Freiga

The Kingdom of Freiga or Freiga (/friː/’ɡə/ West Frisian: Keninkryk fan Fryga; North Frisian: Könangrik faan Friiga; East Frisian: Köönichriek fan Fräiga; Friso-Saxon: Keunenkriek Freega) is a sovereign state located in Western Europe bordering Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark. Freiga is divided into two main geographical regions, Frisia and Freiga Proper (also known as the Freigan Archipelago) sometimes counting North Frisia as a separate exclave. Bremerhaven is an enclave of Germany on the bank of the river Weser. The population is 3,820,867 with an area of 41,500km² not including territorial waters.

It is unknown when the first ‘Freigan Kingdom’ was created however by the 14th Century historians have certified the existence of a Freigan Kingdom. Freiga throughout the centuries thrived from trade from the north German rivers yet often found itself at war in aid of the Dutch as in the Dutch Revolt. During the Napoleonic Wars Freiga was occupied and found itself under a number of separate client states until 1814 when Anglin and his rebel army liberated Freiga establishing a new authoritarian ‘Kingdom of Anglinburg’ which in turn was overthrown in 1838 when Freiga began to resemble the country we see today. The first constitution as established in 1839 limiting the monarch for the first time since Frisian Freedom. During the World Wars Freiga fought Germany gaining a select number of territorial gains.

Freiga is the only country to have left the EU which it did months after its creation however is a member of the EEA and Schengen area. Freiga is a founding member of NATO and is characterised but its interventionist stance on global issues such as it’s recent calls for military assistance to the Ukrainian Army. This is also reflected in the 2% of the GDP on defence as per NATO targets making it one of the few NATO nations to meet the target.

Freigans have a relatively high standard of living, the country is regarded as a liberal country taking a similar stance on drugs and other ‘permissive’ behaviour like the Netherlands yet has been highlighted by several Freedom Indices as not totally free due to the monarch still holding several key veto and reserve powers though rarely used. Freiga used Proportional regional list voting system during all elections.

Etymology
The name Freiga is derived from the word Frisia which in turn is derived from the work Frisii the name given to the tribes inhabiting the current day Frisia by the Romans in early days of Roman conquest. How Freiga was derived from Frisia is unknown but it is believed to have merely developed along dialectical terms only emerging as a separate word in the early 17th century however this is debated strongly, an inquiry in 2010 by the Royal Freigan Etymology Society ended with an ‘unclear’ result.

Government
Freiga is a de-Centralised Unitary Parliamentary semi-Constitutional Monarchy and such description is written down in the 1838 constitution written after the fall of the Anglinburg Kingdom. Since 1698 there has been a Freigan Government originally called the Lords council of which a select number of trusted Lords would become Lords of the Lord Councilmen which today is the upper house of the Freigan Legislature. During this time Freiga was already a devolved (decentralised state). In 1838 the first constitution for Freiga was written limiting for the first time the monarch turning Freiga into a semi-Constitutional Monarchy and in 1932 a Parliamentary system was created. A elected house, the Elected Convened Men was created prior to this in 1867 yet had little meaningful power until the 1932 reforms. In 1966 a further reform occurred with the introduction of the Proportional list for all elections across Freiga and abolishing the Lord Councilmen as a legislative body becoming an advisory body for the Lords of the Lord Councilmen. In the modern day the monarch is the Head of State and Head of the Legislature however this is relatively ceremonial. The upper and lower house have equal legislative powers and consensus between the two houses and the monarch must be reached to sign off any legislation. While there is no official executive the lower house normally forms a de facto Government. The leader of the lower house is called the Governing Lieutenant and acts much like any prime minister would. There is an independent chair in both houses employed by the crown to ensure order and agendas are followed in the houses. The Judiciary is an independent body from the legislature apart from the fact that all Lord (Senior) Judges must sit on the Lord Council. Because of the lack of clear executive and influence the Judiciary has on the legislative there is no true separation of powers in Freiga.

Judicial Politics
Freiga has a mixed law system between Civil and Common law and in the devolved states there is a number of separate devolved justice systems following a similar pattern to that of the national one.The highest law court in Freiga is the High Judicial Royal Court which is the highest law in the land yet is not able to act as a constitutional court to the Freigan Legislature as their power is derived directly from the monarch. It does have constitutional power over the devolved states. Punishments in Freiga are mainly in the form of fines with a number of prison sentences though this has reduced through recent years. The vast majority of sentences are fines paid as compensation to the victim.

Devolution of Power
The system of devolution of royal power in Freiga is a complicated one. The 1838 constitution forces the monarch to devolve powers to the Freigan Legislative in a select number of ways defined exactly by the constitution and a number of works of authority. Devolution to the states however is defined very ambiguously, “The people of Freiga are assured the freedom of unitary rule by self autonomy.” Freiga is partitioned into two geopolitical regions, Freiga Proper and Frisia. Freiga Proper has a Freigan Parliament made of those Elected politicians whose seats are located in Freiga Proper. The Parliament’s power is devolved from the Freigan Legislature and not the monarch. Frisia due to its more vast cultural diversity does not have any form of unitary regional government, power is handed directly to the states. Frisia is split into states 8 states, Friesland, Groningen and the Ommelanden, East Frisia, Jever (also known as Friesland Jever), Wesermarsch, Cuxhaven and finally North Frisia. Each state itself is a constitutional monarchy and it is this ceremonial monarch that the Freigan King/Queen devolves power to. The State Monarch then by bounding in the 1932 amendment to the Freigan Constitution must further devolve powers to their respective state governments. The States of East Frisia and North Frisia do further split some power between provinces furthermore called Lordships and Amts respectively. Local Authorities and Municipalities look after local municipal services and are empowered by the authority above in their respective region.

Administrative Divisions
Main Geopolitical Regions

States of Frisia, for further divisions please see specific pages

Military
The Freigan Armed Forces are one of the oldest standing militaries in Europe and has relied on conscription throughout its history. The armed forces are split into three separate branches, Freigan Army, Freigan Air Force and the Freigan Navy. Each branch has a small professional component and a larger conscript component. In times gone by conscription was adhoc and occured wherever the army and later the recruiting officer went yet in 1893 the system was reformed forcing all males of age (originally 18 now 23) to register and await to be called. In 1916 Women were forced to also enroll however married women were not called up and no women took part in a combat role until 1988. Freiga is one of the only NATO members to meet the 2% military spending target spending exactly 2% of defence. The size of the armed forces varies between drafts and has no set limits or targets.

Freigan Cuisine
Freigan Cuisine is very much a hybrid of Dutch and Danish cuisine focusing on the importance of meat while heavily influenced by the Friso-Dutch culture of dairy produce. The Frisian Cow after all is famed for its milk production. Fish also plays a large part in daily Freigan life. Breakfasts typically consist of bread and butter topped with cheeses and cold meats such as hams and sausage variants. Tea is often served alongside; tea is extremely popular in Freiga and an essential part of Freigan culture, while mundane in it’s raw form sometimes spiced with a splash of cream it provides a focal point for the Freigan and Frisian identity. Throughout Freiga tea festivals are commonplace ranging from small village events to city week long festivals such as the Cargat Tea Festival. Beer is also popularly consumed however since the dawn of consumerism native Freigan Beer is being replaced by German lagers. Freigan lunches are not regarded as special normally consisting of a small snack like item such as sandwich or possibly hotdogs however there is no ceremony surrounding the meal. The evening meal however is regarded as the most important meal of the day consisting of heavy protein and carbohydrate elements, because of this Freigan cuisine has been accused of not containing enough grown produce.