Serriel
Kingdom of Serriel | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
| Motto: Tanrı, Millet, Kibar God, Nation, King | |
| Anthem: "Royal Anthem of Serriel" | |
 Serriel on a map, with Iskiram to the west and the Tenebric Ocean to the east. | |
| Capital and | Serriel |
| Official languages | Serrin (Turkish) |
| Recognised national languages | Suhari (Arabic) |
| Demonym(s) | Serrielan |
| Government | Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy |
• King | Muharrem II |
• Prime Minister | Selim Ozcelik |
| Legislature | Parliament |
| Area | |
• | 66,720 km2 (25,760 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• Estimate | 19,210,600 |
• Density | 138.05/km2 (357.5/sq mi) |
| GDP (nominal) | estimate |
• Total | NSD 140.3 billion |
| Gini | 48.8 high |
| HDI (2017) |  0.827very high |
| Currency | Serrielan Lira (SRL) |
The Kingdom of Serriel is a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy in Neria in the International Democratic Union, comprising the large metropolitan city of Serriel and arid surrounding areas. The nation borders the Tenebric Ocean to the west, and the Sultanate of Iskiram to the east. The medieval Hanifid Caliphate represented a high tide of Serrielan influence and development, controlling an expanse of land extending across Serriel and modern-day Iskiram with its traders establishing colonies and trade routes across the Tenebric Ocean.
In the modern day, the urban strip surrounding the city of Serriel is extremely prosperous and developed, but much of the country consists of unproductive desert. The city of Serriel is a major and prosperous financial center, although the nation's income inequality (as measured by the Gini coefficient) is among the largest in the IDU, and slums and rural areas remain largely underdeveloped. Serriel is notable as a constitutional monarchy with a semi-democratic political system, as the location of one of Neria's preeminent stock exchanges, as a major tax haven, and as perhaps the most influential Muslim-majority nation in the IDU.
History
Origins
Serrielan early history is largely passed down through oral tradition, making history from the period difficult to uncover. Various nomadic tribes, including the Serrin (a people of Turkic origin) and the Suhar (believed to be related to the Arabs), existed in the region. Islam arrived in Serriel around the year 740 CE, and during the Usman wars (755-770) the Suhar warlord Tarik Usman united the coastal strip of modern-day Serriel under the Usman Caliphate, a strong Islamic state known for its fine arts and pottery. Usman's army was noteworthy for its skilled cavalrymen and legions of soldiers (among the world's first standing armies) but faced constant incursions from Suhari raiders.
Hanifid Caliphate
The Usman Caliphate gave way to the Hanifid Caliphate, a powerful and prosperous empire of the 1200s, soon sending traders and explorers to destinations around the Tenebric Ocean. These traders and settlers brought Islam to kingdoms such as Mallancaland and Kaijan in the Slokais Islands, while the lands of the caliphate itself included all of modern Serriel and large portions of modern-day Iskiram. Seen with nostalgia by Serrielan nationalists to this day, the Hanifid Empire laid claim to the allegiance of all Muslims in the IDU with its sultan taking on the role of Caliph, while the capital city of Karakent was a center of culture, art, and literature.
The Hanifid Wars of Succession (1734-1746) ushered in the Hanifid Caliphate's precipitous decline. By 1780, the caliphate's territory was largely divided into weak "gunpowder principality" successor states, and Serriel would not again be unified until the creation of the Serrielan Sultanate in 1892.
Industrialization
In 1780, traders from the then-French colony of Terre-Haute (present-day Laeral and High Fells) established a trade settlement along the coast, where they traded with the Suhar. Throughout the 1800s, foreign traders hailing from Laeral, Shuell, Darya, Slokais Islands, Lehvant, and many other nations reached Serriel's shores, shaping the new nation and leading to the development of railroads, bridges, and other infrastructure.
In 1884, the Bey Mansur Hazinedar, a Serrin noble who ruled the city of Karakent (modern-day Serriel City) used his army, equipped with weaponry that they had traded for with Laeralian and other foreign traders, began an extended campaign of conquest against the ruler of the city of Pasimit and the various Suhar tribes of the desert and highlands. Hazinedar succeeded in unifying a large coastal region under his rule, but faced opposition in the interior from the Sheikh Zuhayr Bilal, who had unified many of the Suhar tribes. Bilal himself was captured, and many of his warriors were sold into slavery, following the Battle of Assarrah in 1891. Hazinedar declared himself the Sultan of Serriel (meaning 'land of the Serrin') in a coronation in 1892.
In 1912, a Suhar uprising led by Khaldun Bilal (son of Sheikh Zuhayr Bilal) led to continuing conflict with the Hazinedar Sultanate. The death of Sultan Mansur in 1937 led to Islamic religious figures (known as the ulema) to assume a greater role under his son, Sultan Selim III.
Selim III, a powerful and autocratic leader, skillfully leveraged support from foreign nations to maintain his grip on power and promote continued Serrielan industrialization; by the outbreak of the Great War in 1961, the standard of living in Serriel's urban regions was akin to that of Opthelia or Xiomera. Selim led Serriel into alignment with the Coalition of Democratic Forces during the Great War due to a desire to curb Dual Monarchy influence in northern Neria.
It was the Serriel-Iskiram War, however, that proved to place much greater burdens on the Serrielan homeland. An attempt to elevate Serriel to hegemony over northern Neria, the war was prompted in the short-term by mistreatment of the Muslim minority in Iskiram and the desire to control the Sufaj Waterway. The war against Serriel's more-populous, yet comparatively-impoverished, neighbor led to immense domestic hardship and tremendous loss of life. The later years of the war coincided with communist mobilization, particularly during the so-called Kırmızı Yıl ("Red Year") of 1977, which saw halk konseyleri, or worker's councils, created by local cadres across Serriel.
In 1977, General Demir Sarraf, a renowned military leader, deposed the Sultan in the September Coup with the encouragement of foreign intelligence services. King Demir proved a moderate, pro-foreign leader, notably crowning himself as King rather than Sultan. During his reign, he secularized the nation and worked to attract foreign investment. The House of Sarraf has led the nation ever since. King Cemil I adopted a new, democratic constitution in 1992, establishing Serriel's modern semi-democratic regime.
Geography
Despite Serriel's small area, two major biomes are represented within the nation. The coastal region around Serriel's interior is temperate and fertile, although the expansion of the city itself limits large-scale agriculture. Further inland, the predominant terrain becomes desert and mountainous highlands, inhabited by desert flora and fauna ranging from foxes to saker falcons, the national animal of Serriel. The desert highlands are sparsely populated in comparison to the coastal belt, where over 75% of the population lives.
The city of Serriel is the dominant population center, with roughly nine million of the kingdom's nineteen million people living in the city proper or its suburbs, which range from the slum district of Kalaba to the genteel Eşme. Other cities include Pasimit, an industrial center in the southern coast, and Nasah, a historic trading town in the interior, along with smaller towns such as Cevdetiye, Ortaköy, and Thadiq. For administrative purposes, Serriel is divided into six provinces: Central, Nasah, Highlands, Pasimit, Kusrah, and Cevdetiye.
Economy
Within the city of Serriel, the service sector is dominant among the middle and upper classes. Financial services, such as stock brokerage, banking, and accounting, make up a substantial portion of the economy, centered on the city's Financial District. Other service areas, such as customer service, hospitality, and the tourism sector, also make up portions of the urban economy. Menial labor, such as construction and domestic help, is supplied by a large and growing workforce of guest workers, particularly from the Serrielan highland areas and developing nations such as the Sultanate of Iskiram.
Outside of the city itself, agriculture (including fruits, vegetables, and tobacco), jewelry-production, metalworking, and pearl-diving are major industries as well. The oil and gas sector, centered on the inland highlands regions, represents another avenue of economic development.
Politics
Serriel is a parliamentary democracy conducted under the auspices of a constitutional monarchy, with the King as head of state. Under the Constitution of 1992, voters in 65 single-member constituencies elect members of the national parliament, the Şura Meclis, under a first-past-the-post system, as well as 45 seats elected by nationwide proportional representation, while the King selects a total of 30 MPs to represent women, the elderly, and other groups. Elections are held every five years, or sooner if the 140-member Parliament is dissolved.
The King of Serriel, currently Muharrem II, is a position passed by patrilineal succession through the House of Sarraf. The King retains the power to nominate a Prime Minister and the authority to dissolve Parliament, as King Muharrem II did following the 2014 elections. The large and extended royal family retains significant wealth and influence in business.
Since the advent of democratic politics in Serriel, governments have been led by the All-Serriel National Union (ASNU) party, which has consistently won an outright majority in national elections. ASNU is a moderate, big-tent political party, generally in favor of free-market economics and moderate secularism and social liberalism. The primary opposition force is the Islamist Bloc, a coalition of Islamist parties which won over 60 seats in the 2014 elections, prompting King Muharrem II to call fresh elections. Various minor parties also exist, notably the Democratic Alliance, a liberal party calling for wide-ranging reform to the Serrielan political system, and the center-left parties of the Serrielan Bloc.
Serriel is a unitary state; all government affairs are managed centrally from the capital.