Cancioni-Inutilia

I'm not 100% certain that all the information in this article is accurate, especially in regards to dates. Please let me know if any of the content here directly contradicts someone else's lore, but only if said lore was written before this (last edit 27/6).

Also I'm saving this despite some of the new sections being rather fragmentary because I ran out of lunch break. Cancioni-Inutilia is/will be a second-world nation in the CCRPIV universe, situated in the Mediterranean.

It was founded when Republica des Canciones Molestas conquered Inutilia in the 15th century Silver Wars, and they merged to form a single nation. It is part of an alternate universe in which the Silver Wars were conclusively ended much earlier than they were in CCRPII universe. [I'm hoping this fits with whatever lore the admins had in mind.]

Canciona and Inutilia, the original countries, have been reduced to states.

The nation is controlled by player @Tolkienfan.

Map
To be made.

Marine territory controlled: the Langoster Estella Sea, a sub-territory of the Merion Sea.

State, Province and City Breakdown
A complete list of the states, provinces and major cities on Cancioni-Inutilia, with population statistics, because someone was asking me about that.

State of Canciona Molestas
Dictatorial representative: Lucia Toronja

Population: 3,850,000

Capital: Minas Trone

Largest city: Minas Trone

Number of provinces: 4

State of Inutilia
Dictatorial representative: Horatio Sake

Population: 2,150,000

Capital: Dimidium Apis

Largest city: Salsuginis

Number of provinces: 5

Mountain-Ridden Province
Cartographer's note: Originally this province had one single mountain rather than a whole range. But I like mountains, so I added some. They are all absolutely tiny, and barely qualify as mountains, but I am going to have them. Note that they come with absolutely no resource package deals, so apart from satisfaction over having a mountain range I gain no advantage by having them.

Resources
40k tonnes building materials per year, 50k tonnes metals per year, and 60k tonnes food per year. More details to be shortly released on the project.

Federal
Cancioni-Inutilia has two dictators of equal power at any one time. They are supposed to represent the two states, Canciona and Inutilia. Within their own sphere of influence they can pass any laws they wish, but in theory have to agree on any decisions on a national level. In practice, Canciona still wields more power and its dictator will generally win out over the Inutilian one. There is no formal arrangement for succession; if a dictator dies, anyone with the money and influence can try to take up the position.

State
The State of Canciona Molestas has never departed from its original dictatorial model. Gone, however, are the days when more often than not the dictator would be benevolent. The Powers that Be are very set in their ways, and refuse to change to the more progressive model of government used by the State of Inutilia. The state's dictator has absolute power and is unlikely to lose it anytime soon.

Unlike the State of Canciona Molestas, the State of Inutilia pretends to have a more democratic government. Each province contributes one disputat, who together form the Council of Disagreement. In theory they have the power to veto anything Inutilia's dictator decrees. However, a second and much larger group of automata inutilem are present at every Council meeting. The automata inutilem have the power to veto the Council's veto (or not, as they see fit). They masquerade as a power check, but it is the Dictator who chooses the representatives (and what their salary will be), so the overall outcome is the same power balance as that present in the State of Canciona Molestas.

Provincial
In Canciona Molestas, there is no formal government at provincial level. As in the state-wide system, the state's dictator controls everything.

In Inutilia, the province's respective disputatii hold all the true power at this level. This is the main reason why they've stuck around despite being pretty useless at state level. They function as localised dictators.

Local
Formal government at this level breaks down completely everywhere. The population is willing to accept that there are (undoubtedly corrupt) people running everything on a federal level, but like most people have at least some difficulty in seriously accepting that such high levels of government even exist. On a local level, however, they are not having any of that King and Tyrant nonsense. In cities the police or other law enforcement bodies tend to hold power. In small towns, either community governance or family-based tyranny take over.

History
Coming soon! (I have neither the time nor patience to write it out properly at this point of time, and would rather not until I know the official starting date anyway.)

The full history will available on its own page soon.

Culture
Despite having been merged into one nation, the two states still hold to their old cultures. They remain distinct despite various examples of blurring customs.

Religion
The country has been introduced to Christianity. Although it spread like wildfire through the state of Inutilia, and the majority of its population have converted to it, the Cancionan state has been reluctant to be introduced to a new religion and still practice Coming of the Great Star Lobsterism. However, this latter belief has been dismissed by the country as a whole as pagan nonsense. Despite its prevalence, many believers have difficulty being taken seriously. Religious festivals are commonly viewed as little more than tourist attractions. Truly devout believers are hard to find.

In Inutilia, the most common denomination of Christianity is a form of Anglicanism.

Cuisine
Improving internal transport has introduced both subcultures to a wider range of cuisines, and there is a fair amount of overlap between the two. Cancionan cookery tends to include more spices and fresh vegetables, whereas Inutilians are well known for the quantities of fish and potatoes consumed, but overall they have merged into a diet not dissimilar to that of Italy.

The national dish has remained 'Crab Boiled in Pepsi Max for Two Hours and Served In A Baguette'. The Cancionans insist upon it.

Festival of the Exploding Eardrums
The Festival of the Exploding Eardrums has persisted, and is now widespread throughout the country (although many Inutilian cities have banned it). The festival involves parades of learner musicians, most of whom have never played their instrument in public before, if they've even played it at all. Bystanders will give them money to stop playing, and at the end of the day a panel of judges (most of whom will be so deafened by the event that they can never take this position again) award a small prize- traditionally a china ornament of a small dog, or a novelty tea cosy- to every member of the parade where the most people are all playing roughly the same tune. If said people were playing in the same time as each other, they will also be taken out to dinner for free.

Although the laws stating that all pubs do business for free during the festival has been repealed, many barkeepers ignore this. Those who don't tend to be boycotted by irate citizens for years afterwards.

The evening custom of playing loud music into the night until an annoyed neighbour pays the local constabulary to arrest the musicians has been officially banned. It has been replaced by the Smashing of the Instruments, which tends to be just as loud and drawn-out.

Festival of the Giant Star Lobster
A religious holiday that has since been melded with Easter celebrations. The parade of the papier mache lobster used to be fed seafood, but now audiences 'egg' the model and the priests carrying it. It is stuffed with chocolate, and children are invited to run into the parade and try stuffing their hands into cracks in the paper to retrieve as much of it as they can. The model is burned at midday rather than in the evening, and whole sheep are spit-roasted above the bonfire before being shared around as a communal meal. Church services take place in the evening, usually outside in the courtyard. Devout Star Lobsterists will throw eggs at people participating in these services.

The festival has largely turned into an unofficial competition to see who can take home the greatest amount of free food.

Day of Liberation
A summer holiday that has been held since 1892, when the State of Inutilia was granted the same rights as the State of Canciona. Citizens wear national dress, and hang the black-and-red flag out of their windows, the Inutilian Dictator rides through as many large cities as he/she can get to in one day and distributes bottled water (for reasons that are apparently very symbolic, but nobody can fully explain), and a free-to-all fish dinner is held in the docks. There are also usually fireworks.

There is a language enforcement, stating that anyone who tries speaking in a language other than Inutilia's traditional Latin will be goodnaturedly thrown into the sea, and can sit there waiting until a fisherman notices them and pulls them up in a net with a whole lot of seafood. For this reason, tourists try to avoid the state during this holiday.

Festival of Darkness
The Festival of Darkness is the single holiday that dates back the furthest. It takes place during the winter solstice. During it, everyone stays in bed until sundown and then get up for a meal of hot soup. They then turn off all the lights, go out onto the street, and throw rocks at any light source until the area is completely dark. Anyone who leaves a light on in their house can expect to see, upon returning, that someone has broken a window and thrown rocks through it until the offending light source has been extinguished.

Once all the lights are off, everyone sits on the road. Popular activities include sneaking up on people and shouting 'GUESS WHO!' in their ears, and opening up your cafe or restaurant in total darkness and charging people a dollar to put unidentified food items in their mouths. A certain level of trust is both required and abused in this game.

The following day is set aside for cleaning up any damage done the previous night.