Selucia

[Pragma]

Tourism Industry Gets Major Boost


Selucia's tourism industry is set to get a big boost from the government's new budget, with plans to develop Selucia's beach getaways and other seaside
resorts. The cash injection in tourism will be used to create new hotels in key urban areas as well as on the coasts. The project is expected, according to
the Selucian government, to be a driver of economic growth and eventually create thousands of jobs.

This is occurring alongside a major government investment in cleaning up Selucia's site of natural beauty. Tourism is a major part of the government's
economic development plan for Selucia, which has a great amount of history and good weather year-round. Beach resorts are a major source of
employment in coastal areas, and the government is hoping to capitalise on recent liberalising reforms to make Selucia the world's next tourism hotspot.
Selucia's carbon-negative target is also set to the used in advertising for potential visitors abroad.


Nova Harmonia is the news arm of the Nova Harmonia movement, aimed at renewing Selucia and its resetting its moral compass.

[Aquinas]

Khiva worship in ancient Malivia

[Pragma]

Rock In Marestella 'Potentially Magical'


Above: The rock in question.


A rock in the province of Marestella 'may have spiritual and physical healing properties' according to the archbishop with precedence over the sight. The
rock has been inspected 'thoroughly', according to the archbishop, to see if long-standing local reports of its holiness are true. After these objective
inspections were complete, most members of the clergy involved came to the conclusion that the rock is indeed magical and have asked the national
government to declare the rock a sight of interest to prevent vandalism from pagans or athiests.

Locals have long claimed that the rock is magical, saying that at least two people in the past century have been cured of blindness from touching the
rock. Another three have supposedly been cured of cancer, two of liver disease, fourteen of diabetes, two of gout, one of chlamydia and seven of
herpes. This has previously led to 'rock rushes' in which large numbers of Selucians have descended upon the rock to get a feel of its craggy edges.

The origins of the rock's magical powers are unknown, but according to an ancient legend Saint Jennifer of Luthori had once rested under a large rock
while visiting our holy nation. Others contend that it was in fact Saint Boniface, Saint Armond, Saint Isabelle or Saint Lucius. The story generally goes
that one of the aforementioned saints used the rock to shelter themselves form a torrential downpour while visiting some of the sacred sights on the
island.


Augustus Announces New Population Plans


The Augustus of Selucia has announced his government's intention to reduce Selucia's population over time to 'reduce our national carbon footprint and
make resources more bountiful for each individual'. The plan will limit the number of children a couple may birth to 2 in a lifetime, though there will
be financial incentives to having just one or none at all. This is a major step in the government's 'Selucian Renewal' program and, if successful, would
allow Selucia's natural resources to be distributed richly among the nation's people without having to resort to conflict or fossil fuels to power the
nation's growth.

The Augustus is also hoping that policies enacting to 'stop the debt-based economy' will improve development and allow families to plan with greater
certainty their financial futures. The government hopes that family planning will in fact result in a lower birth rate. Concerns have been raised,
however, that Selucia's strict laws on abortion and contraception will slow down the process of reducing the national population. The government,
however, contends that these practices will not be necessary in order to make their goal a reality.


Nova Harmonia is the news arm of the Nova Harmonia movement, aimed at renewing Selucia and its resetting its moral compass.

[Polites]

Anti-Hosian Riots in Selucia
October 4792



The Hosian Democratic Nova Harmonia regime, which has been ruling Selucia for more than two decades, has found itself rocked by violent protests against its Hosian inspired and anti-Pagan legislation. In a nation polarized between, on the one hand, a declining Hosian plurality, and on the other an internally divided secular and Pagan camp, any attempt to enforce the hegemony of any religious persuasion is bound to lead to widespread dissatisfaction if not open hostility. The Nova Harmonia regime, which came to power in the aftermath of a succession of ultra-Hosian far-right governments, was initially welcomed with a sigh of relief by both Pagans and the unaffiliated. However a series of laws directed specifically against the polytheist community has fueled the flames of discontent. The ban on animal sacrifice, an essential practice for the Cultores Deorum was introduced at the same time as the abolition of slavery, which itself was publicly presented as a Pagan practice, in an attempt, or so many Cultores claim, of presenting Paganism as backwards, savage, and inhumane, and thus rendering them second-hand citizens of the Republic they call home. The heavy restrictions on abortion and contraception served to alienate the large secular population of Selucia and force them into opposition towards the moderate Hosian Democratic regime. In a nation where the memory of the attempted displacement of the headquarters of Terra's largest religion is still fresh in the minds of many Selucians, there are not few who long for the glory days of the secular Republic under the progressive leadership of the long-ruling In Marea party, and equally many are nostalgic for the days of Hosian-Pagan collaboration fostered by the Republican Party of old.

Those days, however, are long gone. As the perceived excesses of late 46th century secularism led to a Hosian backlash, Pagans and the irreligious have seen themselves cast out of power and have seen their glory days end. Now that Hosian rule is fragile, non-Hosians have joined hands and rose against Nova Harmonia and Augustus Alcesimus Galvisius. The protests, started as small peaceful gatherings at the beginning of the year, have steadily grown in number in response to the unwillingness of the regime to compromise or to end its discriminatory policies, and were further galvanized when the government called on the military to assist police forces in the maintenance of order. With its popular support dwindling, the days of Nova Harmonia and of Hosian rule in Selucia may be numbered.

[Polites]

Government Falls
April 4793


IMP Heliodorus Vibianus is one of the new Duodecimvirs

The anti-Hosian protests launched against the Nova Harmonia regime last year succeeded in overthrowing the government of the Republic with the aide of the armed forces. When the protests turned violent towards the end of last year Augustus Alcesimus Galvisius called on the military to quell the riots. However, he and the government did not count on the fact that there are many within the armed forces who, if not practicing members of the Religio, are sympathetic to Paganism. Owing to the presence a God of war, masculinity, and destruction in the religion's pantheon, the Selucian native faith is seen as more open and accommodating to those serving in the armed forces than Hosianism.

So instead of dispersing the crowds and restoring public order in the name of Nova Harmonia, the armed forces joined the opposition, and on the 13th of April this year they forced the Augustus, the Consul, and the cabinet to flee the nation. A provisional government was formed, composed of representatives of the street protests, leaders of opposition parties, and, most importantly, representatives of the military, called the Committee of Public Safety. The first act of the new Committee was to suspend the Constitution of the Republic and to establish a 12-member political body tasked with governing Selucia and implementing a new constitution. The archaically named Duodecimviri Rei Publicae Constituendae Rectorali Potestate ("Duodecimvirs for Confirming the Republic with Rectoral Power", abbreviated as XII VIR RPC), which, in spite of its name, includes six women, was granted absolute power for a renewable five-year term and was tasked with writing a new constitution for the Selucian Republic. Making its main base of support clear, half the Duodecimvirs are high ranking military officers, including two Imperators, two Legates, and two Duces.

Now that Selucia is under the autocratic rule of what is essentially a military government, questions have been raised regarding the likelihood of the restoration of democracy. Although the XII VIR RPC have issued assurances that their authority is strictly temporary and restricted by the bounds of their mandate, many fear that democracy may not return to Selucia any time soon.

[Polites]

Duodecimvirate Turns Clergy into Civil Servants
October 4794



Staying true to their pledge to put an end to Hosian hegemony in Selucia, the Duodecimvirs introduced a new act that removes all clergy from the authority of their Churches and places them under the sole authority of the Republic. The Constitution of the Clergy is a newly implemented piece of legislation that has already caused quite an uproar among Aurorian ministers of religion. In short, the document demands that all clergy be elected by the faithful residing within the territory which they serve, demands that they take a "solemn oath" to serve the Republic, nationalizes all religious buildings, and places all clergy under the Republic's payroll as civil servants. Those clergy who refuse to swear the oath are to be deposed and replaced by new democratically elected ministers.

The new law was enthusiastically received by Selucia's indigenous polytheistic faith, Religio Seluciana. Most of its priests and priestesses have already sworn an oath to the Republic, which is considered sacred under the tenets of the religion, and for which priests and priestesses were in the past, under the Pagan First Republic, considered elected public officials. As such the Constitution of the Clergy is not a significant departure from the tenets of Selucia's second largest religion, while the provision of an annual salary for its clergy was greeted cheerfully by the often impoverished faith.

Its reception among Hosian clergy was, to put it lightly, rather mixed. A handful of bishops and a minority of parish priests have accepted the requirement to swear loyalty to the Republic, motivated no doubt by the lingering presence of Republican sentiment within the ranks of the Aurorian Church. The vast majority however have refused to swear the oath, seeing it as an unwarranted intrusion by a dictatorial state into the internal affairs of the country's largest religion. No attempt has yet been made to depose recalcitrant priests and bishops and replace them with new democratically-elected clergy, as demanded by the Constitution of the Clergy, probably because the Duodecimvirate does not yet know whether it has sufficient public backing to go against more popular priests and bishops. But the most significant consequence of the Constitution of the Clergy is the status of the Arch-Patriarch himself. The law does not make a distinction between clergy whose flock resides only in Selucia, and those, like the Arch-Patriarch, whose jurisdiction is universal. The text of the Constitution seems to imply that, as the Primate of Selucia, the Arch-Patriarch ought to be elected by all Aurorian Hosians residing within the Republic, if he, as is almost certain, refuses to swear fealty to Selucia. As the old proposal to grant the Arch-Patriarch sovereignty over a small strip of land in Auroria never materialized, the Arch-Patriarch remains under the secular authority of Selucia and will thus likely be required to comply with the Constitution of the Clergy.

Grunge Rock Band sent to FOMAT

The Duodecemvirs have decided, after a public voting contest to send grunge rock band Vicani (Village Boys) to represent Selucia at the Festival of Musical Arts in Terra. Vicani are a three-man alternative rock and grunge band from a small town in Marestella. The song they will be performing is entitled Salve, parve ("Hello how low"). The song is entirely performed in the Selucian language, and features significant bardcore influences. The songs lyrics, considered nonsensical by some critics, are claimed to embody a teen revolutionary spirit, coherent with the revolution against Hosian rule that Selucia recently underwent.

[jamescfm]

Arch-Patriarch announces the Aurorian Patriarchal Church will not adhere to proposed religious restrictions

[Polites]

Schism in Selucia
May 4795


Archbishop Aemilius Maxentius of Victoria is one of those who swore the oath

The Constitution of the Clergy, which became the law of the land this month, has already caused a major uproar in the Republic and has alienated the ruling military-based Duodecimvirate from a large part of Selucia's Hosian population, around 40% of whom profess membership in the Aurorian Patriarchal Church. Having come to power as a result of an uprising against a Hosian Democratic regime, the Duodecimvirs have done little to hide their hostility towards Terra's largest religious organization, or, for that matter, their sympathy to Selucian Paganism. With the power and influence of the Church in Selucia at an all-time low, after centuries of secularism and religious pluralism, it has become a weakened, but by no means powerless target. Gone are the days when an Arch-Patriarch could almost single-handedly bring down a Selucian fascist regime, but the Church still commands enough respect and devotion from a significant part of the population.

So it is clear why the government, keen on ending "Hosian hegemony", has taken pains to achieve its goals without a hint of open persecution, emphasizing instead values like democratic accountability and popular sovereignty, which even many devout Hosians share. Thus the Constitution of the Clergy, while openly confrontational towards the Aurorian Church, has found acceptance from some within its ranks. In spite of the official condemnation of the Constitution by Arch-Patriarch Benedictus X, eleven bishops and around a third of Aurorian priests have accepted the requirements of the Constitution of the Clergy and have sworn the oath of loyalty to the Senate and People of Selucia. It is not clear whether they have done so out of genuine conviction or whether they succumbed to popular pressure, a threat greater than that of potential excommunication by an enraged Arch-Patriarch. The other clergy of the Aurorian Church are now technically returned to the status of ordinary citizens, and new elections are set to take place for their replacements. In a particularly confrontational move, the Duodecimviri announced that, having failed to fulfill the requirements of the Constitution of the Clergy, Benedictus X is now an ordinary citizen of the Republic, and the position of Bishop of Auroria and Primate of Selucia is now empty. It is not clear yet whether the Duodecimvirate will have the audacity of organizing democratic elections for the Arch-Patriarch of the Aurorian Patriarchal Church, or whether the government will seek a more peaceful arrangement with the leadership of Terra's largest religion.

[Aquinas]

"Rejoin us!", Ganapuli appeals to Malivy Islands; Hosians protest outside Selucian embassy

[jamescfm]

Arch-Patriarch confirms the excommunication of clergy who swear the oath of loyalty