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The French Republic or France (French: République française or France) is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the North Sea, and from the Rhine River to the Atlantic Ocean; it is bordered by the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra, and Spain.
History
Political History
- 841-1789—Kingdom of France.
- 1789-1804—First Republic.
- 1804-1814—First Empire.
- 1814-1848—Restoration of Monarchy.
- 1848-1852—Second Republic.
- 1852-1870—Second Empire.
- 1871-1940—Third Republic.
- 1940-1944—French State under German occupation.
- 1944-1947—Provisory Government.
- 1947-1959—Fourth Republic.
- 1959-2029—Fifth Republic.
- 2029-2036—Defense Government.
- 2037—Beginning of the Sixth Republic.
Events of the XXIst Century
- 2008—A meltdown at Cattenom nuclear power plant irradiates Lorraine, Sarre and Luxembourg, creating the SOX.
- 2023—The Mist appears in Brittany.
- 2028—Wallonia becomes a region of France.
- 2029—A military coup d’état ends the Fifth Republic and establish the Defense Government.
- 2031-2036—Eurowars.
- 2037—Antoine d’Orléans is elected President and prepares the Constitution of the Sixth Republic. Protesting against the reduction of police and military presence, several southern cities practically secede to establish their own security forces. The French Pays Basque joins with Euskal Herria.
- 2039 When the terrorist group Pan-Europa attacks London dome in the summer with a para-viral agent, rumors that the bioweapon came from France is mentioned but is never proven.
- 2043—An earthquake strike southern France, prompting all devastated cities except Marseille, Nice and Monaco to put en and to their autonomist policy.
- 2050—Corsica is granted independence.[1]
- 2051—Media uncovers the scandal of Marseille illegal experiments on humans.
- 2057—Aurélie de Paladines is elected Présidente of France for the first time.
- 2062—Aurélie de Paladines is re-elected to the position of Présidente for a second term.
- 2066—Brocéliande Forest becomes a self governing territory under the control of the Korrigan, a group of sapient non-metahumans creatures including pixies and spirits.[2]
- 2070—(December) French military units conducts several attack agains corporate facilities in the SOX area. While the operation reveals later on the existence of a Cabal leading France for decades, along the infamous Project Omen, it does trigger an outcry from the corporate world.[3]
- 2071—To appease the corporate world France donate Lille to the corporations, transforming the city into a corporate enclave (like Manhattan)[4], but it also causes civic unrest and more and more contestation of the nobility influence on the country.
Politics
Institutions
The Président de la République is elected directly for a five-year term. He is the head of the executive branch. Aurélie de Paladines has been elected in 2057 and re-elected in 2063. She fell ill in 2068 and had to step down, and was replaced by her closest adviser, Yohann de Kervelec, also known to be the leader of the Seer's Guild.
The Assemblée Nationale is the main legislative body. The President picks up a Prime Minister, early always the leader of the majority party in the Assemblée who then submit his choose for ministries.
The presidency and most major ministries are referred to by the name of the building, street or place they’re located in the media and political slang (just like you’d refer to the White House, the Pentagon or Downing Street as if they were persons).
The Elysée then stands for the presidency; Matignon for the Prime Minister; Bercy for the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry; Place Beauvau for the Ministry of Interior; Place Vendôme for the Ministry of Justice (outside of the political context, the Place Vendôme hosts the priciest jewellers in Paris); Denfert-Rochereau or St Vincent for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Rue de Grenelle for the Ministry of National Education; Rue de Valois for the Ministry of Culture. The French Ministry of Defense is the only major ministry so rarely referred to that way. It’s located on Rue Saint Dominique and not at all in La Défense, a corporate district of Paris.
Political Forces
Because France is being controlled, in the background, by an oligarchy of nobles, it has become a habit to describes its power structure following the one of the middle ages with each estates - nobility, church and the corporations[5].
- First Estate: Nobility - real power behind the president, the country is controlled by several larges family of nobles, refered as houses, including : House of Orléans, House of Bourbon-Anjou, House of Rohan (Brittany), and House Rochefort. Surprisingly, the jet setters and wealthy House of La Rochefoucauld is the family of Aurélie de Paladines.
- Second Estate: French Catholic Church (FCC) - forked from Vatican in the early days of the Awakenings, by supporting, before the Imago Dei reversal, Magic and its users. The relationship with the Vatican are still strain, despite the donation of the Mont Saint Michel to the Order of St. Sylvester. The institution used to support massively the nobility, but a shift is growing since the beginning of the 50's. The FCC has been led by Luc de Berry up until his death in 2066, and leadership has been then passed to his "appointed" successor Amaury de Lubersac - to the great displeasure of the Vatican. Rumors also ties to FCC to the Atlantean Foundation and the Tir Nations - and of course, some people suspected the FCC to be puppeteer by the Black Lodge.
- Third Estate: The Corporations - political and economic elites are deeply intertwined, as anyone attending the Grand Tour can testify. Despite the rewrite of the Loureau Act, corporation still need to negotiate a ten years renewable autorisation to deal business on the territory, but far from protecting France from corporate abuse, it has given a simple way for the megacorporation to keep competition out. Of course, the renewable is ust a formality all french corporation, and Saeder Krupp and all french corporations.
While the military is not mentioned here it worth mentioning that a specific part, the Légion Étrangère is quite famous, and used often by some corporations.
Foreign Relations
- United Kingdom—Relations can be described as glacial since the end of Euro-Wars’ conflict with Russia in 2033. This is generally attributed to the late involvement of the UK in the conflict who almost managed to cause a Russian nuclear strike the French has prevented so far. Each of the countries is generally distrustful of the other’s foreign action in the world.
- Germany—Military and scientific cooperation help maintain good relations, even if they were poisoned for years by the issue of SOX. Another item of disagreement have been the control Saeder-Krupp acquired over the European aerospace, oil and nuclear industries, in the past in the hands of French companies. Each considers the other as a much-needed and unavoidable partner. Germany views France as an economic deadweight, and France considers Germany to have a lack of central political might.
- Tír na nÓg—Foremost ally, due to their common disdain of the Britain, but also because France imports large amount of the food produced by the country. Both country are often aligned and trade agreement and pro European politics.[6]
- Quebec—Relations with Quebec has been a one-way street for most of the fifty last years. Quebec has been trying to entice French investors, but the French government is downplaying its economic and cultural relations with such a repressive country.
- Amazonia—France regards Amazonia as one of its most dangerous enemies since the invasion of Guyana and Surinam, leaving French Guiana enclaved by Amazonian territory.
Geography
- Corsica - now Independent of France.
- Nice - remained indépendant after the '43 quakes, filled with old fashioned racist members of the nobility, living surrounded by luxury resorts and casinos and enjoying the tax shelter it provides. The self proclaimed "Prince of the City ", Thibault de la Ribaudière is ruling the city unchallenged, despite being rumored to have strong ties to the Human Nation.[7]
- Marseille - an Independent city, well under the influence of Lofwyr, but pression for reintegration into France have been rising in the early 70's.
- Auvergne - a volcanicly active part of France.
- Lille - a corporate enclave since 2072.
- Lyon - known to host the headquarter of the Seer's Guild.
- Brocéliande Forest - a self governing territory under the control of the Korrigan since 2066.
Economy
France is the second largest European economy behind Germany. Major sectors are auto manufacturing, aerospace, food, tourism, transport and services. France was the home of four extraterritorial megacorporations, but one been acquired by Aztechnology:
- Renault-Fiat (which is headquartered in GeMiTo/Italian Confederation),
- Esprit Industries (bought by Aztechnology in 2073),
- Aesa and ESUS.
Other prominent French companies include Index-Axa and Peugeot-Citroen (now part i.e. subsidiary of European Motors Corporation) and Hermes Eurocom before its acquisition by Saeder-Krupp.
Ares Macrotechnology, Aztechnology (partly through Dassault and Esprit Industries), Saeder-Krupp, Yamatetsu, Zeta-ImpChem and Spinrad Industries have a significant presence in the country.
References
- ↑ Conspiracy Theories p.93
- ↑ Sixth World Almanac p.93
- ↑ Sixth World Almanac p.97
- ↑ Enclaves corporatistes ?
- ↑ Shadows of Europe p.83
- ↑ Tír na nÓg p.54
- ↑ Shadows of Europe p.90
Index
- Loose Alliances
- Rigger 3, 107
Shadows of Asia, 81, 153, 195, 210
Shadows of Europe
Sixth World Almanac- Sprawl Survival Guide, 76-77
- Street Magic, 38, 92
- SOX, 155
There has also the France Sourcebook, by publisher and ex license-holder Jeux Descartes, which has only been published in real French. It is considered to be non-canonical, however most of it has been kept by the France chapter writers of Shadows of Europe. See France (Descartes).