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.

History
The Frisii people, the ancestors of the Frisians settled the area known today as Frisia in c.500 BC, and eventually settled Freiga in c.0 AD. The Frisii people fought the Roman Empire in a series of wars that lasted until the collapse of the Frisii in c.296 AD. The Romans made the Frisii serfs and forcibly relocated many to Kent and Flanders, but most eventually moved back after the fall of the Roman Empire. Over the first few centuries the Frisians struggled to survive as the climate became ever more unforgiving, however opportunity did present itself in the era of Migration to Britain, the Saxons often traveled through Frisian lands bringing new trading wealth to the Frisians.

In the Early 7th Century the term Frisian Kingdom was first mentioned, as historians have discovered written in a number of historic sites the names of the Frisian Kings, the extent of the Kingdom is unclear however covers most of today’s Freiga. The Kingdom came under attack from the hostile Franks, in the wars that followed it is presumed that a great deal of contact with the English was made, especially with East Anglia. However by the End of the 8th Century the Kingdom had fallen to the Frankish invaders and the King retreated to Freiga where the Kingdom of the Frisians continued to exist in a reduced form and became known as the Kingdom of Freiga.

Medieval
The Frisians under Frankish rule suffered from a series of floods and brutal rulers. The sign of discontent and Frisian freedom really began at the turn of the millennium with the assassination of Arnulf, Count of Holland, after attempting to promote obedience within his subjects. The period of Frisian Freedom thus began bringing a new light to the Frisian peoples. The Opstalboom League was set up to attempt to bring a consolidated rule to Frisia however it failed quickly thus left Frisian Freedom to end with a chain of unfortunate events. The first was the Hollandic invasion of of West Frisia, which saw an early end to West Frisian freedom. The city of Groningen, effectively a City State, had become a power vacuum becoming ever more powerful effectively ending freedom for the Frisians of the region. In east Frisia a string of petty noblemen defeating their rivals eventually led to the establishment of the County of East Frisia, ending the Frisian Freedom despite it being lead by Frisians. The remaining Frisian lands were soaked up by Denmark and the powerful city states of Germany.

In the 14th Century the County of East Frisia made a name for itself as a rogue state. The Frisians caused havoc on shipping down the Ems river which caused Oldenburg to lead a number a invasion attempts however the East Frisians every time were successful in fighting off Oldenburg, eventually Oldenburg just gave up. In 1400 East Frisia was attacked by the the Hanseatic League after the East Frisians had helped a number of anti Hanseatic pirates and lost who then forced the East Frisians to discontinue their support of pirates yet no further action was taken against East Frisia and begun to develop trading ties with the League.

In 1465 The East Frisian Count accepted the Holy Roman Empire as their sovereign ruler however the Holy Roman Emperor claimed that the descendant to the throne of East Frisia should be a Saxon, naturally the incumbent East Frisian rulers refused such claim. Following this refusal no less than ten states attacked the County of East Frisia and against the numbers East Frisia won,the Emperor allowed the counts line to continue in return for peace and stability.

Dutch Independence
The Kingdom of Freiga in support of England and the Dutch fought in the Dutch Wars of Independence against the Spanish and the HRE. The Freigans were generally successful in their attacks over the north sea, East Frisia although part of the Empire supported the Freigans and offered them support in their campaigns. Freiga pulled out of the war in 1603 during the Union of crowns in Britain seizing Friesland in the process, however maintained a positive relationship with the Dutch and the United Six Provinces signing the Freigo-Dutch Alliance in 1604

Golden Years
The Succession crisis of 1651 after the plague hit the royal family, lead to the Dutch House of Rectern taking the throne of Freiga which then almost instantly in 1652 dragged the Frisians into a war with the English. The majority of the war was fought at sea and changed little. The war did lead to the creation of ties between Denmark and Freiga after the Danish Navy assisted Freiga in the Battle of Gyselandsee. Freiga during this time also participated in the Franco-Dutch war and the Nine Years War.

Freiga Entered the War of the Spanish Succession on the Dutch side however in 1707 England and Scotland United to become Great Britain. 3 weeks after the War of the Spanish Succession ended Britain declared war on on Freiga. However the war lasted only one month containing one battle out at sea from Norwich where Freiga lost a skirmish between small Frigates. The Dutch after this demanded a peace treaty or would threaten war against the British and with the likelihood of support from Denmark Britain stepped down.

The Count of East Frisia formulated an agreement with Freiga that it was to accept sovereignty of Freiga on the condition that the Counts retained sovereign rights over the County which was accepted in 1744 in the midst of the War of the Austrian Succession.

Napoleonic Wars
In early 1795 the French Republic invaded the Dutch Republic creating the Batavian Republic, in the summer of that year the French proceeded to attack Frisia and after a struggle with the Frisians the Chaucian Republic was created including Gronigen and the Ommenlanden linking West and East Frisia for the first time since Frisian Freedom. In September following their rolling invasions the Freigan mainland was invaded and the Ingvaeone Republic was created. In 1806 Batavia and Chaucia merged into the Kingdom of Holland. In 1812 a local farmer from Freiga, Anglin lead a series of rallies then with the support of the British raised an army, on the outskirts of Syt, the capital, the Parliamentary Guard stood blocking the entry to the town. However when the General of the Parliamentary Guard and Anglin met the General agreed to place himself and the Parliamentary Guard under Anglin. The Ingvaeone Republic was overthrown and the Kingdom of Anglinburg was created with King Anglin in power.

In 1814 Anglin launched an invasion of modern day Frisia, in his invasion he managed to capture Friesland, Groningen Province (Ommelanden) (not the city, that remained Dutch), East Frisia and the land surrounding Jever. After the Hundred Days War in which Anglinburg contributed troops, Over 9,000 Freigans fought at the Battle of Waterloo under Wellington.

Anglinburg
The new order of Freiga ran ‘Anglinburg’ in a unitary fashion, this different method of rule was thought to be by many frisians as an act of suppression. In 1820 Anglinburg purchased the city of Groningen from the Netherlands in an attempt to help fix Freiga’s worsening image as an oppressive state. The Boiling point came in 1838 when a popular revolution began in Frisia which eventually spread to Freiga. The revolution saw the end of the Anglinburg Kingdom and brought a new age to Freiga, the new Kingdom of Freiga headed by a new royal line, this time originating in Denmark was to last. The first major act was the devolution act in which more power was given to local Provinces and counties. This pleased Freigans and a new sense of national identity.

New Freiga
In 1857 the city of Jever was purchased from Oldenburg after Oldenburg ran into financial issues, Wilhelmshaven soon followed. Freiga also began to open up further trade routes especially with the eastern trade theatres. Freiga assisted Denmark in the First and Second Schleswig war, at the end of the second when defeat was without question Denmark sold North Frisia to Freiga to prevent Prussia gaining any further land. In 1876 Cuxhaven was purchased along with Cuxhaven District. The purchasing of wealthy cities helped expand the Freigan economy not to mention that these new lands had undiscovered oil reserves which angered the Germans greatly. Oil extraction began in the 1870s and grew progressively from there. The rail industry had also began to pick up greater speed expanding over the majority of Freiga becoming the main mode of transport.

World Wars
Germany invaded Frisia in october 1914 to give it access to the sea, Frisia was invaded and occupied by German forces until the end of the war. The Garman and Freigan navy clashed often and the German bombarded the Freigan coast regularly. A small contingent of 10,000 Freigans fought on the western front under Belgian command. At the end of the war Freiga was granted back its territories along with Leer and Wesermarsch as compensation however were not given Bremen much to the anger of Freiga thanks to American policy of ‘Self-Determination’ thus Bremen remained a German exclave.

Post WWI Freiga attempted to rebuild what had been destroyed and build up a stronger economy which was certainly not helped by the global depression. In 1927 the Waadsee Alliance was written up codifying and certifying historical alliances between the countries in the face of growing uncertainty in the rise of Communism. The fear soon switched however to the germans after 1935 when Hitler began rebuilding the German armed forces. The fear grew fast and in 1938 Freiga promised an attack on Germany from the north if Austria resisted a German take over. Though this never materialised is shows the concern of Freiga at the time.

On the 9th April 1940 German troops crossed into Denmark promoting both Freiga and the Netherlands to declare war on Germany. A last minute decision by the King overriding Parliament in Denmark released the Navy which managed to escape to Freiga and an evacuation of many Danish troops to Freiga. The King of Denmark and the core of the Danish Army did remain in Denmark under occupation. The evacuated Danes became the Danish army in Exile.

In May (10th) Germans enacted Case Yellow beginning the Blitzkrieg on Freiga along with the other Low Countries. Fighting however lasted on the European continent for a mere 5 days ending in a surrender of the Dutch Government and a evacuation of all Freigan and many Dutch troops to Freiga. As with the invasion Freiga joined the Allies in turn leading Britain to land troops and much equipment on Freiga. On the 26th of June after the end of the Battle of France the German army landed barges full of men on the southern coast of Freiga overrunning the capital Syt in 2 days. By the 30th of July Germany was firmly in control of Freiga with the remnants of the Waadsee armed forces being evacuated to England. Dutch, Danish and Freigan forces formed the Free Waadsees (‘Wardies’ was a nickname given to them by British forces) and contributed to the remainder of the war under British and Free French command. The Freigan Government in Exile was created under the King in London.

Post War
In 1945 The British Commonwealth and Exiled forces liberated Freiga shortly before the end of WWII. Freiga regained all territory at the end of the war establishing a new more democratic government having the first ever Freigan Election in February 1946. Freiga was involved with the general need to regain a strong economy, Freiga joined in the ECSE in 1953 2 years after its founding. During the following years Freiga changed is focus on close Waadsee ties to a general European Integration. Freiga was a founding member of NATO and later the the European Economic Community later the EU. Freiga however did not stay in the EU after a wave a right wing protests lead to  a referendum leaving the EU a matter of months after its creation.

During the 60 as the economy boomed with the European community society became ever more liberal and permissive with Freiga gaining a typical European consumer market. Unlike the Netherlands and Britain Freiga was not so greatly influenced by US culture in the 1970s seeing a resurgence on historical Frisia culture.

Freiga has participated in all NATO conflicts since its creation and is an advocate for ‘intervention over isolation’ policy. Freiga was involved in the War in Afghanistan sending over 500 armed soldiers into Afghanistan and remain there training the new Afghan National Army. Freiga was also involved in the Iraq War of 2003 after a shooting in a Shopping Street in Syt where 3 people lost their lives not including the Muslim gunman who was shot by a Gendarm. Freiga has also deployed trainers in Ukraine and is discussing the viability of intervention in Yemen.

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.

Demographics
The population of Freiga is estimated to be around 3,820,867 which is considerably smaller than those of neighbouring countries especially the Netherlands. This is down to many factors resulting in a low population density for the region. Frisians are thought to be the tallest people in Europe beating the Netherlands yet unlike the Netherlands there has been no offial study into the topic. The majority of the Freigan population is ethnically Frisian however there are significant Dutch and German peoples in Freiga for example in Cuxhaven 80% are ethnically German. There is also a 1% population of Turkic immigrants. The main religion of Freiga is Protestant Christianity however roughly 1% of the population is Muslim in line with numbers of Turkic immigrants into the country. There are roughly 30,000 ethnic Frisians in the United States of America who emigrated during the crisis in the 1890s in which many Frisians went in search of a better life in America.

Languages
The most common language in Freiga is West Frisian] however [[East Frisian, North Frisian and Friso-Saxon are all official languages. Freiga also has a selection of regional languages such as Low Saxon which is most commonly spoken in the Cuxhaven District. In Schools one of the languages of the state is taught as a primary language (with the exception of Cuxhaven who teach Low Saxon/German as a primary language or schools obtaining special charters which state otherwise) with many schools teaching a second native language. It is compulsory throughout schooling that English is taught some schools also teach German alongside. It is illegal to teach French in schools because of the Anti French Act 1816 introduced during the time of Anglinburg post Napoleonic wars. All Frisian Languages are monitored by the Fryske Akademy.

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.