Montroig

Montroig (pronounced "monˈrɔdʒ") or The Federal Republic of Montroig is a nation founded by users ics_de, Cluc312 and josep23 on February 23rd, 2021 in the continent of Haven. The FRM is a direct democracy meaning every citizen participates in the nation's popular congress in order to vote on changes on the nation's political structure and organisation. Political parties exist in Montroig but play a role more similar to syndicates. Montroig has five cities (Terroja, Baldia, New Hanoi, Azura, Serradeneu (Eldham)) and a military fortress (Pedrascut). The nation is declared a secular state through its constitution, but the Church of Barry the Blue Sheep is the most popular religion among montroigians, followed by the Church of Bernard.

The Guardian of the Republic
The Guardian of the Republic is solely in charge of guaranteeing the stability of the State. This means they have the capacity to dismiss any Minister effecting negatively the nation and call for elections. The Guardian of the Republic is elected through a popular vote using the rank system.

Ministries
The Ministries divide the state managment task into specialized institutions in order to separate powers. Every Minister is chosen through a Popular Congress.

Ministry of Defense
The oldest Ministry in the Citadel. This institution covers diplomacy and military affairs. Both the diplomat and the generals that lead the Federal Army are chosen by the Minister of Defense. The diplomat manages all external but also internal diplomatic relationships.

Ministry of Culture
This Ministry takes care of the education and culture of the citizens. The Ministry of Culture is in charge of the nation's propaganda posters, the national newspaper, the public library and the Tourism Office.

Ministry of Resources
The Ministry of Resources is the institution that controls the state's economy, storage and jobs, but also the demography of the nation.

Ministry of Infrastructure
The Ministry of Infrastructure manages the projects for construction and improvement of all the public infrastructure of the nation. This Ministry has already started multiple projects, mainly the proper division in plots of the Citadel's terrain, the creation of a national subway and the construction of a new military fortress connected to Terroja. This Ministry was created during SpotlightThief's government.

Ministry of Justice
This Ministry is in charge of the judicial structure of the nation. Mainly the National Court and the National Guard, the state's police.

Commissions
Montroig's administration also includes commissions.

Independence Commission
Created during Miningboy_12's government, this commission is in charge of providing information about the independence movement in Montroig.

Culture
Due to the communal sense of Montroig and its freedom of speech, religion, association... the nation contains a rich culture.

Festive days

 * National Day (23rd of every month): the main event in Montroig in which the prosperity and greatness of the nation is celebrated through parties, book fairs, public decorations...
 * Victory Day (June 26th): this day commemorates the montroigian victory over the United Empire of Akratia.
 * Resistance Day (March 10th): on March 10th, the success of Montroig in the Baunei War is celebrated.
 * Festival of Shearing (3rd Saturday of every month, unofficial): the Church of Barry the Blue Sheep celebrates the life of Barry the Blue Sheep.
 * Veracity day (15th of every month, unofficial): the Church of Bernard celebrate the day the golden plates were combined after being given by the true successor to Barry the Blue Sheep.

Traditions
A popular montroigian event is the foguera, in which people gather around a fire to eat cooked food from it.

Language
Montroigian is the only official language of Montroig.

Cuisine
The montroigian cuisine is very deeply influenced by the difficult biome in which the nation grew during its early ages:

During the time of the Balmesia commune, potatoes were the only food available, and so a strong culture of eating potatoes in all forms is present in current day Montroig. With the discovery of cheese, this was added to the regular montroigian diet.

The low levels of drinking water in the dry savannah of mainland Montroig means an alternative was found in wine for hydration.

In the coastal cities of the Baldic Sea there is a strong tradition of eating cooked cod, the most common fish in the region. Kelp cuisine is especially common in Baldia.

With the founding of Serradeneu in Eldham, importing of new materials to mainland Montroig took place. Wild berries were among these, and would later on be adapted into the montroigian diet.

Independence movement
When the founders of Montroig discovered they had founded the nation inside uldarashi territory, they saw themselves with no other option but join the Second Empire of Uldarash inside the Holy Chevkri Empire. Montroig would later on declare independence from Chevkri without resistance due to the disconnection between both cultures.

Although in the beginning there was compliance because of the uldarashi help received during the Montroig Siege, montroigian nationalism would slowly develop to confront the political differences with the Empire.

Montroigian separatism saw a growth in potential with the creation of the Jacobin Club, a revolutionary party with clear intentions of pushing forward an escape from the Empire founded on April 26th. This party lead the Montrexit Campaign. This movement saw a climaxin the referendum held during qwaser's government on June the 26th, with a result of exactly 50% - 50%. This lead the Montrexit Campaign in a complicated situation, because the outcome of the vote did not provide a clear answer to the issue.

Location
Montroig is situated in the continent of Haven, at the South-West of Rathnir.

Towns
The nation has multiple towns, both in Ratnir and Eldham:

Terroja
This is the capital of Montroig. Terroja is the largest city in Montroig and one of the largest cities in the world. It has historically been divided in two geographic areas and four districts: upper Terroja (featuring the Citadel and its district which includes all government buildings and multiple appartment blocks) and lower Terroja (containing the residential, industrial and comercial district).

The city is located in a savannah biome, reaching the Baldic Sea on the west side and the Curçó river on the east side. Half of it is on top of the Montroig mountain.

Baldia (abandoned)
Baldia was founded by montroigians lythd and _Suicune_ around March 12th. Originally meant to be a military base for Montroig, the town grew into a commercial nexus before becoming abandoned.

The town was built underwater for a defensive advantage.

A few months after Baldia becoming abandoned, lythd founded New Baldia in the west coast of Montroig, and Baldia became a district of Terroja.

Amarillo (former New Hanoi)
New Hanoi was founded by one of the founders of Azura, Cyber_Peace. This town is in the middle of the Hanoic Desert.

The town is rich in monuments, such as the Montroig Hippodrome (by Mr. Zimbel) or the New Hanoi Arena (by Fernas_).

The town changed name on September 2021 to "Amarillo".

Azura (abandoned)
Azura was originally part of the Holy Chevkri Empire. Founded by Rusiam, Cyber_Peace and others, it was later voluntarily annexed to Montroig.

The town had grown abandoned and it saw its final nail in the coffin when Rusiam was banned during the Fascist Uprise in Montroig.

Serradeneu
Serradeneu is a small piece of land owned by Montroig in northern Eldham.

New Baldia
This town was founded by lythd (founder of the original Baldia) in the eastern coast of Montroig, in the Tresrius Bay.

The town features an extensive system of canals, for it was built on top of a swamp. A natural wonder is also present in New Baldia, the "Lion Cliffs".

Tia Tua
The Tiatuan bay had once been the foundations of the nation of Tiatua. After growing abandoned however, the territory was ceded to Montroig.

Original commune
Montroig was originally founded as the anarchist commune of Balmesia (February 20th-February 23rd) close to the city of Hapatmitas by the players ics_de, Cluc312 and josep23. After three days of building the commune, the founders decided to move West to find better lands. They finally settled on a mountain in the savannahs of Haven. The nation takes the name from the mountain where the new city was established, Montroig means "red mountain".

Founding
Between February 23rd and 24th, the founders wrote a provisional constitution defining the foundations of the nation, originally composed of the first 3 articles. ics_de built the Federal Parliament and the Ministry of Defense during the following days. Meanwhile, josep23 took care of building a wall that encircled the entire mountain, transforming it in a strong defensive citadel. The encircled area of the mountain went on to become known as The Citadel.

Provisional Constitution of Montroig

 * 1) The State will be a Democratic Federal Republic, where every town will possess a decided amount of autonomy that must first be decided with the central government.
 * 2) The flag features a black background, a yellow flower and a red triangle at the bottom.
 * 3) The Constitution is modified inside the Federal Parliament by Montroig's citizens. The official book must remain inside the Parliament room forever.
 * 4) All 3 powers are separated:
 * 5) The Executive power is possessed by the Guardian of the Republic, in charge of guaranteeing the stability of the State. The Guardian will be elected through a vote. In addition, the Federal Army will be in charge of keeping peace.
 * 6) The Legislative power is in hands of the Parliament. The members of the Parliament will be elected through an election poll on the Discord server of the Nation. In the Parliament, members will vote on modifying, adding or removing laws.
 * 7) The Judicial power lies on the National Court. The judges of the National Court will be assigned by the Guardian of the Republic. All trials will be managed by the National Court.
 * 8) The State is laic and the construction of churches inside the Citadels is prohibited.
 * 9) All criminals deserve a fair trial, and the National Court cannot impose Death Penalty to any criminal.
 * 10) All farming resources (fields and animals, mainly) are collectivized, meaning that their resources belong to all citizens.
 * 11) When at war, if supporting allies only enlisted soldiers will be sent to combat, but when being attacked, all Montroig citizens must defend the nation and the nation will establish a War Economy, in which all resources and manpower will be used with the aim to end the war.

ics_de's government
ics_de was nominated first Guardian of the Republic in an agreement between the three founders.

The Quadranet Alliance
On March 3rd 2021, the leaders of Montroig (ics_de), Maldun (Oellappen), Floramia (Cadexii) and Valtyrion (alexpotter03) gathered in the Montroig Federal Parliament to discuss the formation of a defensive-economic alliance that would later on receive the name of Quadranet. The alliance followed three basic principles:


 * 1) If a member of the alliance gets attacked, the others can send troops and resources as support for defensive purposes. If a member decides not to support the defender, their nation will have to pay a fine decided by all the members of the alliance.
 * 2) If in need of buying or selling a product, the nations must first consider looking for sellers or buyers of the alliance in order to benefit the nations' economy.
 * 3) The project for the construction of a Nether highway to connect the nations in the alliance is accepted, but this project will not be initiated immediately.

The alliance was later commemorated through a monument which featured each of the participant nations' flag placed in every capital.

Montroig left Quadranet on May 23rd due to popular petition, since the alliance had grown with nations ideologically opposed to Montroig. The level of toxicity between leaders and diplomats was what started the petition to leave.

The Montroig-O.P.T.C. Alliance
On March 5th 2021, an alliance was established between SpotlightThief, ics_de, Crazy_Cryo_810 and josep23 (representing Montroig) and zh_edd (representing the O.P.T.C.) under the following conditions:


 * 1) Both parties will agree to send resources and/or troops to the other member in the event that they're caught within wartime scenario
 * 2) There will be an open borders policy between the two nations, allowing citizens to freely roam within the other member's borders.
 * 3) The O.P.T.C. offers teaching on vineyard management.
 * 4) Both nations offer to improve relations with other nations through previous contacts.

The First Popular Congress
The First Popular Congress (March 5th 2021) was the initial meeting in which crucial decisions were made. In total 10 people attended the congress (around 70% of the population then). Firstly, the Constitution was discussed. Every article of the Provisional Constitution was reviewed and either accepted or declined. Mainly, articles 4, 5 and 6 were added into the constitution. The articles established judicial regulations and the abolishment of death penalty, land collectivization and war conditions.

The other main subject of discussion was the participation in a possible conflict between the Imperial Archonate of Viodoxa and the Kingdom of Aurora with their allies. The geographic position of the nation meant that neutrality was hardly an option, and citizens had to discuss which side should Montroig join.

The Baunei War
On March 9th, Victoneux and other members from the city of Baunat (capital of the Baunei Empire) declared war on Montroig without a reason. The Montroigian ministers started contacting their allies. Valtyrion (allied with Montroig through the Quadranet alliance) sent soldier Respi3 a few hours before the war startpoint to patrol around the area while the city was preparing for the siege. The O.P.T.C. sent four soldiers and provided weapons to the nation. Lastly, members from the Holy Chevkri Empire promised sending troops but these never arrived. To avoid raiding, the farmers of Montroig removed all the vegetables planted in the collective farms and took all the animals to a safe hideout. On March 10th, two hours before the actual war started, Victoneux and Maximilian___ from Baunat started raiding the city by kiling the civilians in the area. The few present troops still not fully prepared by then were also killed, as well as their horses. The leaders from Baunat then said they were there to annex Montroig to their empire and started demanding submission. The citizens of Montroig started supposedly negotiating with them, with the only objective of playing time while the support they had asked for from the O.P.T.C. and the Second Empire of Uldarash was making its way to the city. The battlefront between the two sides of the conflict was divided close to the wall entrance to the harbour. By the time the war started, the Baunei troops had retreated to the savannah plains. A last counterattack was launched but failed aswell. Lastly, the bandit faction of the The Chancellor's Hands, which attacked both sides with the single objective of retreiving loot. The war ended with 9 kills by the Montroig army and 0 kills from the Baunei troops, since most kills were perfomed either before the proper war or by members of the alliance and not the actual fighters.

The nation needed strong policies to repair the damages. These were discussed during the Second Montroig Popular Congress on March 13th 2021. The main topics discussed were the implementation of taxes, better weaponry for the army and the creation of a Nether Highway connecting Montroig to the rest of the Uldarash Empire.

Mercenary Attacks
During the second half of March, Montroig received a considerable amount of bandit attacks. Around March 21st, Montroig was attacked by CripsyRobot1292, and TerrorAgentH. These were believed to be paid mercenaries sent by VB_wano sent to retrieve the head of PenguinPheonix. They attacked numerous times, the defendants at the start were lythd, BuckTootha, qwaser_ and JiblyJ. In the beginning the strength of the two, with their strategy, was in the lead against the defendants. However, eventually CrispyRobot1292 was able to be killed after a long fight and they were chased outside of the city. Meanwhile, the head was taken. The aim of the raiders was unknown so the head was unprotected. However, they decided to tell us that they achieved what they got, and we were able to kill them and take it from them. It was hidden under the library during the rest of the battle. Molton64 joined the side of the attackers. They were able to receive multiple more sets of diamond armor, showing their wealth, as well as teleporting back to the fight for a cost of $1000 each time. The defendants re-organised, and were able to continually take them on and win, with further support from civilians. Eventually, they stopped coming back, once a spawn cage was set up. The attackers ended up losing the raid, and some of the defendants even were able to take some of the mercenaries' equipment as their own. This fight resulted of the death of the beloved Barry the Blue Sheep, and a monument to his memory as well as a vault to protect future livestock were built the following day.

The establishment of the nation
On March 21st Montroig as a nation was officially established. The people of the nation decided on naming the capital Terroja (meaning "red land"). Furthermore, the nation annexed a nearby Montroig outpost, Baldia, as a proper town inside the nation.

The 23rd of March marked the 1 month milestone for Montroig and was as such National Day. A dozen of citizens joined in the Parliament on the next day to host a debate on several issues including the potential transition to a representative democracy and city planning. Some bills were proposed and some candidates presented themselves for the positions of Guardian of the Republic, Ministers and Judges. The campaign and voting of the bills was planned to continue for a week, and after that elections were planned to be held for another week.

The event marked a high point of tension between BADEU0, leader of the SMP (Social Montroigian party) and JiblyJ, member of the GWP (General Welfare Party), with both players fighting in the Parliament, JiblyJ killing BADEU0 several times and both insulting each other while on the talking stone.

The law organisation reform
On March 29th citizen BADEU0 jokingly said profanities multiple times. This lead to a trial in the Federal Court, the case of BADEU0 v. Montroig, with CoColaxx acting as defense attorney, qwaser_ as prosecutor, and lythd as judge. This situation showed the bare-bones structure of the judicial organisation of Montroig. The case outcome was a sentence to jail for Badeu. The case incited the reform of the law organisation.

SpotlightThief's government
SpotlightThief created the Ministry of Infrastructure, with the first project being a fort connected to Terroja, Pedrascut. CoColaxx, Minister of Defense at the time started a rank system for the army of the nation.

First Montroig elections
The first Montroig elections had four candidates running for Guardian of the Republic: JiblyJ, CoColaxx, SpotlightThief and lythd. The previous Guardian of the Republic, ics_de, stepped down in order to easen the possibilities of the candidates running for the position. A debate was held by the Ministry of Culture in the newly built TV set, used for this sort of events. Only three candidates showed up to the debate, candidate JiblyJ had disappeared the days before. The debate was lead by citizen qwaser_ and was aired live on discord by the Ministry of Culture.

After a week of campaign and another one for voting (20 votes were accounted in total), the results came out. The voting system offered Montroig citizens the possibility to vote for a second option, for a more accurate result, using STV (Single Tranferrable) Vote as the number of candidates was not enough to employ the ranked system.

SpotlightThief and CoColaxx had the most votes as a first option, so lythd's voters' second option was used to observe the new outcome. SpotlightThief won with 12 votes against CoColaxx's 8.

Annexation of New Hanoi
Cyber_Peace founded New Hanoi north of Terroja around mid March, as an attempt at creating a safe haven for exiled people in Rathnir. Cyber_Peace had been one of the founders of Azura. Cyber_Peace however quickly offered Montroig the possibility of annexing New Hanoi. SpotlightThief agreed, and a plan to translate the city to the northern desert was started.

Annexation of Azura
Due to a proposal by the Azura foreign affairs department's representant Rusiam to join Montroig, a meeting was held on April 9th to discuss the terms of this annexation in Azura. The intentions of Azura to join Montroig derived from the recent tensions between the town and the Holy Chevkri Empire. Rusiam would cede Azura's govern completely up to the Federal Govern. Minister of Infrastructure qwaser_ took the place.

The Fascist Uprise
On April 27th, the leader of the General Welfare Party, TheLaziestLazy announced that the party was being disbanded. This was shocking to most montroigians since there was no reasoning behind it. However, a few minutes later ex-azuran governor Rusiam announced the creation of the Montroig Fascist Party, toghether with TheLaziestLazy and COOCIEMAN. Citizen BuckTootha quickly dennounced this to an international level, which triggered the intervention of Stoneworks. Stoney demanded the immediate dissolution of the party, but was faced with aggressive resistance and receive multiple slurs from the fascists. This lead to all the citizens involved being banned, both from Montroig and Stoneworks.

Qwaser's government
Qwaser's term was characterized by a development in infrastructure with projects like the Montroig subway, together with a progression towards a socialist economy through the Free Labor Bill, the Socialist Trajectory Act and pacts with other socialist nations (UBSR and PSDRB), together with the guarantee of free speech and a proper ban to slavery. Qwaser also created the Ministry of Justice, with InternetKiwi as author of an extensive reform to the Constitution.

Second Montroig elections
The second Montroig elections opposed lawyer CoColaxxative and qwaser_, head of the SMP (Socialist Montroig Party). The two first candidates held a debate in the Ministry of Culture's TV set, with ics_de hosting. The winner was qwaser_, with over 70% (19 votes) of the votes against CoColaxx’s 30% (8 votes), with a total of 27 votes. It must be considered that since the beginning, CoColaxx  stated he considered qwaser_ a good candidate, but he ran anyways due to multiple citizens showing interest in voting for him. Minister elections would take place the next week.

Montroig in Eldham
Qwaser founded a montroigian settlement in Eldham with the provisional name of Serradeneu (meaning "Snowy mountain range").

Lottie993's government
The third elections had a total of 5 candidates: Mr_Zimbel (BPM), qwaser_ (SMP), Miningboy_12, InternetKiwi (JC) and DasJafss. qwaser_ was reelected with 75% of the votes. However, qwaser_ was elected Empress of Uldarash in parrallel. This led to qwaser_ abandoning the position of Guardian after a week of government and calling new elections to finish the remaining weeks of the term. Citizen Lottie993 (SMP) won the snap election versus Miningboy_12 and JosephioStalin with 43.3% of the votes.

The Akratian War
During the second half of june, the United Empire of Akratia claimed the entirety of the continent of Avalov, where Serradeneu is located. After multiple failed attempts at reaching a diplomatic agreement, Lottie993 sent an ultimatum, which was refused. This lead to an attack from the montroigian army on June 26th in which the only casualties were due to infiltrated bandits (Berd) in the uldarashi reinforcements, for no akratian citizen took part in combat.

Fifth Montroig elections
After Lottie993's short term, elections were called with only Arcadian_Sheep (BMP) and Miningboy_12 as candidates. Arcadian_Sheep won by 82.1% versus Miningboy_12's 17.9%.

This term was rather active for Montroig, and it was marked by the Coalition War against Bardonia. An independence referendum was held on August 4th with an outcome of 44.2% for and 55.8 against leaving the Second Empire of Uldarash. A remarkable achievement was the amount of bills proposed in the August 8th congress, with around 25 laws proposed. In this term Arcadian_Sheep missed a congress session.

Arcadian_Sheep (this time with Dutchy53 (PPLB) as viceguardian) would be later reelected the subsequent term with a 56.7% vote rate against Miningboy_12's (with LegalC as viceguardian) 33.3% and DimitrisDuchos's 10%.

This term was characterized by a frequent absence in leadership: after an impeachment attempt and the "1984 incident" (in which Arcadian_Sheep muted multiple members without a fair trial), the Guardian disappeared without any information on his absence. This lead to Dutchy53 taking the job of acting Guardian. Six days later, Arcadian_Sheep appeared and said he had left to take a break, but he was not coming back yet. Thus Dutchy53 continued acting as Guardian. However, Dutchy53 did not attend the following congress sessions. This led to a big descent in citizen activity in the nation.

Sixth Montroig elections
Elections were held on August 29th between Agapitikos (PBBM) with Gooblegins, BuckTootha (SMP) with Lottie993 (SMP), FaelYeey (JC), JackFKennedy, originally with Anti_Xray_Plugin then after he renounced Kennedy, with Gooblegins, and then after Kennedy kicked him off the ticket Fickogames, LegalC with Lottie993 (SMP) and Miningboy_12. Arcadian_Sheep did not run for these elections since he had already run for two terms. With a total of 45 votes, the results gave the victory to Miningboy_12 with a 37.8% on the first round of the ranked vote, with BuckTootha's 26.7% and Agapitikos 22% following behind.

Propaganda Posters
The Federal Republic of Montroig uses many propaganda posters designed by the Ministry of Culture in order to advertise events, notices, and the nation itself:

Public Library
The Federal Republic of Montroig has a public library residing upon the Citadel that houses a copy of every government document within the nation as well as journals, laws, books from all over Rathnir, and so forth, available to the public.

The Weekly Dawn
The Weekly Dawn is a weekly Federal newspaper created by the Ministry of Culture with the aim of informing citizens about important news, advertisements, promotions and events. The first publication was made on March 19th 2021. The digital version was made free on April 11th, 2021 and is now published all across the world.