Republic of Jerna

In the Beginning
At the beginning of the year 2012 AD, the world fell into chaos. The cause of this was that after centuries of excessive usage, the world's supply of Oil had finally run practically dry. Over the last few drops of oil, the former world powers waged a great war with each other, resulting rapidly in the complete annihilation of countries all over the world, as well as the nations that had been world powers, such as the United States, Russia and China.

From the ashes of this conflict rose new leaders and new societies that pledged to lead the disparate and leaderless peoples of Earth into a new, golden age of peace and enlightenment. These leaders, arrayed across the globe, ranged all across the various spectrums of political ideology, ranging from radical Fascists, particularly dominant in the areas formerly under the control of the European Union, to Communists of the Soviet school of thought.

The Commonwealth of Australia, despite its relative geographic isolation, was not exempt from this collapse of governments, and the centrist and conservative governments that had ruled the island nation were no more, and the nation as a whole, ceased to exist.

The Beginnings of the People's Socialist Party
At this time, a man by the name of Arrnea rose to prominence as an icon of the working classes that had been worst affected by the collapse of the world economy, and he formed a party to represent the needs and desires of the people. So was born the People's Socialist Party.

The Co-operative Conference
Within two weeks of the inception of the People's Socialist Party, Arrnea and those other Party members loyal to the cause of the people met with representatives of the worker's councils that had sprung up in the aftermath of the Collapse and discussed the formation of a new nation, based on the principles of Freedom, Equality and Direct Democracy. After two weeks' fierce discussion and debate, a new nation, to be named the People's Democratic Barony of Arrnea (The Barony of Arrnea for short) was proclaimed jointly by the leader of the People's Socialist Party, Arrnea, and the leader of the Association of Worker's Councils in the south west of former Western Australia, Siegfried Schwarzwind.

The Constitution and the New Government
During the meeting between the People's Socialist Party and the Association of Worker's Councils, a Consitution was drafted by the two organisations, by which the newly-formed Barony of Arrnea would be governed. The Constitution however, needed to be ratified by the people who the nation's government was to represent, so a referendum of all people over age 18 in the region was organised. This was made possible by the remaining radio broadcast infrastructure left over from before the Collapse, present in such abandoned cities as Perth, Albany, Mandurah and Bunbury. Of this vote, 99% of people supported the constitution's adoption and the founding of the Barony of Arrnea with a provisional government composed of members of the People's Socialist Party and the Association of Worker's Councils. And so, a government was formed with Arrnea as President and Siegfried Schwarzwind as Vice-President.

The People's Democratic Barony of Arrnea was proclaimed on the 15th of December, 2012.

The Merger
Six days after the formation of the Barony of Arrnea, the Association of Worker's Councils (AWC) and the People's Socialist Party (PSP) jointly announced that the AWC would be merging into the PSP to give the left-wing of politics in the Barony a united front. This was assumed to be a reaction to the formation of the ultra right-wing Baronial Nationalist Front (BNF) the previous day.

The First Elections and the New Capital
The next three weeks saw the establishment of infrastructure throughout the Barony to allow for the people to vote in the elections to be held on January 1, 2013. No policy was to be implemented in this time, in accordance with the terms under which people voted for the provisional government to be appointed.

On January 1st, 2013, three parties stood for election in the newly-named People's House, consisting of 99 seats. The parties and their election results were as follows:


 * People's Socialist Party (PSP) - 87 Seats
 * Baronial Nationalist Front (BNF) - 8 Seats
 * Christian Democratic Party (CDP) - 4 Seats

Using their massive electoral majority, the People's Socialist Party of the Barony of Arrnea, sworn into government on January 3rd, 2013, began the great task of rebuilding the Barony of Arrnea in the wake of the Collapse of 2012. To this end, the abandoned cities, such as Perth, Albany and Mandurah were salvaged for their building materials, and new towns were built. Also, a capital city was built at the site where the town of Bunbury once stood, to be named Jerna City. This city was also to be an icon of the modernising Barony through its reconstruction and ascendance to greatness.

Space Programme
Main article: Space Programme of the Republic of Jerna

At 1:00pm local time, on the 5th of April, 2014, the first ever satellite of the Republic of Jerna (then the Barony of Arrnea) was launched from the Southern Coastal Rocket Test Range, near the former city of Albany in the Republic of Jerna. The satellite, called the People's Star, was launched on the Republic's own Jerna-class rockets, developed over the preceding year at the Jerna Rocketry Lab.

A second satellite, the People's Fist was launched on the 11th of April, at 10:45pm local time. A third satellite, Revolution was launched the next day at 6:20pm local time. A fourth satellite, Worker's Hammer was launched on the 22nd of April, at 7:40pm local time.

Plans have also been made to launch one more satellite by the end of the month of May, 2014.

May 8, 2014 Reforms and Renaming
On May 8th, 2014, a referendum was brought into effect that changed the name of the Barony of Arrnea to the People's Democratic Republic of Jerna. It also completely changed the government system. More information is listed in the following section.

More Information on the Reforms
In a speech by Arrnea
 * Today, a new era dawns on our land!
 * The era of the People's Democratic Republic of Jerna!


 * And therefore I say to you, LET THE PEOPLE ARISE!

As of this day, the nation formerly known as the Barony of Arrnea shall be called the People's Democratic Republic of Jerna.


 * The name change, the first part of a two-part referendum that went to the polls two weeks ago, was seen as a step away from the cult of personality that was one of the key criticisms of the rule of President Arrnea since the 2012 formation of the Barony.


 * The second part of the referendum, which also passed by a huge majority, has resulted in the People's House, formerly the only body responsible for the governance of the Barony of Arrnea, being removed in its present form, and replaced with two separate houses of Government.


 * The reforms in the second part of the referendum included the division of the Republic into ninety-seven (97) electorates of even population (electorate boundaries reviewed every six months, at a three-month offset to elections), replacing the old system where the nation was divided into four Administrative Divisions.


 * Here are listed the relevant sections from the new Constitution.
 * The Lower House, or Worker's Assembly, shall be made up of one (1) representative from each of the eighty-three (83) Worker's Councils. It shall be headed by a Prime Minister, elected in a secret ballot by members of the Worker's Assembly, from amongst their own membership.
 * The Upper House, or People's Assembly, shall be made up of ninety-seven (97) seats, one per electorate (where each electorate is an even division of the population of the Republic, reviewed every six months), to which representatives shall be elected by the general population in a secret ballot every six months.
 * The Upper House shall be headed by a President, who is the leader of the Party that wins a majority (49 seats or more) of the People's Assembly. The President shall then select a Cabinet of Ministers, from the members of the People's Assembly, to deal with the day-to-day national administration, which requires a majority vote in support from both houses of Government before it can be appointed to office.
 * No person shall run to be elected to a Worker's Council on the basis of membership in any political party or religious organisation.


 * Elections will be held in two weeks' time to determine the first government of the People's Democratic Republic of Jerna. In the intermediate time, the current government of the Barony of Arrnea shall continue to govern.

Nation Information

 * The Barony of Arrnea is a medium sized, well developed, and aging nation with citizens primarily of Mixed ethnicity who follow no religion.
 * Its technology is advancing rapidly. Its citizens enjoy a wealth of technology within their nation.
 * Its citizens pay extremely high taxes and many adore their government as a result.
 * The citizens of The Barony of Arrnea work diligently to produce Furs and Wine as tradable resources for their nation.
 * It is a mostly neutral country when it comes to foreign affairs. It will usually only attack another nation if attacked first.
 * When it comes to nuclear weapons The Barony of Arrnea will not research or develop nuclear weapons.
 * The military of The Barony of Arrnea has been positioned at all border crossings and is arresting all drug traffickers.
 * The Barony of Arrnea allows its citizens to protest their government but uses a strong police force to monitor things and arrest lawbreakers.
 * The borders of the Barony of Arrnea are closed to all forms of immigration.
 * The Barony of Arrnea believes in the freedom of speech and feels that it is every citizen's right to speak freely about their government.
 * The government gives foreign aid when it can, but looks to take care of its own people first.
 * The Barony of Arrnea will not make deals with another country that has a poor history of inhuman treatment of its citizens.