Saint Philomena

The **St. Philomena Islands**, or **Saint Philomena**, is an archipelago country in Parania and a territory of the Isle of Chark. More than 3,000 islands, keys, and islets make up the archipelagic country. The country is in the North Marima Ocean, east of Mecirhan, southeast of Kosna, and south of Minuka and Panstivo, with Mecirhan being its nearest neighbour at 1,039 kilometres. Saint Philomena's capital is Saint Philomena, which is located near the country's southernmost point.

## History

Saint Philomena was formerly known as Merantusf, and it was a member of the Mecirhannian Kingdom, which at the time comprised much of Southeastern Parania. Despite being part of the Mecirhannian Monarchy, a powerful empire and kingdom, the island was rarely visited by its rulers and only had a few dozen inhabitants, most of whom worked in agriculture. In the 1500s, British explorers discovered the island, and the few remaining inhabitants were taken to Mecirhan and Kafaniyat, where they were enslaved by higher British explorers; majority of the island remained abandoned once again, and few people visited it. The island became part of the Isle of Chark's monarchy and was called after St. Philomena, the patron saint of infants and babies, because it was a popular destination for indebted moms due to the island's low expenses in baby formula and other infant supplies. Due to tourism and offshore banking, the island is a tremendously wealthy country. The country played a major role in the development of many forms of popular music, including country, blues, rock and roll, soul, and gospel.

### Country Period

The first known country music records came from working-class Isle of Charkians living in Saint Philomena in the early twentieth century. The generations of musicians blended their Chartquinnian ballads with Windsurian fiddle songs, adding influences from other cultures in the area such as some traveling Kosnans, Minukans, and some of the working Mecirhannians and Kafaniyatians.

## Geography

The island is a fairly isolated country with the nearest foreign land of Mecirhan being over 1,000 kilometres away. All of its foreign borders are maritime borders with the nearest Paranian countries being Kosna, Minuka, and Panstivo. There are 700 islands and 2,400 keys and only about 2% (60) of them are inhabitated. Much of the island is located in temperate to subtropical dry broadleaf forest, though portions are located in subtropical coniferous and mangrove habitats.

### Climate

The island has two main climates with the northern part being entirely in the subtropical dry climate and the southern part being entirely in the tropical dry climate. The island is extremely warm and sunny, with rain and other precipitation being a rare occurence and the lowest temperature recorded just being 7° C. The island is very sunny with 357 days of sunlight a year (97.8% sunlight).

### Flora and Fauna

381 bird species are found on the island with 4 being endemic, they are the Saint Philomena crow, Saint Philomena vulture, Saint Philomena laughing duck and the blackgull. Two native mammals are found on the island, the Philomena bat and the giant forest rat, both are endemic. Other mammals are introduced and they are the common raccoon, the wild boar, and the Kafaniyat palm civet.

## Demographics

### Ethnic Origins

The country has Caucasian as its predominating race at 77 % of the country's total population, followed by Arabs at 13 %. The wide influx of immigrants surged throughout the years, especially as the capital city grew with more job opportunities and due to the island's low prices in some portions, with about 10 % of the population being a race other then white or Arab, the majority being either Indigenous Devorado, Celestial Islander, African or Filipino. Much of the Caucasians (About 67 % of the Caucasian population, or 51 % of the entire population) are descendants of long-living Caucasian generations who lived on Saint Philomena, but 33 % of the Caucasian population were originally born someplace else in Parania, most coming from the Isle of Charquinnt or Kosna.

### Religion

The country is estimated to be about 78 % Christian, 13 % Islamic, and 9 % Nonreligious; however, much of the Christian population is said to be more spiritual then religious, and after interviewing 1,000 Christians in the country in 2018, it is found that only 10 % of the Christians interviewed saw themselves as religious while the remaining 90 % were said to be spiritual. It was said that no other religion other then Christianity was allowed up to the 1970s, and once the law was broken, the population began to express their true thoughts and opinions.

### Other Demographics

About 85 % of the population speaks only English as a language, 11 % speaks English and another language, while 4 % speak another language other then English with little to no fluency with the latter. The country is said to be "extremely accepting" of minority groups, including homosexuals, with about 72 % of the population supporting the LGBTQ+ community. Despite the high number of allies in the country, it has some of the lowest homosexual population in Parania at just 3 %, with most being only present in the Kosnan communities.

## Tourism

Saint Philomena, alongside the Celestial Islands, Kosna, Panstivo, Chuliana, and Dalamatia, is one of the most visited nations among Paranians and ranks fairly high for those outside the continent as well. Its highest tourism rate is in the summertime annually each year, when the Annual Country Music Festival, the largest country music festival and largest rodeo in the world that also offers a large parade, midway, stage shows, concerts, agricultural competitions, chuckwagon racing, and Indigenous exhibitions, is set. A record-breaking 2.3 million people attended the large festival in 2022 with numbers expected to rise in 2023.