Lemuria

**Lemuria** (Lemurian: *Lamūrja*), officially the **Republic of Lemuria** (Lemurian: *Republika Lamūrja*), is a sovereign state in Northern Eurea, bordered by Eckland to the west and northwest, Litunia to the west, and Helvaria the south; the nation also has a maritime border with Sumaria to the east. Its capital and most-populous city is Slavia, located on the northern coast of the nation.

The Kingdom of Lemuria was organized in the 14th-century, later conquering and incorporating the smaller and nearby kingdoms of Ligonia and Narvelia the century afterwards. The Kingdom was later conquered by Forsland and incorporated as Forsish Lemuria in the 18th-century, with the monarchy disposed of. In 1803, Lemuria along with the Forsish territories of Eckland and Litunia 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 their independence by Helvaria in 1902, Lemuria has established itself as a parliamentary republic. Its head of state is the President, who holds very few powers in Lemurian politics; the President may pass executive actions if endorsed by one of the ministers, can veto any legislation, is the commander-in-chief of the military, and is the chief international representative of Lemuria. The President is indirectly elected by the legislature for a four-year term that can be renewed indefinitely; however, no President can serve more than two terms consecutively, and no President has ever returned to office for a third term in Lemurian history. During a presidential election, every political party present in the legislature can propose a candidate for the election. If no candidate receives a majority of the vote, the two top vote-getters advance to a run-off. Because of this system, the President is almost always the same political party as the Prime Minister, which has raised concerns. 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 Vīramas, and thus can form their own cabinet of ministers. The national legislature of Lemuria is the Vīramas, a unicameral body. The Vīramas consists of 125 seats, and its members are elected through proportional representation in at-large constituencies. The legislature is led by the Speaker, who presides over debate and must be non-partisan and non-voting.

Lemuria is typically seen as much less urbanized and developed than its neighbors Eckland and Litunia, with about 64.5% of its population of 2.0 million residing in a rural area. A unitary state, the nation is divided into six counties. 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. About 85.3% of the population identifies as ethnically Lemurian, while 7.5% identifies as Ligonian and 5.6% as Narvelian; the Ligonians and Narvelians are native minorities to Lemuria, who hold special minority group status in the country; most of them reside in the counties of Ligonia and Narvelia, respectively. The remaining 1.6% of the country are primarily Helvarian, Litunian, or of immigrant origin. The sole national and official language of Lemuria is Lemurian, a Letuvian language that is closely related to Litunian. Other Letuvian languages spoken in Lumeria include Ligonian and Narvelian, which hold official minority language status and are spoken by ethnic Ligonians and Narvelians, respectively. About 87.1% of the population speaks Lemurian natively, 7.2% speaks Ligonian natively, and 5.3% speaks Narvelian natively; despite this, Lemurian acts as a *lingua franca* between the three ethnic groups and is spoken fluently by 99.8% of the population. While the Lemurian constitution allows for the freedom of religion, most Lemurians adhere to Northern Eurean Christianity, although the importance of religion has been in rapid decline in modern Lemurian society; in 2017, 75.3% of people aged over 65 declared religion as "very important", while only 11.5% of people under the age of 25 agreed.

## Politics

### Administrative divisions

*Main article: Counties of Lemuria.*

Lemuria is divided into six counties. As a unitary state, the counties have very little administrative powers, and exist mostly for statistical purposes. Each county is organized based on historical, dialectal, and cultural differences.