Nordal

Nordal (pronounced ), officially the United Republic of Nordal, is a sovereign country located off the western coast of mainland Vestea. Nordal occupies the entire island of Dellea as well as some minor outlying islands to the west. Separated by the Amica Sea to the east and the ?-sea to the west, Nordal has no land borders but has extensive maritime borders with Lindenholt and Umbrellya. With a population of (2020), Nordal has one of the highest populations in Western Vestea.

Burton is the capital and largest city with a population of 7,921,043 and a metro area population of 13,842,104 making it one of the highest developed cities in Vestea. Since the Industrial Revolution, manufacturing was the largest driving force for the expansion of urbanised cities in Nordal such as Ryeham and Lowemouth, however since the 1930s, banking and financial services have taken over as the biggest driving force for the expansion of cities.

Since 1895, Nordal has been a parliamentary republic with an unwritten constitution as a result of the Silent Revolution. Therefore, the legislative and executive share a close bond with both the de facto head of state and the head of government being participating members of parliament. While there has been officially no head of state of Nordal for over a century, in practice the role of head of state falls to the President of the Upper Council - Nordal's upper house.

A founding member of the UN-type org and the Association of Rewish-speaking Nations, and member of the Vestean Union, Nordal is deeply interconnected and boasts extensive diplomatic relations with numerous states around the world.

In 1998 the minor outlying islands of Saint Bartholemew, James' Islands, and Saint Martin's Islands we're officially incorporated into Nordal proper and stopped being dependencies thus officially ending the last modern presence of Nordal's colonial history.

Etymology
The first know usage of Nordal is found in the 400 AD Malbury Chronicles referring to the north of Dellea, literally meaning North Dellea. Before this Nordal as a conceptual name did not exist and instead the area was referred to as Dellea, a name inherited by the not!Romans used to refer to the entire island.

Nordal started to become a widespread name for the collection of Rewish Kingdoms along the Rye river plain - particularly the medieval Kingdom of Midland and Kingdom of Rye. Once the many Rewish Kingdoms consolidated into the Kingdom of Rewland, Nordal became synonymous with Rewland as a means of referring to the Kingdom of Rewland. With the coronation of King John II as king of Welwyn, Rewland and Verland in 1347 AD, the public opted to use Nordal as an official term for King John II's new domain.

This left Dellea as the official name for the geographic region Nordal inhabits and Nordal as the political entity that encompasses Welwyn, Kurnlan, Rewland, Corbourne, and Verland

The "Five Nations" & Administrative Divisions
Nordal is a unitary nation meaning most political power is situated in the capital, Burton. The term "Five Nations" is a political term referring to the five "nations" that make up Nordal - Kurnlan, Welwyn, Courbourn, Verland, and Rewland. With Rewland being the largest of the five and hosting the capital city, Burton.

The five "nations" hold no legally binding individual legislative power themselves; they are represented in parliament in the form of advisory committees. For example, the Rewland Committee is compromised of 15 Rewish MPs that make suggestions and advise the government on policy regarding Rewland. The system has been in place since 1895. This is despite the majority of parliamentary parties supporting devolution and federalisation, with only the Social Labour and Conservative Union parties favouring the status quo.

Political Parties
Since the late 1700s, Nordal has always been dominated by two dominant political parties with varying ideologies through its history, both in terms of the popular vote and in terms of seats in the House of Commons. These two dominant parties are currently the Conservative Union Party (CUP) and Social Labour Party (SLP), with Alliance in a strong third position. In terms of membership, the SLP is largest with over 250,000 members as of 2020; Alliance coming second with just under 100,000 members in 2020.

Historically the liberal Whigs faction, the predecessor of Alliance, and the Unionist faction, the predecessor of the People's Party and the CUP, were the dominant parties within the Houses of Commons. Throughout the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries the liberal and conservative parties pulled back and forth to control the government. That was until the 1940s when the Social Labour Party was founded and quickly rose to power in the 50s and 60s in an economically declining Nordal. Since then, Alliance has failed to pass third place in general elections and currently have their best electoral result since the 80s.

Also prevalent in Nordalan politics are the multiple nationalist political parties who, in 2017, obtained a combined 1,971,665 votes (5.43% of total votes cast). The oldest of these nationalist parties is the Welwyn National Party, founded in 1871 and seen as Nordal's first independently functioning socialist political party. The WNP has maintained a presence in the House of Commons since the 40s and is the leader of the National Bloc, a loose alliance of nationalist parties and organisations in Nordal.

Changes Since Last Election
As of January 2020, 1 CUP MP has died and 3 others suspended from the party making them independents. The MP for Hiddleton died in late 2018 triggering a byelection in which Alliance MP, Andrew Jackfield, won increasing Alliance's MPs by 1 to 61 in total.

Energy
Nordal is one of Ardin's largest producers and importers of energy. 48.5% of the energy produced in Nordal in 2020 was from fossil fuels, mostly from natural gas which, alone, accounts for 45% of Nordal's total energy production. Nordal is also one of the largest consumers of natural gas in the VU, comparable to neighbouring Lindenholt.

From the opening of the first power station in the late 19th century to 1977, coal accounted for over 80% of Nordal's energy production. From 1977 onwards coal would lose its favourability with 1987 being the first-time coal reached below 50% of domestic production. The biggest alternative of coal that the governments of Nordal have employed is natural gas, quickly outpacing coal-fired powerplants in Nordal and now accounts for over 45% of domestic energy production.