NEW Story: Downpour
The Island Commonwealth of the West Antilles
Table of Contents
ί· This article is about an overseas member of the Commonwealth of Vekllei
1. Overview #
Making up the far reaches of Vekllei’s broad autonomous islander community, the West Antilles are full and autonomous members of the Atlantic Commonwealth.
The West Antilles (commonly The Leeward Isles) is the common name of three autonomous islands that make up the West Antilles, situated offshore of northern Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea. Like the Kalina Isles
The Kalina Islands have been inhabited for thousands of years by Carib peoples called the Kalinago, who make up the majority of Kalina’s 350,000 people today. Traditionally seafaring and seminomadic, Kalina and its neighbours in the Lesser Antilles were devastated by the arrival of Europeans in the 16th Century. Kalina was originally colonised by almost all colonising nations of the European colonial period, but were eventually united under Spanish rule in 1638 as part of the Treaty of Barbuda and the end of the Franco-Spanish War.
Kalina was purchased from the Spanish by the Vekllei city-state in the late 17th Century, and indicated Veklleiβs initial intention to exploit the New World. This ambition was scuppered with the collapse of the Vekllei monarchy, which established forts across Kalina’s islands but could not muster the resources to occupy continental America. Veklleiβs colonial efforts were blunted for centuries after, and excluded the country from major participation in the slave trade and the colonisation of Africa.
Vekllei was forcibly decolonised during British occupation between 2005 and 2015, and Kalina during this period was reorganised as a British territory. After independence in 2015, the Vekllei Home Islands renegotiated Kalina’s independence as a member of the Vekllei Commonwealth (alongside other former colonial posessions), which was established in 2017.
Today, the Kalina Islands are the most populous member of the Vekllei Commonwealth, and has thrived in the Floral Period as an new country under its own government.
Introduction #
2. Etymology #
3. Geography #
Kalina is tropical and partially volcanic, incorporating hundreds of islands and islets that form a boundary between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Kalina comprises most of the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, and is composed mostly of low-lying tropical islands ranging in size from a few hundred square kilometres to sand reefs.
Montesur is actively volcanic, and sees minor eruptions every few years.
4. Politics #
K alina shares the Vekllei city-state’s unusual parliamentary system and geographic electoral districts. The country is independent, but like other full members of Commonwealth it shares much of its constitutional legislature and state structure with the Vekllei city-state. The Armed Forces of the Commonwealth of Vekllei are responsible for defence of Kalina, which is positioned strategically in the Caribbean and hosts several important military facilities throughout its island chains.
The Vekllei Commonwealth #
The Commonwealth of Vekllei is a multinational ideological, political, defence and trading bloc that includes the Vekllei City State, Kala, Aismious, Demon, Azores, Mira, and Kalina. It includes territories of the Vekllei city-state (Kala, Aismious, Demon) and independent countries (Azores, Mira, Kalina) that are closely aligned with postwar Floral constitutional principls and Bureau economics. In this sense, most of the commonwealth closely resemble Vekllei’s society.
Vekllei uses a Hare-Clark single transferable vote system to elect two prime ministers, one man and one woman, the only such system in the world. Vekllei has a bicameral legislature, consisting of an upper house (the Crown Senate) of 100 senators and a lower house (People’s Assembly) of 200 members. Although voting is participatory and the country does not maintain a poll tax, electoral enrolment is mandatory from age 16 onwards.
Since Vekllei is nonpartisan, it does not allow formal participation of parties within elections. Despite this, informal associations of elected representatives exist, in the form of sociopartit, or Party Associations. The largest of these include the Vekllei Industrial Working Concern, the Atlantic Party, and the Crown Brotherhood, and although membership is permitted among elected members they are otherwise disallowed within the electoral process.
Petticoat Society in the Tropics #
5. Economy #
Vekllei is land of plenty and small pleasures, afforded by a post-scarcity system that positions competing systems against each other. It is made up of a startling series of contradictions – one after the other, each more unusual than the last. Vekllei is a planned economy; it is also a free market. Property ownership is obfuscated by portioned sovereignty of land and product. Decommodification has devalued products in a country based on manufacturing. There are many contradictions, inefficiencies and unusual mechanisms in the Vekllei domestic market, which total to benefit the living conditions of the average person.
A lthough a major power, Vekllei has an unusual hybrid market system called the Vekllei Bureau System (known colloquially as Petticoat Socialism), which incorporates state-owned socialist planned economics and deregulated syndicalist vertical bureaus to benefit a free, unregulated informal market system. Most unique about the Vekllei economy is its functional moneylessness, in which domestic society has abolished currency. No widespread currency substitutes are used in ordinary life. Each citizen owns a share of the Labour Bank of Vekllei, a portion of the Government Securities Bureau designed to allow emigration from the country, and so is theoretically entitled to an equal portion of the Bank.
Trade and materials are provided by biosynthetic robotics infrastructure and participatory work, and is supplemented in places by mandatory military service. Vekllei people enjoy a high standard of living and access to most consumer goods.
Postwar Vekllei economics champions free association, home-ownership and informal markets. Although microeconomically Vekllei is highly liberalised, most essential goods of the country are produced in vertically integrated in labour-union Bureaus, which, although representative of private companies and independent from the government, are associated with the general political processes of the country.
Bureaus (also Bureaus Proper, as distinguished from informal Petty Bureaus) are trade unions that organise business in the country, and the largest of them include thousands of individual companies and concerns. Companies are generally cooperative enterprises in Vekllei, and so worker votes are consolidated into “Company Ballots” used to influence political affairs within a Bureau and the country at large.
Although moneyless domestically, the nation maintains two currencies, known as the Vekllei Crown and the Government Crown for foreign trade.
- The Vekllei Crown is representative of Vekllei’s export-import mechanism known as the International Market. It is gold-backed, and represents the bullion value of the Market. Since the International Market is completely closed and independent of the domestic economy, its value is controlled directly by the so-called Government Bank. It is one of the few gold-backed currencies in a developed nation today.
- The Government Crown is not minted and used only as an investment mechanism, backed by government βwhite bondsβ which are usually measures of labour-hours or refined materials. It is, in a sense, a fiat currency alongside a gold-backed currency.
Both currencies are used for trade internationally, and float on the labour-power of the domestic economy. The Vekllei Crown is minted as a novelty, but otherwise no money is printed in the country, since Government Crowns are essentially labour-backed state bonds. Moneylessness benefits citizens in many ways, as Vekllei people do not typically maintain debts, have access to unlimited small commodities, and enjoy some of the shortest workdays and working weeks in the world, with all citizens afforded two months holiday each year.
Employment #
Vekllei has a high unemployment rate for a developed country, reported at 12.5%. About 80% of Vekllei workers belong to a trade union, usually Pettiburos or Bureaus. Nearly 2 million Vekllei people are enrolled in higher education full-time, significantly reducing the nation’s labour pool. These are accounted for politically as natural fluctuations of the deregulated Bureau System, and unemployment in the country has seen a stable reduction since the initial decades of independence. Although many citizens in Vekllei are immigrants, the country has few foreign workers, and those employed in the country tend to be high-skill and high-wage workers.
Since no work is compensated by money in the country, international standard metrics for poverty and income per capita are obfuscated. It is generally understood that urban populations have easier access to consumer goods, but inferior access to local produce and genuine meat products. Rural populations are also more likely to take on informal work in their village or town, and may not necessarily hold membership in an industry bureau.
Industry #
All commercial enterprise in Vekllei is founded along two legal and cultural classifications:
- Venrouive is business managed by a Bureau Proper, an organ consisting of trade unions in an industry. While Bureaus are independent from government, they are for the most part bound to their concern, and so in practice Venrouive businesses are beholden to the democratic processes of the country.
- Senrouive is business not managed by a Bureau Proper, though it may still hold membership in a Petty Bureau. It is analogous to private enterprise.
Vekllei’s sovereign wealth fund, the Government Securities Bureau, is the largest such fund in the world with commodity and non-commodity holdings totalling over VKβ¦45 trillion. It is the primary investment mechanism of the Vekllei state and has generated controversy around its substantial economic power and commodity holdings abroad. Vekllei is the second-largest logistics hub in the world, and as a maritime city-state sees millions of tonnes worth of shipping traffic each year pass through its ports.
Vekllei’s Dohyo Free Port is the largest in the Atlantic and among the busiest in the world. Most of Vekllei’s liquid currency assets, denominated as Government Kroner, are generated through a shipping Goods and Services Tax (GST) on all foreign business in the country of approx. 10%, of which the Dohyo Free Port contributes VKβ¦12 trillion each year.
Vekllei primarily exports manufactured goods, which are produced by both human and automatic labour via commodity imports and extraterrestrial materials mining as part of the Solar Concern of the Vekllei Commonwealth Materials Bureau (or Solaburo).
Most personal or private business in Vekllei is structured as either single-person shops (S.p.A., or senrouiva pettetie anaproiouya), co-operative businesses (S.q.A., or senrouiva qualitie anaproiouya), or village factories (S.p.M., or senrouiva persimonaya manufacturie). Any commercial enterprise larger than S.p.M. tends to hold membership in or is directly administered by a Bureau Proper, though there are exceptions.
Tourism #
Tourism is a major source of foreign income in Vekllei, and the country attracts some 6 million tourists annually. Although the number of tourists is low compared to popular destinations in North America and Europe, Vekllei’s strict entry requirements and state monopoly on hotels and tourist infrastructure means that most visitors are high-wealth business travellers or affluent foreigners, which together contribute around 0.5% of the country’s GDP annually.
Vekllei sponsors tourism abroad via the Social Government Bank, which allows Vekllei people to withdraw superannuated cash savings for tourism and travel abroad.
6. Demographics #
The story of Vekllei is a story of rebirth, and no better is this exemplified than in the country’s cultural Aliyah after the Atomic War. Vekllei is an ancient country rediscovering itself and its people, and in the rapid development of the postwar Floral Period we find novel and exciting shifts in how Vekllei people talk, behave, and look.
V ekllei has one of the highest population densities in the world, skewed largely by the populous Capital Region. Vekllei considers itself a city-state, and to this end fosters “commonhoods”, represented by common practice, common work and common landscape. Although Vekllei has been settled for thousands of years, postwar advocation of commonhoods emphasises landscape in place of the historic blood in wake of Vekllei’s growing migrant population and multiculturalism. Nearly 30% of Vekllei people were born overseas, though this number is trending down as immigration quotas (set by emigration) restrict inflow in recent decades.
Vekllei is experiencing a slight demographic trend towards an older population, and the average age of the country stands at 35 years old.
Vekllei maintains a stable fertility rate of about 1.8 children per woman, indicating a slight decline in population. Vekllei enjoys high rates of immigration, sponsored by the government, and sees settlement from Western and Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, South-East Asia and South America. Vekllei has also experienced high rates of emigration since independence, although many expats retain citizenship and later return to residence in Vekllei at some point. To this end, Vekllei is one of the largest exporters of skilled workers and tradesmen in the world.
Language #
βΏ Main article: Language in Vekllei
Modern Vekllei language (referred to simply as Vekllei) is the national language of the country and spoken universally within the Home Islands and Vekllei’s various Atlantic possessions. It is notable for its varied sublanguages, which include a signed language called Upotenne and various extant utility scripts.
Vekllei is spoken by around 25 million people, and a further 800,000 people around the world. Its relative complexity and provinciality lend to Vekllei’s cultural obscurity abroad, since few Vekllei people are English literate.
Religion #
βΏ Main article: Religion in Vekllei
Upen is the nondenominational animism of Vekllei, and is practiced nearly universally throughout the country in various forms and traditions. As much a secular cultural tradition as an organised religion, Upen coexists alongside abrahamic and miscellaneous faiths in the country, integrating most immigrant populations in Vekllei into its scripture on landscape and sumoismiaya, or the “spirit of things.”
While Vekllei has no state religion, Upen is thoroughly integrated with Vekllei culture and policy, and informs life and practice in this country as an agonistic feature of culture. Vekllei’s Floral Constitution prohibits governmental regulation of religion or prohibition of faith. Despite this, Upen is taught in state schools and practiced frequently, reinforcing its relevance across younger generations in a broader resurgence of traditional folklore in the postwar era.
Although most people in the country observe Upen apolitically, several other religious cultures hold sway in the country, including Catholicism (11%) Judaism (9%), Buddhism (4%), Islam (2%), Hinduism (1.3%) and Sikhism (0.7%). Despite this, Vekllei has some of the lowest rates of religious adherence in the world, estimated at a mere 6%, signifying Upen’s cultural influence on personal practice and informal ritual.
Education #
Education in Vekllei is structured as a State Requisite Bureau (rather than department) under the requoisesiasn amourisocietie scolastie, or A.r.E. Schooling is mandatory and universal between the ages of 5 and 14, and most schools in the country serve all ages between these years. All schools in Vekllei, aside from a half-dozen religious schools, are coeducational and operated directly by the A.r.E.
All institutions of higher learning, including universities, trade schools and adult education, are structured under the A.r.E.. School uniforms informed by traditional dress are provided and worn from preschool through to university, and faculty staff also often wear them.
Vekllei’s school enrolment is among the highest in the world, though this calculation includes untraditional and labour schools, including agricultural and maritime schooling.
7. Infrastructure #
If Vekllei is hesitant towards formal recognition of socialist aspects within its economy, in its infrastructure those concerns are discarded entirely. Vekllei is a midcentury state of nationalised infrastructure, led by grand modernist visions of progress and affluence. When combined with Upen’s spiritual emphasis on physicality and permanence, Vekllei’s affection for monuments of utility and public works are shown to be deeply embedded in the Vekllei national political spirit.
U nlike manufacturing and general industry, public infrastructure in the country is almost entirely monopolised by the government Utilities (A.r.Un.) and Construction (A.r.Lo.) state requisites, organs in Vekllei analogous to nationalised government industry. Infrastructure consistently ranks among Vekllei’s greatest national expenditure, with trillions of Kroner each year poured into projects across the country.
Most large infrastructure projects, including transport, education, health, military and extraterrestrial interests, are completed in cyclical phases similar to Soviet half-decade plans, including production quotas and hard deadlines for completion. This system of construction has allowed the country to recover quickly from its devastation in the Atomic War and develop one of the most comprehensive public infrastructure systems in the world. Vekllei is a major transport hub for international flights and Atlantic ocean crossings, served largely by the Vekllei International Jetport and the historic Port of Vekllei respectively.
Transport #
Most Vekllei people do not own private autos, though they are available. Only 6% of the population possesses a driver license, and so most Vekllei people are dependent on the free and comprehensive network of transit systems that link settlement in the island, including trains of various guages, maglevs, trams, trolley busses, ferries, canal steamers, helijets, jets and light aircraft.
Vekllei has one of the highest density rail networks in the world, with some 14,000 kilometres of rail of various gauges. Trains vary from maglev hypertrains that connect Vekllei’s Five Crown Cities to steam locomotives still in use for cultural reasons in the Home Island’s rural interior. Vekllei’s smallest rail gauge used in commercial service spans fifteen inches, and is commonly found in mountainous local service. Vekllei simultaneously has the oldest passenger locomotives in regular service in the world alongside some of the newest, including regular overhauls and innovations in maglev and bullet train types.
The Vekllei coast is ringed by various rail types, including the Coastal Bullet Train Network and a series of fast trams. A coastal highway, known as Motorway One, links Vekllei’s single continuous neighbourhood by road. Motorways are not generally speed limited in Vekllei.
For most Vekllei people, automobiles are accessed via autopools, shared vehicle depots that operate like rental cars for trips not easily made via public transit. Licenses are required to drive, though this is rarely enforced and few drivers renew their licenses, especially outside of Vekllei’s urban centres.
Vekllei has five state air carriers, which constitute a government monopoly on all air travel in the country. The international flag carrier is Vekllei Overseas Airways, which serves air routes internationally with a fleet of various aircraft, including nuclear monowings and supersonic jets.
Housing #
Vekllei’s borough municipalities maintain a monopoly on real estate purchase in the country, although the national government and high court retain the right of compulsory acquisition. Most neighbourhoods are planned by municipal architects, leading some to call Vekllei an ‘architocracy’. Homes in planned neighbourhoods are often awarded via a lottery system in places of high demand, or are otherwise floated freely on the market. It is common for housing to be dependent on employment, especially in the Capital Region, and real estate often forms part of viede compaszion, or ’life compensation,’ which is how most business in Vekllei rewards labour.
Land ownership is common and usually proven by stewardship. Place-metaphysics in Upen also portion ownership between multiple agents simultaneously; the municipality, the land itself, architecture and the homeowner may all share ownership over land, awarded by common interest, community and utility. Although this muddies a traditional understanding of property, all homes in Vekllei are de facto owned by their residents, except in certain professions.
Homes are also commonly inherited in Vekllei. All Vekllei people are guaranteed a right to home and property under the Petticoat Constitution. Some 92% of adults own their residence in Vekllei.
Communications #
βΏ Main article: Post in Vekllei
The Royal Mail of Vekllei is the postal service of the country, and counts among its oldest surviving institutions. Founded in 1422, its origins as a military communications organ manifest today in its contemporary designation as a military state requisite, rather than civilian postal carrier. Despite this, the Royal Mail remains thoroughly civilian in its oversight and practice, and delivers around 50 million mail pieces a day in peak periods, including courier work abroad.
Telephones, telegrams and videophones are structured under the Mail as the Office of Telecommunications, which acts as an independent organ of the Mail A.r.
Power & Water #
Utilities are provided for by the national Thunderburo (the Hydro, Geo, Nuclear-Electric Commissions) and the Hydroburo (Water Commission) across the country, which were reestablished upon independence in 2015, both managed as proper bureaus of majority government ownership. Vekllei operates sixteen nuclear power plants, but most nuclear energy is sold to Europe via undersea cables. All domestic electricity is supplied by Geothermal power plants and Hydroelectric dams for political and religious reasons, making Vekllei one of the only countries of its size to rely exclusively on renewable energy supply for residential and commercial services.
Vekllei has the cleanest drinking water in the world, supplied by the country’s interior freshwater glaciers. Vekllei’s Hydroburo is also responsible for sewerage treatment and processing in the country.