WIP
Nation Name:: Mralia
Flag: n/a
Government/Economy
Type of Government: (A rather benign) Military Junta
Heads of Government: Mralian Reformation Peoples Party (MRPP) a council of top military leaders, headed by General Bralitoph (Braw-lee-toff)
Economy: A recovering economy, Mralia is rebuilding itself after the devastating civil war, and most of the GDP is invested in the construction industry, renovating and rebuilding destroyed cities and industries to cutting-edge standards.
It is a mixed-economy, most businesses are privately owned, with limited welfare programs available for those in need, though it isn't as developed as socialist countries. Most industry is for the industrial war complex. Private sector, non-military industries are cattle raising, leather working, and cotton farming and processing. There are several oil and coal mines to the west.
Exports: Arms, beef, leather, cotton, clothing, coal
Imports: Food, metals, wood
Primary Species Human, darker skinned with dark hair and eyes.
Population: TBD for the exact number, but it isn't that big compared to the other countries, since the land can't support that many people.
Culture: Once a totalitarian theocracy, Mralia has come free from the oppressive weights of the Church, though the bloody civil war that preceded it has left a lasting impact on the social landscape. The military has been a progressive force, embracing social changes. The further inland you go, the more conservative it becomes, with most of the Church residing in the interior. Those on the coasts are highly supportive of the military, while the interior is distrustful. Stereotypes for the interior are someone who is uneducated and highly superstitious, while coast dwellers are though to be too in love with other cultures. The Mralian film industry is booming, fueled during the civil war by the military for propaganda material to inspire support for the war effort. Now, ten years on since the civil war, film has continued to do well, with movie theaters found in almost every town in Mralia. Most of the films draw on old folk tales, retelling classics such as 'The Coyote, the Boy, and the Dead Horse'. It is all still silent films. Many see film as a way to bring the shattered country back together, and film festivals are commonplace, celebrating the countries shared history. The introduction of planes have also had a transformative aspect on Mralia, with planes becoming an incredibly powerful cultural icon. Air travel is increasingly common, and the skies above cities are filled with the sounds of planes zooming by. Many young men and women belong to aviation clubs, where they maintain and fly community shared aircraft for pleasure. Some wealthy families are likely to own a plane, going on pleasure 'air trips', flying the planes to holiday in other places in the country. For most people, they have to content themselves with looking upwards at the sky in wonder. Aviation wear is a popular fashion style. Most civilian aircraft are prop planes closer to WW1, though the military has rudimentary jet planes. Air traffic control laws are impressively lax. Mortality rates are sky-high.
Religion: The dominant faith in Mralia is the Church of the Sanguinary Mother. The short side of it is that it's a Marianism expy lovingly mixed with death worship and reincarnation. I've written about it before, and more of the cosmology is available if someone wants to see it.
A Bit Longer Explanation
It believes that the Mother gave birth to the entire physical world and presided over it, before giving birth to every single human that would exist. However, the Mother was displeased with how the humans destroyed the world, turning it into a desert. So the Mother killed all of the humans with her own hands, and returned them into her womb, crushed. She has now nourished and fixed sinners inside of her womb, and returned them to the physical world. Whenever someone sins, when they die, their soul will be smashed against the earth, causing great torment, and then returned to the Mother's womb, where she will try and fix the soul. Once someone has done good deeds in their life, they will be freed from the cycle of death and rebirth at the hands of the Mother, and will be able to enter a state of eternal bliss. To be a good person and freed from the cycle of death and rebirth, one must be a good Sanguinarian, and adhere to the holy books. Most Mralians are at least passingly religious, and will observe the major holidays and holy days.
History:
Mralia has been ruled by a theocracy for the last 300 years, with the Sanguinary Church dominating the country, executing dissidents and those deemed 'heretics'. As time progressed and the rest of the world had been changing, especially with the sweeping rise of socialism, which decried religious dogmatism. Eventually, eastern intellectuals, allying themselves with secular military officials, threw a revolutionary coup to rid the country of the regime. The coup turned into a civil war, with the conservative interior being held onto by the Church, and the coastal and border regions supporting the secularists, with most of the fighting being held in the interior. What ultimately set the secularists apart was their willingness to adopt new technologies to their cause more rapidly than the Church, who were conservative in their adoption of new tactics and technologies.
Geography
Territory: South of Kuldarra, extending from the eastern coast, to the eastern bit of the indentation there, with the Western border following the Kuldarra indentation down to the eastern edge that lake, down to the southern coast, claiming that little spur, but not the bay it connects to. It'll also hold a few of the islands to the south of the Western mainland.
Climate Hot. semi-Arid plains and savanna in the interior (think Texas) and coastal hills on the coasts. The north shares a similar climate to Kuldarra, and the far southern island has similar weather to Iceland.
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