Puget


 * This article is about the country. For other uses, see Puget (disambiguation).

Puget (/ˈpjuːdʒɪt/, officially the Second Republic of Puget or Republic of Puget) is a Massarian country consisting of thirteen provinces and one territory. Located in the western part of the continent, it extends from the Boreas Ocean in the north to the Puget Sea in the south and westward into the Virdis Ocean. Its eastern border is lined by the Puget Range, the tallest mountains in Massaria and Lake Glacio. These mountains form the border between Puget and Andulsia in the north and Alcedonia in the south. Lake Glacio is a water border with Candua and is the largest lake in Massaria. It is the world's largest country by total population and by total area.

The land that is now Puget was inhabited for millennia by various groups of Aboriginal peoples, also called Native Pugetines. Beginning in the 16th century, Escambian expeditions explored, and later settled, along the southern coast. No other eastern countries had attempted to make contact with the aboriginals due to the high Puget Range blocking a path to Puget. In 1666, with the union of the four Escambian Pugetine colonies on the south coast, the First Republic of Puget was formed, but was overthrown in 1699 by a revolt that created a monarchy. This began an accretion of provinces and the annexation of Vancouver as a territory, which was part of a process of increasing autonomy from Escambia. The monarchy was overthrown in 1912 and a second republic formed with closer ties with Escambia.

Puget is a federal state that is governed as a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy. It speaks Massarian at the federal level, with no other languages recognized by any province or territory. One of Massaria's highly developed countries, Puget has a diversified economy that is reliant upon its abundant natural resources and upon trade with neighboring and farther countries—particularly with Escambia, with which Puget has a long and complex relationship. It is a founding member of the United Confederacy of Massaria. With the highest Human Development Index globally, it has one of the highest standards of living in the world.

Etymology
The name Puget comes from a Kalaman word, bujit, meaning "great plains" or the Kalaman Plains. In 1545, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Kalama region used the word to direct Escambian explorer Jacques Dawson to the village of Kelso. Dawson later used the word Puget to refer not only to that particular region, but also the entire area settled by the Kalama Nation; by 1549, Escambian and Massarian publications had begun referring to the entire region west of the Puget Range, also named for the village, and south of the Dawson Mountains as Puget. This area continued to be named Puget after being split into four colonies and becoming independent. As Puget asserted its political autonomy from Escambia, the federal government increasingly used simply Puget on state documents and treaties.

Aboriginal peoples
Archaeology and genetic studies support a human presence in northeastern Puget from 35,000 years ago, and on the coast of the Puget Sea from 11,600 years ago. The aboriginal peoples migrated from present-day Andulsia into the Kalama Plains and Goodwin Desert towards the Puget Sea and Puget Islands. Among the Northern Nations peoples, there are fifteen unique stories of creation and their adaptations. The characteristics of Pugetine Aboriginal societies included permanent settlements, agriculture, complex societal hierarchies, and trading networks stretching thousands of miles. Some of these cultures had faded by the time of the first permanent Escambian arrivals (16th and 17th centuries), and have been discovered through archaeological investigations.

The aboriginal population is estimated to have been approximately three million in the early 16th century, with a figure of 800,000 currently accepted by the Puget Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs. Repeated outbreaks of Escambian infectious diseases such as influenza, measles, and smallpox (to which they had no natural immunity due to isolation), combined with other effects of Escambian contact, resulted in a substantial aboriginal population decrease post-contact. Aboriginal peoples in Puget include the Northern Nations, Kalama Nation, Island Nations, and Domingo. The Domingo are a mixed blood people who originated in the mid-17th century when Northern and Kalaman women married Escambian settlers. The Island Nations had more limited interaction with Escambian settlers during the colonization period.

Escambian colonization
Escambians first explored Puget in 1545, when Jacques Dawson explored the southern coast and most of the Kalama Nation south of the Dawson Mountains. Dawson later went north through the mountains to the Dawson Sound, where he established the first permanent Escambian settlement, named Newport in 1547. He returned to Escambia and later guided settlers to his settlement, renamed Dawson in his honor in 1556. Among Escambian colonists, the Dawson Sound and Kalama Harbor areas were the most populous and few ventured north of the Snohomish Valley or east to the Goodwin Desert. Exploration in the Puget Islands began in the late 1580s and fur traders inhabited the islands until settlers arrived in the 1660s.

Major settlements in Puget included Goodwin, Kalama Harbor (later Kalama), Newport (later Dawson), and Snohomish. The largest aboriginal settlement was Kelso, capital of the Kalama Nation, which later became settled by Escambians as well. The territory north of the Snohomish Valley was claimed by Andulsia and the area east of the Goodwin Desert and west of the Puget Range was claimed by Escambia and Alcedonia. The dispute over the region, later named the Alpine Valley, forced Escambians to travel to Puget via the recently discovered, frigid Lake Glacio and encounter hostile Andulsians, or travel through the naval blockade to the Escambian Islands to Puget's southern coast. The Alpine War erupted in 1602 over the claim and ended with the signing of the Treaty of Freeport in 1607, which gave Escambia full control of the Alpine Valley, while Alcedonia was given control of Escambian Glacio.

The desire for independence and unfair territorial claims and disputes enacted by Escambia fueled the Pugetine Revolt in 1666, which saw the four southern provinces form the First Republic of Puget, while Escambian Puget remained in control of the Puget Islands and the area north of the Kalama River.

Geography
Puget occupies a major western portion of the continent, sharing the land borders to the east with Andulsia, Cascadia, and Alcedonia; and Lake Glacio to the east, the Boreas Ocean to the north, the Virdis Ocean to the west, and the Puget Sea and the Escambian Islands to the south. By total area (including its waters), Puget is the largest country in the world, ahead of Alcedonia and Escambia.

The population density, 92.6 per square mile (35.8/km2), is around the world average. The most densely populated part of the country is the Kalama Corridor, situated in the Kalama province along the Puget Sea.

Government and politics
Puget has strong democratic traditions upheld through a parliamentary government within the construct of constitutional monarchy; the monarchy of Puget is the foundation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The sovereign is Tong-Uk, Prince of Málaga, who also serves as head of state of Escambia.

The direct participation of the royal and vice royal figures in areas of governance is limited; in practice, their use of the executive powers is directed by the Cabinet, a committee of ministers of the Crown responsible to the elected House of Commons and chosen and headed by the Prime Minister of Puget (presently Bruce Englehardt II), the head of government. To ensure the stability of government, the governor general will usually appoint as prime minister the person who is the current leader of the political party that can obtain the confidence of a plurality in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) is thus one of the most powerful institutions in government, initiating most legislation for parliamentary approval and selecting for appointment by the Crown, besides the aforementioned, senators, federal court judges, and heads of government agencies.

Each of the 40 Members of Parliament in the House of Commons is elected by instant-runoff voting in a electoral region. General elections must be called by the prime minister, within four years of the previous election, or may be triggered by the government losing a confidence vote in the House. The 27 members of the Senate, whose seats are apportioned on a regional basis, serve until age 75. Each province is granted two members of the Senate and three members of the House of Commons, while the one territory (Vancouver) has one member in each legislative body.