckland; the legislature is led by the Speaker, who presides over debate and does not vote; the Speaker is a member of the governing coalition.

Eckland is an urbanized and well-developed nation. With a population of 1.5 million, about 56.8% of the population resides within one of its three-largest cities. A unitary state, the nation is divided into twelve counties and an autonomous province. The counties have little administrational power, each being represented by a County Administrator appointed by the Prime Minister, and an Executive Board elected via popular vote. Despite this, their power is miniscule. Saarmuu is the nation's sole autonomous province; it has its own legislature and Chairman, who acts similarly to a Prime Minister, which grants them some autonomous authority in regards to legislation. About 94.6% of the population identifies as Eckish, while 4.1% identifies as Forsish. The nation's Forsish community overwhelmingly resides on the island of Saarmuu, which contains about 98.9% of the nation's Forsish community; they are an officially protected national minority in Eckland. The remaining 1.3% of the population is made up of mostly Helvarians, Litunians, and Lemurians. The sole national and official language of Eckland is Eckish, the only surviving member of the Kuvan language family. Forsish, a Helvaric language, also holds special minority status. Approximately 96.7% of the population speaks Eckish natively, while 2.1% speaks Forsish natively, and 1.2% speaks a different language. While the Eckish constitution allows for the freedom of religion, most Ecks adhere to atheism, agnosticism, or Eckish paganism. While the country has historically belonged to the Northern Eurean Church, religion has fallen drastically since the 1960s, with only 5.6% of the population identifying as a Christian in 2017; this makes Eckland one of the most irreligious countries in the world.

Despite its relative small size, Eckland has established itself as one of the most developed and progressive nations in not only Eurea, but also the world. It ranks favorably in areas such as education, press freedom, livability, and safety, and experiences high levels of human development, and low levels of political corruption. In 2017, it was ranked as the most tech-savvy nation in the world, and in 2015, as the "World's Best Country".

## Politics

### Administrative divisions

*Main article: Counties of Eckland.*

Eckland is divided into twelve counties and one autonomous province. Although an autonomous province and not actually a county, all thirteen regions are generally lumped under the blank term "county" for administrative purposes, although the autonomous province has different functions. As a unitary state, the counties have very little administrative powers, and exist mostly for statistical purposes. However, the autonomous province has its own legislature, Chairperson, and can declare its own official language.