Ceardia

**Ceardia** officially the **Federal Republic of Ceardia** is a sovereign state that exists on the continent of Eragoth. It shares borders with Tyberia and Hyarroc to the north and the Centralist Yarphese Empire to the east. It is surrounded to the west and south by the Ceardian Sea.

The country is made up of its mainland were 95% of the population live and one large overseas island known as Helmfrith. Helmfrith still contains a large population of 400 million people but shares strong cultural ties with the mainland. It only relies on mainland Ceardia for defence and foreign affairs. The country is a federal republic so each region has certain autonomy. Each region has its own legislature and each county has its own elected council. The country is made up of 78 provinces each having their own legislature. This was originally lined out in the First Ceardian Constitution which was abolished in 2005 by the New Age Reformist Party who introduced the Second Ceardian Constitution also known as the "Reformed Constitution".

The republic also has its own central government. All regional laws must abide by federal law. The prime minister is the leader of the government and the president is the head of state. Each region has a first minister who reports to the cabinet regularly.

The country also has a booming economy. It is currently part of the Eragoth Space Colonisation Program which are currently colonising other planets. The average GDP is $78,000 which makes it the second highest on the continent of Eragoth. Mainland Ceardia is seen as the services hub of the country along with large manufacturing industries. It plays host to tech companies, travel agencies and many more. Helmfrith is seen as the manufacturing and agricultural hub of the country. It produces steel, iron, coal, copper and zinc and this generates huge income for the regional government. It is also the leading manufacturer of cars, transport vehicles and airplanes. Agriculture also makes up 35% of the income for the people in Helmfrith which is significantly higher then other countries.

## Military

*Main article: Military of Ceardia*
The President holds the rank of commander-in-chief of the military but the president cannot declare war on a country at their own discretion. A declaration of war must be passed in parliament and then signed by the president to make it official. The president can veto a declaration of war by sending the declaration to the Supreme Court but other then that the president must sign a declaration of war. The armed forces is split into 4 branches; the Army, Naval Forces, Air Force and Ceardian Ancillary Force. Each operate independently but are all part of the Department of Defence.

Military service is voluntary but during major wars the Armed Service Agency may impose conscription to increase the numbers if needs be. Currently the military is taking no part in any military operations around the globe though some ships are located around the continents carrying large forces to be deployed quickly.

The current size of the army is 25,652,366. This is approximately 0.3% of the entire population. Only about 6.5 million personnel are currently active and the government is considering to decrease the size of the active service branch to about 3,000,000 active personnel.

The current military budget is around $5 trillion and is relatively small for a country of its enormous size. The last major military operation was the Seventh Gaulia War in 2854 to 2860 when 378,950 troops were sent to uphold democracy in the country. 6,000 soldiers died in the world and the government was forced to pull out early after opposition parties proposed to form a coalition and take over government.