Scotland (The Kalmar Union)

The Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, Caledonia is a medium sized constitutional monarchy comprising much of the northern half of the island of Britannia. It is bordered by Orkney to the North, Man to the West and Anglia to the South. The capital is Edinburgh and the population is around 3.2 million.

The Head of State is Queen Alexandria.

The official languages are Scots (which is mutually intelligible with North Saxon and Anglian) and Gaelic (which is more or less mutually intelligible with Irish Gaelic).

The currency is the Scottish Pund (SCP).

History
Long seen as a country separate to England to the south the Romans built a wall across Britannia to separate off Caledonia rather than attempt to conquer the restful Picts. The Pictish kingdoms would eventually be overthrown by the Scots moving from northern Eire but by that time much of Lowland Scotland had taken up English habits and the Germanic language.

Scotland appeared out of the dark ages reasonably unified but would spend much of the medieval period overshadowed and often utterly dominated by its neighbours. Magnus Barefoot of Hordaland would ensure the more Norse and Gaelic extremes of the land would stay out of the Scottish kings' control whilst successive Anglian kings intervened more directly turning it into a vassal. The Long Scottish War (1212-1290) pitted the 'flower' of Scotland against the invasions of Charles II, John I and Charles III, first succumbing to withering assaults then slowly finding ways to evade and defeat the Anglian forces.

A timely alliance with Wessex in 1287 would ensure its continued independence however did not keep peace at home and between 1316 and 1450 no less than four families attempted to subdue their rivals and build a lasting dynasty. While the kings, or rather potential kings, looked inwards it allowed Man and Hordaland to forge an ever tighter grip on their possessions and the attempts to break this hold, often in conjunction with Wessex's operations in Eire, were mostly failures.

The introduction of Lutheranism and then Calvinism also provoked another round of civil war as the nobles turned doctrinal issues into ways to pursue old feuds. This would eventually result in a Calvinist kingdom under the Rothesay family in 1676. Although it was not directly involved Scottish mercenaries made up a considerable number of the Kalmar armies during the Fifty Years War and various other European conflicts.

The last true crisis of the monarchy occurred in the 1830s. Many landowners had come to realise that they could make far more money by removing their tenanted farmers and replacing them with herds of sheep. The 'Clearances' often instigated by absent landlords caused outrage in the cities as displaced farmers unable to make a living on the coasts migrated southwards. A minor clearance had occurred in the last years of the 18th century. The second came in the wake of the Iberian Revolution and to pacify the growing unrest, including a popular republican movement, the crown was forced to intervene. The tenant farmers were finally given rights under law essentially forbidding the landowners (including the crown itself) to continue the evictions. After this the constitutional nature of the kingdom lessened the power of the crown and nobility until it effectively has become little more than a figurehead.

These days Scotland is officially neutral along with the Irish nations as agreed in the Eire Neutrality Pact of 1921. This has been signed by most European nations as well as several others elsewhere. It retains a small professional army and a sizeable navy (including a Tyr-style battleship) however.

Government
Scotland is governed by a single chambered Estates with elections held officially at three year intervals, however governments are usually formed by coalitions and rarely last for the full term.

The current Head of State is Queen Alexandria and her Prime Minister is James Geddes.