Vesnay

Vesnay (Vesnayan: ⰂⰅⰓⰘⰐⰡ Verkhnja), officially the Illuminated Commonwealth of the Vesnay (ⰒⰓⰑⰔⰂⰅⰕⰎⰅⰐⰐⰟⰉⰋ ⰔⰑⰄⰓⰖⰈⰘⰅⰔⰕⰂⰑ ⰂⰅⰓⰘⰐⰡ Prosvetlennyi Sodruzhestvo Verkhnja), is a country located in west Hatar. Clockwise from its metropole, it borders to Kursica its south and Arsytia to its west. Its capital and largest city is Progress (ⰖⰔⰒⰅⰍⰘⰋ Uspekhi). Most of its territory lies in the floodplains of the Yircan River in the south and Mosta River in the north, which both empty westwards into Lake Nisqibal.

Vesnay in its modern, humanist form was spawned from the overthrowing of the Ostronate of the Vesnay, a despotic state beset by economic trouble and political unrest in its twilight years. The then-secretive Society of Tomorrow would produce the Commonwealth Blueprint, a manifesto promoting radical humanism and, and organize a revolutionary movement culminating as the Scholar's Conspiracy of 5 1849. Under the direction of the Society's president and ideologue Fucen Tasingje, a Fengese inquisitor exiled for her heretical Ultramaterialist beliefs, Vesnay underwent a radical restructuring of politics and society known as the Rational Revision, characterized by massive upheavals which aimed to "rationalize away the character of despotism (monarchy) and superstition (religion) in Vesnay" through or demolition. The Cult of the Progression, an esoteric humanist state cult, would be established during this time. The Revision lasted until Tasingje's death in 1876, upon which the Old Club, an oligarchic inner circle comprising founding revolutionaries and their protégés, succeeded her. Though moderated from its radicalistic excesses, autarky and general paranoia was the order of the day in Monolith Vesnay, informed by an arguably accurate assessment of humanist Vesnay as "an island of progress amidst boundless ignorance". The Bastion Policy, where Vesnay proactively sponsored similar revolutionary movements across Hatar, became national policy.

The effectiveness of the Bastion Policy is debatable, though the birth of several continental revolutionary states (most significantly Arsytia) throughout the rest of the 19th century would see to the end of autarky and slow relaxation of authoritarianism in Vesnay, as the country entered diplomatic and economic relationships with fellow revolutionaries. The refusal of the Old Club to terminate its oligarchic hold on power, alongside its corruption both real and perceived, would however instigate internal unrest in the Society's elite, allowing the military strongman and demagogue Megal Viniy to coup the ruling Chetyrka and install himself as president. Revisionist purges would gut the ranks of the ruling Society, leaving the Sycophancy - yes-men to Viniy's increasingly disastrous policy decisions, from the Yircan War to the Futurist Agriculture Plan. His reputation recovered somewhat when he led Vesnay's liberation from Axis occupation after its invasion during the Great Serrataran War, though his schizophrenic streak - culminating as the White Paper on Acceleration - saw him undoubtably vilified, if not feared. After his death, a soft coup was launched by the Contreists against his loyalists, installing pluralist democracy.

Modern Vesnay is a socialist republic founded on humanist and technocratic principles, and while the Society of Tomorrow rules the country as a, the liberal membership of the Society has in effect allowed for pluralist democracy. Citizens are politically active, enjoying a high standard of living brought by a  economy, first-rate educational standards, and effective. With as its focus, the Vesnayan mixed economy has substantial government interventions, notably through broad  and government monopolies in strategic industries and utilities. The private sector represents a slight majority of Vesnay's, dominated by cooperatives mutually competing in a similar fashion as private corporations through arrangements. Vesnay is a founding member of the Trans-Serrataran Union and Tavaric Treaty Organization, and is a member of the World Trade Federation.

Etymology
The name Vesnay is a saessified corruption of the Vesnayan endonym ⰂⰅⰓⰘⰐⰡ (verkhnja), which itself is derived from the word ⰂⰅⰓⰘⰐⰋⰋ (verkhnij), meaning "upper".

The term has variously been used to refer to Vesnay, the country or the Vesnay, the geographical-ethnographical region inhabited by the Vesnayan people, speaking the Vesnayan language. Historically, the term was used to refer to a vague ethnographical region defined as being "to the north" (thus upper) of the Urhanic culture sphere, inhabited by the native Vesnayese people. While the region is now commonly defined by the country's territorial boundaries, historically, its geographical extent has been difficult to pin down owing to the non-existence of Vesnay as a country until relatively recent history. The modern position is that the name Vesnay may be used interchangeably to refer to both concepts, differentiated from one another by either the exclusion or inclusion of the.

Government and politics
According to the Vesnayan constitutional document, the Blueprint for Erudition Eternal, Vesnay is a "socialist technocratic republic", founded on and governed by the principles of popular democracy and humanist technocracy. Unlike s more common in the rest of Hatar however, the Vesnayan government lacks an executive body: the powers of state are split between a legislative congress of popular and vocational representatives (the Chorus, ⰘⰑⰓ Khor), select members of which are elected to a judiciary (the High Order; ⰂⰟⰉⰔⰑⰍⰋⰋ ⰒⰑⰓⰡ́ⰄⰑⰍ Vynoskij Porjadok) - this diarchic framework has been described by commentators as a "humanist republic".

In humanist theory, citizens are represented through a hierarchy of public and vocational syndicates, which together form the Choral congress. This congress, ultimately sovereign through its democratic representation of all people (of the state), drafts legislation and elects representatives (tribunes; ⰕⰓⰋⰁⰖⰐⰀ tribuna) among themselves to the High Order, which is responsible for legislative oversight through interpretation and defense of the Blueprint. In this framework, the people theoretically are not just represented in the decision-making of the government, but are actively participating in it.

The Blueprint does not define a singular "leader" of the nation. The people lead and are the nation, this authority is only delegated to the collective legislature. In practice, the head of state is the Ordinator, the seniormost tribune of the High Order. The Ordinator is primus inter pares, and their duties outside their tribunal responsibilities largely ceremonial and ritualistic: they are the instantiation of national order and continuity, leading the national Cult of the Progression and expressing values of constitution and humanism through its esoteric rites. To a lesser extent, the Coryphe - the leader of the largest faction in the Chorus - is a secondary head of government, though unlike elsewhere in Hatar, the official powers of this office are much less apparent.

Beyond their legislative duties in the Chorus, the multifarious national syndicates function as the day-to-day administrators of the nation through their roles as representatives and commissars of the people. These syndicates may represent people by their constituency (regional syndicates; ⰏⰅ́ⰔⰕⰐⰟⰉⰋ ⰔⰋⰐⰄⰋⰍⰀⰕ mеstnyi sindikat; as is traditional in democratic republics), but may additionally represent the various vocations recognized by the state (vocational syndicates; ⰂⰑⰍⰀⰜⰋⰑⰐⰐⰟⰉⰋ ⰔⰋⰐⰄⰋⰍⰀⰕ vokatsionnyi sindikat; comparable to s). As legislative policy is approved, it is implemented by the committees, institutions comparable to eastern chaired by elected choristers and staffed by a bureaucracy of civil servants. Committees are responsible for policymaking for particular areas of government activity under their jurisdiction. Each are numerically designated, though only those that are "fundamental" to the nation are given formal names (like the Permanent Committee for Revolutionary Defense and the Permanent Committee for Economic Affairs) - other "impermanent" committees are simply referred to by their numerical designation (the "Eleventh Commitee", "Twelfth Committee" and so on). The jurisdictions of these committees regularly undergo small changes as needed, generally obscured within the convoluted paperwork of the government's published reports. As committees may be created and dissolved according to their necessity (and budgetary concerns), keeping track of the more obscure committees ("beyond ten" is common nomenclature in the field) generates plenty of confusion for political commentators.

Politics
Despite the pluralist trappings of the Vesnayan government, politics since the country's founding in 1849 has been defined by (and more recently against) and conducted through the internal framework of the Society of Tomorrow: the ruling that founded the nation and continues to rule it as a quasi-. Originally oligarchic and even tyrannical in its monopoly on political power and its exercise of that monopoly, since the Silent Revolution in 1961, the liberalization of membership requirements has allowed for greater public participation in the processes of government, in practice transforming the Society into a "state within a state" - facilitating pluralism in an otherwise monolithic government.

in the traditional republican sense manifests as internal factions in the Society itself, headed by charismatic personalities which champion that faction's overt political leanings and aspirations, organized through associations, rallies, clubs and think tanks. Notably, "factions" in this sense are defined more by their leader than by any common manifesto. There is no consistent ideological bound to every issue, and beyond vital issues requiring concertation in voting, most politicians can be expected to vote according to their individual political positions and necessities rather than one of their faction-of-affiliation. This nature of Vesnayan politics has made political competition more akin to confrontations of personality than ideology, with the fate of factions often hinging on the charisma of their leader: dependent on their ability to convince and organize the disparate beliefs of those under their banner, and by extension, the wider populace. This crucible of factionalism is the foundation of the Vesnayan political arena, where politicians and interest groups engage in a politicking so notoriously underhanded that it has become stereotypically characteristic of Vesnayan statecraft. The populace is expected to inform themselves on the nuances of this political chaos and even engage in it themselves, given the humanist theory of public political participation.

The of Vesnayan politics is defined by the nation's humanist, technocratic and socialist ideologies. The left is characterized as the standard-bearer of tradition: greater state authority, upholding laicity and dedication to Progression, continuation of corporatist dirigism, and generally the retainment of state and party as an inseparable whole - though this necessarily requires the preservation of a monolithic status quo and the traditional values and rites of Vesnay. The right, in contrast, challenges the status quo and encourages liberal reform in the Talamorian sense: regional autonomy and elimination of state overreach, religious, linguistic, political and market freedoms; generally, a greater pluralization in all facets of Vesnay and the elimination of the "authoritarian excesses" of the dominant Society. Notably, while both sides have diverging opinions on the role of the Society of Tomorrow in Vesnayan society, the official party line is still to maintain the Society as the primary forum for politics, as it is seen as integral to defining Vesnay's national identity - this is as opposed to the ahistorical constructs of foreign-born ideologies. The Cult of the Progression is seen in a similar light, with the debate being over how ardently it should be practiced rather than whether it should exist.

In recent history since the pluralist reforms of the Silent Revolution, the major factions in Vesnayan politics are:
 * the Whip - the principal leftist group, framing itself as the "whip" and disciplinarian of party doctrine.
 * the Liberals - the principal rightist group, organizing itself as an opposition to the party line and advocating for further liberalization of Vesnayan economy and society, along Talamorian lines.
 * the Academicians - a group advocating for regionalism and cooperative, generally populist interests.
 * the Unionists - a group advocating for greater "union" with the socialist world, promoting socialism along communist lines and integration into the TSU.
 * the No-card - a fluctuating group of political personalities who are not members (cardholders) of the Society of Tomorrow, spanning the entire political spectrum, though generally radical.

Military
Vesnay has a deep-rooted military culture, which while relatively recent, has significantly defined the identity and culture of the country. Its armed forces, the Workers' and Peasants' Green Army for Revolutionary Progress (ⰓⰀⰁⰑⰝⰅ-ⰍⰓⰅⰔⰕⰠⰡⰐⰔⰍⰀⰡ ⰈⰀⰔⰐⰀⰡ ⰀⰓⰏⰋⰡ ⰈⰀ ⰓⰅⰂⰑⰎⰣⰜⰋⰑⰐⰐⰟⰉ ⰖⰔⰒⰅⰘⰋ Raboche-Krest'janskaja Zelenaja Armija za Revoljutsionnyi Uspekhi; commonly shortened to the Green Army or Uspekhiniks), was founded in the flames of the 1849 revolution, defining itself against the aristocratic and religious trappings of the Militant Host of Vesnay that preceded it as an "army of the people, by the people, for the people". Undergoing several reorganizations concurrent with the various political revisions of Vesnayan history, the modern Vesnayan military is divided into the Vesnayan Land Defense, Vesnayan Maritime Defense , Vesnayan Air Defense , Vesnayan Strategic Defense ( and strategic operations), Vesnayan Legionary Order , and Vesnayan Revolutionary Guard ( and ). These branches are further split into active and reserve forces. In total, combining both conscripts and volunteers, the peacetime personnel of the Green Army numbers around 150,000, whereas the reserves are maintained at around 4 million at any time of the year. The Permanent Committee for Revolutionary Defense is the government ministry responsible for the military.

Perhaps contrasting the pluralism of Vesnayan society and thus politics, the Vesnayan people has consistently displayed a militarist tendency: most of the population has been in the military owing to, and the military is viewed as a bastion of revolutionary defense inasmuch as it is a standard-bearer of revolutionary principles and culture. While options like or a "disability tax" (mostly for those physically or mentally deficient), military service is considered a rite of adulthood. Political, if not social ostracization occurs for those who intentionally avoid military service, and unless incapable by legal definition, military service is prerequisite to the civic rights expected of adult members of society. Vesnayan applies universal conscription for all able-bodied male and female citizens: for most people, this consists of active training for a period of 275 days (~9 months, doubled for public service) before the age of 30 and thereupon two weeks of annual until one reaches the age of 50. Conscripts may join either six of the Green Army's branches, but owing to manpower demands, the Land Defense receives the most personnel.

Notably, while Vesnay's "traditional" military branches (ie: ground force, navy, air force) as well as the Strategic Defense branch are formally under the command of the Vesnayan nation through the (the Ordinator), the Legionary Order and Revolutionary Guard are under distinct chain of commands: being the armed wing of the ruling party, the Society of Tomorrow, and thus under the command of its president. Traditionally, both offices are held by the same person, as the Society continues to rule the country as a. Though the Society's hold on political hegemony has been historically unassailable - a status quo that apparently will remain stable for the foreseeable future - political scientists both domestic and international have noted the possibility that the two offices may be chaired separately if the Society ever loses its hold on power, or more plausibly, a split in the Society's leadership occurs. This possibility remains a taboo topic in Vesnayan politics, existing as an unspoken nuclear option - a final resort to be invoked if another Revision becomes necessary.

As aforementioned, the military is a source of pride for Vesnay, and indeed, one wouldn't be mistaken for considering it to be inseparable from the national character of Vesnay. The outside observer may discern that a "siege mentality" colors the doctrinal decisions of the military: the necessity of constant military readiness nationwide (and even vigilance outside military contexts) is emphasized in Vesnayan education and media, and every citizen is obligated, even expected to rally wholeheartedly to any military effort pertaining to the vague ideal of "upholding the progressive revolution" - in essence,. Even if a large-scale war involving the millions of conscripts available in the national reserves seems unlikely in the 21st century, the availability of that option is nonetheless considered essential to the Green Army. The entrenchment of the Vesnayan militarist identity has meant that any suggestion to ending this system of national service is akin to political suicide - reforms, if any, have largely been marginal.

Vesnay is a major contributor of personnel to the TSU and TTO, and voluntary transnational  postings are popular among who enter career soldiery. Vesnayan peacekeepers are deployed in Boreikya and Ostrovya (1993-1994), Sakblia (, 1998-present), Blausland and the successive Trust Territory of Central Ozara since Operation Savannah Storm of 2002, and the Murog Territory (Operation Constancy of Reason, 2006-present).

Economy
By global standards, Vesnay is a  economy, characterized by a burgeoning economic system based on Arsytian  with public and private participation in the economy, both significant in their own right. As can be expected from a socialist economy, the government plays a key role in regulating the markets, exerting itself through its direct and indirect control of many Vesnayan industries, beyond economic planning and regulations. Especially, the government holds monopolies in what it views to be strategic industries and utilities: most prominently energy, vital transportation, telecommunications, defense industry and etc. Regular government interventions in the economy, infamously through the levying of taxes, are done in the name of protecting the interests of the nation, its revolutionary principles, and thereby, its people.

In spite of all this, there nonetheless exists a relatively prosperous private sector in Vesnay, which makes up around 60% of the nation's on paper. While the government holds significant stakes in the economy in nominal terms, in practice, the responsibility for managing much of these stakes are delegated via contracts to quasi-private cooperatives, essentially leaving space for healthy economic competition to occur in sectors outside the government's direct and strict supervision. Indeed, this system of cooperative delegations (known as the "Vesnayan model" in some circles) is prevalent across the Vesnayan economy. While the government may monopolize several key industries, some parts of the extended supply line (such as with transportation or raw manufacturing) may be privatized - if they have not already delegated in some fashion. Complete government control of any given industry at every level is rare, if arguably impossible in the current economic model.

Instead, economic interventionism is primarily exercised in an indirect fashion. The Progressive Distributary Dictatorate - of Vesnay - is the  arm of the government. It is the pre-eminent provider of credit to both institutions and individuals of all sizes and levels. It additionally doubles as a, holding significant positions in the nation's private sector and the international market - it is among the world's largest such funds. When regulating the economy, instead of heavy-handed (at least by more eastern standards) exercises of naked authority through planning or other policies, the government mobilizes the financial clout of the Dictatorate to weigh in on economic matters - a state of affairs claimed to allow for greater flexibility by the model's proponents. Through the Dictatorate, the state operates a quasi-monopoly in the domestic financial industry, as it outweighs any private financial institutions by a substantial margin. Such private institutions have largely been relegated to niche banking tailoring to specialized demographics, but still remain under government scrutiny - that the government holds controlling minorities in most such institutions mean that de facto nationalization is always possible.

The Permanent Committee for Economic Affairs is the official government department responsible for the economy, though its roles are mostly limited to setting the economic agenda of Vesnay, owing to the Dictatorate's proactivity. It drafts the five-year plans of Vesnay and submits them for approval by the Choral legislature - the political wrangling involved with the process is likely a contributing factor to the Economic Committee's marginalization in economic policymaking. Owing to political taboos over "abuse" of Committee authority in textbook cases like Viniy's Futurist Agriculture Plan (though it is debatable whether this exact application was illegal by contemporary law), planning is generally limited to providing a unified economic direction for the public and private entities of the Vesnayan economy to work towards: a state of affairs described by a Vesnayan politician to be akin to "siccing a pack of dogs at whatever [economic] issue shows its face".

Since the late 20th century, the modern focus of the Vesnayan economy has been on the development of industries. Bolstered a high educational standard - a majority of Vesnayans possess tertiary education - Vesnay is renowned for its electronics, photonics, computers, and in general its high value-added industries, including pharmaceuticals and hydrocarbon refining. The Progressive Triangle, centered on the national capital, is among the most prominent technological and innovative hubs worldwide.

Industry and technology
Though relatively large in territorial terms (or at least when compared to the rest of Hatar), Vesnay is poor in resources both agricultural and mineral, a condition which has defined and plagued much of its economic history until recent history. With the technological leaps worldwide associated with modernization and the ongoing Cold War, as well as the societal reforms made under the technocratic leadership of the Society of Tomorrow, the nation has been enabled to maximize the potential of its population: that is, through innovation.

Much to the celebration of Vesnay, the nation is considered to be a premier hub for technological research and development worldwide, the Vesnayan ecosystem for high technology being highly optimized and making up a significant bulk of its economy. First-rate educational standards - achievements relevant including universal literacy and majority tertiary education - have provided the nation a highly proficient workforce, with which it pursues a technocratic economic policy which spotlights high technology as a vital cornerstone of the Vesnayan economy. Technological acumen has become a sort of hallmark for Vesnay on the international market, known particularly for its high-quality electronics - a reputation maintained by government scrutiny and subsidization in equally sizable amounts.

In the private sector, major cooperatives like Misistem, Nanotons, and Vestelcom corner the Vesnayan technology market, though this has not precluded a vibrant environment of high-tech startups, supported by the consistent development of talent by the nation's academic and military system, and arguably the social connections constructed within such institutions. Vesnayan public and private interests hold significant stakes in the global design and production market, themselves being host to one of the world's foremost chip design industries - with this, the nation is afforded a geopolitical clout that might not be expected from such a geographically isolated state. Vesnay is the principal supplier of consumer electronics and to a lesser extent, industrial electronics, to the TSU, enjoying a in comparison with the more extensively mechanized Arsytia or Kursica.

Demographics
As of 2022, the population of Vesnay numbers at 15,829,016 people. Population distribution is southwest-centric, with habitation being concentrated in the more temperate south along the coasts of the westerly Lake Nisqibal and the rivers which flow into it. The southwestern population primarily reside in urban settlements spread across the coastal and alluvial plains of the region, the Progressive Triangle - a extending outwards from the capital of Progress - being the most notable and economically important. The rest of the country is relatively sparse in population, centered in small cities and surrounding rural communities which primarily service regional timber and mining industries.

Ethnology and language
Vesnayan ethnology is dominated by the Vesnayese people, an ethnocultural group indigenous to the territories encompassed by the modern borders of Vesnay. The Vesnayese make up around 76.7% (~12,141,000) of the population, followed by ethnic minorities like Kursicans, Arsytians, and Svats - mostly Urhanics native to the eastern regions of Hatar. As with most ethnic classifications, the Vesnayese are defined less by any biological variable and more so a shared cultural identity, although a relatively ubiquitous phenotype can be asserted across the population. The Vesnayese identity was first formed with the separation of Vesnayan from the wider East Urhanic regional vernacular around the late first millennium CE, but would be further clarified with the start of the Enlightenment around the 17th and 18th centuries and the birth of Vensayan. This would culminate with the Vesnayan revolution of 1849, whereupon the Vesnayan revolutionary humanists incumbent would define the Vesnayese identity against the perceived superstition and despotism regnant across the rest of the continent through the reforms (and purges) of the Rational Revision - coalescing the idea of Vesnayan nationhood as one distinctly humanist, secular, and thereby enlightened.

The Vesnayan nation would be instrumental in giving form to the Vesnayese cultural identity. Loyalty to the revolution codified through the rituals of the Cult of the Progression is a must; dedication to humanist, democratic and patriotic ideals through societal contribution, primarily through and participation in the intellectual-political environment of the nation, is an important marker for the cultural identity. Additionally, fluency in the Vesnayan language is a vital prerequisite. The monocentric nature of the language has meant that its preservation is a particular concern for the government and cultural adherents, most apparent in the country's insistence on its use in all facets of society and life. All signposts and similar publicly visible displays must be inscribed in Vesnayan, all public mass media is Vesnayan-only, and literary standardization is zealously pursued to eradicate local dialects (considered corruptions of the language). A particularly vitriolic manifestation of this has been through the emergence of an exceptionalist attitude over the "superiority" of the Vesnayan language: foreign dialects are ridiculed in media, foreign languages are described as pedantic and convoluted, bizarre (often inaccurate) phraseologies and turns of speech are attributed to foreigners of all stripes. The clipped vernacular style in which the nation's founder Fucen Tasingje wrote in is taught as the high watermark of Urhanic literature and speech, considered to be a "proletarian language" freed of unnecessary formalisms. More humorously, foreigners might note the Vesnayan's stubborn insistence on identifying themselves as such in all situations, speaking the language and utilizing its aphorisms and slang at every opportunity, even when such references may not be understood by the listener - this is despite the fact that most Vesnayans are bilingual.

The typical associated with the Vesnayese is similar to those found in local Eastern Hatarian and Northern Serican regions, a mixture of the characteristics recognizable from native Urhanic Hatarians and the nomadic Khalkhans of Serica. The stereotypical Vesnayan person has fair skin, with variably light or dark hair and eyes. In descending order of frequency, brown, blonde, and black hair are most common in Vesnayan populations. Eye coloration ranges from green and blue to brown and black, with relatively high incidences of s in comparison with Hatarian averages. Although phenotype is not strictly associated with Vesnayese cultural affiliation, Vesnayans generally consider people with olive skin to be foreigners due to its relative rarity, and any darker is exotic to Vesnayan sensibilities.