Laurent

One of the Six Great Nations of Alter-Mana, commonly known as the Amazon Kingdom. Laurent is best known for its mountainous terrain and its army of all woman warriors. Laurent was invaded by Naba'al during the War of Threes. Despite this, Laurent now counts itself as Naba'al's staunchest local ally. It is speculated that, in any conflict between Naba'al and Forthena, Laurent will be solidly on Naba'al's side. Further, it is rumored that Laurent's Queen Riesz Rolante is the secret paramour of Naba'al's King Hawkeye Navarre.

Land

Laurent comprises the entirety of the mountainous Laurent Peninsula. It is the Easternmost point on the Me'Diel continent. In addition, Laurent holds a claim to the Amazonian Islands which rest in the sea between Laurent and Mindas.

Despite that the Laurentians maintain outposts throughout the Laurent Mountains, which stretch as far west as New Astoria, and as far south as the border with Naba'al, Laurent officially cedes much of its territory in central Me'Diel to the Holy City of Wendel.

Map of Laurent Proper

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/7515/laurent.jpg

Population

Laurent boasts a majority human population, though the occassional Neko is also found within Laurent's borders. Second to humanity are the harpies native to Laurent's mountainous clime. Though they once posed a threat to travellers along the mountain passes, today they are civilized and integrated into Laurentian society.

Laurent's people, generally, are a robust lot. They tend to have very little body fat, and living in the high altitudes of Laurent's mountains has given them a remarkable endurance. Women tend to be stronger than men in Laurent, though this is a result of Laurent's matriarchal culture rather than anything special about Laurent's climate or topography.

Religion

As with the rest of Alter-Mana, Laurent is largely adherent to the Elementalist faith. Contact with the Esper Union introduced the Esperian strain of the Raineric faith, though its numbers are small and generally confined to immigrants from Esper and a limited number of converts. Laurent generally holds to the Wendelian tradition, rather than the Naba'alian or Forthenan sects.

Economy

Laurent relies mostly on trade with both Forthena and Naba'al to reach the outside Web. An important SRAN airstrip and starport was established early on in the city of Athulua, one of the few lowland settlements in the kingdom. While SRAN is long-since gone, Athulua remains an active port and receives modest traffic from offworld -- be it Forthenan traders or privateers lured to Alter-Mana in search of Spice.

Law

While a fairly traditional monarchy (and a martriarchy, in the style of Toroia and Pandora), Laurent is among the most liberal of nations on Alter-Mana. If the culture of Laurent tends to favor women, the law itself does not reflect this bias, and men are permitted to achieve as much success as women are (the last ruler of the nation, before Queen Riesz, was her father Joster). Both genders and all races are guaranteed civil rights, by both tradition and law, and there is generally little government interference in peoples' daily lives (although it should be noted that, shortly after the arrival of the Guardians, Laurent's parliament did pass legislation establishing a modest social safety net).

Government

Laurent is best described as a constitutional monarchy, closely resembling the Guardian model. The Monarch serves an executive function, while an elected parliament legislates, and both forces are balanced out by an independent judiciary. Parliament members are elected to five year terms, with the current parliament's numbers (based on a decennial census in all districts) being 324 members.

Internal Politics

It is important to note that Laurent has no political parties. The Laurentians abolished them long ago, as factional disputes and partisan bickering threatened to tear the nation apart. Voter outrage caused massive polar shifts in the political landscape, changing out one party for another every election, until at last King Joster interceded and proposed legislation limiting the role that parties played in the political process. The public clearly supported the King's measure, forcing parliament's compliance. When this did not fully end the practice of partisan gamesmanship, the King proposed an even stricter measure, banning party affiliation entirely.

Today, while the parties themselves (with their networks and fundraising machines) are nonexistant, some factionalism does exist within parliament. Most relevent to the present circumstances in Alter-Mana, the parliament is divided among those who are pro-Forthena, and those who are pro-Naba'al. The pro-Naba'al faction has a slight edge, due in part to the endorsement of Queen Riesz. With this faction solidly in power, there is much talk of eventual unification with Naba'al (and the broader march toward eventual unification of the entire dimension).

Foreign Politics

Laurent officially has good relations with all the other nations of Alter-Mana, though its closest allies are Naba'al and Wendel.

Outside the Dimension, Laurent's most solid ties are with Guardia and the Esper Union. Laurent supported Forthenan-driven anti-Tasnican sentiment within Alter some years back, and while Forthena's change of government has lead to a softening of relations with Tasnica, many in Laurent still have a poor opinion of the Tasnicans.

Publicly, Laurent supports its ally Guardia in its war with the Communist Protectorate, although the kingdom has no plans to contribute any direct aid. News that there may have been a Communist infiltrator in the Forthenan noble court has ramped up anti-socialist anxiety across the dimension, and in Laurent especially (a nation with ties to both of Scande's principal foes, Esper and Guardia).

Military

Laurent's military shows obvious influence of its contact with both Esper and Guardia. Their hardware is a mixture of the two, with the majority of their battlesuits being modeled after the GDF Mauler, specially designed for maneuvering and climbing over rough, mountainous terrain. Laurent also fields a fleet of helicopters and other aircraft patterned on Esperian models. Laurentian airpilots are among the best-trained in the entire Web, and are able to negotiate through Laurent's unforgiving peaks and shearing winds with uncanny ease.

Military service in Laurent is dramatically skewed toward women; traditionally, women are the warriors of Laurentian society, and this largely holds true in modern times. Women make up the majority of the ranks of the enlisted, and of those that enlist women have a greater chance to seek (and achieve) promotion through to higher rank. There is, however, no institutionalized discrimination against men or for women in the military.