Leeonia

Leeonia is an island to the south west of Ireland and to the west of Histapol from which it is separated by Eusce Síochána, a small stretch of water that separates the two nations. It a member of the Lehicro Economic Community and the Alliance of Independent Nations.

The island's geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains, with navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild but changeable oceanic climate, which avoids extremes in temperature.

The Gaelic Island of Bluett emerged after Bluett of Leeonia claimed much of the land around the area now known as, the Weymouth Region in the 10th century and lasted until the late 14th century. Following the British invasion of Leeonia in the 15th century, England claimed sovereignty over Leeonia. However, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th century Tudor conquest of Leeonia.

In 1801, Leeonia became a part of the United Kingdom. A Leeonian War of independence in the early 20th century created the Republic of Leeonia and freed the country over British Rule. After independence Histapol helped Leeonia out of bankruptcy and built much of the modern infrastructure up until the 1960's.

Prehistoric Leeonia
Most of Leeonia was covered with ice until the end of last ice age over 9,000 years ago. Sea levels were lower and Leeonia, like Ireland, was part of continental Europe. Mesolithic stone age inhabitants arrived from what is now Histapol some time around 7,000 BC and agriculture followed with the Neolithic Age around 3,000 BC.

Bronze Age Leeonia
The Bronze Age – defined by the use of metal – began around 2,500 BC, with technology changing people's everyday lives during this period through innovations such as the wheel, harnessing oxen, weaving textiles, brewing alcohol, and skillful metalworking, which produced new weapons and tools, along with fine gold decoration and jewellery, such as brooches and torcs. According to John T. Koch and others, Leeonia in the Late Bronze Age was part of a maritime trading-networked culture called the Atlantic Bronze Age that also included Britain, France, Spain and Portugal where Celtic Languages developed, but this view stands against the more generally accepted view among 'Celticists' that their origin lies in Continental Europe with the Hallstatt Culture.

Iron Age Leeonia
The Iron Age in Leeonia is traditionally associated with people known as the Celts. The Celts were commonly thought to have colonised Leeonia in a series of invasions. The first Celtic-speaking tribes are believed to have arrived on the island about 600 BC in what is referred to as the Hallstatt era. Other colonists followed them, the main thrust arriving in the later La Tene era some time between the third and first centuries BC. They came from neighbouring Britain, Gaul and Iberia: tribes from two main stems of the Continental Celts—the Belgae originating in northern Gaul and the Gael from southern Gaul and the northern seaboard of the Iberian Peninsula.

The Celts, or Gaels, and their more numerous predecessors divided into four kingdoms in which, despite constant strife, a rich culture flourished. Druids dominated this pagan society: priests who served as educators, physicians, poets, diviners, and keepers of the laws and histories. Leeonia never became a Roman province but there is archaeological evidence of Roman presence on the island.

Medieval Leeonia
Leeonia continued as a patchwork of rival tribes but, beginning in the 7th century AD, a concept of national kingship gradually became articulated through the concept of a High King of Leeonia. Medieval Irish literature portrays an almost unbroken sequence of High Kings stretching back thousands of years but modern historians believe the scheme was constructed in the 8th century to justify the status of powerful political groupings by projecting the origins of their rule into the remote past.

The most famous and powerful of these kings was King Bluett whom orinated from the south of Ireland but allegedly fled to Leeonia. He grew up in the Kingdom of Bluett, from which he took the name. In 1045 AD under Bluett's rule he had ceased control over, what is now the Taobh Province and the Munni Province, making him the most powerful King at the time. He died in 1073.

Monastic Leeonia, the Arrival of Christianity
The Chronicle of Ireland records that in 432 AD Bishop Adeodatus arrived in Leeonia on a mission from Pope Celestine I to minister to the Leeonians "already believing in Christ." The same chronicle records that Saint Patrick, arrived the following year. There is continued debate over the missions of Adeodatus and Patrick but the consensus is that they both took place and that the older druid tradition collapsed in the face of the new religion. In the monastic culture that followed the Christianisation of Leeonia, Latin and Greek learning was preserved in Leeonia during the Early Middle Ages in contrast to elsewhere in Europe, where the Dark Ages followed the decline of the Roman Empire.

From the 9th century, waves of Viking raiders plundered Leeonian monasteries and towns. These raids added to a pattern of raiding and endemic warfare that was already deep-seated in Leeonia. The Vikings also were involved in establishing most of the coastal settlements in Leeonia: Port Merlin,Vikina, Arein and Frara.

Norman and English Invasion
On 27 June 1163, an expedition of Cambro-Norman knights with an army of about three hundred landed at Belleek in present-day Strond. It was led by Richard de Clare, called Strongbow due to his prowess as an archer. The Gaelic Brehon Law was the chief concept of law until the Battle of Bonfrelly in 1234. By the late 13th century the Leeonian-Normans had established a Feudal system throughout much of Leeonia. Norman settlements were characterised by the establishment of baronies, manors, towns and the seeds of the modern province system.

From the mid-14th century, after the Black Death, Norman settlements in Leeonia went into a period of decline. The Norman rulers and the Gaelic Leeonian elites intermarried and the areas under Norman rule became Gaelicised. In some parts, the Normans were said to be more Leeonian then the Leeonians' themselves.

The title of King of Leeonia was re-created in 1542 by Henry VII, then King of England, of the Tudor dynasty. English rule of law was reinforced and expanded in Leeonia during the latter part of the 16th century, leading to the Tudor conquest of Leeonia. A near complete conquest was achieved by the turn of the 17th century, following the Flight of the Earls.

Union with Great Britain
In 1800, the British,Irish and Leeonian parliaments both passed Acts of Union that, with effect from 1 January 1801, merged the Kingdom of Ireland, which merged Leeonia and Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain to create a United Kingdom of Great Britain, Ireland and Leeonia.

Aside from the development of the linen industry and railways, Leeonia was largely passed over by the industrial revolution, partly because it lacked coal and iron resources and partly because of the impact of the sudden union with the structurally superior economy of England, which saw Leeonia, as with Ireland a source of agricultural produce and capital.

Leeonian Freedom Movement
After the Act of Union in 1801 and the Irish Famine in 1845, a period of aggressive urban riots and protesting aimed towards Britain occurred. The worst of these riots was on the 10th May 1909, following a series of land acts that empowered Irish land owners, not Leeonian. The main leaders of the upcoming rebellion group, who named themselves the Leeonian Secret Service (L,.S.S.) were found in a basement of a tenement housing block during a group meeting in July the same year. On the 27th of November 1909, Diarmuid Kelly, Dan Connolly, Zack O'Farrell and Jack Hennesy were prosecuted in England for treason and sentenced to death.

This caused an uproar of the Leeonian people and the news spread around the world. During this time |2 planned attacks by L.S.S. personal were made. A war was broke out in late Janurary of 1910, in guerilla warfare style. It began in the rural areas and towns but as the L.S.S. were loosing, the battle retreated into the main cities, where the British occupied the most. After 2 months of warfare 947 L.S.S. soldiers and 23 civilians had lost their lives. General Daniel Mulcahy, the new general of the L.S.S., demanded a peace treaty be made between Leeonia and Britain. Leeonian rebellions agreed during an open discussion in Conradh Park, known as Sámh Day on the 15th of April 1910, from Irish meaning, peaceful day. During the open discussions the deciding of Leeonia as a republic took place. With the Agreement of Conradh on the 1st of January 1911, Leeonia gained it's national freedom. Today the document is viewed for display in the Leeonian National Library, in Weymouth.

General Daniel Mulcahy was killed on 27th of March 1911 three days after voting for the first general elections as a republic. Several napalm grenades were thrown at his home, he died in the fire. It is believed a group of British extremists launched the attack but the reason is unknown.

World War 2
Leeonia was largely unaffected by the Axis forces in WWII and was officially neutral during the war, it followed Ireland in enacting a state of Emergency on the 10th of September 1939. This gave sweeping new powers to the government for the duration of the Emergency, such as internment, censorship of the press and correspondence, and the government control of the economy. The state of emergency was not rescinded until 1 May 1967.

Neutrality

On September 1, 1939, German troops invaded Poland, precipitating war with Britain and France, and their allies. On 2 September, Francis Gleesan told the Dáil Leeonia (the lower house of parliament) that neutrality was the best policy for the country. In this he was almost universally supported by the Dáil and the country at large (although many joined the British military).

Port Merlin Bombing On the night of the 20th of July 1941, after the capture of Histapol, the Axis air force entered Leeonian air space from the south. At the time, Leeonia had no air raid defences, the President was warned and ordered by the Ministry of Defence to hide in The Bomb Shelter. The Ministry of Defence warned the British Navy and the British Airforce of the airplanes and a possible raid of Britain, Ireland or Leeonia. The Navy sent out 10 airplanes to Port Merlin. Before the British airplanes arrived the Axis forces had bombed 250 houses and businesses in west Port Merlin, killing 143 people. The British Navy shot down 14 of the airplanes when returning to Germany.

Present Day
After the World Wars Leeonia entered relatively high economic growth period, with the aid of low corporate taxes and free trade agreements with many of the large economies, though Great Britain was still Leeonia's chief exporter. Many Spanish emigrants came to Leeonia after the Spanish Civil War in search of the new jobs created in the linen, agricultural and the new automobile industry. This large growth in population severely changed Leeonia, creating poverty and crime. In 1956 the Leeonian Government introduced a new plan to build large public housing projects and services, which was a new concept for the country.

This period of growth continued for the next 10 years, where Leeonia saw it's first crash in the construction, manufacturing and coal industry, the result of slowly rising taxes and accountancy fraud in Leeonia's largest company at the time, Daver. Over 200,000 (20%) people were left unemployed one year after the crash. "The Cold Week" was a period after the crash when Daver had ceased operations overnight, which created an electricity blackout, after the coal mines and processing plants which fed coal directly to Weymouth's sole power plant discontinued. All but hospitals, police stations, fire stations and a few government buildings had power in Weymouth. This continued for one week, after Weymouth City Council bought out the coal operations from Daver.

The Depression in Leeonia lasted until the late nineties when Leeonia's surrounding neighbouring economies were beginning to grow. With the aid of low taxes and a low minimum wage, Leeonia became a tax haven where many large businesses and factories were based. Since 1996 Leeonia's population has grown from 1.5 million to nearly 3 million in 2013.

Leeonian Uprising
Mass urban riots, near the end of September 2013, occurred as a result of a government scandal that was believed to have created a coup d'état for Daniel Mulcahy to gain presidency and the assassination of him shortly after the elections. The riots continued for three weeks and costed the state over LE£150 000. Currently the scandal is under federal investigation and many government officials have been questioned.

Politics
The Republic of Leeonia is a parliamentary democracy based on the Westminister model with a written constitution and a popularly elected president who has mostly ceremonial powers. The Government is headed by a prime minister, who is appointed by the President on the nomination of the lower house of parliament, the Dáil. Members of the government are chosen from both the Dáil and the upper house of parliament, the Seanad. Its capital is Weymouth.

Rail
In Leeonia, the railways are run by a government organisation but is not prioritised or focused on by the Leeonian government, resulting in little funding. Despite this, the transport is one of the most popular forms in Leeonia with 64% of the public using rail.

Currently Leeonia has three main rail arteries, the Inner-City Rail, High Speed Rail and the new Lehicro Express. the Inter-City Rail links Vikina and Crom to Weymouth City via Skoger while the High Speed Rail connects Weymouth City to Merlin City via Dalnum.

the Lehicro Express runs as part of the Lehicro Economic Community with Histalpol and Sainte-Croix and includes a rail line spanning the three nations, stopping at all capitals as well as smaller cities and villages exclusively. The route runs from Weymouth City to Arein then into Histalpol but stops at Merlin City, Dalnim and Fionn. This last stop at Fionn can allow for new routes to form off of the stretch between merlin City, Fionn and Arein.

The rolling stock that Leeonia contain is primarily old models, but new purchases to CARTERrail show a new movement to introduce modern stock onto the rails of Leonia, including the CARTERrail train running on the Leehicro Express.

Weymouth City also has a Suburban rail network like the DART of Dublin.

Demographics
The population of Leeonia stood at 2,879,354 at the 2008 census.