Baileneu Ma

''Baileneu Ma' is a nation in central Avalonia with an area of 'x'km2. Formerly an 'x' colony, it gained independence in 1967. Ruled by a decentralized agrarian socialist government, the majority of decision making is made by council of representatives of the seven largest tribes in the nation. However, the actual power of the government is questionable as due to Sowan beliefs, there is deep-rooted distrust with political organisations and because of this tribal chieftains and community leaders are responsible for local collectivization and infrastructure planning. The official religion is Sowani, which led to many laws being created to enforce its principles, such as a strict adherence to peace, which is why the nation has no official armed forces. The capital and largest city is Masazi, however, the majority of the population lives in rural areas, as the dense rain forest that covers most of the nation restricts the size of urban settlements.

Williamson's Rule
After Baileneu Ma gained independence, Sir Williamson Robertson III became the new president of the nation, coming from a family of rich land owners of 'colonizer ethnic group' descent. During his rule he imposed several laws restricting the rights of native ethnic groups, such as the 'Native Legal Restriction Act' which prevented Sidr and Nam people from prosecuting 'colonizer ethnic group'. Williamson was very unpopular with the majority of the population, appealing only to the colonial elite, this led to mass protests against his rule. The largest demonstration was held in 1979 where nineteen thousand people took part in protests outside the presidential palace, during the demonstration seven people set themselves on fire to protest his most recent law passed which preventing Sidr people from owning property. The mass civil unrest led to a huge military crackdown against the protesters, where roughly four hundred people died as a result of police and military personnel attempting to break apart the demonstrators. Despite attempts to create a media blackout surrounding the protests from the government, footage of the brutality reached international news channels and there were calls across the globe for the resignation of Williamson, however, no official action was taken until June 12th 1985, when Albaterriano forces, during a military intervention ordered by Leonardo Sapateiro, deposed Williamson due to his oppression of the Catholic minority in Baileneu Ma. Initially, there was lots of celebration surrounding the arrest of Williamson and a national holiday was created on June 12th to celebrate the incarceration of the tyrant. ====

Politics & Government
Albaterra is a and a  where the Honorable President is the Head of State. The first and current President of Albaterra is Leonardo H. Sapateiro, who has been President since before the country gained it's independence in 1982. With the help from The Church of Albaterra and The People's Democratic Party, Leonardo has been in firm control of the country for decades. The 1983 Constitution of Albaterra gives the Honorable President great power over all parts of government. These powers include things such as dismissing and appointing cabinet members at will, issuing laws without a vote, immunity from prosecution, ability to dissolve the parliament, the ability to instate martial law at any moment and much more. These extensive powers effectively makes the country a legal dictatorship.

During the 40 years of his rule, Leonardo has shown little toleration for opposition and none of the elections since independence has been considered fair or democratic by international standards. Government toleration of opposition is believed to barely have changed at all since Leonardo first became the leader of Albaterra in the 70's. Showing no signs of willingness to reform the oppression of dissenting opinions, It is highly likely to remain as government policy for as long as Leonardo remains The Honorable President of Albaterra. Leonardo and his regime has also faced intense criticism for allowing the continuous political and social oppression of the native population in the country from human rights organizations and other native majority countries in Avalonia.

Honorable President
In Albaterra the Honorable President is elected by the people in a general election every 7 years. Current Honorable President Leonardo is serving his 7th 7-year term and has won every general election with a landslide since the first one was held in 1982. The latest of these elections were the 2017 Albaterran Election. While freedom of speech is protected under the law, it does not apply to other political parties and different political opinions. These opinions are illegal under the "Disrupting Speech" laws which are laws set to make dissenting opinions illegal in public for the sake of stability. Freedom of the press is also protected under the law, however almost all of the media is either state owned, owned by a member of Leonardo's family or directly owned by The People's Democratic Party. This makes the entire media nothing more than a propaganda machine for the government. The only media not controlled by the government is social media which has made it easier to expose corruption on local levels of government. This has caused several politicians to be removed from the ruling party and of their public positions. The government has not reacted to the increased use of social media as of yet.

As stated before Leonardo wields immense power when it comes to every part of government. The Honorable President can fire any member employed by the government, even the High Pontiff himself. This power is very important because without it Albaterra would be nothing but a complete Theocracy. Leonardo has made sure that the catholic church does not overstep it's boundaries when it comes to politics. The Church is there to support the population through education and welfare, not to spend money in politics and power struggles.

Religion & Government
The government of Albaterra is supported by the Catholic Church and the Church is in turn supported by the government. While the government and the church has had a rocky relationship historically they have become very good friends since the 1920's. The Traditionalist colonial government supported the Church and the current government has increased the cooperation with the church since independence. The Church is exempt from paying taxes and is able to lobby the government to change laws. The church also handles the welfare and education parts of government spending which means that The Church decides who gets welfare and where education funding is spent. Because the church receives all these privileges it gives it's official support to the ruling party and Leonardo which is one of the biggest reasons why Leonardo enjoys a high approval rating among the white population. This is because a great majority (75%+) say that religion is an important or very important part of their daily life with a majority of the rest only saying it's mildly important.

The office of High Pontiff is given to one of the cardinals from one of the states of Albaterra. The High Pontiff reigns for life and it is his objective to keep order in the parliament and to approve every session, law and decision that passes through it. If a law is not approved by the High Pontiff it can be legally ignored by the population.

Social Policy
One cannot travel to Albaterra without noticing the biggest social policy of the country,. The legally enforced race-based segregation between the natives and the Portuguese has been a policy of the Albaterran government since the 18th century, only ending in 1907 to be brought back in 1921. These segregation laws are called the Santiago Laws, as the name suggests this is because they were written in the town of Santiago, the center of the Albaterran slave trade in the 18th century. The divide between whites and natives in Albaterra has been weary and sometimes even outright hostile ever since the colonists arrived to the country. Both the colonial government and the current independent government enforced this system of segregation to keep the country stable. While the system has caused stability among the white population, it has only increased unrest and instability among the native population because the laws make them second class citizens and complete strangers in their own land. Even in designated Native Areas the whites still hold most if not all political power.

Tied to the system of segregation there is the problem of poverty. While it is more widespread in native communities it still effects white communities in Albaterra. Poverty has steadily declined since the 80's mostly due to the economics policies enacted by the government lessening the regulations on natives when it comes to business and jobs.

Albaterran Apartheid
The political repression of pagan religions and the native peoples in the Republic of Albaterra has largely remained the same throughout Leonardos reign through continued support of the Apartheid system. These laws were first written as a compromise between the Colonial Government elite and the Jungastian Government to avoid a war over the issue of slavery which the indigenous population was subjected to. The laws historically enforced a system of serfdom for the native population which limited them to the area that they were born, banned them from owning property, made it illegal for them to hold any form of power both nationally and locally and much more. While some parts of Apartheid have been revoked or lessened over the years, such as the enforced system of serfdom, the bulk of them still remain in effect across all of Albaterra.

Since the beginning of the 20th century the apartheid is much more lenient than when they it was first made. The natives are no longer serfs bound to a certain area of land and they are allowed to open small businesses but are banned from employing more than 5 people. While all education in Albaterra is either privately owned or is a there are laws enforcing school segregation. Because a great majority of the natives live in poverty, the private schools designated for them are of much lower quality than the private schools designated for the Portuguese. Marriage between natives and whites are banned but sexual intercourse is permitted as long as it is not hinted at in public. If a person is 3/5 white then he/she is considered white by government standards. While Wage-Discrimination has been one of the main components during the 20th century it has been revoked since 2001. The wage law stated that business' had to pay pagans less than whites. This in turn made pagans to being more employed than whites. Seeing enforced lower-wages as hurting the overall economy of the country and hurting poor whites more than pagans the government decided to remove these laws which have both improved the economy as a whole and native communities. This is however not near enough to make up for the horrible conditions that the natives have been and are still subjected to by apartheid.

In modern times the native population has lost most of it's will to fight the government and the whites. They have been fighting for over 400 years and have seen no gain come from it. In their eyes the fighting has only brought suffering to their communities and because of this many natives try to find peace in the oppressive system. Most of the natives have most likely either lost a parent or a grandparent during the civil war in the 60's or to the secret service during the aftermath. Not wanting to risk the life of their families they are forced to accept the circumstances and continue life under apartheid. There is however an opposition growing once again among the young part of the native population. Instead of using violence and weapons they are instead using words and social media to further their goals against their oppressors. Their use of social media consists of exposing corruption, uploading films of beatings and other violent acts committed by the white majority against the natives in an effort to change peoples minds. This opposition has not yet been countered and has not even been acknowledged by the Albaterran government and as such no steps have been taken to limit them. The opposition also seek to find help and funding from other countries. One of their biggest supporters is the country of Tilenno

Geography
Albaterra is largely covered by Savannah and rain forest, there is also some mountains at the very south and a desert area to the south west of the country. To the north-west Albaterra borders Lake Horeb which is named after the Horeb Rock where Moses struck and the Israelis were given water. The Pura River separates Albaterra from Pomara

Economy and Infrastructure
Being extremely rich in natural resources, the economy of Albaterra is based on agriculture, mining and resource extraction. The primary sector make up a third of all economic activity of the economy with mining, logging and other forms of resource extraction makes up another third. Manufacturing has continued to expand since the 70's and is believed to become the largest part in the country's overall economy in a few years. Since the country is a former colony of Jungastia the export of these resources are mainly done to them with other partners only becoming interested in Albaterra within the last 10 years. This recent development of the country also means that the high-end service sector of the economy is almost non-existent inside the country and most of these jobs still exist in their former overlord of Jungastia. With a combination of corruption and the country's pro-market stance, the government has put little effort into moving these jobs to Albaterra. The only measures that have been taken in an effort to move these high-end jobs to Albaterra are tax incentives given to the companies and it's shareholders.

Albaterra is a largely economy with big parts of the economy being owned by corporations and private individuals. Welfare and education spending is not spent by the state and instead given to the Catholic Church who spends the money instead. The state spends most of it's money on healthcare, military spending and infrastructure.

Agriculture
Agriculture has historically been the biggest part of the Albaterran economy. It received large investments during the 20th and 19th century which was spent clearing land and making them good enough for farming. It was also spent building canals and farming systems to make farming more efficient to increase production and export. The land was then sold to the highest bidder. Land fit for growing cotton, coffee of the like was sold to Aristocrats and established landowners who looked to increase their revenue and political power. Land for grain, potatoes, vegetables and all other foodstuff were also prioritized and were mostly sold to individual families.

International Trade
Albaterra is a net-exporter of resources and a big part of it's GDP depends on the export of agricultural products and other natural resources. It currently has trade agreements setup with several countries and some of these include: Modrovia Who has both invested in the Albaterran economy and built arms factories in the country. In turn Albaterra exports Sugar, Coffee, Salt, Oil and rare earth minerals to Modrovia. Modrovia is one of the youngest trading partners to Albaterra but relations between the two countries has become very warm over the years despite the different international allegiances the two countries have. This is mostly the result of the free trade stance that Albaterra takes when it comes to international relations.

Religion
Religion is of great importance in Albaterra and both the indigenous and the Portuguese population see religion as a big part of their daily lives.

Christianity
Every child officially join the church when they get baptized and leaving the Church is tricky since there exists no current process of leaving. Around 87% of the country is a member of the Catholic Church including all it's heresies.