The official factbook of the Grand Duchy of Leepaidamba
Published by the ministry of international affairs of the Grand Duchy of Leepaidamba.
Do not sell any copy of or modify this publication without the written consent of the publisher.
Contents
Page 2:_________________________________________________________________________________________________________Contents
Page 3:__________________________________________________________________________________________________Basic description
Page 4:__________________________________________________________________________________________________________History
Page 5:_______________________________________________________________________________________________________Geography
Page 6:__________________________________________________________________________________General information and funny facts
2
Basic description
Leepaidamba (informally often Amba, demonym: Amban (Leepaidamban only used in the most formal occasions)) is a young nation, socially minded and straightforward. It was founded on September 22 2010 A.D. by a man known as Quintin, named so because he was the fifth (Latin: Qvintvs=Fifth) to try to establish a state in the area after the collapse of many nations worldwide. He decided to create a contract with the people of Leepaidamba as a preliminary constitution which would insure that even as a dictator he couldn't act wrongly. The country roughly corresponds to the former Dutch provinces of Gelderland, of which only the western panhandle is excluded, and Flevoland, of which only Flevoland proper is included. Furthermore all of Overijssel south of the IJssel river and the northernmost bit of Limburg is also controlled by Leepaidamba. The country is divided into four cantons of which the borders are made by waters, as can be seen on the map on the cover. The languages of the country are Low-Frankish and Low-Saxon, which serve as national languages, and also Latin which serves as an official language of the state. The country is a constitutional and popular monarchy governed by a representative democracy. Leepaidamba is an active and loyal member of the BeNe Confederation.
3
History
Founded September 22nd 2010 A.D. Leepaidamba has already had a rough history. Let us s start way before the founding in 2002. Many nations worldwide collapsed, anarchist societies and microstates emerged. People moved, civilizations vanished. For a long time the Leepaidamba area remained stateless but multiple attempts were made to change this. Some lasted nearly a year, some shorter than Carpatho Ukraine. The fifth attempt created the Grand Duchy of Leepaidamba. For this the founder became known as "Quintin" and would be given the title of "Dictator-Regent".
On October 14th Dictator-Regent Quintin started the search for the Grand Duke of Leepaidamba. No less than eleven (11) families nominated someone for the position, one even twice, and eventually ten candidates were chosen from them. An advising poll was then held after which the two finalists were determined, being first and third in the poll. Eventually Her Serene Highness The Princess Sophie, Duchess of Pietermaritz, Lord Commissioner of Crusades, Princess of Coburg-Holstein-Oldenburg-Hesse-Wittelsbach of Astralsideria was selected and awarded the title "Selected Grand Duke of Leepaidamba". Her crowning was scheduled for the first anniversary of Leepaidamba, but she refused the crown before that day.
While that process had only just started, Het Sticht, one of the nations whose ruling family had nominated, not one, but two candidates, had started a war against pretty much the whole BeNe Confederation because negotiations regarding their territory wouldn't go as they'd expected and they simply couldn't get any land at all. They claimed Utrecht, which could mean the new Island of Utrecht occupied by Pongotopia or the Sea of Utrecht, of which Leepaidamba claims some territorial waters. Eventually it came out that Het Sticht was trying to create a polder and had already created a small island to work from in the middle of the sea. At first Leepaidamba tried to remain neutral but when Het Sticht eventually bombed a bridge, Leepaidamba entered the war and won greatly. Very soon Het Sticht surrendered and tried to make peace but by now they had lost all territories, even the little island in the Sea of Utrecht, and had gone into exile outside Nederland. Essential to the war was a land exchange between Leepaidamba and Waterschei that gave Waterschei the little Scherpenzeel peninsula.
Many months later Bradiak started a war against Leepaidamba. Originally Bradiak wanted to expand their territory north at the expense of HC Eredivisie and nations further north and take full control of the Sea of Utrecht. After expressing concern over its territorial integrity in the Sea of Utrecht and defining its territorial waters in the Sea of Utrecht Leepaidamba was sent a message instructing it to give up coastal territories along the Sea of Utrecht. It was then decided that both Rotterdam and The Hague were to be bombed and the war started. Soon thereafter Ballotonia, which had been sent a telegram, put its military under Amban control. Ships that had been deployed earlier from the Amban dependency Ermoluland arrived in the ports of Ballotonia the following day. That night another bombing of strategic targets was performed. It didn't take long for the Bradian government to notice and they responded with four missiles, two each aimed at the capitals of Leepaidamba and Ballotonia (it must be noted that Leepaidamba actually has three capitals of which only one was hit). It was during that day that the Bradian liberal rebels started their attacks on the government with great success. They sent a letter to Leepaidamba asking the allied army to stop its attacks on Bradiak and as asked they did. They also sent a message back to express their support for the liberal army. Only days later this support was needed and the allied army began occupying all territories south of the Rotterdam Meuse to ensure that the liberal army had no problem in taking on the loyalist army. Soon all of Bradiak was under the control of the liberals.
As was said before, Princess Sophie of Astralsideria eventually refused the crown which required a second search for a first Grand Duke was started in which again various candidates arose. This time Prince Edward Arthur Philip of Genovia was selected and as was planned he was crowned His Royal Highness Edward Arthur Philip I, by the Grace of the People, First Grand Duke of Leepaidamba, Protector of Ermoluland, Marquee of Strasbourg, Commodore-in-Chief of the 1st Genovian Royal Naval Fleet, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Aide-de-Camp to His Majesty King William VI of Genovia on the first anniversary of Leepaidamba.
But even this would not be easy and soon the new Grand Duke decided he could do as he pleased with his country and he appointed as his Premier The Rgt Hon. David Stonewall, a Genovian. This was not left unnoticed by the Amban population and immediately after the news had come out many Ambans went out and protested, most asking for abdication, some for a republic. Abdication it would be. The next day the Council of Nobles appointed as Regent Count-Palatine William of Arnhem and tasked him with finding a new Grand Duke before the month Secundomensis.
Soon a new Grand Duke was found, not in just one person, but in two. Prince David II of Bradiak had just before this married Anna van den Bergh of Boxmeer (a city in the very east of The Blaatschapen, also a neighbour of Leepaidamba), and in these two the Count-Palatine found a competent new Grand Duke. On the kalenda of Secundomensis they were crowned, each with half a crown. The next day already they would accept the union of six other states with Leepaidamba into Greater Leepaidamba. With this act they gained the full title of Their Royal Highness, David I of Bradiak and Anna I van den Bergh of Boxmeer, by the Grace of the People, second Grand Duke of Leepaidamba, Protector of Ermoluland, respectively Crown Prince of Bradiak, Duke of Braddia et cetera and Lady of Boxmeer, Lady-Protector of the University of Cuijk et cetera, High Emperor of Greater Leepaidamba, Emperor of Kiromo, King of Mongyol, Sultan of Singapoura, President of Norskaland, Princely Count of Huaraka and North Morea.
4
Geography
Leepaidamba is a small country, relatively flat but with a large hilly forest in the Veluwe canton. Many rivers flow through it, among which all three side arms of the Rhine. These are critical to the Rivierenland canton as they supply it with water and make it a safe haven if foreign attackers arrive. The Flevoland canton had been created by the previous administrators of Leepaidamba and is even more flat than the rest of the country. The Achterhoek canton is the most featureless and has little elevation or forests. It's basically all farmland. There's a large coastline to the Sea of Utrecht and the Zuiderzee. There are many roads left from the previous administrator of the Leepaidamba area and they are kept well-maintained.
The subnational division of authority is quite intricate and because of the feudal nature of the country all subdivisions are doubled. The country is divided in the cantons mentioned above, each of them also a county bearing the name of its capital. Below the canton level there are the municipalities, known feudally as lordships and as such also named for their capitals. The municipalities are mostly the same as the municipalities during the Kingdom of the Netherlands although some have been altered to accommodate for the fact that the borders are now fixed at the rivers. The territories of the former province of Overijssel for instance have been incorporated into neighbouring municipalities with the exception of Kampen which is a separate municipality (althouh it has retained a special status). Various other municipalities have changed too. The municipalities of the cantonal capitals are known as lord-free municipalities while the municipality of Arnhem where the Grand Duchess resides is a count-free municipality and it is in fact not a part of any canton. In these the counts respectively the Grand Duchess carries out the duties of a mayor. There are also two municipalities that are recognized as not a part of Leepaidamba where the people themselves have vowed to make their municipality a part of Leepaidamba. These are known as gubernatorial municipalities as they are not subject to a count and the office of mayor is not inheritable unlike in other municipalities where, although the Counts can appoint anyone of the nobility as Lord, the office of mayor is inheritable. These are Scherpenzeel which was previously given to Waterschei, and Kampen which was a part of Cnuf. A full list follows on the next page
5
Sub-national divisions listed
Listed as:
- canton/county
- municipality/lordship (full name if lord- or count-free or governal)/municipality or municipalities of origin
- Achterhoek/Zutphen
- Aalten/Aalten/Aalten
- Berkelland/Borculo/Berkelland
- Bronckhorst/Zelhem/Bronckhorst
- Doesburg/Doesburg/Doesburg
- Doetinchem/Doetinchem/Doetingchem
- Duiven-Westervoort/Duiven/Duiven + Westervoort + strip of land on the right bank of the Rhine from Lingewaard
- Lochem/Lochem/Lochem
- Montferland/Didam/Montferland
- Lichtenvoorde/Lichtenvoorde/Oost-Gelre
- Oude IJsselstreek/Ulft/Oude IJsselstreek
- Rijnwaarden/Lobith/Rijnwaarden
- Winterswijk/Winterswijk/Winterswijk
- Zevenaar/Zevenaar/Zevenaar + strip of land on the right bank of the IJssel from Rheden
- Zutphen/Lord-free city Zutphen/Zutphen - land on the left bank of the IJssel to Brummen
- Flevoland/Lelystad
- Almere/Almere/Almere
- Dronten/Dronten/Dronten
- Lelystad/Lord-free city Lelystad/Lelystad
- Zeewolde/Zeewolde/Zeewolde
- Rivierenland/Nijmegen
- Betuwe/Elden/Overbetuwe + parts of Neder-Betuwe in Leepaidamba + strip of land on the left bank of the Rhine from Wageningen
- Beuningen/Beuningen/Beuningen
- Groesbeek/Groesbeek/Groesbeek
- Heumen/Heumen/Heumen
- Lingewaard/Gendt/Lingewaard - strip of land on the right bank of the Rhine to Duiven-Westervoort
- (Land van )Maas en Waal/Druten/Druten + parts of West Maas en Waal in Leepaidamba
- Milsbeek/Milsbeek/Mook en Middelaar + Milsbeek from Gennep
- Millingen-Beek/Millingen/Millingen aan de Rijn + Ubbergen
- Nijmegen/Lord-free city Nijmegen/Nijmegen
- Wijchen/Wijchen/Wijchen
- Veluwe/Harderwijk
- Apeldoorn/Apeldoorn/Apeldoorn
- Arnhem/Count-free city Arnhem/Arnhem + Rozendaal + Velp from Rheden
- Barneveld/Barneveld/Barneveld
- Brummen/Brummen/Brummen + Hoven on the left bank of the IJssel from Zutphen
- Ede/Ede/Ede
- Elburg/Elburg/Elburg
- Epe/Epe/Epe + Welsum on the left bank of the IJssel from Olst-Wijhe
- Ermelo/Ermelo/Ermelo
- Harderwijk/Lord-free city Harderwijk/Harderwijk
- Hattem/Hattem/Hattem
- Heerde/Heerde/Heerde + Marle on the left bank of the IJssel from Olst-Wijhe
- Kampen/Governal city of Kampen/parts of Kampen on left bank of the IJssel
- Nijkerk/Nijkerk/Nijkerk
- Nunspeet/Nunspeet/Nunspeet
- Oldebroek/Wezep/Oldebroek
- Putten/Putten/Putten
- Renkum/Renkum/Renkum
- Rheden/Rheden/Rheden - Velp to Arnhem
- Scherpenzeel/Governal municipality Scherpenzeel/Scherpenzeel
- Twello/Twello/Voorst + Welsumerveld on the left bank of the IJssel from Olst-Wijhe + De Hoven on the left bank of the IJssel from Deventer
- Wageningen/Wageningen/Wageningen - strip of land on the left bank of the Rhine to Betuwe
- Other
- Arnhem/Count-free city Arnhem/Arnhem + Rozendaal + Velp from Rheden
6
Overseas territories and dependencies
Leepaidamba is in a free association with the Protectorate and Kingdom of the United Provinces of Ermoluland. Ermoluland is a federation of five large islands divided over six provinces.
Map kindly and swiftly provided by Stirling Alloa.
Leepaidamba also directly governs a lunar colony in the United Nations of the Moon known officially as the "Leepaidamban Lunar Territory" or "Territorium Lepaidambanum Lunare" though often shortened to "Terra Ambana Lunaris".
7
Military and its structure
General description
The Royal Army of Leepaidamba consists of 30 000 personnel, both professionally and under compulsory military service. The Army is tasked with insuring the safety of Leepaidamba at all times. It's administered by the Ministry of Defence. The Royal Army is firstly subdivided into three Domains: the Royal Ground Forces, the Royal Airforce and the Royal Navy. In addition to these there is a military police service.
Navy
The Royal Navy is divided into five territorial Divisions: The Internal Divisions of Maas en Rijn and IJssel and the Sea-Based Divisions of Plas van Utrecht, Flevomeren and Open Zee. Maas en Rijn is headquartered in Nijmegen, IJssel in Zutphen, Plas van Utrecht in Hoevelaken, Flevomeren in Lelystad (also the general Navy headquarters) and Open Zee in Simpson Bay, Philipsland, Ermoluland. The Internal Divisions posses various small ships for the defence of the extensive system of rivers and canals in Leepaidamba. The Sea Divisions posses larger ships capable of battle at open sea.
8
General information and funny facts
Language
Languages of Leepaidamba
Leepaidamba has three official languages: Low Frankish, which includes all dialects of Dutch and Afrikaans, Low Saxon, which includes many Low German dialects and many dialects of the northern parts of the Netherlands, and Latin with a modernized vocabulary, used as intermediary language for communication between speakers of not mutually intelligible dialects, regulated by the Amban council for the Conservation of the Latin Language (Concillium Ambanum Conservatione Linguae Latinae). In addition to these three official languages the largest minority languages are in no particular order: other Low German Dialects, High- and Central German dialects, Langues d'Oïl (id est French) and Frisian dialects. For a language spoken by Ambans to be considered an "Amban language" this language must meet the following criteria: 1)it must be spoken in a defined area of use within Leepaidamba at least as large as one of the four cantons; 2) it must be spoken in both cities and the countryside within this area, not just in the cities or the countryside; 3) it must have different dialects that each have their own defined area within the defined area of the language and 4) it can't be too mutually intelligible with any other Amban language, otherwise it will be grouped as a variant of an Amban language or as only a minority language. Amban languages are automatically official.
Strangest law (from the foreign perspective)
The ban on the use of modern standardized natural languages (id est the use of any language that is modern, standardized and natural, not of any dialect of any language, not of any language which has no native speakers or had once been in such a situation, not of any constructed language), is punished with a fine of 100 Amban Florins per intended listener or reader and imprisonment of 1 month per intended listener or reader if infringed by anyone residing in Leepaidamba. Prosecution isn't conducted when there aren't anymore than ten intended listeners or readers or when the language is used to speak or write to people outside Leepaidamba only.
The reasoning behind this law is that culture is fluent and can change and as language is part of the culture the state of Leepaidamba doesn't want to interfere into its change by using strict and less changeable rules. Also because cultures differ between even cities and villages the state doesn't want to take away the culture of these parts of the country.
To at least give the opportunity to communicate without much ambiguity the state has decided to make Modernized Latin the official secondary language. Seeing as it's a dead language it can't interfere into the change of culture being its reasoning.
Secondary languages
From the age of ten (In seventh (7/8) grade of primary school) Amban schoolchildren are taught secondary languages, starting with Latin in primary school and later expanding with modern languages. Among these modern languages English and Scots dialects are the most taught and understood, the Londonian variant the most popular although Northern English and southern Scots take a pretty high proportion of students learning them. Furthermore High German, of which Munich's, Salzburg's and Basel's dialects are most popular, Langues d'Oïl of which Île de France's dialect, Picardian and Walloon are the most popular variants, and Spanish, of which Central Spanish, Catalan and Andalucian are the most popular variants. All students of a level equal to at least the former HAVO level, used in the Netherlands earlier, that aren't hindered by proven dyslexia must learn at least Latin and two foreign languages which they can choose themselves although the school chooses which languages and which dialects/variants, often one dialect/variant per language only, of these languages it offers. Secondary languages that are considered Amban languages don't count as foreign languages. Most dialects taught in school have constantly been monitored already for a long time by local linguists and the Amban Language Council Languages (Concillium Ambanum Linguis/CAL) doesn't put much effort into monitoring them but if any nation or region is interested in having their language, dialect or variant taught in Amban schools and monitored by linguists supported by CAL they are certainly welcome, especially if anything is offered in return.
9
Rituals, sports and annual festivities of the Amban people
Sports
Ambans compete in many different sports. Soccer, hockey and cycling are very popular but the most popular spectator sports outright are without doubt motorsports. Because of this the country has no less than two permanent tracks, one of them an intricate bi-loop oval with simpler ovals and roadcourse layouts attached, north of Flevoland airport, the other a modified military airport which is still used for civilian flights Monday to Thursday. In addition temporary circuits near Hengelo and Almere host races for motorcycles twice a year, one of them an international event, and one kart race each year as support event to a regular race. Furthermore a few regular kart tracks and short ovals exist. Automotive sports are sanctioned by the Automotive Sports Association, headed by President Peter Vandenvelden, of the Royal Amban Automobile Club while motorcycle sports are sanctioned by the Royal Amban Motorcycle Federation, headed by President Johan de Groot. The government encourages the development of alternative energy sources through the sport.
Symbols of Leepaidamba
Flags
Leepaidamba uses three different flags: one for use in Leepaidamba itself only (1), one for use in regional matters (2) and one for use in extra-regional matters (3). Small images of these flags can be found on the next page. The design of the Flag is based on the flag of the former Belgian province of Antwerp (not to be confused with the arrondissement, municipality or city) of which the top left and bottom right cantons have been replaced by variants of other flags: the blue-yellow-black of Gelderland, to which Leepaidamba is seen as a successor, the red-white-blue of The Netherlands, to which Leepaidamba's region Nederland is a successor, and the red-yellow-black of Belgium, which has survived as a region. It is interesting to note that the Belgian "flag" is not turned around, but instead restored to its original alignment and that the red of the Dutch and Belgian flags is a mix of both. The many colours represent the diversity of the nation with large cities, forests, open farmland and large polders as well as the diversity among its people of different faiths, cultures and languages. The parts taken from the flag of Antwerp represent the Brabantian heritage of most recent immigrants into the territory, the copy of the flag of Gelderland represents the territory and its integrity, the Dutch flag represents the loyalty to the region and combined with the Belgian flag the loyalty to the BeNe confederation.
10
(1)
(2)
(3)
