Turtly

The nation of the Creature's Republic of Turtly was a peaceful, albeit small, island country off the coast of Trans-Antarctica. Settled in 2000 and loved because of its natural beauty and dramatic tidal floods, it was a haven for tortoises and crabs who thrived despite the bitter cold. Sadly, it was chosen by Raleigh to be his nation and corporate headquarters. Thus, in 2009, the island's small security force of crabs with sticks was PWNed, and the leaders, King Tortoise and President Crabby, were deposed and sent into exile at Turtle Atoll, where Turtly's government is run.

History
Founded in 2001, Turtly was home to peaceful and friendly-natured crabs and turtles. King Tortoise and President Crabby ruled the land in harmony, and shocking modesty. King Tortoise was a firm believer in no class-distinction and equality, wearing only what the law required him to wear as King.

He preferred to wonder among his people, and that he did, travelling the island in the ንጉሥ እርካሽ ጀልባ (king's cheap small boat) and greeting everyone he met. The island was a happy place, the taxes were low, and the smiles were high. The island prospered to a population of around 200,000 crabs and 10,000 tortoises and turtles. The creatures of Turtly couldn't be happier!

Coup

 * ''Main article: Zenthexia

Unfortunately, in 2009, the island was couped by the Imperial Forces, and the entire populas of Turtly was was cast into Diaspora Exile.

Upon the Imperial Emperor’s arrival, Zenthexia was claimed in the name of the Imperial Forces, and work began on overthrowing the island. It was quick and simple, they raided King Tortoise's home, captured him, and took over from there. A quick yelling was given to the king before he fled (slowly) away from his land, with President Crabby on his shell. King Tortoise, being able to live for months without food, floated in the ocean for a week until he reached Turtle Atoll. President Crabby lived off of floating items on they way there.

A titanium dome was then erected to stop the natural tides that made Turtly so much of a paridise for the original occupants, as well.

Original Government
Turtly's governing body is overwhelmingly simple. The President wrote laws, let the people read it, then sent it to the King (literally in the same office, the king's throne was across the room from the president's desk), who either royal assented it or vetoed it. All vetoed bills were tossed in the Royal Paper Shredder, which is simply a paper shredder with the coat of arms of Turtly on it. If the bill was approved, King Tortoise went outside his home and up a hill, where a small radio station sat. He would perform a ceremony and read the new law to everyone over the radio. The entire ceremony, from carrying the bill up to reading it, then coming back down, took about four hours because turtles are slow.

Lawmaking formality
Back when Turtly had actual sovereignity, vetoed bill underwent no such fanfare, it merely gets tossed into the Royal Paper Shredder.

However, approved bills undergo the royal assent. In the days of Turtly, an assistant crab (sometimes President Crabby) would hand King Tortoise a pencil, and he would sign his name with the pencil in his mouth. He would put the pencil down, and a crab would place a ribbon on it, varifying the offical confirmation of the bill, now a law. King Tortoise would then pick up the bill in his mouth and crawl out the door. He would continue crawling along until he was about three hundred feet from his home/palace/capitol, and proceed up a rolling hill. At the very top of the hill was a small radio station barely high enough to not get submerged nightly. President Crabby, being a speedy crusteacean would have been up there about three hours ago. King Tortoise, once he reached the top, would place the (often drool-covered) law on the desk and read it out to his people over the radio. He would then go home, leaving President Crabby to answer any questions about the law. By the time Crabby's question service ended, King Tortoise would have finally made it inside the capitol.

In exile
After King Tortoise and president Crabby were deposed, the process changed. Royal assent was still performed, but King Tortoise instead carried it to the elevator and up to the second floor, where a crab would scan the bill and post it on Turtly's national website (www.turtlyexile.gov), so that all Turtlian refugees could read it regardless of where they were.

The official Capitol of Exile for the nation of Turtly is a building in Turtle Atoll, noted by the huge Turtlian flag flying on a pole nearby and the coat of arms on the glass door. Inside, all of the employees of Turtly's government live and work in a shared two-story apartment building. The first floor has President Crabby's desk and King Tortoise's throne, plus a computer they share, while the second floor contains five crabs and two tortoises who run the servers and scanners that make up the national website, www.turtlyexile.gov. Their website is the only thing that enables all Turtlian refugees to communicate with one-another. The second floor also prints and distributes national identity cards to valid Turtlian citizens (see refugee contacts below).

Governments in exile have little power, but they have done some things. For instance, President Crabby got King Tortoise to royal assent a membership joining with NATO, because they feared that East Pengolia would become a threat.

Penal code
Turtly, in exile or not, has a very short list of "do and don't" in law.


 * No discrimiantion of any species, regardless of what they are, for equality is paramount!
 * Taxes must be low, requiring less than 10% of anybody's income at any time.
 * The monarch and government should be highly respected but not considered higher than the commoners.
 * No stealing or generic crimes.

Flag, motto, and anthem


The flag of Turtly once flew all over their island, but is now scattered and displayed in various homes of Turtlian residents in Antarctica. The largest Turtlian flag is flown near the capitol on a large flagpole. The flag has a white top and blue underneath (representing the tidal floods), and yellow lines (representing happiness) drawn in a semicircle in the center of the flag. Also in the center is a pair of scales. One one arm of the scales is a crab, another a tortoise. A crown sits in one of the scale plates, and nothing sits on the other. Neither the crown side or the empty side are tilted, representing equality between crabs and tortoises, and also equality between monarchs and the people.

The national motto of Turtly is "ለየብቻው, ግንቦት ማግሥት በጀ ውስጥ ንፅፅር ከትናንት ለ በስቲያ!". In English, that means "To each one individually, may the next day be better in comparison to the day before!". In other words, may each day be better than the last for everyone.

The national motto is Singing Shoes on Equality: 'Our Soles are Still the Same'. This song is infamously considered "weird", but King Tortoise, who personally picked it, responded with this: "'I searched for a song about equality on PengTube, but most of the videos were creepy. Have you ever seen a video about Mwa Mwa Penguin's rights? How about Alex12345a doing... stuff? President Crabby nearly upchucked his lunch after watching the Alex video on 'equality'... brr... you know, that guy should NEVER rap. Nonetheless, I chose the singing shoes because their equality message is simple. Their soles are all the same... even though I don't wear shoes, of course, but they're trying to say that regardless of appearence, they're all shoes and all treated equally. That is what I feel about tortoises and crabs; they are equal, as they should be.'"


 * When King Tortoise responds on that, most folks tend to understand his point.

The coat of arms of Turtly bears exactly the same message as the flag. The scales represent equality. The scribbles on the arms are Amharic for "Let us bet on it, being equal is fun!".

Crabs and Tortoises live in harmony on the islands.

Culture
After the Diaspora, citizens of Turtly were unable to ahve a national culture because of sheer seperation. However, they all strived to retain a national identity, and with the help of www.turtleyexile.gov, they succeded. Members of the nation (and thus the site) can download the penal code of Turtly, flags, crafts, recipes, bumper stickers, etc., all of which help Turtlians maintain themselves as Turtlian and not of whatever country they are in. Turtlian crabs and tortoises are very proud of their country. The national website also possesses a chat room, where ciizens can talk to each other about various things. President Crabby or King Tortoise often log on and chat with their citizens, just like they did back when Turtly was sovereign.

Refugee contacts
Obviously, when Imperial Emporer Diaspora Exiled the citizens of Turtly, they scattered all over the continent. These refugees had little means of contacting one another. Fortunately, President Crabby came up with an Identity Card policy in which all confirmed citizens of Turtly could apply for a small, plastic ID card that denotes their citizenship and provides a unique login code for the offical Turtlian Citizens' Chat Room and www.turtlyexile.gov, where citizens of the exiled country can communicate with one-another and their leaders.

Involvement in NATO
President Crabby had Turtly join NATO as a defense in case East Pengolia seeks to become imperial and form an Empire. Due to the fact that Turtly had (and has) no military, they need strong allies to help them fend off a possible East Pengolian empire AND any other invasion.