Mansilla

Kingdom of Mansilla Regno di Mansilla
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Paradisio in Terra Paradise on Earth
Anthem: "Buon Sangue e Oro" Royal anthem: "Salutano il Re"
Capital	Brunelli (called "Cerano" until 1962 decree)
Largest	Sanclaro
Official languages	Italian, Sicilian
Demonym(s)	Mansillian
Government	Unitary constitutional monarchy Totalitarian Dictatorship
• King	Roberto IV
• Prime Minister	Giancarlo Ricci
Establishment
• Founded (1st Kingdom)	1853 AD
• Brunelli Regime	February 1937 AD
• Constitution of Mansilla adopted (2nd Kingdom)	August 1937
Population
• 2018 estimate	4.21 Million
• 2003 census	3.9 Million
GDP (nominal)	2018 estimate
• Total	$71.5 billion
• Per capita	$16,971
Gini (2008)	43.3 medium
HDI (2008)	0.781 high
Currency	Brunellian Lira
Date format	mm-dd-yyyy, AD/BC
Driving side	left
Internet TLD	.mansilla

The Kingdom of Mansilla (colloquially, Mansilla) is a small island nation situated in the northernmost part of the Olympic Ocean. Though nominally a constitutional monarchy, Mansilla is effectively administered by its Prime Minister, currently Gran Custodé Giancarlo Ricci, who has been in office since 1996 and holds near absolute power in the nation. The Mansillian economy is relatively small but nearly self-sustaining and moderately diverse, comprised of a large agriculture sector, a smaller manufacturing sector, and a thriving tourist industry thanks to sweeping foreign policy reforms in the mid-1980s. Mansilla is known for its beautiful rolling hills, vineyards, crystal blue waters, and elegant architecture.

The current government of Mansilla was established following the 1937 coup d'etat against the Ferrera dynasty, which saw Luca Brunelli's rise to power, the execution of Stephano X, and the establishment of the 2nd Kingdom after a formal constitution was drafted in August of the same year.

Etymology

Though the origin of the term "Mansilla" is not exactly known, it's likely derived from the pre-Italian words mens and sila, meaning "God's Dominion" or, more literally, "God's Seat." The Mansillan archipelago was first settled by Catholics from Pionea—a small mercantile principality in Liberalia—in the late 14th century, which may explain the overtly theological undertones of the name. The general demonym for citizens of Mansilla is "Mansillan(s)," though "Mansillians," is also used with a great degree of frequency.

History

First Kingdom (1853-1937)

Initially a ducal holding of Pionea, Mansilla became an independent absolute monarchy in 1853 as a result of the Treaty of Cephalia, which concluded the Cerini War of Succession, a bitter succession dispute for the throne. Prince Fernando di Cerini, later taking the name Fernando I, was named the first monarch of the Kingdom of Mansilla, which received papal recognition as a "Catholic Kingdom" shortly after the conclusion of the war. Throughout his short-lived reign, Fernando I, a deeply spiritual man, resisted efforts to industrialize the Mansillian economy, believing that doing so would plunge the archipelago into a state of moral degeneracy, destroying the family unit and driving sacredly held institutions to ruin. This policy of economic isolation persisted for many decades, but grew unpopular by the turn of the 20th century as continental Liberalia became increasingly urban, industrialized and wealthy. Upon the abdication of Stephano VIII from the Mansillan throne in 1898 due to declining health, his son and successor, Stephano IX, vowed to open up the nation to increased foreign trade. Although Stephano IX died young in 1913 from tuberculosis, his son, Stephano X, continued his father's legacy, traveling frequently overseas, attending foreign banquets, and even emptying the national coffers on multiple occasions to purchase foreign artwork, textiles, mirrors, and other imported goods. By the early 1920s, Mansilla was exporting tens of thousands of pounds of rubber and sugarcane each year. The nation's once bucolic landscape was dotted with refineries and industrial plantations.

Although the national GDP of Mansilla is estimated to have quintupled between 1915 and 1925 thanks to foreign investment, public support for Stephano started to wear thin as only a small fraction of that economic growth made its way to the majority of the Mansillan population. Stephano, for his part, could not have done a better job of turning the people of Mansilla against him in the late 1920s, embarking on countless expensive vanity projects and displaying utter contempt for his subjects at every public appearance. In and of itself, Stephano's behavior would not have been enough to spell disaster for his reign. An aloof and xenophilic monarch prone to indulgent spending sprees was nothing new to Mansilla. Instead, Stephano's undoing (and eventual demise) stemmed from his uncanny ability to seemingly pinpoint with precision accuracy the worst possible advisors and appoint them to critical positions within his regime. To repair his public image, for example, Stephano appointed Marco di Messas as his Prime Minister, an eccentric former local governor whose standoffish tendencies and palpable distaste for the commoners rivaled even that of his liege. To make matters worse, Di Messas was a notorious philanderer and controversy magnet, traits which did not sit well with the relatively conservative, Catholic population of Mansilla. Stephano's more critical mistake occurred just a year after the appointment of Di Messas in 1932, however, with the instatement of Luca Brunelli as the de facto head of the Mansillan military, ignoring the warnings of friends and rivals alike that Brunelli could not be trusted.

1937 Coup

Easily the most divisive figure in Mansillan history, General Luca Brunelli deposed Stephano X in 1937 and instituted the modern regime.

As soon as he was made head of the Mansillan military, Brunelli began plotting to remove Stephano from power, coalescing many of the nation's highest-ranking disillusioned military and political figures under his banner, the newly-formed reactionary Fronte Nazionale Unito, a precursor to the Mansillan National Party. The party, which existed illegally, but as an open secret, advocated for an end to foreign-owned plantations, a reduction in the authority of the monarchy, and the formation of a national parliament. Many within the the FNU seem to have believed that Stephano would entertain their demands without bloodshed once it became clear that even the monarch's closest advisors opposed his reign, but Stephano simply ignored the mounting opposition to his regime. On January 8, 1937, Brunelli, backed by most of Stephano's advisors, marched on Stephano's palace, placing him under arrest and declaring a junta government with Brunelli at the helm. Di Messas escaped, fled to San Giovanni island, and began coalescing loyalist forces around him to launch a counterinsurgency. When it became clear that Brunelli had no intention of relinquishing power or reinstating Stephano under a new constitution, FNU splintered into a number of belligerent factions.

Hardliners who continued to support Brunelli's regime executed Stephano on March 15 of the same year following a show trial, which, without introducing a single witness or piece of evidence, found Stephano guilty of perpetrating heinous sex crimes against young male members of his court. Angelo Gingiartti, one of the architects of the initial coup, deeply troubled by the slaying of Stephano, resigned as chairman of the newly founded Mansillan revolutionary army, taking many of Brunelli's closest allies with him. Concurrently, as the FNU imploded, a number of socialist partisan groups who had long waited in the woodwork for such an opportunity to seize the reigns of the country, launched an offensive of their own to take the archipelago, led by defected loyalist general Alonso Cremonisi and Eduardo Venezia, a longtime covert socialist conspirator within the FNU ranks. Despite fighting a two-front war and contending with considerable internal conflict within his own faction, Brunelli prevailed against both the socialist partisans and loyalist forces. Cremonisi was killed during a skirmish with Brunelli's forces, leading Venezia to abandon open conflict in favor of a protracted guerilla warfare campaign. In late July of 1937, the last of Di Messa's loyalists surrendered the city of Sanclaro to Brunelli. Di Messa was later found in hiding and was subsequently executed.

Second Kingdom (1937-present)

Burlusconian Restoration

Still lacking support for his regime among certain powerful families that had not officially taken a side during the coup, Brunelli made the decision to reinstate the monarchy in June of 1937. On August 1, the Mansillian National Front (the nation's de facto governing body at that time) adopted the Constitution of Mansilla, which appointed Fernando Berlusconi, Stephano X's cousin, as the figurehead ruler of Mansilla. Under the newly adopted constitution, near-absolute power was held by the Gran Custode (Prime Minister), a role that Brunelli was more than happy to assume, though a parliament, the Voccientilles, was established to appease more liberal members of the new order.

Less than 24 hours after the Constitution's adoption, an assassin was able to breach the perimeter of Brunelli's estate and fire upon the newly minted Prime Minister as he was eating dinner. Brunelli survived the attack and personally oversaw the assassin's torture. Brunelli's would-be-killer, who was initially presumed to be an agent of Venezia, confessed that he had been sent on the behest of Angelo Gingiartti. Attempting to flee the nation, Gingiartti was stopped at a military checkpoint outside of Cerano (now Brunelli) around midnight that evening, taken into custody, and executed by firing squad on August 8, 1937. Venezia, who was captured during an ill-fated assault on Saclaro by republican forces on August 4 and was executed alongside Gingiartti. Surviving socialist, and loyalist forces were dispersed by the end of the month, marking the end of major opposition to Brunelli's regime for more than two decades.

Brunelli Regime

Upon securing power, Brunelli inaugurated two programs which would forever alter the character of Mansilla: morte ai traditori ("slaying of the traitors"), a huge purge of the Mansillan party to root out dissidents, and lotta contro la indegno ("struggle against the unworthy"), a war against perceived degeneracy. To carry out his brutal mission, Brunelli formed the Ufficio di Pubblica Sicurezza, the Mansillan secret police, who began conducting raids and making arrests as early as 1939. Between 1940 and 1947, around three hundred individuals were arrested, subjected to show trials and either exiled or executed, depending on the severity of their alleged transgressions against the regime. During this time period, virtually all heavy industry was nationalized. As the purges concluded, Brunelli doubled down on his war on degeneracy, making even interacting with known or suspected socialists, progressives, liberals, capitalists, homosexuals, or adulterers a capital offense. In 1946, the borders of Mansilla were closed to almost all foreigners, though a number of port cities remained open to receive a small number of imported goods. Struggling financially even before the coup, the Brunelli reforms sent the Mansillan economy into a tailspin from which it has never fully recovered.

Naturally, Brunelli's reforms were extremely unpopular, leading him to roll back some of his more draconian personal association restrictions in the early 1950s, but the nation remained a police state. In secret, a number of republican and socialist partisan groups began plotting to take Brunelli out, recognizing that, by the mid-1950s, all of the Prime Minster's natural successors were dead, imprisoned, or exiled. Around thirty assassination attempts were made on Brunelli's life between the 1937 coup and 1960. On November 22, 1960, while driving to a formal function, Brunelli's motorcade was ambushed by the socialist partisan group Esercito di Liberazione Popolare. Covertly backed by the Laeralian Bureau of Foreign Intelligence, ELP succeeded where dozens had failed, bringing an end to Brunelli. What ELP did not anticipate, however, was the meek, understated head of the Ufficio di Pubblica Sicurezza, Lorenzo D'Amaro, who wrestled control of the Mansillan government before Brunelli's body was even in the ground, deftly crushing opposition within his government, and rooting out socialist partisans before they were able to stage a rebellion.

D'Amaro Regime

Lorenzo D'Amaro took office in late 1960, and initially ruled as a page out of Brunelli's book, continuing the lotta contro reforms, but loosened the grip of the prime ministry over the Mansillian parliament.

Modern Regime

On June 14, 1996, Di Brambilla resigned as Prime Minister of Mansilla, turning the position over to his son-in-law, Giancarlo Ricci, with fairly minimal fanfare. This event marked the first peaceful transition of power in 83 years.

Geography

The nation of Mansilla is situated on a long-extinct volcanic island chain called Cresta Eterna. Of the islands in this chain, San Clemente (Brunelli) and San Giovanni (Sanclaro) are by far the largest and most populous. Due to the archipelago's mineral rich, volcanic soil, Mansilla is extremely well suited for cultivating nutrient-demanding crops. Most of the country is covered in rolling hills, though the two largest population centers, Sanclaro and Brunelli, both reside upon relatively flat plains abutting natural harbors. Mansilla's infrastructure is generally poor outside of metropolitan areas, and many of the Cresta Eterna isle's are accessible only by ferry, with no freight or road access. As a result, these areas are extremely rural and isolated from the rest of the country.

Politics

Government

Although the monarch of Mansilla is nominally the head of state, he holds very little power and serves almost exclusively as a figurehead. The monarch can be removed from power (and the monarchy can be outright dissolved) by a unanimous vote of the Voccientilles, the Mansillan parliament, though this has never occurred. Members of the Voccientilles are theoretically appointed by direct election, though few Mansillan citizens are actually eligible to vote. The National Party of Mansilla (NPM) has been known to use intimidation, threats of violence, and assassination in order to prevent opposition leaders from gaining a seat. In this way, the Voccientilles is essentially marionetted by the NPM's leadership. The prime minister of Mansilla, officially known as the Gran Custodé di Regno di Mansilla, also servers as the commander-in-chief of the Mansillan military and is often the chairman of the NPM or the de facto leader. The prime minister is technically beholden to and appointed by the Voccientilles, but, since Voccientilles can only retain their positions by remaining loyal to the NPM, which is usually headed by the prime minister, a rogue parliament is very rare, though it did occur in 1977.

Military and Foreign Relations

The size of the Mansillan military is unknown, but has been estimated to account for around 33% to 40% of the nation's government spending. Mansilla maintains no strong strategic or economic ties with foreign entities and has refused to sign or join any international treaties or organizations. Since the 1940s, Mansilla has maintained a policy of strict neutrality in international affairs and maintains that its sizable military is purely maintained for defense purposes. Prime Minister D'Amaro had the Mansillan army engineer corps construct between 1000 and 1200 fallout shelters across the nation over the course of his 17 year tenure, and was allegedly convinced that an invasion or nuclear attack on Mansilla was imminent, though subsequent leaders have cut back on militarization of the country.

Demographics

Given Mansilla's isolated geographic location and strict immigration/emigration bans until the mid 1980s, nearly 98% of all denizens self-classified as Pionea, the native Latin-Caucasian ethnicity, in the nation's 2003 census. 81% of the Mansillan population is concentrated in its two largest cities, Brunelli and Sanclaro, the former of which has seen substantial growth since the mid 2000s. Although Mansilla has high birthrates, infant mortality is comparatively high relative to the developed world.

Economy

Mansilla is a nominally capitalist nation, making no efforts to prevent citizens from freely engaging in trade, buying, owning, and selling assets (including real estate), and establishing limited enterprises. International commerce and large-scale industry, however, is highly regulated. All major holdings are jointly held between the owner and the state, creating a system where most international trade is conducted by pseudo-nationalized corporations. Such trade, however, is rare, given the Mansillan government's relatively isolationist stance on foreign policy and trade.

Trade

Tourist kite and windsurfers at a porto aperto in Sanclaro

From 1937 until 1981, virtually all imports into Mansilla (excluding some medical supplies and machine parts) were halted. Naturally, this resulted in widespread shortages of many commodities and necessitated harsh rationing. Although some bans have been lifted, the nation engages in very little international trade and overseas investment is strictly prohibited. To avoid "corrupting the national character of Mansilla," imported name-brand goods are generally not allowed to retain identifying characteristics of the brand, instead being sold simply under the generic name of the item. Mansilla has a thriving black market for all manner of imported goods, often with a 400% or greater markup.

Tourism

Since the di Brambilla regime, tourism has made up a sizeable section of the Mansillan economy, though travel visas only grant foreign visitors access to porto apertos, designated resort regions which are directly surveilled by the Mansillan army. Incidentally, petty crime in porto apertos, particularly petty crime perpetrated against vacationers, is a rarity, making Mansilla a reasonably safe travel destination compared to other developing nations. Porto apertos are the only principalities in the country where gambling is legal. Mansillan citizens are generally prohibited from entering porto apertos unless they work at one of the institutions within, which are highly coveted careers due to higher pay than most other labor-oriented positions.