New Cambria

New Cambria, officially the Republic of New Cambria (French: République de Nouvelle-Cambrie; Keva: Orvehi Đijoro) is a country in the North Atlantic Ocean, comprising the island of New Cambria and five smaller populated islands near the boundary between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. Home to a culturally distinct indigenous people known as the Keva, New Cambria was explored by French fur traders beginning in the 1640s, then settled mostly by Roman Catholic emigrants from Great Britain during the seventeenth- and eighteenth centuries. New Cambria experimented with limited self-rule during World War II, and declared its independence from the United Kingdom in 1956. Following a series of negotiations between the British and New Cambrian governments, the Republic of New Cambria was recognized in 1961, and functions under a parliamentary republican form of government. Arvant is its capital and largest city.

Geography
New Cambria Island is roughly triangular in shape. Its northern and western shores are dotted with dozens of natural harbours. Several of the country's major cities have been built up around them, Arvant and Southport, for example. On the eastern coast of the island, cliffs rise out of the sea, the highest of which measure over 180m. Stone County takes its name from the rocky coastline in this part of the island.

New Cambria's nearby islands are far less developed than their larger neighbour, and large parts of Alaric and Saint Claire Islands are still uninhabited.

Climate
New Cambria is situated between the cold Labrador Current and the warm Gulf Stream Current. Because of this, fog is quite common throughout the country. New Cambrians enjoy mild summers and cold, wet winters. Due to its awkward oceanic location, snowfall is less common than other places at a similar latitude, but freezing rain is a near-daily occurrence in the winter months. The warmest temperature ever recorded in the country was 35.9 degrees Celsius (96.6 degrees Fahrenheit) on 24 July 1929. The coldest ever recorded temperature was -34.5 degrees Celsius (-30.1 degrees Fahrenheit) on 16 February 1970.

Government
New Cambria is a representative democracy and a parliamentary republic. The President of New Cambria is a largely ceremonial office whose chief duties are to present and represent the Republic abroad, and function as a ceremonial head of state. Among some of his or her limited powers, the President can block a piece of legislation and put it to a national referendum. The extent of the political powers possessed by the office of the President is disputed by legal scholars in New Cambria. Several provisions of the Constitution appear to give the President some important powers, but other provisions and traditions suggest differently. The current President is Daniel Burns. He was elected to the office in 2003.

The head of government is the Prime Minister, who, together with the Executive Council, oversees the government's executive branch. The Executive Council is appointed by the President after general elections to Parliament. This process is usually conducted by the leaders of the political parties, however, who decide amongst themselves which parties can form the Executive Council and how its seats are to be distributed, under the condition that it enjoys majority support in Parliament. Only when party leaders are unable to reach a conclusion by themselves in a reasonable time does the President exercise this power and form the council himself.

The Executive Councils have almost always been coalitions with two or more parties involved, due to the fact that no single political party has received a majority of seats in Parliament since New Cambria became a republic.

The modern parliament was founded in 1956 as part of a five-year power-transfer agreement between New Cambria and Great Britain. The Parliament of the Republic of New Cambria first convened in 1961. It consists of 100 members, and elections must be held at least every three years. Counties are given an apportionment of seats in Parliament, and then constituency boundaries are created, abolished or altered based on each county's apportionment. Before 1998, Parliament's 100 seats were apportioned by each county's population. However, New Cambria's islander, Keva and French-speaking populations, most of whom live outside the greater Arvant area, felt under-represented. Thus, the Parliamentary Apportionment Act 1997 was passed, which guaranteed each county a minimum of three seats. Therefore, 27 of Parliament's 100 seats are allocated equally amongst the nine counties, with the remaining 73 allocated by population. In effect, the passing of this Act transferred 7 seats from the two most populous counties (six from St. George's and one from Cape Bangor) to the five least populous counties. St. David's, Stone and Trinity Counties each gained one seat; Cavit Island and the Outer Islands each gained two seats.

Municipal and parliamentary elections take place every three years. Presidential elections are held every six years.

Political Parties
For the most part, New Cambria has a left-right multi-party system. The biggest party is the centre-right Independence Party, while the second-largest is the Social Democrat Party. Other major political parties are the centrist Progressive Party, the left-wing ecological Green Party, and the right-wing National Party. Two additional parties operate outside the traditional left-right system. The Keva minority has its own party, called Eđa Elaho Ohati (literally Voice of the First People, often referred to as EEO in English and French). Originally formed as an alternative for Keva voters who felt excluded from the political process, the EEO has experienced a growth in electoral popularity among non-Keva voters in the past decade. The French-speaking community also has a party, the Parti égalité (Equality Party), though it has struggled to find a foothold amongst voters due to competition from the French-speaking chapters of the major parties. Historically, the National and Independence parties support each other in Parliament, as do the Green and Social Democrat parties. The Progressive Party most often votes with the majority, while alignments of the French- and Keva-communities' parties are much more difficult to predict.

Many other parties exist on the local level, most of which run only locally inside a single municipality. Parliament is currently controlled by a coalition between members of the Independence, Progressive and National parties and two independent members. The Social Democrat, Green and Equality parties sit in opposition. While the EEO did not formally declare support for either faction in this Parliament, its MPs more frequently vote with the opposition.

Foreign Relations
New Cambria maintains diplomatic and commercial relations with practically all nations, but enjoys especially close ties to Canada, the United States, Iceland and Denmark, the latter mostly via Greenland. For its first three decades of existence, the republic voluntarily kept itself out of global politics. The end of the Cold War seemed to put an end to this tradition, as New Cambria now regularly interacts with other countries. New Cambria is one of the few countries to continue to recognize the democratic Republic of China on Taiwan.

Military
New Cambria has no standing army, but does have a Coast Guard and a highly-trained Crisis Response Unit. New Cambria frequently participates in international aid and humanitarian missions.

Administrative Divisions
New Cambria has 65 municipalities grouped into nine counties, of which seven are located on New Cambria Island itself. Cavit Island functions as its own county, but Alaric Island and its neighboring islets are grouped together as the "Outer Islands."

Demographics
The original population of New Cambria was an indigenous people called the Keva. The Keva's recorded history extends back over two millennia, and physical remnants of their society, culture and religion are evident throughout the islands.

In 2006, an estimated 197,000 people (approx. 7.1% of the total population) who were living in New Cambria had been born abroad, including children of New Cambrian parents living abroad. Approximately 130,000 people (4.7% of the population) held foreign citizenship. Canadians and Americans make up the far largest minority nationalities, and still form the bulk of the foreign workforce. About 56,000 Canadians and 43,000 Americans now live in New Cambria, mostly in and around the capital city. The recent surge in immigration has been credited to a labor shortage caused by the booming economy, and a simultaneous relaxing of immigration restrictions designed to attract immigrants from Europe.

The northern third of New Cambria Island is the country's most densely populated region. It is the location of the capital city Arvant, in whose general vicinity over a third of all New Cambrians live.

Language
New Cambria's official language is English, and most New Cambrians speak a distinct dialect called New Cambrian English. The country's constitution protects and promotes certain minority languages as established by law. Currently, French (approx. 170,000 speakers) and Keva (~90,000 speakers) enjoy such protected status. The most widely-spoken minority language without special constitutional protection is Bosnian, with an estimated 5,000 speakers.

Keva, known in its own language as Hejvat, is a language isolate, linguistically unrelated to any other living language. The total number of Keva-language speakers in New Cambria has consistently declined since census record keeping began in the mid-1800s. In the last two decades, the Keva community and the Ministry of Culture has worked to make Keva language more accessible and visible in everyday life. In 1997, the first official Keva translation of the New Cambrian constitution (Keva: Đanehe Eha Orvehi Đijoro) was published.

Foreign language study is a required component of public and private education at all levels. Most New Cambrian students receive education in French and Spanish, though other European languages are gaining in popularity.

Religion
New Cambrians enjoy freedom of religion under the constitution, though the Roman Catholic Church is the state church. The National Registry keeps account of the religious affiliation of every New Cambrian citizen. In 2006, New Cambrians divided into religious groups as follows:


 * 80.7% members of the Roman Catholic Church
 * 6.2% members of unregistered religious organizations or with no specified religious affiliation
 * 4.9% members of the Anglican Church in New Cambria
 * 2.8% not members of any religious group
 * 2.5% followers of the Keva religious traditions

The remaining 2.9% is mostly divided between around 20-25 other Christian denominations and sects, with less than 1% belonging to non-Christian religious organizations. The largest non-Christian denomination is the Æstra Fellowship, a neo-pagan group. Religious attendance is relatively low, as in most Western countries.

Economy and Infrastructure
New Cambria's economy has historically been tied to the sea, with fishing and shipbuilding the largest industries for most of the island's history.

Education
New Cambria's education system is similar to that of most western countries. There are three tiers of education: primary, secondary and tertiary. State-sponsored education is free to New Cambrian citizens and their dependents at all levels, including university. The Department of Education and Achievement, under the control of the Ministry of Education, is in overall control of policy, funding and direction, though most of the day-to-day administration of schools is the duty of the municipal or county government. All children must begin compulsory education before their seventh birthdays.

Pre-Primary
Though not mandatory, most New Cambrian children begin schooling at age four or five, with some beginning pre-primary education at age three. The recent phenomena of urbanization the increasing number of double-income families have meant more young children are enrolling in pre-primary programs.

Compulsory Education
Primary level begins at grade one, and lasts through grade five. The primary curriculum is the most standardized of the three levels, with students receiving generalized instruction in physical and life sciences, maths, English language arts and mechanics, art, music, physical education, history and civics. Since 1998, foreign language instruction has been a part of the curriculum, with most students learning French or Spanish.

The secondary level begins at grade six and lasts through grade twelve. During secondary, students build on the subjects introduced in primary, with additional career-oriented and university-preparatory education. A certificate of completion is awarded to students who complete secondary level. This certificate is required for entrance into most tertiary institutions.

Until 2003, students were required to remain in school until age 18. Now, students may withdraw from compulsory education at age 17, or with parental consent required at age 16. At the same time, the Department of Education and Achievement created an Completion Equivalency Certificate (CEC), which secondary dropouts may earn after completing a prep course either in a classroom, by correspondence or online.

Tertiary
New Cambria offers students a number of options for post-secondary education. The University of New Cambria in Arvant is the country's premier tertiary institution. In total, New Cambria boasts six universities (three state-sponsored and three private) and four colleges.

Homeschooling
Homeschooling was illegal in New Cambria from 1970 to 1998, and is still actively discouraged by the Ministry of Education. Nevertheless, an estimated 100 children receive education in the home as of 2007.

Privately-funded schools
Like most other developed countries, many parents in New Cambria choose to send their children to privately-funded schools. Many of these are operated by the Roman Catholic Church or other religious organizations. New Cambria's French-speaking community also operates a network of French-language private schools.