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 off the coast of Newfoundland. 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.

Government
New Cambria is a representative democracy and a parliamentary 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.

The President of New Cambria is a largely ceremonial office that serves as a diplomat, figurehead and head of state, but who can also block a law voted by Parliament and put it to a national referendum. The current President is Daniel Burns. The head of government is the Prime Minister, who, together with the Assembly of State, takes care of the executive branch of government. The Assembly of State 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 Assembly of State and how its seats are to be distributed, under the condition that it has a majority support in Parliament. Only when the party leaders are unable to reach a conclusion by themselves in a reasonable time does the President exercise this power and form a government himself.

The governments of New Cambria 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 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.

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

Politics
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. 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). 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.

Many other parties exist on the local level, most of which run only locally inside a single municipality.

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.

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.

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.