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Apiaria, officially known as the Kingdom of Apiaria (Apiarian: Reina d'Apiaria,) is a sovereign state in the skblverse. Home to just over 17 million residents, Apiaria is the only country where a single species - bees - makes up a majority of the population. Established in its current form in 1163, the kingdom is the oldest continuously extant country in the planet's western hemisphere, being six centuries older than the United Federation. The national capital and largest city is Port Vespa.
Historically, Apiaria's economy centered around honey extraction and refinement, logging, and agriculture. Since the end of the Isolatcija period in the early 1800s, the kingdom's economy has diversified and become increasingly connected to the wider Mobian economy, with Apiaria gaining a foothold in the logistics, finance, and civil aviation sectors. The formally isolationist Apiaria became a kingdom of traders, with the kingdom taking great advantage of its position on an important trade route between the historic kingdoms of Spagonia, Apotos, and Ibaeria, and the rapidly developing countries in the western hemisphere, namely the United Federation. Apiaria is a member of most international organizations, including G.U.N.
In the skblverse, Apiaria is best known as Emilia's homeland; originally born here, her family moved to the United Federation after their coastal village was largely destroyed in the 2010 Larvae Bay earthquake.
History[]
Early history[]
The first hymenopteran colonies in the territory of what is now Apiaria emerged ~50,000 years ago.
Unification of the Colonies[]
Consolidation and the Isolatcija period[]
Pollen Valley Miracle[]
20th century[]
Di Kuroe and the Corbiculoe Accords[]
Apiarians were optimistic going into the new millennium: the economy was strong, the political system was stable, and the kingdom’s trade and diplomatic relationships were sturdy. However, a series of events in the first years of the 21st century would rock the kingdom’s optimism to its core. Citing health issues, in June 2003 Honeydew XVII announced that she would abdicate in the fall. Of concern to Apiarians was the fact that she was the first Queen in Apiarian history to not have a formal heir, leading to questions over who should take the throne. An internal power struggle developed between the Queen’s Secretariat, who wished to install the somewhat unpopular, abrasive, and hardheaded Princess Peliana on the throne because of her lineage within the Honeydew family, and the Apiarian business and military communities, who floated the idea of Honeydew XVII’s husband Poleno taking the throne to become Apiaria's first king.
Within wider Apiarian society, an unusually intense debate erupted in the press, at public forums, and at local council meetings, as Apiarians of all walks of life took sides on issues surrounding gender equality, the perceived need for modernizing the monarchy, and the role of non-monarchical institutions (such as the military) in royal politics. To add to this fierce debate, some groups began promoting the idea of abolishing the monarchy completely, pushing the idea of Apiaria moving to a presidential system (as in the United Federation). The debate culminated in a controversial October referendum on the issue; voters were asked if they wished for the monarchy to continue, and if so, who should take the throne. Voters opted to retain the monarchy by an overwhelming margin, but Princess Peliana won the right to take the throne by a mere 44,000 votes.
| 2003 Apiarian political status referendum Simple majority required for both questions | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ajuntat | Question 1: Retention of the monarchy | Question 2: New monarch | Total | Turnout | ||||||||||||||
| Yes | % | No | % | Rejected | % | Peliana | % | Poleno | % | Rejected | % | |||||||
| Apistea | 449,958 | 86.31 | 71,283 | 13.69 | 1,628 | 0.31 | 299,786 | 58.48 | 212,886 | 41.52 | 9,807 | 1.88 | 522,479 | 87.17 | ||||
| Apoido | 1,209,954 | 75.22 | 398,582 | 24.78 | 1,749 | 0.11 | 1,072,665 | 66.97 | 529,047 | 33.03 | 8,123 | 0.50 | 1,609,835 | 82.22 | ||||
| Corbiculoe | 439,875 | 81.93 | 96,990 | 18.07 | 1,366 | 0.25 | 246,961 | 47.07 | 277,708 | 52.93 | 13,562 | 2.52 | 538,231 | 80.28 | ||||
| Gasteria | 398,241 | 86.00 | 64,811 | 14.00 | 1,172 | 0.25 | 108,786 | 25.63 | 315,597 | 74.37 | 39,841 | 8.58 | 464,224 | 88.68 | ||||
| Hymenopta | 3,024,952 | 79.82 | 764,921 | 20.18 | 3,394 | 0.09 | 1,801,638 | 48.74 | 1,894,786 | 51.26 | 96,843 | 2.55 | 3,793,267 | 90.27 | ||||
| Mellitia | 819,506 | 88.72 | 104,155 | 11.28 | 1,837 | 0.20 | 396,013 | 43.98 | 504,419 | 56.02 | 25,066 | 2.71 | 925,498 | 85.01 | ||||
| Vespahafen | 1,283,847 | 68.10 | 601,286 | 31.90 | 4,592 | 0.24 | 820,884 | 45.88 | 968,353 | 54.12 | 100,482 | 5.32 | 1,889,719 | 83.54 | ||||
| Apiaria | 7,625,543 | 78.39 | 2,101,975 | 21.61 | 15,738 | 0.16 | 4,746,739 | 50.23 | 4,702,793 | 49.77 | 293,724 | 3.01 | 9,743,256 | 86.19 | ||||
The unusually high number of rejected ballots on Question 2, particularly in ajuntats less supportive of Princess Peliana, prompted outcries of vote rigging in the Princess's favor by the Queen's Secretariat, which was responsible for organizing the referendum. Protests broke out across the kingdom after the announcement of the referendum results, with organizers of the protests even pushing for ousting the Queen-to-be through a Subject's Veto referendum, the same process that led to the ouster of Honeydew XV a century earlier. Both the Queen's Secretariat and the military rejected those calls, citing the fact that since Peliana hadn't yet assumed the throne, it would be "improper" to organize a vote to remove her.
Peliana was crowned Queen Honeydew XVIII on October 28, 2003, but she would only reign for a little over two years, becoming the shortest-reigning monarch in Apiarian history. Many Apiarians, particularly those in the five ajuntats that didn't vote for Peliana to become Queen, considered her reign illegitimate owing to several outstanding questions over the conduct of the royal government in conducting the referendum. At first, the newly-crowned Queen made an earnest effort to "clean up" her image, becoming far less abrasive and more willing to accept the advice of her royal secretaries, generals, and advisors - even if she was told she couldn't do something. Nonetheless, the sustained opposition by large segments of Apiarian society to her reign hampered her ability to unite her subjects and govern successfully, a fact that increasingly frustrated the new Queen. This frustration reached the boiling point in January 2005. Insulted by the symbolic passage of a resolution by the Cerana City council condemning "the alleged monarch" for promoting the demolition of a historic site on the outskirts of the Hymenoptan capital, the Queen changed tactics; if she couldn't win her subjects over through what she considered "even-tempered, rational governance", she would win them over through fear.
The nine-month period between February and November 2005 would be known to history as Di Kuroe, the Apiarian word for "The Darkness", named for the fact that Apiarian government oppression became severe during this time. Media censorship became extremely repressive, critics of the Queen - no matter how influential - would be arrested and convicted for treason or "blasphemy against the monarch", the school curriculum was rewritten to promote a cult of personality around her, and organizations that promoted "anti-monarch" causes would be shut down by police. Even worse, individuals who tried to organize a Subject's Veto referendum, "particularly outspoken" Poleno supporters, anti-monarchists, and anyone the Queen so much as suspected posed a threat to her rule would "disappear" or die in suspicious "flying accidents".
The Queen's increasing paranoia began to chafe at the Apiarian elite, even among those who supported her bid for power. Ultimately, the situation became untenable, so in early October, the Queen’s Secretariat – their own ranks winnowed by the monarch’s increasing paranoia – consented to allowing a “Subject’s Veto” referendum to remove the Queen. However, by that point Apiarians were extremely angry with not just the Queen, but with the royal government itself, as they had failed to protect the rights of the kingdom’s citizens and businesses from a “tyrannical” Queen. For centuries, there had been an unspoken social contract between the monarch and Apiarian society: the Queen would be allowed to rule with nearly absolute power, but in exchange she had to be receptive to the citizens’ needs and only use her authoritarian powers if necessary for the kingdom’s safety and protection. Most citizens, even many of those who had supported Peliana’s accession in 2003, believed that the current Queen violated that contract on a regular basis, regularly ignoring her subjects’ needs and silencing any who dared lift a single finger to criticize her. After seeing the Secretariat and the military side with Peliana for most of her reign, citizens began protesting those institutions as well, calling for increased citizen oversight of both bodies, the creation of a directly-elected national legislative body, establishment of an independent judiciary, and the promulgation of a Charter of Subjects’ Rights. Under pressure from the protesters and the business community, the royal government entered round table discussions with protest movement leaders in early November.
After almost a month of tense negotiations, on November 29 the protest movement leaders and government representatives signed the historic Corbiculoe Accords. Instead of a simple Subject’s Veto referendum, on December 22, 2005 voters were called to the polls to vote on whether or not to approve the reforms outlined in the accords:
| Provisions of the Corbiculoe Accords | |
|---|---|
| Royal succession |
|
| Council of Peers |
|
| Rights of subjects |
|
| Judiciary |
|
| Elections |
|
| Subnational government |
|
Apiarian voters approved the reforms by a 3-to-1 margin, allowing the Accords to take effect on January 1, 2006.
The "twin disasters"[]
The brief post-Corbiculoe Accords moment of peace and calm would be shattered on March 19, 2010, when an 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck just off the Larvae Bay coast of the ajuntat of Mellitia. While Apiarian building codes are designed to help buildings withstand moderately-strong earthquakes, a tremor as strong as the 2010 one was too much for most affected dwellings to handle, leading to most buildings suffering severe damage if not outright collapse. The 2010 earthquake became Apiaria’s deadliest natural disaster, with almost 16,000 dead and 55,000 left injured. Recovery from the earthquake would take years, as dozens of villages along the Larvae Bay were “wiped off the map”.
As if the 2010 earthquake wasn't bad enough, in late 2016 Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik, fresh off his success in capturing and (presumably) killing famed hero Sonic the Hedgehog, launched a massive global offensive aimed at conquering the entire planet. Apiaria was quickly overrun; despite the Apiarian military putting up its best effort, their sting-based defenses were nothing to Eggman’s robotic sentries. Apiarians were shocked by the speed of Eggman’s invasion; the country hadn’t been the target of a foreign attack since the early 1650s, but this invasion was notable in its speed and raw power. The shellshocked national government surrendered to the Egg Army on November 28, just two days after the invasion began, with the last holdouts flushed out by the robotic occupiers over the following days. Queen Honeydew XVIV disappeared on November 29, her whereabouts unknown until a mid-level Egg Army commander confirmed on December 8 that she had been “liquidated”.
The Apiarian military was disbanded on December 1, with most of its troops captured and “liquidated” as prisoners of war. Some units managed to escape capture by Eggman’s forces, and many of them would show up as part of the Apiarian resistance.
Because of Apiaria’s location relative to the United Federation, Dr. Eggman used the conquered kingdom as a strategic staging location for his subsequent invasion of the Federation, necessitating the presence of a large occupying force in the country. Combined with the fact that not all units of the military were “accounted for”, Apiaria became one of the worst countries to live in during the occupation. Many of the harsh restrictions imposed during Di Kuroe were brought back by occupation authorities, including the harsh censorship, arbitrary disappearances, and the cult of personality (except around Dr. Eggman and not the Queen). Robotic sentries with the Egg Army would occasionally dish out extrajudicial punishments for even the smallest slights, including arbitrary conversion of flesh-and-blood Apiarians to robots and, occasionally, summary executions for particularly troublesome members of the Apiarian resistance, their families, and even members of the towns and regions they came from.
After the reappearance of Sonic the Hedgehog, the Apiarian resistance, in collaboration with other Resistance groups across the Empire, stepped up their attacks to place increased pressure on Eggman’s forces. In a doomed bid to prevent the Resistance from restoring the United Federation, most Egg Army troops in Apiaria were pulled on October 12, 2017; within a week, the hitherto suppressed Apiarian resistance started regaining control. The final enemy troops were captured and disarmed on October 19. By early November, the pre-invasion Apiarian government was in full control of the country; Queen Honeydew XX, crowned while in hiding with the Apiarian resistance, formally assumed the throne on November 3, bringing an end to the Eggman occupation of Apiaria.
Politics and government[]
Apiaria's government has been organized as a federal, semi-constitutional monarchy since the adoption of the Corbiculoe Accords in 2006. The Accords serve as a "pseudo-constitution" for the state, and the provisions within it are binding on all individuals and all levels of government.
Queen[]
The highest-ranking official in Apiarian government is the Queen. The Apiarian throne is as old as the kingdom itself, and remarkably for Mobian monarchies, has been held by members of the same family since unification: the Honeydew family. The current Queen is Honeydew XX, who was crowned by the Apiarian Resistance shortly after Dr. Eggman completed his takeover of Apiaria.
For most of Apiaria's history, the Queen was the supreme ruler of the kingdom, subject to no checks or limits on her rule. By the end of the Isolatcija, a new school of thought, "reasonable monarchism", emerged among Apiarian scholars, some bureaucrats, and some high-ranking members of the military. Under "reasonable monarchism", the Queen was allowed to retain supreme power, but her actions were closely scrutinized by the Queen's Secretariat (Apiaria's civil service) and the military, and both bodies were able to refuse a request from the monarch if they felt that it was not "within reason". In addition, a limited subset of citizens were granted the ability to remove the Queen from office under a referendum procedure known as the "Subject's Veto". While the "Subject's Veto" dates back to 1833, it wouldn't be until 1991 that all adult Apiarian citizens would be eligible to vote in such referendums.
Further limits to the Queen's power came with the Corbiculoe Accords. For the first time, there were legal limits on the monarch's power, and the Accords themselves were considered the supreme law of the land. The Queen's lawmaking powers were delegated to the Council of Peers and the ajuntat councils, and the right of appellants to have a court case heard by the Queen and have her make a final ruling was abolished. The Queen still reserves the right to draft the royal budget, grant or deny assent to legislation, appoint and dismiss ministers, command the military in the event of war or invasion, and represent the kingdom in diplomatic affairs. In this sense, the Queen's powers are similar to those of the President of the United Federation, if a little stronger.
Legislature and judiciary[]
Prior to 2006, Apiaria did not have a national legislature; the Queen retained the sole ability to initiate and pass legislation. The Corbiculoe Accords created a unicameral legislature, the Council of Peers, whose members are appointed by the ajuntat councils and subject to retention elections every five years. All members of the Council are nonpartisan, as political parties are formally banned in Apiaria. The Council of Peers can initiate and pass legislation, summon officials for questioning (with the notable exception of the Queen,) and ratify treaties. However, the Council does not possess supreme lawmaking authority: as previously mentioned, the Queen has the right to veto legislation (although three-fourths of members may vote to override the veto) and the legislature cannot draft the national budget - that task is left to the Queen, although she is obliged to accept input from the legislature.
While lower courts have existed for centuries, it wasn't until 2006 that a supreme court, the Corta Monarqua (literally "Monarch's Court", usually referred to as the Corta,) was established to hear cases on appeal from lower tribunals. Defendants and plantiffs alike previously had the ability to petition the Queen to hear their case, and any decision made by the monarch would be final; during these "royal inquisitions", the Queen would be encouraged to take all evidence and testimony into account, but she wouldn't be obligated to rule based on any evidence or testimony presented. The Corbiculoe Accords abolished the royal inquisition, leaving the Corta as the highest-ranking judicial body in Apiaria. Currently, the Corta has seven royal magistrates, each appointed by the Queen and confirmed by the Council of Peers for terms not to exceed 60 years. The Corta has original jurisdiction over all cases pertaining to the monarchy, inter-ajuntat and international disputes, and matters pertaining to "fundamental questions relating to the [Corbiculoe] Accords"; in all other cases the Corta merely has appellate jurisdiction.
Below the Corta, the judicial system is composed of municipal courts, judicias comunas ("communal courts"), and ajuntat tribunals. Unlike the United Federation, there is no multi-ajuntat appellate circuit court system; upon appeal from the ajuntat tribunal, cases are heard by a panel of Corta magistrates, who can deny certiorari in the case or refer it to the full Corta for consideration. Decisions of the Corta are final.
National defense[]
Apiaria is historically known as the "Fortress of Mobius", as foreign or zone-based adversaries would never be able to invade the kingdom due to the ferocious, "swarm-like" behavior of its inhabitants when attacked. As mentioned in the "History" section, the tens of thousands of years of regional strife and instability contributed to the region's inhabitants developing a violent disposition towards attackers, with some resident species evolving far more potent and devastating defenses. After unification in 1163, much of this aggression remained, largely because of continued excursions by foreign forces into the fledgling kingdom's territory. Apiaria would remain "impenetrable" until Dr. Eggman's invasion of the kingdom in 2016; due to the heavy reliance of Apiarian military forces on venom-based biological defenses, they were particularly vulnerable to a primarily robotic assault.
Conscription[]
Even after the 1650s saw an end to foreign excursions into Apiarian territory for a few centuries, the royal government continued to structure their military structure around all-out defense of the kingdom. All citizens of "majority age" - 21 prior to 1940, then 18 thereafter - are conscripted into military service for a year; the conscripted spend much of the year learning not only defense techniques but also the geography and terrain of their ajuntat and how they can best be defended in the event of a foreign invasion. For example, conscriptees from the hilly and mountainous ajuntat of Apistea are drilled in how to fight in heavily forested mountainous terrain.
Guarda Monarqua[]
The Corbiculoe Accords explicitly delegate to the Queen the position of royal commander-in-chief of Apiaria's military forces, the Guarda Monarqua (literally "Monarch's Guard", usually referred to as simply the Guarda). The Guarda is normally comprised of 14,000 active duty personnel, but can call on up to 800,000 personnel of serving age - almost entirely conscriptees and reservists - in the event of foreign invasion. The country is divided into seven military districts, each corresponding to an ajuntat; each district is headed by a district military commander, who has the initiative to operate independently if circumstances require it (though they may not do so unless Apiaria is being invaded or is otherwise at war).
Since the end of the Isolatcija, the Guarda has become increasingly active in international military missions, usually as peacekeepers. In fact, in recent decades the Guarda has been considered by G.U.N. to be one of their best partners outside the United Federation.
Administrative divisions[]
Apiaria is divided into seven ajuntats, each of which roughly corresponds to the boundaries of the pre-unification aculeatan colonies. While they have existed more or less since the 1163 unification,[1] their existence was only guaranteed with the passage of the Corbiculoe Accords, which grant ajuntat governments home rule in almost all matters not reserved to the Queen and the Council of Peers. As a result, ajuntats are similar in terms of legislative and administrative competency to a state of the United Federation.
Each ajuntat is run by a nonpartisan ajuntat council directly elected by voters every four years. In addition to serving as the primary devolved legislative body for their ajuntat, each ajuntat council is also responsible for appointing members to the Council of Peers, Apiaria's national legislature.
| Ajuntat | Population (2016) |
Capital | Most populous species (% of population) |
Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| km2 | mi2 | ||||
| Apistea | 1,233,458 | Anthophileum | Bee (85.3%) | 17,720 | 6,841.7 |
| Apoido | 2,835,091 | Melliferi | Bee (70.4%) | 20,568 | 7,941.3 |
| Corbiculoe | 1,389,440 | Propolisaea | Bee (68.8%) | 15,406 | 5,948.3 |
| Gasteria | 905,432 | Pompilopolis | Wasp (48.9%) | 14,023 | 5,414.3 |
| Hymenopta | 5,821,786 | Cerana City | Bee (59.6%) | 18,926 | 7,307.4 |
| Mellitia | 1,847,325 | Apinaroa | Bee (81.2%) | 18,320 | 7,073.4 |
| Vespahafen | 3,002,867 | Port Vespa | Wasp (44.1%) | 1,287 | 496.9 |
| Apiaria | 17,035,399 | Port Vespa | Bee (68.2%) | 106,250 | 41,023 |
Demographics[]
Composition of species[]
Aculeatan Mobians[2] make up over four-fifths of Apiaria's population, and as the kingdom's name implies, bees make up the bulk of that percentage. Other species that make up at least 2% of the population include beetles, bats, and hedgehogs. While the bees, wasps, and ants are found virtually everywhere, most of the non-aculeatan population lives in the ajuntats of Vespahafen and Hymenopta; those who call the latter home live in the parts of the ajuntat within the densely-populated Pollen Valley, including the ajuntat capital of Cerana City.
| Species | Population | % |
|---|---|---|
| Bee | 11,619,845 | 68.21 |
| Wasp | 1,914,778 | 11.24 |
| Ant | 522,986 | 3.07 |
| Aculeatan Mobian | 14,057,609 | 82.52 |
| Bat | 994,867 | 5.84 |
| Beetle | 775,110 | 4.55 |
| Hedgehog | 424,181 | 2.49 |
| Fox | 299,823 | 1.76 |
| Cat | 269,158 | 1.58 |
| All other species | 214,651 | 1.26 |
Languages[]
The official language of Apiaria is Apiarian, which is spoken by nearly the entire population. In addition to being the language most used in everyday life, Apiarian is the primary medium of instruction in the country's schools, the only language authorized for use in legal arguments, and the main language used in business and politics. The only other recognized language is Sacsonian, the main language spoken in the United Federation, which was recognized by royal decree in 1997. Compared to Apiarian, Sacsonian is understood by 20% of the population, mostly younger citizens and those involved in industries that require contact with foreigners, such as logistics.