Birkaine
From WikiStates
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The Commonwealth of Birkaine
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| Motto: "A majestic sight we must be" | ||||
| Anthem: Birkania |
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 Map of Birkaine
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| Located in | Rostil | |||
| Capital | Prostok | |||
| Largest city | Prostok-Ferrograd Urban Area | |||
| Official languages | Russian, Birkanian | |||
| Ethnic groups (2010) | 89% Birkainian, 8.6% Arabic, 2.2% Belkan, 0.2% Various | |||
| Demonym | Birkainian | |||
| Government | Francoist Dictatorship | |||
| - | President | Gen. Zavomir Yulianov | ||
| Formation | ||||
| Population | ||||
| - | 2010 estimate | 2,000,000,000 | ||
| - | 2000 census | 1,707,000,000 | ||
| GDP (nominal) | 2010 estimate | |||
| - | Total | $50,468,433,712,291.54 | ||
| - | Per capita | $29,565.57 | ||
| Currency | Slaba (S) |
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| Internet TLD | .bk | |||
Birkaine, officially the Commonwealth of Birkaine (Birkanian: Birkainaya Sodruzestvo) is a nation located in northern Rostil.
Unlike its eastern neighbor and ally, Belkaland, clean sources of energy and industry are all but unknown in the Birkanian mainland. Massive unfiltered smokestacks tower even above the skyscrapers in city-sized industrial complexes, chemicals are liberally dumped into sea and rivers by the country's powerhouse of a petrochemical sector, and almost 86% of the country's power comes from thermoelectrical powerplants running on coal, natural gas and oil. The country's few nuclear reactors are used mainly as production plants for the Birkanian nuclear arsenal and surround their installations with radioactive waste that more often than not ends up drifting to the countryside, which in turn uses polluting pesticides greatly in the important field of industrialized agriculture. One certainly cannot say that the country's extensive industrialization didn't come at a high price, and instead Birkaine relies on its pristine colonies for a limited ammount of their agricultural output and tourism.
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History
Antiquity and unification
The Old Empire
Little is known about ancient Birkaine other than its existance, because, as will be seen later, historical records have taken their hits because of the near-constant state of war between Birkanians that has taken place ever since the 6th century. It is generally accepted by Birkanian historians that there was once a major empire in the area that prospered in the fields of agriculture, philosophy, astronomy, music and other cultural aspects, and was a surprisingly peaceful people (especially compared to the Birkanians that have inhabited the area up to this era). However, the old empire didn't quite manage to last and dissapeared sometime in the 5th century for causes still unknown. Civil unrest, epidemics, droughts and other causes have been the usual scapegoats for the dissapearance of what's seen as the only era when Birkaine has reached cultural achievements without being driven by a military desire in a way and looked upon the world with a peaceful gaze of friendship. It is generally considered to have been a silly time by current Birkanians.
Unification Wars
After the fall of the old empire, 15 smaller kingdoms formed and soon got locked in a state of war for centuries, which is where most Belkan ethnologists think Birkanians got their heavily war-oriented culture from (Birkanians say it had always been like that). 5 of the kingdoms were conquered after the wars of attrition in which the Kingdom of Prostok came out victorious, being the only significant strategic advance of the entire era. No more of such advances would be produced until the appearance of the legendary Czar Ivan Smertov somewhere in the 1200s; considered a demigod up until now and the most characteristic figure in Birkanian folklore, along with his czaritsa, simply known as the Queen Rusalka to modern Birkanians.
Ivan, after ample agricultural reforms and other programs that dragged on for years (in which he was believed to be a weak-minded czar with no thought for the military by other kings), launched a massive campaign that advanced southwards, anihilating the armies of rival kingdoms and unifying all of Birkaine under Prostok's rule; albeit letting the conquered kingdoms keep their characteristic cultures. His wars of unification culminated with the Fall of Bozna (the kingdom would later be renamed Vojna); as said small kingdom managed to last for years even after it was completely surrounded. Ivan's conquests then continued westwards, taking the Kingdom of Krovinozh and with a failed attempt at conquering the neighbor; Belkaland, which resulted in a Belkan counterattack that conquered Krovinozh. After this intense period of warring, the Borders of Birkaine were finally determined.
After Ivan's death there was a second period of internal wars in which dozens of dinasties came and went, but Prostok managed to hold its territory; finally unifying it as the Kingdom of Birkaine in the 16th century. The origin of the name is still a subject of hot debate. Industrialization began to take in the late 18th century, exponentially increasing Birkaine's exploitation of her natural resources such as iron and coal, and naturally led to such events as the Luddite Wars and several revolutions and counterrevolutions that hindered and bogged down the industrialization of the country.
Communist Rule, collapse, and Modern Birkaine
The country experienced a surprising state of stability in the early 1900s after the Communist Revolution; in which a pseudo-stalinist rule imposed itself with an iron fist and forced the country to direct its thirst of war and military production outwards (more specificall against Belkaland in what is known as the Rostilian Wars I and II), at the cost of supressing most of Birkaine's religions and undermining the cultural role of the woman. Naturally, this backfired in the 1950s where a huge revolution against the communist party erupted led by all sorts of factions ranging from religious to fascist to capitalist and even monarchist (probably being more eager to destroy each other than the communist party), plunging the country into anarchy for the stunning lenght of 25 years, where none of the dozens of factions of the country could wrestle control of enough land before immediately being supressed by the others.
War of Founding
In a move that mirrored Ivan's plan; a minor faction known as Bezuprechnaya Birkaina managed to seize control of the ravaged city of Prostok and began concentrating on a defensive war and buildup of forces with no ambitions of expansion for some years, led by the revolutionary known as Aleksei Girenko. Girenko and his faction managed to gradually pass from salvaging old military gear to reactivating factories and building his own technologically superior armies (which isn't saying much given how degraded the rest of the country's armed forces were) and finally managed to expand Bezuprechnayas rule southwards, conquering the weakened factions. Girenko was known to fight alongside his troops to inspire them, an attitude that resulted in him being ultimately killed during the siege of Vojnagrad, final battle of the War of Founding.
With the death of Girenko and subsequent assasination of his close followers by all sorts of rebels, Bezuprechnaya was in peril of suffering its own internal schism; if it weren't for a relatively obscure official going by the name of Zavomir Yulianov that came into the spotlight rather coincidentally after a couple occasions made everyone realize he was good at long-term planning and, more importantly, giving enough speeches to convince everybody that he was right. At the cost of some of Bezuprechnaya's ideals, Zavomir (currently holding the title of President-General) managed to sign mutual benefit pacts with other strong factions (amongst them the technocratic Prosveschennyj faction, the regionalist Vojnagradians and the most controversial by far - the Belkans) to gain additional manpower and material support, and finally the war was considered over.
Aftermath
Rebuilding the nation proved to be a hard process that consumed most of Birkaine's natural resources, but gave Birkanians opportunities to rebuild their cities to cope with the problems that would eventually arise; and because of that large-scale urban engineering can be seen in almost every Birkanian city.
However, the rebuilding of the nation began to run out of steam as oil and coal resources were depleted, and by the 2000's the Wars of Sustenance began, lasting until 2010 and resulting in the colonization of large resource-rich (if faraway lands); and the creation of the Middle Eastern Coalition.
Politics
Military
Administrative Divisions
Geography
Economy
Despite the rather large defense and aerospace industry in Birkaine, most of its economical output accounts for the petrochemical and heavy industry sectors, with Birkaine being home to many refineries and production plants of a variety of corporations. These industrial giants naturally cluster their assets in areas rich in resources, which has led to the creation of large all-industrial towns surrounded by relatively small residential areas. A prime example of this is the city of Ferrograd, which is technically not a city but simply a massive city-sized industrial complex neighboring the capital of Prostok, and getting most of its workforce from there. Ferrograd acts as the industrial core of Birkaine, with many of the national corporations having their largest facilities in the city, which is located above massive iron ore deposits.
While the industry focuses on the northern portion of Birkaine, the central portion is filled with large agricultural crops. The nation's principal crops include wheat, beans, oilseeds, cereals, potatoes and vegetables. Whereas refineries and factories fill up the northern portion; food processing plants, silos and crops dot the landscape of Central Birkaine.
Aerospace
As mentioned above, a developped aspect of Birkaine's economy is the transport industry, more specifically aerospace. The nation is home to a wide variety of corporations on this field, most of which provide their products only to the Birkanian armed forces. Notable examples include:
- Maxim-Buranov OKB
One of the largest companies founded by Pyotr Maxim and Konstantin Buranov, holding a near monopoly on the markets of airliners and large transport craft like the MB-39 and An-225. One of the few companies that export aircraft to the Belkan Luftwaffe despite not being a part of the Hypersphere conglomerate, a joint Belkan-Birkanian venture on the international defense market. They are an important provider of the VVB (Voyenno-vozdushnye sily Birkansky, Birkanian Air Force) and build the great majority of the heavy craft and some air defense arsenal craft, officially the heaviest "Fighters" in the world. However, another notable aspect of this company is its utter passion for gigantism, producing such behemoths as the MB-10B bomber. Needless to say these aircraft are less versatile than their lighter counterparts and require much more maintenance and longer runways, but Maxim Buranov is known for its influence within the Birkanian Military.
Maxim-Buranov also manufactures the Vihenian-designed Tu-239, the mainline heavy bomber of the VVB, under license. Referred to as MB-13A within the company.
- Suvorov Corporation
An historically important manufacturer of light transport and VIP craft since the 1920's, also responsable for the mainline air superiority fighter of the Air Force, the Su-2000 Korona. While originally one of the main providers of fighters and other aircraft for the air force, Suvorov has fallen out of favor against the Vasmer company as far as contracts goes, with their craft being gradually replaced by more modern machines.
A notable achievement of the Suvorov corporation is having beaten Vasmer in the PTB (Peredovoj Takticheskij Borec - analogous to the ATF) design contest which spawned the Su-2000, now a widely mass-produced jet. After this victory and the subsequent export of the Su-2000, Suvorov announced that it would be returning to the top of the military business.
- Vasmer Aerospace Incorporated
The main provider of fighter craft of all types for Birkaine, having made many aircraft such as the Va-25, Va-27, Va-32, Va-36 and their variants, all of them stealth and all of them the main jets on their respective roles within the air force. This success in engineering dates back to the Schayne Plains Conflict, where the Va-5 piston fighter managed to equal its Belkan jet-propelled rivals.
Demographics
Culture
External Links
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