10: Country of Sverland

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Entry posted by Wheelbarrow95 · January 10, 2021

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The official logo of the Sverlandic Rekonungaricet (Kingdom of Sverland).

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Sverland, officially the Sverlandic Rekonungaricet (Kingdom of Sverland), is a Scandinavian/Nordic country located in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the south, Norway to the northwest and Finland to the east. At 199,295 square kilometres, Sverland is the fourth largest country in Northern Europe and the eleventh largest country in Europe by area. The capital city is Godthab which is located within the regional government area of the Sverlands Huvudstadregiona (Sverland Capital Region).

Sverland is predominately a rural country with a total country population of 4.2 million of which 1 million people live in the SHSR (Sverlands Huvudstadregiona). Inside the SHSR, approximately 475,000 inhabitants live in the metropolitan urban area of Godthabs Stad (City). Out of the country population of 4.2 million, approximately 25% are foreign-born. Sverland has a very low population density of 25 inhabitants per square kilometres and 43% of Sverlandic inhabitants live in urban areas which includes Godthab and other large regional towns.

Sverland is part of the geographical area of Fennoscandia which consists of Finland, Norway, Sverland and Sweden. The climate is in general mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. In spite of the high latitude, Sverland often has mild-to-warm continental summers, being located between the North Atlantic, the Baltic Sea and the vast Eurasian Russian landmass. The general climate, biomes, and the environment vast significantly from the coastal south (Godthab area) to the mountainous north. The southern areas of Sverland is predominately agricultural while the north is heavily forested and mountainous. Sverland has a very cold and snowy winters.

The official language of Sverland is Sverlandic and Svelandic Teckensprak (Sverlandic Sign Langauge). The Sverlandic is a North Germanic language spoken natively by approximately 5 million people, predominately in Sverland and some parts of far northern Sweden. Sverlandic is largely mutually intelligible with Swedish, Norwegian and Danish, although the degree of mutual intelligibility is largely dependent on the dialect and accent of the speaker. Written Swedish, Norwegian and Danish are usually more easily understood by Sverlandic speakers than the spoken languages due to the differences in tone, accent and intonation. Sverlandic is a descendant of Old Norse which is a common language for people living in Scandinavia during the Pre-Viking and Viking Eras. The standard word order, as in most Germanic languages, V2, which means that the finite verb (V) appears in the second position (2) of a declarative main clause. Sverlandic morphology is similar to English; that is, words have comparatively few inflictions. Sverlandic is a three-gendered language which is very different compared with other Germanic languages most likely due to liberal religious views of Arctic Orthodox from the Pre-Viking eras. The official religion in Sverland is Arctic Orthodox and it has significant influences in the evolution of the modern Sverlandic language. Sverlandic Teckensprak is the sign language used by Sverlandic deaf communities and currently has equal legal standing with the Sverlandic langauge.

There are tangible evidence of human settlement in Sverland in 7000 BCE (~9,000 years ago) which includes Norse artefacts, money, wooden ships, old forts and wooden village buildings. Most of the evidence are found along the banks of Hammeralven (Hammer River) which is located in the southern coastal area of Sverland where Godthab is. The old Svear name for Godthab is Gotaab (see other CJ entry for more information). In the past 3,000 years, there has been a mix of Vikings, Svear, Norse and Geats (Swedish Gotar) people in the Sverland area.

Due to the ongoing battles with Sweden and the Hanseatic League, the Sverlandic Rekonungaricet (Kingdom of Sverland) was formed in 1183. From that point on, there has been rapid growth in Sverland and the country became one of the great powers of Europe until formation of the Swedish Empire in the 1500s. One of the first cities to receive a Royal Charter from the King of Sverland was Gotaab (now Godthab) in 1223 and this makes Godthab one of the oldest Scandinavian cities - before Stockholm (1252) and Amsterdam (1275). Gotaab (now Godthab) was established by a Swedish merchant.

The border between Sverland and Sweden was finally agreed in 1554 following the 10-year war with Sweden. Since then, Sweden and Sverland has been neutral with each other.

Sverland is now a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy, with legislative power vested in the 292-member bicameral Sverlands Riksdag (Parliament of Sverland). The Parliament is a bicameral, meaning it has a Senate and a House of Representatives. Sverland is a bicameral country, currently divided into 222 small municipalities (with the remaining 70 seats for Godthabs Stad). Although there has been some form of "parliament" similar to Icelandic Althingi in Sverland since 1200s, the formal and official Sverlands Riksdag (Parliament of Sverland) was established in 1626. The Constitution of Sverland was written in 1629 thus marking the official commencement of the constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. The first Riksdaghus (Parliament House) was built in 1630 in Gamla Stan (Old Town) however it became too small in the 1700s. The new Riksdaghus (Parliament House) was built in 1808 at the current site, in Nystad (New Town - the current city centre area). It is still in use today.

Sverland maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides universal health care and tertiary education for its citizens. It has the world's tenth highest per capita income and ranks very highly in quality of life, health, education, protection of civil liberties, economic competitiveness, income equality, gender equality, prosperity and human development. Sverland is a very progressive, liberal country with a rich social-democratic history. The amendment of the Constitution of Sverland in 1840 marked the gender equality (which was one of the first in the world), and other major constitutional amendments in 1920, 1946, 1955 and 1972 enshrined equalities for equal civil rights, religious freedom, disability equal rights and LGBT+ in respective order. Same-sex marriage was recognised in 2002, closely after the Netherlands in 2001. Legal recognition of Sverlandic Teckensprak (Sverlandic Sign Language) was ratified in 2004 which is one of the earliest in the world for sign language recognition as an official language with equal legal standing.

Sverland joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 but rejected NATO membership. Sverland has maintained the official government and foreign relations policy of neutrality since 1823 which is currently third longest in the world followed by Sweden and Switzerland. The policy of neutrality was also officially enshrined in the Constitution of Sverland. Sverland is also a member of the United Nations (UN), the Nordic Council, the Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

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