Sterndal

Sterndal (: Stjernedal), officially the Sternish Republic (Sternish: Stjernske republikk), is a country in Northern Artemia. The country shares borders with Gardarike to the south, Kironia to the east across the Bolungar Gulf, Thuyiquakliq to the north across the Boreal Sea, and Uninhabited to the West. The country has a population of 14,474,130, which is mostly centred along the eastern coast and in the south of the country where most of the major cities, such as Hovager and Borstrand, are located. Sterndal has an area of 186,416 sq km (71,976 sq mi) with a mountainous and heavily forested landscape. Sterndal has a mild climate in the south due to warm air coming up through from Southern Artemia with the north being much colder. is the native language and is spoken by most of the country. Most of the country is nominally Christian with a large irreligious population.

The country has been continuously inhabited since prehistoric times with Sternish people emerging from the groups inhabiting the area and forming their own language and culture over time. The country was a part of the Gardic Empire until the late 19th century. In the modern day the country has operated as a Federal parliamentary republic since the current Styringsdokument was put in place in 1946. The current President since 2012 is Vetle Haugen of the Radical Labour Party and the current Prime Minister is Oline Voll, also of the Radical Labour Party. Legislative power is vested in the 240-member Storting. Executive power is executed by the Prime Minister and cabinet, however the President retains significant influence over the everyday running of the country.

Sterndal is a highly developed nation with healthcare, education, transport and other services being publicly funded. The Radical Labour Party first put in place the Helsetjeneste (Health service) under the government of President Brage Halvorsen between 1947 and 1970 which helped to drastically improve the health of the population in a country where two-fifths of the population had never before visited a doctor. Other welfare programs such as pensions and unemployment pay have further helped to develop the nation. The results of these policies have seen the country rank highly in regards to and.

Etmyology
The Anglic name of Sterndal is a anglicisation of the Stjernedal'. The name comes from the words stjarna, meaning star, and dalr, meaning valley or dale. The name was originally meant to refer to the valleys in between the Great Mountains, which became renowned among the Gardic settlers for their view of the night sky, but eventually came to refer to the whole land once the Sternish Renaissance began.

Prehistory
Quakaliq tribes in the north

President
The head of state of Sterndal is the President of the Sternish Republic. For most of the country's history under the republic it operated under a semi-presidential system with a strong role for the President, however, in 1985 significant constitutional amendments were made limiting the President to serving two five year terms and stripping them of many powers. Under the new system the President has the power to dissolve the parliament, appoint the Prime Minister, appoint ambassadors, appoint justices to the High Court with the approval of the parliament, pardon convicted persons, declare a state of emergency, declare a state of war, and to give decorations and awards to individuals. The President has been elected by a direct vote since 1947 with a second round required if the president does not get more than 50%+1 of the vote in the election. The current President is Vetle Haugen. Sterndal has had 8 Presidents since 1946, these were Brage Halvorsen (1946-1970), Werner Bredesen (1970-1977), Ulrik Eikemo (1977-1982), Fredrik Cappelen (1982-1992), Magnar Aspelund (1992-2002), Helga Friele (2002-2007), and Geir Hovdenak (2007-2012)

Parliament
The 240-member Storting is a unicameral body which exercises supreme legislative power in Sterndal. It may amend the constitution and regular laws, dismiss the cabinet, and override presidential vetoes. It is elected to serve a term of five years alongside the President. 210 of the seats are elected by proportional representation in multi-member constituencies with a 5% national threshold. The party which received the most votes is then given an extra 30 seats to aid in forming a majority government bringing the total number of seats to 240. The Parliament has many committees which listen to experts in that field and prepare legislation. The current speaker of the Parliament is Signe Eikemo (Radical Labour Party).

Since 1947, the Parliament has been dominated by the Radical Labour Party which has won the most votes in every election except for 1982 when it received it's worst result of 64 seats. In addition to the Radical Labour Party the Reform Party and Republican Party have been represented in every parliament since 1947 with the Sternish People's Party being represented in every parliament since it's foundation in 1976. The Communist Party was formerly a major force in the parliament normally having the 4th or 5th most votes but since the 1980s the party has declined and has not been represented in parliament since.

The Parliament can only be dissolved by the president or by a majority vote in the parliament in favour of dissolving. However, no parliament has been dissolved since 1947.

Cabinet
After a general election the President normally appoints the leader of their own party in parliament to try and form a cabinet, although this is not always the case. The cabinet may be dismissed by a vote of no confidence in the Parliament. However, as the cabinets normally form a majority of the parliament this rarely occurs.

Both the President and Prime Minister sit within the cabinet. The cabinet normally decides on the direction of government policy and most legislative plans originate from within the government. Each minister is responsible for their own area of policy which is normally set by the President upon appointing them. The Prime Minister normally chairs the cabinet meetings with the President merely attending. The current Prime Minister is Oline Voll.

Judicial system and law enforcement
Sterndal uses a system where laws are created and amended by parliament and the system is regulated by the judiciary. It consists of the High Court, Appeals courts, Civil courts, and Administrative courts. The judiciary is independent of the executive and legislative branches with most judges appointed to their positions by the Independent Council of Judicial Appointments. However, High Court justices are appointed by the President and must be approved by Parliament. A list of recommended justices is given to the President by the Independent Council and he must select an individual from this list. The courts regulate the executive and legislative branches of government by using their powers of judicial review to ensure no laws violate the constitution.

The law is enforced by the Sternish Police Service which has branches in every district. The police service has multiple agencies affiliated to it such as the State Investigation Agency, the State Prosecution Service, the National Fraud Agency, the State Criminal Investigation Unit, and the Environmental Crime Unit. All of these are overseen by the Police Oversight Agency which reports directly to the Ministry of the Interior. The State Security Agency is independent from the police service and is accountable only to the Ministry of the Interior but often works with the police service.

All prisons are ran by the national government under the Prison Service. The country places emphasis on crime prevention and rehabilitation rather than punishment. The country has some of the least densely populated prisons in Anterra. The death penalty was abolished for all crimes under the 1946 constitution but the last execution had taken place in 1931.

Demographics
According to a 2018 survey by the Sternish Institute of Statistics (SIS) the population of Sterndal was 14,474,130 with 80.9 people per square kilometer. The ratio of men to women for the population as a whole was 0.96 men for every woman. According to the same survey 79% of the population live in urban areas. The country has a relatively low birth rate at 10.9 births per 1000 inhabitants and a death rate of 8.4 deaths per 1000 inhabitants. This has led to a slow natural rate of population growth which has been boosted by immigration and increasing life expectancy. The nation ranks highly in indexes regarding the happiness, health, and well-being of the population due to the highly-regarded healthcare system, welfare benefits, and a low level of income inequality.

Nationality
The government of Sterndal is constitutionally barred from requesting information regarding a persons race or ethnic identity but statistics regarding nationality are provided by the SIS. According to the most recent survey 87.2% of the population are Sternish citizens by birth with a further 3.7% of the population being naturalised citizens and the remaining 9.1% being foreign citizens. Under the current laws a foreign citizen must have had Sterndal as their legal country of residence continuously for the preceding 12 years. For refugees this amount of time is decreased to 8 years. Any children of the newly naturalised citizen are immediately granted citizenship following their parents naturalisation.

Under the present nationality law any child born to a citizen of the Sternish Republic is automatically granted citizenship upon its birth. Children born to stateless people and abandoned children are also granted citizenship. Furthermore, any person born abroad who has at least one Sternish grandparent may also apply for citizenship without meeting the prerequisites. The present nationality law was passed in 1979 and was last amended in 2015 to remove loopholes which had meant offspring of naturalised citizens had not been granted citizenship.

Religion
Christianity is the dominant religion in Sterndal with 80.4% of the population declaring themselves to be Christian according to the most recent survey. Historically, the protestant Church of Sterndal has been the largest denomination in the country. The number of people declaring themselves to be Christian has fallen from 98% of the population in 1955 to the present figures. The Church of Sterndal was traditionally the state church and received funding from the state. Prior to the 1946 constitution all public officials had to be registered as a member of the Church. The Church remained as the state church until 1974 when the constitution was amended. Before this the country had already had strong secular traditions.

A 2013 poll by the Secular Society think-tank found that 41% of Sternish citizens "believe there is a god", 33% "believe there is some sort of spirit or life force", and 26% "do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God or life force". Another survey in 2017 carried out by the Church of Sterndal found that only 7% of the population attend religious services at least once a week, 15% attend at least once a month, 32% attend at least once a year, and 46% never attend religious services of any denomination.

Language
is the official language of Sterndal. It is spoken by 93% of the population as their first language. There is a significant Gardic-speaking community containing both native Sternish citizens and more recent immigrants with the language having a long presence in the country ever since the Gardic occupation of Sterndal. The Gardic speaking minority is predominantly found in southern Sterndal particularly along the border with major cities also containing sizeable Gardic-speaking minorities. Furthermore, there is also a large community of speakers of Quakaliq languages found predominantly in the north of the country along with in major cities. The Quakaliq-speaking communities date from thousands of years ago due to Sterndal's geographical closeness to Thuyiquakliq.

The rights of minority language groups are strongly defended in the Sternish constitution and the government offers funding for programs allowing groups to continue to learn their native languages. The government also encourages other Sternish people to learn foreign languages with teaching of foreign languages mandatory for all children aged 6-15. This is shown by the fact that 85% of the population can speak a second language with the figure as high as 96% among 15-24 year olds but lower among older age groups.

Health
Under the reforms of the government of Brage Halvorsen universal healthcare was introduced in the form of the Helsetjeneste in 1950 began a rapid improvement in the health of the Sternish population. Prior to the introduction of the Helsetjeneste only 59% of the Sternish population had ever visited a medically-certified doctor and the average life expectancy was 63 years. Since then the life expectancy of the Sternish population has grown to 82 years in 2017. The introduction of universal healthcare also saw under-five mortality decline with a rate of just 2.6 deaths per 1000 live births in 2018. Women have also started to become mothers at a later age with the average age for women giving birth to children currently 30.2 years.

Currently, lifestyle-related diseases are on the rise, however, funding increases and new programs put in place by the government have helped to slow this decline and Sterndal has one of the lowest obesity rates in the developed world at current. The country has 299 people for every registered physician in the country. The government has marked the ageing population as a concern for the future with attempts to prepare the country's public services for this inevitability and the encouragement of foreign doctors migrating to Sterndal and offering more funding for Sternish medical students.

Education
Education in Sterndal is universal and publicly funded with the government setting the curriculum and regulating education. An independent body, the Office of Educational Oversight, ensures that schools follow all regulations set by the government. Children traditionally start compulsory education at the age of 6 and finish at the age of 18. In their final year of education all students must take the ferdigstillelse eksamen which accounts for 60% of their final grade. The other 40% comes from assessments by their teachers over the final years of education. This final grade will then be used by universities to determine whether or not to accept the student. In addition to the public education system parents may choose to send their children to private schools but these must also follow regulations set by the Ministry of Education.

Tertiary education in Sterndal is fully funded by the government and around 57% of students choose to go on to university following secondary school. For those who choose not to continue on to university they may choose to take part in government-funded vocational education programmes aimed towards those who wish to work in manual fields. In recent years enrolment in these programmes has grown dramatically and increased funding has been offered by the government to ensure the future strength of this system.

Culture
The contemporary Sternish culture continues to take strong influences from the traditional culture brought by the first settlers and the continual influence of Gardarike on the nation. More emphasis was placed on a Sternish culture separate from the other cultures of the surrounding area during the Sternish Renaissance, a movement that begin in the early 19th century. The Sternish Renaissance brought about a new abundance of architecture, art, music and literature from Sterndal.

Architecture
Sterndal has a long history of using wood in it's buildings due to the nations expansive forests. Even in the present day the material continues to be used on new buildings by many Sternish architects and is also popular among the general population with many homes being made out of wood, especially in rural areas. Other buildings such as Churches have a long history of being built of wood with many of the nations oldest churches being built almost completely out of wood. One notable exception to this are the stone cathedrals in Hovager and Medsund.

Following Sternish independence in the 1870s new architectural styles were imported from across Artemia with the aim of differentiating Sternish cities and towns from those of Gardarike. This saw the building of cathedrals in Borstrand, Stromborg and Keldheim.