[b]Legal Nation Name:[/b] The Kingdom of Great Britain [b]What Areas Do You Control:[/b][hider=The Kingdom of Great Britain][img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/Europe-Great_Britain.svg/450px-Europe-Great_Britain.svg.png[/img] Plus Gibraltar, the Faroe Islands, and small outposts on Iceland. [/hider] [b]Flag or Banner:[/b] [hider=The Flag of Great Britain][img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/Union_flag_1606_%28Kings_Colors%29.svg/125px-Union_flag_1606_%28Kings_Colors%29.svg.png[/img] [/hider] [b]Political Party:[/b] The Conservative Party/Tories [b]Type of Government:[/b] Unitary oligarchic constitutional monarchy [b]Date Out of Bunker:[/b] 2231 [b]Productions:[/b] Coal, Ships, Electrical Equipment, Pharmaceuticals, Aircraft [b]History of the Nation:[/b] [hider=Recent History of Great Britain] When the war between the Caliphate of Istanbul and the Second Ethiopian Empire began to involve low-yield tactical nuclear weapons, the government of the former United Kingdom began to make arrangements to preserve as much of the country's artefacts, government and population. The most powerful nation on earth at the time, it was considered inevitable that Britain would be drawn into the conflict eventually. The first two years of the war (sans the British) saw great preparation across the nation. The population could not be kept in the dark, so the government was forced to publish information about the 'Shelters' that far exceeded the true scale of the preparative measures. These Shelters were large bunker-like structures build across the country, approximately one to a county. They were designed as a refuge for the local County Councils; a store for food supplies and weapons; and a place of dwelling for the British people. But alas, each could hold just 2'000 people - at a stretch. To further defend the country, the Ministry of Defence began to develop in earnest anti-ballistic missile systems and a sophisticated, if small, 'Royal-Satellite-Detection-and-Defence-Network' (RSDDN) in an effort to reduce the potential quantity of explosive and atomic ordnance that could be detonated in or over the United Kingdom. This project, using data and research from the previous world conflict, allowed the British to develop a form of defence for the home islands that no other nation at the time could easily assail. Britain entered the war two years after its beginning, when the Caliphate of Istanbul seized control over the Suez Canal and blocked all trade through it. This brought on the Second Suez Crisis, in which the UK, along with France, issued an ultimatum demanding demilitarisation of the Canal and Anglo-French administration for the duration of the conflict. This ultimatum was rejected by the Turks. Just three days later, the British entered the war on the Ethiopians' side. It took just two days beyond that for the bombs to fall on London. The Royal Navy, from its bases on Cyprus, quickly swept the Caliphate Navy from the Mediterranean and issued a full blockade. Realising the war was lost, the Caliph of Istanbul, with the city under siege by an Anglo-Franco-Greek army, issued a decree demanding the destruction of the British Home Islands using nuclear weapons. The anti-ballistic missile system and RSDDN were able to lessen and reduce the bombardment, but they were unable to halt the barrage entirely. London, of course was hit, several times. Bristol, Oxford, Cambridge, Bimingham, Swansea, Edinburgh, Belfast and other cities were quickly destroyed - but not erased, as might have been without the defences. At the same time, the Government and the Royal Family fled to a hidden bunker beneath Dartmoor. The County Councils and some few of the population were able to escape below ground also, bought time by the UK defences. Many fled to the countryside, into the hills, the downs and the forests. Some built new communities, others fell into barbarism. Whatever the case, by the end of the nuclear exchange, the UK and its Empire no longer existed. The British Isles were in ruins. About 200 years later, the Government, which had, by this time, developed into an Oligarchy, emerged from its bunker. The world had changed, and these people, who had never seen the light of day, knew little of how to survive beyond the confines of the Shelter. Nevertheless, they began the process of rebuilding. They broadcast a radio message approximately one year after the 'Emerging' attempting to contact other survivors above or below ground. It worked. The descendants of the surviving civilised population gradually emerged from the Shelters and the wilderness, beginning to rebuild. Away from the major cities, much of the infrastructure remained in the smaller settlements - some were even used as habitation for scattered tribal groups. Over the course of the decade, the population began to establish contact with one another and form new groups. The Royal Family, which had regained nothing of its power nor lost it to the new Oligarchy, emerged with the Government and returned to the destroyed London, where a few buildings had been reconstructed as a new base for the capital. Aptly, a large structure had been put together in the ruins of the Houses of Parliament for the meeting of government. A new 'United Kingdom' was proclaimed. Many years past, and the peoples of England, Wales and Scotland began to reform themselves as a single, disjointed structure. Many groups, particularly outside of England, rejected the attempts by the central government to establish control. By around 2245, London (now with a sizeable settlement along the north bank of the Thames, primarily around the Houses of Parliament) had gained direct control over the counties of Greater London, Essex, Surrey, Suffolk and Kent, and wielded rather less direct power over most of the Midlands, East Anglia, and the rest of the South East. The Government claimed overlordship over the entirety of the British Isles, and many groups were happy to accept this in return for the trade in sophisticated technology, which remained largely in the control of London. During the next decade, 'The United Kingdom' went on the path of conquest, both in a military sense and in a diplomatic sense. The 'Great Restoration' began with the 'Anchluss' of the Riding of Yorkshire to the Kingdom in 2248, and the subsequent integration of the State of Lancashire after a short and bitter battle. The South West was harder to subdue. A pirate Cornish state had subjugated the populations of Devon, Dorset and southern Somerset under a self-proclaimed 'Celtic Chiefdom'. The 'British' were welcomed as liberators by the oppressed English people under Cornish rule. A swift victory was achieved in a tentative alliance with the 'Republic of Bristol', which controlled Gloucestershire and northern Somerset. By 2254, the entirety of the southwest was under British control, or allied to the Kingdom, with only part of Cornwall under siege and resisting. Concerned about renewed English dominance of the island, various Welsh and Scottish tribes and chiefdoms allied and simultaneously invaded the new Kingdom, now encompassing almost all of England. But they were overmatched in the face of superior technology - deliberately kept only in the hands of the central government - and in 2257, a massive counter-attack was launched into Wales, quickly overcoming any resistance and annexing the various (and squabbling) states into the Kingdom. During and after this period, contact was made with some of the Celtic tribes of Ireland. It was revealed that the island had collapsed into complete anarchy, with no centralised form of government and no recognisable nation-states with which to negotiate. The British government decided to end the war with the Scottish clans before attempting any overseas expansion. This war ended with the destruction of the 'Principality of Aberdeen' and the swearing of fealty and annexation by the Scottish Highland Clans. The government in a now largely rebuilt (though obviously still much smaller) London declared a new 'Kingdom of Great Britain', pending the potential absorption of Ireland. The period of Expansion came to an end, and the Kingdom instead turned to internal matters and the establishment of a new Royal Navy, to defend the islands. All holdouts ultimately surrendered, including Cornwall. British policy turned in the 2260s to the re-establishment of contact with Gibraltar and intervention in Irish affairs. The 2270s saw the establishment of British client states in Ireland, the further integration of the formerly restive Welsh and Scots, and the founding of trading posts in Iceland. Which brings the Kingdom to 2280, and the aims of the British to reestablish hegemony over Ireland, the re-entering into European politics, and expeditions to the New World. [/hider] [b]Main Race:[/b] 85% English 10% Celtic 5% Other [b]Main Religion:[/b] Anglicanism [b]Other:[/b] Great Britain has subdued the Scots and Welsh by exiling rebellious leaders and 'educating' children into supporting the Kingdom. There is much positive sentiment among the British population overall concerning the unified state, partly due to the much higher survival rate of the English over the Celts. The island of Great Britain is now populated by over 85% English compared to just 10% Celtic - although an anomaly is in Cornwall, where there has been a Celtic population explosion that roughly equals the English population there. The UK government built a 'Shelter' in Gibraltar as well, within the Rock, but, after the nuclear war, Gibraltar was cut off from all contact with London. Around the same time as the mainland British population, they emerged and re-established their community, but found themselves marooned as a culturally English exclave in a hostile Spanish region. When Royal Navy ships appeared on the horizon, the Gibraltarians were quick to accept British control and protection.