Zootron

Zootron, or rarely the Federated States of New Ebeline (FSN), is a large sovereign state in Eastern Centralius bordered, on the eastern half, by Gentelibre, Wennland, Qesmurvia, and on the western half, by Nordistan and Girania.

Zootron is a unitary semi-presidential republic utilizing a representative democracy. This means that the parliament (the House of Representatives) has power over the entire nation, and the provinces have no power of their own, and derive power from the Representatives. Zootron is semi-presidential, meaning that the Majority Representative of Zootron, the head of state and government, has some independent power, but is still subject to the will of the Representatives.

The Imperial Ebeline government was a proper federation, a union between Old Ebeline and Renguo, forming a new nation. After a devastating war, the Imperial Ebeline government was toppled in a revolution, becoming Communist Ebeline. The Federated States of Ebeline came into being after a popular uprising toppled the old Communist Ebeline government.

Although a new nation (founded 1992), Zootron soon became a superpower in its own right, having taken possession of all of Communist Ebeline. Although Ebeline did not possess any colonies, Zootron soon influenced many small nations to its side.

Etymology
New Ebeline is named after Communist Ebeline (properly, the Democratic People's Republic of Ebeline), which itself was named after Imperial Ebeline, which got its name from the leading member of its founding nations, Ebeline (sometimes called Old Ebeline).

Old Ebeline (then called Ebeline) got its name from the family name of the leader who united the then-fractious feudal lords who made up Old Ebeline. He was Ebeline the first, king of Ebeline.

Zootron, the more common but less official name comes from a careless comment by Simon Cooper, the founder of the nation, when asked what he would call the new nation, replied,

"Let's keep the old name. If we start changing names again we might as well call ourselves Zootronians."

The press and public latched on to the new name

Old Ebeline
Old Ebeline was a collection of feudal estates with no central government until Duke Dragoslav Plamen, Duke of Ebeline, allied himself with several other local dukes, and started to take over other duchies in 1402. This bloc was either joined, or opposed, but the opposition suffered from the same internal divisions they used to. Duke Plamen's new alliance did not. Duke Plamen's natural charisma kept the dukes united long enough to see the practical benefits of an alliance, and in a few short years, Old Ebeline, ruled by King Ebeline I was formed. King Ebeline saw the strife caused by a lack of unification, and with his political power, managed to remove most of the autonomy of the duchies.

Imperial Ebeline
Imperial Ebeline resulted from the merger of Old Ebeline, and Renguo. At the time, Old Ebeline was a major power in the area, and controlled powerful armies. Renguo, a smaller nation more focused on naval commerce had been a protectorate for some time, and because of a collapsing economy, they sought the aid of the Ebelinians. The Ebelinians, then plagued with resource problems of their own, saw that Renguo had plenty of resources, but no the infrastructure nor the population to properly exploit them. Thus, Ebeline offered Renguo a union, and in 1713, the two became Imperial Ebeline.

Communist Ebeline
After the Great War, internal Ebelinian troubles were too much to bear: the distribution of wealth between the aristocracy and the poor was simply too unequal, and the power of money was too much. A revolution was brewing. After steel workers in Ebeline City went on strike in March of 1947, the factory owners tried to use their financial connections to get the strikers arrested. This failed horribly, as on March 19th, when police moved to arrest the striking workers, a riot broke out. Many workers were killed, but several police officers injured. The steelworkers union appealed to the other unions of the city for help, and a vote on a general strike was called. This meeting was interrupted by police officers, who had been paid off by factory owners to break up the meeting. In the chaos, two union leaders were shot and killed, and many more arrested, including the leader of the steelworkers union, Brantov Yurievich. The leader of the longshoremen's union declared a general strike two days later, on April 9th. The general strike in Ebeline city spread to other cities, with the populace demanding to have their rights protected from the aristocracy and from the rich, to have true equality before the law, better labour laws, and generally, to improve their lives. The Ebelinian government deployed the military to put down the 'uprising'. On April 21st, of 1947, the military opened fire on a crowd of demonstrating plumbers, massacring nearly half of those present in the First April Massacre. Later, on the same day, and unknown person (known to history only as the 'Firestarter') set fire to a police station in Ebeline City. The government declared that the striking workers were to be considered in revolt, and killed as rebels. An armed resistance movement soon emerged, starting the First Ebelinian Revolution.

After the First Ebelinian Revolution, the leaders of the revolutionary army gathered in Ebeline City Hall, holding the first of many meetings to forge a new nation. Communist Ebeline was born, with the revolutionary leaders serving as Permanent Advisors to the notionally elected government. Anzor Palve, who'd been expelled from Gentelibre a few months prior, became first General Secretary of the Communist Party, and led Ebeline for four years until his death in 1953.

Zootron/New Ebeline
Communist Ebeline was rotten at the core, and the people knew it. Like before, everyone was tensed, at the edge of a revolution. On April 21st of 1990, the anniversary of the First April Massacre, a group of protesters demonstrating against the Communist Ebelinian government were fired on by the military, mobilized to deal with the dissidents. This was known as the Second April Massacre. The Ebelinian government declared martial law, and the situation devolved from there, turning into the Second Ebelinian Revolution, with the rebels lead by Simon Cooper, an ethnic Airedalandian and vocal supporter of democratic rights. After the collapse of the USER and nuclear bombing of revolutionary-held Ebeline City by the Communist Ebelinian government, and Operation Long Arm by the Airedalandian government, the revolutionaries managed to topple the Communist Ebelinian government, and declared that the new nation, the Federated States of New Ebeline, to be in existence. This name remains the official name, but most citizens and foreigners have taken to calling it Zootron, instead.

Geography
Zootron stretches from 22 degrees North to 72 degrees North in latitude. The country also spans 100 degrees of longitude, although a significant portion of that is the Interranian Bay, which is mostly Zootronian territorial waters. This claim is only disrupted by a neutral shipping lane from the Welver Sea, through the Gyren Sea and Canals, into the Bay of Vaatnia, then through to the Sunless Sea via the Interranian Bay. Zootron is also on both East and West Centralius.

Climate
Due to the large territory of Zootron, the climate varies from tropical (in the south-easternmost regions) to cold and sparsely populated, in the north-easternmost regions. Generally, the western half experiences milder weather than the eastern half, owing to the Bay of Vaatnia, the Interranian Bay, and the Balse Sea providing moderating ocean currents. The eastern half has more varied weather, with the southern regions having weather ranging from continental to tropical, although the tropical regions are quite small. The north-eastern quarter is, however, home to some of the coldest inhabited places in the world.

Administrative Divisions
Zootron is split into three primary administrative divisions (States): Rendi, Ebeline Province, and Ebelinian Girania.

Rendi, abbreviated RD, consists of the easternmost parts of the country, and its borders were defined as the territorial borders of Renguo at the time of union between Renguo and Old Ebeline. In the case of badly defined borders, the average of the two borders was taken. The border ran roughly from the north-eastern corner of the eastern half to the south-western corner.

Ebeline Province (EP), consists of the western parts of the eastern half, and its borders are defined by the original treaty of union.

Ebelinian Girania (EG), consists of the entire western half of the country, as split by the Interranian Bay. Ebelinian Girania used to be a Giranian holding, but was ceded to Imperial Ebeline at the end of the Great Colonial War.

The States derive power from the Forum of Representatives, and all states are granted the power to make further administrative divisions within themselves, to regulate intra-state transportation (interstate highways and ferries are usually regulated by mutual agreement of the States, but can fall under Federal control), to establish lower courts (the Supreme Court is established by the Constitution), and to make laws that only affect the residents of the specific State. Generally, if a law is identical or very similar in all three states, the Federal government will appropriate the law and make it a Federal law. For example, the laws around driver's licences were merged in 2000.

A notable exception to State-level legislation would be gun control. In Ebeline Province and Ebelinian Girania, higher calibre ammunition is allowed for public use than in Rendi.

Government
Zootron has a unicameral legislature, called the Forum of Representatives. The Forum is situated in the Government Square, and is responsible for passing laws and providing oversight for executive orders.

Foreign Relations
Zootron, along with Airedalandia, Gentelibre and Valhunnia, is a permanent member of the Global Forum's security council.