The Union of Iberia (9.0)

The Union of Iberia is a large, neutral nation, situated in Iberia, northern Morocco, and several island chains. Its leader is The Yorkshire Shadow, with the co leader being ptero.

**History in game:**

## The Union of Iberia (9.0)

### Area

Iberia, Northern Morocco, The Azores and Cape Verde

### Continent

Europe

It was formed by the union of the Basque countries, Greater Gibraltar, and Portugal, absorbing several other nations across it's history as a part of confederations. It saw a somewhat tumultuous life, under threat by several aggressive countries.

**lore:**

# **Summary:**

The Union of Iberia is a neutral country in Iberia and the north of morocco focused around trade, armed neutrality and building up their own infrastructure. Their terrain is highly mountainous with its cities based around rivers and coasts where there are a few patches of flat land. Seville is the capital of the country.

The country is a democracy running under proportional representation and a market socialist economic system with industries run by co-operatives, some under direct government supervision in the case of nationalised industries such as INR, the national rail operator, and some that are mostly or entirely independent. Their political stance has been that of neutrality, aligning themselves with other neutral states to build up a strong defensive network to allow them to keep trading.

The nation was formed when Greater Gibraltar united with Basque and Portugal.

# **Cities:**

Seville:

Seville is the capital of The Union of Iberia which host many fine examples of traditional architecture involving buildings having shelters over the streets, bricks and flat roofs. The city hosts the national parliament, The Union Office, and the department for trade, along with various attractions like The Stone Garden and the Seville bath house, and a series of apartment blocks known as Terraces, but also nicknamed Bloques rojos by the Spanish speaking residents.

Malaga:

Malaga is a coastal city along the southern Mediterranean coast of the country, hosting beautiful townhouses along the mountainous terrain of the town which marks it out from other cities, hosting a beachfront, naval docks, various tourist attractions and a rather grand house which has been turned into the local MP’s residence. The MP and their cooperative, SamCo are currently being investigated for corruption. The City also hosts along the cliffs some **CENSORED** pens. Currently the City is languishing with its development stalling for the moment.

Iberian Morocco:

Morocco is the home to Iberia’s currently unsuccessful space program. With it also hosting a villager bazaar along the coastline, with it not being particularly developed as of late. However after the Mutiny of the Moroccan command the central government has taken direct control of it, planning to develop it into a new urban area.

Bayonne:

Bayonne was once the capital of Basque but has now become only the regional capital of the north of Iberia. Since joining the union it has experienced a major economic boom, with the devolved nature of Iberia letting it’s culture stay dependent, with it being the centre of Basque culture, serving as a gateway to their main religious centre and nearby villas. With it’s villas and houses being loved across the nation, featuring on postcards and stamps.

Lisbon:

Lisbon is another of the capitals of the old Iberian states famed in legends for its maritime past, with it currently being not especially built up, however major construction materials are being procured for a construction boom. With the fishing villages that the city being based on, having existed for countless decades, yet again showing the variety of architectural styles present across the nation.

Cape Verde:

Cape Verde is a small set of islands off the coast of the Sahara that has had a decently sizable farming industry, but however with it’s confederation into the Iberian Union it has also become a important naval base.

**CENSORED:**

This project is an **CENSORED** that has seen fierce competition from various construction cooperatives to build the civilian complex of the **CENSORED**. SamCo has been the lowest bidder however their current investigation and concerns over the safety record of their buildings have seen them be mostly side-lined for the main contract.

The Azores:

A recent territory, a large terraforming project has turned them into a verdant land of fields which supplies a large amount of wheat for both domestic consumption and for export.

Madrid:

Madrid is a central city in the union, a melting pot of all the different cultures that lie within it, with the city being presented as the place to go if you want to experience the country without having to go around the entire place.

# **Economy:**

The Economy of Iberia is quite simple, based around coal and food exports to other countries with themselves being mostly self-sufficient. The Cooperatives are under varying levels of government supervision, with the nationalised industries having direct government oversight whilst the independent ones only have to abide by government regulations with the occasional inspection.

Cooperatives have to provide everyone an equal say in the management of the cooperative and the direction of it, with managers simply dealing with day to day affairs and bigger decisions are taken by the workers at large.

The Industries that work within a market are the agricultural, construction, mining, steel, car, commercial ship building, recreation, and furniture. With there also being several “Nationalised” cooperatives who work in both the market and non-market sectors, such as INR, the national rail operator running in a non-market sector but Iberian National Construction does and compete with other cooperatives for government contracts for projects. Housing is partly government managed, with cooperatives able to apply to build new housing where there is no contract out, however the largest projects are government initiated, with this being common amongst most areas of construction and infrastructure, as the government seeks to stop natural areas from getting trampled under construction worker’s feet.

SamCo stands out as the founder of it has a level of control over it which has been considered high corrupt and a break from socialism for the worse, however they are a large part of Malaga’s economy, with the founder being the town’s MP, only staying in his position via various concessions and the high output of SamCo. Currently it is being reorganised by the government into a proper cooperative.

# **Politics and Government:**

The Government of Iberia is structured around it’s representative democracy, with MP’s for each district being elected to represent that district in the lower house national parliament, voting on federal matters of government. MPs and a staff of representatives from every Cooperative in the area makes up the local government who deals with the day-to-day affairs of the district, with larger local decisions requiring a referendum to decide. With National elections using proportional representation used to decide upon the prime minister and the makeup of the upper house of parliament, who take a secondary vote on any laws decided upon by the lower house to see them put into law.

There are several parties in the country.

First of all there is the ruling party, The Iberian Labour Party, a market socialist party who focuses on neutrality, providing a high standard of living, housing and food for all, and equal rights for all with the party standing for a high level of civil and political rights.

Then there is the National Libertarian front, a liberal centre left party who stand for deregulating and privatising the economy whilst maintaining nationalised industries and the welfare state, and with them standing for a similar level of civil and political rights as the labour party but possibly more extensive due to their stance on the economy.

The Conservative Society of Iberia is a centre right conservative party who also stand for deregulating and privatising the economy, but also cutting down on taxes, privatising the national industries, and decreasing funding to the welfare state. They do stand for a high level of political rights however their stance on certain civil rights such as recreational drugs are more restrictive.

Finally there is The National Party of Iberia. A hard right nationalist party which stands for Iberia to “take a large role in the world” and “reject the current degeneracy”. With them mostly ignored in politics and laughed at for their ideas, including creating a lock over the straits of Gibraltar and collecting a toll for people to enter.

# **Culture:**

The culture of Iberia varies quite considerably across the nation, with it being highly multicultural. Granada and Gibraltar are highly Anglican, with many of the citizens there being ethnically British. In morocco, there are a high percentage of Italians. In the inland regions Spanish culture is dominant. The Basque country is of course, is the hub of Basque culture.

These cultures and ethnicities all get along quite well surprisingly, though some words have been said about how pompous some Gibraltans can be at some points. But there has also been a push for a cultural exchange to be built, with the government expressing interest in funding theatres and other such places.

# **Armed Forces:**

The Iberian armed forces are rather large for a neutral country, with the country following a policy of armed neutrality to maintain it’s sovereignty and take part in international policing and military actions.

**Army:**

The Iberian army is a versatile force which has many arms or pieces of equipment that some would call obsolete, such as the Iberian Cavalry guard and the Iberian Mounted Infantry.

Its main forces however are the Grenadier guard, the elite infantry force that protects government buildings and often backs up or is at the front of any major offensive, with them also having recognisable red dress uniform and a culture that is similar to the British royal guards. The Rifle battalions which make up the bulk of the infantry force, armed with standard equipment equivalent to early cold war infantry, with them having top of the line supporting equipment and are equipped with trucks, APCS and some IFV’s, allowing the battalions be quickly deployed to any location required.

The armoured forces of Iberia are mainly made up of MT-20s which are mobile tanks with accurate and powerful guns, if with bellow average armour that are well suited to the rough and mountainous terrain of the peninsula.

**Navy:**

The Iberian Republican navy has both an Atlantic and Mediterranean fleet, though they often blend together due to the easy access to both bodies of water through the straits of Gibraltar. The navy is sometimes considered as the most important part of the armed forces due to it’s role in protecting trade ships and its bombardment duties during war time. The fleet is quite modern, featuring new aircraft carries equipped with fighters, naval patrol craft and close air support aircraft, a handful of leftover fast battleships and battlecruisers which are primarily kept around for bombardment duties and taking out more “primitive” navies, along with the customary fleet of cruisers, destroyers, frigates, patrol craft and submarines.

The prefix for the navy is T.R.P.S, or “The Republican’s People’s Ship” with some considerations underway to change it.

Notable ships include the T.R.P.S Gibraltar, the navy’s only supercarrier and the flagship of the navy. T.R.P.S Silent which is a nuclear attack submarine which kept watch over the Italian civil war and finally, the T.R.P.S Vengeful, a battleship and the previous flagship, known for getting it’s way out of and winning unwinnable fights, with it considered a pride to serve aboard it.

**Airforce:**

The Republican air force has a few rather interesting quirks to it but is non the less an important part of the armed forces. It possesses a large force of multirole fighters and interceptors for hunting down enemy aircraft and securing air superiority. It does again have a conventional force of other aircraft like various types of bombers, naval patrol aircraft, CAS fighters, but it also has a fleet of old and large airships which loom over cities and the countryside as they patrol up and down the coast and borders, ready to rain high explosives at a moment’s notice. The Airships are T.R.A.S Gibraltar, T.R.A.S Basque, T.R.A.S Portugal, T.R.A.S Cape Verde and T.R.A.S Morocco.