Etola

Flag as of 2050

**Etola**, officially **The Principate of Etola** (Etolan: *il Principat d'Etola*, Estrelan: *De Principate de Etola*, Pleidan: *De Principat vun Etola*, Stelp: 𐐇𐐻𐐬𐐪, tr. *Eto'a*) is a sovereign state on the eastern part of Ailou.

The principality is governed under a form of constitutional monarchy, with Prince Apfel as head of state, who wields immense political power despite his constitutional status.

Etola is not a federation, but a decentralized unitary country. While sovereignty is vested in the nation as a whole, represented in the central institutions of government, the nation has, in variable degrees, devolved power to the macroregions, which, in turn, exercise their right to self-government within the limits set forth in the constitution and their autonomous statutes. Each macroregion has its own set of devolved powers; typically those macroregions with stronger local nationalism have more powers, and this type of devolution has been called asymmetrical. Some scholars have referred to the resulting system as a federal system in all but name, or a "federation without federalism".[6] There are (currently) three regions with this status - Etola Central, Estrel and Pleiades - that are collectively known as "the grand three".

The autonomous macroregions are governed according to the constitution and their own organic laws known as Statutes of Autonomy, which define the competences that they assume. Since devolution was intended to be asymmetrical in nature, the scope of competences varies for each community, but all have the same parliamentary structure; in fact, despite the Constitution not setting a mandatory legislative chamber framework, all autonomous communities have chosen unicameralism.

Additionally, as of 2053, the unrecognised but de facto independent presidential republic Etolan Socialist Faction/Republic was formed, with its own government, parliament, military, police, postal system, currency, and vehicle registration. It claims ownership over the entire territory of Etola Central, although its actual territory only covers several communes in the Monteghe region.

It was once known as a billionaire tax haven, but is no longer on any official blacklists of uncooperative tax haven countries.

## Etymology

The name of the country comes from the word for star, *etol*. The name is largely connected to the myth of the foundation of the state: centuries ago, three disgraced figures from a lost country in Ailou fleed to the eastern coast of the continent, guided by a larger star and two smaller ones until they found a "land of prosperity and of a brighter future" where they settled with their families and people who supported them during the fleeding.

## Government

### Electoral system

Voter registration is a prerequisite for voting at federal elections, by-elections and referendums and is compulsory for Etolan citizens over 18 years of age who have lived at their current address for at least one month. There have been proposals to remove the voter registration mandate but none of them became popular.
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## Culture

### Languages

* Etolan: lingua franca. native to 65% of pop
* Estrelan: dialect. mutual intelligibility with etolan 15%
* Pleidan: only partly mutual intelligibie with the other two 10%
* Stelp: only spoken in cap rocano and by Stellian clergy as a native language. 3%. Historically, it was written exclusively in the old etolan script.
* others: 7%

### Religion

Arguably one of the hajuaghakg is the Church of Stellia, that encompasses elements of astrology and astronomy. It's an religion that doesn't worship an actual god, but argues that specks of the central figure is scattered across the universe, residing in the highest concentrations in stars.

## Economy

Etola is one of the most economically prosperous countries in Ailou.

### Infrastructure

Etola is noted for its concentrated but modernist infrastructure compared to the rest of Ailou.

## Flag

The current flag was first presented during Prime Minister d'Untermbre's Second Reform campaign and adopted through a referendum with 56% votes for.

### Historical flags

Flag used from 2014 to 2031.A revised version of the flag used from 2031 to 2050.