Ask Great Nortend

[Great Nortend]

H. M. Foreign Office

The Kingdom of Great Nortend is an island country situated between the 50th and 65th degrees of latitude in the Atlantic Ocean off Europe. Our Sovereign is King Alexander the Second and the present Prime-Minister is His Grace the Duke of Limmes.

We shall be glad to take questions or queries from those of foreign states, countries and nations. Any queries directed hither will be answered by clerks or clerical assistants of His Majesty's Office of Walsh and Foreign Affairs.

Authorised by His Majesty's Principal Secretary and Clerk of State for Walsh and Foreign Affairs, the Right Honourable George Drachington, MP PC this day, the 18th of November, AD 2017.

OOC: Please do not ask questions along the lines of, 'What is your nation's view of our nation?'.

[Destructive Government Economic System]

What is the symbolism of your flag?

-The Great Uniter and Beast of the DGES

[Great Nortend]

The national flag of Great Nortend is, by proclamation, known as the Great Cross and was adopted officially in the 19th century. It comprises of the Arms of St Christopher, the patron saint of Hambria or Hoebrideland with the Cross of St George, one of the two patron saints of Nortend, superimposed on top. It is blazoned 'Gules, St Christopher's cross with the Cross of St George superimposed'. It was created by Sir Almandy Fleurin, Lamanus King of Arms, of the Court of Arms.

P. C. Wallace,
Clerk of the Foreign Office

[Great Nortend]

Bump.

[Thermodolia]

What is the Nortain opinion of Thermodolia?

[Great Nortend]

The Kingdom enjoys cordial diplomatic relations with Thermodolia, having reciprocal embassies in our two nations. His Majesty's Government has a generally positive view of Thermodolia and is optimistic about its position in the world, however is cautious about its promotion and forays into thermo-nuclear technology. Of course, it is hesitant to fully embrace Thermodolia as a completely reliable ally and friend, owing to the latter's republican system of government, however is open towards mutual discourse and discussion. Our two countries differ in many respects with regards to social and economic policy however Great Nortend respects Thermodolia's views and values and hopes that the same may be said for her as well.

The Rt. Hon. George Drachington MP PC,
His Majesty's Principal Secretary and Clerk of State for Walsh and Foreign Affairs

[La Cosa Fedora]

What is your official policy regarding pirating anime?

[Great Nortend]

Great Nortend recognises international copyright to an extent, however for film material, only for the duration of the creator's lifetime, as copyright protections under the Right of Copy Act, 2013, only extends to published textual material and not to images or moving images.

P. C. Wallace,
Clerk of the Foreign Office

[Pan-Asiatic States]

"What are your opinions on Asian Socialism and Communism? Our GDP has far surpassed the U.S GDP, how does that make you feel?"
- Secretary-General Garrick Mensenares

[Great Nortend]

Great Nortend has a very poor view of communism and socialism in general as it does not respect the social hierarchy of a society. Furthermore, the Treasury and Exchequer do not place a great emphasis on GDP as a measure of economic success, and consider developing national pride and self-sufficiency as being more important.

P. C. Wallace,
Clerk of the Foreign Office

[Devernia]

“What are the reasons for Great Nortend’s lack of development?”

-Diplomat from the Devernite embassy on Great Nortend

[Great Nortend]

We would like to say a concerted effort by the people and Government to keep Great Nortend the way it is since the reign of King Edmund IX, as evidenced in the lack of enthusiasm and indeed, outright hostility, to the failed erstwhile 'UpdateNortain' programme. We have witnessed the rapid development of many other countries and noticed the widescale damage it has wrought on society in many ways, and wish to prevent the same happening to our own kingdom.

P. C. Wallace,
Clerk of the Foreign Office

[Bolkenia]

Do what does the Great Nortend use as their primary rifle ? Do they even use firearms ? We are looking for a remplacement for our current rifles.

[Great Nortend]

The Royal Army uses the Devenson General Use Rifle Mk. IV as its standard rifle. It is a 1/4"×2" cartridge semi-automatic rifle, and issued to soldiers and certain firearms policemen. The Devenson Common Use Rifle Mk. III is the most common civilian rifle. It is bolt-action, uses 5/16" ammunition and issued to cadets and available for general purchase. It is also used by the police and army and distinguished from the General Use Rifle with two red stripes. The Navy Royal uses a variety of individual arms, including the Devenson Mk. V as well as the Royal Armourer GU pistol and the Hungham C2 rifle.

P. C. Wallace,
Clerk of the Foreign Office

[Skyhooked]

"Damn! I wanted to ask that question about guns first! But speaking of the devil... Your cadets, I wonder about curriculum for them. Do you drill them hard? And how do you teach them to shoot straight? Maybe I can learn a thing or two about guns from this. Also, I want that gun and I have money."-Gun enthusiast

"Greetings! I am Stella Amundson, journalist from Blue Bull TV. I would like to ask you about your general opinion on our culture.

I will describe it, so you will be able to estimate it better: Our culture can be described as hedonistic warrior poet culture, which emphases on pleasure, freedom and social equality. Not only for oursleves, so we are pretty tolerant. We actually like to see an outsider in our place.

We also belive, that freedom must be protected by the people, so at least 90% of us have more than one gun. Science and technologies are respected and revered in our society too."-Stella Amundson

[Great Nortend]

"Damn! I wanted to ask that question about guns first! But speaking of the devil... Your cadets, I wonder about curriculum for them. Do you drill them hard? And how do you teach them to shoot straight? Maybe I can learn a thing or two about guns from this. Also, I want that gun and I have money."-Gun enthusiast

The curriculum for the cadets programme is based along a basic education in military history, drill, attack techniques, shooting, fieldcraft, first aid and military customs. Drill is a fairly important component of the curriculum. All cadets are issued with a Common Use Mk. III bolt-action rifle, subject to criminal history and review, which is taken home by cadets. The methodology for teaching cadets to shoot straight is the standard methodology used in armies around the world—practice. The Devernson Common Use Mk. III bolt-action rifle is available for purchase by civilians, at a reasonable cost of £1·14·6.

P. C. Wallace,
Clerk of the Foreign Office

"Greetings! I am Stella Amundson, journalist from Blue Bull TV. I would like to ask you about your general opinion on our culture.

I will describe it, so you will be able to estimate it better: Our culture can be described as hedonistic warrior poet culture, which emphases on pleasure, freedom and social equality. Not only for oursleves, so we are pretty tolerant. We actually like to see an outsider in our place.

We also belive, that freedom must be protected by the people, so at least 90% of us have more than one gun. Science and technologies are respected and revered in our society too."-Stella Amundson

Nortan culture places a great emphasis on society rather than on the individual's pleasure and freedom. Freedom is held to be often over-rated by many people, and indeed sometimes held to be dangerous in great quantity. Science and technology from the 20th century onwards are mostly shunned or not trusted by Nortans, and most will consider your peoples' respect and reverence to be baffling.

P. C. Wallace,
Clerk of the Foreign Office

[Holy Tedalonia]

"What idealogies does Nortend support?" - Tedalonian News Reporter

"How does it view Holy Tedalonia?" - Office of Official Relations

"What government type is it?" - Political Nerd

[Great Nortend]

"What idealogies does Nortend support?" - Tedalonian News Reporter

His Majesty's Government officially supports no particular ideology, in that its ideology is a distinctively Nortan one that can be very generally described as a democratic nationalist socialist theocratic state. It does, however, abhor Islamic ideologies, as well as communism and fascism.

"What government type is it?" - Political Nerd

Great Nortend has a semi-constitutional monarchy where absolute power is vested in the Crown as an institution rather than a person, the King. Thus, whilst the King under the common law holds various and sundry royal prerogatives, he typically exercises them with the approval of his Privy Council who may advise him to do so, although this is not strictly necessary. There is, however, no written and formal constitution and so the government is at the whim of the King. Yet, the common law provides that the Royal Council, also known as the Parliament, has the power to present bills on any topic to the King for Royal Assent, and that only such bills are law, excluding those certain subjects which the royal prerogative permits direct rule by the King.