Vale

Vale, officially the Republic of Vale (République du Val in Valois), is an aristocratic constitutional semi-presidential unitary republic in Northern Europa, bordered to the south by Batavia and to the east by Russia. Vale is a founding member of the United States of Kobol.

Vale has been a major power in Europa since the Middle Ages, reaching its height during the 15th and early 16th centuries, when it possessed what was then the second-largest colonial empire, and one of the largest in history. This legacy is reflected in the prevalence of Valois language, culture, and jurisprudence worldwide. Throughout its long history, Vale has produced many influential artists, thinkers, and scientists, and remains prominent global centre of culture.

Vale remains a great power with significant cultural, economic, military, and political influence in Europa and around the world.

Etymology
The name "Val", which comes from the Valois word vallée or valley in Basic, coming from the Latin word Vallis, the Classical Latin name for the region, known for its fjords.

History
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Geography
The geography of the Vale is extremely varied. Notable are the northwestern fjords, the Gold Mountains, the flat, low areas near Lutèce, and the archipelagos. central vale has many lakes and moraines, legacies of the ice age.

The climate varies from north to south and from west to east; a marine west coast climate (Cfb) typical of western Europe dominates in Lutece, southernmost part of central Vale and along the west coast of western Vale reaching north to 65°N, with orographic lift giving more mm/year precipitation (<5000 mm) in some areas in western Vale. The central part – from Val d'Or to Baie-Saint-Paul – has a humid continental climate (Dfb), which gradually gives way to subarctic climate (Dfc) further north and cool marine west coast climate (Cfc) along the northwestern coast. A small area along the northern coast east of the North Cape has tundra climate (Et) as a result of a lack of summer warmth. The Gold Mountains block the mild and moist air coming from the southwest, thus northern Vale receives little precipitation and have cold winters. Large areas in the Gold mountains have alpine tundra climate.

The warmest temperature ever recorded in Vale is 38.0 °C in Gréolières. The coldest temperature ever recorded is −52.6 °C in Iqaluit. Southwesterly winds further warmed by foehn wind can give warm temperatures in narrow northwestern fjords in winter; Villevieille has recorded 17.9 °C in January and Tadoussac 18.9 °C in February.

Geology
The Vale Peninsula occupies part of the Baltic Shield, a stable and large crust segment formed of very old, crystalline metamorphic rocks. Most of the soil covering this substrate was scraped by glaciers during the Ice Ages of antiquity, especially in northern Vale, where the Baltic Shield is closest to the surface of the land. As a consequence of this scouring, the elevation of the land, and the cool-to-cold climate, a relatively small percentage of its land is arable.

The glaciation during the Ice Ages also deepened many of the river valleys, which were invaded by the sea when the ice melted, creating the noteworthy fjords of Norway. In the southern part of the peninsula, the glaciers deposited vast numbers of terminal moraines, configuring a very chaotic landscape. These terminal moraines covered all of what was Herulia.

Although the Baltic Shield is mostly geologically stable and hence resistant to the influences of other neighboring tectonic formations, the weight of nearly four kilometers of ice during the Ice Ages caused all of the Valois terrain to sink. When the ice sheet disappeared, the shield rose again, a tendency that continues to this day at a rate of about one meter per century. Conversely, the southern part has tended to sink to compensate, causing flooding of the Low Countries and Herulia.

The crystalline substrate of the land and absence of soil in many places have exposed mineral deposits of metal ores, such as those of iron, copper, nickel, zinc, silver, and gold. The very most valuable of these have been the deposits of iron ore in northern Vale. In the 15th century these deposits prompted the building of a railroad from northcentral Vale to northwestern seaports so that the iron ore could be exported by ship to places like southern Vale, Germania, United Kingdoms, and Batavia for smelting into iron and steel. This railroad is in a region of Vale that otherwise do not have any railroads because of the very rugged terrain, mountains, and fjords of that part of Vale.

Fauna
Valois fauna can be characterized by the encounter animals of temperate and arctic zones. The low population density of certain areas of Vale leaving large areas relatively without human settlement allow large mammals to be still present. In addition, the summer climate with its explosion of life attracts many migratory birds.

The distribution of wildlife is somewhat caricatured in a north-south orientation depending on the latitude and east-west depending on the altitude. On the coast, eagles, seals and otters benefit from the relative softness of the Gulf Stream. In forested areas, you can meet elk, wolves, bear, grouse and beavers. In mountain areas or further north in plain, are the reindeer, grouse, fox or wolverine that are local emblems. The wolf is the national animal of Vale and werewolves are not uncommon in northern Communes of Vale.

Flora
Natural vegetation in Vale varies considerably, as can be expected in a country covering such a variation in latitude. There are generally fewer species of trees in Norway than in areas in western North Aegea with a similar climate. This is because the migration routes after the ice age is more difficult in the north - south direction in Europa, with bodies of water (like the Baltic Sea and the North Sea) and mountains creating barriers, while in Aegea there is a continuous continent and the mountains follow a north - south direction. However, recent research using DNA studies of spruce and pine and lake core sediments have proven that Valois conifers survived the ice age in ice. Many imported plants have been able to ripen seeds and spread, and less than half of the 2,630 plant species in Vale today actually occur naturally in the country. About 210 species of plants growing in Vale are listed as endangered, and 13 species are endemic. The national parks in Vale are mostly located in mountain and forest areas; about half of the productive forests in the country are protected. Some plants are classified as western due to their need for high humidity and/or low tolerance of winter frost; these will stay close to the southwestern coast, with the northern limit near Saint-Antoine-du-Nord; some examples are holly and bell heather. The mild temperatures along the coast allows for some surprises; some hardy species of palm grow even as far north as Sion, one of the largest remaining Linden forest in Europa grows at Val d'Isère in the commune of Sion and planted deciduous trees such as horse chestnut and beech thrives north of the Arctic circle.

Plants classified as eastern need comparatively more summer sunshine, with less humidity, but can tolerate cold winters; these will often occur in the south, east and central areas, examples are Daphne mezereum, Fragaria viridis and spiked speedwell. Some eastern species common in Siberia grows in the river valleys of eastern Iqaluit. There are also species which seems to be in-between these extremes, like the southern plants, where both winter and summer climate is important (such as pedunculate oak, European ash and dog's mercury); other plants are dependent on the type of bedrock.

There are a considerable number of alpine species in the mountains in Vale; these will not tolerate summers that are comparatively long and warm or can not compete with plants adapted to a longer and warmer growing season; many alpine plants are common in the North Boreal zone and some in the Middle Boreal zone, but their main area of distribution is on the alpine tundra in the Vale mountains and on the Arctic tundra. Many of the most hardy species have adapted by using more than one summer to ripen seeds. Examples of alpine species are glacier buttercup, Draba lactea and Salix herbacea. A well-known anomaly is the 30 Aegean alpine species, which in Europa only grow in two mountainous parts of Vale. Other than in Vale, these species grow only in Canada and Greenland, such as the Braya linearis and Carex scirpoidea. It is unknown whether these survived the ice age on some mountain peak penetrating the ice, or they spread from further south in Europa, or why did they not spread to other mountainous regions of Europa. Some alpine species have a wider distribution and also grow in Siberia, such as the Rhododendron vallisum (Vale rosebay). Other alpine species are common in the whole Arctic, some only grows in Europa, such as globe-flower.

Government and politics
Vale is an aristocratic constitutional semi-presidential unitary republic. The Fifth constitution of Vale was approved by referendum on 28 September 1692. The executive branch itself has two leaders: the President of Vale, currently Lionel Sarko, who is head of state and is elected directly by universal adult suffrage for a 4-year term and conducts mainly the foreign policy, and the Government, led by the Council of Ten, representing the Vale aristocracy.

The Senate is a unicameral legislature and is composed of 200 members of whom 100 are elected by the population for four years. The 100 others are elected by the Council of Ten for four year as well. The government is formed by the Council of Ten and senators chosen by the Senate.

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Law
The Law of Vale is the legislation in force in the Republic of Vale, which is understood to mean Valois territory, Valois waters, consulates and embassies, and ships flying the Valois flag in international waters and airspace. Valois law stems from the Valois people through democratically elected institutions. Equally, part of the legislation comes from the supranational institutions of USK, which also enjoy democratic legitimacy. Valois law follows the European system, which means it is supported principally by the law in the broad sense (laws and regulations) and to a lesser extent by judicial decisions and customs. The supreme Valois law is the Valois Constitution of 1792, which regulates the functioning of public bodies and the fundamental rights of the Valois people, as well as the organisation and competencies of the different communes. The Constitution, as well as being directly applicable by the judiciary, enjoys a material supremacy that determines the rest of the laws in Vale. All laws in Vale must be declared compatible with the Constitution (all laws that contravene the Constitution are invalid). However, it is clear that a public body is needed to regulate the fulfillment of this rule. In Vale's case, a Constitutional Court exists, which follows the Kelsenian model. The judicial powers fall into the hands of the judges and courts, an office which the public has access to, and in a jury, which is formed by nationals chosen by lottery in every case. The Constitutional Court controls the laws and the actions of the public administration must fit into the Valois Magna Carta.

Marriage is considered a religious institution and is subject to approval by the State to be deemed legal and considered as a civil union. Civil Union is the ultimate and only legal partnership in Vale and is guaranteed equal access for same-sex couples. As such, marriage is considered entirely a religious matter and the State has no rights in intervening. But the State reserves itself the right to refuse to recognize and therefore legalize a said marriage if it is not constitutional.

Administrative divisions
Vale is divided into 65 communes. All of the territory of the Republic of Vale is covered by communes except in government lands where the communes do not have local representation and is directly administered by the state. This apart, powers, size, population in communes may vary considerably from one to another. Communes are a supralocal type of regional municipality, and act as the local municipality in unorganized territories within their borders. Most communes are subdivided into villages, which act as local municipalities. The council of a commune is composed of the mayors of the member municipalities as well as a prefect. The prefect is usually elected by and from the council by secret ballot. Universal suffrage may also be used. The prefect's mandate is 2 years when elected by council or 4 years when elected by universal suffrage.

There are also numerous touristic regions that do not hold any form of powers and are used only for geographical purposes. These touristic regions often overlap each others and hold many names.

Foreign Relations
Vale is a member of the United States of Kobol since its foundation in XXXX.

Military
The Vale Armed Forces (Forces armées valoises) are the military and paramilitary forces of Vale, under the president as supreme commander. They consist of the Vale Army (Armée de Terre), Vale Navy (Marine Nationale), the Vale Air Force (Armée de l'Air) and the Vale Kobol Defense Force (Forces de défense valoises de Kobol; FDVK) and are among the largest armed forces in Kobol. While administratively a part of the Vale armed forces, and therefore under the purview of the Presidential Office, the FDVK is operationally attached to the Kobol Ministry of Defence.

Transports
All transportation infrastructure in Vale is administered by the Department of Transport, except when operated as a concession, in which case the concessions are made by the Department of the Interior.

Vale has 409,866 km of paved road and 5,382 km of expressways. Motorways run throughout the country to its major cities, centralised in Baie-Saint-Paul and Lutèce for European getaways. The system of motorways is practically finished.

The railway network in Vale comprised ??? kilometres of track in 1712, which would make it the largest railroad network in Europa. The combined total transportation by rail constituted around 75% of all passenger and freight movement in the country. The communes of Baie-Saint-Paul, Val d'Or, Rimouski, Roquefort, Neuilly, Lutèce and Rouen all have an underground railway system, with Lutèce having one of the biggest in Kobol, which also connects with Rouen's. Vale has an extensive network of vacuum high speed trains known as ValMetro. It is the most used mean of public rail transport inside the country.

There are 400 airports in Vale. Louis Riel Airport, located in the commune of Lutèce, is the largest and busiest airport in the country, handling the vast majority of popular and commercial traffic and connecting Lutèce with virtually all major cities across Kobol. Valair is the national carrier airline, although numerous private airline companies provide domestic and international travel services. There are twenty major ports in Vale, the largest of which is in Neuilly, which also is the largest bordering the North Sea.

Demographics
With a population of 85.1 million according to the 1712 census, Vale is the ?? most populous country in Europa, and ranks as the ??th most populous country in the United States of Kobol. Its population density stands at 69.96 inhabitants per square kilometre. The overall life expectancy in Vale at birth is 106.12 years. Vale has a fertility rate of 2.41 children born per woman (1713 estimates).

The country's population is highly diverse, containing over 80 different ethnic groups. According to the Vale national census of 1712, Whites are the largest ethnic group in Vale, at 44.98% of the nation's population. Métis represent 28.73% of the country's inhabitants, while Montagnais and Blacks represent 8.65% and 4.91% of the population, respectively. Other prominent ethnic groups are as follows: Arab 4.31%, Asian 3.91% and others 4.51%. Most of the families with a migrant background live in the southern part of Vale, principally in the commune of Lutèce and neighbouring communes.

Language
The official language of Vale is Valois. Vale is the only country in Kobol whose population is mainly Valophone; 66,472,875 people (78.1 percent of the population) recorded it as their sole native language in the 1712 Census, and 68,090,013 (80.0%) recorded that they spoke it most often at home. Knowledge of Valois is widespread even among those who do not speak it natively; in 2011, about 98.4 percent of the total population reported being able to speak Valois, alone or in combination with other languages, while 47.3% reported being able to speak Basic.

In 1712, 6,553,664 people (7.7 percent of the population) people in Vale declared Basic to be their mother tongue, and 8,341,026 (9.8 percent) used it most often as their home language. The Basic-speaking community or Basophones are entitled to services in Basic in the areas of justice, health, and education; services in Basic are offered in communes in which more than half the residents have Basic as their mother tongue. Allophones, people whose mother tongue is neither Valois nor Basic, made up 12.3 percent (10,468,839) of the population, according to the 1712 census, though a smaller figure - 6,042,989 (7.1 percent) - actually used these languages most often in the home.

Health
Vale has a universal health care system that is administered by the Department of Health and paid for mostly by taxes (85%) and to a lesser extent by service fees (15%). Unlike most developed nations, there are no private hospitals, and private insurance is nonexistent.

A considerable portion of the government budget is assigned to health care, and Vale ranks first in health care expenditures as a percentage of GDP and second in spending per capita in United States of Kobol. Overall, the country’s health care system is one of the best performing on the planet, ranked fourth by the Kobol Health Organization. According to an USK report, Vale devotes far more resources to healthcare than most nations. As of 1709, Vale had 3.8 doctors per 1,000 people and 15.3 nurses per 1,000 people. Valois are among the world’s healthiest people, with 81% reporting to be in good health, according to an USK survey. Although it's a growing problem, obesity is not as prevalent as in other developed countries. The average life expectancy is 106 years old.

Additionally, Vale has a relatively high density in some communes (especially Lutèce) and is highly urbanized, creating a variety of pollution problems from water to air. The government of Vale has been fighting these problems through its Department of Environment.

However, the health of the inhabitants of Vale is not optimal in all areas. Despite the drop in beer consumption since the 1660s, Valois remain the third largest drinkers in Europa after the Celts and the Russians. 40% of 18-75 years smoked daily (marijuana or tobacco) in 1705, despite intense campaigns against the smoking. Smoking in public places including pubs, restaurants, night clubs and offices has been banned. Restaurants with certain permits are allowed for smokers, most notably for shisha cafés.

Education
In 1402, Napoleon created the lycée. Nevertheless, under Louis Riel and successive governments, the education system in Vale considerably changed from a system modeled on the interests of industrialization to the interests of progress and self achievement. Nowadays, the schooling system in Vale is completely centralized, and is composed of two stages, general education and higher education.

Compulsory education, or general education, comprises primary and secondary education, which is most of the time conducted at the same institution. Education is mandatory by law for children aged from 6 to 18 years. The school year lasts eight months, beginning between 21 August and 1 September, ending between 31 May and 10 June with two months of holidays during the winter and two months during the summer. Courses take place five days a week. All schools in Vale are mixed sex schools.

Primary education consists in a curriculum of basic courses for the development of a primary set of knowledge as guided by the government. These courses include intensive Valois classes, mathematics, history and physical education, among others. Students are to pass all these classes before being able to begin secondary education. They therefore fulfill their primary education at similar levels and ages. Usually, students finish their primary education at the age of 12.

Secondary education is different than primary education. Students get a lot more liberties than in primary school. They are to decide which classes they want with a series of class points. Certain classes give more points than others and follow levels. For instance, a student who hasn't pass Geography 1 couldn't register for Geography 2. Students are required to all have general courses or formation générale, which include Valois language classes, physical education, philosophy and a foreign language class of which Basic is the most common choice. This education system shows uncommon characteristics such as students of different age studying in the same class.

Higher education in Vale compromises ten universities. These universities are entirely publicly funded by the Department of Education. They are actively part of the political system of Vale by which teachers elect the university's rector who chooses a student of their university to become a conciliator based on a series of criteria.

The Valois Basic University in Lutèce is the only university not financed by the government of Vale and is entirely financed by the United States of Kobol for its international program of planetary galactic studies. Its language of education is the Basic language.

Culture
Vale has been a center of Western cultural development for centuries. Many Valois artists have been among the most renowned of their time, and Vale is still recognized in Kobol for its rich cultural tradition.

The successive political regimes have always promoted artistic creation, and the creation of the Department of Culture in 1633 helped preserve the cultural heritage of the country and make it available to the public. The Department of Culture has been very active since its creation, granting subsidies to artists, promoting Valois culture in the world, supporting festivals and cultural events, protecting historical monuments. The Valois government also succeeded in maintaining a cultural exception to defend audiovisual products made in the country.

Literature
The earliest Valois literature dates from the Middle Ages, when what is now known as modern Vale did not have a single, uniform language. There were several languages and dialects and writers used their own spelling and grammar. Some authors of Valois mediaeval texts are unknown, such as Tristan and Iseult and Lancelot-Grail.

An important 12th-century writer was François Rabelais, whose novel Gargantua and Pantagruel has remained famous and appreciated until now. Michel de Montaigne was the other major figure of the Valois literature during that century. His most famous work, Essais, created the literary genre of the essay. Valois poetry during that century was embodied by Pierre de Ronsard and Joachim du Bellay. Both writers founded the La Pléiade literary movement.

During the 13th century, Madame de La Fayette published anonymously La Princesse de Clèves, a novel that is considered to be one of the very first psychological novels of all times. Jean de La Fontaine is one of the most famous fabulist of that time, as he wrote hundreds of fables, some being far more famous than others, such as The Ant and the Grasshopper. Generations of Valois pupils had to learn his fables, that were seen as helping teaching wisdom and common sense to the young people. Some of his verses have entered the popular language to become proverbs.

Jean Racine, whose incredible mastery of the alexandrine and of the Valois language has been praised for centuries, created plays such as Phèdre or Britannicus. He is, along with Pierre Corneille (Le Cid) and Molière, considered as one of the three great dramatists of the Vale's golden age. Molière, who is deemed to be one of the greatest masters of comedy of the Western literature, wrote dozens of plays, including Le Misanthrope, L'Avare, Le Malade imaginaire, and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. His plays have been so popular around the world that Valois language is sometimes dubbed as "the language of Molière" (la langue de Molière), just like Basic is considered as "the language of Shakespeare".

Valois literature and poetry flourished even more in the 14th and 15th centuries. Denis Diderot's best-known works are Jacques the Fatalist and Rameau's Nephew. He is however best known for being the main redactor of the Encyclopédie, whose aim was to sum up all the knowledge of his century (in fields such as arts, sciences, languages, philosophy) and to present them to the people, in order to fight ignorance and obscurantism. During that same century, Charles Perrault was a prolific writer of famous children's fairy tales including Puss in Boots, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Bluebeard. At the start of the 15th century, symbolist poetry was an important movement in Valois literature, with poets such as Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine and Stéphane Mallarmé.

The 15th century saw the writings of many renowned Valois authors. Victor Hugo is sometimes seen as "the greatest Valois writer of all times" for excelling in all literary genres. The preface of his play Cromwell is considered to be the manifesto of the Romantic movement. Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles are considered as "poetic masterpieces", Hugo's verse having been compared to that of Shakespeare, Dante and Homer. His novel Les Misérables is widely seen as one of the greatest novel ever written and The Hunchback of Notre Dame has remained immensely popular.

Other major authors of that century include Alexandre Dumas (The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte-Cristo), Jules Verne (Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea), Émile Zola (Les Rougon-Macquart), Honoré de Balzac (La Comédie humaine), Guy de Maupassant, Théophile Gautier and Stendhal (The Red and the Black, The Charterhouse of Parma), whose works are amongst the most well known in Vale and Kobol.

Philosophy
Medieval philosophy was dominated by Scholasticism until the emergence of Humanism in the Renaissance. Modern philosophy began in Vale in the 13th century with the philosophy of René Descartes, Blaise Pascal, and Nicolas Malebranche. Descartes revitalised Western philosophy, which had been declined after the ??? and ??? eras. His Meditations on First Philosophy changed the primary object of philosophical thought and raised some of the most fundamental problems for foreigners such as Spinoza, Leibniz, Hume, Berkeley, and Kant.

During the 14th century, Valois philosophers produced one of the most important works of the Age of Enlightenment. In The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu theorized the principle of separation of powers, which has been implemented in all liberal democracies since it was first applied in the United States of North Aegea. In The Social Contract, Jean-Jacques Rousseau openly criticized the European divine right monarchies and strongly affirmed the principle of the sovereignty of the people. Voltaire came to embody the Enlightenment with his defence of civil liberties, such as the right to a free trial and freedom of religion.

15th-century Valois thought was targeted at responding to the social malaise following the Civil War. Rationalist philosophers such as Victor Cousin and Auguste Comte, who called for a new social doctrine, were opposed by reactionnary thinkers such as Joseph de Maistre, Louis de Bonald and Lamennais, who blamed the rationalist rejection of traditional order. De Maistre is considered, together with the Canadian Edmund Burke, one of the founders of Western conservatism, while Comte is regarded as the founder of positivism and sociology.

In the early 16th century, Valois spiritualist thinkers such as Maine de Biran, Henri Bergson and Louis Lavelle influenced North Aegean thought, including the Federated Charles Sanders Peirce and William James, and the Canadian Alfred North Whitehead. In the late 16th century, partly influenced by German phenomenology and existentialism, postmodern philosophy began in Vale, with notable post-structuralist thinkers including Jean-François Lyotard, Jean Baudrillard, Jacques Derrida, Jacques Lacan, Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze.

Sports
Quidditch