Republic of the Four Lakes/Grossschweiz

The Republic of the Four Lakes (ROTFL for short) is a cantonal republic founded 2012, after economy in Switzerland let to her collapse in IOTVII. It comprises the area of Switzerland, Alsace and South Germany, and currently borders Piedmont.

History of the Republic
Not much is known about the Republic, except that it was founded as a successor state to Switzerland, up to the point where the government is the same.

In 2012, After the collapse of the Bern government (blamed for an economic crisis, as well as the "Nazi Gold" scandal, although this is never reported in the books), the cantons reunited, and via their most powerful economy, bought Baden-Würtemberg and Alsace, reaching her current borders in 2020 (often called year 8 on the new calendar). From then on the've done an absolute nothing.

2030 saw the Lugano cabinet drive the country to near collapse though.

Government and Economy
The government is a Cantonal Republic, meaning that the State writes a constitution, which is then adapted by each canton (state), the adapted version is adapted in the cities. Hence, every part of the country has a certain independence.

The nation has no capital, instead each city must host the cabinet at least once. The sole exception is Lugano, after the 2030 Lugano cabinet that wanted Austria. Instead it wrecked the nation.

The general unit of currency is the Grossschweizer Franken (1 GSFr. = 100 Grossrappen or 100 Grand-Centimes), although all Western European and North American currencies are accepted.

Stance during the plague
When the vaccine was created in Korea, Grossschweiz bought a lot of vaccines, possibly funding the research. As a result, the plague was not the killer, but the sheer waste of money certainly was. It is estimated that out of the 5 million earned in taxes at the time, 4.5 million went to the vaccine. The resulting deficit was enhanced when it was discovered that the Euro, in its last days, was equal to 0.67 Sfr. This caused major economical collapse.

Political Parties
The Republic has many parties, the most famous are the Sozialistenpartei Grossschweiz (Grossschweiz Socialist Party), Liberaldemokraten (Liberal Democrats), and the Nationalistenpartei der Vierwaldstätten (Vierwaldstätten Nationalist Party, named after the original cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden. Unterwalden is now divided into Obwalden and Nidwalden). The current government is a Socialist-Green coalition.

Cantons
There are quite some cantons. The current government resides in Schaffhausen, close to the Baden-Würtemberg canton.

There are two cantons which were not found in Switzerland. These are Elsass and Baden-Würtemberg, which incedentally controls a little bit of Bayern.



There was a planed Austrian Canton. However it never came. The flag would have incorporated Austria and Switzerland's Flags. The newest canton is Österreich (flag on the right), so some people now also call the ROTFL Schweiz-Österreich.

Millitary stance
the ROTFL is technically neutral, and when she was unsure on whether Bayern was allowed in her SOI she offered compensation. However, the country has a system of conscription with one year of millitary training. All soldiers are trained to fight in the mountains, bunkers are hidden everywhere.