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The United Commonwealth of Aurora (commonly known as just Aurora, the United Commonwealth, UCA, or UC) is an island country in South America, located about 100 nautical miles (185.2 kilometres) from Brazil. It is notable as the only Anglophone country in the Americas to have a constitutional monarchy not tied to the House of Windsor.
Aurora is divided into 41 counties, 2 sovereign countries (Skyeland and New Munster), 2 territories (Northwestern Territory and Nalaxun), 2 autonomous cities (Portville and Washington), and a federal district (District of Alexandria, consisting of St. Ives Royal District, New London Legislative District, and Queen Alexis Judicial District). The counties, autonomous cities, and federal district make up Main Aurora (the rest of Aurora, as opposed to Skyeland, New Munster, Northwestern Territory, and Nalaxun).
Aurora rebelled against Britain in 1802 over “unacceptable intrusion of Christendom into citizens’ private lives”, and is a notably-secular country, though some Anglo-Saxon and Celtic traditions are practiced. It is currently ruled by Queen Theresa II.
Monarchy, titles, and government[]
After a King or Queen dies or abdicates, the new monarch is elected by the old monarch’s heirs, via a process similar to the selection of a new Pope in the Catholic Church. Candidates for a new monarch can be selected from the following groups: the royal families of past monarchs, the various hereditary titles (such as Knights and Dukes) and their families, cabinet ministers, and the Auroran Parliament. This system has existed since 1896, with the reforms by Queen Alexandra I; before then, it was a traditional hereditary constitutional monarchy under the House of Trenton.
Once the new King or Queen is selected, a coronation takes place, and they adopt a "royal name" in the form "King/Queen (name)", followed by an appropriate Roman numeral if there was a previous king or queen with that name. The new monarch is given the duty to select their own name before the coronation ceremony takes place: some have used their real first names, while others have selected names as tributes to past kings, queens, princes, or princesses.
Knighthoods, which are hereditary, can be “promoted” to higher levels by the monarch, from highest to lowest: Knight, Baronet, Baron, Viscount, Count, Earl, Duke. Unlike in House of Windsor countries, which have female equivalents like dame, baroness, and duchess, these titles are gender-neutral, and apply to both men and women. This unique system makes Aurora the only country with a multi-level, hereditary system of knighthoods. As Duke is a type of knighthood in Aurora, all of the monarch's heirs are called Princes and Princesses. The monarch's spouse is not a "co-monarch" like in most European countries, but is called a "First Lady/Gentleman", and has a status similar to a Prince(ss) Consort.
The system of government used in Aurora is similar to these of the Commonwealth Realms, especially Canada, with a First Minister (usually a party leader) being elected indirectly based on whoever has the most seats in the House of Commons, and elected Members of Parliament representing “ridings” (which do not coincide with counties, sovereign countries, territories, and autonomous cities). However, unlike Canada, Aurora has an unicameral parliament, with no Senate. The elections are held every 2 years (coinciding with Winter and Summer Olympic years): the First Minister cannot call an early election like in Canada.
List of monarchs[]
- King Richard I (reigned 1802-1832; died)
- King Richard II (reigned 1832-1875; died)
- Queen Alexandra I (reigned 1875-1904; famous for implementing the Alexandrian Reforms in 1896, instituting an electorate-monarchy and hereditary knighthoods; died)
- King Harvey (reigned 1904-1929; first elected monarch; died)
- Queen Theresa I (reigned 1929-1952; died)
- Queen Alexandra II (reigned 1952-1977; abdicated; died in 1984)
- King Luther I (reigned 1977-1979; assassinated by Skyeland separatists)
- King Richard III (reigned 1979-1984; abdicated; died in 1998)
- Queen Alexis (reigned 1984-2008; died)
- King Luther II (reigned 2008-2016; abdicated)
- Queen Theresa II (reigned 2016-present; current queen)
Holidays[]
Aurora gained independence from the UK on July 7, 1802; this date is celebrated as Aurora Day.
As Aurora is an extremely secular country, the only remotely-Christian holiday practiced is “Yuletide”, a secularized Christmas, which is (as in most other British-influenced countries) followed by Boxing Day. Most of Aurora’s bank holidays are secular (Labour Day, Indigenous People’s Day, Thanksgiving, Remembrance Day, Aurora Day) or royal-related (Alexandra Day, Queen’s Official Birthday). Easter is only celebrated by Christians, and is not a statutory holiday, but most schools have a Spring Break.
- New Year's Day (January 1st)
- Family Day (third Monday in February)
- April Bank Holiday Friday (Friday before second Saturday in April)
- April Bank Holiday Monday (Monday after second Saturday in April)
- Alexandra Day (last Monday before May 25)
- Queen's Official Birthday (second Monday in June)
- Aurora Day (July 7th)
- August Bank Holiday (first Monday in August)
- Labour Day (first Monday in September)
- Indigenous People's Day (fourth Friday in September)
- Thanksgiving (second Monday in October)
- Remembrance Day (November 11th)
- Yuletide Eve (December 24th)
- Yuletide (December 25th)
- Boxing Day (December 26th)
- New Year's Eve (December 31st)
TV networks[]
Major networks[]
Minor networks[]
Public non-profit service[]
Defunct[]
Trivia[]
- Aurora is officially a secular country, with separation of church and state enforced, but all religions are allowed to be practiced. However, public schools are not allowed to display religious symbolism (like the Ten Commandments or nativity scenes), or teach religion as the truth. Due to the secularism policy, years are numbered as BCE/CE instead of BC/AD in science textbooks.
- Aurora uses the Metric system only. Imperial measurements are allowed to be used by private citizens, but all levels of government, as well as civil servants, must use Metric, and Imperial has not been taught in schools since at least the late 1990s.
- 99.5% of schools in Aurora are public schools, operated by local government bodies known as school districts. Private schools do exist, but they're extremely expensive and rare; Christian private schools are even rarer, with only 2 existing in the country. Schools use the same grade system as the US and Canada: Kindergarten, followed by Grades 1 through 12. Grades K-5 are elementary school, Grades 6-8 are middle school, and Grades 9-12 are high school.
- Auroran English uses British/Commonwealth spellings like "colour" instead of "color" for most words, but US spellings like "airplane" instead of "aeroplane" for some words. This is the same as it is in Canada.
- Aurora fought in WWI and WWII on the same side as the UK and US, but has been a neutral country since the Cold War.
- Aurora used NTSC for analog television until the analog shutdown in 2011, and has used ATSC (under the brand name Freeview) for digital television since 2006. Aurora's callsign prefixes are AA-AL.
- In Aurora, copyright only lasts 10 years, and can only be renewed 2 times, after which it expires permanently and can't be renewed: making a maximum of 30 years. This is the loosest copyright law in the world, if you don't count 3 countries (Eritrea, Turkmenistan, and San Marino) which have no copyright law at all. However, other countries' copyright laws are respected in Aurora, so this really only applies to works made in Aurora.
- Aurora's age of consent and drinking/smoking age are the same: 21 years old, with no exceptions. The minimum age for a driver's license is 14 years old, and the minimum age for voting is 18 years old.
- The Auroran branch of the ICRC, known as the Auroran Red Cross and Crescent, uses both the Red Cross and the Red Crescent, to be religiously neutral.
- Aurora is inspired by the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada.