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.

Prehistory
During the most recent glacial period the entire Vale peninsula is under a sheet of ice. As the ice cap begins to withdraw, about 12,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers move north in pursuit of reindeer. The living survivors of the hunter-gatherers in these regions are the Eskimos, who today herd rather than hunt reindeer. Their language, Inuktitut, is unique, composed of Inuktitut syllabics.

Archaeology provides rich traces of Vale prehistory, from the neolithic period (c.2500 BC) to the Bronze Age (c.1500 BC) and into the Iron Age (c.400 BC). Objects found in tombs show strong trading links with the Roman civilization to the south. But the Valois finds also include rarities preserved by the tannin in peat bogs - among them a wooden cart and the bodies of sacrificial victims from about 2000 years ago, now in the National Museum in Lutece. In the centuries immediately before the earliest written records, the people of this northern peninsula feature prominently in the history of their southern neighbours - through their strong inclination to move away from home in warlike mood. The achievement abroad of the Vandals in the 9th and 10th century (in colonization and trade, as much as in direct and brutal conquest) is extraordinary in itself.

Antiquity
In the period of Kobol History known as Antiquity, Vale was divided into two territories, separated by the Dorne strait. The Roman established a city on the strait they called Lutetia which gave its name to present-day Lutèce. The Romans called the province of southern Vale as Herulia. Romans defeated two armies led by the kings of the Cambri and Teuton tribes, pushing futher north, east and south other Germanic tribes, winning a long but decisive campaign in Herulia. They established the Roman province with Lutetia as its capital.

The local tribess mixed with Roman settlers and eventually adopted Roman speech (Latin, from which the Valois language evolved) and Roman culture. The Roman polytheism merged with Germanic paganism into the same syncretism. From the 250s to the 280s AD, Herulia suffered a serious crisis with its "limes" or fortified borders protecting the Empire being attacked on several occasions by barbarians. Nevertheless, the situation improved in the first half of the 4th century, which was a period of revival and prosperity for Herulia. In 312, the emperor Constantin I converted to Christianity. Christians, persecuted until then, increased rapidly across the entire Roman Empire. But, from the beginning of the 5th century, the Barbarian Invasions resumed, and Germanic tribes, such as the Vandals, Suebi and Alans crossed the Egdor and settled in Herulia, Belgae and other parts of the collapsing Roman Empire.

At the end of the Antiquity period, ancient Herulia was conquered by the Franks. The Germanic Franks adopted Romanic languages, even if Roman settlements were less dense and but did so due to the massive arrival of Gallo-Romans, fleeing the Germanic settlement of Gaul, arriving in masses in Herulia, following the rumors that it hadn't fallen yet and was organizing a resistance. With Xavier's conversion to Arianism in 498, the Frankish monarchy, elective and secular until then, became hereditary and of divine right.

Kingdom of Vale
Normandy and Herulia united in 578 under one crown, the Kingdom of Vale. It is believed that they united solely for political reasons so as not to get invaded by the rising Catholic power in Europa, Germania, which was an important trading area for the Herulians. From the 6th to the 10th century, the Valois, were known as Normans. They colonised, raided, and traded in all parts of Europa. Norman explorers first discovered Iceland by accident in the 8th century, on the way towards the Faroe Islands and eventually came across Acadia, also known today as Newfoundland, a commonwealth of Canada. The Normans were most active in the United Kingdoms and Northern Europa.

Samuel de Champlain left the port of Lutèce in 904 and founded Acadia. Four years later, he founded Quebec City. From then onwards, Normans engaged in a policy of expansion in North Aegia. They continued exchanges with the Western continent: René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle travelled in the area of the Great Lakes, then on the Mississippi River. Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and his brother Lemoyne de Bienville founded Louisiana, Biloxi, Mobile and New Lutece. Territories located between Quebec and the Mississippi Delta were opened up to establish Missouri and Orléans. Colonists from Normandy were among the most active Europeans in North Aegia. Lutèce and Neuilly were two of the principal slave trade ports of Vale.

In 960, Vale successfully invaded Numidia after a long campaign and declared it a Valois protectorate. It put into power a puppet governor in favor of Valois rule and Numidia was protected from the growing Arabia and Egypt in the East.

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The Blur
The History of Vale contains a period ranging from 1120 to 1394 known as the Blur. This period of history is characterized by a lack of solid historical evidences and archives about Vale and is full of holes, smaller or larger. The events surrounding the fall of the Valois Empire with Napoleon III's defeat and the foundation of a Republic of Vale, first seen in maps and diplomatic archives in 1205, are uncertain. The Lemarque thesis suggests that a political civil war occurred during that time and Vale emerged through the ideas of enlightenment as a Republic. The Beauregard thesis proposes instead that Vale was hit by a severe plague of Black Death, like most of continental Europa, such as Germania, which has records of Valois ships with plague on board.

The Manitism religious Valois and Montagnais were persecuted and the Catholic Kingdom of Vale started massive evangelization. From the latest recorded census in 1120 to the end of the Blur in 1394, so in almost 275 years, Vale's population passed from 22 million inhabitants to only 12 million. According to recent Vatican leaks, Pope Innocent VII intervened in the politics of Vale to implement a Catholic monarch to convert the Valois to the Catholic faith and become under the influence of the Vatican. Non-Catholics, including the massively Arianist population, were persecuted. Autodafés were common practices in villages and cities. The Catholic Church and the Kingdom used damnatio memoriae to erase from history people or events of Vale history.

Valois Empire
1394-1519

In 1394, Napoleon Bonaparte, general of the Royal Armies, seized control of the Kingdom becoming Emperor of the Valois Empire. His reforms and ideas, called Bonapartism, became popular in Europa, which sparked declarations of war by the European monarchies against Napoleon's Empire, fearing his growing power. His armies conquered most of continental Europa, while members of the Bonaparte family were appointed as monarchs in some of the newly established kingdoms. At his death in 1428, his cousin succeeded him as Emperor, taking the name Napoleon II. Napoleon III succeeded Napoleon II in 1460. Napoleon II expanded the Vale Empire to the North and East, conquering ???. As of Napoleon III, he conquered the Baltic states and the United Kingdoms.

These victories led to the worldwide expansion of Valois imperial ideals and reforms, such as the Metric system, the Napoleonic Code and the Declaration of the Rights of Man. After the catastrophic Russian campaign, Napoleon III was defeated by the Slavs and Russians and the Valois monarchy restored. About a million Valois died during the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon did have some successes: he strengthened Valois control over Numidia, established bases in Africa, began the takeover of Indochina, and opened trade with China. He facilitated a Valois company building the Suez Canal, which Germania could not stop.

Riel and the Civil War
In the 1510's, various organizations, including some advocating armed uprising, competed for the public's support in bringing about political change and removing the monarchy. In 1516, Louis Riel and about 80 other rebels launched a failed attempt to start a rebellion against the government. It was not until 1519 that the Riel rebellion emerged as the leading revolutionary group. By late 1519, the rebels broke out of the Nordic Mountains and launched a general popular insurrection. It was the beginning of the Vale Civil War.

The rebellion became more widespread; battles raged not only for territories but also for the allegiance of cross-sections of the population. Germania aided the Bonapartists with massive economic loans and weapons but no combat support. The Bonapartists' retreated more and more to historical Normandy.

Belatedly, the Imperial government sought to enlist popular support through internal reforms. The effort was in vain, however, because of rampant government corruption and the accompanying political and economic chaos. By late 1528 the Imperial position was bleak. The demoralized and undisciplined Imperial troops proved to be no match for the motivated and disciplined Republican militias, earlier known as the Riel Army. The Republicans were well established in the north and northwest.

Although the Bonapartists had an advantage in numbers of men and weapons, controlled a much larger territory and population than their adversaries and enjoyed considerable international support, they were exhausted by the long war with Russia and in-fighting among various generals. They were also losing the propaganda war to the Republicans, with a population weary of Imperial corruption and yearning for peace.

After the fighters captured Rigaud, only a few kilometres from the capital, Marois fled from Baie-Saint-Paul on 1 January 1532 to exile in Canada. Louis Riel's forces entered the capital on 8 January 1532. Between April and November, major cities passed from Bonapartist to Riel control with minimal resistance. In most cases the surrounding countryside and small towns had come under Republican influence long before the cities. Finally, on 1 October 1532, Republicans founded the Republic of Vale. The remains of the Imperial forces commanded were beaten in Roquefort and were evacuated in the autumn of 1533.

Many pro-independence movements emerged after the break-up of the Valois Empire and fought in the war. A number of them – Prussia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Valois colonies – were established as sovereign states. The rest of the former Valois Empire was consolidated into the Republic of Vale shortly afterwards. Louis Riel became the provisional president and was elected a year after in the first elections of the new Republic until 1548.

Tiberium Wars
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World governance
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Modern History
Since the end of the Tiberium Wars, the Vale governments have financed a wide variety of projects to recover the Great Data Loss of the Blur historical period. From these projects, the cultural identity of Vale has flourished once again with great discoveries, notably in music with Evangeline or La censure pour l'echafaud. The discovery of these two important political songs created a certain rivalry and tension with Canada because of the historical archivist researches that followed.

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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
Vale uses a civil legal system; that is, law arises primarily from written statutes; judges are not to make law, but merely to interpret it (though the amount of judicial interpretation in certain areas makes it equivalent to case law). Valois law is divided into two principal areas: private law and public law. Private law includes, in particular, civil law and criminal law. Public law includes, in particular, administrative law and constitutional law. However, in practical terms, Valois law comprises three principal areas of law: civil law, criminal law, and administrative law. Criminal laws can only address the future and not the past (criminal ex post facto laws are prohibited).

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 recognise and therefore legalise 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
Vale has an extensive network of vacuum high speed trains known as ValMetro. It is the most used mean of transport inside the country.

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.