Your Nation's Fact of the Week

[Republica Federal de Catalunya]

Football Federation was founded in 1900. It did organize football Championships from 1900 to 1914. But untill 1914 it didn't start an official semiprofesional league and Cup. Previous titles are considered amateur cups.
From 1947 a third official Championship was added that opposed the league winner to Cup winner or Cup subchampion (If the same club wins league and Club).
The most official leagues and Cup winner is Futbol Club Barcelona with 43 leagues and 40 cups. Club Esportiu Barcelona great rival from FCB has 23 leagues and 26 CUPs. From 1940 to 1945 there was no league due to WW2. Although some sorts of football championships were played are not considered official ones.

[Wumoria]

Although many consider the Wumorian Merchant Marine and Wumorian National Sea Force to have two separate origins, many pointing to Russian-Wumorian Admiral Zotov as the creator of the latter. However both are directly related to the actions of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Bertulis Cibilis (1892-1984). From his appointment as Minister 1936 until the dissolution of the Ministry in 1939, he worked to entice foreign nations to register their ships to Wumoria in order to aid with the Sea Force's plan for a massive submersible fleet to undermine international trade for nations at war. This has left its mark with Wumoria having the largest registered merchant marine per tonnage in the world. However, Cibilis' actions also inspired Wumoria to invest more into its Sea Force and Shipyards to maintain this merchant fleet, and leading to a re-rise of the Wumorian Fleet.

[Zhouran]

Considering that Zhouran is a several-millennia-old stratocratic civilization with a highly-impassioned warrior culture and fervid martial-ethos, the nation is home to a wide assortment of numerous 100% indigenous made-in-Zhouran firearms. Zhouranese firearms have been designed to be modular due to strong Zhouranese emphasis on adaptability and flexibility for fluid situations. The Zhouranese are aware that in order for soldiers to be in their peak performance, they must have access to the best arsenal possible since weaker weapons can bring down the potential performances of troops in the field.

Throughout the years, different Zhouranese assault rifles and battle rifles have been utilized as 'standard-service weapons', ranging from the Ningjing Type 62 7.62×39mm assault rifle, Ningjing Type 63 7.62×39mm assault rifle & Ningjing Type 62-200 7.62×54mm battle rifle, to the Ningjing Type 75 7.62×39mm assault rifle, Ningjing Type 82 5.45×39mm assault rifle & Ningjing Type 69-200 7.62×54mm battle rifle, to the Ningjing Type 01-100 7.62×39mm assault rifle, Ningjing Type 99-03 5.45×39mm assault rifle & Ningjing Type 77-04 7.62×54mm battle rifle, and the Ningjing Type 04-11 7.62×39mm assault rifle, Ningjing Type 09-100 5.45×39mm assault rifle & Ningjing Type 11 7.62×54mm battle rifle. Other Zhouranese firearms created from past-to-present include the Ningjing Type 66-300 7.62×39mm assault rifle & Ningjing Type 15-100 7.62×39mm assault rifle, Ningjing Type 90 5.45×39mm assault rifle & Ningjing Type 75-15 5.45×39mm assault rifle, Ningjing Type 65-700 7.62×54mm battle rifle & Ningjing Type 72-400 7.62×54mm battle rifle, Ningjing Type 79 7.62×54mm sniper rifle & Ningjing Type 10 7.62×54mm sniper rifle, Ningjing Type 90 9×39mm personal combat rifle & Type 03 9×39mm personal combat rifle, Ningjing Type 77-100 9×19mm submachine gun & Ningjing Type 04 9×19mm submachine gun, Ningjing Type 79 7.62×54mm general-purpose machine gun & Type 06 7.62×54mm general-purpose machine gun, etcetera.

Known widely for being reliability-oriented accuracy-friendly weapons that are fully-capable of operating in the harshest environmental conditions while being maintenance-friendly for troops especially in the battlefield, Zhouranese firearms are built rigorously to Zhouranese standards and are made to last for hundreds of years especially in the most austere situations. Various different rounds used by various Zhouranese firearm types ranging from pistols to assault rifles to battle rifles and ultimately to heavy machine guns are all made from brass casings. As a result, the numerous rounds utilized in Zhouran such as 7.62×39mm, 9×19mm, 5.45×39mm, 7.62×54mm, 12.7×108mm and 14.5×114mm are all built with brass casings due to their higher quality, superior chamber seal and more-malleable nature, thus resulting in reduced blowback into the chamber and the receiver. In comparison, cartridges made in other nations will sometimes or most of the times use cheaper-but-inferior steel casings instead.

Since late 1861, Zhouran has a gun culture that is influenced by the nation's passionate and intense warrior culture, which was created in 7 BC during the birth of the Silin Dynasty, as well as the long tradition of militarism in the nation and the long-standing practice of keeping weapons at home in order to be armed, well-trained and prepared. Firearms are owned for purposes including self-defense, hunting, sport, collecting, and military purposes. Sport-shooting and hunting are popular activities for both gun-owners and non-gun-owners in Zhouran.

Within Zhouranese society there is a strong emphasis towards the idea of soldiers being a 'rifleman'. While handguns are seen as the equivalent to the traditional ayanjiazhan knife/daggers, rifles on the other hand are seen as the as equivalent to the traditional ayanjiamu (one-handed)/ayanjiamujuela (two-handed) swords of ancient and medieval times. As a result, any Zhouranese soldier and gun-owner would treat a rifle the same way a warrior would treat a sword. Within Zhouranese society, an individual is expected be a rifleman if they are highly-proficient in marksmanship, thus one must accurately hit man-sized targets at distances ranging from five-hundred meters to one kilometer with high precision using only the iron-sights of a rifle and achieving a 90% first-round hit. Thus, similar to how ancient and medieval Zhouranese warriors were widely known for their highly-impressive rigorous swordsmanship, Zhouranese riflemen are well-known for being highly-skilled sharpshooters capable of eliminating their foes at extreme distances with extreme accuracy.

Thanks to this strong gun culture that is deep-rooted into the Zhouranese warrior culture, there are about 97.5 guns per 100 residents in Zhouran as of 2020. As a result, the country has one of the highest civilian gun ownership in the world, only second to that of the US. However, in the US, an overwhelming majority of civilian-owned firearms are unregistered firearms and are mainly civilian-oriented in nature. In comparison, every single civilian-owned firearms in Zhouran are fully-registered and are military-grade semi-automatic and fully-automatic firearms, the same firearms used by the Zhouranese People's Army and National Patriotic Guards. An estimate of approximately 278,343,000 firearms are in legal civilian possession in Zhouran, as a result the country has the world's second-highest number of firearms in civilian hands. Meanwhile the Zhouranese People's Army owns an estimate of around 106,500,000 firearms, the largest military-owned stockpile of firearms in the world. The massive number of firearms in Zhouran contributes to the stereotypical image of the hyper-militaristic warmongering barbaric Zhouranese.

With the country having a powerful highly-experienced battle-hardened military that is numerically large and technologically advanced, backed by a massive well-equipped paramilitary force that is capable of rivaling foreign militaries despite being a militia, Zhouran is considered to be the world's most heavily-militarized nation. This extremely-high level of militarization in Zhouran is all due to being a several-millennia-old stratocratic civilization with a highly-impassioned warrior culture and fervid martial-ethos. Around 96% of people in the nation are willing to fight and go to war for their country, the highest out of any nation. Thanks to the martial identity of the Kangyuli Zhouranese, civilian gun-owners in the country own military-grade firearms ranging from something as small as the Type 81 .357 Magnum revolver or Type 85 9×19mm pistol to a Type 01-100 7.62×39mm assault rifle or Type 95-100 5.45×39mm assault rifle and all the way to something as big as weapons such as the Type 89-100 12.7×108mm heavy machine gun or Type 85-200 14.5×114mm heavy machine gun. Any weapon that has a caliber above heavy machine gun caliber is considered a cannon and since cannons fire explosive shells and not bullets, those are regarded as explosives and therefore banned for civilian ownership.

Unlike the civilian gun-owners of other nations including the US, any Zhouranese civilian gun-owners that are not serving or have already served in either the ZPA or NPG are also skilled in professionally-handling military-grade firearms. Shooting ranges are very common across the country, with many of the firearms instructors serving or having served in the ZPA or NPG. Not only that, Zhouranese National Military Sports Associations are found in many towns and cities across the nation, teaching essential combat techniques and offering military training by providing a 73-day long course that teaches citizens over the age of 15 combat techniques and weapons training. As a result, Zhouranese civilian gun-owners are considered to be the most skilled compared to foreign counterparts, and this also includes civilian gun-owners in Zhouran who have not yet served in the ZPA or NPG but still own firearms.

[Naxera]

After independence the country was a Chaos in which the military had a great influence over the civilian governments. At the same time the civilian leaders simply promoted officers deemed loyal. As military declined in combat capacity as the military became corrupt and ineffective to cope with any external threats. When the future President Figueres won the short civil war (He had less than 1000 anticommunist guerrillas). He dismissed all the armed forces He asked a US military advising team to rebuild the armed forces from 0.
He sacked the 9000 strong naxera army of whom 308 were generals.

The new model Army is today a professional and capable.Force. Not only loyal to the elected civilian leaders since President Figueres. Also the Army beat different communist uprisings.

[Apiary One]

Children who run away from home are welcomed into Apiary One with open arms. Little do they know that a lifetime of slave labor awaits them behind the gate.

[Sailor Mercury]

While the official Mercurian day and year are the same length as an Earth day and year (24 hours in a day, 365 days in a year), the Mercurian calendar is not identical to the Earth calendar.

The Mercurian calendar is divided into nine months, with the first eight months all having 40 days and the ninth month having 45 days.

The nine months of the Mercurian calendar are:
- Junita
- Kleptio
- Miru
- Oenti
- Dairu
- Klipe
- Jainius
- Muiria
- Diean

In addition to this, the Mercurian week is eight days long, not seven. The days of the Mercurian week are as follows:
- Kinei
- Tuinei
- Relonei
- Kirinnei
- Duosnei
- Ribinei
- Teironei
- Diesnei

In Mercurian, '-nei' means 'day' and the prefix on each day of the week is simply the numbers from one to eight in the Mercurian language.

[Zhouran]

No stress, no rote-learning, no homework, Zhouran's high-quality rigorous education system is consistently ranked highest in the world overall every year and is widely-known for its high-excellence. The Zhouranese strategy for achieving equality and excellence in education has been based on the foundation of a a publicly-funded comprehensive model without selecting, tracking, or streaming students during their basic school education. Part of this strategy is to provide rational, meaningful, active & associative education to school students through a child-centered approach. While holding a high expectation of maturity, a school teacher would forgive any possible shortcomings of a student and provide all the necessary help & support a student needs. Teachers would often assist their students to utilize reasoning and work independently, and encourage children to be independent & responsible school students.

Inclusive special education within the classroom, meritocratic pragmatic instructive-&-constructive learning, highly-competent highly-respected teachers & educators, high-flexible student autonomy, emphasis on critical-thinking & self-reliance, and instructional efforts to minimize low achievement are also typical characteristics of Zhouranese education. School teachers must have either a master's degree or specialist degree to qualify as being a school teacher is a highly-respected profession and is highly competitive. A prospective teacher must have very good grades and must combat fierce opposition in order to become a teacher. Only about 10% of applicants to certain programs are successful.

Zhouranese schools are known to be the building stage for a student's path towards either vocational training, university, or military academy.

[Diarcesia]

While Diarcesians might hope to have a high-quality product for the average Joe, they must balance their product with a higher-end budget.

[Jacrain]

Jacrainese culture is wild, artistic, colorful, and highly infectious. Its culture blends East Asian, Levant, South Asian, Subsaharan African, Amerindian, and Aboriginal elements.

[Gylthas]

The Months in Gylthan are:

- Verigmond
- Flormond
- Keramond
- Apiamond
- Rainmond
- Solmond
- Noonmond
- Duskmond
- Autunmond
- Falmond
- Frosmond
- Frigimond

-mond means month.

The days of the week are as follows:

- Monday
- Saryasday
- Woransday
- Meteosday
- Lestarsday
- Athosday
- Sunday

OOC: For simplicity, I use standard English for months and days.

[Zhouran]

The nation's media and entertainment (M&E) industry, including motion pictures, television programs and commercials, streaming content, music and audio recordings, broadcast, radio, book publishing, video games, and ancillary services and products, is ranked as the largest in Asia and one of the largest in the world. Since the 1970s, Zhouran has been Asia's largest producer of entertainment goods ranging from films to television shows to music and so on, however it is predicted that China's film industry will surpass Zhouran's film industry in a few years time, meanwhile the highly-rapid rise and global popularity of K-pop over the years could result in them overtaking Zhouran's music industry in a single decade. However, regardless, Zhouran's M&E industry continues to grow, and with the astronomical rise of China's and South Korea's entertainment industries, this means further growth in collaboration between foreign M&E markets within the Asia-Pacific region.

[Estado Novo Portugues]

Thanks to its ban on international travel, the Holy Catholic State is proudly 100 % coronavirus-free.

[Omarios]

Your expired vehicle can get impounded if the number plate isn’t covered, even if it was on the back of a tow truck!

[Zhouran]

.

[Republica Federal de Catalunya]

In spite of being a Republic the republic crest retains the crown and the arms of the Berenguer dinasty over it as it represents the sovereignty. But the former Royal family emblems and motto removed. And the Royal titles are considered officially vacant since the 1st of October 1945. The use of Royal emblems is considered apology of fascism, and publishable by law, as king John the 3rd Recovered the crown as Nazi puppet. As his father Alfons the VIIth was forced to abdicate in the prodemocracy 1926 General Macià's Cup. Because his authoritarian profacist believes, having supported General Milans 1923 coup and being head of a corruption network.
And John the III had to exile in 1944 to Portugal and later to Spain. He was tried in absentia for War crimes, committed by the collaborationist regime. After He dead the family was barred from burying him in the Royal monasteries.

The Republican authorities made a Referendum on monarchy stating that in case monarchy won only his brother Jaume would be crowned. It was won by the Republic's partidaries by over 90% of vote.

On the other hand the public and private institutions, sport clubs, military and police droped the term Royal and crowns from their emblems. For example the police, army and navy changed he term Royal for national, the Marines simply erased the term Royal and are now the marine corps and the air force removed Royal for Republic of Catalonia.

There still monarchist parties today that wish to crown the royalist pretendent as Felip IV. But those parties are or extraparlamentrian are have at most few seats in the Parliament. But him as his father are known by their opaque bussiness

[Drongonia]

Anyone who is working for a government department gets their birthday off (with full pay), and if their birthday falls on a weekend, public holiday, or day they already have off, they will get the next working day off.

[Wochaystein]

While most countries would be interested in knowing more about a place called 'Romania' than they would about a group of people called 'Gypsies', Wochaysteiners seem to be more interested in gossip and tangential details.

[Gandoor]

'Dollification', a term for various plastic surgery procedures that result in a doll-like appearance, is popular among Gandoorese women.

[Zhouran]

While it is difficult to tell which genre is the most popular in Zhouran, the top five (in no particular order) would be Zhouranese hip-hop (also known as Z-rap), Zhouranese pop music (also referred as Z-pop, unique Zhouranese derivative of Mandopop in the dialect of Mandarin Zhouranese with its own unique characteristics), Zhouranese-style electronic music (also known as Z-Style electronic), Zhouranese rock music (also referred to as Z-Style Rock), and Zhouranese metal (also known as Z-Style Metal).

Zhouran has one of the largest music industry in both Asia and the world that outranks the music industries of both Japan and the UK, as well as the largest number of music labels in Asia and one of the largest globally. In terms of pop music, Z-pop is one of the most widely-exported Asian pop genre in the world, putting it in the same boat as M-pop from Mainland China, J-pop from Japan, and the internationally-successful K-pop from South Korea. As for rock & metal music, Z-Style Rock is the most popular form of Asian rock music and Z-Style Metal is the biggest form of Asian metal. Meanwhile in regards to hip-hop, Z-rap is considered to be the most successful form of Asian hip-hop. As for electronic music, Zhouran has the largest electronic music scene in the world with Z-Style Electronic being the most successful form of Asian electronic.

The nation's media and entertainment (M&E) industry, including motion pictures, television programs and commercials, streaming content, music and audio recordings, broadcast, radio, book publishing, video games, and ancillary services and products, is ranked as the largest in Asia and one of the largest in the world. Since the 1970s, Zhouran has been Asia's largest producer of entertainment goods ranging from films to television shows to music and so on, however it is predicted that China's film industry will surpass Zhouran's film industry in a few years time, meanwhile the highly-rapid rise and global popularity of K-pop over the years could result in them overtaking Zhouran's music industry in a single decade. However, regardless, Zhouran's M&E industry continues to grow, and with the astronomical rise of China's and South Korea's entertainment industries, this means further growth in collaboration between foreign M&E markets within the Asia-Pacific region.

[Andocara]

NA

[Aikoland]

The average internet speed in Aikoland is 75 Mbps down, 35 Mbps up.

[Voxija]

Voxijans aren't a superstitious folk, although some believe in conspiracy theories. These theories are of the political sort, like "President Agirre was assigned male at birth!" Voxijans are never antivaxxers or creationists, and they know humans landed on the moon.

[Zhouran]

While foreigners tend to see Zhouran as a strongly-traditionalist country like any other Asian country, in non-western standards Zhouran would be considered quite socially-moderate. In fact, numerous Asian countries see Zhouranese people as being very liberal, ironically Zhouranese people see westerners being very liberal and other Asians as being very conservative.

Due to culture, Zhouranese people are known to be quite non-puritan towards depictions of violence as well as permissive towards sex itself, however at the same time due to being traditionalist, the Zhouranese strongly value honor & respect towards enemies and monogamous-sexual relations between committedly-premarital- or postnuptial-married-couples. Such a bit of a paradox can confuse foreigners, although the Zhouranese are more socially-moderate than what many foreigners would think.

Regarding depictions of violence, any Zhouranese works of fiction that contains visual depictions of violence, whether that maybe film, TV show or video-game, are known to be very violent and as a result such depiction of violence is toned-down for international releases. As for tolerant views towards sex, sex-education is taught in lower-secondary and higher-secondary education while erotica and pornography exist in the country.

Zhouran is known to be first nation in Asia to legalize medical cannabis and first in Asia to legalize recreational cannabis. While cannabis usage is heavily looked-down upon in many Asian countries to the point of implementing death penalties for its uses, Zhouranese people on the other hand have always been highly-tolerant to the personal use of cannabis due to consuming cannabis being seen as natural as consuming tobacco.

[Mirial Magna]

Though Mirialans very closely resemble humans, we are very different from them, and that difference goes beyond our skin color. As a reptilian species, Mirialans don't have live births. Instead, every Mirialan is born as an egg. These eggs are about the size of a human baby, but only take 3 months to hatch. They also grow while outside the womb. This is because the eggs are repeatedly "fed" by the women of the community. By the end of the three months, the Mirialan hatchling is about as developed as a 5-year-old human.

[Nya Valhall]

The Italian Peninsula is divided between the Western Roman Republic (holding a territory similar to that of the Papal State during the 1800s), the Eastern Roman Empire (holding a territory similar to that of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies in the 1800s), the Republic of Florence (holding a territory similar to that of the Grand Duchy of Florence in the 1800s) and the Kingdom of Italy which holds everything else apart from South Tyrol.