Note
Most of this document has been deprecated in some way, and I wouldn’t take this particular note very seriously. This was a foundational document from the early days of Avaya’s conception, and it is left here in some kind of archived state.
tl;dr, ignore this.
1: The Second Commonwealth Constitution
1.1: Background
The original constitution was drafted toward the end of the Second Rosen Civil War in 1982. It was based upon the previous Socialist Party constitution and new works from notable socialists and communists such as Jorge Almeida and Hatsue Yuhara.
The Second Commonwealth Constitution aimed to solve the problems and inefficiencies brought upon by the first constitution, notably bureaucracy, the rapid collectivization of farming, and the failure of state-industry as well as the forceful acquisition of large private industries, especially Iseva Corporation. and Hafiz Industries. With the end of the nuclear war and the economic uncertainty brought upon by the failure of the first commonwealth, the drafters of the second constitution aimed to create a more liberal and efficient society.
1.2: Structure
The Second Commonwealth Constitution is divided into articles, subdivided by sections. It begins by abolishing the provisional government left in the wake of the civil war. The next eight articles outline the basic rights guaranteed to citizens via socialist policy and governmental paternalism. The next articles explain the citizen’s responsibilities, the economy’s structure, and private industry’s roles and privileges (or lack thereof). The text then outlines the duties of leaders within the federal, republican, provincial, and municipal governments. The final articles denote Sao Cedillo as the capital of the Rosen Commonwealth, proclaim the anti-imperialist doctrine, and outline the Commonwealth’s armed forces.
1.3: Outline/Summary of Articles
ARTICLE 0:
The signing and subsequent effect of the constitution shall abolish the provisional military government deemed necessary in the face of civil war. Former members of the provisional government may participate, under the constitution, in the new government.
ARTICLE 1:
No citizen shall be deprived of food, water, or sustenance of any kind.
ARTICLE 2:
No citizen shall be deprived of housing, electricity, heating, or cooling.
ARTICLE 3:
No citizen shall be deprived of participation in a representative government. Furthermore, no citizen shall be deprived of their voting rights.
ARTICLE 4:
Citizens have the inalienable, unobstructable right to free press, free speech, and free demonstration, save there is no disturbance of local order or law. The aforementioned power may not be abused.
ARTICLE 5:
Citizens have the right to due process under the law, and they shall be considered innocent until proven guilty. Citizens have the right to a defense, an impartial jury, and an impartial judge in the court of law.
ARTICLE 6:
Citizens shall not be subjected to unreasonable, unconsented search and seizure of their property and home.
ARTICLE 7:
Citizens shall not be subjected to state religion, nor shall the government impede upon the free practicing of religion.
ARTICLE 8:
This constitution must be amended by fair referendum of the people under the observance of the federal government.
ARTICLE 9:
All people, men and women alike, are created equal.
ARTICLE 10:
Citizens are obligated to defend the Rosen Commonwealth against enemies of socialism, liberty, and democracy.
ARTICLE 11:
Citizens are obligated to participate in the election of their representatives in government.
ARTICLE 12:
Citizens are obligated to ensure the safety, vitality, and general well-being of their fellow citizens.
ARTICLE 13:
The economy shall be split into two levels, the upper level being moneyed and the lower level being moneyless. Within the lower level of economics, citizens shall join in participatory labor, free from industrial, wage-driven servitude. The upper level of economics shall be moneyed for the sole purpose of ensuring diplomacy and participation in the global economy continues.
ARTICLE 14:
The economy of the Rosen Commonwealth shall use the Ayan Credit, abbreviated as “AC”, as their primary currency.
ARTICLE 15:
Private industry shall not deprive, nor be permitted to limit or repeal the rights and freedoms of citizens.
ARTICLE 16:
Private industry must make their finances public and easily viewed.
ARTICLE 17:
Private industry must act by the Commonwealth government in the citizens’ best interests. Private industry shall not be permitted to act in the interests of solely the government or another power.
ARTICLE 18:
Private industry shall be taxed per the socialist principles of Almeidaism.
ARTICLE 19:
The executive branch of the Commonwealth, named the Secretariat, shall be composed of the Executive Departments, the Military, the Cabinet, and the Secretariat-Directory. The Secretary-General leads the executive branch and is the head of state and government of the Rosen Commonwealth.
ARTICLE 20:
The Secretariat-Directory, composed of the heads of each executive department and whoever the Senate deems fit to serve, will advise the Secretary-General. The Secretariat-Directory manages the entire Secretariat and may veto both executive orders and laws passed by the Senate.
ARTICLE 21:
The Secretariat-Directory will share the role of commander-in-chief of the Commonwealth armed forces. They shall appoint members of the chiefs of staff.
ARTICLE 22:
Members of the Secretariat-Directory and the Secretary-General themself shall serve five-year terms. The position of Secretary-General will be rotated annually by the Cabinet and Senate’s advice.
ARTICLE 23:
The Cabinet, an advisory composed of the Secretariat-Directory and any other officials the Secretary-General and the Directory deems necessary, shall advise and assist the Secretary-General.
ARTICLE 24:
The Senate, a unicameral legislature composed of a man and a woman from each constituent Republic, shall make federal law, manage the economy and trade, declare war, create and audit the budget of the commonwealth government, and elect the Secretariat-Directory.
ARTICLE 25:
Senators serve four-year terms.
ARTICLE 26:
The Supreme Judiciary shall be composed of 13 members, serving 20-year terms. Citizens elect members of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals.
ARTICLE 27:
If a seat is vacant within the Supreme Court, then the Secretariat-Directory may appoint a replacement (with the approval of the Senate) to serve for up to a year until the general populace may elect a replacement.
ARTICLE 28:
The powers of the commonwealth government shall be devolved into constituent Republics, each with its own legislature, Prime Minister, and powers.
ARTICLE 29:
Federal law may not impede upon the rights of Republics, nor shall Republican law impede on the higher authority of the commonwealth government.
ARTICLE 30:
Republics shall be divided into Provinces and Municipalities. Provinces shall be divided into Counties and Municipalities shall be divided into Districts.
ARTICLE 31:
Republics are large subdivisions with inviolable cultures, customs, and peoples.
ARTICLE 32:
Republics hold the right to choose the borders of Provinces and Municipalities. Subsequently, Provinces and Municipalities may select the borders of Counties and Districts, respectively.
ARTICLE 33:
Provinces are larger than municipalities and consist of the suburban and rural areas of Republics. Municipalities are the urban economic centers of Republics, and are geographically smaller.
ARTICLE 34:
In the Sasei Republic, São Cedillo shall be the seat of the Senate, the Secretariat, and the Supreme Judiciary. The residences of the Secretariat-Directory and the Secretary-General shall be located wherever they desire.
ARTICLE 35:
The armed forces of the Rosen Commonwealth shall be divided into three branches: the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force. The chiefs of staff of each, as mentioned, shall be appointed by the Secretariat-Directory.
Signed 3 November 1990
Bełnowiec, Transitory Rosen Commonwealth
Executive Committee of the Transitory Commonwealth
Serwacy Gajewski
Florinda Carvalho
Deng Liang
Diogo Santos-Higashi
Cora Cavaleri
Nkululeko Mthobeni
Rosana Dias-Ferreira
Estelle Keilberth
Christian Hewson
Jalil Sadiki-Georgen
Mayoko Sugita
Chernomyrdin Ilyich
Elva Collier
1.4: Reception, Proposed Amendments, and Modern Interpretation
The Rosen Commonwealth constitution has had a largely positive reception since it went into effect. It is credited with solving the problems of the First Commonwealth and is regarded as less interpretive or vague when compared to the First Commonwealth Constitution. The Constitution has gone unamended since it went into effect. This makes the Second Commonwealth Constitution the oldest unamended constitution in effect, ahead of West Aya and Nyako.
The most well-known proposed amendments are the Expanded Rights Amendment and the Economic Reform Amendment. The Expanded Rights Amendment (colloquially known as the EXRI amendment) would add and specify additional protections for LGBTQ+ citizens. It would affirm and constitutionalize the Commonwealth’s support and defense of ethnic minorities, domestically and internationally. The Economic Reform Amendment (colloquially known as the ECREF amendment) would rescind Article 13 of the constitution, replacing it with a new article that would better reflect the Rosen Commonwealth’s economic system.
As mentioned before, the most significant change since the Constitution was signed is the interpretation of Article 13, which has changed a great deal since the Rosen Commonwealth’s inception. Article 13 affirms that the Commonwealth’s economy should be split into moneyed and moneyless halves, the former being used for international trade and economically dominated by the government, and the latter being intended for average citizens and their daily lives. However, Article 13 has been disregarded in favor of a democratic socialist economy, adhering more to the principles of Reformed Almeidaism than the works of Hatsue Yuhara or Deng Liang (uniquely a signatory of both constitutions).
2: Republics, Provinces, and Municipalities
2.1: Background and History
Republics have always existed in some form or another in Rosen history. Drawn upon ethnolinguistic lines by Sayese imperialists, people living in what is now known as the Rosen Commonwealth were grouped into what often were intentionally arbitrary and divisive client states.
The actual term “republic” came around at the establishment of the Rosen Communist Union. The RCU was extremely bureaucratic and subdivided to an extreme degree. Mirroring the preceding colonizers, the RCU largely kept the borders of the client states, simply renaming them to appointed republics subservient to the federal government.
Republics vanished under the genesis of the Rosen Republic, being viewed as inefficient and unnecessary. The Rosen Republic was infamously a unitary state, and republics didn’t even serve niche purposes as census areas or larger voting or representative districts. Many within the Republic were displeased with this alteration, as they had grown accustomed to their republics and had developed unique, new identities within the republics.
Once the Cold War began, the Rosen Republic adopted the fourth republican constitution, mainly reforming the justice system and the rights of citizens, but also turning the Rosen Republic into a federal state. With this returned the republics. Unusually, the borders were decided democratically by a long series of referendums.
Republics within the Rosen Republic lacked any sort of legislature of their own, however, and with the shift to a fully appointed congress in 1963, there was little hope of republics carrying any value within the government.
Republics would occasionally campaign for independence or autonomy within the republic. After the violent invasion of the short-lived Free Republic of Helsaya, the navy coup of 1971, and the ensuing terrorist attacks at Morgen Beach, the transition back to a unitary state fully ended republics within the Rosen Republic.
With the beginning of the Second Rosen Civil War, certain military units in the Democratic-Nationalist Alliance were divided by republic or nationality to “improve morale”. Many within the Social Liberation Army claimed these were racist segregation tactics on behalf of the Nationalist Government.
The Rosen Emergency Government and the Transitory Commonwealth were both unitary states, as they still didn’t assert much power over their claimed territories and thus didn’t require large subdivisions.
The 1986 Constitutional Crisis was famously fought over the jurisdiction of republics vs the power of the federal government. With the Commonwealth now possessing thousands of nuclear weapons, the federal government chose to concede with the republics on the basis that nuclear weapons would be left untouched.
3: Language Conversions and Demographics
3.1: Introduction
The Rosen Commonwealth is very diverse and so a wide variety of languages are spoken throughout the country. For my sanity and just for ease of development, each language within the Commonwealth has a placeholder “irl” language that corresponds to it.
Afterward, I will then categorize and characterize each ethnic group making up the Commonwealth, in hopefully the least racist way possible. (Though generalizing entire ethnicities is kinda just inherently racist and I can’t do much about it.)
3.2: Placeholder Languages
(Not in order of population)
-
Southern Sennan - Portuguese
-
Simplified Sennan - Portuguese (Brazil)
-
Tuvayan - Italian
-
Northern Helsayan - German
-
Standard Helsayan - Russian
-
Velese - Japanese
-
Eilese - Xhosa
-
Feveik - Mthembu
-
Sanan - English (Australian)
-
Kelhese - English (American)
-
Hanan - Polish
-
Mayolic-Kayan - Chinese
-
Veytuan - Spanish (Spain)
4.3: Ethnic Groups
(In order of population)
-
Sennans - The largest (though now much smaller) ethnicity in the Rosen Commonwealth. Many fled the continent after the Democratic-Nationalist forces lost the civil war. Sennans are characterized by their complex philosophy and emphasis on marriage.
-
Hanans - The second largest group in the Rosen Commonwealth. They live primarily in the mountains of the northwest, though in recent decades many have gone south for more urbanized areas. Hanans make up much of the construction and blue-collar jobs, similar to the Mayolic-Kayans.
-
Velese - The third largest group in the Rosen Commonwealth. Velese are the most urbanized ethnicity and live in the large cities in the south. Similar to the Sennans, their culture is somewhat pessimistic, though progressive.
-
Sanans - Grouped with the Kelhese, though there are some differences between the two similarly-named ethnicities. Sanans “like to party” and were the primary proponents of the four-day workweek. Sanans are often characterized as the most devout socialists.
-
Tuvayans - Tuvayans primarily occupy the coasts and interiors of the Pai Rainforest. Their culture is relatively conservative, and their societies are often deemed as matriarchal and sexist.
-
Helsayans - Helsayans, similar to Hanans, live mostly in mountainous areas. Helsayans are the largest Indigenous population in the area now home to the Rosen Commonwealth. They nearly went extinct after the Rosen Republic divided the tribes in the 1940s. This division persists in the two languages Helsayans speak: “Northern” Helsayan and “Standard” Helsayan.
-
Eilese - The Eilese have a massive cultural presence, though they’re only the seventh-largest ethnic group in the Commonwealth. Their cuisine, philosophy, and language fame rivals that of the Sennans, and their population has exploded since the Commonwealth was established.
-
Kelhese - The Kelhese are (unusually) spread pretty evenly throughout the Commonwealth. This is theorized to be caused by the Kelhese emphasis on travel and change, made apparent by their turbulent, although interesting, lives. Ask any Kelhese their life story and you’ll be there for a while.
-
Mayolic-Kayans - The Mayolic-Kayans are, strangely, one ethnicity, not two that have been racistly put together. Mayolic-Kayans are quick to change and occupy much of the Rosen Commonwealth’s heavy industry.
-
Feveiks - Feveiks are usually characterized by their relative wealth and very low birth rates, as shown by their decline in population since the establishment of the Commonwealth. Feveiks, similar to Sennans, put great emphasis on marriage, but not on birth.
-
Veytuans - In the wake of the Veytuan War, many have migrated from the island to the Rosen Commonwealth, where they seek equality and freedom. Veytuans are characterized by their optimism and large families.
5: A Sample Headline List From 2053
5.1: Introduction
Life in the Rosen Commonwealth is pretty uneventful. Economic equality has brought crime down, weakened large corporations, and made life more fulfilling and prosperous for the average Rosen. As such, headlines are much less sensational and mundane than headlines in other capitalist countries.
The following are several headlines and subheadings extracted on August 4, 2053, from the Sao Cedillo Times, NPN, and Correspondency.
5.2: Sample Headlines
Mayan Wildfire 70% Contained, says Regional Fire Commissioner
West Ayan Automobile Tycoon Sentenced to Death After Fraud Investigation Concludes
Former Hafiz Industries CFO to Speak at GTO Summit
Record Snowfall in Sasei Shows Climate Change Recovery
Nuclear Warfare Museum Opens in Żole
Damien Brunelle Biopic Breaks Box Office Records
Sayan Embassy in Sao Cedillo Denounces IU Audit of Domestic Industry
High-Speed Rail Maintenance Continues, Delaying Travel for Millions
Opinion: The Case for Political Parties
Opinion: Artificial Intelligence is a Net-Positive
Opinion: West Aya is Getting an Economic Wake-up Call
6: What is Happening in the Rest of Avaya?
6.1: Introduction
Generally, the rest of the world is hostile toward the Rosen Commonwealth. The aftermath of the Nuclear Crisis and the rising influence of the Commonwealth make competition with the West Ayan Republic and the State of Saya fierce. While the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons after the crisis has made the prospect of nuclear war significantly less frightening, there remains the threat of a Second Great War, in which the outnumbered Rosen Commonwealth must hold its ground against the autocratic, capitalist, and militarized superpowers of the east and global north.
There is an inherent fear; a sense of urgency or dread underlying the Rosen Commonwealth. While their socialist economy, favorable climate, and laid-back populace give the impression that all is well in the Commonwealth, the state of things could not be more dire in the upper echelons of the administration.
This underdog mentality led to the establishment of the Collective Action Defense Organization - a military and political alliance among other social democracies. While the formation of CADO has proliferated Rosen ideology - and provided needed aid to the Commonwealth’s developing allies, the Rosen Commonwealth’s future remains uncertain.
In the words of Genziano Noce, (a famous Senator):
The great Rosen Commonwealth has entered the 2050s in a state of uncertainty. We must tread these new grounds with a caution; a level of assertion never before seen in the Commonwealth’s history.
The Rosen Commonwealth lives in tomorrow but was built on the past.
Rosen history cannot be predicted. Two civil wars and nuclear defense tend to do that to a country.
6.2: Other Countries
6.2.1: State of Saya
The Rosen Commonwealth’s largest rival. Matching the Commonwealth in economic, political, and cultural power, it embodies the antithesis of the tenets the Rosen Commonwealth stands for, under what is often referred to as Imperial Corporatocracy, the Imperial Court, under the Bourbeau Dynasty, shepherds a hypercapitalist society with little regard for human rights.
6.2.2: West Ayan Republic
A conglomeration of many of the states that once composed the West Ayan continent, the West Ayan Republic functions as a complex rival and economic partner of the Rosen Commonwealth. While the two countries share fundamentally intertwined economies, their interests have continued to diverge since the 2020s, and their collective futures are uncertain.
7: The Military
7.1: History
The military of the Commonwealth is the Rosen Commonwealth Armed Forces (RCAF). While the Rosen Commonwealth is generally averse to military confrontation, its influence and need for national defense led to the establishment of the RCAF in 1984. The RCAF immediately inherited over 4,000 nuclear weapons, which was, to say the least, extremely worrying to the Senate, which viewed the RCAF as infantile and inexperienced. Further problems plagued the RCAF throughout the beginning of its existence, such as interservice conflict, disorganization, and a lack of morale.
Amid the ‘86 constitutional crisis, the Senate voted to end mandatory conscription, which helped with the military’s logistical issues (and essentially resolved the whole issue to begin with). Furthermore, under Admiral Dumanovsky Yegorovich, much of the RCAF’s structural problems were also resolved. Things were looking up for the RCAF, so much so that its budget was raised significantly throughout 1987 and ‘88. Too bad the Nuclear Crisis took place the next year.
The Nuclear Crisis is often regarded as the RCAF’s “finest hour”. In the span of just 14 hours, the armed forces collectively defended the Rosen Commonwealth against a nuclear attack from the Sayan Union. BMD systems, developed rapidly by the Air Force throughout the ’80s, largely spared the Commonwealth’s largest cities from nuclear hellfire.
However, command centers like Żole and Wallaceburg were poorly defended by the Air Force’s overstretched defense systems, which led to much of the upper structure of the military being completely wiped out. In addition, Sayan missiles targeted major air bases and military facilities as well as population centers, further hurting the RCAF’s post-war capabilities.
In the aftermath of the Nuclear Crisis, martial law was declared and the constitution was suspended. Big mistake. Since the upper echelons of the military had been decimated, the few orders that reached enlisted soldiers in urban areas were vague and contradictory.
When the Transitory Commonwealth’s Executive Committee finally convened and signed the Second Commonwealth Constitution in 1990, the military was restructured and many of the soldiers who served during the Nuclear Crisis were disciplined for their actions while martial law was in effect (which was very controversial, understandably). So many soldiers had disobeyed orders and engaged in “warlordism” that a special tribune was conducted by the IU, known as the São Lola War Crime Tribunal.
Once the tribunals had been completed, judges from the Conflict Resolution Court demanded that the new Commonwealth restructure its military and