Forsland

**Forsland** (Forsish: *Forsland*), officially the **Kingdom of Forsland** (Forsish: *Kongeriget Forsland*), is a sovereign state in Northern Eurea, bordered by Hartland to the south and east; the nation also has a maritime border with the Velkanian Isles to the southwest. Its capital and most-populous city is Hersingborg, located on the eastern coast of the country.

The territory of Forsland has been unified under the Kingdom of Forsland since the 11th-century, continuing its sovereignty as a nation for over ten centuries. The 1,000th anniversary of the Forsish nation was held in 2017. Forsland began a quest of imperialism during the 15th-century, when they incorporated the Kingdom of Eckland into Forsland as Forsish Eckland; they continued conquering Eckland's neighboring nations centuries later, establishing Forsish Lemuria and Forsish Litunia in the 18th-century. These three territories were consolidated into the Letuvian Federation in the 19th-century and granted independence from Forsland, after the Forsish government began to see little use in them. In 1656, Forsland conquered the Velkanian Isles and incorporated them as a constituent country of the Kingdom of Forsland; the Velkanian Isles were not granted independence until a 1965 referendum. Although no longer holding foreign territories, Forsish influence has endured in their now-independent territories; the island of Saarmuu in Eckland is home to almost exclusively ethnic Fors, and holds significant autonomy in Eckish politics; the Forsish language also holds minority status in Eckland. In the Velkanian Isles, Fors number about 5.4% of the population and the Forsish language remains co-official.

With its unification in the 11th-century, Forsland operated as an elective absolute monarchy, although all of its monarchs belonged to one of three families who are considered to be Forsland's original royal families. In 1315, Forsland transitioned to a hereditary monarchy, which continues to this day. The nation became a constitutional monarchy in 1704, removing all political powers from the monarchy; since this reform, Forsland has continued as a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Its head of state is the Monarch, who serves as a ceremonial figurehead. The Monarch holds no actual power in Forsish politics, and is meant to serve as a symbol of unity for the Forsish people; the Monarch's small amount of powers include formally signing bills, hosting foreign dignitaries to Forsland, and serving as commander-in-chief of the military; while the Monarch can veto legislation, this is not actually practiced. Forsland employed a system of male-preference primogeniture for several years, allowing women to inherit the throne only if they had no eligible brothers, until adopting absolute primogeniture in 1945, allowing the eldest child to inherit the throne regardless of gender. The head of government is the Prime Minister, who holds the most political power. They are typically the leader of the governing coalition in the Stagling, and thus can form their own cabinet of ministers. The national legislature of Forsland is the Stagling, a unicameral body. The Stagling consists of 350 seats, with its members being elected via proportional representation from each of Forsland's counties; the legislature is led by the Speaker, who presides over debate and does not vote; the Speaker must be non-partisan during their tenure.

Forsland is a highly urbanized and well-developed nation. Of its population of 10.5 million, about 79.4% reside in urban areas. A unitary state, the nation is divided into sixteen counties. The counties do not hold much power, and largely function to coordinate efforts and dialogue between the counties and the central government. Each county is led by a Governor, whom is appointed by the Prime Minister, and a county administrative board, who is popularly elected. As Forsland does not include questions regarding ethnicity on their census, the ethnic composition of Forsland is unknown. However, it is estimated that about 26.7% of the country are of foreign origin; this means that they were either born abroad, born in Forsland to at least one parent born abroad, or born in Forsland to at least two grandparents born abroad; ethnic Fors born abroad are not included. Most people of foreign origin in Forsland come from the former Kashan Union, Tarsha, or the Velkanian Isles. The sole national and official language of Forsland is Forsish, a Laposcandian language that is mutually intelligible with the Hart language. Forsish is spoken natively by about 83.5% of the population, while it can be spoken fluently by about 96.2%; the Forsish government offers free Forsish language courses for people of foreign origin learning the language. While the Forsish constitution allows for the freedom of religion, most Fors adhere to the Church of Forsland, an off-shoot of Northern Eurean Christianity, agnosticism, or atheism. Despite the Church of Forsland appearing to be relatively popular, most Forsish people do not believe in Christian teachings, and are simply automatically enrolled in the church upon their baptisms, which is traditional for all Fors. According to a 2017 survey, only 14.2% of Fors stated that they personally identified as a Christian.

Forsland 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. It has been ranked as the "World's Best Country" in 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2017.

## Politics

### Administrative divisions

*Main article: Counties of Forsland.*

Forsland is divided into sixteen counties. As a unitary state, the counties have very little administrative powers, and exist mostly for statistical purposes.