Airgialla

Airgialla (: Airgíalla), officially known as the Goidelic Republic of Airgialla (Goidelic: Poblacht Gaeilge na Airgíalla), is a  in Western Artemia off the western coast of Tiperyn. Airgialla is considered to be the western edge of Artemia, as well as the Goidelia subcontinent. The country shares a maritime border with Tiperyn to the east, but is otherwise surrounded by the North Iapetus Ocean.

Airgialla includes 15 shires covering an area of 84,700 km2 and the whole of the Airgialla Archipelago. The Goidelic Republic claims sovereignty over the whole of the Goidelia subcontinent—the vast majority of which is under Tiperyn control—but does not exercise control outside of its internationally-recognized archipelago. With a population of 5,420,000, Airgialla is one of smallest countries in Western Artemia, but boasts an advanced mixed economy.

Military
The Armed Forces of the Goidelic Republic is the national military of Airgialla, consisting of the Land Component, Air Component, and Sea Component and manned by a relatively small active component of 23,500 volunteers that can be filled out during wartime by a reserve component of 790,000 conscripts. A system of conscription was instituted in 1930 by which all adult men must complete 6 months of military service followed by 6 years of reserve service and 4 years of inactive reserve service. Conscription was expanded in 2005 to include women as well, who had already been permitted to serve as volunteers in the Armed Forces since its inception in 1926. The Airgiallan military is primarily defensive in nature, legally requiring a League of Free Nations mandate and parliamentary support to deploy overseas.

The armed services' mission is the defense of Airgialla, primarily from Tiperyn and the member-states of the North-South Concordant. Airgiallan troops are heavily integrated into League of Free Nations command structures, with Airgiallan units designed to be relatively independent, modular and highly-mechanized forces that can be readily slotted into Brigantic or Legantine units. Much of Airgialla's military infrastructure is funded via foreign military aid from Legantus, Vallis and Brigantica, as well as supplied by League-state defense contractors. Additionally, multiple League militaries are habitual leasers of sections of Airgiallan naval and air bases due to the country's proximity to rival Tiperyn and historical tensions.

The Land Component is Airgialla's land warfare branch and the largest component of the Armed Forces, consisting of 14,200 active and 765,000 reserve personnel (60% active reserve and 40% inactive reserve). The active maneuver forces are all contained within the the 1st Brigade, with the exception of the Parachute Reconnaissance Company which has an independent, special operations mission. Active personnel also man various independent support and service units outside of 1st Brigade, including schooling, military police, intelligence, air defense, engineering, and medical companies. Meanwhile, the active reserve forces are grouped into 2nd Brigade, 3rd Brigade, 4th Brigade, and 5th Brigade while inactive reserve forces are grouped into the 6th Brigade. While active reserve brigades actively exercise, the inactive brigade has never been called into service and only maintains a skeleton staff section of active reserve officers that would be recalled into active service should the inactive reserve by mobilized.

Land Component Brigades typically consist of 2 Mechanized Battalions (consisting of 2 mechanized infantry and 2 tank companies), 1 Motorized Battalion (fully motorized, but cross-trained in air assault delivery), 1 Artillery Battalion, 1 Reconnaissance Company, and 1 Combat Service Battalion. Although the brigade can deploy all at once in wartime, battalions typically act as the unit of action in Airgiallan deployments overseas. Typically a Mechanized or Motorized Battalion is reinforced with smaller elements from the Artillery Battalion, Reconnaissance Company and Combat Service Battalion while the brigade remains in garrison.

The Air Component is Airgialla's air and space warfare branch, consisting of 6,000 active personnel and 10,000 reserve personnel. The branch currently maintains an inventory of 20 multirole fighter aircraft, 4 maritime reconnaissance aircraft, 11 airlifters, 80 helicopters, and 40 trainer aircraft. With the responsibility of securing Airgialla's air space and supporting the Land Component through strategic airlift and rotary-wing tactical airlift capability, the Air Component does not maintain many bombers or dedicated ground attack aircraft. Any ground attack capability is derived from its multirole fighters, which are able to carry air-to-ground munitions. The branch is also responsible for manning the country's strategic air defense artillery batteries (separate from the Land Component's tactical batteries) and monitoring two satellites under Airgiallan ownership launched by the Artemian Space Agency.

The Sea Component is Airgialla's naval warfare branch and coast guard, consisting of 3,300 active personnel and 15,000 reserve personnel manning and maintaining 3 corvettes, 10 helicopter patrol vessels and 1 reserve troop carrier. Of its active personnel, 500 form the Sea Component's Marine Detachment which supplements naval security forces on board ships and shore installations and conducts boarding and anti-piracy operations. The Sea Component is primarily responsible for patrolling Airgiallan fisheries and natural gas platforms, as well as aiding in immigration enforcement, tracking Tiperyn Realm Armada surface and submarine activity in the area, and conducting search and rescue. Due to its lack of amphibious capability or active sealift assets, the Airgiallan military primarily relies on League partner nations or the Air Component for sealift and airlift services of land forces overseas.

Economy
The Airgiallan economy is primarily a  and   with a smaller, but still significant  manufacturing sectors. The is comparatively negligible in terms of economic output at about 3% of the total economy, carried mostly by limited natural gas offshore drilling and fishing. Airgialla's economy is considered to be advanced and high-value, with a gross domestic product (PPP) per capita of $53,450. This figure is driven down, however, largely due to above average cost of living, with its gross domestic product (nominal) per capita sitting at $61,600.

The country transitioned from a primarily agrarian economy towards services, high-skilled manufacturing and high-tech research and development beginning in the 1970s and largely completing by the new millennium. This was accomplished primarily by attracting multinational, Legantine and Brigantic corporations in the technology and financial sectors to Airgialla by implementing attractive corporate tax rates, building a pool of educated workers through investment in the education sector, and tax incentives implemented by the Legantine and Brigantic governments. Many public companies were privatized during this period—particularly in the manufacturing sector—although Airgialla's energy, utilities, and education sectors are still nationalized as public goods. This effort was largely pushed for and subsidized by the League of Free Nations under the Economic and Social Division framework, which treated Airgialla as the League's ideological frontline. Across the strait to the east, the ethnically Goidelic duchies of Western Tiperyn were and still are largely impoverished when compared to the whole of the country, primarily based around the agriculture sector as Airgialla was.

Since the 1970s the construction industry has also witnessed a massive expansion, largely due to the rapid urbanization of Airgialla, the vertical expansion of its cities, and a housing boom brought on by the creation and rapid growth of the country's middle class.

Trade
Most of Airgialla's tangible exports come from the high-skill manufacturing of multinational, Legantine and Brigantic corporations operating in Airgialla. The largest of these are within the telecommunications, computing, pharmaceutical, electric battery, agricultural equipment, and transport equipment sectors. However, Airgialla's knowledge economy encompasses a large amount of intangible exports, such as education, intellectual products and services, digitally-sold software, and financial services. Airgialla's largest export partners are Brigantica (31%), Legantus (27%), Tiperyn (15%), Chezzetcook (9%) and Vallis (5%).

Despite Airgialla's maritime natural gas fields, most of this resource is consumed domestically and Airgialla is still a net importer of fossil fuels. Because of its energy dependence, as well as the fact that most of its natural gas fields cross maritime borders and are thus also exploited by Tiperyn, have motivated a burgeoning renewable energy sector based on electric battery production, wave power, and wind power. The current Airgiallan government hopes to develop renewables into a lucrative knowledge sector in its own right, although Airgialla has been an exporter of industry-grade lithium-ion batteries since the 1980s. This transformative industry has largely been fed by imported lithium as Airgialla has no domestic lithium deposits.

Airgialla is also a net importer of foodstuffs (including meats, grains, fruits and nuts, and dairy), as well as, iron, and steel to feed its manufacturing sector. Most vehicles, including trains, automobiles, and aircraft are imported from partner nations, although Airgiallan manufacturing exports a large quantity of vehicle parts (e.g. transmissions, avionics, engines) to Legantus and Brigantica for final assembly.

Welfare
The Airgiallan government maintains a number of tax- and national industry-funded welfare programs. These include:
 * Unemployment Benefit — Benefits for the unemployed up to 1 calendar year after termination.
 * Housing Benefit — Individuals and families below a certain income-level can apply to live in public housing or private housing subsidized by the government. Legally, rent in public housing or publicly subsidized housing must be at most 75% of the median local rent. This benefit also applies to elderly care facilities, with the income threshold being raised and rent standard being lowered.
 * Basic Living Income — A means-tested benefit for individuals and families with incomes at or below the median cost of living that covers the difference between their income and the median cost of living of their shire. This amount is adjusted (typically lowered) if the individual is living in a public housing or publicly subsidized housing as the cost of living for individuals living in such arrangements is typically lower than that of the shire. There is no minimum income requirement, but beneficiaries must begin looking for work after the first year.
 * Learning Stipend — A benefit for university and secondary school students that provides for a portion of living expenses, including housing, utilities, public transportation and food. The benefit of not means tested for university students, but is means tested for secondary school students.
 * Age Pension — A means tested basic income for retired individuals aged 60 years and older with a net worth below the 66th percentile.
 * Newborn Benefit — A means tested benefit for new parents that covers the cost of basic essentials (e.g. diapers, baby formula, clothes) for three months plus 1 month of the shire's median living cost.
 * Rehabilitative Benefit — A means tested benefit that provides for a portion of living expenses for recently released non-violent convicts who earned an early release.

In addition, health care in Airgialla is nationalized, with all residents having equal access to health care services.