The Federal Republic of Rhinehaus

[Rhinehaus]

The Federal Republic of Rhinehaus

People & Culture

Official Language: German is the official language of State and everyday use, but English is taught to a high standard in schools and colleges.
Demonym: Rhinehauser/Rhinehausian
Appearance: The dominant ethnicity is northern European, with a tendency towards dark hair and brown eyes.
Population: 23 Million
Major Cities: Badenberg, Kunke, Köhler, Langer
Life Expectancy: 82 years

Ethnic Groups: Rhinehauser 90% Others 10%

Religions: Protestant Christianity 79%, Athiest/Agnostic 5%, Other Religion 16%
Technology overview: Rhinhaus is divided between the large, modern cities and the more agricultural pastures and farmland in between. Rail (and recently air) links between the cities are good and well-maintained, with major highways crossing between the cities as well, but the roads and transport links in rural areas are not as numerous or high in quality.

Economy

Currency: Chip (Ch)

State: Powerhouse

Exchange rate: 1 Chip = $1.32 USD/$1 USD= 0.75 Chips

Unemployment rate: 11.2%

Major industries (NS): Automobile Manufacturing, Gambling, Book Publishing, and Uranium Mining.

Major industries: Mining, Timber, Arms Manufacturing, Agriculture

Exports: Timber, Uranium and Metal Ores

Imports: Oil, Rubber and Plastics.

Armed Forces: 15,000 personnel in the Army, 3,000 in the Air Force and 5,000 in the navy.

Government

Capital: Badenberg, pop. 5 million
Government Type: Elected board of Mayors
Grand Mayor: Bruno Janz
Other executive officials: Burghers

Legislative body: City Councils, Regional Forums

Political Parties: Trade and Shipping Party (incumbent), Mining Party
, Wheat and Cattle Party, Workers' Party

Geography

Geography Overview: Rhinehaus experiences mild winters and wet summers, leading to fertile valleys and good arable farmland throughout most of the country. The east of the country contains its only mountain range, the Metallbergs, and is the source of the nation's metal ores. The land was once heavily forested in many places, but now only the south retains the thick trees and abundance of game animals.

[Rhinehaus]

Regions, History and Politics

History

Rhinehaus began as a loose trading confederation of city-states in the late Medieval period. These cities had sprung from well-located market towns founded much earlier, where peasants and artisans would gather to trade goods and offer services. In time, these seasonal market towns became permanent dwelling places, with a year-round population of people mostly involved in the service industries (tavern owners, shop keepers and blacksmiths etc.). As the towns grew they began to assert a degree of control over the surrounding farmlands, mostly through economic pressures but occasionally through blackmail or force. In time, these towns grew into administrative hubs, with bankers and rich merchants buying huge tracts of land around them and either hiring peasants as farmers/labourers and keeping the profits from their harvest, or granting leases and farming rights to freemen who were free to use the land as they wished. As this system of city folk exploiting the rural areas grew more formal, the cities began to adopt the roles of government, with city mayors becoming more like feudal princes (though in fact the feudal system itself never really took off in Rhinehaus).

As this state of affairs grew from a co-dependent alliance to a parasitic one, several peasants' revolts happened independently in three of the four cities, forcing the establishment of Bills of Rights in each (akin to a proto-constitution). While this was going on, each city began to rub up against each other, leading to the 4 Mayors War in the late 16th century. This war developed into a bloody stalemate, with no one city gaining a clear advantage or trusting any other to form an alliance that might win the conflict. Eventually the Treaty of the Rhine was signed which established clear areas of control, marked out by natural landmarks, for each city, bringing an end to the "Bloody Decades" as they were called. With these clear borders established, the cities soon began sending caravans down the roads designed for armies, enriching themselves via inter-city trade. The nation of Rhinehaus was officially formed in the early 19th century, bringing all 4 cities together under the rule of the largest and most prosperous, Badenberg. In return, each city remained autonomous within its own region, and affairs concerning the nation as a whole were voted upon at first by the 4 Mayors, and later by an elected board of Mayors, Burghers and Guild representatives.

The 4 Cities

Badenberg (Pop: 8 million): The largest and most prosperous city, Badenberg controls the mountains to the east and the fertile Rhine river flood plains. This gave it the advantage of high-quality steel and a large food surplus, both essential in attaining its dominant position in Rhinehauser politics. The city itself is home to 5 million of the nation's 23 million citizens, with a further 3 million living in small towns and villages in the surrounding rural areas. Badenbergers pride themselves on their hard-working, determined nature, and see their steel industry as the beating heart of the nation. The other three cities see Bandenbergers as aloof and haughty, with a tendency towards stubbornness and conservatism. Certainly, the capital contains the most religious population, with the grand cathedral packed out every Sunday.

Kunke (Pop: 6 million): The next largest city, Kunke is Rhinehaus' major port, and a centre for international trade. Whereas Badenbergers are famous for their stubbornness and pride, Kunkians are known for their adaptiveness and flexibility. Whilst detractors would say that this means that Kunkers are shifty, or conniving, the people themselves would describe their fellows as open-minded, tolerant and welcoming. Whatever the case, Kunke is the doorway to Rhinehaus, and as such is often the first to come into contact with new ideas and technologies from abroad.

Köhler (Pop: 5 Million): Only just smaller than Kunke, Köhler could not be more different. Occupying the south of the country, the city borders the last great forest of Rhinehaus, and its people are often known as brooding and mysterious. Whilst the Kunkians embrace change and technology, the Köhlerans often shun it, and they have certainly been the last to adapt to change historically. Whilst in the modern world it is impossible to avoid technology and its advances, Köhler nevertheless has a reputation for backwardness and regressive attitudes. The Köhlerans themselves say they were decended from wild wood tribes, and certainly they are generally the tallest and strongest Rhinehausers. The Köhleran army, though not as large as Kunke or Badenberg's, was the most feared during the War of the Four Mayors, and came closest to claiming victory when it besieged the gates of Kunke itself. Only the attack of a Badenberg army in the rear of the Köhleran force stopped the city falling (a fact the Badenbergers are keen to remind both cities of), and even today Köhlerans make up the majority of Rhinehaus' armed forces.

Langer (Pop: 4 million): The last, least and strangest of the four cities, Langer fiercely guards its autonomy and its sense of identity. The only city not to suffer a peasants' revolt, it did so by placing strict controls on the influence of its bankers and merchants, instead granting the land rights to the church for distribution. As such, the mercantile nature of the other three cities never really caught on in Langer, instead the city was run with faith and pragmatism by the Bishop-Mayor (a title that persists today). Whilst possessing no real unique resources, geography dictated a sense of quiet isolation, with the mighty river Langer bisecting the Rhinehaus landscape cutting the city of God off from the merchants and heathens to the south. Whilst the attitudes of the bishops softened over time, the decision to join with the other nations in the Treaty of the Rhine was highly controversial, and there are plenty within and without Langer who wouldn't mind seeing them reverse it.