Mount Shavano

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Mount Shavano
ShavanoFlagEncyclopediaLetterhead.png
Flag of Mount Shavano
Motto: "Libertas Primoris"
Map of the Front Range Republic : [1]
Region Azerbajanistan
Capital San Angelo
Official Language(s) English
Leader President William Cloud
Population 150 million
Currency Angel 
NS NSTracker Sunset XML

Summary

The Front Range Republic of Mount Shavano is a rugged, devout nation, led by President William Cloud and the thirty-nine members of the Senate, and notable for the beautiful, sprawling vistas of its snow-capped mountains. Its hard-nosed, hard-working, intelligent population of 150 million are blessed with a plethora of personal and economic freedoms, while the political process is open and the people's right to vote held sacrosanct.

The small, hawkish government devotes most of its attention to the military and foreign policy, with areas such as public education and social welfare receiving almost no funds by comparison. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the glittering capital city of San Angelo. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 10%, although religious tithes are tax deductible. A powerhouse of a private sector is led by the defense industry, followed by arms manufacturing, information technology, and automobile manufacturing.

The Front Range Republic is well known for its use of military force against other countries over suspected slights, freedom of information is long standing Constitutional policy, the nation's Air Force is both respected and feared, and the right to bear arms is defended fanatically. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is crippling. The Front Range Republic's national animal is the trike, which roams free across the nation's wide plains, its national religion is the Christian faith, its national anthem is "Rocky Mountain High", and its currency is the angel.

Statistics and Information

National Flag : "The Snow Angel"

Capital City : San Angelo ('The Angel City')

Largest City : Harbor Grove ('The City on the Sea')

National Language : English

National Anthem : "Rocky Mountain High"

National Animal : Triceratops horridus ('Trike')

National Tree : Yucca brevifolia (Joshua Tree)

National Plant : Artemisia tridentata (Sagebrush)

National Flower : Casetelleja (Indian paintbrush)

National Religion : Christianity

National Currency : the Angel (1 angel = $2.0098)

Motto : Libertas primoris ('Freedom First')

Population : 150 million

GDP per Capita : $46,625.47

Literacy Rate : 99%

Government : Federal Republic

Head of State : President William Cloud

Head of Government : President William Cloud

Founded : July 4th, 1876

WA Category : Corporate Bordello

WA Civil Rights : Excellent

WA Economy Strength : Frightening

WA Political Freedoms : World Benchmark

Demonym : Shavanese or Front Ranger

Land Area : 1,334,626 square miles

Politics

The Front Range Republic has a fairly traditional division of powers. There are three federal branches, and each state has a similar system of its own.

Executive Branch

The Executive Branch consists of a President and a Vice President elected as a single ticket, along with a cabinet appointed by and serving at the pleasure of the President. The executive branch has extensive veto power, and extensive power to react quickly to foreign crisis, although Congress can override these decisions once it has had time to debate and act. The Presidential ticket is chosen by an electoral college in which each state has a number of number of votes equal to the combined number of House and Senate seats it possess. In the event of a tie, the outgoing House chooses between the two candidates with the most electoral votes. A tie with only two candidates is resolved by dropping the state which was awarded the 'wild card' seat in the House, or if still tied it is resolved by the House. The President serves for a six year term, and can only be re-elected once.

Anyone can theoretically be elected, but the cutoff for signatures to get on the ballot, rather than being a write in candidate, is fairly high in most states. The three relevant parties (see end of post) hold primary elections, usually by straight popular vote, in all states, and the losers are expected to bow out gracefully although they have no legal obligation to do so. The Greens often do not nominate a Presidential candidate, preferring their voters to be the balance of power in a two way Blue-White election to being the weak man in a three way race. In this way they have been very successful at getting their platform passed, by forcing Blue and White candidate to support Green positions in order to get elected.

Legislative Branch

The Senate consists of three members from each of the thirteen states. Each state elects one senator every other year, with six year terms. If a state has a sitting senator who has been re-elected to his seat consecutive with another term, no other senator can stand for re-election in that state. This was a compromise between factions who wanted long term political leadership and those who wanted strict term limits. The 'Senior Senator' is usually seen as the political leader of a state, even more than the executive of the state government.

The means of appointing Senators is left to the states, although all states use direct, statewide, winner take all popular vote elections as of the current time. Primaries are held, with minor parties often choosing to fold theirs in with the ideologically closest major party. The Greens sometimes contest these elections in a full capacity, sometimes play the "Balance Game", and sometimes have so much support in a region that one of the other major parties will endorse the Green candidate and choose not to run their own. These "hybrid candidates" also sometimes appear in races where both the Greens and the other party are weak, and neither would have a chance on their own. These alliances do not go beyond regional; it is not uncommon to see a Blue-Green candidate running in one state while a White-Green candidate runs in another.

The House of Representatives has 101 members, elected biannually for two year terms. 100 of these are decided by proportional population, while the last (the 'wild card' seat) is awarded to the state with the least seats. In the event of a tie for least seats, the wild card goes to the state of the group which has the highest population. It is theoretically possible for a state to have two senators and no representatives, although this has never actually happened. The budgets are set by the House of Representatives. There are no term limits in the House.

House elections unfold much like Senate elections, except they are done at the district level rather than state. Setting the districts is a power reserved to state governments. Gerrymandering is rare, as most state constitutions include the provision that counties, which have fixed boundaries, cannot be split among different districts unless there is no other means of getting the right number of districts. Usually, this results in several "county contiguous" districts, with a single, often central, county "fractured" among several to make populations balance. Many states, especially more rural ones, will break up the state's largest urban center or the county containing the state capital in this fashion. One side effect is that the House has a more rural outlook than the Senate.

Judicial Branch

The Supreme Court consists of thirteen justices, one from each state chosen by the legislature of that state and approved by the national legislature. They represent the final word on judicial matters and matters of Constitutional law. They have traditionally been strict constructionists. There is no term limit for a Justice of the Supreme Court, they nearly always serve until they die or retire.

There is a recall procedure, requiring two thirds of both the national and state legislatures as well as the state executive to approve. It is very rarely employed.

Political Parties

There are three significant political parties, the Blues, the Whites, and the Greens.

The Blues generally are considered the conservative party. They are strong supporters of individual rights, free market economics, and a hawkish foreign policy. The current President, William Cloud, is a Blue. They have 14 senators and 37 delegates.

The Whites have been the 'loyal opposition' party for most of the Front Range Republic's history and have returned to that role since losing the 1996 elections. Their primary current disagreement with the Blues is over foreign policy, as Whites generally tend towards isolationism. They want the government further reduced in size so that the income tax can be completely eliminated. They propose to fund the government entirely on import and export tariffs. This results in crossing swords with the Blues, who extend their free market attitude beyond the Republic's borders and oppose the military reductions the Whites need to eliminate the tax. The Whites have 16 senators and 45 delegates.

The Greens are generally moderates on foreign policy and economic issues, and their goal as a party is to preserve as much of the country's forests, plains, mountains, and deserts as possible from human destruction. They have been largely successful since although they are by far the smallest party, they often control the balance of power. They control the final 9 senate seats and 18 delegates.

There is a strong tradition in the Front Range Republic that the same party should not control both the executive and legislative branches. This tradition, in fact, is so strong that in 1976 the senior senator from the State of Arapahoe, Jack Reynolds, resigned his seat rather than see his own White party gain control of the legislature when they had a sitting president. He served as President himself from 1978-1984 before refusing to run for a second term.

Geography

The Front Range Republic is situated on the continent of West Laurasia. The topography of West Laurasia is dominated by a great inland sea east of Mount Shavano, known by other local nations as the Shavano Sea but known inside the Front Range Republic as the Interior Seaway. The Seaway is a warm sea, keeping the coastal regions warm as far north as the State of Tabegauche. The Seaway is abundant with marine life, and remains one of the world's least polluted seas due the relatively recent start to human habitation on West Laurasia. It provides a dynamic fishing industry and a vital artery for sea trade to the Front Range Republic.

The eastern part of the country itself, running north south and ranging from perhaps a quarter to half of the width of the entire country, is the region known as the Shavanese Plain. This region itself experiences wide variances in climate and terrain, ranging from the blistering Alte-Mojave desert in the south, across the grain covered plains of San Isabel, Mesa Verde, and Shavano, and narrowing to the wind blown prairies of Tabeguache. The plain is the breadbasket for most of the continent, providing abundant grains, cereals, livestock, and fruits. The Alte-Mojave also provides roughly half of the Front Range Republic's oil.

As a south eastern offshoot from the country a hilly peninsula projects most of the way across the Seaway. Known as the Rio Grande Peninsula, it is in a strategic location giving the Front Range Republic control over the southern entrance to the inland sea. It provides an extension of the oil and cattle industries from the plains to the west.

The remainder of the country is composed of a soaring mountain range, often divided into three subranges by Front Rangers even if there is little geologic basis for this. The Grace range runs along the west coast, containing most of the mountains in the states of Cochetopa, Saguache, and San Juan. The Saddle range fills the states of Ouray, San Isabel, and San Luis, and the Angel range Arapahoe, Shavano, Tabeguache, and most of Cheyenne. The Greater Shavanese Mountain Range is geologically very young, only a few million years, and achieves incredible heights, boasting the highest number of 14,000 foot peaks in the world. Rugged and perennially snow-capped, the mountains are the best known symbol of the Front Range Republic. They provide the nation's spectacular mineral resources and timber reserves.

The mountains run right to the western seaboard, which drops off into the blue depths of the Alte-Pacific. Fishing, of a different sort, is also common in these cooler waters. The western coast is the most urbanized part of the country, although in Mount Shavano that is not saying all that much.

Politically, the Front Range Republic borders the nations of Leporidia to the south and the RFG to the north. Relations with both are good, and both borders are open and unfortified. There is also a long sea frontier with the R.O.E. to the east in the Seaway, a nation the Front Range Republic considers a close ally.

History

The Front Range Republic usually dates its founding to 4 July 1876, even though this is more properly known as 'Arrival Day', with the nation being founded on 19 September of that same year. The first citizens of Mount Shavano were originally inhabitants of the western United States in the year 2008. On 4 January of that year 5 million inhabitants of that region, a slim majority being Coloradans with the remainder from locations scattered across the Rocky Mountain states, eastern California, Washington, and Oregon, a few from the plains states, and contigents of Alaskans, Canadians and Texans, experienced a flash of light. They appeared on a continent that they had not existed on the Earth they had left, but whose geography, geology, flora, and fauna closely resembled North America from the Late Cretaceous period. An existing national infrastructure roughly corresponding to the time of '4 July 1876' now being displayed on every timepiece and soon verified by astronomical observation was found, as were animals clearly native to the land and time they had left, which quickly merged with the existing ecosystem. The selection of individuals had clearly not been random, as no families were broken by the Transition, not even to the point of pets, and the new arrivals found they almost all fell within certain broad political and religious strokes.

There was nothing left for the new arrivals to do but set up a new nation, which was done in remarkably short order. Using the United States version as a starting point, a new Constitution was drafted and ratified and thirteen states were drawn up in the area now inhabited. While most states had settlers from all groups, the state of Rio Grande was predominately influenced by the former Texans. The northern and southern borders of the nation were chosen to roughly correspond to the latitude and longitude of the US borders on the original North America. The name Mount Shavano was chosen as that peak was found to have been the weighted center of the event, and its famous snow formation was found to have been transported with the newcomers. The title Front Range Republic was chosen because that urban corridor was the most represented area in absolute terms.

Of course, the Front Range Republic experienced a brief period of social confusion, mostly consisting of a great religious revival in response to the Transition. To this day, the FRR retains its devout, technologically advanced, and forward looking characteristics.

Random Facts

Note: These represent information from my posts on the 'Factbooks and National Information' forum.

Random Facts Out Of Character Section

The following TV Tropes apply to Mount Shavano:

Might be seen as by others:

Noteworthy Individuals

Note: This is here so I can can keep the names of my own characters straight in RPs. That's the only rhyme and reason to the contents of the list.

Note to self: August 23rd, and antedates.

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