[Do Not Remove - AKSAI]
NS Name: Plzen, RC
RP Name: The proper and formal name of the polity is the Northern Commonwealth (da: Nordisk Samfund; sv: Nordiska samväldet; no: Nordisk samvelde, fi: Pohjoismaiden kansainyhteisö, is: Norðurlandasambandið). Unofficially and in common parlance, Norden (fi: Pohjoismaat, is: Norðurland) is used. In the English-speaking world, unofficially and incorrectly but nonetheless popularly, Scandinavia is used.
Capital: The nominal capital of the Northern Commonwealth is Copenhagen (da: København), where the Nordic Council meets. The executive and judicial branches of government as well as the Civil Service, however, have no clear administrative centre and are distributed between several offices in several cities of which none is de-facto clearly superior to the rest.
Territory: The territory of the Northern Commonwealth includes Denmark (including the Faroe Islands and Greenland), Sweden, Norway (including Svalbard and the Norwegian Antarctic), Finland and Iceland, all in accordance with post-Cold War borders with the additions of: that region of northern Germany that used to be a part of the historical Duchy of Schleswig, which is now administered as a part of Denmark, the regions of Karelia, Salla, and Petsamo that used to be a part of Finland from 1921-1939, and the Scottish island groups of the Shetlands and the Orkneys, which are now administered as dependent countries in the Kingdom of Norway.
Population: The total population of the Northern Commonwealth is 30.80 millions, showing a modest growth of slightly over 10% since the beginning of the 21st Century. This was driven primarily by immigration in the early part of this period, territorial expansion in the later part of this period, and supported by a relatively high fertility rate by European standards. Geographically, this breaks down into 6.92 millions in the Kingdom of Denmark (of which 6.81 Denmark proper including 0.40 from territorial expansion 2001-, 0.06 Greenland, 0.06 Faroe Islands), 6.14 millions in the Republic of Finland (of which 0.34 from territorial expansion 2001-), 0.42 millions in the Republic of Iceland, 5.96 millions in the Kingdom of Norway (of which 5.91 Norway proper, 0.03 Shetland Islands, 0.02 Orkney Islands, <0.01 Svalbard and Norwegian Antarctic), and 11.37 millions in the Kingdom of Sweden. Linguistically, which is a decent approximation of national culture, about 72% speak some form of Scandinavian as their primary language, 15% Finnish, 1% Icelandic, with about 3% total forming the smaller minorities of German, Russian, Faroese, Karelian, Sami, English, and Greenlandic. The remaining 9% speak as their primary language an unrecognised minority language, which are both diverse and numerous.
Type of Government: The Northern Commonwealth is a devolutionary, parliamentary, constitutional, and democratic polity.
Government Explaination: Norden is a devolutionary polity; the Nordic Council and the Commonwealth government are there largely to deal with defence, foreign policy, common infrastructural development, regulatory standardisation and other such matters which concern the Commonwealth as a whole; the governments of its constituent states and localities retain considerable autonomy and power with regards to the internal affairs of each state and locality. Norden is a parliamentary polity; the country is organised on a principle of legislative superiority, with the legislature of the Commonwealth, the Nordic Council (da: Nordisk Råd, sv: Nordiska rådet, no: Nordisk råd, fi: Pohjoismaiden neuvosto, is: Norðurlandaráð) being the highest deliberative body in the polity; the executive branch of government serves at the pleasure of the legislature, which can appoint or dismiss ministers at will. Norden is a constitutional polity; the 2035 Revised Charter of the Nordic Council continue to be the legal basis for the existence of the Commonwealth and all affairs of state are conducted in accordance with the Charter. Finally, Norden is a democratic polity; the government rests on the legitimacy of popular sovereignty; all levels of government are directly or indirectly elected through free and fair elections, with the Nordic Council itself being elected under regional proportional representation with no more than seven years between elections.
Leader(s): Dag Stjarna, Prime Minister of the Northern Commonwealth.
Image(s) of Leader(s): Image.
Party or Coalition in Power: The Nordic Council is, for the moment, held by a coalition led by the Centre Group (da: Midtergruppen) and supported by the Social-Democrats (da: Den Socialdemokratiske Gruppe).
Executive Title: With respect to the monarchies of the three Scandinavian kingdoms which continue to hold some nominal positions in the governments of these nations, the Northern Commonwealth does not have an official head of state. The highest office in the land, thus, becomes the head of government, the Secretary-General of the Council (da: Nordisk Råds Generalsekretær).
State Ideology: The Northern Commonwealth is vaguely liberal-progressive, with a highly technology- and individual-oriented approach to social problems.
Ethnicity Breakdown: Due to the decades-long integration of various immigrant communities and mixed-ethnicity children, the exact ethnic breakdown of the Northern Commonwealth is almost impossible to measure. At a very rough estimate, the Commonwealth's genetic stock is about 60% Germanic, 15% Finno-Uralic, 10% other European, and 15% non-European.
Religion Breakdown: Nominally, roughly equal numbers of people are Protestant Christian and nonreligious, the two largest groups in the Commonwealth, with small minorities of other Christians, Muslims, and other religions. Religion, however, is no longer an important part of Northern culture or daily life, with most religious people holding only nominal faith.
Flag: The flag of the Northern Commonwealth is a stylised white swan with five wing feathers representing the five member states inscribed in a white circle against a blue field.
National Anthem: The Northern Commonwealth does not maintain an official national anthem. The constituent states of the Commonwealth maintains their own national anthems, although there is no custom of playing national anthems before official or governmental events as exists in many other countries.
National Motto: The Northern Commowealth does not maintain an official motto.
Demonym: No official denonym for the Commonwealth exists. Nordbo is occasionally used in common parlance.
Map Color: Light desaturated blue
Public Goals: The Centre-Socialist coalition that currently holds power in the Northern Commonwealth seeks to achieve a variety of different objectives. First, ensure the security of the Northern Commonwealth from both foreign and internal threats. Second, ensure that the Northern Commonwealth remains the world's centre for technological research and scientific endeavours. Third, continue to manage the increasing pervasiveness of information-communication technology and avoid the implications of such technologies imploding Northern society.
Military name: The Armed Forces of the Northern Commonwealth is called Commonwealth Defence (da: Samfundets Forsvaret).
Military branches: The combat services of the Commonwealth Defence consist of the Army (da: Hæren), the Home Guards (da: Hjemmeværnet), the Navy (da: Søværnet), the Coast Guards (da: Kystvagt) and the Air Force (da: Flyvevåbnet).
Total military size: With a paper strength of 135,000 in active service, 230,000 in reserves, and a funding that averaged about 700 billion kroner a year in the last few years, the Northern Commonwealth fields a military of a size more or less to be expected from a relatively peaceable highly-developed country with somewhat concerning external threats.
Breakdown of ground force(s): Because of Norden's focus on sea and air warfare over maintaining a large ground strength and because of the incompatibility between the manpower-heavy nature of ground forces and the high costs of employment in the Commonwealth, the Northern ground forces are relatively small compared to the power of the country's seagoing and airbourne forces. The Army, the regular service component of the ground forces, employs about 49,000 men and the Home Guards, the reservist component, employs about 155,000, for a total wartime paper strength of about ~204,000. This small force, however, is flush with heavy armaments with a particular fondness for self-propelled artillery, fielding a mechanised frontline force of about ~100 air defence vehicles, ~350 tanks, ~1,000 artillery, ~1,000 infantry fighting vehicles, and ~2,500 armoured personnel carriers. The Army also has an Air Command contingent attached to it, with ~50 light recon aircraft and ~150 helicopters.
Breakdown of naval force(s): Due to the Northern Commonwealth's unique geographical constraints, being bounded by the North Sea and the Baltic as well as having inhabited islands out into the North Atlantic and the Arctic Oceans, the Commonwealth Defence takes its naval branch very seriously. Between the Navy and the Coast Guard, Norden has a seagoing strength of 2 aircraft carriers, 22 cruisers, 19 frigates, 50 mine warfare ships, 61 coastal defense ships, 140 combat boats, and 36 submarines. It maintains a naval aircraft branch of about ~70 reconnaissance aircraft (most of which light), ~60 multirole fighters, ~60 helicopters, and ~10 electronic warfare aircraft. It also maintains brigade of marines and some special forces units. All considered, the Navy employs about 41,000 regulars and 64,000 reserves, and the Coast Guard another 7,000 regulars.
Breakdown of air force(s): Norden has a rather formidable and expensive air force for a nation of its size and international stature. The Commonwealth Air Force fields a force of about ~750 multirole fighters, ~10 electronic warfare aircraft, ~50 reconnaissance aircraft (most of which heavy), ~40 transports, ~150 helicopters, and ~200 trainer aircraft. It employs a paper strength of 38,000, with another 11,000 reservists.
Breakdown of other branch(es): Northern Defence also has a variety of other branches handling logistics, cybersecurity, human resources, intelligence, counterintelligence, training, etc., but these branches are not frontline branches and do not have units intended to see combat.
Extra military information: Norden funnels a large budget, over 4% of GDP, into a military with none-too-many assets, and the results very much show in the quality of the Northern military. From virtual-reality training and neurological conditioning to cybernetic implants and live-fire combat drones, the latest innovations in science and engineering are always directly introduced into the training and equipment of the Armed Forces, aimed at creating a battlefield environment that more traditional forces cannot survive in and a pace of warfare that traditional chains of command cannot respond to. Consequently, Northern Defence fields quite possibly the most advanced and sophisticated military equipment that can be found in the world.
GDP: The nominal GDP of the Northern Commonwealth is 16.48 trillion kroner/year, making it one of the major economic powers of the mid-21st Century. On a PPP- and inflation-adjusted basis, this is 3,218 billion (1990 Int'll$). Northern Europe saw in the early 21st Century, just like in the late 20th, strong economic growth interrupted by a few recession, averaging 3.1% real GDP growth per year from 2000 to 2056.
GDP per Capita: The nominal GDP per capita of the Northern Commonwealth is kr. 535,000/year, which on a PPP- and inflation-adjusted basis is 104,500 (1990 Int'll$). There are considerable regional disparities in economic development. There is a east-west gap, with the North Sea states of Iceland and Norway generally being more prosperous than the Baltic states of Sweden and Finland, as well as an urban-rural gap, with large cities generally being more prosperous than countryside towns. The Finnish Karelian territories newly-acquired from Russia are especially impoverished.
Currency: The national currency of the Northern Commonwealth is the Commonwealth Crown (da/no: krone, sv: krona, fi: kruunu, is: króna), trading symbol NDK. Although the Commonwealth Central Bank continues to print physical banknotes and mint physical coins, the krone is a largely digitalised currency with only small transactions in the margins of society still being conducted with physical cash.
Currency and value of currency compared to USD: On a purchasing power basis, the krone is worth kr. 5.12 on the 1990 Int'll$, but due to the Commonwealth's strong and resilient economy tends to trade for much more than its purchasing power would suggest.
Major Domestic Issues: High unemployment, outdated regulations and procedures, youth delinquency, dissatisfied cultural minorities, and climate change related weather events are all domestic issues that concern the Northern Commonwealth.
Major Foreign Issues: The simple fact that the Commonwealth is surrounded by much larger and more populous nations is of grave concern to the Northern Commonwealth, and the government does its best to mitigate the security and economic threat that this poses.
History: As below:
RP Example: The old iteration.
