Acadia: Difference between revisions

'''Acadia,''' officially the '''Republic of Acadia''' ([[Tahar|Simplified Tahar]]: '''''Dorei'Nothlir o Akkadye'''''), was a nation on [[CivUniverse]] and [[CivClassic]]. It was a parliamentary constitutional republic, one of the few sizable civ-nations to operate through (semi-)direct democracy, mostly catering to a casual playstyle. Acadia held ancestry from [[Adina]], [[Moloka]], [[Javaya]], and [[Norlund]], but was largely a newfriend nation, with a diverse and welcoming community. Acadia was founded on October 21st 2020, prior to the launch of CivUniverse, switched from CivUniverse to CivClassic on April 22nd 2021, where it existed until the end of the server on December 18, 2021.<ref>The first announcement on Acadia Discord: [https://imgur.com/a/ysmnXuO link] (imgur of discord message)</ref><ref>Final announcement of the migration: [https://imgur.com/a/ZXdm7CV link] (imgur of discord message)</ref> On CivUniverse, Acadia was a vassal state of Javaya. It had one of the largest populations of the server and was a notable exporter of hand-farmed potatoes. On Civclassic, Acadia was an associate member of the [[UDF]] and a key player in the [[+,-|+,- quadrant]], mostly through having the largest population in the quadrant<ref>Excerpt from the November 2021 Census: [https://imgur.com/a/CsIPWW7 link] (imgur of document)</ref> and through its alliances, especially its close alliances with [[Columbia]], [[Kingdom of Fish|Fish]], and the [[Plus-Minus Concordat|PMC]] alliance. Acadia is expected to return for [[CivReign]].

Acadia was founded prior to [[CivUniverse]] by [[Cortwade]], who created the nation largely from [[Norlund|Norlundish]] and [[Adina|Adinan]] culture. Acadia was established to be a safe haven from toxicity, and a welcoming home for newfriends and casual players, focussing on building and roleplay politics.<ref>Recruitment advertising: [https://www.reddit.com/r/CivUniverse/comments/km7dvb/general_recruitment_post_discussion/ghdc2od/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 link] (reddit comment)</ref> To ensure the nation's security, Acadia became a vassal state of [[Javaya]], which brought protection and guidance in return for potatoes and taxes. As Javaya's vassal Acadia became involved in the [[Great War (CivUniverse 1.0)|New Vegas War]] against [[New Vegas]] and its allies, increasing production for Javaya, delivering a few fighters, and enduring raids from New Vegas ally [[Savaguard]].

Another prominent aspect of Acadian culture was its use of simplified [[Tahar]], brought to Acadia from the Adina/Moloka/Javaya line, as the official language, featuring in many official documents and titles. The language has its own vocabulary and grammar, as well as its own unique script.<ref>The script can be downloaded as a text font: [https://discord.com/channels/768259087133048882/768259909078220841/928045068596699247 link] (discord message)</ref> Despite the prominent use of Tahar, there were only ever a handful speakers, and especially the 'old' guard of people who were new to civ at the beginning of Acadia and remained active throughout has remained reluctant to adopt the language. Nevertheless, enthusiasm for Tahar persisted among its supporters and the language is currently undergoing increased interest and attempts to improve its documentation.

While Acadia never had an official national religion, on CivClassic, with the increased influence from the Adina/Moloka/Javaya line Ashahari, a branch from [[Indoja]], become close to a national religion as it was by far the most dominant civ-religion in Acadia and become central to Acadia's national identity. Two prominent political parties were formed after Ashahari values, though neither of them argued for a theocracy or an official national religion. Followers of Ashahari believe in a monotheistic deity, Ashahari, who is one with the universe. While being a non-corporal all-encompassing entity Ashahari manifests through Avatars. Many Ashaharist tend to focus their worship on specific avatars, leading to the in Acadia dominant denominations of Peleism; where Ashaharist worship the Avatar Pele, the manifestation of Ashahari as a cyclical force of creation and renewal, Lunism; where Ashaharists worship the Avatar Luna, the manifestation of Ashahari as a watcher against the evils of darkness emphasizing unity and harmony, and Melonist Ashahari; where, heavily influenced by Melonism, Ashaharists worship melons, believing them to be closest to Ashahari itself as entities of pure and total wholesomeness. Despite there being no lack of devotion, no Ashahari temple was eventually ever built in Acadia, although there have been multiple plans to do so, including a large castle build including a temple by [[Kalipso]].<ref>Plans for the Ashahari Community Center: [https://imgur.com/a/y5pKaLo link] (imgur of discord message)</ref>

[[File:Another Render of Old Turing .png|left|thumb|320x320px|Render of Turing, made by [[Vanax]]]]

As many Acadians believed that everyone should have the freedom to build more or less wherever they want, even in the capital, but also supported an enforced Victorian build theme, architecture remained throughout Acadia's history a prominent and sometimes controversial topic of conversation, especially due to the fact that a majority of Acadians considered themselves buildfriends. Traditional Acadian architecture, to a small extent influenced by Norlundish architecture, was most accommodating to these beliefs as it was characterized by simple shapes, small dimensions, a love for the easily obtainable materials stone and brick, and a general 'less is more' approach especially regarding detailing. While this may sound unappealing on paper, it had an undeniable charm, as can be seen in (old) Turing, where this style was born and which was built within it for the most part.

Perhaps one of the most visible examples of Acadian culture was the practice of g-posting and j-posting. G-posting was a cultural import from Columbia making way through Acadia halfway through CivClassic, when Acadia began to grow closer to Columbia, and Icenia, which also practiced g-posting albeit to a lesser extent. The first g was brought to Acadia by a group of Columbians after they had constructed their embassy in New Turing, building a large G out of dirt blocks. Not long after, a dedicated g-posting channel was added to Acadia's discord server. However, this cultural import was not universally embraced as a large number of Acadians would instead use the channel for j-posting in what quickly grew to be a large counter-movement. The rivalry between g and j would flare up many times throughout the rest of Acadia's history, leading to a lot of chaos on the Acadian discord, in-game demonstrations, and in one instance leading even turning violent.

Another Acadian traditional preference is naming locations after computer-science pioneers. The capital of Acadia is always named after [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing Alan Turing]. Other places have been named after [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Babbage Charles Babbage] (the State of Babbage); [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace Ada Lovelace] (Lovelace, capital of Babbage); [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Thompson Ken Thompson] (the State of Thompson); and many more. It was only near the end of Acadia's time on CivClassic that, due to a surge of renewed interest, new location names, like Mana'thalas and Brethil'mir, were inspired by Tahar instead of computer-science pioneers.

[[File:Acadiaball politics.png|thumb|287x287px|Politics Acadiaball, made by Bloof]]Acadia was sometimes considered to be somewhat of a 'Norlund spin-off', as Acadia's governmental system was much inspired by Norlund's. Acadia's governmental system has remained much the same throughout history despite attempts for large reform. On CivUniverse Acadia took the form of a parliamentary constitutional republic as a dominion of Javaya, while on CivClassic it was a federal parliamentary constitutional republic as an independent nation. The Constitution of Acadia and its ten amendments can be found [https://sites.google.com/view/acadialii/home here] as well as on Acadia's discord. The head of state of Acadia was the Ymir, originally called the High Commissar, instituted part way through CivClassic, who held the namelayer groups and was responsible for organizing elections. The head of government was the Prime Minister, who was the chief diplomat and presided over the Senate, the executive body, composed of all other ministers who were, with the Prime Minister, each individually elected. In the later stages of CivClassic, one exception to this was the Minister of Defense, who was elected by the Sel'mean, a military council, who were in turn appointed by the National Assembly (''I'Dorei Sabar''). Parliament consisted of the two houses of the National Assembly, and the Senate (''I'Nothlir Farroth''). The National Assembly was the primary legislative body, composed of all citizens, where people could propose and vote on legislation, which could then be vetoed by the Senate. The Senate also had the power to make legislation, with the National Assembly able to veto if a large majority was against. Outside of legislation, ministers could institute executive orders within their scope of discretion. The Prime Minister and the other ministers were elected for one month each term, with a three-month term limit for the Prime Minister. The Ymir was elected for six months, with a monthly vote of trust in the National Assembly. Additionally, while earlier a Chief Justice was temporarily appointed by the National Assembly when needed for criminal and constitutional matters, this later on became a permanent for-life position, evolving into a prominent national advisor to help the Senate and the National Assembly navigate Acadia's increasingly complex legal system.

Despite the strength of Acadia's democratic institutions, the nation was for a good part held together by a group sometimes known as the 'shadow government'. On CivUniverse, where this term originated and was most often used, this group consisted of a few Javayans and trusted Acadians, who kept things under control behind the scenes and set the priorities on the agenda for the Acadian Senate. While on CivUniverse this 'shadow government' was de facto institutionalized, on CivClassics it was more fluid and consisted of a group of core Acadians, with some of the Javayans now belonging to this group, who used their influence through the Acadian Senate as either Ministers or advisors, rather than around it. After the workings of this 'shadow government' became more well-known to the general public, this aspect of Acadian political culture came under heavy opposition as many considered it anti-democratic. However, from the very beginning Acadia was always meant to have something like this, to make sure that democracy would not lead Acadia too far away from the path of reason.<ref>Cortwade and Bloof on Acadian democracy: [https://imgur.com/a/j3kqYQp link] (imgur of discord message)</ref>

A very visible feature of Acadia's political landscape was its many political parties. While many liked the roleplay and the 'aesthetics' they brought to Acadian politics and thought they potentially helped people get more involved with the nation's politics, they werent universally loved as some thought they did more harm than good by dividing the people instead of uniting them and keeping people focussed on discord politics instead of in-game projects. For the first half of Acadia's political history political parties served a real function, organizing votes and propaganda for legislative campaigns. However, in the latter half political parties grew more and more obsolete and irrelevant as people paid less and less attention to them. Possible explanations for this are that a consensus had quietly been reached on the harms of political parties, or that people simply grew tired of them, or that the increased political polarization in the later parts of Acadian political history resulted in there being de facto two entrenched opposing factions with the vast majority of Acadians already having a final position on coinciding political fault lines, rendering political parties without real use.

The '''Rainbow Row''', built by Bloof, was one of New Turing's most successful residential and commercial projects. As New Turing sat upon a large height difference with the surrounding lake, waterfront development was a challenge; however; the Rainbow Row's visibility ensured its inclusion in commercial traffic. It eventually became associated with the later rainbow hot air balloon and the gaybar as monuments to Acadia's LGBT+ community. Another important landmark was the '''National Arena,''' designed by Owain in antiquity inspired architecture, the first major break from traditional Acadian architecture. Situated between the early settlements of New Turing, Lovelace, and Kanava rather than in the capital, it was a monument to Acadia's federalism on CivClassic. Unfortunately, perhaps partly due to its remoteness, it was never put to use. Another building that never quite hit its goal was the unfinished '''Capitol Building''', designed by [[Seekinq]] and central part of Cortwade´s vision for New Turing. As time went on the building became a controversial symbol of inactivity, and it began to highlight struggles with city planning as it clashed with the skybunker and the boulevard descending to the building clashed with kick-back traps. Right before the announcement of the end of the server, a plan for urban renewal was formed which had this entire area removed and rebuilt. Symbol of the same wave of urban renewal was the new '''Community Center''' with factories and large communal storage, built by Uniter, and the tallest building in New Turing. Finally, one of Acadia's most controversial buildings; the '''Vegan Steakhouse''' by Spleef. Due to its lack of aesthetic value and the fact that it was hardly ever stocked, the Acadian government wished to derelict this building. However, given Acadia's strong property rights, which did not allow for confiscation as long as the owner objected on Discord, and popular disapproval of what many saw as 'government overreach', the building led to one of Acadia's biggest storms of e-lawyerism.

Although Acadia's population was traditionally largely in favor of isolationism, against close cooperation with larger powers, and anti-[[World Police (CivClassic)|WP]] sentiments were somewhat common; Acadia's leadership and 'shadow government' was always largely in favor of strong alliances with larger, WP-aligned powers to establish security.

On CivUniverse, matters of foreign policy were largely handled by motherland Javaya, which remained mostly neutral in conflicts throughout the server, save for the end where it, and by proxy Acadia as well, joined the coalition against New Vegas in the New Vegas War. Acadia was part of the Commonwealth of Southern Nations, and oversaw matters on the Hyperborean continent as a guardian of the continent, which was largely populated by newfriends. On CivClassic, Acadia inherited Javaya's good relations with neighbor [[Wyvern]], which was now Acadia's neighbor Fish. A Special Friendship Pact was signed with Fish, granting special citizenship privileges to Acadian and Fish citizens and establishing military and diplomatic cooperation.<ref>Fish Acadia Friendship Treaty: [https://www.reddit.com/r/civclassics/comments/o0raqo/declaration_of_friendship_between_fish_and_acadia/ link] (reddit post)</ref> Together a larger alliance in the +,- quadrant was created; the [[Plus-Minus Concordat|Plus-Minus-Concordat]] (PMC), with [[Sussex]], [[Mythril]], [[City of England]], [[Jomsviking Confederation|Jomsviking]], and [[Kallos]], which lasted until the events of the [[Jomsviking-England Incident]] which destroyed the larger alliance. Additionally, Acadia was an associate member of the [[UDF]], with close ties with Icenia through Acadian and Icenian official Juniortide, and especially Columbia, with which integration into a larger Columbian Federation was considered though ultimately rejected due to suspected lack of popular support.<ref>Very official documentary footage: [https://www.reddit.com/r/civclassics/comments/pw1nvy/shitpost_archive_footage_columbia_adopts_acadia/ link] (reddit post)</ref> In the last weeks of the server, Acadia joined the re-established [[United Northern Congress (New)|UNC]].

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