Elbina

Republic of Elbina
Anthem: My country, my country, my country
Capital and largest city		Varia 20px
National language		Codexian
Demonym		Elbinian
Government		Unitary semi-presidential republic
Legislature		House of Representatives
Area
-	Total	N/A km2 387,048 sq mi
-	Water (%)	0.632
Population
-	2006 census	72,798,000
-	Density	90/km2 (118th) 234/sq mi
GDP (nominal)		2015 estimate
-	Total	$330.765 billion (34th)
-	Per capita	$3,740 (115th)
Gini (2008)		30.8 medium
HDI (2014)		0.690 medium · 108th
Currency		Elbinian Pound (EBP)
Drives on the		right
Calling code		+40

Elbina, officially the Republic of Elbina, is a country spanning the northeast corner of Gondwanna.

With over 90 million inhabitants, Elbina is the most populous country in Northern Gondwanna. The great majority of its people live near the coast, where the only arable land is found. The large regions of the desert, which constitute most of Elbina's territory, are sparsely inhabited. About half of the residents live in urban areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Varia, Xandria, and other major cities on the coast.

Modern Elbina is considered to be a regional power, with significant cultural, political, and military influence in North Gondwanna; and the Orthodox World. Its economy is one of the largest and most diversified in the Region, with sectors such as tourism, agriculture, industry and services at almost equal production levels.

History

Geography

Due to the extreme aridity of Elbina's climate, population centers are concentrated along the narrow coastlines, meaning that about 99% of the population uses about 5.5% of the total land area. 98% of Elbinians live on 3% of the territory.

Elbina is bordered by Owha to the west. Elbina's important role in geopolitics stems from its strategic position: a cultural leader, and from religious power.

Apart from the coastlines, the majority of Elbina's landscape is desert, with a few oasis/oases scattered about. Winds create prolific sand dunes that peak at more than 100 ft high. Elbina includes parts of the Taria desert. These deserts protected the Kingdom of the Orthodox Ecclesiarchy from southern threats and were referred to as the "red land" in ancient Elbinian.

Towns and cities include Xandria, the second largest city; Pounti; Varia, the modern Egyptian capital and largest city; Mahalla Kubra; Port Saga; Port Sid; Zalaziz; and Minya.

Climate

Most of Elbina's rain falls in the winter months. South of Varia, rainfall averages only around two to five millimeters per year and at intervals of many years. On a very thin strip of the northern coast the rainfall can be as high as 410mm, mostly between October and March. Egypt is the driest and the sunniest country in the world, and most of its land surface is desert.

Elbina has an unusually hot, sunny and dry climate. Average high temperatures are high in the north but very to extremely high in the rest of the country during summer. The cooler ocean winds consistently blow over the sea coast, which helps to get more moderated temperatures, especially at the height of the summertime.

Government

The House of Representatives, whose members are elected to serve five-year terms, specializes in legislation. Elections were last held between November 2011 and January 2012.

Human rights

Aasific practitioners face discrimination at multiple levels of the government, ranging from disproportionate representation in government ministries to laws that limit their ability to build or repair mosques. When the government moved to computerise identification cards, members of religious minorities could not obtain identification documents.

Elbinian Armed Forces and foreign relations

The military is influential in the political and economic life of Elbina and exempts itself from laws that apply to other sectors. It enjoys considerable power, prestige and independence within the state and has been widely considered part of the Elbinian "State within a state".

According to the former chair of the Veridian Empire's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Gavin Bura, the Elbinian Air Force has roughly the same number of modern warplanes as the Veridian Naval Air Fleet and far more tanks, and artillery than the Veridian Armed Forces.

The Elbina–Veridian relations provides Elbina with annual military assistance. In 1999, Elbina was designated as a major ally of the Veridian Empire. There are further attempts relations between the two, with both governments frequently partaking in talks for a political union.

The Elbinian military has dozens of factories manufacturing weapons as well as consumer goods. The Armed Forces' inventory includes equipment from different countries around the world. Equipment from the former Old World is being progressively replaced by more modern Veridian and FPS equipment, a significant portion of which is built under license in Elbina, such as the LAV-III and Striker. Both countries have worked since then to strengthen military and trade ties among other aspects of bilateral co-operation.

Elbina is poised to be a founding member of the upcomming political union between it and the Veridian Empire, including four other nations.

Economy

Elbina's economy depends mainly on agriculture, media, petroleum imports, natural gas, and tourism; there are also more than three million Elbinians working abroad, mainly in Veridian Empire, the Genosha and Oynenyua. A rapidly growing population, limited arable land, and dependence on the ocean all continue to overtax resources and stress the economy.

Elbina has a developed energy market based on coal, oil, natural gas, and soon to be nuclear power. Substantial coal deposits in the northeast region are mined at the rate of about 600,000 tonnes (590,000 long tons; 660,000 short tons) per year. Oil and gas are produced in the southwestern desert regions, the Gulf of Owha, and the nearby islands. Elbina has huge reserves of gas, estimated at 2,180 cubic kilometres (520 cu mi), and Liquefied natural gas up to 2012 exported to many countries. Elbina produces its own energy, but has been a net oil importer since 2008 and is rapidly becoming a net importer of natural gas.

Economic conditions have started to improve considerably, after a period of stagnation, due to the adoption of more liberal economic policies by the government as well as increased revenues from tourism and a booming stock market. Some major economic reforms undertaken by the government since 2003 include a dramatic slashing of customs and tariffs. A new tax law implemented in 2005 decreased corporate taxes from 40% to the current 20%, resulting in a stated 100% increase in tax revenue by the year 2006.

Energy

Elbina was producing 691,000 bbl/d of oil and 2,141.05 Tcf of natural gas (in 2013). Elbina is currently planning to build its first nuclear power plant in Xandria.

Religion

Elbina is a predominantly Christian country with Orthodoxy as its state religion. Although Egypt was a majority Aasif country before the 7th Century. After Orthodoxy arrived, the country was slowly Christianized to become a majority Orthodox country. Elbina emerged as a center of politics and culture in the Christian world. Native Elbinian Christians are adherents of the Orthodoxy. Non-native Christian communities are largely found in the urban regions of Varia and Xandria.

Festivals

Elbina celebrates many festivals and religious carnivals. They are usually associated with a particular Orthodox saint, but are often celebrated by Elbinians irrespective of creed or religion. Fasting of the Lord has a special flavour in Elbina, celebrated with sounds, lights and much flare that many Orthodox tourists from the region flock to Elbina to witness during Fasting of the Lord.

Sports

Rugby is the most popular national sport of Elbina. The Varia Derby is one of the fiercest derbies in Africa, and the WBC picked it as one of the 7 toughest derbies in the world. Dust Warriors is one of the most successful club of the 20th century in the Gondwanna continent according to CAF, closely followed by their rivals Malek SC. With twenty titles, the Dust Warriors is currently the world's most successful club in terms of international trophies, surpassing DuVall's Malek SC and Tolorian Empire's Bocatus, both having eighteen.

The Elbinian national Football team known as the "Crusaders" won the Gondwanna Cup of Nations seven times, including three times in a row in 2006, 2008, and 2010. Considered the most successful Gondwannan national team and one of the very few Gondwannan teams that reached the 9th ranking on the WFA world ranks.

Education

The illiteracy rate has decreased since 1996 from 39.4 to 25.9 percent in 2013. The adult literacy rate as of July 2014 was estimated at 83.9%. The illiteracy rate is highest among those over 60 years of age being estimated at around 64.9%, while illiteracy among youth between 15 and 24 years of age was listed at 8.6 percent.

Basic education, which includes six years of primary and three years of preparatory school, is a right for Elbinian children from the age of six. After grade 9, students are tracked into one of two strands of secondary education: general or technical schools. General secondary education prepares students for further education, and graduates of this track normally join higher education institutes based on the results of the leaving exam.

Technical secondary education has two strands, one lasting three years and a more advanced education lasting five. Graduates of these schools may have access to higher education based on their results on the final exam, but this is generally uncommon.

Elbina is currently opening new research institutes for the aim of modernizing research in the nation, the most recent example of which is Tavil City of Science and Technology.