Arsytia

Arsytia, officially the Arsytian Federative Socialist Workers' Republic (AFSWR), is a country in Serica, on the continent of Serratar. Established in 1891 as the Arsytian Commune after the January Revolution, which overthrew the Arsytian Empire, Arsytia is the 2nd largest country in the world in terms of land area, extending from its southern border with Phoenicia to well above the Arctic Circle. Arsytia has a population of 170,439,760, with several major ethnic groups, and is the second-most populous country on Serratar. It shares borders with Fengjiang, Melkia, Svatodor, and Astrakia. Arsytia's capital and largest city is Kylma.

Although explicitly defined in its Constitution as a socialist state, Arsytia guarantees the rights of opposition and non-socialist parties, with elections carried out according to its principles of. However, Arsytia is frequently characterized as having a, as the ruling Arsytian Workers' Party has never lost a majority in the Workers' General Council since the establishment of the AFSWR. Arsytia is an, with its majority-minority People's Republics exercising greater local autonomy and self-governance than its considerably larger amount of Arsytian-majority communes.

With immense mineral and energy reserves, Arsytia's economy is organized on lines and is the world's fifth-largest. Industries defined as "strategic" are state-owned and centrally-planned. Both planning and management are assisted by Arsytia's AJÄRLASTI information network and decision support system. Smaller enterprises and non-strategic industries are independently owned and operated by workers' collectives. Although the state has historically prioritized heavy industry and resource extraction as its economic focuses, Arsytia has consistently invested in scientific research and has recently begun expansion of its technological industry.

A member of the Tavaric Treaty Organization, Arsytia is considered a major regional power, and the second-strongest state in the TTO. A participant in the Great Serrataran War, where it accounted for the majority of allied losses, Phoenicia's invasion of Arsytia in 1944 resulted in the opening of the Serican theater of war. Since the Great Serrataran War, Arsytia has consistently pursued a policy of military preparedness, with universal military service and a continual buildup of primarily conventional, but also nuclear forces.

Arsytian Workers' Party
The Arsytian Workers' Party (Arsyten Työväenpuolue) is the founding and ruling party of the AFSWR. Founded as the Arsytian Workers' and Peasants' Party in 1872, it existed largely as an underground organization during the Arsytian Empire. During the late 1880s, the Party, buoyed by covert support from Melkia in the form of money and weaponry, began open agitation as the apparatus of the imperial state began to falter in the face of a mounting debt crisis and increasing unrest, especially among the peasantry, which the party quickly harnessed and drove towards its revolutionary goals. After the revolution and the establishment of the Arsytian Commune, the party dropped the "Peasants'" from its name, to reflect the idea that under the new socialist state, all workers would be equal.

Since the January Revolution in 1891, the Arsytian Workers' Party has never lost a major election. Much of its enduring success has to do with its status as the force behind the January Revolution in addition to its presiding over unprecedented growth in prosperity and power for Arsytia. However, the nature of Arsytia's system works to dilute the influence of its fractious opposition. The low level at which its workers' begin, along with the size of their membership and the sheer amount of councils, mean that it is relatively rare for opposition representatives to make it to the Workers' General Council and influence national politics.

The strongest opposition to the Workers' Party comes from a variety of ethnic minority parties that hold a significant (but still non-majority) seats in the councils of its People's Republics—however, these parties, due to various rivalries and disagreements, have never been able to form a stable coalition that could challenge the majority held by the Workers' Party. In contrast, the Workers' Party, with its guiding principle of, has remained consistently unified in the legislature even when faced with major disagreements within the Party Congress.

Workers' General Council
The Workers' General Council (Työväen Pääneuvosto) is Arsytia's supreme organ of state power and its most powerful legislative body. It holds great authority, including the ability to amend the Arsytian Constitution, and elects the Chairman, all Commissars, and the Supreme Court. Elected every five years, it has two plenary sessions every year, though it may be summoned for extraordinary sessions at the behest of the Central Executive Committee. It exercises ultimate oversight over all arms of the state through reports from the Central Executive Committee, and may vote to recall all authorities, including the Chairman, at will.

In accordance with Arsytian principles of council democracy, the Workers' General Council consists of representatives elected from among the ranks of regional workers' councils, which are in turn elected from local workers' councils based on basic societal units (agricultural collectives, workers of a given factory, etc.). In contrast to many representative democracies, these representatives have an and are subject to recall by their direct constituents or the lower-level council they belong to.

Central Executive Committee
The Central Executive Committee (Toimeenpaneva Keskuskomitea) is Arsytia's, and is the most senior executive and decision-making body of the Arsytian state. Led by the Chairman of the Workers' General Council, the Committee can be considered a collective head of state. Its membership consists of the Chairman and the Commissars of each of Arsytia's Offices, of which there are fourteen, for a total membership of fifteen.

The Committee's membership is nominated by the Chairman at the first plenary session of a newly-elected Workers' General Council, then elected by vote of the Council. The Committee is tasked with: In all of its activities, the Committee is accountable to the Workers' General Council, and is required to regularly report to the Council on its activities. With a supermajority vote, the Council may vote to recall one or all members of the Committee, including the Chairman.
 * Management of the Arsytian economy
 * Formulation and submission of five-year plans and the state budget to the Workers' General Council
 * Defending the Arsytian people, their state, and the revolution against foreign powers
 * Ensuring internal security
 * General policies regarding the Workers' Army
 * General policies regarding trade, foreign relations, and Arsytia's participation in international organizations
 * Creating and overseeing state committees for coordinating activities of multiple offices and organs of the state towards a relevant purpose

Although the Committee may not pass permanently-binding laws, as such power rests solely in the hands of the Workers' General Council, it may pass decrees with the force of law when the Council is not in session. Such decrees are subject to immediate review upon the next scheduled session of the Council, or upon the calling of a special session of the Council by the Committee. If, upon review, the decree is approved by the Council, it is passed into law. If not, it is considered revoked.

Administrative Divisions
Article 60 of the Arsytian Constitution States: "The Arsytian Federative Socialist Workers' Republic is a socialist, multi-national, federal state. It is formed in accordance with socialist principles of national self-determination and through the voluntary unification of the peoples of Arsytia in the spirit of equality and unity between proletarians of all nations." A product much compromise between various revolutionary factions in the wake of the deposition of the Provisional Revolutionary Council, Arsytia is an. In addition to its 86 Arsytian-majority communes, Arsytia also has 5 majority-minority people's republics: the Khalkhan, Taivali, Saarelainen, Andronovonian, and Maarulali People's Republics.

Communes
The most common top-level administrative unit of Arsytia, there are 86 communes. They vary quite widely in size—in both population and geographic extent—from the Kylma Commune, which has encompasses Arsytia's 10 million-strong capital, to the sparsely-populated but enormous Suosalmi Commune in northern Arsytia, with only 100,000 people. The communes were drawn up at the First Plenary Session of the Workers' General Council, and can be redrawn only by another act of the Workers' General Council. Most commonly, this has been to adjust the borders of a growing city to match its expanded size.

Communes are governed by directly-elected Commune Executive Committees (Kommuunin Toimeenpanevat Komiteat), which coordinate the actions of the local government in accordance with directives from the Workers' General Council or the Central Executive Committee. They also answer to concerns raised by more local workers' councils, and, like all representatives, are subject to recall elections.

Conscription
The Arsytian Constitution enshrines military service as a "sacred duty" of all citizens of Arsytia. The military training of Arsytian citizens begins long before their induction during the annual call-up at the age of 18. Starting with the paramilitary Young Pioneers and stories of revolutionary heroism in grade school, Arsytians are further prepared through training programs offered by VAPALAK, mandatory military education classes in secondary school, and the annual Salamanisku (Lightning Strike) mock war games in summer.

Although the Constitution calls for universal military service to be applied to both men and women, in practice, it is only applied to men. However, first-born daughters are also called up during select years when the male cohort alone is insufficient to meet manpower requirements. Arsytian citizens take annual mental and physical exams during their secondary school years prior to their final pre-induction examination. Exam results are cross-referenced with academic and extracurricular records to determine an individual's suitability for service, as well as which branch would most suit them.

Conscripts are called up annually, with each new class reporting to their training center on June 1st. Upon their induction, conscripts take the Workers' Army oath: "I, son of the laboring people, citizen of the Arsytian Socialist Workers’ Republic, assume the title of warrior in the Workers’ Army.

Before the laboring classes of Arsytia and the entire world, I accept the obligation to carry this title with honor, to study the art of war conscientiously, and to resolutely guard national and military property from spoil and plunder.

I accept the obligation to observe revolutionary discipline and unquestioningly carry out all orders of my commanders, who have been invested with their rank by the power of the Workers’ government.

I accept the obligation to restrain myself and my comrades from all conduct that might debase the dignity of citizens of the Workers’ Republic, and to direct all my thoughts and actions to the great cause of liberating the laboring masses.

I accept the obligation to answer every summons of the Workers’ government to defend the Workers’ Republic from all danger and the threats of all enemies, and to spare neither my strength nor my very life in the battle for the Workers’ Soviet Republic, for the cause of socialism and the brotherhood of peoples.

If I should, with malicious intent, go back on this, my solemn vow, then let my fate be universal contempt and let the righteous hand of Revolutionary law fall upon me." Basic training lasts for four months, and conscripts report to their operational units on November 1st, where they will carry out the rest of their service. Traditionally, some conscripts are selected for further advanced training in technical or NCO roles. However, this has become less common as the proportion of professional soldiers in the Land Forces has increased. In total, Arsytian conscripts serve for two years in active units, in addition to their four months of basic training and two months of demobilization and reserve unit familiarization.