United Provinces

The United Provinces or Snowiny (Serbo-Croatian: Ujedinjene Provincije and Snovinska) is a federal republic located northwest of the Antarctic Peninsula, between Candvia, the Sub-Antarctic Islands and Ninja Archipelago. It has one of the greatest and most important geographical positions in Antarctica as it is located in the middle of some of the Antarctic's most important economic zones and trade routes. It is comprised of 12 states. The capital city of the country is Winsburg with a population of over 1,640,000. It is one of the most powerful countries in Antarctica, militarily and economically, and plays an important diplomatic role on the Antarctic stage. It is a founding member of the Western Union, a politico-economic union of many Antarctic nations.

The islands of the United Provinces were first settled around 700 BC by the Travans, Jutans and Letans. The Travans built an empire that eventually collapsed to the Glodes. Around 540 AD, however, came the Oslovens, who destroyed all the tribes in the country and subjected their leaders to slavery. The Oslovens came to own a vast empire that owned the entire archipelago and soon expanded towards the Yowien Sea and the rest of the Sub-Antarctic Islands all the way down to Asiapelago. The empire entered a period of turmoil in the late 18th century and collapsed in the early 19th century, creating the Kingdom of Snowiny. The kingdom was very unstable, and was invaded by Khanzem in the early 20th century. Several decades later, a fascist dictatorship was set up in the country that ended with a bloody civil war that began in 1996 and ended in 2003, creating a democratic Snowiny. In 2015, the country further reformed to the United Provinces which cherishes liberty and equality among the nations inhabiting the country.

The United Provinces is home to one of Antarctica's largest ship-building industries, which is reflected in the fact that the United Provinces has one of the largest navies in Antarctica. The United Provinces is famous for its salt and raspberry industries, both of which are the country's number one exports - the country is a large exporter of sea salt and raspberries. This is because of the many salt pans in the states of Penland and Sitmo. The country is located in the middle of important trade routes such as SABER, and trade is one of the main sources of income for the country.

The country has taken its rightful position on the Antarctic stage and has been recognized as a great power. It has gotten involved in many peacekeeping missions around the continent and has expanded its economy and its military dramatically. The country is one of the greatest economic powers in Antarctica, partly as a result of the increasingly more powerful Western Union. The country has great diplomatic might and has been recognized by many countries as a country that can successfully transition from a totalitarian, oppressive dictatorship all the way to a completely democratic country. The United Provinces is a developed country with a very high standard of living, upholding a strong social security system, indiscriminate universal healthcare system, environmental protection, and a tuition-free university education.

History
See main article: History of the United Provinces

Settlement
At approximately 700 BC, the first tribes came to settle Snowiny from the direction of the Ninja Archipelago and the Yowien Sea. Among the first tribes on the island of Snowiny are the Travens, Jutans and Letans, and little is known about them except for the Travans, whose cultural influence is still seen in the nation today. They were the most powerful of the tribes and they founded the Travan Empire by 400 BC, establishing control over a great chunk of the island. The main rival of the Travans, however, were the Glodes, who destroyed their empire by 95 AD and established the Glodic Republic, possibly the first republic in the history of penguin civilization.

The Osloven Era
The Glodic Republic was relatively stable and peaceful, but constant invasions from neighboring smaller tribes wreaked havoc on border regions of the country. The republic's biggest challenge, however, ended up being the invasion of the tribe of Oslovens, the direct descendants of modern-day Snowinns, who brought down the republic in 540 AD. The Oslovens quickly conquered almost the entire island, and established a powerful empire that would last for centuries to come. The Oslovens forcibly relocated tribes that lived on their newly-acquired territory, and most tribes had no option but to accept their new destiny. The Pennes were among those who did not accept it, and they unsuccessfully tried to fight the Oslovens and protect their homeland (which was located in present-day Kanowa) - the Pennes, however, were decimated and they were forced to retreat to the southern tip of the island, part of the region now known as Penland after them.

In 767, the Oslovens established the Principality of the Oslovens, and by 976 it evolved into the Osloven Empire, whose first emperor was Tomislav I. By 1000, it became a leading Antarctic power, creating a massive empire stretching all over the Sub-Antarctic Islands, as well as establishing a dominion over the islands of present-day Candvia. The biggest rival of the Oslovens proved to be the High Penguin Confederacy, which defeated the Oslovens over and over again in many wars over the years, including in the 11th century war which made the Oslovens lose half the island of Snowiny to the invaders.

The Oslovens were forced to effectively being a puppet state of the High Penguin Confederacy after the war, although a relatively peaceful and prosperous period ensued. The Osloven Empire established one of the largest navies in the world. Multiple wars took place again between the Oslovens and the High Penguin Confederacy throughout the centuries, some which were won by the Oslovens and some which were won by the High Penguins. In 1256, a revolution overthrew the emperor and a civil war was imminent; it started in 1271 when Emperor Jovan VI of the Telobot dynasty died early, resulting in a split inside the dynasty and war of succession between the new dynasties of Fronfir, Aventin and Vasilen. Ultimately, Empress Octavia of Aventin defeated the other two dynasties and formed a union with the Fronfir dynasty.

Another war began with the High Penguins in 1430 under the name of the Eighty Years War. The country was devastated and nearly half its population was lost in one of the deadliest wars in Snowinn history. The war ended in a Pyrrhic victory for the Oslovens in 1510, and the Oslovens once again faced the task of rebuilding their nation. The 17th and 18th centuries came to be considered as the "golden age" for the nation as sciences and arts developed rapidly and lasting peace was established. The peace was destroyed with the death of Empress Katarina in 1792, after which the Three Years War began with the High Penguins.

The empire was completely defeated and vassalized after the war, and the "Osloven Dark Age" although this didn't last for long as the penguins of the country finally had enough and a rebellion began in 1803, evolving into the Osloven Civil War. The three sides were the Monarchists, the Republicans and the Socialists. It ended in 1815 with none of the three sides really winning - the Republicans were the ones who ultimately prevailed, but they were forced to compromise with the Monarchists and Socialists in order for the country to stay alive. A compromise was reached, and the Kingdom of Snowiny was established.

Early Snowiny
The country was unstable throughout the entire 19th century, with a rather short and weak peace period in the late part of the century. The country gradually industrialized, although slowly compared to other Antarctic nations. In 1892, the country fought yet another war with the High Penguin Confederacy in order to achieve its complete independence from it, and it succeeded thanks to support from the powers in the Ninja Archipelago. The economy was weak and living conditions poor, and riots were commonplace throughout the 1900s and early 1910s. In the 1910s, however, the Khanzem War took place, which resulted in Snowiny being occupied by the ruthless Khanzem regime, which established concentrate camps across the country, forcing penguins to extract orange juice in order to please Whoot Smackler Whoot, the leader of Khanzem.

The Khanzem War resulted in the victory of the allied side, and Snowiny was liberated. After the war, the monarchy was reestablished, although political violence was commonplace throughout the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, culminating in the assassination of King Steve I in 1937 and King Gunter I in 1947, after which a republic was established in Snowiny under a single-party far-right wing totalitarian dictatorship under which every aspect of life in Snowiny was strictly controlled by the government.

False War
See main article: False War

During the second half of the 20th century, the country was embroiled in an ideological conflict called the False War, with the Nationalist Bloc, which Snowiny was part of and whose nations were members of the Bridgestadt Pact, on one side, and the Comintern, the Communist Bloc, on the other side, with the Unaffiliated Bloc as the third side whose goal was to form their own independent and neutral bloc to avoid falling under any of the aforementioned blocs. The era of the False War in Snowiny was marked by intense anti-communist propaganda, as well as strict punishments for those who dare show any sign of willingness to rebel against the totalitarian system. Snowiny became one of the leaders of the Nationalist Bloc alongside Ed Island and thus, for the first time since the fall of the Osloven Empire, managed to play a big part on the Antarctic stage.

In 1960, the 7-month long War of Snowinn Succession after the death of President Julien resulted in Stanley Lawrence's victory, who reigns until 1972 when a more moderate Henri Horacije succeeds him. Henri Horacije slightly moderates the regime, resulting in the regime no longer being classified as totalitarian but rather as simply authoritarian. Many of such reforms were reversed by his successor Francisco Ferinco, however, when he took power in 1993 following a military coup. The rollback of Henri Horacije's reforms and the reestablishment of a totalitarian, anti-communist and genocidal regime, despite the end of the False War and the fact most of Antarctica was starting to head in a democratic path, resulted in events that would lead to the beginning of a civil war.

Snowinn Civil War
See main article: Snowinn Civil War

Indeed, a civil war started in 1996, with a failed coup attempt to take down Francisco Ferinco while avoiding a war. The coup attempt was carried out miserably and was completely unorganized, and Ferinco was easily able to seize power once again. Ferinco ultimately 'declared war on terrorism', stating that he and his country will not be bullied into submission by "dirty anarchists and communists". Geronimo Stanling became the leader of the democratic side of the civil war. At first, the international community was for a restoration of order in the country, although that changed as Ferinco's crimes came to be exposed over the years and as the war got worse and worse for all sides involved, especially the Pennes, who came to be victims of an ethnic cleasning campaign by Ferinco.



By 1999, the entire international community except for the Bridgestadt Pact members were supportive of the democratic side, with many countries, including Acadia, Frankterre and Seal Islands, sending military and medical aid to assist the side, as well as humanitarian aid for the civilian victims of the war, especially the Pennes. In 2001, the democratic side had effectively seized control over the entire island, and the war officially ended in 2003 and Ferinco was arrested.

Contemporary History
A new era began in Snowiny's history, the democratic era. Geronimo Stanling, the leader of the revolution, became the Liberal Party's candidate for president in 2003 and won the first direct and democratic presidential elections in the nation's history the same year. He was a weak statesman, however, and his leadership proved to be rather incompetent, and thus throughout the 2000s Snowiny lagged behind most nations in Antarctica and was rather isolated, with its only close international allies being Acadia and Rusca. That changed under the presidency of Robert Smith, the leader of the Conservatives, however - he was elected in 2011 and his presidency was labelled by some as the Snowinn Revolution, as Snowiny got involved on the international stage once again, the economy boomed and the Circular Defense Pact was established.

Robert Smith's presidency, however, was very unpopular. Some believe that under his presidency Snowiny effectively became a Shopper puppet state, as Robert Smith ended up doing whatever Lavender wanted to do. Snowiny under Smith was involved in numerous wars across the continent, some among which are the Frosian War, the Shadow of Culldrome, the Fall of Nexon, the Ed-Snowinn War, the Plague War and the Newdeal Civil War, with the Antarctic War on Terrorism also starting under his presidency. Furthermore, Robert Smith used a constitutional loophole to proclaim himself the new "King of Snowiny" in 2013. Smith came to be viewed as an authoritarian, war-hungry despot, and his incompetence didn't help either, such as when he accidentally spent 1,000,000 million CP Coins (of taxpayer money) on Penquino's hit single, The Eggnog Starts Now!.

Robert Smith was rather peacefully overthrown in May 2015, and a republic was reestablished, this time organized as a federal republic rather than a centralized state - the new country came to be known as the United Provinces of Snowiny, or shortly, the United Provinces, and later that summer Simon McClark was elected president of this reformed country, with a new flag approved to replace the old blue-white-green horizontal as well in order to represent the country's transition into the future and a brand new era.

Simon McClark's presidency was indeed a new era in the country's history. The economy continued to boom, new international friendships and alliances were forged, new trade deals made and the Western Union was formed and further expanded over the years of his presidency. Living standards were the greatest in the nation's history, the country became one of the economically strongest and came to be recognized as a great power on the Antarctic stage, successfully securing a seat on the UAN Security Council. McClark also reformed the Constitution so as nobody could just become a monarch like Robert Smith did ever again, and he greatly increased the powers of the states (provinces) and allowed for them to create their own laws as long as they do not conflict with the laws of the federal government.

McClark also came to be involved in many international disputes and crises, such as the Emperor Crisis and the Achadia Crisis. McClark successfully managed to keep the Emperorlands within the Western Union, achieving a compromise with the United States of Antarctica and effectively avoiding a deterioration in relations between the two countries, and successfully managed to calm the situation down during the Achadia Crisis, resulting in the gradual democratization of Acadia and the improvement of Acadia's relations with other countries in the world. McClark also played an important role in ending the Antarctic War on Terrorism and bringing lasting peace in the region of Penland, which for decades was engulfed in constant nationalist Pennese rebellions.

Future
The United Provinces experienced an era of unprecedented economic growth in the late 2010s and early 2020s that became known as the Good Era (Serbo-Croatian: Dobro doba). The United Provinces became one of the fastest growing economies in Antarctica, although it still lagged behind other countries in Antarctica as well as some Western Union member states such as Tropicalis and the Finipines, which experienced its own economic boom. The United Provinces experienced what effectively came to be known as the Cultural Renaissance (Serbo-Croatian: Kulturna renesansa), with an era of great new music, brand new dances and a renewal in the arts.

In 2026 the country of Shops Island fell in a horrible civil war. Shops Island was one of the United Provinces' number one trading partners, and as such the United Provinces' economy was badly damaged by the fall of Shops. The seemingly short Good Era ended, and an era of crime and havoc began. Patrick Smith, brother of former president Robert Smith, was elected to the presidency. He immediately began a program of economic recovery that failed spectacularly. He came to be known as the most radically right wing president of the United Provinces since the fall of Francisco Ferinco, and he pushed the Conservative Party hard right.

President Patrick Smith, unlike his predecessor Thomas Anderson, refused to support the USSI in the Shops Civil War, instead opting for neutrality. This caused Patrick Smith to be radically unpopular among the UP population. He, however, decided to cooperate with other Western Union member states in protecting the status quo following the fall of Shops Island. A post-Shops world order was formed as a result of the fall of Shops, and the Western Union became one of the leaders of this new world order. The economic situation was devastating, however, and Patrick Smith was assassinated in 2029 and replaced by Lewis Gardner, who lost in 2031 to social democrat Jovan Janković, who created a welfare state in the United Provinces.

In the 2030s, the United Provinces society became incredibly polarized. The division was evident in all corners of society. A radically anti-WU sentiment became part of the mainstream in the 2030s in all WU member states as a result of the Antarctica-wide economic crisis. The Western Union suffered its worst crisis yet, and the United Provinces became effectively became a political battling ground. The mainstream left supported a withdrawal from the Western Union while the mainstream right saw the Western Union as an opportunity to strengthen the United Provinces and increase its power on the international stage. Anti-Western Union parties gained ground following multiple Western Union parliamentary elections in the 2030s, and the Western Union Parliament became the battlefield between nationalists and globalists. The United Provinces, despite being the country that received the most from being in the Western Union, became the most anti-Western Union out of all member states.

Politics
The country's citizens are very informed about politics and many are involved in various forms of activism for causes they believe in. The country has a major rural-urban divide, with most urban penguins voting for left-wing or centrist political parties, usually the Liberals and Social Democrats, while the rural voters tend to vote for right-wing political parties, usually the Conservatives and the Nationalists. The country's election campaigns are rather informative, something that is uncharacteristic for most other democratic nations where politicians go to extreme ways in order to misinform the public and get their votes - this is because laws passed under Simon McClark have aimed to stop disinformation during election campaigns, something that used to be rampant during the 2000s and early 2010s and is believed to have greatly affected many elections in the past.

Government
The United Provinces is a federal constitutional semi-presidential republic. The head of state of the United Provinces is the President, who is currently Simon McClark, and the head of government of the United Provinces is the Prime Minister, who is currently Patrick Smith. The nation's legislature is the National Assembly which is unicameral. Presidents are elected for a four year term every four years using a two-round system. The next presidential election is set to take place in 2019, and the next parliamentary election is set to take the same year on the same day as a result of a 2018 constitutional amendment.

The country has multiple political parties in Parliament, the largest being the Liberal Democratic Party, led by Clara Kennedy, and the second largest being the Conservative and Unionist Party, led by Patrick Smith, brother of former president Robert Smith. The former is a very liberal, pro-free market and slightly libertarian political party, while the latter is a fiscally conservative, slightly nationalistic parties that supports various traditionalist views. Other parties include the National Patriotic Front, the Penland National Party, the Socialist Party, the Progressive Party, the Green Alliance, the Communist Party, the Modern political movement and the Libertarian Party.

The current constitution of the United Provinces is known as the Democratic Constitution, instated by the people in a constitutional convention in 2004 a year after the official end of the Snowinn Civil War, and amended to replace all mentions of Snowiny as the name of the country with the United Provinces in 2015. The Constitution of the United Provinces states in the preamble that "the United Provinces is a free and independent nation of all its citizens". The Constitution states that every citizen has the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" and that the people of the United Provinces "ought to form a new government" if those rights are violated. The Constitution of the United Provinces is regarded as one of the most liberal constitutions out there and puts a greater emphasis on liberty than all other constitutions in Antarctica - the downside is, however, that the Constitution is very ambiguous, such as with the point where it says that the people "ought to form a new government" if their rights are violated - it is unclear if it means through elections or through other, possibly even illegal, means. It also states that citizens have the right to "bodily autonomy", and it is unclear what exactly that means military conscription is against the constitution - in 2012 it was ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court, although military conscription was completely abolished in 2015.

Law
Law enforcement in the United Provinces is the primary responsibility of the Provincial Police, which is subordinate to the Ministry of Interior. National security and counterintelligence are the responsibilities of the National Bureau of Investigation led by J. Ed Humphrey. It is one of the most infamous agencies in all of Antarctica, having been founded in June 1905. There are many more domestic intelligence agencies which do not play as much of an important role as Humphrey's NBI does. Under Humphrey, the NBI became more powerful than ever before and is becoming increasingly more feared in the country. It has effectively become a police agency and is known for getting involved in dispersing protests and punishing those who are guilty of treason.

The maximum possible imprisonment in the United Provinces is life imprisonment. Death penalty is illegal in the United Provinces: it used to be legal before 2007, and then legal again in 2014, before being made illegal again in 2016.

Economy
The United Provinces has a rather stable and very good economy with a highly skilled labor force, a large capital stock, low level of corruption and a high level of innovation. It is one of Antarctica's largest exporters of salt and raspberries, and among others is an exporter of watermelons and bananas thanks to the warm climate of the Puffepelago islands. The unemployment is incredibly low, and it has an average-sized GDP (Gross Domestic Product). The country's currency is the Circum, the official Western Union currency it adopted on May 20 2018 to replace the Provincial dinar.

The United Provinces is a formidable economy that depends on business and trade and as such heavy tax cuts are in place to make it easier for smaller corporations to grow and prosper. The country's lack of regulations makes it a perfect place to start a business, and that is what so many corporations have been doing recently, especially with the publishing of the Winsburg Framework which encourages businesses to start up in the capital city. Business in the United Provinces has additionally been made easier by the Western Union's Small Business Act, which enables the growth of small businesses union-wide, and the Western Union's Free Trade Protection Act as well, and the Union Development Incentive Act helps the United Provinces bring other nations in the Western Union to an equal footing with themselves.

The largest supermarket chains in the United Provinces are Circo, based in Pontilex, Candvia and having stores virtually everywhere in the Western Union, and GROC (pronounced /ɡɹoʊs/, derived from grocery, stylized "groc"), a local chain founded in 1993 by a trader couple from Sitmo. GROC has special sections for local products that they label as "100% Snowinn" and GROC is the best place to go to you if you want to buy some exclusively UP products that you likely wouldn't be able to buy elsewhere except in a duty-free shop, for instance.

Agriculture


The United Provinces is a largely flat country that has very favorable natural conditions (land and climate) for varied agricultural production. Agricultural exports constitute more than one-fifth of all United Provinces sales on the global market. It is a key exporter of frozen fruits in Antarctica, and is the main exporter of frozen fruits inside the Western Union. Major agricultural regions include Kanowa, Staplia and Penland, all three with highly arable land and increasingly greater agricultural output. The number of people retreating to rural life is increasing each year, in contrast to trends across the rest of Antarctica.

Industry
Industry is a lot less developed than agriculture in the United Provinces, and among the main industrial cities are Winsburg, Dolphinas, Preseca, Doriath, Penski Brod, Thaming and Seemay. The industry was very powerful during the dictatorship from 1948 through 2003, but during the wars of the 1990s it was devastated and was left in an awful condition. Industry was left neglected during the 2000s, only for it to finally get attention under the presidencies of Robert Smith and Simon McClark. Main industrial sectors include automotive, mining, food-processing, electronics, pharmaceuticals and clothes. Staplia has the most factories out of all provinces in the country, primarily due to its flat and perfect land for their construction. Staplia is also a major manufacturing region, together with Oslovene and Kanowa.

Companies


Many famous international companies are headquarted in the United Provinces, one of the most famous being Veggie Emporium, an international vegetarian food chain owned by Veggie Bob. Veggie Emporium has dozens of locations across the continent and makes over 2 million circums in revenue each year. The company got particularly popular all over Antarctica with the expansion of the Western Union and establishment of their locations across the organization's territory, including new locations all over Tropicalis and the Finipines, some of the younger member states. Veggie Emporium has also been an object of ridicule, however, due to its promotion of vegetarianism as the "only sustainable and healthy diet".

The largest corporation in the country is Agrocorp, a company that owns many famous Snowinn food and drink products such as Belaqua, which makes fresh water from the many sources in the mountains of Herwene, Shopmore, the largest supermarket chain in the country behind Circo, and Caspian, which makes fine chocolate from recipes traditional to the province of Caspian. Agrocorp is the wealthiest company in the country, although irregular business practices have led to the company being sued quite often and its CEO having to testify before the Parliament almost every few years.

Culture
The United Provinces is an ethnically diverse country whose cultures rapidly changed over the centuries during which they developed. There are three main ethnic groups in the country: the Snowinns (Serbian: Snovinci), historically the most dominant group, the Pennese (Pennese: ośPensoś), the historically oppressed group that are a minority even in their own state, Penland, today, and the Puffese (Puffese: Pafleki), the group that was largely left alone in the Puffepelago islands and managed to live in relative peace for centuries despite their lack of rights under the Snowinn regimes.

Additionally, the Snowinn ethnic group is divided into 9 so-called "tribes", all of which carry the same name of the United Provinces states - those are the Caspians, Oslovenes, Platons, Deleanorks, Kanowans, Staplians, Herwenians, Sitmen and Pennacks (Penland Snowinns). Each of these tribes have their own distinct characteristics that make them different from all other tribes - whether by cuisine or traditions or arts and music and literature, vocabulary, influence by foreign nations and so on and so forth.

In addition to being protected by the government, cultural heritage in the United Provinces is protected by the law of the Western Union and various international treaties.

Language
The United Provinces is one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world. There are three official languages at a national level: those are Serbo-Croatian (with two different varieties, Serbian and Croatian, the former traditionally written with the Cyrillic script and the latter solely with the Latin script), Slovenian (written solely with the Latin script) and Macedonian (written solely with the Cyrillic script). Other regional minority languages include Pennese and Neoglodian, neither part of any language family and their origins are a frequent subject of debate among linguists today. The three national languages are said to have split centuries or a thousand years ago, and they are still very close and almost mutually intelligible. Pennese and Neoglodian, on the other hand, are leftover languages from the times around a dozen tribes lived scattered across the islands.



The United Provinces are known across Antarctica for the amazing linguistic diversity as there are various enclaves across the archipelago where various different languages are spoken. There are also communities and villages in the north of the country that house penguins who are ethnically Frankterrans, Alemanians and Magyars. The government actively protects those communities and their native languages and the minorities are fairly represented in the national legislature, which requires that at least 20% of each party's members in each chamber of parliament are an ethnic minority.

Cuisine
The cuisine of the United Provinces has been greatly influenced by the cuisine of Germanic nations such as Snowzerland, Alemania and Osterreach and also by the cuisines of nearby nations such as Yow, Candvia and Club Penguin The country also has a very rich and tasty local cuisine, many of which origin from the state of Kanowa, and among those foods are the ćevapi, like a Snowinn version of a hamburger, and it is very traditional and popular, having been in consumption for centuries. There's also burek and a dessert called baklava, which is of unknown origin but has been brought to the Snowinns by the Snowpriots.

Tourism


The United Provinces historically had a very weak tourism sector, but that started to change during the 2010s, though mostly in the regions of Winsburg, Herwene and Puffepelago. Winsburg is visited by thousands each year due to its baroque style architecture and the many historical monuments and squares in the city. Herwene is visited due to its long, large beaches, which are considered to be the perfect vacation destinations. The Puffepelago is a rather warm, almost tropical state with lots of beaches which are visited by thousands of tourists each year. However, the waters of Puffepelago are somewhat dangerous due to a small presence of sea whales - the waters of Puffepelago are therefore very protected and the security is getting tighter each year.

The United Provinces recently became a very attractive destination alongside Tropicalis and Candvia for Western Union tourists. A record number of tourists showed up in the country in 2018, making United Provinces the 10th largest tourist destination in Antarctica. The country is actively promoting programmes to make travel to the country easier by giving adolescent citizens free plane tickets to and from the country and introducing discounts for hotel rooms. The initiative worked and a large percentage of tourists arriving in Snowiny are 18-year-olds.

Sports


The United Provinces are Antarctica's highest-ranking nation in water polo and handball and are among the top 10 greatest nations in basketball and volleyball. Association football goes a lot weaker for the United Provinces, though it used to be among the greatest in association football as well until a sharp decline and the loss of a very great coach in the late 2010s. The United Provinces hosted the 2016 Summer Olympics in the northwestern coastal city of Dolphinas, and the Winsburg Marathon takes place in the capital city every year since 1971, although it was briefly taken down from 1997 through 2002 as a result of sanctions and civil war.

Music
The United Provinces has one of the greatest rock scenes in Antarctica while lacking behind the rest of Antarctica in nearly all other music genres. In the 1970s and 1980s the United Provinces had the best rock and roll scene in Antarctica, until its decline in the 1990s. Rock and roll music from the United Provinces remains popular today in the Western Union, although it has generally declined in quality and popularity. In the United Provinces, a variant of rock called folk rock is incredibly popular as it combines elements of traditional folk music with elements of rock and roll. Pop music in the United Provinces recently boomed in popularity, as per international trends.

During the 1990s, in the midst of the Snowinn Civil War, multiple songs were created glorifying or celebrating one of the several factions in the war. Many of the songs were even created by the Snowinian dictator Francis Ferinco to celebrate his soldiers and attack political opponents. After the war was over, however, most of the songs were forgotten and were never popular or even particularly liked by the Snowinian population who didn't want to be reminded of war. However, in the 2010s, the songs were listened to in the United States of Antarctica for the first time and many became an internet meme, most of which have become very dangerous. In Snowiny to this day, the songs are still mostly only listened to by supporters of extremist ideologies and generally the urban population of the country is disgusted by such songs, and they are believed to be low-quality and are compared to cancer.

Demographics
The United Provinces has very high population density, especially in the Deleanor, Staplia and Penland. It has a population of around 22 million, with the most populous of the states being Deleanor, followed by Staplia and then Penland.

The United Provinces has, in recent years, become one of the top attractions for immigrants in Antarctica. In the 2010s the immigration rates saw an abrupt boom. Thousands of immigrants started arriving every day and with the advent of The Great Yowien War and the Frosian War the amount of immigrants increased even more, including refugees and migrants. Due to its very close position and most lax immigration laws in the Antarctica, the United Provinces, by 2017, became home to over 1,000,000 immigrants, around 6.25% of the country's population. Most of them settled in Winsburg: Winsburg's population in 1990 was 98% native, in 2000 it was 96% native, in 2010 it was 83% native, in 2015 about 71% native and today, in 2017 it is around 59% native.

Most immigrants to the country come from the former Yow Kingdom, from Puffalia, from Penland, and East Pengolia. This has recently become a burden for the United Provinces in many people's views as they believe that the United Provinces is letting in too many migrants that they cannot afford to take care of. The Nationalist Party has called for an immediate ban of refugee settlement in the United Provinces and for stricter and much more harsh immigration laws. In 2017, McClark passed the National Immigration Act enforcing tighter border controls, tougher immigration laws and much more security in the inner cities.

The United Provinces has been accepting refugees from the aforementioned countries since 2013. A recent survey revealed 38% of Snowinns believe all refugees and migrants ought to be deported, 27% believe the country should let in less migrants and refugees and enforce tougher immigration laws, 14% believe the country should let in more and 21% do not know. Those in favor of tougher immigration laws, in particular the Nationalists, argue that "in Winsburg you can no longer hear the Serbian language" and that "it has been replaced with degenerate cultures". The substantial increase in immigration to the country has resulted in growing popularity for right-wing anti-immigration parties.

The current immigrant population is 2,385,498, which is 10.84% of the population. The country is home to the largest Yowien ethnic population in Antarctica outside of the Yowien Sea, and most of them are concentrated in Dolphinas and Winsburg. The second largest foreign-born group in the United Provinces are the Acadians, many of whom fled Acadia during the Antarctic Revolution as loyalists to the Puffish colonial administration, but many more have fled from the Smith and Esser regimes in Acadia.

Geography


Geographically, the country is very diverse with lots of mountains, forests, beaches, cities, villages and plains. It is visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists each year due to the beautiful mountains such as the Caspian Mountains, Northern Mountains and Sudoku Mountains, with their tall peaks, picturesque views and very steep cliffs. There are five national parks (nacionalni park/parkovi) in the country: Jezero Lipovec in Herwene, Snovinski venac in Kanowa, Blint in Staplia, Tvornica in Caspian and Donjskolišće in Penland. There are seven natural parks (park/parkovi prirode): Sivoborsko and Kraljevsko in Kanowa, Hobotničko in Penland, Kanjonsko in Herwene, Malo Viskoužje in Caspian, Tiščak in Oslovene and Želen in Platonia.

Provinces

 * Caspian Flag.png Caspian - a mountainous province in the northeast, the poorest province in the country, where the highest mountain, The Great One, in the country is located.
 * Deleanor Flag.png Deleanor - a mostly flat and rather boring province, characterized by taigas and forests in its northeast.
 * Dolphinas City Flag.png Dolphinas City - the second largest city of the country, located all the way on the northwestern coast. The trade hub of the country, where hundreds of ships dock every single day. One of the largest ports in Sub-Antarctica.
 * Herwene Flag.png Herwene - a very mountainous province home to many natural wonders and with a very rugged coastline, as well as various minor ethnic groups that trace their origins to ancient tribes that used to live through the entire country before the Oslovens arrived.
 * Kanowa Flag.png Kanowa - a very flat province that is known as the "heartland of Snowiny", the agriculturally most powerful state, a large province that borders nearly every other province.
 * Oslovene Flag.png Oslovene - a flat, rural, agricultural northern province in a very good geographical position as it is surrounded by mountains and by two major rivers. It is the place where the Oslovens first arrived and from that point settled all over the country, hence the province's name.
 * NewPenlandFlag.png Penland - the largest province in the country, a flat state with very fertile land, abundant natural resources, amazing rivers and coastlines. Very large parts of it are inhabited by the Pennese ethnic groups, which have, intermittently, been waging wars and fighting for their independence from the Snowinns, with litle success - these wars ravaged the province and it is still recovering today.
 * Platonia Flag.png Platonia - a mountainous province with lush forests and taigas and a very beautiful, rugged coastline
 * Puffepelago Flag.png Puffepelago - a semi-tropical vacation destination for penguins around the country and around Antarctica with dozens of islands large and small.
 * Sitmo Flag.png Sitmo - a flat and poor province with little to discover and with rather minuscule settlements.
 * Staplia Flag.png Staplia - the wealthiest and geographically best positioned province in the country, where some of the largest settlements are located. The most developed province and with quite a liberal political orientation. Surrounded entirely by the Tahmish river, the largest river in the country.
 * Winsburg Flag.png City of Winsburg - the largest and capital city of the country, the center of almost all major events in the country, the political, economic and cultural capital of the country. All federal institutions are headquartered there, as well as most major international corporations doing business in the country. Architecture closely resembles that of the German States.

Education
The United Provinces has compulsory primary and secondary education, as well as an optional, tuiton-free college education. Primary school lasts eight years in all schools of the country, with the first four years being known as "elementary" and the next four as middle school. Secondary education lasts four years and is known as high school. Compulsory subjects in all schools in the country include English, Serbo-Croatian, Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Geography, History, Musics, Fine Arts, Physical Education and Information Technology, as well as Law in high school only. Some optional subjects, depending on which course you take or which school you are going to, include Psychology, Philosophy, Sociology, Latin and Linguistics, to name a few.

The most prestigious university in the country is the Winsburg University, founded in 1765 by Empress Katarina. It is the oldest university in the country, followed by the Dolphinas University (1781), the University of Doriath (1836) and the University of Pengrade (1872). Winsburg University is attended by students from all over the country and by foreign students as well, while the other universities have mostly only domestic students. Asides from public universities, there are also private universities in the country too, including the prestigious WinsTech Institute, mostly comprised of students from all across the continent.

The minister in charge of education in the country is the Minister of Education, who also determines the school curriculum and appoints principals of all public schools in the country.

Transportation


The United Provinces has one of the most important routes in Antarctica as a result of its convenient geographical position between the Ninja Archipelago and the Sub-Antarctic Islands and its proximity to key financial centers such as Acadia for the Western Union and Club Penguin for the whole continent. Thanks to Western Union investment in land and naval infrastructure, the United Provinces has a very highly developed highway system and air and naval transportation systems. The United Provinces' road network carries the largest bulk of traffic in the country. The United Provinces has a highly developed inland water transport, primarily centered around on Thaming river.

The United Provinces is linked to the SABER trade route and as such has a key position on the continent - something the nation exploited to its advantage, further made better by the inner workings and policies of the Western Union. The United Provinces is located just northwest of the mainland and a lot of air traffic goes above the country and ships carrying cargo are forced to go around the island or dock there for refueling. The transport of goods in the Snowinn archipelago is made easier by the large and wide Thaming river in the north.

Road
The United Provinces has an extensive highway system that was built mostly during the 2010s, as the country was too poor and lacked the funds to do so during the 2000s, and a civil war was taking place in the 1990s, rendering the government unable to build any major roads. Because the highways are so young, they are incredibly modern and well-developed, and a large portion of taxpayer money was dedicated towards improving the country's highway network. The highways are now the primary way penguins in the country get from one city to another, and the abundance of highways has greatly reduced the amount of traffic jams on what previously used to be single-line roads filled with potholes.

The highways of the country also have an extensive toll road system. The government had been considering scrapping the system for years now, but was unable to do so as it is not known whether it is economically feasible and whether the country was ready to make such a move. Toll roads are fairly cheap, however, and some toll roads, some of those around major cities like Winsburg and Dolphinas, have parts with no gates, where you can just go through and the toll booth will take money from your credit account. Most of the toll roads were built during the Smith presidency as the country was still not rich enough and there was no other way the maintenance of the highway could be paid other than by raising taxes even more, which wouldn't go down well with the citizens.

In 2019, however, the National Assembly passed legislation that would replace the toll road system with an electronic vignette system, where everybody traveling on the highways of the United Provinces will be required to buy a vignette which would be valid for some period of time and would give them access to all highways in the country without having to stop at a single toll booth. This law is scheduled to go into effect at the beginning of 2020 and will be applicable for all vehicles in the country.



On 1 February 2019, the United Provinces became the first country to phase out old buses that have been in use for more than a decade (some cities in Annonia have offered to buy the old buses to replace their own even older buses) and at the same time also switched to environmentally friendly buses. This is per legislation passed in the fall of 2018, which supported almost unanimously in the Parliament despite heavy lobbying from manufacturers of old buses. The United Provinces became the first nation in Antarctica to do this, and has urged other nations, particularly Western Union member states, to follow through as well, and such legislation is, as a result, being considered in Candvia as well.

Air
Domestic air travel is fairly uncommon inside the United Provinces due to the relatively small size of the country and the fact most of it is connected by highways, but international air travel is the most convenient way to take a trip abroad, go on vacation, explore Antarctica and go on business ventures. The major airports in the country are in Winsburg, Dolphinas, Pengrade, Doriath and Stanlingsport, and all four have both domestic and regional flights. The airport in Winsburg, officially "Geronimo Stanling International Airport", is the busiest in country and one of the busiest in the entire region, which is expected because Winsburg is the largest and capital city and welcomes millions of tourists and businesspenguins each year. Another very busy airport is the one in Stanlingsport because of the city's location on an island in the Puffepelago - it mostly welcomes domestic tourists who want to go to a warm, sunny beach for their summer vacations.



Sea
Transportation by sea is very common in the United Provinces, especially when it comes to the Puffepelago region as the only way to get from one island to another is by ship. The biggest sea transportation company in the country is Carlsfreight, which was originally a company just for shipping cargo (freight) across the country but later decided that there was opportunity to make even more money by transporting tourists as well. Carlsfreight operates solely in the United Provinces, although it is considering operating to Candvia as well, and a deal is being negotiated between the governments of the two countries.

Rail
The country has an extensive railway network, although most trains are old and outdated. The only high-speed railway line in the country is the one that goes from Winsburg to Dolphinas. The rest of the country has a rather underdeveloped railway system, although local governments in the provinces are trying to change that and get up to date with other wealthy countries in Antarctica. Railway is popular for penguins who just wish to relax and enjoy the sights along the way as they pass through the plains and mountains of Snowiny.

Military
The United Provinces military is relatively powerful. The land forces are rather insignificant for a great power, numbering around 500,000 troops, a number that's been constantly going down for nearly 4 years now. The United Provinces, nevertheless, plays a major role in peacekeeping internationally and is a member of the SATO military alliance and contributes more than 10% of its troops to the Western Union Armed Forces. The naval forces, on the other hand, are among the largest in the world, and were mostly developed under McClark's administration as it seemed logical to him that the United Provinces, as an island archipelago, should have a bigger naval than land force. The United Provinces navy is the largest in the Western Union and patrols UP and WU waters quite regularly. The United Provinces also has a notable air force, which is also very important for the UP's territorial defence.

The United Provinces received a lot of assistance in the recent years from other Western Union countries in order to help develop its navy. The United Provinces buys arms from Tropicalis and Acadia, and the two also assist the UP army during military exercises, helping them improve their skills. The United Provinces army regularly has trainings, usually in the Rossfield Military Base in northern Kanowa or in the Whitehill Military Base in the mountains of Caspian, which is suitable for the United Provinces to prepare themselves for winter warfare.

The United Provinces military has rather modern equipment now thanks to arms shipments from Tropicalis and Acadia. Many old guns are in use too, however, mostly from the nationalist era and the Snowinn Civil War. The military's ships are incredibly modern and are mostly manufactured in the port cities of Snowy City, Stanlingsport and Dolphinas. The United Provinces Coast Guard patrols the waters surrounding the archipelago and also has branches involved in rescue efforts at beaches. The military has rather modern uniforms that were designed and built during Smith's presidency, when Smith had an obsession with futuristic stuff and wished to see it implemented in the country's military forces. The new uniforms also served to replace old uniforms that have been mocked internationally and compared to "shower caps and walking sticks".

The United Provinces used to have incredibly high military spending under Robert Smith's presidency and this greatly harmed the economy. McClark cut military spending by almost 80% by 2018. This proved to have great impact on how the armed and naval forces performed in international missions, and the United Provinces' military power got much weaker as a result of these moves. McClark, however, says this is only temporary and that he expects the military power of the country to rebound by the end of 2019. The United Provinces has been involved in many conflicts throughout its history, especially when it was still called the Republic of Snowiny.

The United Provinces are the primary naval contributor to the Western Union Armed Forces created by the Treaty of Winsburg in 2018.

Foreign Policy
The United Provinces has foreign relations with nearly all countries in Antarctica. The foreign policy of the United Provinces, under the McClark administration, is to ensure peaceful relations with all countries, no matter the difference in personal views and no matter the past rivalries with the countries, but at the same time also not standing quiet and idle to injustices in Antarctica. Under the McClark administration, the country has good and cordial relations with nearly all countries in Antarctica, with the notable exception of countries like Ed Island due to past rivalries and occasional present-day tensions. The United Provinces, additionally, has an embassy and consulate in nearly every country in Antarctica, and is also represented internationally via the Western Union.

Under the Smith presidency, the foreign policy of the country was very hostile, in spite of the country's small size and the fact it needed allies to grow. Many foreign policy mistakes were made during the Smith presidency that resulted in the country and nation being humiliated and disliked across Antarctica, but McClark aimed to restore Snowiny's reputation worldwide and get countries to trust them again, vowing that the "disastrous" foreign policy of Smith's administration "will never happen again". McClark has succeeded in restoring the country's reputation within a few years and the country is trusted once again to be a major Antarctic leader and is involved in decision making across the continent, although some countries are still wary of the United Provinces' power and influence and believe they are privately, or at least in a different way, trying to do the same what Smith did and wanted.

Unlike nations such as Shops Island, the United Provinces tries to project its power peacefully and diplomatically, often using the Western Union to reach this goal as well. The United Provinces has indeed been very successful in using their soft power and their influence, be it cultural, economic or diplomatic, in order to have things their way around the globe, although it does not always work out, especially since there are countries much more powerful than them. The United Provinces also has a hard time projecting its influence without a powerful military, meaning it has to rely exclusively on the economic and diplomatic leverage it has thanks to the Western Union. Because of this, the United Provinces has also been accused of mismanaging their projection of power and are sometimes accused of bullying nations too thanks to the power they have as a leading WU member.

Foreign Relations
The following list presents the United Provinces' relations with some notable countries, including their status and some details as well.


 * AcadiaFlag.png Acadia - Excellent. The United Provinces and Acadia have quite extraordinary and surprisingly close relations considering their, at times, different values system. It started with Acadia's support of the democratic side of the Snowinn Civil War and with the democratic side's, including leader Geronimo Stanling's, admiration for Greg Cleanington, the first president of Acadia. Through the 2000s, Stanling and Cleanington cultivated a healthy relationship between the two countries. Relations between the two countries reached their zenith when Dominic Smith was elected president of Acadia in 2010 and when his brother, Robert Smith, was elected president of Snowiny in 2011: the two brothers communicated nearly every single day and met hundreds of times over the course of their presidencies, and this birthed a "special relationship" between Snowiny and Acadia, two nations that seemingly found their destinities intertwined. Good relations between the two continued even after Robert Smith was overthrown in 2015 and his country was renamed to the United Provinces, and McClark and Esser harbor extremely close relations with each other in spite of their many disagreements, particularly on Acadian imperialist sentiment and the Achadia Crisis. A government-conducted survey from early 2018 showed 68% of the citizens view Acadia positively: this dropped to 58% during the height of the Achadia Crisis in late 2018 and rose up to 75% following Brant Esser's announcement he would not seek a second term as the Acadian president.


 * Flag of Calada.png Calada - Good. The United Provinces and Calada have very good diplomatic relations.


 * CandviaFlag.png Candvia - Excellent. The United Provinces and Candvia have excellent relations. The United Provinces gladly defends Candvia and supports their economic and military development and gladly calls them brothers.


 * Flag of Castilla.png Castilla - Very Good. The United Provinces and Castilla have always been strong allies with each other, especially due to their relations with Shops and due to their past alliances in the Snowzerland Wars.


 * Dorkugal Flag.png Dorkugal - Good. Their relations blossomed after the UP reformation. Since then they trade often and cooperate on international issues. Recent crises between Acadia and Dorkugal made the relations between the two a bit more unstable, however.


 * Ed Island Flag.png Ed Island - Bad. Their relations had been devastated by Snowiny's invasion of Ed Island in 2013 and the subsequent Ed-Snowinn War, which ended with an Ed Islandic victory and the repelling of the Snowinn attack. The creation of the United Provinces and the early McClark presidency resulted in improved relations with Ed Island - they started breaking down again, however, in early 2019, when McClark "refused to stay silent to Ed Island's blatant abuses of penguin rights, particularly those of High Penguins". A government-conducted survey revealed that only 8% of the citizens view Ed Island positively, compared to 74% negatively and 18% who don't know.


 * East Pengolia image flag.png East Pengolia - Good. - East Pengolia and Snowiny have been arch-enemies before the UP reformation. After the UP reformation, things started to cool down, before they got heated up again in December 2015 and finally, in September 2016, the UPR and EP started cooperating together on many issues, started to agree with each other and started to trade. Relations cooled down even more during that autumn and EP and the UPR would never again fight each other in any war after September 2016. See more here. A recent government-conducted survey showed 17% of the citizens view East Pengolia positively, compared to 58% negatively and 25% don't know.


 * Frankterre Flag.png Frankterre - Very Good. The UPR and Francterre have excellent relations. The two often have meetings together, trade often and Francterre and the UPR had many military alliances in the past. The United Provinces is an extremely Francophile nation: a recent government-conducted survey showed 78% of the citizens view Francterran influence positively compared to 5% negatively and 17% don't know. Lately, President Simon McClark was trying to improve relations with Francterre and try forge an economic alliance or to have Francterre as an observer state in the Western Union.


 * Liguria Flag.png Liguria - Fair. The UPR and Liguria don't interact often.


 * Bandera de Lisboagal.png Lisboagal - Fair. The UPR trades with Lisboagal.


 * Magyaria Flag.png Magyaria - Good. The UPR has good and healthy relations with Magyaria and Magyaria has a long lasting friendship with Stoland, which they see as their greatest ally and their greatest friends.


 * MAI.png Margate - Excellent. Margate is a fellow member state of the Circular Powers and the two have excellent relations with each other as a result. Margate often helps UPR in military operations and other events. A recent government-conducted survey showed 83% of the citizens view Margate positively compared to 3% negatively and 14% don't know, showing that UP citizens overwhelmingly love Margate.


 * Munijoch.jpg Munijoch - Fair. The relations between the two countries are fair. Munijoch is a member state of the Axle Powers, an alliance formed after the Circular Defense Treaty was signed as a countermeasure to Snowiny's expanding power.


 * Ruscoe Federation Flag.png Rusca - Good. King Smith's relations with Rusca have been particularly close, however, the McClark administration is very cautious with Rusca now. In the 1990s Snowiny was a very Ruscophile nation, but the Ruscophilia died down in the 2000s and according to a recent survey 65% of the citizens view Rusca positively, 21% negatively and 14% don't know. Rusca assisted Snowiny in its war with Ed Islandic rebels.


 * Snozerland Flag 2 edited-1.png Snowzerland - Horrible. Smith used to absolutely hate Snowzerland and its culture, even calling Snoss culture "the culture of degeneracy", a statement he was forced to rescind and apologize for after it ignited controversy. President McClark dislikes Snoss government but claims he has no prejudice towards Snoss people and their culture. A recent government-conducted survey showed 35% of the citizens view Snowzerland positively, 49% negatively and 16% don't know.


 * ShopsIslandFlag2013.png Shops Island - Good. The United Provinces have good relations with Shops Island and presidents Lavender and McClark have face-to-face meetings more often than any other world leaders in Antarctica and discuss key issues in Antarctica and issues in relations between the two countries. The United Provinces have historically taken quite contradictory stances in regards to Shops Island, as has Shops Island itself in regards to the United Provinces. The United Provinces often sides with Shops Island in international crises, or, alternatively, acts the role of a mediator between them and another side. McClark's very warm relations with Lavender are not viewed positively in his country, however: the United Provinces population overwhelmingly disapproves of Lavender, the Shopper government and its foreign policy. The public opinion seems to hold no sway over relations between the two countries, however, and seems to have absolutely no affect on the way Lavender and McClark and their respective governments deal with each other. Lavender and McClark often welcome each other in their respective capital cities for state visits.


 * UnitedTerra flag.PNG UnitedTerra - Fair. UnitedTerra and United Provinces has very close relations and the two countries' governments interact very often. President McClark had a press conference there with President Ninjinian. According to a recent survey in the country, 62% of all UP citizens have positive views of UTR, 10% have negative and 28% don't know.


 * Newestpenguio.png United Penguin Islands - Good. The two nations have fair relations.


 * USA flag.PNG United States of Antarctica - Fair. McClark often criticizes US foreign policy, but nevertheless he claims he loves the USA and that he wants close relations with them. Recent US treatment of Acadia led to increasing anti-Antarctican sentiment in the country and according to a recent survey, 35% of all UP citizens have positive views of the United States of Antarctica, 53% have negative and 12% don't know. Before President Megg took office it was 47% positive, 38% negative and 15% don't know. Recently, President McClark called for more unity among Western Union nations in face of the rising power of the United States.

Trivia

 * This country is not a parody but was partly inspired by the idea of Yugoslavia and it has Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Montenegrin, Slovenian and Macedonian cultural and linguistical elements.
 * One could consider it a democratic, more liberal and more stable version of Yugoslavia.
 * The United Provinces is a top exporter of salt across Antarctica, due to the many salt mines throughout the country, especially in Penland.
 * The country is perhaps the most democratic and libertarian of all countries in Antarctica - this makes it very unstable, however, due to the large diversity of political opinions and a recent rise in eccentricity and egoism in the nation, possibly as a result of the influence of multinational corporations.
 * It is known quite famously for its raspberries, which are eaten across the continent, especially in the Western Union.
 * The symbol on the United Provinces flag, according to its creators, symbolizes "Liberty, Equality and Prosperity" (the orange forms) and "Science, Arts and Truth" (the blue forms). The symbol is often called the Six Forms. The popular abbreviation for the symbol is LEP-SAV (Libertas, Equalitas, Prosperitas - Scientia, Artes, Veritas in Latin), purposefully because "lep sav" means "beautiful in its entirety" in Serbo-Croatian (although in some dialects it's "lijep sav" or "lip sav" so the abbreviation has no meaning like that in them). The symbol is also often called the Wheel of Progress.
 * Vaccination is mandatory in the United Provinces for all newborn children and violations of this law are punished with a fine of 5000 circums as well as jail-time and loss of custody over children. The law requiring vaccination passed in 2009 and adults who were not vaccinated before the law passed are not legally required to be vaccinated, but all children under the age of 18 are.