Saintonge Worldbuilding Stuff

Welcome to Saintonge Worldbuilding stuff! This contains the various tidbits and miscellany about Saintonge, different from my factbook, which can be found here as a work in progress.

I will be porting over some of the stuff I also posted in the Scraps of Worldbuilding thread.

OOC: Kindly do not post in this thread. If you have comments/suggestions, feel free to message me on Discord. Thanks!

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Contents:
Trivia about the city of Saintes
Women's suffrage in Saintonge
Vehicle registration plates in Saintonge
Coat of arms of the departments of Saintonge
Santonian idioms
Map of the Saintes Metro

The City of Saintes is also nicknamed as the "City of a hundred steeples" (Ville aux cent clochers), because of the many churches and chapels in the city. However, the number is not accurate. Today, the area of the old city of Saintes contains 91 churches; however, some of the churches on the right-bank half of the city were rebuilt or relocated after the Great Fire of Saintes in 1840.

When the city of Saintes absorbed 114 adjacent communes during the reform of the Saintes region and department of the Saine, more parish churches were absorbed into the city of Saintes. Since 2007, the city of Saintes has 364 recognised parish churches. This count does not include small chapels frequently built within large buildings, residential tower blocks, or neighbourhoods. Officially, the Patriarchate-Archdiocese of Saintes, since the realignment of the archdiocesan borders with departmental ones, is composed of 366 parishes. The only parishes outside modern Saintes' borders are Saint-Sidoine (Arpajon, Saine-et-Loine) and Saint-Pardoult (Saint-Pardoult-sur-Saine, Lisle), which were retained by the Patriarchate-Archdiocese for historical reasons.

One popular legend states that if you visit and pray in all of Saintes' churches, one for every day of the year, the wish you repeated during those 365 days will be granted the next year. This Pilgrimage in Saintes (Pèlerinage en Saintes) is popular among the devout in the metropolitan area. There are several variants: some include Saint-Sidoine and Saint-Pardoult and leave out the Church of the Abbaye de Notre Dame de Saintonge (the only monastery within Saintes city limits); some include only Saint-Sidoine and Saint-Pardoult during leap years and instead go to the Royal Chapel (generally closed to the public, except on certain days) on the grounds of the Royal Palace in Saintes for the 365^th church on a non-leap year.

The Kingdom of Saintonge is considered a trailblazer when it comes to women’s suffrage. Women’s suffrage in Saintonge is as old as Santonian democracy itself.

Plebiscite of 1793
The culmination of the Santonian Revolution was the Constitution of the Kingdom of Saintonge, which is still in force today. It called for the creation of the current Parliament to replace the various legislatures in the country. The Revolutionary Estates-General planned to submit it to a plebiscite for approval in 1794. However, when preparations for the plebiscite were being made, various disagreements arose on who has the right to vote. While property requirements to vote were abolished entirely, the clause regarding elections were unclear in the law passed by the Estates-General for the plebiscite:


Some departments, such as Simbruins and Scyotte, included women in their electoral registers. Other departments, such as Tage and Capoterre, refused to register women. A group of two dozen department superintendents asked the Estates-General to clarify who can vote in the plebiscite.

Suffrage Question
The suffrage question triggered a debate in the Estates-General in September 1793. There was a big bloc of opposition in the Estates-General, not just in the First and Second Estates, but in the Third Estate as well. Not being able to reach an agreement, the Estates-General went on its winter break. Meanwhile, suffragists across the country commenced their campaign. Their champions were Jeanne-Thérèse Dejerine, delegate of the province of Vermandois; Mother Superior Marie de l’Immaculée Conception, Abbess of the Notre Dame de Saintonge Abbey; and Countess Marie-Avelline Montcornet de Salernes, the so-called ‘Warrior Countess’.

The Countess of Salernes was the most influential and most vocal of the ‘suffragists’, being a respected member of the Second Estate of the Pouilles and of the Estates-General. The Countess of Salernes got her nickname from her exploits during the Santonian Revolution. Her husband, Count Brice-Corbin Montcornet de Salernes, was serving under the revolutionary armies of the Pouilles under the famed ‘Warrior Bishop’, Bishop Paul-David Montboisses of Côme. The Countess of Salernes insisted on joining her husband in the military campaign. In the Battle of Nogent-sur-Lisle (26 June 1790), the Count of Salernes was killed in battle, and the Countess, finding herself in the battlefield, rallied her county’s troops to cover the retreat of the rest of the revolutionary army. She insisted on retaining control and leading the contributions and levies from her county – a decision supported by the ordinary soldiers because of the respect they had for the Count and Countess. The Warrior Bishop credited the units of the Countess of Salernes and that of Charles-Pérégrin Buerch, Sire de Mauvoisin, as crucial in preventing the collapse of the revolutionaries’ lines in the Battle of Torcy-le-Grand (10 July 1790). Her exploits and fame quickly spread throughout the army and the country.

Her fame was such, that despite being a noble, the Countess of Salernes was elected by four provinces (the Pouilles, Champagne, Forez, Beaune) as their deputy in the Third Estate. The Countess of Salernes chose to sit as a member for the Pouilles. She did not have to renounce a noble title as her “Countess of Salernes” was not a suo jure title.

The Countess of Salernes and the Abbess toured the country to drum up support, even during the middle of the winter. Large crowds attended their speeches despite the winter. Duchess Louise-Radegonde of the Bavière and Duchess Marie-Véronique of Beaujolais voiced their support after meeting the Countess of Salernes and the Abbess – virtually securing the Second Estate through their husbands’ votes. Dejerine and the other female Third Estate deputy, Annette Berthézenne de Forest of Artois, wrote newspaper articles to support women’s suffrage.

Some opponents of women’s suffrage also published articles, leading to the famous Qu'est-ce qu'une femme ? (“What is a woman?”) series of articles wherein Dejerine and Berthézenne de Forest debated the opponents of women’s suffrage in the newspaper l’Indépendant.

Women’s Suffrage Gained
When the Estates-General reconvened in March 1794, public opinion in Saintonge had already changed in favour of women’s suffrage. The Countess of Salernes then turned the mood of the Estates-General around with her now-famous speech Ne suis-je pas citoyen? (“Am I not a citizen?”)* By not allowing women to vote, the Countess of Salernes argued, the Kingdom of Saintonge is implying that women are not citizens – negating every and all contribution of all women for the kingdom of Saintonge, not just hers. The Countess of Salernes then recited a long history of women’s contributions in Saintonge. When a male deputy interrupted and heckled her, the Countess of Salernes shot back with another now-famous line: “Rappelez-vous, tu viens d’une femme!” (“Remember, you came from a woman!”)^

The Estates-General approved an amendment to the law allowing for the inclusion of women in the plebiscite. The Estates-General also amended the proposed Constitution to provide for universal, equal suffrage. Thus, when the first truly national vote occurred in 1794 (the Constitutional Plebiscite), women already had suffrage.

Effect on Santonian Politics
Psephologists have theorised that women’s suffrage had a profound effect in Santonian politics. In Saintonge, women are more devout than men, and this contributed to the orientation of Santonian politics: centre-right socially and centre-left economically. In the most recent Santonian elections, there was a large gender gap between women and men in terms of support for the National Party (centre-right socially, centre-left economically), with women more likely to support the National Party.

Political scientists also credit the early women’s influence in politics for policies such as the early introduction of minimum work hours, free basic education, universal healthcare, maternity leave, child labour laws, and Saintonge’s aversion to imperialism. Women were also early participants in Saintonge’s industrial revolution, and so the early industrial laws were also a product of women involvement in politics.

The National Assembly of Saintonge has had at least one female deputy since 1795. The National Assembly with the greatest number of women is the current one, with 151 out of the 431 deputies (35%) being female.

Footnotes
*The full title of the speech and its central line was Ne suis-je pas citoyen comme vous tous? (“Am I not a citizen just like all of you?”), but the title is now commonly shortened to Ne suis-je pas citoyen?
^ Also now commonly quoted as “Tu viens d’une femme!” (You came from a woman!).

Santonian vehicle registration plates are identified with the vehicle for its lifetime. The typical license plate contains seven alphanumeric characters (motorcycles have eight). All numbers are used, and all letters except I (which may be confused with J or 1) and O (which may be confused with 0) are used.


This is the typical Santonian registration plate. Two bands of the same colour (for private vehicles, blue) are on both ends of the plate. On the left side is the emblem of the Kingdom of Saintonge and its three-letter code STG. The right side indicates where the vehicle was registered: the escutcheon indicates the department (in this case, the department of the Rance) and the three digits underneath indicate the intendancy (in this case, the intendancy of Lanester). Private vehicles would have the format XXX·0000.


For an additional fee, vehicle owners can have their own custom (“vanity”) plate. Such plates may contain up to 7 alphanumeric characters (again excluding “I” and “O”) and will be unique in the entire Saintonge. This particular plate was registered in the City of Saintes.

License plates for government vehicles have red bands.


License plates for the national government have the format NX·00·XXX (“N” is fixed because it stands for the national government). The first two letters indicate the branch of national government it belongs to. NA plates belong to the royal household and constitutional bodies (such as the Royal Institute of Elections). NB-NW are assigned to the different ministries. NX is for the executive (Prime Minister’s Office), NY for the legislature (House of Lords and National Assembly), and NZ for the judiciary (Supreme Court). This particular plate was issued to the office of a National Assembly deputy for the Taur (hence the escutcheon), registered in Castres.


Licence plates for vehicles owned by departmental governments have the format 00·XX·000. The first two digits are fixed and correspond to the department’s number. This particular plate is owned by the department of the Capoterre and is registered in Carqueiranne.


Licence plates for vehicles owned by communes/parishes have the format 000·XX·00. The last two digits are fixed and correspond to the last two digits assigned to the commune/parish. This particular plate is owned by the commune of Cadarcet (97340) in the intendancy of Saint-Gaudens, department of the Vesle.


There is a series of special license plates for the official vehicles of the top officials of the kingdom. 1 is assigned to the Monarch, 2 to the Heir to the Throne, 3 to the Prime Minister, 4 to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, 5 to the President of the Constitutional Court, 6 to the Presider of the House of Lords, 7 to the President of the National Assembly, 8 to the Pope of the Santonian National Church, and 9 to the Marshal of Saintonge (a title that exists only in wartime).


A special category of government plates has green bands. These are the vehicles of the military, police, ambulance, and firemen. These plates have the format have the format Y·000·XXX. The first letter indicates the owner of the vehicle: T for the Army (armée de terre), M for the Navy (marine), A for the Air Force (armée de l’air), P for the police, U for the ambulance (médecine d’urgence), and S for firefighting vehicles (sapeurs pompiers). This particular plate is registered for the police in the intendance of Corbeil, department of the Epte.


This is another example of an ambulance, registered in the intendance of Mirande, department of the Tage.


Military vehicles have a slightly different right band. The department’s escutcheon is replaced by the branch of the military, and the number underneath indicate the brigade (army), fleet (navy) and squadron (air force) that the vehicle belongs to. This is a vehicle registered to the 6^th Fleet of the Royal Santonian Navy.


Diplomatic vehicles have orange bands and have the format D·000·XXX. D is fixed (as a diplomatic vehicle) and the last three letters are the three-letter code of the country. The left band no longer has the emblem of Saintonge but rather “A” for embassies and “C” for consulates. The right band has the escutcheon/seal of the country and its three-letter code. Also, the top of the plate indicates Corps Diplomatique (Diplomatic Corps) instead of le Royaume de Saintonge (“the Kingdom of Saintonge”). This particular plate was issued to a vehicle owned by the Prydanian Embassy in Saintes.


Four-wheeled vehicles that are not used on the street also have their own plates with yellow bands and the format Y·00·XXXX. Y indicates the class of the vehicle. This particular plate was issued to a tractor (A for agriculture), registered in the intendancy of Saujon, department of the Chalaronne.


Motorcycles, being smaller vehicles, have a smaller plate with only one band containing the escutcheon and the number of the department and intendancy of registration, respectively. The format is XXXX·0000 and is unique throughout Saintonge. This particular plate was registered to a motorcycle in Écossesseville in the department of the Sée.

Santonian Idioms

There are many Santonian idioms with foreign countries in them. The countries featuring prominently in Santonian idioms are Syrixia and Xentherida, primarily due to their proximity to Saintonge. Many pejorative idioms in Saintonge refer to Syrixia (la lettre syrixienne, la douche syrixienne), a country that Santonians view as dangerous because of its imperialism. Some of the terms reflect the history of Syrixian traders in Saintonge (battre les syrixiens = to exceed the expectations [of the Syrixian traders]; la maladie syrixienne = syphilis, brought by Syrixian sailors into port cities; payer syrixie = to pay Syrixia i.e. something exorbitantly expensive).

Xentherida also features in Santonian idioms, either in a positive (à l'heure xentheridienne) or somewhat negative (faire le xentheridien) way.

Skanda (c’est du scandain, demander le tapis scandain) is usually used to represent the exotic, although Goyanes, Ulstome, and Astragon - all faraway countries – are also sometimes used.

List of Santonian idioms featuring other countries (not exhaustive)

• à l'heure xentheridienne (“On Xentheridan time”): be in early, like arriving early for a meeting
  • Explanation: Santonians think that Xentheridans always arrive early.
• Attraper une maladie syrixienne (“to get the Syrixian disease”): to get syphilis
  • Explanation: Syphilis was thought to be brought by Syrixian sailors into port cities.
• Aussi pâle qu'un prydanien (“As pale as a Prydanian”): very white in complexion; i.e. “as pale as a ghost”
  • Explanation: Most Prydanians have fair complexion; although the Santonians also have fair complexion, Prydanians are deemed to be "whiter", probably because of their northern location. Some think the colour refers to the snowy winter landscape of Prydania instead.
• Aussi réel que le champagne syrixien (“as real as Syrixian champagne”): a fake, phony
  • Explanation: True champagne is Santonian. So when foreign traders brought foreign "champagne" in, it was thoroughly rejected as fake.
• Bâtir des châteaux en Astragon (“build castles in Astragon”): daydream; make plans that can never come true
  • Explanation: Astragon here is being used as a faraway location. Most Santonians can't even reach Astragon, let alone build castles in it.
• Battre les syrixiens (“Beat the Syrixians”): to exceed expectations
  • Explanation: Santonians traded with foreign ships, but it was the Syrixians who were known to have one of the most exacting and high expectations for goods to be traded. Hence, to beat the Syrixian [expectations] means to do a very good job.
• Casse-tête cerdan (“Cerdan puzzle”): an easy task, an easy question.
  • Explanation: The Santonian language is close to the Cerdan one, and so a question or "puzzle" asked in Cerdan can be understood and answered easily by a Santonian.
• C’est du scandain (“It’s Skandan”): something that is difficult to understand, i.e. “It’s all Greek to me”.
  • Explanation: An example of an exotic language being used to represent something that cannot be understood.
• C'est pas le Goyanes (“it’s not Goyanes”): it's nothing special, it’s not special, it's nothing to write home about
  • Explanation: Goyanes is seen in Saintonge as a nice and beautiful, but a faraway and exotic land. So "it's not Goyanes" means something like "if it's not as special as Goyanes, don't bother me about it".
• Débattre des savons goyanaux (“to debate the Goyanean soaps”): to argue over little things
  • Explanation: Goyanean soaps (as in literal soap) are not well-known in Saintonge; so arguing about Goyanean soaps means arguing over trivial stuff.
• Demander le tapis scandain (“wanting the Skandan rug”): making another, more difficult demand; i.e. “moving the goalposts”
  • Explanation: During the pre-industrial era, Skandan rugs are rare and expensive luxuries. "Wanting the Skandan rug", means requesting the difficult and hard-to-reach/obtain.
• Demander quel temps fait-il en Beaconsfield (“Asking what is the weather like in Beaconsfield”): asking a very irrelevant question
  • Explanation: This one uses the Prydanian capital as the exotic. Sometimes this idiom is sarcastically answered by "C'est froid" ("it's cold").
• Déranger les xentheridiens (“Go disturb the Xentheridans”): go bother someone else, bugger off
  • Explanation: "Go bother someone else"/"Go bother the neighbours", with Xentherida being the neighbours.
• Devenir scalvien (“Going Scalvian”): splitting the bill
  • Explanation: Scalvia is known for having three equal nations in its federation, and so "Going Scalvian" means splitting the bill.
• Devenir une poupée predicéenne (“becoming a Predicean doll”): used to describe a person who is becoming close to someone who does not have their best interests at heart; i.e. Stockholm syndrome
  • Explanation: This came from the 19^th Santonian play les Chaînes d'Or ("Golden Shackles") in which one of the Predicean characters works as a cook in a merchant's luxurious household. She eventually becomes the merchant's mistress and stays with him despite his abuses. The line was said by the gardener: "Look at you, you look like a broken rag doll! Is this you want to become, a puppet bowing to the whims of your master no matter how cruel he is?"
• En Ulstome [pour tout ce qui m'importe] (“In Ulstome [for all I care]”): away, to an unknown place, never to be seen again
  • Explanation: This one uses Ulstome as the exotic. Usually used as an answer to questions like "Where is <person>?" "In Ulstome, or god knows where."
• Et maintenant, depuis la Prydanie est limitrophe de la Norsie… (“And now, since Prydania borders Norsia…”): what was said had no bearing on the “consequence”
  • Explanation: This is used as a way to acknowledge non sequiturs, since Prydania bordering Norsia has no bearing on the “consequences”.
• Excusez mon syrixien (“Excuse my Syrixian”): used for apologizing for swearing; i.e. “Pardon my French”
  • Explanation: Using a foreign, menacing nation for a pejorative.
• Faire le xentheridien (“to act like a Xentheridan”): to clown around; to make fun
  • Explanation: Some think this is another example for another foreign country used as a pejorative, like what mothers would say to misbehaving children. But in current Santonian usage, this is sometimes used positively, such as between teenagers who want to get wasted on booze.
• Faire une carte de Scalvie (“to make a map of Scalvia”): to have a wet dream
  • Explanation: Describes how the protein makes marks on clothing that looks like a map. Various countries can be used, including Saintonge, but Scalvia is the most popular.
• Fromage aydinois (“Aydini cheese”): gonorrhoea
  • Explanation: The Sultans of Aydin are known to keep harems, which is very much frowned upon in Saintonge. Popular rumour in the 19^th century had it that a Sultan of Aydin was one of the causes of a spread of a sexually-transmitted illness among his harem and Aydini society. The "cheese" refers to the discharge caused by the disease.
• Galoper à travers la Meterre (“galloping across Meterra”): do something hastily or haphazardly
  • Explanation: One cannot simply ride cross Meterra quickly. If someone "accomplishes" something quickly in an almost-impossible amount of time, it means that it is being done hastily/haphazardly/roughshod.
• Grand(e) et syrixien(ne) (“Big and Syrixian”): a show off
  • Explanation: Foreign traders usually advertise their foreign goods as "big" and "best"; the cynical Santonians think these traders are just showing off. Sometimes heard as Grand(e) et Suavidique, using the Suavidici as the reference country.
• Haute cuisine gottienne (“Gottian high cuisine”): bad tasting food
  • Explanation: Gottia has a reputation in Saintonge for having bad tasting food.
• Laissant à l'ocluséenne (“leave in Oclusian style”): leave without saying goodbye
  • Explanation: Foreigners sometimes have difficulty understanding how long-winded Santonian gatherings could be, and sometimes they just sneak out. It is not known why Oklusia was chosed to represent the foreigners; although this idiom is sometimes heard as Laissant à la xentheridienne, especially in the areas bordering Oklusia.
• La douche syrixienne (“Syrixian bath”): a quick cleansing or masking of one’s dirtiest parts
  • Explanation: Living in a ship is not easy; sailors rarely bathe. And when these traders came to Saintonge, where it is de rigeur to bathe daily, the locals were repelled by their odour.
• La mintorine (“the Mintorian”): an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading, ie. the guillotine IRL
  • Explanation: The guillotine was invented by Konstantin Mendel, a Mintorian immigrant in Loudun, during the Santonian Revolution in 1788. The Duke of the Sologne had been executing a lot of people - priests, commoners, townsfolk, serfs. He was also infamous for his sadistic treatment of people, thinking up of ways of execution without wasting bullets. So when Mendel made a prototype execution machine and showed it to the Duke, the Duke enthusiastically embraced the invention and used it with gusto. Mendel became a victim of his invention when he too was executed by the Duke when he tried to collect payment for his invention.
• L’auberge aydinoise (“the Aydini inn”): a place where you can only eat what you bring and by extension, a place or situation where you only find what you brought; nowadays used for “potluck”
  • Explanation: Aydin has a reputation in Saintonge for being backwards and poor; hence an "Aydini inn" would have nothing inside. Anything that would be there would be the things you have brought yourself. Nowadays this is used as an idiom for "potluck".
• Les billets predicéens (“Predicean banknotes”): worthless things
  • Explanation: This probably had its roots after the Fascist War, when Predicean banknotes were rendered worthless by the hyperinflation.
• Les économiques esthursiennes (“Esthursian economics”): things that seem to work but don't
  • Explanation: This uses faraway, unknown countries as reference, where the details of the workings of these countries are unknown or not easily understandable. Also sometimes heard as les économiques tardinoises ("Tardinean economics"), using another Aurorian country; to a lesser extent, other Aurorian countries are also used.
• Les grattes-ciels aydinoises (“Aydini skyscrapers”): a construction built solely to deceive others into thinking that a situation is better than it really is; i.e. “Potemkin villages”
  • Explanation: Aydin has a reputation in Saintonge for being backwards and poor; hence an "Aydini skyscaper" would probably be just for show.
• La lettre syrixienne (“Syrixian letter”): a condom
  • Explanation: Using a foreign, menacing nation for a pejorative. Some historians think that this is a warning for sex workers in port cities to use protection when dealing with foreigners: see Attraper une maladie syrixienne.
• L’or xentheridien (“Xentheridan gold”): an alloy of copper and other metals that are being used for imitation gold leaf; now figuratively used to describe a brilliant, cheaper and more practical way of doing something
  • Explanation: Some historians think that this alloy came to Saintonge from Xentherida, although this has not been conclusively proven. This is now used positively to describe a brilliant, cheaper, and more practical way of doing something, since being able to use cheaper Xentheridan gold in place of real gold and yet accomplish a good result.
• Le trône syrixien (“Syrixian throne”): a toilet
  • Explanation: Using a foreign, menacing nation in a pejorative.
• Manger les pâtes predicéens (“eat your Predicean pasta”): may you have a long life
  • Explanation: This is typically said as a birthday wish during birthday parties, as the long spaghetti strands were said to represent long life.
• Manger votre curry syrixien (“eating your Syrixian curry”): denying something so blatantly obvious
  • Explanation: Santonian popular belief holds that curry arose from Syrixia. Historians say that it was probably brought by Syrixian traders from Skanda instead, but in Saintonge, curry got associated with Syrixia. When Santonians got corrected about the source of the curry, they replied with that quote because they don't believe the idea. Obviously curry came from Skanda, yet the Santonians like to deny it. Thus “eating your Syrixian curry” = "eat your own lies" or "go believe what you want to even if it's not true"
• Ont du charbon dans leurs chaussettes goyanaux ("to have coal in their Goyanean socks"): used for rich bratty kids, especially around holidays
  • Explanation: Goyanean socks are viewed as an expensive import, affordable only to the well off. The other reference is Christmas, wherein naughty kids get coal. So the rich bratty kid is wealthy enough to use his/her Goyanean sock for St Nicholas to put presents in, but because of his/her naughtiness, gets coal instead.
• Parler saintongeais comme une vache gottienne (“to speak Santonian like a Gottian cow”): speaking Santonian poorly
  • Explanation: Gots also came to Saintonge for trade, and they are known to speak Santonian with a strong accent.
• Payer syrixie (“to pay Syrixia”): to pay for something exorbitantly expensive; i.e. “it costs an arm and a leg”
  • Explanation: This idiom has two possible sources: some stories hold that some of the traders overcharge for their wares and goods; some stories hold that some of the traders brought expensive items for trade. Both stories meant that the locals were paying a lot.
• Preparer le ragoût demescien (“cooking the Demescian stew”): to mix everything without thinking whether they will go well together (also applied not only to food, but to groups of people as well)
  • Explanation: Various imperialist and colonialist powers were involved in Demescia, which does not sit well with the anti-imperialist Santonians. In its early form, the usage was very much sympathetic to Demescia, running along the lines of "a lot of people are meddling" or "too many cooks spoil the broth".
• Renvoyée aux calendes iraeliennes (“to reschedule to the first day of the Iraelian calendar”): postpone indefinitely
  • Explanation: The Iraelian calendar is foreign to Saintonge, so they have difficulty understanding it, i.e. another example of using the exotic.
• Ressemblant à un silien ruiné/qui a fait faillite (“to look like a Silien who just went bankrupt”): to look gloomy/dejected
  • Explanation: Siliens (people from Sil Dorsett) are stereotyped in Saintonge as very wealthy, so in Santonian minds, for them to lose all their money/go bankrupt, they would be very sad indeed.
• S'asseoir à un sermon scandain (“Sit like in a Skandan sermon”): listening cluelessly and not understanding what was being talked about
  • Explanation: An example of an exotic language being used to represent something that cannot be understood. Also sometimes heard as S'asseoir à un sermon goyanais (“Sit like in a Goyanean sermon”).
• Syrixienade (“Syrixian deed/to Syrixian”): an adjective used to describe someone whose was supposed to have an appointment/meeting but the other person did not show up
  • Explanation: Another possible example of a pejorative, although some historians think that this might be due to foreign traders not being able to arrive on the agreed date at the port, as piracy was rampant in the North Meterran Sea during the 18^th century. Sometimes also heard as Xentheridienade.
• Téléphone xentheridien (“Xentheridan telephone”): gossip; i.e. “Chinese whispers”
  • Explanation: An example of a foreign language being used to represent something that is difficult to understand. Also known (especially in northeastern Saintonge) as Scandale cerdan (“Cerdan scandal”).
• Tortellini oclusé ("Oclusian tortellini"): a forbidden, scandalous love affair
  • Explanation: True tortellini (the food) is Predicean. Yet somehow an "Oclusian tortellini" became a metaphor for a forbidden, scandalous love affair, such as between a teacher and an underaged student, a married boss and his secretary, a priest and a parishioner. "Eating the Oclusian tortellini" (Manger le tortellini oclusé) means having such an affair. The idiom stemmed from an Oclusi film called "My Teacher" (Mon maîtresse), featuring one such relationship and tortellini. The film was banned in Saintonge the 1990s.
• Une affaire syrixien (“Do a Syrixian business deal”): a deal that is too good to be true
  • Explanation: Some of the foreign traders were known to lower their prices very much so that they can outdo their competitors, in the process lowering the quality or cheating on their products.
• Yalcaner ("to Yalkan"): to force someone to do something involuntarily; i.e. "Shanghaiing"
  • Explanation: Some of the famous pirates in the North Meterran Sea were thought to be from Yalkan. Some of the pirate groups (not necessarily the ones from Yalkan only) were known to raid coasts to kidnap and impress sailors into their pirate crews.

Despite the popular perception of Saintonge being a homogenous country, certain areas of the country, particularly the cities, are cosmopolitan, thanks to a long history of migration into Saintonge.

Pre-modern era
Santonians are autochthonous to Saintonge, and pre-modern Saintonge did not have strict controls on immigration. Saintonge – rural and agricultural – was not a big destination for migration. The country did trade with external countries, and the earliest migrants into Saintonge are mostly these traders.

The country mostly welcomed the traders and they integrated into Santonian society. This warm welcome that Saintonge presented was punctuated by two events.

Foreigners, particularly Gottians, were settling along the coastline of Saintonge in the 15^th century, establishing makeshift trading posts. Some formed enclaves of their own, such as Francfort on the Bethanian coast. In 1466, the paranoid King Charles III “the Mad”, afraid that this was a pretext for an invasion of Saintonge, ordered all foreigners to relocate to designated areas. Foreigners were forbidden to settle within 10 kilometres of the Santonian coast, except in designated areas within ports of trade. (This law was in place until 1837.) The designated port of trade was Saintes – this meant that all external trade and foreign traders had to go to Saintes. This spurred the explosive growth of the city. After Saintes, only three other ports were subsequently opened to foreign trade: Nyon in 1544, Bâle in 1653, and Côme in 1784. Restrictions on foreign trade were mostly eased in 1840 – most ports were then opened to trade.

The second event was the expulsion of hostile foreigners during the Santonian Revolution. A fifth column of foreigners sympathetic to the nobles tried to sabotage the defenses of Saintes, held by the revolutionaries. The revolutionary government simply expelled the hostile foreigners by sending them on boats bound for Xentherida.

Immigration Act
Saintonge began to control migration into the country during the economic crisis the early 1870s. Unemployment was rife in the country, and some of the newspapers blamed the ‘incessant immigration’ for taking jobs away from Santonians. In response, the Popular government of Jacques-Christophe Laclède passed the 1874 Santonian Immigration Law (Loi Barbaroux), which imposed immigration caps into Saintonge. Loi Barbaroux capped immigration into Saintonge at 0.1% of the population (a cap that still exists today). Passing Loi Barbaroux to placate the electorate was not enough, and the Laclède government was voted out in the 1874 elections.

The new government that came in, the Liberal government of Zeus-Achille de Saint-Maxent, passed even more laws restricting immigration. Prime Minister de Saint-Maxent himself was personally in favour of more immigration, but the other parties in his disparate coalition government were more hardline and pushed for more restrictions. The Saint-Maxent government passed the 1876 Selective Immigration Act (Loi Levavasseur) which provided the criteria for acceptance of a migrant into Saintonge. Loi Levavasseur is the predecessor to the 1944 Foreigner Registration and Residency Law (Loi Joyal). Prime Minister Zeus-Achille de Saint-Maxent was assassinated in 1876 by a rejected migrant who was disgruntled at the country’s immigration laws. This hardened Saintonge’s position on immigration and the widespread acceptance of the idea that “Saintonge should screen and select the people that it will allow into the country”.

Exceptions
Immigration into Saintonge screeched to a halt, which started impacting some sectors of Santonian society. Scientific organisations in Saintonge lamented the fact that the country’s reputation as a centre of science was being hampered by the fact that some foreign scientists, researchers, and promising students were being prevented from coming in by Loi Barbaroux and Loi Levavasseur; while the government customarily approves such applications, it was another piece of red tape. Thus, in 1886, the government of Liberal Prime Minister Jean-Arthur-Pierre Maisonneuve de Briance passed the Loi Alajouanine, which provided an exception for “potential economic and scientific contributors to Saintonge”. Loi Alajouanine effectively amended Loi Levavasseur by prioritising scientists in the migration quotas. Loi Levavasseur would also be amended by subsequent laws that would prioritise the migration of certain classes of people, such as speakers of languages close to Santonian (1917 Loi Flahault I) and Courantists (1919 Loi Flahault II), in the pretext that these people would be easiest to integrate into Santonian society.

These criteria would be synthesised by the 1944 Foreigner Registration and Residency Law (Loi Joyal). Loi Joyal created a temporary resident status and a permanent resident status (permanent resident status is needed to apply for naturalization) and set the requirements for applicants. Fluency in Santonian, proof of financial means or employment, and proof of accommodation are some of the requirements for applicants for permanent residency. The requirements for temporary residency are more lenient. Loi Joyal effectively created a points-based system in which prospective immigrants were chosen.

Welcoming Refugees
Loi Joyal, for all its comprehensiveness, was immediately suspended by the turn of world events. The Fascist War was raging throughout the world, and Saintonge was experiencing a deluge in asylum applications.

A clause in Loi Joyal allowed the Santonian Parliament to pass a law to temporarily override certain provisions of Loi Joyal up to a year “as necessary”. That particular clause in Loi Joyal descended from the 1913 Asylum Seekers’ Law (Loi des Droits d’Asile/Loi Dandenac), which enabled the government to suspend or override Saintonge’s immigration laws to accommodate refugees. The National government of Prime Minister Jean-Marie-Bernard Berdoll overrode the Santonian immigration laws every year from 1938 to 1943 in order to accommodate refugees fleeing persecution. This, however, provoked a reaction in the Santonian National Assembly. When Loi Joyal was proposed in 1943, it triggered an intense debate in the National Assembly and within the National Party. Loi Joyal ultimately transferred to Parliament the power to suspend/override Santonian immigration laws. With the passage of Loi Joyal, Saintonge’s intake of refugees in 1944 plummeted, which caused Santonian embassies in war-torn countries to be swarmed and overcrowded with refugees.

In November 1944, mere months after passing Loi Joyal, the Santonian Parliament invoked the clause and overrode certain sections of Loi Joyal in order to admit more refugees into Saintonge.

Overriding Loi Joyal typically takes on two forms: (1) increasing the migrant intake quota/immigration quota; and (2) exempting certain groups of people from the migrant intake limit. Using the latter means that these groups of people will not count towards filling the country’s migrant quota. During 1938-1944, the Berdoll government simply increased the migrant intake quota. However, during the closing years of the Fascist War, the National Assembly was concerned that fascists might use Saintonge’s immigration laws to come into the country. Thus, when the National Assembly overrode Loi Joyal in 1944, it indicated that the expanded migrant quota would only apply to people “who could prove that they have no relation to fascists and hold no fascist ideology.”


The second method became more popular in the recent decades. After the communist takeover in Predice, thousands of Prediceans fled to Saintonge. The Santonian Parliament exempted Prediceans from the migrant quota from 1973, and then continuously with the right-leaning coalition government of Prime Minister Charles-Martin Perrier des Jarlais in 1975-1985. The exemption also came with the caveat that the communists are not allowed entry into Saintonge. Majority of the 2.5 million Prediceans who fled to Saintonge in the 20^th century arrived during this period.

During the Gotmark War in the 1980s, Saintonge took in Gottians who were opposed to the Gaucheis regime. The country did not see the need to supersede Loi Joyal as the country’s immigration quota was able to accommodate these political refugees. However, in the aftermath of the war, a humanitarian crisis erupted in the devastated, divided, and destroyed former Gottian lands. Saintonge was one of the first (and few) countries to send massive humanitarian aid. The National government of Prime Minister Arnaud-Gauthier Laënnec packed Saintonge’s immigration quota with Gottian refugees, and urged the National Assembly to override Loi Joyal. In 1989, the particularly harsh winter killed thousands of people in Hessunland, a situation that was widely publicized in Saintonge. In response, the Santonian National Assembly finally passed a law to override Loi Joyal, exempting Hessunlanders from the immigration quota – this enabled the Kingdom of Saintonge to take in Hessunlander refugees at will. The Santonian National Assembly also appropriated an unprecedentedly large amount of foreign aid to Hessunland and directed the Société nationale d'investissement de Saintonge to invest in the rebuilding of the country. The Kingdom of Saintonge accepted about 300,000 Hessunlander refugees in 1989-1994, more than thrice the migrant limit for 1990. About one-third of these refugees stayed in Saintonge for good.

Loi Joyal was also overridden throughout the Prydanian Civil War (2002-2017). During the prelude to the war, Saintonge’s 100,000 annual immigration quota was able to take in the Prydanian asylum seekers. But as the Syndicalists couped and started persecution, Santonian diplomats and organisations started extricating as much refugees as they can - Saintonge being one of the few viable exit countries for Prydanians seeking to flee the country. Saintonge’s immigration quota was filling up. The Santonian National Assembly exempted Prydanians from the immigration quota from 2003-2017, with the height of Prydanian immigration occurring in 2003-2009 (during the height of Syndicalist repression against religious communities) and 2013-2016 (during the evacuation of Santonian consulates and safehouses to avoid them being caught in the battles). An estimated two million Prydanian refugees arrived in Saintonge during the entirety of the Prydanian Civil War. After the war in 2017, the Coalition government of Jean-Louis Hauteclocque de Champtoceaux also appropriated foreign aid to help rebuild Prydania and directed SNIS investment into the country.

Oclusia were nearly considered for exemptions in 2019, respectively; but as Saintonge’s migrant limit was able to accommodate the refugees then, the National Assembly did not override the Loi Joyal.

This massive refugee inflows in the past century meant that Santonians of immigrant descent now make up 5% of Santonian population. 3.5 million Santonians are of Predicean descent, 2.5 million Santonians are of Prydanian descent, and about 150,000 Santonians are of Hessunlander descent.

The Santonian health care system is one of universal health care financed by statutory national health insurance (Régie de l'assurance maladie du Saintonge, RAMS) and private health insurance (mutuelles), with some support from the government.

Health consumption expenditures in the Kingdom of Saintonge in 2018 amounted to 11.9% of its GDP, totalling £969.8 billion (646.5 billion IBU) – or £7,840.70 (5,227.13 IBU) per capita.

Health Metrics
Saintonge’s health care system is considered one of the best in the world. The country has a high life expectancy of 81.85 years and an infant mortality rate of 4.6 per 1,000 live births.

History
Until the end of the 18^th century, most hospitals are charities run by the Santonian National Church – staffed by nuns and managed by clergymen. Doctors and scientists worked in the hospitals as well; also, many of the doctors and scientists were also clergy. (Women doctors also existed in Saintonge before the 19^th century, they were mostly nuns.) With the weak central government, health coverage was not uniform throughout the country – and it was often neglected. Only some of the wealthier cities (Saintes, Nyon, Côme) had civic hospitals. Some of the provinces led by enlightened dukes (Pouilles, Bavière, Aunis) had built hospitals of their own as well.

This patchwork of jurisdictions led for disjointed health care in Saintonge. Thus, when Édouard Génier discovered a vaccine for smallpox in 1756, it took two royal decrees, the cooperation of the Santonian National Church, and the mobilisation of the clergy in order to launch a mass vaccination programme in the 1760s. (Smallpox was eradicated in Saintonge in 1824, though vaccinations continue until today.)

The Santonian Revolution brought forth a clamour for uniform health services throughout the country. Like with education, the Revolutionary Estates-General initially wanted to entrust the responsibility for health with the Santonian National Church. This was opposed by the more scientific- and liberal- minded deputies such as Yves-Jacques Arthaud and François-Marie Airvault. Surprisingly, it was also opposed in the First Estate, with the Archbishops of Provins and Tiffauges swaying the undecided bishops. The Archbishop of Tiffauges crudely said that “the Church’s role is in saving souls, not lives.” The more diplomatic Archbishop of Provins said that “the Church will continue to assist the Santonians in their suffering, but the state should step up in its responsibility.” The Church was concerned that its finances would not sustain taking responsibility for both education and health, particularly after it was dispossessed of its lands in the Concordat of 1793.

Saintonge tried to set up its own state-funded health care organisation by building a network of hospitals and training medical professionals. But the subsequent economic crises in the 19^th century exposed the heavy burden of maintaining the taxpayer-funded health care system.

The current system was devised by Health Minister Thibault-Landry Cotard in 1903, in which there is a national health insurance system, to be augmented by private ones. Responsibility for running most hospitals was delegated to local governments. A health board (conseils de la santé) was organized in each intendancy, which runs the health care programs. Health boards are supervised by the departmental governments. Quality and the delivery of the health care are monitored by the Ministry of Health.


Health Care System
Universal Health Care
Saintonge’s system is based on universal health care. All citizens have a general practitioner (GP, “médecin généraliste”). The general practitioners are employed by the health board and have a basic salary, with an additional remuneration per consultation (by the insurance company, see below). The Ministry of Health has requirements as to the minimum number of general practitioners an intendancy should have (as a function of population and land area). Conversely, there are also standards as to the maximum number of patients a general practitioner could have (as a function of accessibility and land area). For instance, a general practitioner in a large city is allowed to have up to 2,000 citizen-patients; while in a rural area, the number may drop to as low as 500.

Citizens are allowed to choose their own GPs and shift between GPs, but they must notify their health board (and both GPs) of their change. This allows the health board and their GPs to keep track of the citizen’s health status. GPs also serve as the vehicle through which government health programs reach citizens, such as the mandatory vaccinations. Within the system, referrals to specialists come through GPs only.

Specialist care is available in hospitals (which have outpatient clinics). Specialists, like general practitioners, have a basic salary, with an additional remuneration per consultation/procedure (by the insurance company, see below).

Hospitals and Clinics
All parishes/communes are required to have a clinic where the GPs can see patients. For small villages, they may be just rooms in the mairie (town hall). Larger towns and cities may have buildings specifically for clinics; many have multiple clinics throughout their jurisdictions. The clinics are where the general practitioners usually see outpatients.

Hospitals may be primary, secondary, or tertiary.

All intendancies/health boards are required to have at least one primary hospital, the staffing of which is regulated by the Ministry of Health (again, depending on population). For example, the intendancy of Saint-Thélo (department of the Vôges, population 21,103) has a primary hospital with one general surgeon, one paediatrician, one obstetrician-gynaecologist, and one medical internist. Larger intendancies may have more than one primary hospital or more specialist staff. The specialists liaise and assist the general practitioners in their intendancy.

Secondary hospitals are run by the departments. All departments are required to have at least one secondary hospital (although more populous departments have more than one). Subspecialty care (ex. orthopaedic surgery, paediatric nephrology, gynaecologic oncology, adult cardiology) is typically found in secondary hospitals. They serve as referral centres from primary hospitals and from general practitioners who may feel that subspecialist care is more appropriate for their patients.

Tertiary hospitals are run by the Ministry of Health and serve a catchment area of several departments. For example, the Hôpital Général du Val de Doire in Mondovie serves the departments of Monce-et-Briance, Suippe, and Vercors. In tertiary hospitals, very specialized procedures such as coronary artery bypass procedures are done; tertiary hospitals also have specialized care units like burn units. Many of these tertiary hospitals are affiliated with universities and medical schools. For example, the Hôpital Général de Côme is the training hospital of the medical school of the Ducal University of the Pouilles (Université ducale des Pouilles).

The distance between hospitals and patients is bridged by the Santonian Civil Defence Service (Service saintongeaise de defense civile, SSDC), the country’s integrated fire, ambulance, and rescue services. SSDC is organised by department and is the responsibility of the departmental governments. The centralised ambulance service (which may include medical airlift services in large rural departments) serves to bring down costs for the health boards.

Health financing
The entire adult population must pay compulsory health insurance (RAMS). Workers do so as a contribution from their salaries, with an additional contribution by their employer. Self-employed have to pay premiums as well. Senior citizens’ contributions are automatically deducted from their pensions. RAMS contributions are assessed progressively: the higher the income of an adult is, the higher the contribution. (In extreme cases, very wealthy senior citizens may see their entire pension diverted to RAMS.) Contributions on behalf of the indigent and the unemployed come from the social services budget of the department they are legally resident in. The system generally works smoothly and all citizens are covered. The financial health of the RAMS is considered sustainable. RAMS, being the entity that pays for majority of healthcare costs in Saintonge, wields a lot of bargaining power and thus is able to bring healthcare costs down.

RAMS will cover much of the cost of essential healthcare in public institutions, ranging from 80% to 100%. Since some percentage of the healthcare costs may not be covered, many Santonians also have private health insurance (mutuelles). For instance, hospitalisation for pneumonia will normally be fully covered by RAMS, but if the patient desires an upgrade in the hospital room, RAMS will not pay for the upgrade and this is where the mutuelle comes in. In another example, if the patient chooses to be admitted in a private hospital (usually more expensive), RAMS will pay only a fraction (calculated as certain percentage of the cost if the patient was admitted in a public institution); the rest is borne out-of-pocket or covered by the mutuelle.

Thus, hospitals are reimbursed of their costs by RAMS and the mutuelles. However, in smaller departments and intendancies (in terms of population), running a public hospital may not be sustainable (because too few people get sick). Departmental councils thus also contribute to the running of such hospitals. The national government also plays a large part through the “Health Equalization Fund” (fond de péréquation de la santé, FPS), which subsidises the cost of running hospitals and clinics in rural areas. The FPS also aims to reduce inequalities in health care in the country.

Public perception and issues
Surveys have consistently shown the Santonian public to be very satisfied with the country’s health care system. Waiting times are generally short, attributed to the country’s extensive network of clinics and hospitals, and the compensation structure for physicians. The recent attempt to outsource medicine in some departments led to longer waiting times, mainly because of the changes in the hospital administration and compensation for physicians. The change has since been rescinded in 2019.

Other issues include the provision of medical care to non-citizens and the lack of certain healthcare personnel. Currently, RAMS covers temporary and permanent residents only after they have contributed for one year to the fund (contributions are compulsory if they are working in Saintonge); otherwise they should have their mutuelle to cover them in the meantime. Campaigners believe that this is discrimination against non-citizens, since they pay premiums but are not covered for the first year. However, RAMS said that the one-year contribution requirement is a safeguard against foreigners coming into Saintonge to seek free medical treatment. Refugees, on the other hand, are covered by a 1978 agreement between RAMS and the Santonian Bureau of Immigration and Integration (Agence d’immigration et d’intégration, AII): the AII pays for the insurance of refugees, who are covered from the day their asylum status is approved (no one-year waiting period).

Saintonge is also lacking in nurses and nursing assistants, brought about by the ageing of the population. Foreign nurses and nursing assistants now come to Saintonge to work, mainly from Hessunland.

Translations:
Parlement = Parliament
Premier Ministre = Prime Minister
Circonscription = Constituency
Parti = Party
Commentaire = Comments

In the aftermath of the Santonian Revolution, much of the country’s nobility was wiped out, including cadet branches and relatives of the royal family, as many sided with the noble rebellion against the Pope-King Thibault I. It resulted in the country being governed by Pope-Kings from 1787 to 1850.


Pope-King Thibault I
Historians agree that the first succession crisis began with the death of Crown Prince Charles, Duke of Saintes, in 1786. The Crown Prince died childless, leaving his younger brother, Pope Thibault of the Santonian National Church, as heir to the throne. They had no other siblings - Queen Radegonde of Saintonge became barren after suffering a miscarriage on her third pregnancy.

King Charles X, father of Crown Prince Charles and Pope-King Thibault I, died the next year in 1787. Pope Thibault ascended to the throne as King Thibault I. The new heir-apparent was the ambitious Duke Henri I of Champagne, the only younger brother of King Charles X. The Kingdom of Saintonge operates on male-preference primogeniture (Santonian primogeniture): sons (and their descendants) are higher in the succession line than daughters (and their descendants).

For a time, there was a debate as to whether Pope-King Thibault I should renounce his clerical state in order to be able to marry. Ordinarily, it is the Pope who grants permission for those cases; but it is not known as to whether the Pope can grant such a dispensation for himself.

The debate was put to naught by the ambitious Duke Henri I of Champagne, who secured an agreement with his brother King Charles X that Pope Thibault could ascend to the Santonian throne only if he will not marry and have children. This secured Duke Henri’s (and his descendants’) place in the succession for the Santonian throne, had it not been for the Santonian Revolution.

Santonian Revolution
Much of Saintonge’s nobles were slaughtered during the Santonian Revolution: either in battles such as the Battle of Lisle River, or when revolutionaries stormed castles and lynched the hated nobles. Only a few provinces (Artois, Aunis, Bavière, the Pouilles) retained their petty nobility, but some suffered considerable pruning of their nobility (Beaujolais, Grésivaudan).

Duke Henri I of Champagne led the rebel noble faction during the Santonian Revolution. Duke Henri I of Champagne died on 27 July 1790, after being lynched by the citizens of the town of Sainte-Menehould. His oldest son, Duke Henri the Younger, predeceased his father in the Siege of Provins on 7 September 1789. The second son, Charles of Champagne, Count of Lagny, was killed in the Skirmish at Aÿ (4 June 1790). Both Duke Henri the Younger and Charles of Champagne had daughters, but not sons. These children and their mothers died during the Siege of Provins, having been kept hostage by the revolutionaries and suffering the same deprivations as the revolutionary defenders and the townsfolk of Provins.

This meant that the only surviving legitimate male-line descendants of King Charles IX (father of King Charles X) was Pope-King Thibault I and the third son of Duke Henri I of Champagne: Bishop Timothée of Bicêtre.


Pope-King Timothée
Through the influence of Duke Henri I of Champagne, Timothée of Champagne, a newly-ordained priest, was installed as Bishop of Bicêtre in 1788. It was a strategic error on the part of his father, as Bishop Timothée of Bicêtre sided with his cousin Pope-King Thibault in the Santonian Revolution and against the rebelling noble faction of his father and siblings. Timothée was instrumental in preventing the throne of Saintonge from falling to his father. The Bishop of Bicêtre, being the son of a rebellious noble, had spies within the noble faction and was able to tip off his cousin of assassination attempts and inform him of their strategies. Duke Henri I of Champagne finally banished his third son from his province in January 1790. With the death of the Count of Lagny at Aÿ six months later, this meant that Bishop Timothée of Bicêtre became the heir to the Duchy of Champagne and became third in line to the Santonian throne.

Duke Henri I of Champagne attempted to summon the Estates of Champagne in the autumn of 1789, in order to have his illegitimate son, Baron Thierry of Pontfaverger, replace Timothée of Champagne in the line of succession. The First Estate of Champagne sided with their fellow cleric, Bishop Timothée of Bicêtre. The Third Estate was openly hostile to Duke Henri I. Duke Henri I of Champagne attempted to (illegally) name Baron Thierry of Pontfaverger in the line of succession. Nevertheless, Baron Thierry of Pontfaverger died in the Battle of the Lisle River in July 1790, eliminating any contest from the succession to the Duchy of Champagne.

The title “Duke of Champagne” itself was abolished by the revolutionary Estates of Champagne in October 1790, at the instigation of Bishop Timothée of Bicêtre.

With an heir that was sure to continue the revolutionary ideals, the succession to Pope-King Thibault I was secure. But the question remained as to who will succeed after Bishop Timothée, who was a cleric and celibate as well. The question was not probed further as the revolutionary Estates-General and its successor, the Parliament of Saintonge, was more concerned about passing revolutionary laws and reforming the country. Moreover, with much of the country’s nobility dead and after the chaos of the Revolution, it was simply assumed that there were no nobles left to continue the royal line.

Monarchy or Republic?
Intermittent discussions in the 1800s and 1810s mulled turning the country into a republic after the death of Pope-King Timothée (the clergy of Saintonge elected him as pope after he acceded to the throne as well). But Parliament was afraid that turning Saintonge into a republic would provoke an unfavourable reaction with neighbouring countries, which were all monarchies.

The matter was put to the public in a referendum in the 1815 Parliamentary elections, wherein a huge majority favoured continuing Saintonge as a monarchy. In response, the government of Jérôme-Lambert Carondelet passed the Succession Law of 1816. The Succession Law retained the Santonian primogeniture (which it said it will not change without the consent of the monarch); but in case that the Santonian royal line becomes extinct, the Santonian Parliament assumes the right to elect/nominate a new monarch within a set of criteria.


Pope-King Justin
At the end of the 1820s, the government and historians started to look closely as to whether there are any remaining descendants of the daughters of King Charles IX. King Charles IX had two daughters who survived into adulthood: Marie-Louise of Saintonge and Anne-Pauline of Saintonge.

Marie-Louise of Saintonge was married to Count Baldéric I of Pontaubault, the third son of the Duke of Germandie. She bore him two children before dying of an illness in 1753. Her children were Count Baldéric II of Pontaubault, and Baron Justin of Bacilly. The Baron of Bacilly died childless in 1773.

Count Baldéric II of Pontaubault married Geneviève Vaillander, suo jure Baroness of Cérences. They had three sons: Count Baldéric III of Pontaubault (technically the Count of Pontaubault for one day), Baron Fridolin II of Cérences, and Justin of Pontaubault.

Count Balderic II and his eighteen-year-old namesake went to battle for the rebelling noble armies. They were killed within a day of each other in the Battle of Lisle River. The Baroness of Cérences died during the winter of 1789 as the battlefronts in southern Saintonge neared. Her fourteen-year-old son, Baron Fridolin II of Cérences, took up the defence of their lands after the death of his mother. Fridolin II secretly sent his younger brother, Justin, to the safety of the hermitage of Saint-Aubin-de-Montsecret. Baron Fridolin II of Cérences was killed defending their lands, as troops from Bavière occupied Germandie.

Justin of Pontaubault, now an orphan, was officially taken in by the monks of Saint-Aubin-de-Montsecret. The revolutionary Estates of Germandie abolished all noble titles (including the County of Pontaubault and Barony of Cérences) after the Revolution. Justin of Pontaubault became a priest, serving as the parish priest of the small villages of Clairefougère, Médavy-le-Désert, Sainte-Céronne-d’Entremont, and Saint-Fraimbault-de-Montsecret in the department of the Breuse.

When the government officially launched a search for any descendants of Marie-Louise of Saintonge in 1832, the monks at Saint-Aubin-de-Montsecret wrote a letter to René-Martin Rolin, Bishop of Carpriquet, about the identity of Justin of Pontaubault and asking for advice on whether to reveal the secret that they had hidden for decades. Bishop Rolin instead forwarded the letter to Pope-King Timothée, who went on a surprise visit to his second cousin once removed. The inhabitants of Saint-Fraimbault-de-Montsecret, where Justin of Pontaubault was staying, were floored: their parish priest was the future king of Saintonge!

Justin of Pontaubault accepted the position as the heir-apparent to the throne of Saintonge, on one condition: that he remain a priest. He stayed with his flock until Pope-King Timothée died in 1835. Then he was summoned to Saintes to be crowned as king of Saintonge. The prelates of the Santonian National Church then subsequently elected him a Pope as well – making him the third Pope-King.


Anne-Pauline of Saintonge and Pauline Martel de Barbentane
Pope-King Justin, also a celibate priest, had no children. The economic crisis in the 1830s and 1840s took away priority from searching for successors. By the time Saintonge got out of the economic crisis in the late 1840s, the government of Jean-Marc Juneau set out to continue the search for the successor to the throne.

Pope-King Justin was the last of the living descendants of Marie-Louise of Saintonge. The focus was then on to Anne-Pauline of Saintonge, Marie-Louise’s younger sister.

Anne-Pauline of Saintonge married Count Georges I of Carqueiranne, the fourth son of the Duke of the Griffonné. She died while giving birth to Marie-Augustine of Carqueiranne, the couple’s only child. Marie-Augustine of Carqueiranne was married off to Baron Jean-Pierre Martel de Barbentane. Marie-Augustine bore him two children: Brice and Pauline. Like her mother, Marie-Augustine died while giving birth to Pauline in 1776. The Baron of Barbentane remarried to the ambitious Barbara de Labrunerie, daughter of the Baron of Labrunerie. Barbara had three sons and a daughter with the Baron of Barbentane. But since Brice Martel de Barbentane was Jean-Pierre’s first son, Marie-Augustine’s son was ahead of Barbara de Labrunerie’s children for succession in the barony. Barbara de Labrunerie was known to treat her stepchildren badly, with rumours of her viciousness spreading around town.

The nine-year-old Brice Martel de Barbentane died under suspicious circumstances in 1782, while his six-year-old sister Pauline Martel de Barbentane disappeared in the same year. Rumours spread in Barbentane that Barbara de Labrunerie murdered Brice, setting the townspeople against the Baron and Barbara de Labrunerie. The inhabitants of Barbentane petitioned the Duke of the Griffonné to investigate and dispense justice regarding the death of Brice Martel de Barbentane, even gaining the support of the Bishop of Vitrolles. The Duke of the Griffonné ignored the petition.

Baron Jean-Pierre Martel de Barbentane died in the Battle of Fosses-près-Trappes (15 July 1789), making Barbara de Labrunerie’s son, Jacques-Pierre, the Baron of Barbentane. Barbara de Labrunerie would then enjoy, for a short time, being the regent for her minor son. Barbara de Labrunerie was a ruthless ruler, her governance made the populace side with the Revolution quickly.

As such, when the Revolution unfolded in the Baltée valley, the inhabitants of Barbentane sought out Barbara de Labrunerie and her children; in a popular court in 1790, the Barbentanaises pronounced her guilty of the murder of Brice Martel de Barbentane and sentenced her to death. Her children were forced into monasteries for the rest of their lives, except Jacques-Pierre: after escaping from the Abbey of Demandolx, Jacques-Pierre was executed by the revolutionaries of the Baltée in July 1790. The revolutionary estates of the Griffonné would also abolish all noble titles in the province in 1791.

For several decades, Barbentanaises thought that their baronial family was totally gone. However, in 1836, Pauline Martel de Barbentane visited her hometown. Pauline Martel de Barbentane was hidden by Matthieu-Éric Marragon, the chamberlain of the Martel household. After Barbara de Labrunerie killed Brice Martel de Barbentane, Marragon sent Pauline to safety with his newly-married cousins in Vallauris, along with three letters and evidence of her parentage. Pauline grew up as a commoner and married a sailor, Thibault de Montescourt.

On her adoptive mother’s deathbed, Pauline was told about her real parentage, allowing her to piece together the fragments of her childhood memories. Pauline visited Barbentane in 1836 for confirmation. The parish priest and the mayor of Barbentane confirmed the evidence she was holding and that she was, indeed, the long-missing Pauline Martel de Barbentane.


Brice de Montescourt
Pauline Martel de Barbentane and Thibault de Montescourt had a son, Brice de Montescourt (who Pauline named after her beloved brother), and three daughters. Brice de Montescourt became a sailor like his father. He married a Prydanian, Luta Loðbrók, whom he met on his voyages. Brice de Montescourt married her and brought her to Saintonge. Luta Loðbrók was a rebellious Prydanian princess who married a foreigner commoner to get away from her country.

With Brice de Montescourt being away for much of the time, Luta and their child, Éric-Ketille (Erik-Kjeld in Prydanian) were in the care of Pauline Martel de Barbentane.

When the Santonian government re-launched inquiries on the possible descendants of Anne-Pauline of Saintonge in 1847, they traced her descendants to the baronial family of Barbentane. The parish priest of Barbentane informed investigators that Pauline Martel de Barbentane (Pope-King Justin’s third cousin) was still alive and was living in Vallauris. Investigators confirmed her story when visiting Vallauris. The investigators were still in Vallauris when Brice de Montescourt returned from his ship – he went from being an ordinary sailor to crown prince of Saintonge!

The news that Pope-Justin still had living relatives and that the Santonian royal line was still ongoing shook Saintonge. Some newspapers doubted the story, but a series by l’Indépendant showed the Santonians that Brice de Montescourt was a legitimate descendant of King Charles IX. To quell any possible challenge, in 1848 the Santonian Parliament invoked the Succession Law of 1816 to name Brice de Montescourt as the Crown Prince of Saintonge. (Technically his mother Pauline Martel de Barbentane should come before her son in the succession, but she declined the title.) Brice de Montescourt and his family were taken in the Royal Palace to learn life as nobles.

When Pope-King Justin died in 1855, Brice de Montescourt, now known as King Brice I of Saintonge (Santonian monarchs legally don’t have surnames), became the first non-clergy king of Saintonge in 63 years. Luta Loðbrók of Prydania became the first foreign-born queen of Saintonge in centuries (1855-1865).

Their half-Prydanian son Éric-Ketille married in 1851 to Anne-Liselotte de Rochecorbeau, daughter of the Baron of Rochecorbeau in the Bavière. Éric-Ketille became king of Saintonge in 1865 as King Eric of Saintonge, while his son Archambault IX succeeded him in 1874. The Santonian Royal Family would have another link to the Prydanian Royal Family when Crown Prince Archambault (the future King Archambault X - Archambault IX’s son and Éric-Ketille’s grandson) would marry Princess Asleif Loðbrók in 1896. She became Saintonge’s another Prydanian-born queen during King Archambault X’s reign from 1904-1930.

The Kingdom of Saintonge is a mineral-rich country, although it is not wholly self-sufficient in some sectors. Minerals are considered a “national resource”, dating as far back as the 1340 Loi des Monnaies of King Archambault II. Everything extracted from the ground is considered national patrimony, a situation that was maintained throughout the centuries and strengthened in statute until today.


There are six crown corporations that hold the exclusive right to mine in Saintonge, each focused on its group of commodities:

• Compagnie nationale du charbon et de l’acier (CNCA, National Coal and Steel Company) – initially established for iron and steelmaking, the CNCA’s remit has also extended to non-metallic minerals such as diatomaceous earth and phosphates.
• Compagnie nationale du cuivre (CNC, National Copper Company) – named after its biggest export, copper, the CNC also mines for non-ferruginous metal ores, such as nickel, cobalt, rare earth elements, zinc, titanium, tungsten, etc. (except for those covered by MRS, see below)
• Mines royales de Saintonge (MRS, Royal Mines of Saintonge) – is concerned with mining gemstones and precious metals (gold, silver, platinum, palladium and other noble metals – ruthenium, rhodium, iridium, osmium)
• Cimentonge (CIM, cement and aggregates) – a portmanteau of its main product, cement, and Saintonge, Cimentonge has the rights to mine aggregates, precursors for cement, and other building materials such as granite, marble, and soapstone.

The other two companies are involved in mining as part of the energy sector.

• Compagnie saintongeaise des pétroles (CSP, Santonian Petroleum Company) – is mainly concerned about oil and natural gas. CSP is also considered part of the energy sector of Saintonge.
• Électricité de Saintonge (EdS) – Saintonge’s national electricity company, EdS conducts uranium and thorium mining to feed its nuclear power plants

The production and export of the minerals and metals are strictly controlled. The Ministry of Industry, on the recommendation of the crown corporations, has the power to control the exports. In general, mineral export may be prohibited by statute (gold and precious metals), controlled, or endorsed (exports encouraged as an income generating industry). Most of them are controlled as the country wishes to maintain its self-sufficiency and preserve its natural resources. The export status and the company involved are summarized in the table.

This article is divided by commodity.

Aggregates
Aggregates are sand, gravel, and crushed rock aggregates that are widely used in the construction industry. This is under the remit of the Cimentonge.

Aluminium/Bauxite
Bauxite is the main source of aluminium; bauxite is converted to alumina (Al₂O₃). Named after the locality of Les Baux-de-Griffonné, bauxite is mined the eastern Griffonné (departments of Lys, Baltée, and Sarine), where the adjacent wind farms and the Graveson Nuclear Power Plant power the electrolytic conversion of alumina to aluminium metal via the Hérault process.
Antimony
Antimony is primarily present in Saintonge as the mineral stibnite (Sb₂S₃), mined in L’Ombrie mountains in western Saintonge. Rare native antimony can be found in the Mont Antimoine (3,728m) in the department of the Sée.

Arsenic
Found as minerals such as realgar and arsenopyrite, Saintonge’s only commercial source of arsenic is in Ombrée-de-Béthagne, but the CNC has decreased its mining activity there due to environmental concerns. Saintonge now imports much of its arsenic needs, although this is minimal as the country had banned arsenic use in pesticides and agriculture since Santonian scientist Paul-Mériadec Malartic proved its toxicity in 1888.

Barium
Mined as barytes, these barium compounds are used in applications that utilize its high specific gravity, softness, non-abrasiveness, chemical neutrality, and brightness. Four-fifths of baryte production is used in the manufacture of drilling fluids for oil and gas exploration. Saintonge’s commercially mined barytes are in the Tyrossian hills in the west of the country (departments of Hautes-Andes, Basses-Andes, and Dronne).

Bentonite
Bentonite can be calcium bentonite (attapulgite) or sodium bentonite (montmorillonite). Saintonge’s deposits tend to be montmorillonite, mined near Montmorillon (Sambre) and the upper Sambre and Boëch valleys.

Bismuth
Twice abundant as gold, bismuth is primarily found in Saintonge as bismite (bismuth oxide), mined in the northern Andes (departments of Côtes-du-Nord and Sée). The rare precious metal-bismuthide mineral corbarite [(Pt,Pd)(Ag,Au)(Te,Bi)₂] is found near Corbarieu (Aubrac).

Bromine
Bromine is extracted from seawater, and thus not technically considered a mineral. The CNCA and EdS produce bromine at a facility in Sciez (Basses-Alpes).

Cadmium
A byproduct of zinc refining, Saintonge’s strict environmental laws and controls on mining made cadmium recovery from zinc byproducts almost imperative, to avoid environmental contamination. The same laws made cadmium one of the metals (lead, mercury, aluminum, iron) in which Saintonge has an extremely-well developed recovery and recycling system in place, managed by the CNC.

Despite its extensive use in batteries, Saintonge’s cadmium production (from zinc refining and efficient recycling) had exceeded its consumption for the past fourteen years. CNC is now sitting on a “cadmium mountain”, which it aims to export to other countries. However, cadmium is still listed as a “controlled” metal/mineral by the Ministry of Industry.

Cement
Cement is a manufactured product and is the basis of concrete and mortar. The main raw materials needed are chalk/limestone and clay/mudstone, plus gypsum. Cement is technically controlled, but only the Santonian production is prohibited from export. Cimentonge operates in foreign countries and is allowed to export their products produced in foreign countries to other countries or even import this cement to Saintonge.

Chromium
Chromium is used in making alloys. Its main mineral in Saintonge is chromite (FeCr₂O₄). Chromite is found in association with platinum group metals in southwestern Saintonge, in the upper Comminges and upper Quercy. Chromium production there is a byproduct of platinum/palladium mining by MRS.

Far more commercially useful amounts of chromite are found in the Bethanian mountains (departments of Avaloirs, Rance, Basses-Andes, Boëme), where it is extracted by the CNCA as a byproduct of iron production. This makes chromium the only metal in which there are two main producers in Saintonge: MRS and CNCA.

Coal
Coal is a combustible rock composed of lithified plant remains. It is mined by the CNCA in the hills of central Saintonge (departments of Coole, Leir, Loing, Bourbre, Lignon), southern Chartreuse mountains (department of Rhue), the Domnonée mountains, and eastern prealps (departments of Lac, Inde, Sûre, and Sâne). Saintonge’s coal is high-quality anthracite coal (except in the centre, where it is mostly lignite), but the quantity is limited. Saintonge used to be a net importer of coal, until the energy policy of the country was reformed. Now, usage of coal in Saintonge for electricity production is minimal and the country relies on nuclear power instead.

Cobalt
With Saintonge being a major producer of copper and nickel, the country also produces a significant amount of cobalt as a byproduct. In addition, Saintonge does have significant deposits of sphaerocobaltite (CoCO₃) in the upper Taur valley (department of Vesle).
Copper
Copper is a reddish malleable metal with a wide variety of uses. Copper has been mined in Saintonge since antiquity, being used to make bronze. Montguyon (department of the Vercors) has been nicknamed Grande montagne de cuivre (“Big Mountain of Copper”). Saintonge had exported copper to other countries for centuries, with bulk of this resource coming from Montguyon. Although extensively mined for a millennium, the Montguyon mine still produces copper.

Saintonge is a major producer of copper, with multiple mines in the “copper belt” spanning the eastern part of the country, from the Griffonian mountains to the north to the eastern Alps to the south. These contain the most-mined copper deposits in Saintonge. Big deposits of copper are also found in the Andes, but these are located deeper and are more difficult to mine.

Diamond
Diamond was mined by the MRS, but the company no longer actively mines diamonds. Its only diamond mine, the Puy d’Or mine in central Saintonge, was closed in 1997. The MRS deemed diamond mining to have become “unprofitable” with the advent of synthetic diamonds and a glut in the market.

The Puy d’Or mining area has now been converted into Gemstone Fields Park (Parc des Champs de Gemmes), a place where parkgoers can pick up and comb for diamonds and other gems and keep them for free. This had made the park a tourist attraction in central Saintonge.
Diatomite
Diatomite, or diatomaceous earth, is a silicaceous sedimentary rock composed of fossilized skeletons of diatoms (microalgae). It is valued for its high porosity, chemical inertness, and ability to absorb liquids. It is used in filters and as an industrial absorbent.

Diatomaceous earth is located underneath the soils of the lower Dropt and middle Saine valleys, and is extracted in commercial quantities by Cimentonge in those locales.

Feldspar
Feldspar is an abundant rock-forming aluminosilicate material used in glass and ceramic manufacture. Feldspar mining is under the control of CNCA.

Fluorspar
Fluorspar, or fluorite, is an important source of fluorine and is used for the manufacture of hydrofluoric acid. Fluorspar mining is under the control of CNCA, and its main source is in the Simbruins Mountains in eastern Saintonge.
Gold
Gold is a precious metal that was used as the basis of Santonian currency for centuries. As such the 1340 Loi des Monnaies decreed that all gold mined in Saintonge belongs to the monarch (and the country, post-Revolution); exports of gold are banned. The MRS is responsible for gold mining, and virtually all gold mined in Saintonge is sent to Fort Richemont to back/become the reserve for the Santonian livre. Thus, gold has to be imported for industrial and jewelry purposes.

Saintonge has extensive deposits of gold. The country’s ultra-secure gold storage bunker at Fort Richemont is actually located in a repurposed, fortified former gold mine deep within the Richemont (“Rich Mountain”). Richemont was one of the most productive gold mines in the 14^th-18^th centuries in Saintonge.

The MRS mines gold extensively along the Chartreuse Mountains in the northeast, the Nébrodes Mountains to the east, the Luberon plateau in the centre, and the Aubrac, Margerides, and Ravennes mountain ranges in the Massif Central. The richest gold-mining region is the Monts d’Or (“Mountains of Gold”), a sub-range of the Aubrac mountains that separate the provinces of Quercy (departments of Arconce and Haute-Loine) and the Comminges (departments of Aubrac and Limagne).
Gold and the Miracle Valley
Gold can be found in Saintonge in the native form or in minerals, such as corbarite (see Bismuth) in the Aubrac. One notable mineral found only in Saintonge is chrysopoieite (Au₄SeTe), a selenide-telluride of gold and silver. It was named after the alchemical philosopher’s stone (chrysopoeia) and is exclusively found as thick dense deposits in the sparsely-populated high Valmerveille valley in the upper Quercy (department of the Haute-Loine). Valmerveille (“Miracle Valley”) was called such as its inhabitants occasionally found nuggets of gold in their hearths and fireplaces, which they attributed to blessings by the angels.

The Merveille river, a mountain stream that is a tributary of the upper Loine valley, was discovered to have placer (alluvial) gold in the early 19^th century. MRS mineralogist Charles-Alan Terretaz was unable to find the source of the alluvial gold in the Valmerveille, but sent samples of a mineral he called “merveillite” to the MRS and University of Saintes chemist Paul-Émile Lecoq de Bathelémont in 1844. Terretaz described that the inhabitants of Valmerveille thought “merveillite” was a useless rock. The people of Valmerveille used it as building material – for their houses, the local church, and even paving the streets and filling in potholes and wheel ruts.

Lecoq de Bathelémont, eager to discover the properties of this new mineral, took a sample of “merveillite” and strongly heated it. The mineral decomposed into elemental gold and selenium telluride! It was like the “philosopher’s stone” – a rock that turned into gold – and hence Lecoq de Bathelémont called the mineral chrysopoieite. The gold that the villagers found in their hearths and fireplaces were the result of years of heating, their houses and bricks being partly made of chrysopoieite. The resulting gold rush made the villagers tear up their streets and houses (and even the local church) to recover the chrysopoieite. The valley’s two villages, Saint-Ferréol-de-Valmerveille and Le Poët-Merveille, were completely demolished and rebuilt without the precious chrysopoieite. Thus the two villages were known in popular lore as the villages “where the streets are paved with gold”. MRS then moved in to exploit the chrysopoieite deposits in the valley. Mining in the valley ended in the 1940s.

Graphite
Graphite is a form of carbon with a wide variety of uses. CNCA used to operate graphite mines in Les Mines-de-Vexin (Leir) and Saint-Étienne-sur-Dendre (Lac). Nowadays most graphite in Saintonge is synthetically produced.

Gypsum
Gypsum is primarily calcium sulphate (CaSO₄) and is used to make plaster (Plaster of Plaisance), cement, and soil conditioners. Gypsum is mined around Plaisance and the hills to the north of it, although some gypsum utilized in Saintonge are byproducts of the desulphurization process in the energy industry.

Iodine
Like bromine, Saintonge also produces iodine from seawater via the facility in Sciez (Basses-Alpes).

Iron
Iron is one of the major resources that Saintonge occasionally has to import, especially during construction booms (for steel production). The CNCA is responsible for mining iron ore and steel production in Saintonge. There are five main steelmaking plants in Saintonge, close to the iron mining areas.

The most productive iron ore field is the Montagnes Rouges (“Red Mountains”), the southeasternmost spurs of the Bethanian mountains (departments of Epte, Cenise, Boëme). They are called as such because of the red haematite rocks comprising much of the range. These iron mines feed the Montfermeil Steelworks (Epte) and the Villeurbanne Ironworks (Cenise). Haematite from Rose Hills (also named after the pink colour of the rocks) feed the ironworks at L’Haÿ-les-Roses (Côle). The Luberon plateau contains deposits of magnetite, feeding the ironworks at Perpezac-le-Fer (Luberon). The Thielle valley in the south contains deposits of siderite, giving the raw material for the steel factories of Saint-Sépulcre and Acierville (Basses-Brômes).

Saintonge is barely sufficient for iron, and in times of increased demand, the country has to import iron.

Kaolin
Kaolin is another clay like bentonite, but kaolin is usually processed to eliminate impurities. Kaolin is used to make paper, ceramics, rubber, plastics, paint, cement, and glass fibres. The Plaine Blanche (“White Plains”) area in the Beyre basin are the main source of kaolin in Saintonge.

Lead
Lead is a very soft, highly malleable, ductile metallic heavy element used in batteries, solder, and radiation shielding. Saintonge’s only source of lead is galena (lead sulphide) found in conjunction with sphalerite (zinc sulphide) and argentite (silver sulphide) deposits in the upper Besbre valley. Consequently, Saintonge has instituted very stringent and efficient lead recycling systems, but additional demand would have to be met by imports.

Lithium
Lithium is a light metallic element that is gaining increased use in rechargeable batteries. Though Saintonge has deposits of spodumene in the Beyre mountains, the country sources most of its lithium from brines in the “Lithium Triangle” in southwestern Saintonge (department of Taur and Vesle) and as byproduct of geothermal power plants. Saintonge’s lithium supply is currently adequate to meet the increasing demand.

Magnesite
A carbonate of magnesium, magnesite has excellent thermal resistance and is used in high-temperature applications such as in furnaces. Most of Saintonge’s magnesite comes from the Volp valley.

Manganese
Manganese is a hard, brittle metal used for the production of alloys and batteries. Manganese primarily occurs in Saintonge as pyrolusite, located in association with the iron ores in Luberon, Red Mountains, and Pink Hills. Pyrolusite is also found in the Dyle valley in southern Saintonge. Currently, Saintonge makes manganese as a side product of iron production.

Mercury
The only metallic element that is liquid at room temperature, mercury has a large amount of uses but is also toxic. Saintonge’s strict mining laws mean that mercury is being recovered by mining operations. The only other economic source of mercury ore in Saintonge is the cinnabar deposit in the Canche valley (Chartreuse). Because of the country’s insufficiency for mercury and its strict environmental laws, most of the waste mercury in Saintonge is being recovered and recycled.

Mica
Mica is a flaky mineral that is used in sheet form (in electrical insulation) or in a grounded form. Mica is bring produced in Saintonge from deposits in the Mées valley in eastern Saintonge.

Molybdenum
A hard metal that is used for making alloys, molybdenum is recovered from copper and tungsten mining. As a byproduct of copper mining, the CNC meets the country’s demand for molybdenum; nevertheless, the CNC has identified and owns deposits of molybdenite in the Monce Valley in southeastern Saintonge.

Nickel
Lateritic ores are found in southern Saintonge and are the main source of nickel. Also from southern Saintonge is vogesite, found in the Vôges plateau, which is like pentlandite [(Fe,Ni)₉S₈] but with substantially more nickel content, in a 4:1 to 6:1 ratio.

Petroleum and natural gas
Petroleum and natural gas are found in deposits in eastern Saintonge and offshore, and is under the remit of the CSP.

Phosphate rock
Phosphate deposits are seen mostly in northern Saintonge, where they are being extracted by Cimentonge.

Platinum group metals
The platinum group metals or “noble metals” include platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, osmium, and iridium. Rhenium is included by the MRS in the noble metals definition. Of these, platinum and palladium are treated as investment commodities and are sent to Fort Richemont; export of these metals are prohibited. Importation has to be done for industrial uses of platinum and palladium. Ruthenium, rhodium, osmium, iridium, and rhenium are controlled, but exports are effectively prohibited.

A significant source of platinum-group metals in Saintonge is as a byproduct of the nickel and the extensive copper production in Saintonge. Some areas in Saintonge contains platinum-bearing minerals such as the aforementioned corbarite (see bismuth); catenite [(Pt,Pd)₂(Ru,Rh,Ir,Os)Sb₂] in the Arc valley in southern Saintonge; and cooperite in the Domnonée mountains. The rare palladium mineral corangamite (PdS) in the Coran valley in the Nébrodes mountains. Iridium and osmium can be found in the osmiridium-iridosmine deposits in the Vesle basin in southeastern Saintonge. Ruthenium, rhodium, and rhenium are also found in a rare mineral in orsonite, a perruthenate/perrhenate of platinum/rhodium [(Pt,Rh)(RuO₄)(ReO₄)], found in the slopes of Montorson in the Bléone valley.

Potash
Potash refers to a range of potassium-bearing minerals, and has a wide variety of uses. Cimentonge mines potash in several areas in northern and eastern Saintonge.
Rare earth elements (REE)
REE is a group of elements called the lanthanides, plus scandium and yttrium. Of these, cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, and europium are used in the largest quantities. Saintonge is a major producer of REE ever since the discovery of the unusual heavy mineral near the village of Ytterbéville (Breuse) in 1787. Santonian chemist Jean-Gustave Gadolin isolated ytterbium, yttrium, terbium, and erbium from the mineral in the early 18th century. The mineral was named gadolinite after the chemist.

However, commercial mining of REE involves the three other minerals, monazite, bastnaesite, and wakefieldite. Monazite with positive europium anomalies is mined in the eastern copperbelt from the Chartreuse mountains to the eastern Alps. The monazite in eastern Saintonge also contain a significant amount of thorium, which the CNC sells to EdS for purification. Bastnaesite is found along the Massif Central. Wakefieldite ((La,Ce,Nd,Y)VO₄), a rare REE mineral, is found in Avaloirs mountains in northeastern Saintonge that is also a source of vanadium.

The largest mine for REE is Tasriche Mine in the department of the Breuse, which covers six parishes/communes: Canville-lès-Beaussault, Dieppedalle, Foucarmont, Frichemesnil, Réalcamp-Tasriche, and Sotteville-de-Dieppedalle.

REE export is controlled in Saintonge; but limited exports to selected countries are allowed. The Santonian Ministry of Industry uses a “strategic exportation” policy with regards to REE.

Salt
Salt is produced from seawater, although disused halite mines are found in central Saintonge.
Silver
Silver is a ductile and malleable element that is also used as a store of value as a precious metal. Like gold, silver mined in Saintonge goes to Fort Richemont and exports are banned. Industrial silver needs are imported.

Silver is mined in the wide area in the Andes mountains, from Domnonée in the north to Beyre in the south. Saintonge is one of the largest silver producers, however, none of this is exported. The largest silver mines are in Montargent (which extends through two departments of Huisne and Roer), L’Argentine (Yerres), and Archantville (Côtes-du-Nord). The mine at Archantville exploits the rare mineral canfieldite (Ag₈SnS₆), which contains variable amount of substitution of germanium for the tin atom and selenium/tellurium for the sulphur.

Sulphur
Sulphur is a fundamental feedstock to the chemical industry, chiefly as sulphuric acid. The main sources of sulphur are petroleum and natural gas extraction, and metal sulphide processing.

Talc
Talc is a soft hydrous magnesium silicate mineral. It is mined in the Chalaronne basin in central Saintonge.

Tantalum and niobium
Tantalum and niobium are metals that are used in making alloys. Tantalum is produced from tin refinery slags, although in Saintonge, the major source is columbite-tantalite (a.k.a. “coltan”), found in concentrated deposits in the Germandie plateau in southern Saintonge. This coltan is now the major source of tantalum and niobium in Saintonge. Earlier in the 20^th century, the main source of tantalum and niobium was euxenite from the central mountains. The euxenite mine in Laterrière-en-Luberon was the source of the mineral that the Santonian chemist Jean-Charles Galissard de Mérignac used to develop the separation process for niobium and tantalum.

Tin
Tin is a malleable and ductile metal, used in ancient times to make bronze, in the middle ages to make pewter, and nowadays used for solders as lead replacement.

The main producer of tin in Saintonge is the old province of Domnonée (departments of Côtes-du-Nord, Sée, and Authie). Domnonée was sometimes called Terrétain (“Tin-land”) in old documents. Considerable deposits of cassiterite are also mined in Sainte-Cassandre-sur-Orbe (Basses-Brômes).

Titanium
Titanium is a low-density, strong, corrosion-resistant metal that is used for the aerospace industry. Its main source in Saintonge is rutile, mined along the shores of Lac Amer in southern Saintonge, and in the Tessin basin.

Thorium
Saintonge’s sources of thorium are found with monazite (see Rare earth elements). The monazite deposits at Les Mines-de-Pierrougeoyant (“Glowing Rock Mines”) in the department of Hautes-Alpes contain as much as 20% thorium. The Montmagique mines (Basses-Alpes) also yield the mineral clavennite [(Sr,Ba,Ra)ThSi₈O₂₀].

Tungsten
Tungsten is a corrosion-resistant metal with a high melting point. One of its uses is as tungsten carbide in cutting tools, as lightbulb filaments, and as alloys. Saintonge’s wolframite reserves are found associated with cassiterite in the Domnonée and with sphalerite in the Bavière.
Uranium
Uranium is a strategic metal and is one of the few non-precious metals (along with thorium) in which export from Saintonge is prohibited. Used extensively in electricity generation via Saintonge’s nuclear power plants, uranium production is under the ambit of EdS. Current production is sufficient to meet demand. The main sourcse of Santonian uranium are the pitchblende (uraininite) ores mined in the Vercors plateau and eastern Alps. Montmagique, for instance, was called as such because of the faint blue glow (ionized-air glow) produced by the radioactive elements in the rocks. Pitchblende is also present in significant quantities in the Monts d’Estrelle in the southwest (separating the departments of Tage and Basses-Brômes). Uranium is also found in association with large quantities of silver in the central Andes. Autunite, named after the locality it was discovered, Autun (Côle), is another uranium mineral.

Vanadium
Vanadium is soft, ductile, metallic element chiefly used for alloys. Aside from the aforementioned wakefieldite (see Rare earth elements), other sources of vanadium in Saintonge include the uranium sources carnotite (K₂(UO₂)₂(VO₄)₂·3H₂O), avellinite [(Ba,Sr,Ra)(UO₂)₂V₂O₈·5H₂O)], and vanuralite (Al(UO₂)₂(VO₄)₂(OH)·11H₂O). As such, vanadium is a byproduct of uranium mining by EdS. CNC mines gurimite (Ba₃(VO₄)₂) from the northern slopes of Mt. Caden as a source of barium and vanadium. Vanadium is like its periodic table neighbor chromium in that two mining companies produce the metal.

Zinc
Zinc is primarily used in galvanization, in die-cast toys, and in making brass. The main ore of zinc is sphalerite, found in the inland districts of the Griffonné and upper Bavière (middle Alps). Calamine is found in the hills of Blayais, Vexin, and Perche. Much of the country’s production of cadmium, gallium, germanium, and indium, along with a substantial portion of sulphur (sulphuric acid) comes as a byproduct of zinc refining.

Zirconium and Hafnium
Zirconium is a byproduct of titanium and tin processing. Zircon minerals are also present in the Queyras mountains in commercially extractable quantities. The CNC works one of these mines to meet the zirconium and hafnium demand in Saintonge.

Santonian national identity cards (carte nationale d’identité or CNI) is an official identity document consisting of an RFID-containing and chip-containing laminated plastic card bearing a photograph, name and address. The identity card is compulsory for all Santonian citizens and residents, and refugees in Saintonge. This is because the card is required for accessing services (healthcare, welfare, education, etc.), for almost all government transactions (voting, getting a driver’s licence), and for most private transactions (like opening a bank account).

Issuance
Identity cards are issued free of charge by the Institut royal de la statistique et des études économiques (IRSEE, Royal Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies) and They may be procured from the IRSEE offices in the local intendance. Large cities within the intendance may have their own satellite offices; large intendances may have “roving IRSEE offices” which visit each commune/parish to issue the cards. A digital fingerprint, face scan, and iris scan of the holder is taken on registration, which can only be accessed by a judge in closely defined circumstances. A central database duplicates the information on the card, but strict laws limit access to the information and prevent it being linked to other databases or records.

Since the CNI is linked to the intendance of issue, a change of address (it is compulsory to report to IRSEE a change of legal address in Saintonge) that involves a change in intendance will require a re-issue of the CNI. For example, if a person from Saintes (intendance #100) moves across the river to the neighbouring suburb of Arpajon (department of the Saine-et-Loine, intendance of Royan, #766), s/he will need to request for a new CNI from Royan. This is because she will now be accessing government services from Royan and the Saine-et-Loine; conversely, this helps IRSEE and local government authorities to accurately determine who and how many constituents do they have.

Validity
For citizens, permanent residents and refugees, the CNI are valid for a period of 10 years for adults and 5 years for children. Person who reach legal age are required to procure a new CNI. Usually, citizens renew their CNI at age 5, 10, 15, 18, and then every 10 years afterwards.

For temporary residents and tourists, the date of expiry of their cards is the date of expiry of their temporary residency or tourist visa (whichever is applicable).

National Identification Number
The Santonian ID card contains a holder-specific National Identification Number (Numéro d'identification national, NIN). The NIN consists of 21 alphanumeric characters, one of the longest in the world. However, Santonians only need to memorise a few of the characters, since most of the characters relate to their personal information. The NIN has a general format 0GGLL-00M00S-00000000X. Only the last nine digits need to be memorised.

The first digit signifies the status of the holder: native-born Santonian citizen, naturalised citizen, foreign resident (permanent or temporary), visitor/tourist, and refugee. As this implies, visitors, residents, and refugees will have to change their NIN if they become naturalised citizens of Saintonge.

The next four letters pertain to the holder’s name, with special/accented characters transcribed to the nearest letter. GG corresponds to the first two initials of the holder’s given name. Many Santonians have two or more names, and the letters reflect this. If the holder only has one name, GG will correspond to the first two letters of the holder’s given name.

LL corresponds to the first two initials of the holder’s last name, ignoring particles such as de. Since many Santonians have two or more last names, and the letters also reflect this. If the holder only has one last name, GG will correspond to the first two letters of the holder’s last name. Married individuals who change or hyphenate their surnames after marriage do not change their NIN.

The next part, 00M00, correspond to certain dates (see below). The first two digits are the day, M corresponds to the code of the month (A for January, B for February, C for March, and so on) and the last two digits correspond to the year.

The last letter before the hyphen is the holder’s sex at birth: M for males, F for females. The last eight digits vary as explained below, and the ultimate letter is the checksum. It is these last nine characters that most people have to memorise.

Santonian Citizens
The first digit of the NIN for Santonian citizens is 1. The date part is their date of birth. The last eight characters is divided into two blocks 000 00000. The first three digits correspond to the intendancy of their birthplace; the last five digits is their order of birth in that intendancy for that year. These same eight digits are the last eight digits present in the holder’s birth certificate.

For example, this is a card for (a fictional) natural-born Santonian citizen [1] Étienne-Childéric Pervinquièrre des Orcières [ECPO], born on 8 November 1998 [08K98] as a male [M]. He was born in Ten-Fours-les-Plages [intendancy of Saint-Tropez, #234] as the 2,569th child born in the intendancy of Saint-Tropez in 1998. With a checksum of [N], his NIN is 1ECPO-08K98M-23402569N.

Naturalised Citizens
The first digit of the NIN for naturalised citizens is 2. The date part is their date of naturalisation. The last eight characters are divided into three blocks 00 000 000. The first two digits correspond to the department where they were naturalised; the next three correspond to their age (in months) at the date of naturalisation; the last three digits are the country code of their original citizenship before becoming Santonian.

For example, (a fictional) naturalised citizen [2], originally from Prydania, named Holger Fisker [HOFI], was naturalised on 03 September 2019 [03I19]. He [M] was naturalised in the Administrative Court of Ratisbonne (Lauter, department #[54]) when he was 18 years and 2 months old [218]. The last three digits correspond to the country code for Prydania [150], with the checksum being [M]. His NIN is 2HOFI-03I19M-54218150M.

Residents and refugees (see below) will have to change their NIN upon naturalisation.

Residents (Permanent and Temporary)
The first digit of the NIN for residents (regardless of permanent or temporary status) is 3. The date part is their date when their residency application was first approved. The last eight characters are divided into three blocks 00 000 000. The first two digits correspond to the department where their residency application was approved; the next three correspond to their age (in months) at the day of residency approval; the last three digits are the country code of their current citizenship (for people with multiple citizenships, the citizenship they declared to the Santonian Immigration and Integration Agency (Agence d’immigration et d’intégration, AII).

For example, (the fictional) Skandan student and temporary resident [3] Tsuki Keamaru [TSKE] was granted residency on 09 August 2019 [09H19]. She [F] was granted residency by the AII branch in Plaisance (Corb, department #[41]) at age 19 [234]. She is of Skandan citizenship [159]. Her checksum is [ S ] and his full NIN is 3TSKE-09H19F-41234159S.

Because the card for residents is coloured green, it is popularly called “carte verte” (“green card”) among the resident foreigners and prospective immigrants to Saintonge. Hence a “green card” is also a shorthand for getting residency status in Saintonge.

Tourists and other foreigners
Tourists and most other foreigners who are not residents or refugees are the only ones who are not required to get an ID card. However, for accessing services (such as going to the hospital during their stay), they may be issued an ID card.

The first digit of the NIN for tourists and other foreigners is 4. The date part is their date of their first arrival in Saintonge. The last eight characters are divided into three blocks 00 000 000. The first two digits correspond to the department where they first arrived; the next three correspond to their age (in months) at the date of their first arrival; the last three digits are the country code of their current citizenship (for people with multiple citizenships, the passport they used to enter Saintonge).

For example, (the fictional) Cimmerian tourist [4] Franck Hausemer [FRHA] arrived in Saintonge on 20 December 2019 [20L19]. He [M] arrived via Saintes-Gentilly Airport (which is actually in the neighbouring department of Saine-et-Loine #[76]) at age 26 [318], using his Cimmerian passport [113]. His checksum is [F] and his full NIN is 4FRHA-20L19M-76318113F.

Similarly for residents, the card for tourists is coloured green.

Refugees
The first digit of the NIN for refugees is 9. The date part is their date when their refugee status was accepted. The last eight characters are divided into three blocks 00 000 000. The first two digits correspond to the department where they were granted refugee status; the next three correspond to their age (in months) at the date of granting of refugee status; the last three digits are the country code of their current citizenship. Refugees granted that status outside Saintonge use “00” as the first two digits, and a different set of last three digits, corresponding to the legation where their status was accepted (different from country codes, which run 101-300+, legation codes run from 501 onwards).

For example, (the fictional) Prydanian refugee [9] Bodil Hviid-Möller [BOHV] was granted refugee status on 29 February 2008 [29B08]. She [F] was granted that status outside the country [00] at age 21 [257] by the Santonian embassy in Beaconsfield [550]. Her checksum is [V] and her full NIN is 9BOHV-29B08F-00257550V. Take note that the NIN was probably issued when Mme. Hviid-Möller was unmarried; she doesn't change her NIN after changing/hyphenating her surname.

Because the card for refugees is coloured blue, it is popularly called “carte bleue” (“blue card”) among the refugee community in Saintonge and abroad.


Security
The CNI is difficult to counterfeit, with its microprinting and guilloche patterns. A chip at the back holds most of the other information (address, etc.). An additional feature is a generated 12-character check sequence (located in the machine-readable area, and which most people ignore) that is tied to the card and the NIN. (For instance, two CNI issued under the same NIN will have different check sequences.) So even if a counterfeiter knows how to make a believable NIN, the counterfeiter cannot simply generate a random check sequence to put in a fake CNI. Machine readers also assess if the check sequence is valid for the card.

How this check sequence is generated is a closely-guarded secret. The only publicly elucidated part of the check sequence is the first character, which corresponds to the nth number of cards issued under that NIN (for example, the first card issued under that NIN will have the check sequence start with an A, the second with B, etc.)

The machine-readable area also contains the date of expiry of the card.

The 1792 Santonian Declaration of the Rights of Persons and of the Citizen (Santonian: Déclaration des droits des personnes et du citoyen) was a landmark document from the Santonian Revolution that became the core statement of the values of the Santonian Revolution.

Short History
The text of the declaration was drafted primarily by Yves-Jacques Arthaud, delegate of the province of Bordulac; and assisted by Gilbert-Emmanuel de la Mothe, delegate of Beaune, and Joseph-Marie de Condorcet, delegate of Theiphalie. Originally, the declaration contained twenty articles, three of which were removed by the Revolutionary Estates-General. The removed articles concerned: the absolute freedom of religion, the abolition of the nobility, and the right to bear arms.

The article concerning absolute freedom of religion was removed at the insistence of the Archbishops of Provins and Ratisbonne. The Church largely sided with the Santonian Revolution and suffered the depredations perpetrated by the anticlerical nobles, which led to anticlericalism being deemed anti-revolutionary. Subsequent discussions regarding religion produced the Concordat of 1792, which produced an incomplete separation of church and state in Saintonge.

The article concerning the abolition of the nobility was opposed by the remaining members of the Second Estate, including even the liberal Duke Ardouin III of the Pouilles. The Second Estate argued that only the excessive privileges should be revoked, not the institution of nobility itself. The Duke of the Pouilles also argued, “are you asking for the abolition of the monarchy too, then?” The estates of the individual provinces have already abolished the titles of their rebellious nobility, with only the loyal (Aunis, Artois, Bavière, the Pouilles, Saintais) and some neutral (Beaujolais, Grésivaudan) provinces retaining their nobility. The discussions led to the Santonian Mediatisation of 1793, in which the remaining nobility (and the monarchy) voluntarily relinquished much of their ancient privileges and much of their lands, but keeping the titles.

The last article concerning the right to bear arms was removed, after concerns from some delegates and the First Estate that this would empower individuals to mount rebellions against the state and for provinces to rebel. The lack of the article meant that the provincial militia (and their descendant departmental militia) are subsumed under the central authority - leading to the formation of a national military.

Significant tweaking to the other articles were instigated by deputies Annette Berthézenne de Forest of Artois and Jeanne-Thérèse Dejerine of Vermandois, to make the document gender-neutral – by referring to “persons” and not just “man”. The Revolutionary Estates-General unanimously passed the declaration in 7 September 1792.

Text

Eruption of 1453
The eruption of 1453, which caused chaos in Syrixia, led by Varanatha the “Mad Emperor”, affected Saintonge in a different way. Saintonge was spared hunger, war, and cataclysm due to a wave of devotion and faith.

Jeanne of Arc
In August 1449, a fourteen-year-old illiterate shepherd girl named Jeanne reported seeing visions of the Virgin Mary and the Archangel Michael in the mountains above the Arc valley (province of Germandie). Initially keeping it a secret, the apparition told her to come to the parish priest of Gisors (the nearest village), to ask him to build a church for her. Jeanne duly followed her instructions, and it was then that stories of the apparitions were made public. Louis-Lambert Coster, the parish priest, paid her no heed; the villagefolk were divided on the veracity of the story. Over the course of the next few months, the village attracted curious people wanting to see what was the story about. Most of the people who went to the mountains with Jeanne came back convinced about the apparitions. Small ‘miracles’ were said to happen during those apparitions, such as the ‘water’ episode.

The ‘Water’ episode, as witnessed and related by Gérard des Forges, constable of Fécamp, involved the Virgin Mary recognising that someone in the audience was thirsty. She relayed this to Jeanne, and Jeanne told the audience: “The Virgin told me that you are thirsty. The Virgin wants to give you water, but I must dig it.” To the astonishment of the visitors, Jeanne then started to dig through the ground with her bare hands. At the foot of the grotto poured forth a spring with fresh water where the visitors (and the current pilgrims) could drink.

Curé Coster tried to stop people from going with Jeanne and up the mountain, and so he had Jeanne imprisoned. The parish priest wrote a letter to Jean-Joseph Rigouard, the Bishop of Lillebonne (present-day Sainte-Jeanne-d’Arc), telling him about ‘possible witchcraft activity’ in his parish and urged for an inquisition. On the other hand, Marie-Clémentine, wife of Robert-Childéric, Baron of Lillebonne (who owns Gisors and its surroundings) interceded: the baroness of Lillebonne had Jeanne set free once she had heard of her. The Baroness asked her if her lame son will still be able to walk. Jeanne told the baron’s wife that her lame son will be cured if she will have faith in God; and that a ‘great miracle’ will occur on March 1450.

Great Miracle of the Sun
Jeanne predicted that a ‘great miracle’ will happen on 18 March 1450. A larger than usual group of townsfolk went with Jeanne up the mountain. Curé Coster also came, intent on destroying, once and for all, Jeanne and her ‘apparitions’. Robert-Childéric and Marie-Clémentine of Lillebonne also came with their son. At the slopes of Mont Ventoux, the ‘Great Miracle of the Sun’ happened in front of a thousand people. The Baroness of Lillebonne wrote:


Curé Coster, parish priest of Gisors, wrote this in his report to the Bishop of Lillebonne:


After the apparition, the Baron’s eight-year-old lame son, Thibault, was astonished that he could already stand up. Thibault de Lillebonne’s first walk was his way down the mountain. The stories of the apparitions and the ‘Great Miracle of the Sun’ spread like wildfire across Germandie and the surrounding provinces. It incited intense religiosity in southern Saintonge, as well as pilgrimage to the small grotto where the Virgin Mary appeared. Curé Coster built a small chapel near the area for the pilgrims.

Bishop intervenes
Concerned about the authenticity of the apparitions, Bishop Rigouard of Lillebonne launched an investigation of the apparitions at Mont Ventoux. The bishop had Jeanne confined to the Abbey of Catenay while the investigations are ongoing. While there, Jeanne expressed her wish to become a nun.

Apparitions continued while inside at Catenay, and numerous pilgrims and visitors tried to go their way in to see Jeanne. Concerned about her security, in November 1450 the Bishop of Lillebonne secretly transferred her as far away as possible: to the Abbaye de Notre Dame de Saintonge in Saintes.

The bishop started a painstaking and thorough investigation, interviewing thousands of witnesses which formed much of the documentation known about Jeanne of Arc today. But her fame was to spread throughout Saintonge.


King Archambault III’s dream
January 1451. King Archambault III of Saintonge (who would later be known as 'the Dreamer' [Archambault III le Rêveur]) was bothered by a dream, a recurrent nightmare. It consisted of a skeleton wearing a cloth headgear, gobbling up everything in Saintonge and sucking the life out of the people, the land, and the country. The skeleton was always gobbling up things in pairs: two cows, two trees, two people. The dream and its contents were kept within the royal family, but it affected the country’s governance. The King was afraid that it was an omen to a foreign invasion and placed the army on alert, despite his diplomats and messengers saying that there is no known foreign plan to make war with, or occupy Saintonge.

On February 1451, a letter from the Abbey of Our Lady of Saintonge reached the Queen of Saintonge. It was from Jeanne of Arc. She said that the Virgin told her that the King was being troubled by a dream; she would like to help him and the country.

The Queen, who was from Germandie, had heard about Jeanne months before. After conferring with her confessor, who had received assurances from the Bishop of Lillebonne and the Abbess that she wasn’t a fraudster, the Queen set up a private meeting between Jeanne and the King on 18 March 1451, exactly one year after the ‘Great Miracle of the Sun’. After the King narrated his dreams to Jeanne, Jeanne reportedly said:


King Archambault III’s government enacted measures throughout the country to stock up food for the next two years: fields were not allowed to fallow, there were harvests every season, overwintering crops were planted, excess milk was made to produce cheese, meats were preserved, fruits were dried, fish were salted and preserved, surplus grapes turned into wine, flour ground and stored. A food dépôt was built in each bailliage (bailiwick) and sénéchaussée, where the excess food production was stored. Some bailliages built two, or even up to nine dépôts (reported from the sénéchaussée of Landricourt, province of Champagne). Food bought up by the King that could not be accommodated at the bailliages were sent to larger greniers (‘granaries’) set up in every province. By the winter of 1452, it was estimated that Saintonge had stocked up enough food to feed its people for eight years. And yet on November 1842, the King told his people to plant overwintering crops like rhubarb, winter beans, and winter wheat. Jeanne of Arc’s predictions spread throughout the country, instilling a newfound sense of devotion and hard work among the populace – drowning out the few opponents of the measures. For King Archambault III’s opponents, though, it was a sign of madness: why was the King stocking up for something and depleting the royal treasury with all of these public works?


1453 eruption of Mount Meru
The answer came on 29 April 1453, when Mount Meru in Syrixia erupted, spewing ash and sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere. While Saintonge was little affected by the ashfall, the stratospheric ash blocked out the sun and the sulphur dioxide blocked out the heat, cooling the climate. Winter came early, snow fell in Saintes on June. 1453 became the “year without a summer”.

Saintonge was able to harvest its overwintering crops at April, but the summer and autumn harvests failed. The 1454 harvests also failed. Saintonge was able to avert famine by using up its stock of food from the dépôts and greniers. The royal government gained much popularity by giving out the stored food to the people cheaply during the hunger time. The country avoided large-scale famine, food riots, and discontent with the orderly and affordable distribution of the food to the people, again organised by bailliages.

Other countries sought Saintonge’s aid and sent traders to buy food from Saintonge. This swelled the extensive foreign trading settlements along the coast of Saintonge, which would remain until King Charles III ‘the Mad’ expelled the foreigners in 1466. The profits made from selling the stockpiled food outweighed the costs of building the dépôts and greniers and the food aid distributed to the Santonian populace.

Jeanne of Arc died of consumption (tuberculosis) in 1457, reportedly saying on her deathbed: “My purpose here is done.” Jeanne of Arc’s role in saving Saintonge from famine was fully revealed during her canonisation proceedings in 1475, supported by King Baudouin II (King Archambault III’s grandson), Baron Thibault of Lillebonne, and the Bishop of Lillebonne. King Baudouin II renamed the city of Lillebonne as Sainte-Jeanne-d’Arc after the saint that saved Saintonge.

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* Picture editing courtesy of @Prydania . Thanks!

Eruption of 1820
Good luck also spared Saintonge from the effect of another destructive eruption of Mount Meru in 1820.

Economic Recovery post-Revolution
In the early part of the 19^th century, Saintonge was still mostly agrarian, although the beginnings of industrialisation were starting to swell the populations of cities.

Santonian agriculture suffered during the Santonian Revolution. With the division of large estates among the former commoners and serfs, agricultural production was not able to benefit from economies of scale. However, the revolutionary government’s other policies and laws had largely reversed the decline. The elimination of a non-working noble class meant that agriculture became more efficient and the profits reinvested (instead of being used for frivolous things). The government sent agriculturists to the countryside to teach farmers good farming techniques and the latest advancements in agriculture. The lack of economies of scale was remedied by the encouragement of the formation of farming cooperatives. These farming cooperatives coordinated food production among neighbouring farms – it was estimated that by the turn of the century, two-thirds of Santonian farmers were part of cooperatives.

By 1798, Santonian agricultural output recovered to its pre-Revolution levels. Saintonge was again a food exporter. While Santonian food production was able to keep up with (and outpace) population growth, population growth still caused a problem: division of farms into smaller and smaller plots with every generation. To remedy this, in 1808, the government of Jérôme-Lambert Carondelet passed the Loi de propriété fermière (“Homestead Act”), which opened many of the previously idle church, royal, and noble lands to farming and economic exploitation. Santonians could claim a plot of land as their own to farm.


Bumper harvests
The number of farms in Saintonge doubled in the next ten years, with agricultural yields constantly increasing. The harvests of 1817, 1818, and 1819 were bumper harvests, but that also brought problems of its own, leading to the so-called “Great Santonian Food Glut".

The bumper harvests of 1817 drove down prices so much that commodities such as wheat, corn, rice, milk, and grapes were being sold by farmers at a loss – threatening the viability of the new homesteads and established farms alike. The governing Revolutionary Party, which was supported by the farmers and the agrarian sector (Prime Minister Carondelet represented the department of the Dropt, then a strongly rural and agricultural department), then passed emergency measures to stabilise the market and prevent farmers from going out of business.

The government response was headed by young Agriculture Minister Brice-Ulrich Charbonneau of the Doire (another agricultural department). The Santonian government introduced floor prices (minimum prices) for every commodity – the floor prices were determined as being slightly above the cost to produce the commodity. The Santonian government continued to give subsidies and enact the popular policies that led to even more increases agricultural output – potentially aggravating the downward price spiral. Carondelet and Charbonneau also rejected the introduction of production quotas, which were unpopular among farmers and ran counter to the popular stereotype of a “hardworking farmer”.

These pro-rural and pro-farmer policies caused a backlash among the cityfolk and the bourgeoisie, which was one of the factors that led to the establishment of the Liberal Party in the 1820s.

The policies did nothing to stymie the tide of products flooding the market brought about by a massive increase in agricultural production. In the winter of 1817, citizens of the trading city of Plaisance (Corb) used the excess wheat as fuel in their hearths, instead of firewood or coal. Throughout the province of Champagne, ‘there was such a glut of grapes that the presses were working overnight’, but ‘there were no more cellars to put all the wine in’. In the department of the Nébrodes, ‘cheesemakers ran out of caves to age their cheese in’. Farmers devised ways to use their excess production, including stockpiling the commodities themselves. Several departments stepped in to prevent food from going to waste and bought excess food for distribution to the needy.

Charbonneau plan
To avert such wastage of produce (which was also a loss for farmers), the Santonian government implemented a massive plan to buy up the excess commodities at the floor prices. The opposition in the National Assembly called the plan ‘absurd’ as it would mean that the Santonian government would bear the losses and the brunt of the problem without actually solving it. It was purely a concession to powerful rural and agrarian Saintonge.

Like in the 1450s, every intendance was to have one or several dépôt/s where farmers could sell their excess produce to the government at the floor price. The dépôt could then send the commodity, or its derivative products, to the grenier of the department. The activities in each intendance and department varied. In rice-growing departments, the dépôts bought the rice and stored it. the In wheat-growing departments, the dépôts bought the wheat and the flour and stored them. In the winemaking departments, the dépôts accepted only surplus wine (they did not accept excess grapes). The greniers exchanged commodities with other departments that needed the products; they also sent products to cities. Butter was canned and sent to dépôts high up in the cold mountains. The Santonian government worked hard to find more foreign markets for its products.

The production, storage, and stockpiling of the different commodities were monitored by different boards for different commodities: in 1818, Saintonge had a Wheat Board, a Corn Board, a Wine Board, a Dairy Board, and dozens of other groups under the Ministry of Agriculture. Opponents of the scheme derided that the government was building “flour mountains, cheese walls, and wine lakes”.

The government decided to put some of the commodities it bought to good use. In August 1818, Saintonge’s first unemployment benefit/scheme was instituted – all unemployed heads of households in Saintonge will be given food support/rations from the stockpile provided they are searching or training for work; many of these unemployment benefit claimants were given work as well, such as in building warehouses, working in the mines, or building roads and chemins de fer, the precursor of Saintonge's railways. This accelerated the expansion of the Santonian transportation network and facilitation of internal trade.

The excess of food also spurred the invention and enhancement of food preservation methods. The invention of canning by Nicholas Alpert in 1799 was improved by the use of tin cans by Philippe-Henri Girard in 1818. Coupled with the invention of the can opener by Robert-Marc Thiolier in 1819, these significant advances enabled the mass production, use, and dissemination of preserved foods in Saintonge. The scientist Luc Pasteur, an early proponent of the germ theory of disease, invented the pasteurisation process in 1817 to slow/retard food spoilage. These discoveries were utilised and mobilised in order to be able to make the food last longer and stockpiled more easily.

Saintonge’s 1819 agricultural output was even larger than the 1818 output. By December 1819, the dépôts and greniers were full. Many of the departments built multiple warehouses to keep all the accumulated food. The department of the Puy-d’Or set the record with 29 greniers and 166 dépôts in its six intendances. The various commodity boards estimated that Saintonge had accumulated enough food to meet domestic demand for five years (Dairy Board) to a decade (Wheat Board).

The Santonian government was starting to show cracks, with some factions of the Revolutionary Party wanting to end the scheme; but Prime Minister Carondelet and Agriculture Minister Charbonneau would not back down on their policies.

Eruption of 1820 (Cinq de Meru)
Mount Meru erupted again on 5 May 1820, producing another aberration in climate. The eruption happened in the middle of the growing season, and consequently, the harvest of 1820 failed – it was less than one-fifth of the 1819 harvest. Agricultural production in Saintonge plummeted in 1820 and for several years afterwards because of the climate change.

The government’s problem solved itself: the country’s stockpile of food now had ready buyers. Food prices went up, and the government sold its stored food bought at low prices. To prevent hoarding and speculation, the government introduced ceiling prices (maximum prices) and generous rationing for commodities in the domestic market. Such ceiling prices were not applicable for products destined for export, the government turned in a hefty profit for excess commodities that it could sell based on projections of domestic need: for instance, wine was allowed to be exported (since Saintonge had a lot of it), wheat export was tightly controlled (since wheat was a basic commodity), butter was minimally exported (because the projection was that the butter stockpile was slightly more than enough for Saintonge).

Unlike in some other countries in the 1820s, famine was unheard of in Saintonge – food was plenty and available, the government distribution system was efficient (the buying system was essentially turned into a distribution system), and even the poor were well-fed. Immigration into Saintonge accelerated, so much so that in February 1821, the government had to temporarily put an immigration cap. Food riots and discontent were absent in Saintonge, in contrast to some of the other neighbouring countries, which descended into the Second Nordic-Imperial (Syrixia) War.

During the War, Saintonge remained neutral and insisted on its right to trade with both sides. This partially helped Syrixia stave off famine, as it was able to buy food from Saintonge. Saintonge would become a major supplier of food to the country afterwards.

The ruling family of the Principality of Sil Dorsett traces their ancient origin from the Kingdom of Saintonge. This article covers the origins of the Silien ruling family.

Origins
The exact origins of the family are obscured by time. The earliest mention may have been in the vita of Saint Martin (Saint Martin des Tours), a 6^th century bishop of Bâle. In one of Saint Martin’s conflicts with the heretics of Bâle, the bishop took refuge in the domains of a certain Fulk the Strong (Folc le Fort), Lord of Cilians.

The next mention is in the 1076 Livre de Recensement de Saintonge, commissioned by King William I ‘the Accountant’ (Guillaume I ‘le Comptable’) to make a census of Saintonge and enumerate all taxable material and lands. In Book III, which covers northeastern Saintonge, a certain Seneschalty of Sillans (“seneschaucie de Sillans”) was mentioned under the Provostry of Bâle (prévôté de Bâle). The sénéchausée of Sillans was invested to a certain Gérard de Dorcet, described in the document as “an ancient lord of the area, claiming ancestry from a Fulk the Strong, residing in ‘Chasteau de Dorcet’”. Gérard de Dorcet was also recorded as the lord of the villages of Montescourt, Essertaine (Essertenne), Navour, and Volesvres. Historians identify ‘Chasteau de Dorcet’ as the present-day ruined Château de Dourcette in the hamlet of Saint-Martin-de-Dourcette, commune of Chantemerle (Sarine).


The sénéchausée of Sillans was based around the town of the same name, now the town of Sillans-le-Pont (Sarine). Sillans was located at the last and lowest ford on the Durance River, before the city of Bâle. Thus, it was at a strategic location, which the Lords of Sillans exploited to the fullest. Collecting tolls on the ford and controlling trade in Bâle’s hinterlands, the Lords of Sillans became rich. A bridge was constructed across the ford in the latter half of the 12^th century. The Lords of Sillans became very wealthy that they constructed a bigger castle for themselves (Château de Sillans), around which the village of Château-Sillans grew. Château-Sillans is now a district of the town of Havey (Sarine).


Counts of Sillans
By the 13^th century, the Lords of Sillans were now called Counts. It is not known when the Lords of Sillans were elevated to being Counts. In the archives of the Archdiocese of Bâle, an Arnaud II de Dorcet, Comté de Sillans had his son and heir baptised in the Cathedral of Bâle in 1216.

The Counts of Sillans expanded their domains through marriage, purchases, and politics. By 1330, the Counts of Sillans already held the sénéchausées of Sillans, Payerne, Bressaucourt, Gérofin, and Fayence, encompassing most of the lower Durance valley. The domains almost completely surrounded the city of Bâle and controlled its hinterlands. As such, the Counts of Sillans were constantly at odds with the Archbishops of Bâle, who controlled the city of Bâle. The archdiocese’s archives chronicle the many conflicts of the archbishops of Bâle with the Counts of Sillans.

The Counts of Sillans eventually won. During the Santonian Schism, the Archbishop of Bâle was strongly Ultramarinist in its position, as was the archdiocesan chapter of Bâle. In the Edict of Vantes (13 January 1347), King Archambault II of Saintonge expelled all the Ultramarinist prelates who refused to adhere to the Confession of Sens. The archbishop of Bâle and his archdiocesan chapter resisted. The King authorised Count Gérard VII of Sillans to take Bâle. The Bâlois promptly opened their gates to the troops of the Count of Sillans. As a reward, King Archambault II granted the city of Bâle to the Counts of Sillans.

Duchy of Sillanais
The Counts of Sillans were now in control of Bâle, a rich seaport with numerous trade links and a member of the Ganze League. The Counts of Sillans took residence in Bâle; they enriched themselves in trade and shrewdly expanded their domains. The neighbouring County of Valentinois was acquired through marriage in 1366; the administration of the sénéchausée of Darbonnay was bought from the Crown in 1373; the lord of Artigues was forced into submission in 1380; the Lordship of Vallauris and Tartonne was bought from the Duke of the Griffonné in 1390. The pinnacle of their success was in 1410, when King William III ‘the Vanquisher’ (Guillaume III le Vainqueur) elevated Count Gérard IX of Sillans to a Duke, establishing the Duchy of Sillanais*. This was in acknowledgment of the loyalty of the Count of Sillans to the King during the Second Ducal War. The new Duchy of Sillanais also gained the Baltée valley beyond the Majastres mountains (at the expense of the Duke of Griffonné) and territories beyond the Scarpe River (at the expense of the Duke of Soleure).

The main rivals of the Dukes of Sillans were their southern neighbours, the Dukes of Soleure. The Dukes of Soleure controlled the city of Coire, Bâle’s competitor when it came to trade. The two duchies frequently fought, with their border along the Scarpe valley regularly shifting.

Their other rival were the Dukes of Griffonné, who were angling to regain their lost territories, although sometimes the Dukes of Sillans were able to neutralise the Dukes of Griffonné by deftly handled agreements and tactically-arranged marriages.

If the Dukes of Soleure and Griffonné were frequent rebels, the Dukes of Sillans maintained their position by being staunchly loyal to the Santonian monarchy. This was calculated to preserve their position amidst two hostile neighbours and to maintain the privileges of the city of Bâle, which was starting to rival Saintes as a trading port. Any move against the Santonian monarchy might make the Kings of Saintonge revoke the privileges of Bâle, as what happened numerous times with Coire and Embrun (trading cities of the duchies of Soleure and Griffonné, respectively).

Foreign Trading Posts
The relationship between the Santonian monarchy and the Duke of Sillans was very close that Duke Maximilian II of Sillans remained loyal when King Charles III ‘the Mad’ closed to foreign ships all ports, except that of Saintes, in 1466. It meant that Bâle had to be closed to foreign ships; its economy suffered. Other affected dukes started to rebel, but Duke Maximilian’s loyalty saved his neck: most of the other affected dukes were either beheaded or imprisoned.

When King Baldwin II ‘the Young’ (Baudouin II le Jeune) deposed King Charles III ‘the Mad’ in 1473, Duke Maximilian II of Sillans was one of the first to pay homage to the new king. King Baldwin II acknowledged the loyalty of the Duke of Sillans, but would not go as far as reinstating the trading privileges of Bâle. The Duke of Sillans, however, was allowed to trade with foreign countries with his own ships, hence the Sillanais Trading Scheme.

The Duchy of Sillanais established foreign trading posts abroad, such as Norvalle (established 1505). The Sillanais Trading Scheme involved these overseas trading posts being the areas where Santonian goods were sold and foreign goods were bought. These foreign goods were then brought to Bâle aboard ships of the duchy; thus, technically, the city of Bâle was still closed to foreign ships, but open to foreign goods. A portion of the proceeds went to the Santonian monarchy for their tolerance of the scheme. The Duchy of Sillanais also retained the informal support of the Ganze, hence its ability to penetrate as far away as beyond the straits controlled by the Epiphanes.

The Dukes of Sillans benefited from their close relationship with the Santonian kings, until the Bastard’s War.


Bastard’s War
The relationship between the half-brothers King Archambault V ‘the Desired’ (Archambault V le Désiré) and Francis II ‘the Usurper’ (François II l’Usurpateur) were notoriously tense. Their predecessor, King Francis I ‘the Drunk’ (François I l’Ivrogne), fathered Francis II with his first mistress, Anne-Charlotte de Coire. Archambault’s mother was Queen Clémentine, who was a Duchess of Sillans (aunt of the then Duke Jean-Philippe of Sillans). Though Francis the Bastard was older than Archambault, the latter was the legal heir to the kingdom. Francis the Bastard continued to press his claims to the throne even while King Francis I was reigning. This was aggravated by the fact that King Francis I preferred the bastard Francis over Crown Prince Archambault, but the scandalised Estates-General of Saintonge (especially the clerical and commoner estates) refused to put the bastard Francis over Archambault in the line of succession.

When King Francis I died in 1578, he purportedly named Francis the Bastard as his successor on his deathbed. King Archambault V was able to be crowned king in Saintes, but the royal forces were not able to arrest Francis the Bastard. Francis the Bastard hid in the Duchy of Soleure (his mother’s homeland) and amassed followers to retake the throne. This entailed promising huge concessions to the dukes who would support his rebellion. These concessions were the main causes of the weakening of the Santonian monarchy in the 16^th century.

While King Archambault V quickly endeared himself to the commoners for his just administration and to the clergy for his piety, the ambitious dukes and nobles of the kingdom schemed against the Santonian monarch. With the majority of the dukes pledging support for him, Francis the Bastard rose in rebellion in 1580. Only a few magnates remained loyal to King Archambault V: the petty king of Domnonée, the Duke of Aurigny, the Duke of the Beauce, the Duke of Bordulac, the Duke of the Pouilles, and, unsurprisingly, the Duke of Sillans.

The royal armies were defeated in the Battles of Caulaincourt (27 September 1581) and Longjumeau (15 October 1581), enabling Francis the Bastard to occupy Saintes. King Archambault V fled to the Domnonée, but the king was captured at the battle of Scaër (16 May 1582).

The King and his family were brought to Saintes and were publicly humiliated by Francis the Bastard in front of most of the assembled nobles. With the royal family being held at swordpoint in front of him, King Archambault V was forced by Francis the Bastard to abdicate the throne to him. King Francis II then imprisoned Archambault V and his family in various different locations.

The rebellious nobles swore fealty to King Francis II, and the new king punished the magnates who had been loyal to Archambault. The Bordulac and Aurignais lost territory, the Pouilles was divided into three, Francis II assumed the title petty king of Domnonée. For the two duchies that were still actively resisting, Francis II declared the dukes of Sillans and the Beauce as outlaws and stripped them of their titles.

After Duke Brice III of the Beauce was killed in the battle of Beauséjour (24 June 1582), the Beauce was divided between the Duchies of Champagne and Forez. It left the Duke of Sillans as the only remaining resister.

Flight to Norvalle
Sillanais armies successfully held off the Duke of Griffonné at the Battle of Cavaillon (14 August 1581). The Sillanais even occupied Coire during the winter of 1581-1582 after Duke Jean-Philippe of Sillans defeated the armies of the Soleure. But after Francis II consolidated its control of the centre by July 1582, Francis II started to turn his attention to the Sillanais threat. Francis II and the nobles led a huge army across the Chartreuse mountains. From Grésivaudan, Francis II attacked the outnumbered Sillanais armies in the Durance valley, winning at the Battles of Montmarlon (30 August 1582), Barberaz (13 September 1582), Valence (21 September 1582), and Payerne (16 October 1582). Sillans itself was occupied by Francis II in October, and the siege of Bâle started in November 1582. The city of Bâle resisted throughout the winter, being supplied by sea from its overseas posts. However, in the spring of 1583, the city’s defences were breached, thanks to fresh reinforcements for Francis II’s army. The city of Bâle fell on 17 April 1583, and the ducal family of Sillanais barely escaped with their riches to their trading post at Norvalle. Francis II erased the Duchy of Sillanais from the map by partitioning it between Griffonné, Grésivaudan, and Soleure.

Prince
Duke Jean-Philippe of Sillans refused to recognise Francis II as the king of Saintonge, insisting that King Archambault V was still the rightful king because the abdication was made under duress. From overseas, Duke Jean-Philippe of Sillans schemed to restore his cousin, King Archambault V, to the throne. The plot of the Duke Jean-Philippe of Sillans to free his aunt, Queen-Mother Clémentine, was successful. Queen-Mother Clémentine reached Norvalle in March 1584, bringing with her letters patent, purportedly from her son King Archambault V, naming Duke Jean-Philippe of Sillans as Regent of Saintonge, with a rank of Prince. The plans to spirit away the other royal children from Saintonge were foiled. Other plots, including whipping up peasant uprisings in favour of the popular Archambault, were also thwarted.

Extinction of the Royal Family
Because of the threat that his half-brother posed, Francis II executed Archambault V on 7 September 1586, ostensibly for treason. Archambault V’s children were then imprisoned in harsher conditions. The eleven-year-old Prince Archambault, Count of Meaux, was locked in solitude in the dungeons of the Royal Castle of Saintes (where rumours abounded that King Francis II tortured the teenager). The eight-year-old Prince Baudouin, Count of Tarare, was imprisoned in the castle of the Duke of Soleure, where it was said that “prince was treated worse than a dog.” The five-year-old Princess Charlotte was sent to the Abbey of Cartigny, where her life was better than the ones suffered by her brothers. Their mother, Queen Marie-Madeleine, Duchess of the Beauce, died in prison in 1588.

Duke Jean-Philippe of Sillans, now openly using the title Prince of Sillans, refused to recognise Francis II as King of Saintonge or as suzerain. With the execution of Archambault V, Prince Jean-Philippe of Sillans recognised the imprisoned Count of Meaux as King Archambault VI of Saintonge. A mass uprising in northern Saintonge in the name of the King Archambault VI was instigated by Prince Jean-Philippe of Sillans. The plot failed when the rebels failed to free the Count of Meaux from prison. King Francis II then executed the teenaged Prince Archambault on 16 May 1591.

The restoration of the descendants of Archambault V to the throne became even more unlikely with the death of Prince Baudouin, Count of Tarare, on January 1593. While officially the Duke of Soleure said that the fourteen-year-old prince died of ‘sickness’, Bishop Marc-Émile Canteloube de Canson of Soleure wrote in his private diary that the hapless prince died because “the savage, perverted Duke of Soleure refused to feed the child.”

This left Princess Charlotte in the Abbey of Cartigny. The Abbess of Cartigny and the Pope of the Santonian National Church resisted all attempts to transfer the princess to King Francis II’s custody, knowing the possible fate that would befall her. Nevertheless, Prince Charlotte died of consumption in December 1600 in the Abbey of Cartigny.

Repercussions in Norvalle
Prince Jean-Philippe of Sillans died in 1595 of an illness, never having realised his dream of a Restoration in Saintonge. His son, Martin, succeeded him as Prince. In 1601, news of Princess Charlotte’s death reached Norvalle. This meant that Francis II represented the remaining royal line of Saintonge. Prince Martin still refused to recognise the bastard usurper as King and declared independence instead, becoming the first Prince of Sil Dorsett.

Repercussions in Saintonge
In Saintonge, Francis II became a very hated figure, even in modern historiography. He was credited with weakening the Santonian monarchy and accelerating the fragmentation of the country into various warring fiefdoms under a nominal king. When compared to King Archambault V, who was beloved by the people during his short reign, Francis II was brutal and ruthless. It was said that during his reign, Santonians spoke of various distasteful epithets against Francis II, which included ‘the child-killer’, ‘the ill-ruler’ and ‘the rapacious’, aside from ‘the bastard’ and ‘the usurper’.

Even his descendants recognised the hostility against Francis II and sought to correct the wrongs their ancestor did. Francis II’s son, King Charles IV ‘the Simple’ (Charles IV le Simple) refused to name any of his sons Francis. (To date, no subsequent Santonian king bears the name Francis.) King Charles IV ‘the Simple’ also sought to repeal many of the oppressive laws and excessive privileges granted by his father, but the dukes stymied much his plans.

When King Charles IV’s teenaged great-grandson Baldwin ascended to the throne in 1660, he took the regnal number IV, eventually becoming known as King Baldwin IV ‘the Towheaded’ (Baudouin IV le Blondinet). This meant that Baldwin III (Baudouin III) was skipped, in deference to Prince Baudouin, Count of Tarare, who would have taken that regnal number.

A year into his reign, King Baldwin IV died childless. His younger brother Archambault succeeded him. Like King Baldwin IV, Archambault skipped a number, in deference to Prince Archambault, Count of Meaux. He would eventually be known as King Archambault VII ‘the Magnanimous’ (Archambault VII le Magnanime) because of his kindness and generosity. As one of the first acts of atonement by the Santonian monarchs, King Archambault VII asked for forgiveness for what Francis II did, in a special ceremony in front of the Pope of the Santonian National Church. King Archambault VII then had the remains of King Archambault V, Queen Marie-Madeleine, and the three royal children interred at the royal crypts at the Royal Palace in Saintes.

The current Santonian monarchy recognises Archambault VI and Baldwin III as de jure Kings of Saintonge, and their portraits hang accordingly in the Galerie des Rois in the Royal Palace in Saintes. In the same Galerie des Rois, the portrait of King Francis II the Usurper has been hung upside down since the Santonian Revolution, a testament to how poorly the country views the bastard usurper.


Rapprochement between Saintonge and Sil Dorsett
The Principality of Sil Dorsett continued to refuse to recognise the legitimacy of the Santonian monarchy until the 1870s. With the democratisation of Sil Dorsett, and wanting to strengthen her position within the principality and with the outside world, Princess Liselle of Sil Dorsett reached out to the government of the Kingdom of Saintonge in 1872. By then, Saintonge’s monarch was King Éric I (Éric-Ketille), the half-Prydanian king of Saintonge. King Éric I already was technically a male-line descendant of a commoner, not a male-line descendant of Francis II. The Popular government of Prime Minister Jacques-Christophe Laclède recommended normalisation of relations. The Kingdom of Saintonge and the Principality of Sil Dorsett established formal diplomatic relations in 1873.

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* Note: In Santonian, duchies named after cities generally take the gentilic of the city (Duchy of Sillanais, Duchy of Niortais, Duchy of Beaujolais) but the title of the dukes is still that of the namesake city (Duke of Sillans, Duke of Niort, Duke of Beaujeu). Exceptions include the Duke of Artois (city of Arthus) and the Duchy of Beaune (city of Beaune).

The Royal Family of Saintonge owns many palaces and châteaux throughout the country, as a result of the centuries of building and acquisitions. The number was reduced during the Santonian Revolution, when the Pope-King Thibault I donated some of those properties to the people and the government. For instance, the Sea Palace (Palais de Mer) in Saint-Océan was donated to the department of the Cenise to house the departmental council offices. Some of these royal palaces and châteaux were converted into hostels through Paradours de Saintonge, which helps offset the cost of their upkeep.

This article covers the some palaces and châteaux that the Royal Family uses, the list is not exhaustive.

Palais Royal de Saintes
Royal Palace of Saintes
Saintes

Occupying the northern (downstream) half of the Île de la Cité, an island in the middle of the Saine River in central Saintes, the Royal Palace is the current home and official residence of the Santonian Royal Family.

Originally built as a castle controlling the Saine River, the earliest evidence of such defensive structures were dated to the 3^rd century. Throughout the centuries, it became the seats of the Lords of Saintes and eventually the Kings of Saintonge. It expanded to cover the entire northern third of the Île de la Cité, with its various structures, stables, gardens, orangeries, and parade grounds.

The southern third of the Île de la Cité was occupied by the Cathedral of Our Lady of Saintonge (Cathédrale Nationale de Notre Dame de Saintonge) and the associated buildings, such as the deaneries, the Patriarchal Palace, the Archbishop’s Palace. Between the Cathedral and the Royal Palace sat the old town of Saintes.

However, during the Santonian Revolution, nobles detonated the Cathedral during the Gunpowder Plot of 1789. The conflagration spread throughout the tightly-packed old town and the Royal Palace. Only a few structures remained on the northern half, as the northerly winds blew the fire towards the Royal Palace. Three-fifths of the Île de la Cité were burnt down.

Pope-King Thibault I then lived in the Patriarchal Palace throughout his reign, as the country’s energies and finances were directed towards rebuilding the country. The Cathedral was rebuilt, but the entire northern half of the Île de la Cité were reclaimed by forest.

The two subsequent Pope-Kings lived in the Patriarchal Palace as well. The Royal Castle was rebuilt after the 1840 Great Fire of Saintes, which ravaged the entire eastern half (right-bank) of the city. The Santonian government commissioned architect and city planner Eugène-Matthias de Brémond to come up with a plan for the rebuilding of Saintes. The plan then also included a new Royal Palace and extended to the northern half of the Île de la Cité. This rebuilding brought forth the wide tree-lined avenues, uniform palatial buildings, the Jardin des Saints, and the various structures that were etched in the popular image of the city of Saintes. This also accounts for the difference between the architecture of left-bank (west) and right-bank (east) Saintes. As for the Royal Palace, Pope-King Justin opted for a more modest palace, with some of the forest retained and some were given to various government buildings, a large parade ground, and the large Place de Saintes, which in reality is a big landscaped park located between the Cathédrale Nationale and the Palais Royal. Because of this, the Palais Royal is one of the more unassuming royal palaces in the world.

Le Sanctuaire Royal
the Royal Sanctuary
Fontainebleau, department of the Lisle

The Royal Sanctuary was built as a rural hunting retreat of the Kings of Saintonge in the town of Fontainebleau, 25 kilometers northeast of Saintes. It was the favourite retreat of King Henri II ‘the Sinner’ (Henri II le Pecheur). Over the subsequent centuries, various Santonian Kings expanded and added to the Royal Sanctuary.

Because of its size and grandiosity, the Royal Sanctuary is used to host state guests, such as visiting monarchs and presidents.

Trois Châteaux de Ciel
Three Sky Castles

The “Three Sky Castles” refer to the Santonian Royal Family’s three royal castles located in the mountains of Saintonge: the Château de Gripenberg, the Château de Pierrebouche, and the Castelnaudary.

Château de Gripenberg
Gripenberg Castle
Gripenberg, department of the Sûre

The Gripenberg Castle is one of the most stunning and lavish of the Santonian royal castles, situated atop a rock overlooking the village of Gripenberg. It was built in the latter half of the 19^th century by the eccentric Bavière noble Baldéric III Gripenberg, Count of Trémoigne and Courfaivre. Count Baldéric III (who was rumoured to be homosexual) died childless in 1896, after living in the castle for a decade and struggling to pay the debt incurred in the construction of his dream castle.

Gripenberg Castle then passed to Count Baldéric III’s nearest relative, Marie-Clotilde de Gripenberg, the daughter-in-law of the Duke of Bavière. Unable to pay off the debts, Marie-Clotilde gave the castle to his father-in-law, Duke Kilian V of Bavière, on the condition that the Duke of Bavière pay off the debts. The extravagance of the castle became a strain on the finances of the Duchy of Bavière; even though all the debts were paid off by 1910, the upkeep of the castle was expensive. The Dukes of Bavière opened it as a tourist attraction in 1920 to help pay for the costs of the upkeep, and it became famous throughout Saintonge and the world.

The Royal Family gained the castle through the current Queen Mélisende of Saintonge. The Gripenberg Castle was gifted by Queen Mélisende’s father, Duke Ulrich V of Bavière, to the newlywed couple of then-Crown Prince Thibault of Saintonge (currently King Thibault II) and Duchess Mélisende of Bavière.

Some cynics said that this was a way of offloading the expensive castle to the Santonian Royal Family, but considering that the Gripenberg Castle was already breaking even or turning a small profit, the assessment was deemed unfounded. The Royal Family kept Gripenberg Castle open to the public and as a tourist attraction, although the Thibault and Mélisende had their honeymoon there.

Château de Pierrebouche
Pierrebouche Castle
Montrous-le-Pierrebouche, department of the Semois

Its name Pierrebouche (“Mouth-Rock”) explains the castle. Pierrebouche Castle was built on the mouth of a cave system in the Richemont Mountains by Duke Arthur II of the Aunis in the 13^th century. When the Duchy of the Aunis merged with the Crown, Pierrebouche Castle also passed to the royal family of Saintonge. Like Gripenberg Castle, Pierrebouche Castle is open to the public, along with the cave with a train system inside.


Pierrebouche Castle also served its purpose during the Second Ducal War, when King William III the Vanquisher (Guillaume III le Vainqueur) retreated to the castle. The rebel dukes besieged the castle in 1408 and concentrated forces and spent months trying to storm it. Meanwhile, King William III escaped through the cave systems to the sea near Roquefort, where he rendezvoused with ships of the Count of Sillans. King William III then surprised the besiegers by marching an army behind them, who thought that the king was still trapped inside the castle!

Castelnaudary
Castelnaudary, department of the Haute-Loine

Castelnaudary is both the name of the city (capital of the department of Haute-Loine) and the castle that sits atop a hill, overlooking and guarding the city. Originally a castle guarding the entrance to the upper Loine valley, Castelnaudary was built by Duke Henri II of Quercy in the 11^th century (hence its name, a corruption of mediaeval Quercynois ‘castel nou de Henri’ = “new castle of Henri). The main palace of the Dukes of Quercy was still the one in Largentières, though they used Castelnaudary as their summer retreat. After the Santonian Revolution, the Estates-General of Quercy seized all the properties of the duke. The department of the Haute-Loine, which inherited Castelnaudary from the Estates of Quercy, gifted the castle to Pope-King Thibault I of Saintonge in 1804. Castelnaudary is open to the public and is a tourist draw to the town.

Cinq Palais de Mer
Five Sea Palaces

The “Five Sea Palaces” refer to the Santonian Royal Family’s five royal palaces located on the northern coast. Since the current Santonian Royal Family traces some of its roots in the province of the Griffonné, all but one of the Sea Palaces are located in this province. Unlike the Three Sky Castles, most of the Five Sea Palaces are closed to the public and serve as secluded retreats for the Royal Family. Many of these carry the name Palais despite them being villas or refurbished forts, mainly because they are being used by the Royal Family.

Palais de Grâce
Grace Palace
Le Havre-de-Grâce, department of the Capoterre

The Grace Palace is located in the commune of Le Havre-de-Grâce, just adjacent to the military harbour used by detachments of the 133^st Marine Brigade of the Royal Santonian Army and by several Royal Santonian Navy ships in the Fourth Fleet. (Le Havre-de-Grâce has a separate civilian harbour.)

Being in a militarily sensitive area, the Grace Palace is closed to the public, and soldiers of the 139^th Marine Battalion provide additional security.

The Grace Fort started as a fort built by the baron of nearby Hyères in the 14^th century. With the extinction of the barony of Hyères, the structure fell into disuse. It was used as a fish market, a billet for Santonian sailors, a watchtower, or as a warehouse. When the Royal Santonian Navy acquired the eastern harbour of Le Havre-de-Grâce in 1802, the Grace Fort came with it.

In 1859, King Brice I of Saintonge, who was a sailor, chanced upon the dilapidated fort and took a liking for it. He partially renovated the interior and used it as his base when he went to the sea. Thereafter, the Royal Santonian Navy maintained the Grace Fort for King Brice I. But the current look and massive renovation, restoration, and expansion (including the planting of a garden) took place during the reign of King Archambault X, who favoured the Grace Palace.

Palais de Belvédère
Belvedere Palace
Belvédère-sur-Mer, department of the Capoterre

The Belvedere Palace was built on a rocky promontory jutting out of the sea, hence its name. It was originally built by a Norsian businessman in the early part of the 20^th century, hence the Norsian architecture. It was purchased by Duke Matthieu IV of the Beaujolais in 1927 as their third summer home. Ownership passed to Duchess Ernestine of the Beaujolais, who married Crown Prince Timothée, who would become King Timothée II of Saintonge.

Palais des Fleurs
Flower Palace
Spéracèdes, department of the Baltée

The Flower Palace was built as a villa by Marie-Caroline Évrard de Rougemont, heiress to a vast pharmaceutical fortune, between 1905 and 1912. Évrard de Rougemont purchased a large tract of seaside land (then cheap) halfway between Saint-Tropez and Ten-Fours-les-Plages. Majority of the land was on the territory of the commune of Spéracèdes, but the land was so large it spilled into two other adjacent communes of Conségudes and Pégomas.

Évrard de Rougemont then built her dream villa, which has fifteen gardens (hence the name Flower Palace). Each of the gardens had a different theme: Santonian, Bavarois, Bethanian, Griffonian, Skandan, Predicean, Bashimite, Syrixian, Norsian, butterfly garden, stone garden, rose garden, alpine garden, medicinal garden, and a scent garden/perfume garden (with a flower clock).

Aside from the gardens, the Flower Palace is also filled with antique furniture, Old Master paintings, sculptures, objets d'art, and an extensive collection of rare porcelain. At her death in 1925, Évrard de Rougemont bequeathed the villa to the non-profit Patrimoine Saintongeaise, which takes care of important cultural properties in Saintonge.

The Royal Family of Saintonge started its connection with the Flower Palace when then Crown Prince Justin II chose it to spend his honeymoon in 1928. Thereafter, King Justin II became a frequent visitor to the Palace. He became a patron and financially supported the upkeep of the extensive gardens. The royal patronage enabled the Flower Palace to maintain its collections of artefacts as well. Initially open to the public, the Flower Palace was eventually closed to the public when King Justin II was in residence, usually from November to February.

Patrimoine Saintongeaise, in its desire to focus on other restoration works, asked King Justin II to take over the Flower Palace. The Royal Family officially acquired the Flower Palace in 1946. It is one of the two Sea Palaces that is open to the public, albeit only at certain times of the year (March to October).

Palais de Rochefente
Rochefente Palace
Sigonce, department of the Lys

Perched on the stony hill (roche) overlooking the village of Sigonce in the department of the Lys, the Rochefente Palace started its life as a fort built by the Duke of Griffonné in the 15^th century. The Rochefente fort was directed against the Duke of Sillans, who had occupied the nearby district of Malaucène. Situated on a rock cliff overlooking the sea, the fort got its name from the hill it stands on. Rochefente is the local word for a “Cleft Rock”, as its seaward side has a calanque (a narrow, steep-faced inlet). At the head of the calanque is a secluded beach, which is private and can only be accessed through the palace grounds.


After the Santonian Revolution, the fort was largely forgotten and fell into ruin. In 1991, the parish council of Sigonce, desiring to copy the other communes in the Griffonian coast by promoting tourism, wanted to renovate the fort. The parish council of Sigonce thought that it was simply public property. However during the processing of Sigonce’s land use plan, the department of the Lys found out that somebody owned the fort.

It turned out that the fort was owned by Count Georges I of Carqueiranne (1725-1783). Count Georges I of Carqueiranne willed the Rochefente fort to his daughter Marie-Augustine of Carqueiranne in 1775. Even when Marie-Augustine of Carqueiranne died a year later, the 1775 will was the last will written by Count Georges I of Carqueiranne, and so the Rochefente fort went to Marie-Augustine’s heir, Pauline of Barbentane, mother of King Brice I of Saintonge. The royal family of Saintonge owned the fort! So even when the Estates of the Griffonné abolished all noble titles in the province and seized all noble property in 1791, the properties of the royal family were exempt, and Pauline de Barbentane was technically still a royal.

King Timothée II and Queen Ernestine visited the fort and liked the place, especially the secluded beach. The royal couple preferred the location of the Rochefente than the Belvedere Palace. As such, the royal family renovated and refurbished the fort and expanded it into the Palace of Rochefente. The secluded beach was also closed off to the public, except during the week of Sigonce’s fête dedicated to Saint Claude (6 June).

Even though the commune of Sigonce was disappointed that it was not able to use the fort as a tourist draw, the few tourists that they drew in were the most important tourists in the Kingdom of Saintonge – the King and the Queen! Eventually, the jobs at the Rochefente Palace were enough to revitalise the otherwise hidden village.

Mont Saint-Caël
Saint Caël’s (or Kyle’s) Mount
Mont-Saint-Caël, department of the Boëme

The only Palais de Mer not located in the Griffonné, Mont-Saint-Caël is a tidal island and a parish in the department of the Boëme, in the old province of Béthagne (Bethany). The island is located about one kilometer off the coast, at the mouth of the Sélune River near Ancenis. It is accessible from the mainland during low tide.

Originally, the island was occupied by a community of hermits. This grew to monastery dedicated to Saint Caël, an obscure local Bethanian saint who is also the patron of the Cathedral of Redon (capital of the department of the Boëme).

Eventually, the petty kings of Bethany recognised the defensive features of the islet on the Bay of the Saine, and constructed a fort on the islet in the 13^th century. A small village grew at the foot of the monastery and fort. The village was part of the dowry from Princess Nolwenn of Bethany when she married the crown prince of Saintonge, who would become King Archambault II ‘the Reformer’ (Archambault II le Réformateur) in 1322. Despite being part of the Duchy of Bethany and dependent on the parlement at Béthanie, Mont-Saint-Caël had been continuously recognised as being royal property.

The monks at the monastery of Saint Caël maintain the island, the abbey, the church, and the fort, which had been turned into a royal residence. Pope-Kings Thibault I and Timothée I preferred to retreat to the monastic community at Mont-Saint-Caël when they wanted to get away from Saintes.

Captain Saintonge (Santonian: Capitaine Saintonge) is the most popular comic book hero in Saintonge. Created by Pierre-Martin Boucicaut and Adam-Landéric Pflieger for Comics Prodige ("Prodigy Comics"), Captain Saintonge features a navy captain named Thibault Battellier, who had acquired secret superhero powers to defend Saintonge against its enemies. Captain Saintonge was first released in time for Christmas in December 1922 (Winter 1922), and has been published uninterruptedly every quarter until present.

Because of its popularity, Captain Saintonge has been translated and is published in several other languages, including Prydanian, Predicean, Tagapa, Suchari (Syrixia) and Aleman (Mintoria and Highton).

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OOC: Many thanks to @Prydania for helping in the editing of the picture

Development of automobiles and the Compagnie pouillais des transports mécaniques

The development of the automobile in Saintonge was closely tied to the province of the Pouilles and the Compagnie pouillais des transports mécaniques, formed through the patronage of the Duke of the Pouilles.


One of the earliest first full-scale, self-propelled mechanical vehicle was a steam-powered tricycle built by Nicholas-Joseph Bugnot in Plaisance in 1769. It was shown to the court of the Duke of the Pouilles as a curiosity. It was not practical, as there was difficulty in water supply and maintaining steam pressure. In 1808, Joseph-Nicodème Niépce (who was also involved in the development of photography) developed the pyréolophore, one of the first internal combustion engines. It was powered by a mixture of lycopodium powder, coal dust, and oil. Also working under the patronage of the Duke of the Pouilles, Niépce adapted the pyréolophore to some applications, but it was impractical. Pyréolophores remained largely a curiosity in the court of the duke of the Pouilles. The Duke of the Pouilles' interest in "mechanical transport machines" made the province a centre of automobile development in Saintonge.


In 1870, Santonian inventor Guillaume Trouvé demonstrated a tricycle powered by electricity, which rekindled interest in "mechanical transport machines". Four years later, a Santonian inventor and a professor at the Ducal University of the Pouilles, Charles-Benjamin Boyer, working with his foreign students Mikjáll Grindvík (a Prydanian) and Natasa Callea (a Norsian), invented an internal combustion engine. Boyer improved upon Grindvík's and Callea's proposal for a internal combustion engine by adding a fuel mixture compression step (a four-stroke internal combustion engine) prior to combustion to create a far higher efficiency than any engine created to that date. In Saintonge, the internal combustion engine is still sometimes called a "Boyer engine" or a "BGC machine" after its inventors. Grindvík, who was delivering milk in Côme as a side hustle to earn money while in school, installed such an engine on his Salmson bicycle in 1875. He sped all the way to the wharf of Côme before plunging off the seawall and into the sea. Grindvík broke his arm and his bicycle and lost his dignity, but he proved that the engine could be used to achieve higher speeds than what could be achieved by humans.

The engine was improved by Boyer with the addition of a carburetor in 1875. Another student at the Ducal University of the Pouilles, the Goyanean Konstantin van Ållyberg, added an electric ignition to the Boyer engine in 1876. This resulted in the basic internal combustion engine used in automobiles today.

The Duke Ardouin V of the Pouilles, encouraged by the discoveries, formed a company that would harness these new inventions, the Compagnie pouillais des transports mécaniques (CPTP), the predecessor of AMP, in 1875. Further improvements were made by Jules-Thibault Dobsen adapted the Boyer engine to heavier fuels ("diesel" fuel) by spraying the fuel/air mixture into the combustion chamber, this was used for more heavy-duty vehicles.


The first modern automobile was built in Côme in 1878, using the Boyer engine. The four-wheeled vehicle was presented with great fanfare to Duke Ardouin V of the Pouilles. More vehicles were subsequently produced. In 1881, Johann Siegfried Blattmann, a Hessunlander inventor invited by the Duke of the Pouilles, created a steering wheel for the automobile. This coincided with Richard-Joël Raffron's design for a flat engine. All of these improvements were included in the 1883 Pouillais Type 3 automobile, arguably the first reasonably modern automobile in Saintonge. Only a few units were sold as they were very expensive and could not compete with trains and even horse-drawn carriages.

In the late 1880s, the CPTP introduced assembly-line techniques, increasing mechanisation, and standardised parts to its car manufacturing, making the car more affordable. CPTP's newest model, the 1888 Pouillais Type 7 automobile, rolled off the assembly line in 1889. Duke Ardouin V of the Pouilles gifted the first car off the assembly line to King Archambault IX of Saintonge; the Duke also drove the automobile around Saintes with the King as his passenger. Pouillais Type 7 automobiles soon became ubiquitous in Santonian cities, leading to profound changes in Saintonge's cities and eventually the countryside. CPTP also experimented with other models, such as the luxurious 1895 Luxe 1 Automobile. An 1895 Luxe 1 automobile was gifted by Duke Ardouin V of the Pouilles to Crown Prince Archambault and his bride Princess Asleif Loðbrók for their 1896 wedding. (Princess Asleif would ship their wedding car back to Prydania for her family to enjoy and marvel at.)


CPTP would also venture into motorcycles, harking back to the time when Mikjáll Grindvík put a Boyer engine on his bicycle. The first motorcycle was sold in 1890. CPTP also put engines on large carriages, resulting in the 1886 AutoVoiture, arguably the first bus in Saintonge. In 1890, the city of Plaisance (also in the Pouilles) ordered a fleet of AutoVoitures to augment the city's streetcar system - the first instance of a fully-mechanised public transport system.


The increasing popularity of automobiles necessitated expansion. When SNIS was founded, the CPTP applied for SNIS funding. They were one of the first companies to get such funding, and so the investment structure was slightly different. The Automobiles Pouillaises (AMP) was founded as a joint venture by SNIS and the CPTP. CPTP still legally exists, but only on paper; and for Santonians, AMP and CPTP are the same.

Today the AMP mostly caters to the mid-market for consumer cars; it is also the leader in Saintonge when it comes to motorcycles and buses. It has also pioneered electric vehicles in Saintonge, aiming to take advantage of cheap, nuclear-generated electricity in the country.


Random Trivia: The logo of the AMP harks back to the coat-of-arms of the province of the Pouilles, which has a red-and-white checkered escutcheon (similar to the escutcheon of the département of the Simbruins). The black circle represents a wheel/tire for the vehicles.

Automobile manufacturers I
Salmson

Salmson, based in southern Saintonge, began as a family company that made pepper and coffee mills (it still makes pepper mills up to this day). In 1861, Baudouin-Jacob Salmson, a son of one of the company's owners, and his friend Matthias-Friso Staelens added a mechanical crank drive with pedals on the front wheel of a two-wheeled bicycle-like contraption. Salmson and Staelens called it the vélocipède.

Modern bicycles were also introduced courtesy of Salmson and Staelens and a young company employee named Hendrick Specker. Specker introduced a chain drive (bicycle chains) to the Salmson vélocipède and the modern Santonian bicycle was born. Salmson became the leading producer of bicycles, and the bulk of their business shifted to it. Salmson bicycles became commonplace throughout late 19^th century Saintonge, until the advent of the automobiles.

The introduction of automobiles were killing their bicycle business, and so the family-owned Salmson company decided to venture into carmaking. They sought out investment from SNIS in 1906 to finance their move into the carmaking business. They failed to breakthrough in the mass market segment but found a niche in the luxury car and custom- and hand-made car business. To this day, a Salmson crest in your car means that your car is very special indeed.

Random trivia: The Salmson lion crest was taken from the coat-of-arms of the Salmson family, who were minor nobility in the province of Artois. (Artois is one of the provinces that did not abolish their nobility after the Santonian Revolution.)

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Pégase
In 1910, Joseph-Aurélien Brandon named his car company after the Santonian word for the mythical flying horse Pegasus, implying its speed and capabilities. In setting up his company in Bâle, Brandon took in SNIS funding in 1911. Currently, Pégase specialises in the upmarket and luxury car segments. Its cars are typically named after mythical creatures, such as the Auroch (a civilian version of a military APC), the Griffon (a luxury convertible), and the Bagwyn (a luxury saloon). Its most outrageous project is the Seawolf, a street-legal amphibious automobile capable of crossing rivers and seas.

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Hardy
Founded by Folc-Canute Hardy, the company started out making carriages. The ancestors of Hardy, formerly of Germand minor nobility, were rendered impoverished after the Santonian Revolution took away their estates. Hardy's father was a poor cartwright in Tilly-la-Campagne. The ambitious Folc-Canute apprenticed himself in various trades, until he knew how to make parts of a carriage. He then built a carriage making business based in Tilly-la-Campagne. Their specialty were carriages that can withstand the harsh snows and negotiate the mountain trails of southern Saintonge - making them very popular during their time. Like Salmson, Hardy found his business threatened by the automobile, to his end, he joined the booming automobile industry, aided by SNIS funding in 1909.

Hardy cars were popular because they were hardy (no pun intended) and reliable; to prove his point, the elderly Folc-Canute Hardy drove a Robuste 1919 car from Tilly-la-Campagne, over the mountains to Nyon, and back to Tilly-la-Campagne without the car breaking down. In the late 1920s, Hardy also branched out to making trucks and buses, building on the reliability that Hardy was known for. The name Hardy became so associated with trucks that truckers in Saintonge are also nicknamed the Hardy boys. Hardy still produces trucks and is one of the leaders in that market.

When it comes to consumer cars, however, Hardy automobiles tend to cater to the middle-market and upper-market segment; however, it only has a small share of the overall consumer car market, being eclipsed by its main competitor, AMP.

Random trivia: Also like Salmson, the logo of Hardy is the heraldic device on the coat-of-arms of the Hardy family.

Automobile manufacturers II
Montfaucon

Montfaucon is a Santonian car manufacturer known primarily for its heavy equipment such as cranes, backhoes, bulldozers, excavators, and steamrollers, ubiquitous in Santonian construction sites. However, Montfaucon also makes consumer cars, primarily targeting the middle-market and upper-market segment, capitalising on its "heavy-duty" reputation.

Montfaucon was founded by the nobleman Baron Jean-François-Landry Cottin de Montfaucon in Jarrie in 1877 with his own money. Initially interested in making machines for work in his estates centred in Montfaucon-sur-Lisle, he initially used steam-powered traction machines to do heavy work in his estates. Some of the machines he built were replicated and sold to other nobles or even local governments for use. In 1895, through a mutual friend, Cottin de Montfaucon acquired license to make Boyer engines from the Duke of the Pouilles' CPTP. The internal combustion engines soon became the main source of power for heavy equipment, though this has been replaced by Dobsen-Boyer engines ("diesel" engines) in the 1940s.

In 1900, Montfaucon was also one of the first to introduce continuous track vehicles, a log hauler. Cottin de Montfaucon used it to transport logs from the forests of the Chartreuse mountains to woodworks in Jarrie. The impetus for this invention was the departmental government of the Lisle's prohibition of floating of logs down the Lisle River, after piles of logs led to the collapse of a bridge in Bar-sur-Lisle in 1897.

In order to expand production and support the invention of new equipment, including those for mining, construction, and forestry, Montfaucon applied for a SNIS investment in 1912 and in 1956. It introduced its consumer cars in 1958.

Random trivia: Montfaucon heavy equipment are characterised by their distinctive golden-yellow colour. This was because back then, yellow paint was the cheap paint available then that could withstand the workload and use/abuse the machines would be getting. The default colour of the consumer cars that Montfaucon makes are also of that golden-yellow colour.

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Cadillac

This popular Santonian car manufacturer has its roots in a tractor-making company in rural town of the same name in the department of the Loine. The town of Cadillac, surrounded by farmlands and fields, was a centre for making farm implements even before the Santonian Revolution. The town hosted one of the few farm-implement-maker's guilds in Saintonge. The guild was transformed into a cooperative in 1833, when the guild decided to admit the farmer Alfred-Christophe Jorrand in order to produce Jorrand's invention: a horse-drawn machine that was capable of reaping, threshing and winnowing cereal grain (a combine harvester). The Jorrand machine became popular among farmers because of its ease of use and the need for less labour; within two decades Jorrand machines could be seen as far away as Bethany and Bavière. The arrival of steam power made them more efficient, these machines were first powered by straw.

During the early 1900s, when the cars were booming, some wealthy farmers used their cars to pull their Jorrand machine around farms. This induced Cadillac to make their own, powerful cars to pull the combine harvesters. This led to three developments by Cadillac: a self-propelled combine harvester (no need for something to pull it) with customisable attachments (depending on the plant being harvested) in 1909; a line of tractors; and a line of consumer cars. These developments were financed by a SNIS investment in 1905.

Cadillac's line of consumer cars remained as curiosities, seen mostly in country roads. (Until 1987, Cadillac's consumer cars have an adaptor that allows the driver to use it to pull combine harvesters.) In large cities such as Saintes, Nyon, Plaisance, and Bâle, Cadillac drivers were stereotyped as rural farmers or country bumpkins. In the 1980s, Cadillac consumer cars took off because of their relatively affordable price and reliability; even city-dwellers started buying them. To expand production, Cadillac spun off its consumer cars division and this division took in SNIS investment. By agreement, both companies retained the name and the logo for marketing and trademark purposes, but they have two different legal names and are two different entities. Because of Cadillac's initial set-up as a cooperative, the Cadillac consumer car company is also a cooperative - one of the few automotive manufacturers with such type of ownership.

Currently, Cadillac cars are popular among the middle- to lower-market segments. Owning a Cadillac car is also special: each Cadillac car is also a (non-refundable) share in the cooperative. Thus, not only are the workers and employees of Cadillac members of the cooperative; all owners of Cadillac cars are also shareholders (at least in Saintonge). This created intense brand loyalty among Cadillac owners and made the cars some sort of investment as well.

Random trivia: Cadillac's logo comes from the civic arms of the town of Cadillac, which has a yellow couped cross.

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Viollet

Viollet is a Santonian car manufacturer that deliberately targets the lower-segment of the market, producing no-frills affordable vehicles. It was founded by Robert-Évariste Viollet in 1960, a Santonian architect who was disappointed that cars were out of the reach of ordinary Santonians. With his friends Oscar-Léonard Ulry de Thelonne, a banker, and Ignace-Octavien Nadot, an automotive engineer, Viollet made a company with SNIS investment aimed at manufacturing affordable vehicles. In 1967, the low-cost RÉVOLUTION 1968 (which was also the initials of the company's three main founders) was launched. It was, indeed, a revolution. Cars became affordable to many Santonians. This also spurred suburbanisation of the country's cities. Viollet continued in its stated goal of making affordable vehicles and had a reputation for being such; thus its attempt to launch a line of luxury cars failed spectacularly in 2003.

Viollet was more successful in entering the heavy equipment market, starting its heavy equipment division (under the name Viollet le Duc) in 1980 with funding from the Duke of Germandie and SNIS. Aside from the yellow Montfaucons, the purple Viollets can be seen in construction sites in Saintonge and abroad.

Random trivia: Viollet's logo is a stylised wheel, coloured violet (a pun on the founder's name), the outside circle also represents the two other founders (who are called Oscar and Octavien). Its heavy equipment division is branded as Viollet le Duc, after the Duke of Germandie also invested in the company in 1979.

The relationship between the Kingdom of Saintonge and the Most Serene State of Predice is very well-known and storied. This Special Relationship (Santonian: Relation spéciale, Predicean: Relazione speziale) is deeply ingrained not only in governmental circles, but also within the society, culture, and popular imagination in the two countries. The relationship is so close that the two countries are often thought of as being allies, despite there being no formal alliance treaty between the two countries because of the longstanding Santonian neutrality.

Longstanding peace
Despite facing each other on the opposite sides of the Cottian Lake (S: Lac Cottien, P: Lago Cozie) Saintonge and Predice had not fought a war since the 12th century, with almost 900 years of uninterrupted peace between the two countries.

Saintonge at the turn of the millennium
In the 9^th to 11^th centuries, the Kingdom of Saintonge had expanded its reach beyond the Massif Central to the shores of the Cottian Lake. The Gotic tribe of the Bavii in southern Saintonge was subdued, and a Duchy of Bavière was created. The lakeside city of Nyon, at the mouth of the mighty Rhâne River, was subsumed to the Santonian realms in 1000. It became the centre of a new fiefdom, the Duchy of Nyonnais.

After the stability and improvement of governance during the reign of King William I ‘the Accountant’ (Guillaume I le Comptable), Saintonge was governed by his son Louis III ‘the Quarreler’ (Louis III le Hutin). Fuelled by the efficient bureaucracy, taxation, and armed forces that his father left behind, King Louis III of Saintonge embarked on a series of foreign adventures. One (and the last) of them culminated in the Disaster of Nyon.

Disaster of Nyon
Egged on by Duke Francis II of Nyon (Duke of the Nyonnais), King Louis III was persuaded to embark on a conquest of lands beyond the lake. Duke Francis II coveted the rich city-state of Alessano, on the other side of the lake. Nyon was still undeveloped and its duke wanted to capture the city instead of developing his own. King Louis III also harboured the fantasy of occupying the Predicean city-states up to the opposite shore of Meterra in order to create an empire.

In April 1112, King Louis III and Duke Francis II (along with the other Santonian nobles who were dragged on by their king) amassed a large fleet of boats, loaded with thousands of soldiers and knights, ready to sail to the opposite side of the lake to capture Alessano – the first step to a Santonian Empire.

However, as the fleet sailed on 18 April 1112, a huge storm struck the usually placid lake. Some of the ships tried to sail back, but King Louis III’s royal ship Noire-Nef and Duke Francis II’s ducal ship Nyonnais shot cannons at the retreating ships to prevent them from deserting. In the middle of the confusion, lightning struck Noire-Nef, igniting its gunpowder stores. Noire-Nef exploded in flames, with the sparks and embers then igniting the powder in nearby Nyonnais. Both ships downed with their noble occupants; the rest of the Santonian fleet escaped to the nearby harbours of Riottier, Brive, Tricastin, and Saint-Omer. The only casualties were the entourage of King Louis III and Duke Francis II.

On the other side, Prediceans rejoiced at the storm preventing the Santonian invasion, attributing it to “Divine Intervention”. Even in Saintonge, the lakeside provinces and communities spoke of it being a “Divine Retribution” against the greedy King and Duke: legend had it that even the ordinary sailors aboard Noire-Nef and Nyonnais survived the blasts, but not the King and the Duke.

Duke Tassilon II of Bavière, who was one of the reluctant nobles, declared the end of the expedition. The Duke of Bavière told Crown Prince Henri of Saintonge that the southern nobles would no longer support any foreign adventures across the lake, for fear of divine retribution. King Henri II ‘the Sinner’ (Henri II le Pêcheur) wisely avoided foreign adventures and conquests. However, one was almost about to be forced on him.

Disaster of Alessano
In 1123, the new Doge of the city-state of Alessano, Carlo ‘the Bedevilled’ (Carlo il Tormentato) was now the one hungry for more land. Duke Hugobert of Nyon, who succeeded his father Duke Francis II, instead transformed Nyon into a thriving trading city. Nyon was starting to become the entrepôt of trade in the Santonian side of the Cottian Lake. The Doge of Alessano feared that Nyon would eclipse Alessano and steal its position as the premier city on the lake.

The Doge of Alessano amassed ships in the spring of 1123, aided by his other allies and the Lord Mayor of the City of Alessano, Enrico da Zara. On 29 May 1123, the Alessanian fleet sailed towards the Santonian shore, heading towards Nyon. As the fleet passed opposite Riottier, another severe storm appeared on the lake. The Alessanian fleet panicked, and some of the ship captains, remembering what happened to the Santonian fleet in 1112, tried to sail back to their home port. However, the strong waves sank the ship of the Doge of Alessano – and only the ship of the Doge of Alessano. All of the other invading ships managed to get back safely to port – some were even welcomed at the harbours of Brive and Riottier, the Santonians clueless about the intended purpose of the fleet.

This time it was Saintonge who thanked the Lord for the “Divine Intervention”; the Predicean city states realised that the “Divine Retribution” applied to them too. Cottian Lake became famous for being the “Lake of Peace” or the “lake that drowns invaders”. For fear of anger from the heavens, the lakeside communities instead turned to peace and cooperation. Alessano and Nyon became one of the first sister cities in 1130, with a treaty of mutual assistance. Fisherfolk from lakeside communities stayed on their side of the lake and cooperated to jointly manage the fish stocks on the lake, especially the famed Cottian sturgeon (Huso huso), the source of prized caviar.

Our Lady of the Lake
The divine sanction of the peace between the two nations was solidified by the “Miracle on the Lake”. In September 1140, a Santonian and a Predicean fishing boat were caught by a storm out in the lake. The boats both moored themselves to the “Black Rock” (S: Rochenoire, P: Roccanera), a rocky islet protruding in the middle of the lake. As the storm tossed the boats and the lake threatened to swallow them, the Santonian fishermen invited the Prediceans to jointly pray for deliverance.

As soon as the Santonians and Prediceans started to pray the “Hail Mary”, the skies started to clear and the clouds went away. As the story goes, a blinding light and an apparition of the Virgin Mary descended on the Black Rock. The fishermen signed affidavits afterwards that the Virgin Mary exhorted them to ‘keep peace on the lake’ and for Saintonge and Predice to never go to war.

The apparition disappeared and the storm cleared. As the two boats hauled their nets back in, they saw identical statues of the Virgin Mary – similar to the apparition – in their nets. (The two statues are currently being kept in the Cathedrals of Nyon and Alessano.)

Word spread about the Our Lady of the Lake (S: Notre Dame du Lac, P: Nostra Signora del Lago). The Archbishops of Nyon and Alessano launched a joint ecclesiastical investigation in March 1141, eventually declaring the miracle “worthy of belief” in September 1150.


A mass subscription happened in the late 12^th century in the Archdioceses of Nyon and Alessano, in order to build a shrine to the Our Lady of the Lake. It was dedicated in September 1200 in the presence of the Archbishops of Nyon and Alessano; the Doge Pietro ‘the Pious’ of Alessano and the rest of the Signoria of Alessano; Duke Hugobert II of Nyon and King Charles II ‘the Good’ (Charles II le Bon) of Saintonge. The Archbishops had the Santonian and Predicean leaders swore that the two countries will never go to war.

The Santonian and Predicean peoples, both mostly Courantists, strongly believed that the peace between the two countries were divinely sanctioned and that God will not allow war between the two nations. This belief persisted despite the Santonian schism in the 14^th century; the Santonian National Church continued to accept Our Lady of the Lake as a true Marian apparition.

In 1912, on the 800^th anniversary of the Disaster of Nyon, the Santonian and Predicean leaders gathered at the Cottian Lake to renew the vow and rededicate a statue to Our Lady of the Lake. In attendance were the Archbishops of Nyon (Santonian Church) and Alessano (Courantist); King Archambault X of Saintonge, Prime Minister Marc-Childéric Battiston of Saintonge, and other members of the Santonian government; and Grand Doge Carlo di Mavoia of Predice and members of the Predicean government. The oath was then immortalised in an inscription, in Mercanti, Santonian, and Predicean, at the pedestal of the statue:


Special Relationship
The events and beliefs morphed into the Special Relationship between the two countries. Many of the events in the country’s histories were attributed to the Special Relationship, transcending even changes in regimes.

In the 16^th century, when the Predicean city-states were being overwhelmed by Syrixian imperialism, Saintonge sheltered many of the exiles and refugees from Predice. King Archambault IV ‘the Affable’ of Saintonge welcomed many of the refugees. Eventually, the last independent Predicean state, the Duchy of Falanza, retained its independence after the more daring King Tristan I ‘the Bold’ (Tristan I le Téméraire) of Saintonge guaranteed Falanza’s independence, helping stop further encroachment and erosion of the Predicean freedoms.

When Predice gained independence in 1871, the Kingdom of Saintonge was one of the first to recognise its independence and send ambassadors. Saintonge also became a favoured immigration destination for Prediceans seeking work.

During the Fascist War, neutral Saintonge sent food aid to the starving Predicean population. Afterwards, Saintonge also took in Prediceans fleeing communist persecution. This swelled the Predicean immigrant population in Saintonge. It is now estimated that there are about 3.5 million Santonians of full or partial Predicean descent, about 2.8% of Saintonge’s population. This immigrant group serves to strengthen the bonds between the Santonian and the Predicean nations.

The two countries are also active in joint cultural promotion. Saintonge and Predice cooperate in weeding out fake food products that try to ape the superior Santonian and Predicean food products; the two countries also have joint “food embassies” wherein people around the world can study and learn about the gastronomic riches of the two countries. Even in military affairs, Saintonge and Predice jointly develop weapons, ships, and planes that would otherwise be unaffordable to either nation alone.

Trivia
The Black Rock is located at the Predice-Saintonge lacustrine boundary, which makes it one of the smallest islands with an international border.

The Special Relationship is also the reason why Saintes (Saintonge’s capital) and Antofagosta (old Predicean capital) are mutually and exclusively twinned with each other, with an agreement dating to 1901. Saintes and Antofagosta have other “partner” cities, but they only maintain each other as their sister cities:

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OOC: This post was made with @Predice.

The Kingdom of Saintonge is also well-known for its outsize banking and financial sector. Its longstanding neutrality, stable politics, and strong rule of law makes it an attractive place to stash wealth. Its big economy and investment opportunities also make it a good place to grow wealth.

Banks: “Big Three”
The “Big Three” banks in Saintonge are SBS (Société de banque saintongeaise), BSOM (Banque saintongeaise d’outre-mer – “Santonian Overseas Bank”) and Goldenbank. Their clientele includes the wealthy and people of all nationalities.

SBS – the oldest and largest of the “Big Three”, SBS was founded by the amalgamation of six private banks in 1868. SBS provides private banking, wealth management, asset management, and investment banking services for private, corporate, and institutional clients with international service.

BSOM – BSOM was originally a bank established by the Santonian government in 1905 to serve the banking needs of Santonians overseas. The country’s sovereign wealth fund provided the initial capital, and it soon also became the vehicle for monetary settlements with the Santonian government and companies. An updated charter in 1928 severed much of BSOM’s ties with the government, and the bank was allowed to cater to non-Santonian individuals and entitites. BSOM would prove useful during the Fascist War, where, as a bank owned by a neutral country, persecuted people such as Shaddaists stashed their wealth in BSOM to prevent their seizure by the fascist governments. The money was returned to their rightful owners after the war.

Goldenbank – Goldenbank was a product of the successive amalgamation of several provincial banks: Banque de Grésivaudan-Ouest, Banque de la Louvergne, Banque de Durbanne et Embrun, and Banque du Nord. After the absorption of Banque du Nord in 1967, it went by the unwieldy name Banque de Grésivaudan-Ouest, Louvergne, Durbanne et Embrun, et du Nord, which was soon rebranded as Banque GOLDEN after the initials of its component banks. It soon became Goldenbank in 1970, a name that connotes wealth and stability. Goldenbank is the fastest growing of all three, being the leader in digital banking in Saintonge.

Credit Unions: “Big Five”
Despite Saintonge being well-known for its banks, credit unions are more popular in Saintonge. 90% of Santonian adults are members of credit unions, compared to only 35% of Santonians having bank accounts. Credit unions are more popular in Saintonge because of the communitarian culture of the country, their democratic nature, the low interest rates, and their tax-exempt status.

Santonian credit unions are of two types: the caisse populaire, which has private roots; and the caisse de crédit, which is established by the government.

Caisse de crédit
After the Santonian Revolution, the government established non-profit banques rurales (“rural banks”) in every department to provide low-cost loans to farmers. This was extended in 1801 to provide loans for any business or economic activity, which was a boon to a country at the cusp of the Industrial Revolution.

In the countryside, these low-cost loans to farmers became known as “agricultural credit” (crédits agricoles) and the banks providing them became popularly known as such. In the cities, these became known as “cooperative credit” (credits coopératifs).

To reduce the administration costs of these rural banks, the government of Jean-Arthur-Pierre Maisonneuve de Briance forcibly amalgamated these banks into five: Crédit agricole in the central departments (based in Sens), Crédit nyonnais in the south (based in Nyon), Crédit coopératif in the north (based in Saintes), Crédit pouillais in the east (based in Plaisance), and Crédit du Nord (based in Vantes). With the rise of caisses populaires, Crédit pouillais was absorbed into Crédit agricole and Crédit du Nord absorbed into Crédit coopératif.

Caisse populaire
These are credit unions established as private entities. The first one was erected by Frédéric-Guillaume Desjardins in Ratisbonne in 1865. The idea became especially popular in the provinces of Bavière and Bethany, leading to the establishment of the Caisse populaire bavaroise and Caisse populaire béthonne, the two largest private credit unions in Saintonge.


Monts de Piété (Mounts of Piety)
Mont-de-Piété are not banks, but they are venerable financial institutions in Saintonge. The Santonian National Church inherited the wider Courantist Church’s aversion to high interest, but it recognised the people’s needs. To prevent its parishioners from falling into debt traps and loan sharks, the Church created Monts-de-Piété as a form of organised charity and a reform against moneylending. The first Mont-de-Piété was organised in 1395 by Joseph-Barnabé de Ternée in Pérouse.

The organizing principle, based on the benefit of the borrower and not the profit of the lender, was viewed as a benevolent alternative to the loans provided by moneylenders. The organization of the Mont-de-Piété depended on acquiring a mont, a collection of funds from voluntary donations by financially privileged people who had no intentions of regaining their money. The people in need would then be able to come to the Mont-de-Piété and give an item of value in exchange for a monetary loan. A pre-determined interest rate would be applied to the loan and these profits were used to pay the expenses of operating the Mont-de-Piété. Essentially, Monts-de-Piété function as a mediaeval pawnshop.

The largest Mont-de-Piété is that of Saintes (Mont-de-Piété de Saintes), while the oldest existing one is the Mont-de-Piété de l’Ombrie.

This series of five articles will discuss the history of Saintonge in the first millennium CE and the ethnogenesis of the Santonian people.


Pre-Umbrial Saintonge
Before the Umbrial expansion, Saintonge was inhabited by Galtic and Gotic tribes. The Galtic tribes superseded an ancient people who were thought to be related to the Andes and Tirossii tribes. Linguistic, archaeological, and toponymic evidence indicates that the Gotics were a later arrival, with Galtics dominating the entire country for at least a century. The Gotics occupied the eastern and southern parts of the country, steadily encroaching in Galtic territory.

When the Umbrial expansion into Saintonge began at its earnest in the mid-4^th century CE, there were three large powerful tribal confederations in the country: the Galtic Bethones in the northwest, and Gotic Germanii in the east, and the Gotic Bavii in the south. There were, however four Umbrial “tribes” already in Saintonge, three of which having known origins.

Pre-existing Umbrial polities
The three Umbrial polities with known origins were the Bruttii (Bruttia), Pulii (Pulia), and the Liburnii (Liburnia). All were Courantists, indicating that they arrived around the 3^rd century CE.

Tarquinius in the 4^th century writes that the Bruttii descended from colonies founded by Alexander Magnus Brutus. These were composed of Courantist Umbrials and Norsiticans. The colony of Basilia (Bâle), founded in 204 CE, was populated by Umbrials and Norsiticans; while Valentia (Valence), founded in 213 CE, was mostly peopled by Umbrials. Bruttia was established in the territory of the Gotic tribe of the Scirii, whose capital was Curia Sciriorum (Coire). The two peoples were allies, allowing them to fend off attacks from neighbouring Greci and Carnuntes.

Pulia was founded as a string of colonies by Antonius Julius Pulius, another Courantist. Placentia (Plaisance) was established in 222 CE, the only other early Umbrial colony whose exact founding date was known. Luca (Lucques), Brentonium (Brindes), Barium (Barie) were later coastal colonies established by the Pulii. Pulia was the most militarised of the three colonies, having to face the hostile Bastarnae, a Gotic tribe that used to occupy the Ticinum (Tessin) Valley. The Pulii established outpost-colonies of Bononia (Boulogne), Vicentia (Vicence), and Mutina (Modane) on the upper reaches of the Ticinum. The upper part of the valley switched control between the Bastarnae (where the Santonian word “bâtard” = “bastard” came from) and the Pulii, and the aforementioned outpost-colonies had been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times. By the end of the 3^rd century, the Bastarnae had been driven over Aspremont Mountains to the Tamesis (Tamise) valley.

Liburnia was founded as a democratic community in the mid-2^nd century, with their main city being Novum Comum (Côme). Nova Alessia (Novale) and Eporedia (Ivrée) were established later, but their fortified stronghold was Castrum Liburnum (Livourne). The Liburnians were friendly towards the Saluces, the neighbouring Gotic tribe. However, the Saluces were hostile, given their prior experience with another Umbrial tribe.

The fourth Umbrial polity was not organised, they were also semi-tribal. Simply called Umbri by both Tarquinius and Phineus, they were pagans unlike the other Umbrial tribes. Phineus hypothesized that these were Umbrials who settled into the area in the 1^st century BCE or 1^st century CE. Their settlements were destroyed by the Gotic tribes (the Saluces) and were forced to move and live a semi-tribal lifestyle in the Supi (Suippe) basin. Their early arrival would support the fact that the Umbri were not Courantists. Their main citadel was Perusia (Pérouse), with their other fortified strongholds included Asisium (Assise) and Tiburi (Tivolée).

Umbrial Expansion
Massive Umbrial settlement in what was to be Saintonge started around 340 CE. A group of 30 ships carrying Courantist Umbrials anchored in the Bay of the Saine, in the territory of the Santones tribe. According to their Umbrial chronicler Maximilianus (4^th century):



The Santones were the southernmost member of the Bethonic Confederation, which includes the Cantii, the Sagii, the Dumnonii, the Armorio, and the Redones. The main city of the Bethonic Confederation was Betanocortorum (Béthanie). The Santones’ capital was the trading city of Mediolanum Santonum (Saintes), located on an island in the middle of the Saine River (the present Île de la Cité).


The Santones at the time were seeking allies against hostile neighbouring tribes. Seeing the Umbrials’ superior weaponry and organisation, Chief Kentigern of the Santones gave the Umbrial settlers land at the periphery. In what was the first recorded instances of chain migration, the good treatment of Umbrials reached their former homeland, and a steady stream of Umbrial settlers went in.

The Umbrials settled Aquae Sextiae (Aix-en-Aunis) as a bulwark against the Caturiges; Garrica (Jarrie) against the Greci; Iatinum (Meaux) against the Brigantii; and Balgentiacus (Beaugency, Saine-et-Loine) against the Tirossii. Maximilianus wrote that the entire Itta (Epte) Valley were settled by Umbrials, with the main city being Corbolium (Corbeil-sur-Epte).

The Santones and the Umbrials lived side-by-side – the Umbrials as small democratic Courantist communes, the Santones as their monarchic pagan overlords. The Santones largely left the Umbrials to their own religion, but some Santones did convert to Courantism. One of the first bishops of Saintes was a Santonic prince named Caomhán (Kévin). The main proselytisers were Saint Justin of Saintonge, who preached to the Santones; and Saint Brice of the Bethanians, a son of a Dumnonii chief, who preached to the other Bethonics.

The Umbrials brought changes to the Santones and the Bethonic Confederation. Aside from updated war tactics, they also brought agriculture and viticulture, urbanisation, and technological advancement. The Santones also became increasingly Umbrialised. Phineus, writing in the middle of the 5^th century, noted that “the Santones spoke a dialect of Umbrial; different from the languages of its other Bethonic allies”. This was to become the basis of the Santonian language.

Wine War
The increasing wealth of the Santones brought the covetous eyes of its neighbours on its territory and the Umbrial communes that produced goods. In particular, the Galtic tribes of the Caturiges and the Carnuntes desired the wine, for which they have nothing of significant value to trade for. In 401 CE, the Caturiges plundered the Santonic port of Ratiatum (Rezé) and the Umbrial settlements in the Sesmara (Semois) valley for the wine. The Santones reacted immediately, drawing the Bethonic Confederation against the Caturiges and their Carnuntes allies.

In the subsequent Wine War, Umbrial battle tactics easily defeated the opponents. In the summer of 402, the Bethonics crossed the Chartreuse mountains into Caturiges territory and crushed the Caturiges at Segustero (Sisteron). The Bethonics then looted the Caturiges capital of Eburodunum (Embrun), aided by the Santonic navy. The next year, the Santonic navy appeared off the Carnuntes capital of Brocomagus (Brymath) and burnt it to the ground, carting off its inhabitants as slaves. A few months later, Tarrasco (Tarascon-sur-Lys) suffered the same fate.

In the subsequent harsh peace treaty, the Caturiges and Carnuntes were annexed by the Santones. Their land was settled by Santones and Umbrials, with the latter building the city of Noviodunum Carnuntum (Nievers). A large portion of the Caturiges and Carnuntes were forced into slavery, which did not sit well with the Courantist Umbrials.

The Courantists’ strident objection to slavery brought dissension. The Chief of the Dumnonii even expelled Saint Ronan of Bethany (a disciple of Saint Brice of the Bethanians) for his preaching against slavery. Some of the other Bethonic tribes were close to expelling the Umbrials. In a confederation meeting at Ancenesium (Ancenis), Chiefs Finbarr of the Cantii and Corentin of the Santones prevailed upon their fellow chiefs to have more patience on the Umbrials.


Brigantine War
Soon after the Wine War, another large alliance was plotting against the Santones. The neighbouring Gotic tribe of the Brigantii succeeded in rallying the neighbouring Gotic tribes and the Germanic Confederation against the Santones. Jordanes, writing in the 5^th century, listed the Brigantii, the Greci, the Silvanectes, the Bastarnae, the Ludines, the Saluces, the Lancii, the Bructeri, the Vertamocori, the Thervingi, the Lumbres, the Orsones, the Gisorii, the Theiphales, the Danii, and the non-Gotic Tirossii, Senones, and Lingones as the members. North of the Massif Central, the Scirii remained the only Gotic tribe not to join.

The Brigantii, led by their chief, Alaric, descended upon the Umbrial community of Iatinum in July 406. The Brigantii looted and burned the city, massacred its male inhabitants, and forced the women and children into slavery. (This was the source of the Santonian word “brigand” = “bandit”.) The allied Tirossii also besieged Balgentiacus, while the Greci moved against Garrica.

Saint Kévin of Saintes (the aforementioned bishop of Saintes), blamed the Brigantine invasion on God’s anger at the Bethonics for slavery. Nevertheless, the Courantists mobilised the people: missionaries preached of a crusade, religious fervour swept the Bethonic Confederation. Fearful of divine retribution, the Bethonic chiefs agreed to manumit all slaves, on the condition that they fight for their freedom and that of the confederation.

The Brigantii then besieged Mediolanum Santonum in the autumn of 406, as Chief Corentin fled to Aunedonnacum (Aulnay-sous-Saintes) to wait for his Bethonic allies.

Even with the newly-freed slaves bolstering the Umbrials and the Bethonics, they were still outnumbered by the Brigantii and their allies. Jordanes wrote that the Brigantii had 90,000 warriors and the Bethonics had half of that number. The Bethonic armies were led by the chiefs of the six tribes: Corentin of the Santones, Finbarr of the Cantii, Sezny (Sithney) of the Sagii, Tremeur (Tremorus) of the Dumnonii, Ténénan of the Armorio, and Budoc of the Redones. Also present at the war council were Matthew of Sedan, leader of the Umbrial community; and Malcolm of Cemenelum, a son of the former Carnuntes chief, convert to Courantism, and leader of the manumitted contingents.


In hoc signo vinces
According to legend, during the Bethonic war council at Aunedonnacum, the chiefs saw the sun flicker – an ominous sign. Yet a few minutes later, the chiefs saw a cross of light above it, with the Umbrial phrase In hoc signo vinces. (“With this sign, you will conquer.”) Matthew of Sedan had to translate the words read by Chief Corentin of the Santones, the leader of the war council. A white banner fell from the sky. On it was a symbol of the two red interlaced hearts, topped with a mural crown and a cross: the Coeur saintongeaise (Santonian heart).

Saint Kévin of Saintes, when consulted by the Bethonic chiefs, agreed that it was a sign from heaven. The coeur saintongeaise became the military standard of the Bethonic armies. Three days later, on 24 November 406, the smaller Bethonic army faced the larger Brigantii forces outside Mediolanum Santonum. The sun flickered, a sign from heavens, and the Brigantii became disorganised. The Bethonics defeated the Brigantii outside the walls of Mediolanum Santonum (Saintes), and many of the Brigantii drowned in the river.

The miracle convinced the Bethonics that God was with them. The stories that the Bethonic warriors brought home ushered the complete conversion of the Bethonics to Courantism. All of the Chiefs converted to Courantism, and it became the official religion in the Bethonic Confederation. Whether or not the legends at the Battle of Saintes were true, it cemented the Courantist faith among the Bethonics and brought them closer to the Umbrials.


Brigantine defeat
Chief Alaric of the Brigantii managed to escape, gathering the remaining warriors at Roianum (Royan). The Bethonics divided their army. The Santones, the manumitted slaves, and the Redones crossed the Saine at Tauriciacum (Torcy-le-Grand), putting them behind the Brigantii, cutting their escape route. The Umbrials and the rest of the Bethonics crossed the Loine at Arpaionum (Arpajon), to the Brigantii’s left flank.

Caught between the two armies and the river, the Brigantii army was totally destroyed, and Chief Alaric was killed in the Battle of Roianum. After the Battle of Roianum, the Tirossii lifted their siege of Balgentiacus and sought a separate peace.

The Bethonic war council resolved to bring the war to Brigantii territory the next year. During that winter, a famine struck the Gotics, because their men fought and died in war. Consequently, the Bethonics only encountered feeble resistance when they restarted their campaign in the spring of 407.

Jordanes wrote that Brigantia (Brigance, Sambre), capital of the Brigantii, fell easily to the Umbrials. In the middle Saine valley, the citadels of the other now-leaderless tribes succumbed to the Bethonic forces. Agedincum (Sens), Civitas Silvanectium (Senlis), Belena (Beaune), Castrum Lingonum (Langres), Augustobona Tricassium (Trayes), Augustodunum (Autun), Grecinopolis (Gresible), and Matisco (Mâcon) all were occupied by the Bethonics.

The only citadels to resist were Bacterrae, Bibracte and Forum Bastarnavorum (Feurs), which were razed to the ground and their inhabitants forcefully resettled. The male population of the middle Saine valley was decimated in the battles the previous year; Jordanes noted that in the Battle of Bacterrae “Brigantii women manned the walls.”

The Germanic Confederation sought peace as the Bethonics besieged Ludinium (Loudun). The Bethonics withdrew behind the Sorme River, which was to become the boundary between the Santones and the Germanics. The Brigantii, the Greci, the Senones, the Silvanectes, and the Lingones were absorbed into the Santones; the Bastarnae were driven back across the Aspremonts where they warred again with the Pulii.

All throughout the campaign, the Bethonics did not take slaves, instead resettling the population elsewhere. They settled the occupied land with Bethonics and Umbrials, while some of the defeated tribes were relocated to the territory of the Santones, Caturiges, and Carnuntes. This policy of mixing and lenient treatment of defeated tribes allowed the development of a Santonian identity and language: Courantist and Umbrial-based, with Galtic and Gotic influences.

Kingdom of Saintonge
News of the miracle and the Courantist victory reached Sion, where Pope Paul III, in a letter dated 1 May 409, feted Chief Corentin of the Santones as “King Corentin of the Santonians” and the country was recognised as the “Kingdom of Santonia”. This was the first mention of Saintonge as a country.

When Saint Kévin of Saintes brought this news to Chief Corentin, the de facto leader of the Bethonic Confederation, Chief Corentin asked for recognition of his other chiefs. Thus the five other chiefs became “Petty Kings”; two of the titles would survive up to the Santonian Revolution as the “Petty Kingdom of Domnonée” and “Petty Kingdom of Bethany”. Malcolm of Cemenelum was made Count of Eburodunum, which later formed the nucleus of the Duchy of the Griffonné.

Peace
For the first half of the 5^th century, the Bethonic confederation was mostly at peace. The Santonians, controlling the Saine valley and the northern ports, became rich from trading with the inland Galtic tribes and the Germanic Confederation. The Santonians became nominal overlords of the inland tribes of the Loine valley.

The transactions were not strictly commercial. Courantist missionaries set forth to the inlands to convert people. The Lemoverni were totally converted by Saint Malcolm of Saintonge, with their chief Diviciacus submitting to Saintonge and becoming the first dux of the Lemoverni (Duke of Louvergne).

The conversions were not always peaceful. Saint Bertrand of Saintonge preached in the mountains of Aubrac, converting part of the Consoranni. The Consoranni split into two tribes, one pagan and one Courantist. The Courantists took the capital of Consoranum Convenarum (St-Bertrand-de-Comminges) and became the nucleus of the province of the Comminges; the pagans eventually formed the province of Couserans.

After accepting Courantist missionaries, the Avantices expelled the missionaries a few years later, crucifying some at Lactora (Lectoure, Saulx). The Sentienes banned missionaries, while the warlike Andes refused Santonian overlordship altogether.

The increasing division caused by Courantist missionaries and resentment of the Santonian control of their trade led the inland Galtic tribes to rebel against the Santonians by the latter half of the 5^th century, leading to the Galtic Wars.

Galtic Wars
According to Commentarii de Bello Galtico by Jordanus (not to be confused with the chronicler Jordanes, which was his grandfather), the Galtic Wars were sparked in 472 CE. The hitherto Santonian-friendly Catalauni chief Gobanitio was deposed by his fervently pagan anti-Santonian nephew Albiorix. Upon receiving the annual envoys of the King of Saintonge at Cambete, Albiorix asserted Catalauni independence, rejected the Santonians’ request for admission of traders and missionaries, and executed the embassy except one, who was sent back to Saintes to being the news of the fate of his colleagues. Saintonge was shocked at the treatment of its diplomats.

Albiorix then pillaged and destroyed the nearest Santonian colony of Cabillunum (Châlons-sur-Leir) in May 472. Albiorix manoeuvred to put a puppet as chief of the Pictones, a longtime Catalauni ally. On July 472, the Pictones besieged the Santonian colony of Cassinomagus (Chassinon-sur-Loine, Scyotte), razing it and slaughtering its inhabitants a few weeks later. This led to the Santonians preparing for war against the Catalauni and the Pictones.

Albiorix then led a skilful diplomatic outreach among the inland tribes of the Loine valley. Promising them free trade, partition of the Santonian riches, and return to the pagan ways, many of the Galtic tribes joined. The Petrocorii, the Alrenii, the Avantices, the Sentienes, the pagan Consoranni, the Volcae, the Meduci, the Cadurci, and the non-Galtic Tirossii and Andes joined the Catalauni and Pictones. The only tribes in the central plains not to join the Albiorix were the Messianised Lemoverni, the Gotic Theiphales, and the Courantist Consoranni.

Albiorix moved quickly, sacking Balgentiacus in October and Corbolium in November, spreading panic in Saintes. A hastily-raised Santonian army checked the Galts in an indecisive battle at Fiscannum (Fécamp-sur-Epte). Both sides, realising that they were ill-prepared for combat, spent the next few months and the winter in war preparations.

Meanwhile, having secured the secret cooperation of Chiefs Rucillus of the Lemoverni and Cerdic (Cédric) of the Theiphales, the Santonians focused on the lower Saine valley. Through the winter, the Santonians fortified the lands between the Lemoverni capital of Lemovernicum (Louviers) and Corbolium.


Campaign
Albiorix first campaigned in February 473, coinciding with the spring thaw. He moved against the Senonian oppidum of Vellaunodunum on the Ligera (Leir) River. He managed to destroy and loot the city but it took him two months. Marching against Loposagium (Luxiol, Leir), another recently-fortified Santonian city, Albiorix was bogged down by the sieges.

The Santonians, seeing that the Galts were lured into their trap of investing the fortified lands, invaded the Galtic lands with two mobile armies: King Matthew I of Saintonge led the Santonians; and Chief Patrick (Patrice), petty king of Domnonée, led the Bethanian confederates.

The Bethanians crossed the Loine at Ariolica (Pontarlier, Scyotte) to surprise the defenders of the Pictones capital of Pictavium (Mortagne-au-Perche). In a quick battle, the Bethanians captured the city in May 473. The Bethanians took its people hostage to pry off the Pictones from the rebellion. While the Pictones were unfazed, the Tirossii deserted to the Santonians after Pictavium.

Albiorix got wind of what happened at Pictavium and proceeded to retake it. But the Bethanians were now using a tactic the Galts themselves employ: marching through the countryside, living off the land. (Bethanians were, after all, a Galtic tribe.) Albiorix got to occupy an empty, burnt-out Pictavium.

Next on Chief Patrick’s warpath was Novioritum (Niort), hitherto a Santonian city that defected to the Pictones. Novioritum switched again, opening its gates to the Santonians. Chief Patrick warned Novioritum not to allow the Galts in as he marched on his next target, Alrenicum (Aurigny), capital of the Alrenii. Albiorix wasted one week trying to besiege Novioritum when he learned that the Bethanians had reached another Galtic capital. Albiorix rushed towards Alrenicum.

It was a ploy after all, and Chief Patrick, on learning that Albiorix was on his way to Alrenicum, lifted his siege and went on to his next target: Rodumna (Roanne), another Alrenii city. The cat-and-mouse continued through Petrocorium (Pierrecourt-en-Dombes), Rubricaria (Rubricaire, Loine), Decetia (Decize, Loine), Uxellodunum, and Blavia (Blaye). The Bethonic march left Petrocorium, the capital of the Petrocorii; Rubricaria; and Uxellodunum, a Catalauni oppidum, in ruins. The Bethanians also laid waste to the Galtic countryside, taking food and burning the rest that they could not consume.

It was at the capital of the Volcae that the Santonian plan was finally realised. As Chief Patrick besieged Blavia, Albiorix caught up with him. Albiorix attacked the smaller force of Bethanians on October 473. However, while Albiorix was chasing Chief Patrick along the Loine valley, King Matthew I of Saintonge was marching his larger army, up the Saine River valley. King Matthew I crossed the territory of the Lemoverni and the Theifales, and appeared at the rear of the Galts just as Albiorix started his attack. Albiorix and his Galtic army were encircled and annihilated at Blavia. Remnants of the Galtic army retreated southwards, but Chief Cédric of the Theiphales defeated them at Epamanduodurum (Mandeure, Loing) and turned them over to his new Santonian allies.


Conclusion of the War
The remaining resistance was easily broken. The Courantist Consoranni subdued their pagan brothers in 474, while pagan revolts in Castrum Sentienum (Castres) in 476, Beneharnum (Lescar, Basses-Andes) in 480, and in the Cadurci (Quercy) in 483 were put down. Minor pagan revolts continued until the early 7^th century, until the area was thoroughly Messianised and Santonised.

The Santonians now directly annexed the Galtic land, more than doubling its territory. Chiefs Rucillus of the Lemoverni and Cerdic (Cédric) of the Theiphales were made dux (predecessors of the dukes of Louvergne and Theiphalie). The Comminges and Tirossii (Tyrosse) were also made into duchies. The only recalcitrant tribe were the wily Andes, living in the mountains of the same name. The Andes would finally be defeated and subdued in the 560s, after Saint Brice’s War. Saint Brice’s War was a punitive Santonian expedition, after the Andes martyred Saint Brice of the Andes (not to be confused with Saint Brice of the Bethanians and Saint Brice of Saintonge), a Santonian prince-turned-missionary. Condevincum, the Andic capital city and his place of martyrdom, is now named after him (Saint-Brice, Yerres).

Saintonge would consolidate its hold in the central plains when the Umbri converted to Courantism and became a fiefdom of Saintonge in 527.

Bruttian Heresy
Relations between the Skirrians (Scirri) and the Bruttii deteriorated in the 550s. Some of the Bruttii had converted to the Petrobrutian heresy, with their strongholds in Basilia (Bâle) and Morgantina. Saint Martin of Tours, bishop of Bâle, has to flee his city when the Petrobrutians took control of the diocesan chapter.

The heresy of the Bruttii did not sit well with the Skirrians. The Gotic tribe had been converted to Courantism in the 5^th century by Saint Timothée of Saintonge. The Skirrians had become fervent adherents of the former religion of the Bruttii. Skirrian nobles sheltered Saint Martin, while the heretics sought him out. It led to clashes in the summer of 554. According to the vita of Saint Martin, heretics burned a Skirrian village they thought was hiding Saint Martin. All of the inhabitants escaped being burnt, despite being engulfed in flames.

Regardless of the historicity of the burning of the village, Suetonius (6^th century) writes that “the Skirrians were so inflamed they attacked the Bruttii cities.”

However, the Bruttii repulsed the Skirrians at Morgantina and Basilia. Because of the attack, even Valentia, nominally Courantist, joined its fellow Bruttii cities. The Bruttii captured the Skirrian city of Salodurum (Soleure) and forced its people to convert to the heresy. By the end of the year 555, the Skirrians were besieged in Curia Sciriorum (Coire) and the rest were scattered to Santonian territory.

News of the events in Skirry reached Saintes. King Corentin III of Saintonge intervened, but it was too late – Curia Sciriorum had fallen to the Bruttii. Nevertheless, Saintonge invaded Bruttii in the summer of 556. An army marched from Noviodunum Carnuntum (Nievers, Baltée) and pushed away Bruttii resistance at Sedunum (Vallauris). King Corentin III himself led another force across the Chartreuse mountains, besieging Valentia on July 556. Valentia itself disintegrated into civil war. The pro-Courantist faction won over the pro-Bruttii faction and opened its gates to the Santonian king.


By the next year, the entire Bruttii lands and Skirrian lands were under Santonian control, except Basilia and Morgantina. Both cities fell to the Santonians by the end of the year, and the Petrobrutians were forced to convert or flee, or face the penalty of being burnt at the stake. Saint Martin was restored to his see at Bâle, and the area was annexed to Saintonge.

Pulian accession
While Saintonge was largely at peace with the Germanic Confederation (Germanii), the Pulians were waging almost constant war with their neighbours. In 540, the Liburnians sought Pulian protection after the Lancii and the Saluces burnt their capital Novum Comum. In 542, the Pulians defeated the Lancii and the Saluces with difficulty at Scingomagus (Exilles).

Suetonius wrote that even almost two decades later, the Liburnians were hemmed in at Eporedia, and their main cities were under Germanic domination. In 561, the Germanic Confederation sacked Eporedia and threatened Castrum Liburnum. The Pulians came to the aid of their Liburnian vassals, but were repulsed at the Rère River.

The Germanics then launched a full-scale invasion of Pulia in 563, pillaging Bononia, Vicentia, and Eboracum (Ivry-sur-Gardon). The Pulians sought the aid of their nearest Courantist neighbours, Saintonge.

Saintonge was at peace with the Germanics since Roianum. The Germanics benefited from trade with Saintonge, and Germanic elite were often sent to Saintonge to study. The Germanic push towards Liburnia and Pulia was driven in part by the desire to acquire their own ports so that they could trade on their own with the outside world. This meant that they no longer had to be dependent on, and ingratiate themselves with, Saintonge.

King Corentin III of Saintonge realised this and decided to respond to the Pulians’ appeals. According to Suetonius, in 566, Pancratius, leader of the Pulii, paid homage and swore fealty to Saintonge. Pancratius became the first dux of the Pouilles, which included both the Pulian and Liburnian lands.


Germanic Wars
With the Pouilles under the protection of Saintonge, any Germanic attack against it meant war against Saintonge. The Germanic Confederation met it its Diet at Germantiacum (Tilly-la-Campagne) in 568. The Saluces, Lancii, the Bastarnae, and the Danii advocated war; the Ludines resisted. Childéric II of the Theiphalie, a Santonian vassal but still nominally a member of the confederation, left the Diet and discreetly prepared for war.

Dumnacus, in De Bello Germanico, and Suetonius agreed that the war started in 570. The Germanics invaded that year, with all the tribes joining except the Theiphales (which left the confederation) and the Ludines (which opposed war). The Germanics even fought their fellow Gotics, entering Ludinium (Loudun) and holding the chief of the Ludines hostage.

Saintonge, however, was prepared. Against the main thrust in the Saine valley, the Santonians fortified their border; Luxovium (Luxeuil, Côle) did not yield to the Germanics under Chief Ardaric despite months of savage siege.

To the east, the Pulii retook Eporedia. The Santonian navy appeared off Novum Comum in October 573. The Germanics were not going to give the city intact: they burnt Novum Comum as they retreated to the interior. The same fate befell Nova Alessia in April 574. However, the Saluces and Lancii put up stiff resistance in the interior; Curia Lanciorum (Lans-en-Piémont) resisted a Santonian siege and the Bastarnae and Saluces defeated the Pulii at Segobudium (Seveux).

While the war was a stalemate in the Saine valley and the east, the Germanii have a weak spot: the west, where the Ravennes Mountains open into the Luberon Plateau and to the upper Saine Valley. Childéric II of Theiphalie marched against the Lumbres, destroying their capital of Suessa Lumbrica (Suse-sur-Saine) in July 574. The Theiphales then captured Bingium (Binge, Breuse), capital of the Thervingi, the next month. The Theiphalian armies were now reinforced by the army of the dux of Louvergne, coming through the Luberon plateau. By mid-autumn, the confederation capital of Germantiacum was being besieged. The Ludines also revolted against their confederates.

Chief Ardaric of the Bructeri decided to abandon his sieges of the Santonian Saine valley citadels and instead relieve his capital. Germantiacum, at the confluence of the Saine and Bledona (Bléone) rivers, was vital to the communications between the eastern and western Germanic tribes. Chief Ardaric defeated Childéric II in the winter Battle of Germantiacum in December 574.

The victory, however, was just temporary. Santonian armies rushed through the Saine valley and captured Conium (Coni), capital of the Bructeri in March 575. King Corentin III then captured Bratuspantium (Beauvais), capital of the Orsones, in May 575. The western tribes (Thervingi, Orsones, Gisorii, Ludines, Danii) were now cut off from the eastern tribes (Saluces, Bastarnae, Lancii, Vertamocori, Bructeri); Chief Ardaric’s army was surrounded at Germantiacum. There was also unrest from the Courantist Germanics, who despised fighting their fellow Courantists.


Realising his imminent defeat, Chief Ardaric decided to agree to the honourable surrender terms brokered by Saint Thibault of Saintonge, the archbishop of Saintes who was of Germanic descent (his father was a Thervingi, and his mother was Santonian). The Santonians would spare the Germanics from death and devastation; in return, the Germanics were to lay down arms, accept Courantism, and become Santonian vassals. Chief Ardaric became the first dux of Germandie, while Chief Fritigern became dux of Loudun as a reward for his anti-war stance. The western tribes accepted the settlement, but the eastern ones did not.

The subsequent harrying of the mountains (harcèlement des montagnes), the Santonians, the Pulii, and their new Germanic allies burnt the land of the eastern Germanic tribes. The captured people were sent to the interior of Saintonge. In March 576, the Vertamocori capital of Durantasia (Moûtiers, Vercors) was sacked and its inhabitants scattered throughout Saintonge. Vercellae (Verceil, Hautes-Alpes) was spared after it surrendered in August 576, but half of its inhabitants were displaced elsewhere and the city and countryside settled with Pulians and Liburnians. Curia Lanciorum and Divona (Divonne) followed the example of Vercellae in 577. The last eastern stronghold to fall was Ovilava, where Chief Rothesteus of the Bastarnae resolved to fight to death. Ovilava fell in June 579 with all of its inhabitants; King Corentin III of Saintonge had Ovilava destroyed, the earth ploughed and salted, and the city never to be rebuilt.

Saintonge in the 7^th and 8^th centuries
By the end of the 6^th century, Saintonge had solidified its hold north of the Massif Central. The next two centuries were spent consolidating its gains. The admixing and mobility of the people led to the Galtic and Gotic languages disappearing in favour of the Umbrial spoken by the Santones, the nobility, and the upper classes. The exception was in northwestern Saintonge, in the original lands of the Bethonic Confederation. Bethany retained its old laws, particularly its citizenship laws, which were stricter than with the Santones. Bethanians could resettle anywhere in Saintonge, but only Bethanians could own land in Bethany. This meant that Bethany retained its customs, culture, and language.

During this period, much of the country was under direct royal control. Only a few provinces (Bethany, Domnonée, Tyrosse, Germandie, Louvergne, the Pouilles, Ombrie, Theiphalie, Loudun (Sologne), and the Comminges), with roots as independent or allied states, had some form of autonomy.

Southern Saintonge
Santonian interest beyond the Central Mountains increased during the 8^th century. Trade passed through southern Saintonge across the high passes to the Loine and Saine valleys, and thenceforth to the Santonian ports. Some of the smaller southern polities tried to get Saintonge to an alliance, but were usually rebuffed, as Saintonge did not want to go to war with the Bavii, a large Gotic confederation to the south.

Courantism, however, spread beyond the Massif Central, aided by Saint Baudouin of Saintonge and Saint Kilian of Bavière. The tribes to the south became Messianised to varying degrees. The Tungri were thoroughly Messianised and solidified its links with Saintonge.

Bavarois Civil War
The Bavii were composed of the Thormanni, the Brictii, the Menetes, the Treveri, and the Cadenii. Hilduin in Annales Regni Baviorum (9^th century) wrote that the Bavii Confederation disintegrated in 866. Customarily, it was the Thormanni that led the confederation, but relations between the confederates broke down over succession to the leadership (written by Hilduin as reges = “king”) of the confederation. Chief Lantfrid of the Thormanni, who had no sons, nominated his daughter Radegund as the leader of the Confederacy, which the other chiefs rejected, because she was a woman.

Lantfrid was a cunning and ruthless ruler. He promised Radegund to Prince Corentin, son of King Matthew VI of Saintonge, assuring himself of Santonian support. In June 866, Lantfrid invited the nobles of the other tribes to a midsummer festival at Schlettstatt (Sélestat, Ill). In the resulting Blood Court at Schlettstatt (for which Hilduin gives the Bavarois term Bluetgricht z Schlettstatt), Lantfrid arrested several hundred of the noblemen, accusing them of plotting against the Confederation. Lantfrid summarily executed the nobles of the Brictii, the Menetes, the Treveri, and the Cadenii, seizing control of the entire Confederation. Schlettstatt would be infamous throughout southern Saintonge as “Schlachtstadt” = “Slaughter City” for the actions of Lantfrid of the Thormanii.


The rest of the leaderless tribes tried to put up revolts against King Lantfrid. Instead, they tasted his ruthlessness. Hilduin wrote that in September 866, the Brictii were butchered in the battle for their capital of Mons Brisiacus (Brisach). Castrum Treverorum (Trèves), the chief town of the Treveri, was destroyed in 867, while the Cadenii up in the mountains pleaded for their lives. When even disgusted Thormanni rose up in Crucinicum (Creusenac) and Bavacum (Bavay) in the summer of 869, King Lantfrid showed no mercy and beheaded the disloyal men, women, and children. The Menetes city of Juliacum (Juliers) was thoroughly occupied and its rebellious inhabitants thrown to the Cottian Lake.

Evidently not needing Santonian support, Lantfrid broke off the betrothal of Radegund to Prince Corentin, inciting the Bavarois War.

Bavarois War
Insulted by the breaking of the betrothal, Saintonge went to war against the Bavii. King Lantfrid stationed troops in the mountain passes leading into Bavière: the Col du Danois linking Moduracum (St-Kilian, Haut-Rhâne) and Caracotinum (Carfleur, Haute-Bléone); and the Col du Nivolet connecting Dilliacum (Ste-Radegonde, Dyle) and Arca (Arques).

However, King Matthew VI of Saintonge had different plans. Hilduin wrote that with the encouragement of the Tungri and the acquiescence of the Cimbri, King Matthew VI crossed the mountains via the Col de la Tourmaline between Gemedicum (Jumièges, Haute-Saine) and Atuatuca Tungrorum (Tongres, Margerides). The Menetes and the Brictii went over to the Santonian side. In the summer of 872, the Santonian army arrived outside Crucinicum, scene of the bloody repression two years earlier. Crucinicum opened its gates to the King of Saintonge; Bavacum following soon after.

King Lantfrid hurried down the mountains to meet the Santonian army. In August 872, the armies met at Lautracum (St-Martin-de-Lauter). In the battle of the Lauter River, the Santonian Army was beaten back with heavy losses on both sides. However, King Lantfrid was killed by his own troops when he tried to force them to pursue the retreating Santonians.


Despite Bavière winning at Lauter River, Radegonde sued for peace. In the Treaty of Thormanicum (Trémoigne), Radegonde married Prince Corentin of Saintonge. Bavière would retain considerable autonomy as the Duchy of Bavière.

As a wedding gift, King Matthew VI of Saintonge built the city of Castra Regina (Ratisbonne) as the new capital of Bavière. Unlike King Lantfrid, Duchess Radegonde endeared herself among her people for her kindhearted disposition and just governance. The piety of Duchess Radegonde, who previously converted to Courantism against his father’s wishes, served as an example and inspiration to her people. Coupled with the fact that her Courantism was seen as a rebellion against the oppressive King Lantfrid, Bavière converted enthusiastically.

Prince Corentin of Saintonge died of an illness in 882, leaving the childless Duchess Radegonde governing Bavière alone but continuing its association with Saintonge. The pious duchess never remarried and devoted herself to the Church and governing. She would eventually be canonised as Saint Radegonde of Bavière. Duchess Radegonde would be succeeded by Duke Ulrich of Bavière, son of a Brictii chief. Duke Ulrich, who was a child when the Blood Court at Schlettstatt happened, was not in attendance and was orphaned. Duchess Radegonde and Prince Corentin adopted Ulrich as a child. Like Duchess Radegonde, Duke Ulrich was well-loved by his subjects and his piety was well-known; he would also be canonised as a saint. His descendants still rule Bavière today.

Cottian Crusade
By the start of the 10^thcentury, Bavière was integrated into Saintonge, and the rest of the transmontane tribes were more or less loosely associated with Saintonge. The completely-Messianised Tungri were vassals of Saintonge. The three other tribes, the Vermandes, the Coldui, and the Cimbri, were called the Cottian Tribes, after an ancient tribe that lived in the area. The capital of the tribes was Noviodunum Cottium (Nyon).

The Cottian Tribes were partly Messianised. In Tassilo of Bavière’s L’Histoire de la remessianisation cottienne (History of the Cottian Remessianisation, 10^th century), the Garibaldian heresy appeared in the 970s. Garibald, a son of a Coldui gothi (pagan priest) who converted to Courantism, began preaching a new form of syncretic Messianism. The Garibaldic heresy was a millenarian movement, stating that the tribes would be destroyed at the turn of the millennium if they did not reject strict Courantism and Santonian overlordship. The Garibaldic heresy also reintegrated pagan ceremonies into the religion.

The Garibaldians caused so much trouble in the region that Chief Gebavult (Gibault) of the Vermandes expelled all Garibaldians from his lands and sought protection under Saintonge. King Louis I of Saintonge made Chief Gebavult the first dux of the Vermandes (Duke of Vermandois).

The situation in the Cottian lands became even worse. Chief Mederic of the Cimbri converted to the heresy; while the wife of Chief Odilo of the Coldui did as well. In May 973, at Vitudurum, the Garibaldians massacred the city’s Courantists and Santonians.

Bishop Hugobert of Nyon (Saint Hugbert) appealed to King Louis I of Saintonge and the pope for assistance in September 973. Four months later, the bishop was martyred by Garibaldians on Christmas day.

The reports coming out of the Cottian lands became more dire. Duke Gibault of the Vermandois and Duke Grifo of Tongres urged King Louis I to act. Santonian commerce was also being hurt, as Nyon was the incipient trading city the mouth of the Rhâne River.

As King Louis I was preparing for war in 975, the pope authorised a crusade against the Cottians. In spring 976, King Louis I of Saintonge marched against the Cimbri city of Cameracum. The city’s inhabitants, infused with religious fervour, resisted until the end. Aided by the Tungri, the Santonians left the city in ashes six months later. At the same time, Vitudurum, the main city of the Cimbri, was also being besieged by forces of Duke Lambert I of Bavière.

As the Cimbri cities were being invested, King Louis I sought to subdue the Coldui. At the Battle of Sextanis (Stains-en-Brômes), Chief Odilo was killed by the Santonians. The Coldui collapsed, but two strongly Garibaldic cities resisted: Stampae (Étampes) and Brivas (Brive). The harsh winter sieges decimated the population of the two cities, but they did not surrender until the very end. Tassilo of Bavière noted that by the time Brivas surrendered in September 977, the city was filled with thousands of corpses of people who died of hunger. Tassilo also indicated that there was evidence of cannibalism among the few survivors, which gave rise to the popular perception that the Garibaldians were cannibals.

Vitudurum was crushed in April 977, opening the way to Nyon. Like the other Garibaldic cities, Nyon resisted hard. But the Cimbri found an unlikely ally.


Beyrois expedition
The Bediriges, an isolated tribe over the mountains, were not affected by the Garibaldic heresy. Though partially Messianised, the Bediriges were fiercely tribal and protective of their independence. Chief Remismund of the Bediriges saw the Cottians as the last bulwark against Santonian expansion and so sought to help them.

Chief Remismund sent a force southward, sacking the undefended Taruenna (Thérouanne), on October 977. King Louis sent a force to chase them away, and the Bediriges retreated back across the mountains.

In 978, King Louis I resolved to destroy the Bediriges as well. He left the Bavarois and Tungri to continue the siege of Nyon while he marched an army northwards. Entering Bediriges territory via the Col du Montaret, King Louis I plundered the Bediriges city of Bergiduna (Barbâtre) on March 978 and Bergancia (Bragance) the subsequent month. Mirandorum (Mirande) was flattened next, and the Bediriges and Chief Remismund retreated to the capital of Calagurris. Like the Cimbri at Nyon, Calagurris resisted. Both the pagans and Messianists in the city resisted the Santonians, because for them it was not a religious war, but a tribal war.

King Louis I had misgivings about sacking Calagurris, the centre of Courantism in Beyre. The previous three cities were mostly pagan. According to Tassilo of Bavière, the King sought the counsel of Bishop Cunimund of Taruenna, who reportedly replied: Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius. (“Kill them all, For the Lord knows those that are His own.”) Writing later, Arnault of Vermandois (13^th century) gives the Bishop of Taruenna's words as Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoscet. (“Kill them all; God will know his own.”) Deus suos agnoscet would become, ironically, the city motto of Avéry (Sebre), site of ancient Calagurris.

The siege of Calagurris lasted three months. When the city fell on 22 October 978, the resulting frenzy resulted in the Massacre at Calagurris. The Santonians rampaged through the streets of Calagurris, killing and plundering. Some of the Bediriges sought refuge in the Courantist church, including Chief Remismund himself. The Santonians violated the right of sanctuary and broke open the church doors, and all inside were slaughtered. Tassilo of Bavière wrote that 10,000 people were killed, while Arnault of Vermandois gave the figure as 20,000.


Destruction of Nyon
Nyon, resupplied by ships through the lake, managed to resist for three years. The king headed to Saintes after the Beyrois expedition and left the siege to his subordinates.

Returning to Nyon in the spring of 980, King Louis I, infuriated at the city’s resistance, had the city bombarded with incendiaries. Nyon did not yield. When Nyon finally fell on August 980, it suffered an even worse fate than Calagurris: the entire city was razed, its 90% of its adult inhabitants were killed, and the young children taken away. The heads of Garibald and Chief Mederic were put on stakes and paraded from Nyon to Saintes; Santonians on the procession route hurled abuses and spat at the decapitated heads. At Trappes, the heads were burnt as heretics. Back in Saintes, the two rotting heads were put on display at the Royal Castle, until it was taken down and made into skull-cups.

The destruction of Nyon was so complete that the once-proud city was reduced to a mere small hamlet. It took the city three hundred years to recover to its former size, and a thousand to become Saintonge’s second largest city.

The fall of Nyon completed the conquest of what was to become Saintonge. Saintonge would not attempt to conquer any other country for the next century until the Disaster of Nyon in 1112.

The Système mondial de positionnement (SMP) is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the Kingdom of Saintonge and operated by the Institut saintongeais d'aéronomie spatial (ISAS), the Santonian space agency under the Ministry of Defence.

The SMP does not require the user to transmit any data, and it operates independently of any telephonic or internet reception. The Santonian government created the system and maintains it. The SMP is accessible though any licensed receiver, such as phones, surveying devices, and similar devices.

History
The SMP project was launched in Saintonge in 1980 to overcome the limitations of previous navigation systems. It was based on an initial 24 SP-1 satellites, whose network was completed by 1990. The satellites were launched from the Alexandrie Space Centre (Centre spatiale d’Alexandrie), which is located at the intersection of the Prime Meridian and 30-degree parallel north.

More and more sophisticated satellites were added in the subsequent decades, including more SP geostationary satellites, and an increased number of Santonian satellites in other orbits (including those in a low-Eras orbit). Many of the additional low-Eras orbit satellites are also used for the Santonian government’s satellite phone service. This increased coverage and redundancy makes the SMP one of the most accurate and reliable positioning systems.

Improvements in receivers enabled the reduction in size to the point that SMP receivers could be integrated into smartphones and other small devices.

Principle
The location of a particular device is determined based on triangulation. Each SMP satellite continuously transmits a radio signal containing the current time and data about its location. This is picked up by the receiver. Since the speed of radio waves is constant, the time delay between the transmitted time and the time the signal is received by the receiver is proportional to the distance between the satellite and the receiver. The system uses a minimum of four (three to triangulate, one for clock deviation correction if needed) satellite signals to determine its location. The system, however, uses more than five at any given time.

Uses
Système mondial de positionnement
The SMP is the centrepiece of the Santonian space programme. The Coalition government of Charles-Martin Perrier des Jarlais (1975-1985) cut the budget for the aerospace and aeronomy programmes of the Ministry of Defence. Thus, ISAS focused on applicability and utility; it thus prioritised resources for the SMP than for astronauts and sending people to space. This is the reason why despite being a big country, Saintonge still has not landed a person on the moon.

Nowadays, the SMP programme helps fund itself via the small licensing fees paid by equipment manufacturers that install receivers in their gadgets. This licensing is only given to Santonian companies and manufacturers, such as the phone manufacturers Nolf and Pêche. Foreign companies need clearance from the ISAS to be licensed to have their gadgets have SMP receivers. The receivers for civilian use is different from those used by the Santonian government.

Satellite telecommunications
The low-Eras orbit satellites, including the LEO-2 and LEO-3 satellites used for the SMP, are also used to provide satellite telecommunications, providing telephony and data services worldwide. This is very useful in areas where there is no terrestrial network (ex. high seas), downed networks (ex. disasters), or unreliable or vulnerable networks (ex. foreign countries where communications are monitored).

The Santonian satellite telecommunications are technically divided into two: a multilayered encrypted network for the Santonian government and military (Santelcom), and a commercial one for civilians and international users (Telsat). Both Santelcom and Telsat use the same satellite systems, but their data are kept separate.

Users of Santelcom consists solely of Santonian government entities; notable users are the Royal Santonian Armed Forces and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. All Santonian diplomats have a standard-issue Nolf smartphone that is connected to Santelcom (see example to the right).

The growth of Telsat in the recent years meant it is paying for itself many times over, such that it also covers the cost for running Santelcom and the SMP satellites. This freed up the ISAS budget for other programmes such as the training of astronauts for planned launching to space in the near decades.

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OOC Notes: Essentially Eras Saintonge's version of the GPS.

In the annals of history, it had been used as a shibboleth for members of some religious groups, like for the people that Santonians call Shaddaïstes and Mahometans. Courantists are not known to be bound to undergo this as a religious tradition.

But ask anyone in Saintonge, male or female, homosexual or heterosexual, the question “When do boys become men?”, they will answer in various terms pertaining to one procedure: “le découpage”, “le déballage”, “l’épluchage”, “le démêlage”, or simply the shorthand “le circo”.

In Saintonge, “le circo” is a cultural, not a religious tradition. Hence, Santonians do not do it on babies a few days after birth. Instead, boys undergo it at the cusp of puberty; because after experiencing a harrowing “le découpage”, the boy is now tough enough to become a man. It is a rite of passage that Santonian males must undergo; not doing so risks serious societal embarrassment. For Santonian women, a man’s complete package should come déballée: unwrapped. Any package still in its wrapping is “dirty”. It is not unheard of for Santonian women to reject suitors with wrapped packages. As one Santonian female writer famously wrote: “Those are the sausages that we don’t want the casing on.” More ribaldly, a Santonian duchess reportedly uttered, “Who eats bananas with the skin on?”

For other Santonian men, they have wide range of pejoratives for other men who had not undergone “l’épluchage”: “peur-de-couteau”, “demi-homme”, “gros gamin”, “prépucéaux”, and “smegmatée”. Santonian men will look down upon other Santonian men who had not undergone “le démêlage”. It will cause severe humiliation to any man when word comes out that he still hadn’t had “le circo”.

There is no debate in Saintonge when it comes to this rite of passage. The national health service covers for it to be done in clinics and hospitals - a far cry from the times when barbers used to do it on wailing teenage boys. This made it a safe, (relatively) painless, and affordable medical procedure – which meant that more than 99% of Santonian men would come with peeled bananas.

The Kingdom of Saintonge is located strategically in northern Meterra near where the north Meterran Sea, Phoenix Sea, and Ember Sea meet. Historically neutral and non-imperialist, the country’s military posture had always been a defensive one since the last war it fought in: the Santonian Revolution.

Components
Saintonge’s civil and military defence system includes civilian and military branches. Included in the civilian branch are the Royal Santonian Police (Police royale saintongeaise, PRS), and the Santonian Civil Defence Service (Service saintongeaise de defense civile, SSDC), the country’s integrated fire, ambulance, and rescue services. Saintonge has no dedicated gendarmerie (this function is assumed by the PRS), coast guard service (this function is assumed by the SSDC and the Royal Santonian Navy) or civilian border patrol service (this function is assumed by the Border Guard units of the Royal Santonian Army).

The military branch is composed of the Royal Santonian Armed Forces (Forces armées royales saintongeaises, FARS), divided into the Royal Santonian Army (Armée royale saintongeaise de terre, ARST), Royal Santonian Navy (Marine royale saintongeaise, MRS), Royal Santonian Air Force (Armée royale saintongeaise de l’air, ARSA), and the Royal Santonian Cyber Army (Cyberarmée royale saintongeaise, CARS). The number of FARS personnel in active service is 1.2 million.

The army is organised around 31 divisions grouped into 12 army corps, with each army corps comprising one territorial command composed of several departments (see map). The air force is also divided into 12 air groups, covering an area coterminous with the army’s territorial command. For example seven northwestern Santonian departments are being encompassed by the FARS Second Territorial Command. This area is being covered by the Second Air Group of the ARSA and the II Corps of the ARST (composed of the 2^nd Marine Division “Domnonée”, 5^th Airborne Division “Dragon”, and 9^th Mountain Division “Comminges”).


Conscription
Saintonge has conscription, called “National Service” (Service nationale). The country conscripts all able-bodied citizens regardless of gender. The National Service includes service under the PRS, SSDC, FARS branches (Army, Navy, Air Force, Cyber Army). It is one the main points of entry for individuals wanting to join these services. For citizens unfit for combat, they serve under the Santonian Civilian Service (Service civil saintongeais, SCS), in which they are trained for civilian work that may be useful during wartime (ie. defence industries, manning static defences, etc.). Citizens who default on National Service pay an additional tax until they reach age 60.

Training
Citizens are called up at the age of majority (18) for basic training (Formation de base), although this can be deferred up to the age of 24 for a variety of reasons (studies, pregnancy, etc.). Basic training takes 18 weeks: the first two weeks are common across all services, and the last 16 weeks (4 months) is specific to the branch (PRS, SSDC, ARST, MRS, ARSA, CARS, SCS) that the conscript is serving under. After the four-month National Service, the citizens are inducted to become reservists for the branch they trained under. These reserves are organised by department. A change in legal address will change the reserves the citizen belongs to. A citizen may also undergo retraining if s/he wants to change the branch s/he belongs to.

Citizens are required to undergo retraining and a refresher course for eight weeks within ten years from the last training, until the age of 50. Thus, many Santonians undergo basic training at age 18, and the refresher courses at 28, 38, and 48 years of age.


Military Reserves
Almost half of the Santonian adult population are reservists in FARS. FARS reservists are members of the departmental militia (Milice), of the department where they are legally resident in. In the event of mobilisation, the militia are quickly dovetailed into the existing armed forces organisation. For example, the ARST’s II Corps contains seven Territorial Regiments (Régiment territorial), one for each department, staffed by active-duty, professional soldiers. The Territorial Regiments train reservists and implement the National Service in the department for the ARST. In the event of mobilisation, the active-duty soldiers in the Territorial Regiments become the officers and leaders of the new divisions (Division territorial) that will be created out of mobilised army reservists.

Reservists may opt to undergo additional training to be part of the National Guard (Garde nationale) or the officer corps on the reserves (see below).

Quick Response Reserves
Ordinary reservists form the bulk of the reserves. However, as much as 10%-15% of conscripts may opt to take an additional course, usually 16 to 24 weeks depending on the branch, in order to be part of the more quickly-mobilisable elements of the PRS, SSDC, or FARS. For PRS and SSDC, these reservists are become part of the Rapid Response Reserves (Réserves de réponse rapide, RRR), who could be called up, for example, in cases of widespread civil disturbance or natural disasters. For the FARS, these reservists with extra training form the National Guard (Garde nationale, GN). Both the RRR and GN are mobilisable in 48 hours.

As an incentive, citizens in the RRR and GN are entitled to tax deductions, on top of the pay that they are entitled to while mobilised. Citizens in the RRR and GN also undergo more frequent retraining (every five years) than ordinary reservists.

The FARS has a third category of reserves, the Reserve Officers (Officiers de reserve, OR), which aims to provide adequate command officers for the reserves in case of a total mobilisation. The OR are members of the GN who are selected competitively and undergo 24 weeks (6 months) of additional training.

Defence Readiness
Saintonge has six levels of defence readiness, called ÉPRED (état de préparation de la défense, “defence readiness condition”). It is both colour-coded and numbered. ÉPRED levels are maintained on a national level, on a departmental level, or on a branch level. A change of an ÉPRED level in a department would affect all branches in that department; while a change in a branch level would affect the branch everywhere in Saintonge. For example, in response to the piracy problem in the Ember Sea, the MRS ÉPRED was raised to orange (ÉPRED 2) – it only affected the Royal Santonian Navy, throughout the country.

Nowadays, changes in alert levels are made more precise, sometimes determined on a per-department, per-branch level. For example, in response to the Oclusi refugee crisis, SSDC ÉPRED was raised to yellow (ÉPRED 3) only in the departments bordering Oclusia.

ÉPRED levels are determined by the Santonian Joint Chiefs-of-Staff (Comité des chefs d'état-major, CCEM), which are comprised of the chiefs of the service and defence branches. The CCEM has ten members: the King of Saintonge (as commander-in-chief); the Ministers of Defence (responsible for the FARS) and Interior (responsible for the PRS and SSDC); the Chief of the Defence Staff of the Royal Santonian Armed Forces (Chef d'État-Major des Armées, CEMA); the Chiefs of the Royal Santonian Army, Navy, Air Force, and Cyber Army; the Chief of the Royal Santonian Police; and the Chief of the Santonian Civil Defence Service. The CEMA chairs the CCEM.

Alert Levels
Here are the Alert Levels in Saintonge:

The Apothicaire royal is a not-for-profit Santonian crown corporation dedicated to making affordable drugs, manufacturing orphan drugs, and making vaccines for Saintonge’s universal childhood vaccination programme. With an emphasis on service rather than profit, it is one of the more successful government social enterprises in Saintonge. The Apothicaire royal is partially credited for the lower drug costs in Saintonge, the easier availability of rare medicines in Saintonge, and the success of Saintonge’s vaccination programme.


Beginnings in the Great Plague of Saintonge
The Apothicaire royal was created in 1638 by King Baldéric IV le Soigneur (“the Healer”) in response to the 17th century Great Plague of Saintonge. The Santonian monarch mustered an army of royal apothecaries to create and administer plague treatments to the poor of Saintes, eventually expanding to cover all of Saintonge. King Baldéric IV was trained as a ship surgeon and an apothecary before unexpectedly inheriting the throne in 1637. Within a space of three years, his father King Charles V le Gros (“the Fat”), his brothers King Charles VI le Bref (“the Brief”), Prince Tristan, Duke of Rocroi, and Prince Gabriel, Duke of Sedan, all died of the plague.


Huile saintongeaise: the first mass-produced medicine in Saintonge
In response, King Baldéric IV announced a prize for discovering a medicine for curing the plague. In 1640, Apothicaire royal’s Marc-Corentin Respriget was sent to the province of Domnonée, where the plague was raging. Respriget learned that the fisherfolk of Douarnenez in northwestern Domnonée had been consuming a delicacy called fromage de l’algues (“seaweed cheese”), which was a moldy, rancid congealed remnant of a seaweed soup popular in the poor areas of coastal Domnonée. Not wanting to waste the leftover seaweed soup, the fisherfolk made a product similar as to how cheese was made – the gelled part of a seaweed soup was inoculated with the previous fromage de l’algues and aged in caves near orchards. There were varying legends as to the first fromage de l’algues, but they all agreed that it was invented in the 16th century, within living memory of the older folk. People there claimed that it protected them against diseases like the plague, even though the two towns are fishing villages near the kingdom’s borders, exposed to foreign imported pathogens. When they began consuming the “disgusting mixture” that they described as “God’s gift to them”, plague and other foreign illnesses disappeared from the town. Respriget did note that the districts of Douarnenez and Penthièvre had zero cases of plague, unlike nearby Cantorbéry, where fromage de l’algues was unknown.

Respriget came down with the plague later, after catching it in the city of Cantorbéry. He was brought fromage de l’algues from Douarnenez and was cured of the plague. Now a believer, Respriget worked with the locals to make fromage de l’algues and turn it into medicine. Still, many were sceptical. It took two months of convincing, extreme desperation in Cantorbéry, and the death of one out of every twenty inhabitants before the Lord Mayor of Cantorbéry agreed to try the “peasant medicine” on a massive scale. In just one month, plague cases in the city of Cantorbéry dropped to single digits and those that fell ill were quickly cured by the "peasant medicine".


The news spread throughout Saintonge – a cure was found for the plague! Respriget’s formula, an extract of the fromage de l’algues, was more potent and more palatable. Wanting to confirm the results, King Baldéric IV ordered fromage de l’algues administered to the entire Hôpital militaire de Saintes, then overrun with plague patients. To the king’s astonishment, the patients recovered! Touted as the miracle cure, King Baldéric IV awarded the prize to Respriget and gave him a knighthood. In the true traditions of the Apothicaire royal, Respriget donated the prize money to set up small hospitals in Douarnenez and Penthièvre.

The Apothicaire royal then established a factory in Douarnenez, Penthièvre, and in Saintes to mass-produce Respriget’s formula, which then became known locally and abroad as huile saintongeaise (“Santonian oil”) – a staple in Santonian medicine. It was the first mass-produced medicine in Saintonge and Apothicaire saintongeaise’s first.

In 1943, a group of scientists led by Joseph-Samuel Aumont at the University of Saintes analysed huile saintongeaise. They found out that a veritable ecosystem of three dozen microorganisms was being grown in the various descendant variants of fromage de l’algues still used in the production of huile saintongeaise in Saintes, Penthièvre, and Douarnenez. Many of these microorganisms are sources of modern antibiotics. The bacteria Streptomyces aureofaciens (oxytetracycline), S. griseus (streptomycin), S. nodosus (amphotericin B), S. hygropicus (geldanamycin), S. cattleya (thienamycin), S. clavuligerus (cephalosporin and clavulanate), S. roseosporus (daptomycin), S. lincolnensis (lincomycin), S. mediterranei (rifamycin), Saccharopolyspora erythraea (erythromycin), Amycolatopsis orientalis (vancomycin), Nocardia uniformis (nocardicin), Micromonospora carbonacea (chloramphenicol, gentamicin), Actinoplanes teichomyceticus (teichoplanin), Bacillus polymyxa (colistin, polymyxin B), Bacillus subtilis (bacitracin), and the fungi Penicillium rubens (penicillin) and Acremonium strictum (cephalosporin) were found in varying combinations in the various descendant variants of fromage de l’algues. Of these, streptomycin is the current drug of choice of Yersinia pestis (causative agent of plague), with gentamicin, chloramphenicol, and tetracycline being backup agents. This explained the effectiveness of huile saintongeaise against the plague.

Scientific support
Because of the success of the Apothicaire royal in extirpating the plague in Saintonge, the stature of Apothicaire royal increased and it became a respected institution in Saintonge. It became on the first promoters of the experimental scientific method, preventing it from falling into endorsing quack medicine and fake panaceas. The Santonian National Church was also generally supportive of such a method, with Pope Grégoire X declaring in his bull Inquisitionis Scientificae (1665) that “scientific endeavours that aims to discover and improve the world that God gave man is a glorification of His Creation.” Many churchmen and churchwomen embarked on scientific careers. Up to this day, scientists are respected in Saintonge; scientists (along with doctors, priests, farmers, and soldiers) are deemed a noble profession in Saintonge.

The Apothicaire royal got another boost in 1673, when King Archambault VII le Magnanime (“the Magnanimous”) established the Royal Santonian Academy of Sciences. The Royal Santonian Academy of Sciences provided the Apothicaire royal with guidance and a voice in the Santonian scientific community.

Vaccines
The Apothicaire royal proved useful in other public health interventions. In 1756, Édouard Génier discovered a vaccine for smallpox. The Apothicaire royal tested the vaccine and endorsed it to King Charles IX in 1759. This led to the first mass vaccination programme in Saintonge, leading to the eradication of smallpox in Saintonge by 1824.

Work on other vaccines soon followed. The royal apothecary Charles Pasteur (son of Luc Pasteur) invented a vaccine against rabies in 1864. Under the Chief Apothecary Thibault-Caël Kerguiffinec, the development of antitoxins and vaccines against childhood diseases sped up in the early part of the 20th century. By the 1930s, there were antitoxins and vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus, anthrax, cholera, plague, typhoid, and tuberculosis; vaccines against polio were developed in the 1940s; against measles, mumps, rubella, varicella in the 1960s. The Apothicaire royal was instrumental in the development of over a hundred vaccines and antitoxins in Saintonge.

Pope-King Thibault I le Révolutionnaire (“the Revolutionary”) believed that it was sinful and scandalous to deny such life-saving drugs to the world. The Apothicaire royal assisted Yalkan in controlling a smallpox outbreak in 1809 by providing vaccines for its people.

Hearing about the success in Yalkan, Prydania approached Saintonge in 1811 for a similar programme to prevent similar outbreaks in the country. The Santonians also taught the Prydanians how to make the vaccine on their own for the continuation of the programme. King Rikard III of Prydania personally thanked Pope-King Thibault I and awarded Saintonge’s Apothicaire royal for their efforts.

Other countries soon followed with their own smallpox eradication programme, with Saintonge assisting Iolanthe in 1814 and the Iterian Empire (Makopa) in 1836.

The Apothicaire royal’s policy regarding its vaccines was that it would readily license this life-saving technology to countries and not-for-profit companies, provided that they use it for the benefit of humanity and do not profit excessively from these technologies.

An exception to this though, is Saintonge’s mega-vaccine ‘cocktail’. Because the country’s universal vaccination programme (see below) inoculates against multiple communicable diseases, the Apothicaire royal has developed technology to administer these vaccines as a cocktail, minimising the number of jabs needed, similar to the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine. Uncharacteristically for Apothicaire royal, the technology for these mega-vaccine cocktails is a state top-secret, and exports of these mega-vaccine cocktails are forbidden. (These vaccine cocktails are typically marked as “For use in Saintonge only.”) This fuels speculation among conspiracy theorists that the mega-vaccine ‘cocktail’ also contains agents that inoculate the Santonian population against the biological warfare agents that Saintonge had developed – such that when Saintonge releases these agents against an enemy, the Santonians will not be affected. Thus, vaccine conspiracy theorists in Saintonge are pro-vaccination, believing that people should get the Santonian vaccine to be protected against the Santonian biowarfare agents.


Saintonge’s universal vaccination programme
The Apothicaire royal produces much of the needs of Saintonge’s universal vaccination programme, where the entire Santonian population is inoculated against at least three dozen communicable diseases including measles, varicella, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, polio, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae type B, rotavirus, meningococcal disease, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, hepatitis E, pneumococcal disease, tuberculosis, seasonal influenza, rabies, yellow fever, tick-borne encephalitides, smallpox, human papilloma virus, Predicean haemorrhagic fever, cholera, ebola, and human papilloma virus.

Orphan drugs
The Apothicaire royal also actively develops orphan drugs, which are medicine that are used to treat medical conditions which, because they are so rare, would not be profitable to produce without government assistance. In Saintonge, the Apothicaire royal produces them. Rare medicines are thus more easily available and are cheaper in Saintonge.

Cheaper medicine
The existence of Apothicaire royal also was an impetus for lowering the prices of medicines in general in Saintonge. It could be used as a potent threat against greedy pharmaceutical companies because the Apothicaire royal could just reverse-engineer or make their own versions and processes for manufacturing the drugs. (Saintonge recognises process patents, not molecule patents.)

In 1987, the Santonian government was negotiating prices with then-Prydanian pharmaceutical company NyjaRannsó for insulin supply to Saintonge. Insulin was NyjaRannsó’s most profitable drug, and the company tried to charge Saintonge a high price for its insulin and insulin delivery systems. Santonian Health Minister Arthur-Bruno Gambier threatened NyjaRannsó that the Apothicaire royal would just produce its own insulin and insulin delivery systems if NyjaRannsó will not lower their outrageous prices. NyjaRannsó backed down, and instead cultivated a more friendly and more profitable relationship with Saintonge that the company chose to flee to Saintonge during the Prydanian Syndicalist coup in 2002.

As a corollary, the Apothicaire royal produces essential generic off-patent medicines as well, usually for the Santonian health care system. As such, private, for-profit pharmaceutical companies in Saintonge like Sophie-Saintélabo and NovAstra typically have to compete with Apothicaire royal when it comes to prices of such drugs, incentivising these companies to make production to become more efficient and cheaper, and spending less on marketing and lobbying. This can become an advantage for Santonian pharmaceutical companies when it comes to competing abroad for prices.

Other medical inventions
The Apothicaire royal had branched out into medical equipment aside from drugs, including advanced prosthetics, partnering with companies like Bionics to develop and produce such beneficial products.

The judicial system of Saintonge consists of a number of government agencies tasked with upholding security and rule of law within the country. The activities of these agencies include police and law enforcement, prosecution, courts, and prisons and other correctional services.

Law
Saintonge is a Civil Law jurisdiction. Its landmark law documents include the 1792 Declaration of the Rights of Persons and the Citizen, the 1795 Constitution of Saintonge, the 1797 Civil Code (Code civil) of Saintonge, and the 1801 Criminal Code (Code pénal) of Saintonge.

Being a civil law legal system, Santonian judicial institutions typically place more emphasis on interpreting the law and applying it to the case on hand; while there is jurisprudence constante, stare decisis is not used much in Santonian jurisprudence. “Legislation from the bench” is very uncommon in Saintonge, with judges tending to instead issue advice to remedy the law. For example, in the 1964 decision R v Malichaud, the Court of Cassation told the government to amend the country’s rape laws to make them gender neutral, in order to recognise the existence of male rape.

Another interesting aspect of Saintonge’s laws in that financial penalties in both the Civil and Criminal Codes are indexed: many financial damages, awards, and fines are meted out based on a person’s income (“day-fines”/jour-amende). There are instances in which rich people pay traffic fines in the thousands of livres.

Santonian law can be divided into two main categories: private law (droit privé), governing relationships between individuals; and public law (droit public), governing relationships between an individual and the government. Since criminal cases deal with ‘public crimes’, criminal law (droit pénal) is part of public law. Still, the appeals process in criminal law shares courts with the civil law system. Thus, sometimes Santonian law is divided into three rather than two: Criminal Matters (matières pénales), Civil Matters (matières civiles), and Administrative Matters (matières administratives). It is on this basis that the Santonian Court System is organised.


Court System
Criminal Matters (matières pénales)
Criminal matters, which are mostly prosecuted under the 1801 Criminal Code, are divided into three:

• Crime (“major felony”) – severest crimes punishable with a prison sentence of more than 10 years. This includes rape, murder, and treason.
• Délit (“minor felony”) – intermediate crimes punishable with a prison sentence of 6 months to ten years.
• Contravention (“misdemeanor”) – lowest kind of crimes punishable with fines and/or a prison sentence of less than 6 months.

The three kinds of criminal matters are dealt with via different courts: crimes are dealt with by Assize Courts (Cours d’Assises), organised by departments; délits are dealt with by Police Tribunals (Tribunaux de police), organised by intendance; contraventions are dealt with by Correctional Tribunals (Tribunaux correctionnels), organised by judicial districts (districts judiciaires). Judicial districts are much smaller than intendances and cover a parish or a group of parishes; the exception is the large city of Saintes, which is divided into 22 judicial districts.

The Assize Courts are the only courts in Saintonge that have a trial by jury. The jury is composed of three professional judges and nine lay judges selected from the population roll. A two-thirds majority (nine votes) is required to convict. Appeals from Assize Courts can be appealed to the Assize Appeal Courts (Cours d’Assises d’Appel), which cover a judicial region (regions judiciaires) consisting of several departments. The Assize Appeal Courts do not have juries.

Appeals from both Police Tribunals and Correctional Tribunals are heard by the Correctional Chambers (Chambres correctionnelles) of the Courts of Appeal (Cours d’Appel), which are organised by department.

The highest court of appeal for criminal cases are the Correctional Chambers (Chambres correctionnelles) of the Court of Cassation (Cour de Cassation).

Civil Matters (matières civiles)
General civil suits are heard in the Courts of First Instance (Cours de première instance), organised by judicial districts. Appeals from the Courts of First Instance are heard by Superior Civil Courts (Cours civiles supériures), organised by intendance.

Further appeals are heard by the Civil Chambers (Chambres civiles) of the Courts of Appeal and ultimately the Civil Chambers of the Court of Cassation.

However, for specialised civil cases, there are special chambers within the Courts of First Instance and Superior Civil Courts that have original/primary jurisdiction over these cases.

Specialised Chambers of Courts of First Instance:

• Family Courts (Tribunaux de la famille)
• Small Claims Courts (Tribunaux des petites créances)

Specialised Chambers of Superior Civil Courts:

• Admiralty Courts (Tribunaux maritimes) – only in coastal and lacustrine departments.
• Business Courts (Tribunaux de commerce)
• Labour Courts (Tribunaux de travail)
• Land Courts (Tribunaux fonciers)

Specialised Chamber of the Court of Cassation:

• Patent Court (Tribunal des brevets)

Administrative Matters (matières administratives)
Administrative cases are heard first in Administrative Tribunals (Tribunaux administratives), organized by intendance. Appeals are heard in the Administrative Appeal Courts (Cours administratives d'appel), organised by department. The ultimate court of appeal for administrative cases is the Council of State (Conseil d’état).

Like the Civil Court System, the Administrative Court System also has specialised chambers that have original jurisdiction over several types of cases.

Specialised Chambers of the Administrative Tribunals:

• Social Security Courts (Tribunaux des affaires de sécurité sociale)
• Traffic Courts (Tribunaux de la circulation routière) – only seen in large cities

Specialised Chambers of the Administrative Appeals Courts:

• Audit Court (Chambre des comptes)
• Immigration Court (Tribunaux de l’immigration)
• Tax Court (Tribunaux de l'impôt)

Specialised Chamber of the Council of State:

• Jurisdictional Court (Chambre jurisdictionnelle) - nominally under the Council of State (as this court has an administrative function), cases in this chamber are heard by a pair of judges from the Council of State and the Court of Cassation. The Jurisdictional Court deals with conflict of jurisdiction cases, such as when two or more court systems claim jurisdiction over a case (thus producing double jeopardy), or conversely, when all of the court systems refuse jurisdiction over a case (thus refusing dispensation of justice). The Jurisdictional Court resolves those matters and remands the case to the appropriate court.

Constitutional Matters (matières constitutionnelles)
Constitutional questions such as constitutionality of statutes and regulations are sent directly to the Constitutional Court (Cour constitutionnelle).

Role of the Monarch
Justice is pursued in the name of the Santonian monarch, and thus certain legal experts maintain that there is a possibility of an ultimate appeal to the King as the final judge. However, this proposition remains untested and is not likely tenable, as all four previous attempts to appeal to the monarch in the 19^th century were either rejected or ignored. Many legal scholars point out to the fact that King Archambault X himself petitioned the National Assembly in 1912 to commute the death penalty of his would-be assassin, which meant that the Santonian King could not even unilaterally grant commutations or pardons to convicted criminals.

Judges and Prosecutors
Judges in Saintonge is a specialised branch of law. After law school, lawyers (avocat/e) aspiring to be judges apply to and study at the Academie royale de la magistrature (ARM, Royal Academy for the Judiciary), with campuses in Saintes, Nyon, Plaisance, and Aurigny. Aside from judges (magistrats), this highly-selective school and academically exceptional school also graduates public prosecutors (called “crown counsels” or procureur de la Couronne). All magistrats and procureurs are graduates of the ARM. Thus, magistrats and procureurs are all avocats, but not all avocats could be magistrats and procureurs.

To remove partisan and political influence, judges for all courts in Saintonge are selected by the Higher Council of the Judiciary (Conseil Supérieur de la Magistrature, CSM). The CSM is nominally headed by the monarch as the King-in-Bench (roi-en-banc), who has the nominal mission to guarantee the dispensation of justice in the country. This is similar to the executive branch, where its acts are nominally promulgated by the King-in-Council (roi-en-conseil); or the legislative branch, where laws are given royal assent by the King-in-Parliament (roi-en-parlement). In practice, the monarch does not sit in the CSM, its day-to-day functions instead being done by its 20 members: the President of the Court of Cassation, the President of the Council of State, the President of the Constitutional Court, the four administrators of the ARM campuses, 6 are elected by serving judges, 2 are elected by retired judges, 2 are elected by all the other lawyers in the country, and the last three are selected by the Minister of Justice, by the Justice Committee of the National Assembly, and by the Justice Committee of the House of Lords.

Prosecutors are hired by the various prosecutorial services and offices around the country; they are under the direction of the Ministry of Justice.

Law Enforcement & Prisons
The Royal Santonian Police (Police royale saintongeaise, PRS) is the main law enforcement agency in the country. It is a civilian agency under the Ministry of Interior. Saintonge has no gendarmerie, and the remit of the PRS extends to the entire country.

The Royal Correctional Services (Service royale correctionnelle, SRC) administers Saintonge’s prison and probation systems, and is a civilian agency under the remit of the Ministry of Justice. There are several kinds of prisons in Saintonge:

For those who are not yet convicted:

• Remand Prisons (Maisons d’arrêt, MA) – accommodate defendants in pre-trial detention. Each intendance has at least one remand prison. The MA may be located within a penitentiary centre complex, but in a separate building; remanded persons and convicted prisoners do not mingle (with exceptions, see below).

For those who had been convicted, they are sent to penitentiary centres (Centres pénitenciers).

• Maximum-security prison (prison supermaximale, PS) – the only one styled as a “prison”, this has the most secure level of custody for high-risk prisoners that pose a threat to national and global security. This level is rarely used and there is only one PS prison in Saintonge, the Fort d’If on the Bay of the Saine.
• Penal centre (Centre pénale, CP) – accommodates prisoners serving sentences of more than 10 years. (ie. crimes).
• Detention Centre (Centre de détention, CD) – accommodates prisoners serving sentences of 6 months to 10 years (ie. délits). At the end of the prison term, support and interventions are present in CDs to reintegrate them into society.
• Correctional Centre (Centre correctionnelle, CC) – accommodates prisoners serving sentences of less than 6 months (ie. contraventions). Various interventions are present in CCs in order to prevent them from re-offending.
• Semi-Custodial Centre (Centre de semi-liberté, CSL) – focused on the release preparation and rehabilitation of inmates, these are usually found attached to CDs. Inmates at the CSL are allowed external placement for jobs or training, meaning that the inmates here could leave the facility for work, and then come back. CSLs are essentially halfway houses for inmates.
• Juvenile Centre (Centre pour mineurs, CM) – accommodates youths in conflict with the law. Usually serves as both a remand prison and a penitentiary centre (though the youths do not routinely mingle except during classes). CMs have facilities for the youths to continue their education and learning.

Saintonge separates male and female inmates at all levels of the prison service. Saintonge had also pioneered a prison for LGBTQ+ inmates, who have a higher chance of sexual abuse in a sex-segregated prison. The Centre pénitentiaire de Saint-Sébastien-en-Champagne (CPSSC) was opened in 2021 to house exclusively LGBTQ+ inmates and are still segregated by gender identity. the CPSSC also provides extensive support to its inmates. Inmates may request transfer to CPSSC with approval of the court.

The electricity in sector in Saintonge is dominated by nuclear power, where almost three-quarters of its electricity consumption is produced through nuclear power. Electricity is one of the public utilities in Saintonge where the entire sector is nationalised¹. The Électricité de Saintonge (EdS) is the crown corporation (government-owned company) responsible for the production, distribution, and retail of electricity. The Santonian Ministry of Energy is the overseeing government regulatory body.


Consumption
Saintonge’s per capita consumption of electricity is 9,015.03 kWh, or 1203.56 TWh for the entire country. Because Santonian electricity is cheaply produced through nuclear power, electricity is also widely used for domestic heating and cooking. Only a few localities, such as those near gas-producing areas in the east of the country, have domestic gas distribution systems.

Production
Saintonge has an estimated annual electricity production capacity of 1835 TWh, which means that only two-thirds of its capacity is used for domestic consumption. Saintonge is therefore a net electricity exporter, and is the major supplier of electricity to Oklusia.


Three-fourths (74.98%) of the electricity Saintonge consumed is produced via nuclear power, which act as base-loading stations. Hydroelectric (conventional and pumped) is next, providing 7.12% of the electricity consumed in Saintonge. As part of its waste management systems, the residual waste is burned in waste-to-energy power plants. This produces 6.18% of Saintonge’s energy and also reduces the volume of waste dumped in landfills, as only the resultant ash is sent to the landfills. Waste-to-energy plants reduce the volume of waste by as much as 87%.

Wind, solar, and geothermal power are the next largest sources of electricity in Saintonge. Fossil fuels (coal, oil) have the smallest share, as Saintonge had for decades tried to move away from fossil fuels. (See map for a location of the major power plants in Saintonge.)

Domestic small-scale electricity production is also allowed in Saintonge since 1980s, but it had taken off recently with the 2020 Loi d’énergie durable. The law contributed to the expansion of small-scale renewable energy in Saintonge by incentivising installation of solar panels in buildings, and reutilisation and maintenance of the country’s plethora of disused weirs, waterwheels, and mills for energy production. This meant that Saintonge is experiencing a boom in small-scale electricity generation, independent of EdS. Small-scale producers are able to use their electricity domestically and then supply it into the grid if it is in excess of their usage.

Nuclear Energy
Saintonge’s nuclear energy is vertically-integrated. EdS mines its own uranium and thorium, processes its own nuclear fuels, and builds and operates its own nuclear power plants. This was part of the 1946 Bessemer Plan, after Santonian Energy Minister Antoine Bessemer. The Santonian government predicted that the consumption of coal, oil, and gas will outstrip Saintonge’s limited reserves by mid-1980. (Saintonge's fossil fuel reserves are barely sufficient to meet the country's needs.) Thus Bessemer and the government of Pierre-Paul-Patrice Bathenay adapted the Manhaval Project (a secret nuclear programme by the Santonian military) for civilian needs as a way to produce power. An experimental reactor at the Laboratoire nationale de Tronchiennes (LNT) was used to prove the concept – in 1952, it was one of the first nuclear power plants to generate electricity for a power grid – producing electricity to power the laboratory and its surrounding town of Tronchiennes (Margerides).

Further progress was made in 1955, when the Béez-et-Néez Nuclear Power Plant (Tech) was connected to the electricity grid as Saintonge’s first commercial nuclear power station. Throughout the decades, Saintonge continued to expand its nuclear power plants by building and improving its nuclear reactors, retiring and replacing old ones. Saintonge’s nuclear power plants now consists of a mix of 1300 MW, 1450 MW, and 1650 MW third-generation pressurised heavy water reactors, which can use either uranium or (increasingly) thorium as fuel.

Saintonge’s nuclear waste repository is Grammont Geological Repository (Margerides), close to the LNT.

Acceptance of nuclear power in Saintonge is widespread, as the country had not experienced any major nuclear accidents despite operating dozens of reactors in more than 70 years. Even a section of the country’s Green Party accepting nuclear power, as a ‘necessary evil’ as opposed to using polluting sources such as fossil fuel burning. Santonians would even welcome a nuclear power plant in their vicinity as it provides increased local tax income, creates local jobs, and provides some local perks such as cheap (or even free) district heating (as waste heat is distributed to local households and even farms for greenhouses during winter). Additionally, Saintonge respects scientists highly², especially since the country produced nuclear scientists such as Alexandre Becquerel, the couple Marie and Pierre Jurie, and Victor Niépce. This means that the Santonian public has a high level of trust in its scientists.

Nuclear Power Plants in Saintonge

Electricity Distribution
EdS is also responsible for electricity distribution. The country comprises one big synchronised grid, however, there are ‘sub-grids’ which can be disconnected to the main grid to prevent cascading power failures and widespread blackouts. There are twelve sub-grids in Saintonge. The country uses 400 kV power lines and smaller-capacity power lines to distribute electricity from power plants to consumers. There are also interconnections to its neighbours. The map shows the major 400 kV power lines and the major power plants in Saintonge.

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Notes
1. Public utilities in Saintonge can either be:

• monopole public (public monopoly) – wherein one or more government-owned company/ies is/are responsible for the entire sector. In Saintonge, this includes:
  
  • electricity (with a national public monopoly): with rare exceptions as above
  • water & sewerage systems (with various devolved public monopolies at the interdepartmental/departmental levels such as irrigation districts and water districts)
  • railroads
  • airports
  • waste collection
  • some goods deemed harmful: alcohol and gambling (with rare exceptions)
• secteurs essentiels (essential sectors) – wherein a government-owned company/ies is in the market together with other private entities. This is usually for sectors in which applying solely market forces will lead to underserved areas/population. An example would be postal services, where private companies might not deliver to inaccessible locales or charge exorbitant prices. “Essential Sectors” in Saintonge include:
  
  • Postal Services
  • Telecommunications
  • Radio and Television
  • Bus & Transport Services

2. In Saintonge, sociologists have identified the “glamourised professions” that is deemed prestigious and the people think of highly. These professions are: priests and clergy, doctors, scientists, soldiers, farmers, and teachers.

Education in Saintonge is recognised as a basic human right, enshrined in the Basic Rights section of the 1795 Constitution of Saintonge.

History
Because of this provision in the constitution, universal, compulsory education had been implemented in Saintonge since 1797. Initially, it was entrusted to the ubiquitous Santonian National Church in the Concordat of 1792. Each parish was to have a parochial school (école paroissiale) – a primary school – attached to the church. Depending on the resources of the parish and the diocese, the parochial school may hire teachers or the clergy themselves teach the subjects. Children were only required to attend the parochial school or an equivalent.

Those who wish to continue secondary education go to diocesan schools (école diocésaine), which are maintained by each diocese. However, only 20%-60% of children go on to attend diocesan schools in mostly rural agrarian Saintonge as attending secondary schooling was not compulsory at the time. Most children went back to the farm or joined the burgeoning urban workforce during the Santonian Industrial Revolution.

In 1875, the Liberal government of Zeus-Achille de Saint-Maxent wanted to make secondary schooling compulsory and improve the parochial schools, which varied wildly in quality from diocese to diocese. The Santonian National Church told the government that ever since the church lands were given over to the state in 1792, the church could not financially keep up with the responsibility of educating Saintonge’s children. The Saint-Maxent government responded by implementing a precursor of Saintonge’s current dotation éducative system (see below). Each pupil would be allotted a subsidy by the government to attend primary and secondary schools. Because of the expansion of secondary schooling, the Santonian government also started building its own secondary schools.

With its newfound experience in building secondary schools, the anticlerical government of Radical Prime Minister Antoine-Marcellin Lesdiguières seized control of education from the church in 1886. Education was secularised with the Lucotte Laws (Lois Lucotte). Under the Lucotte Laws, all Santonian children were required to attend state schools (écoles publiques) from primary to secondary levels.


The sudden change prompted an upheaval in the Santonian education system. The government was not prepared to build schools and hire teachers enough to replace all the écoles paroissiales and écoles diocésaines. The Lesdiguières government resorted to requisitioning church buildings, but it struggled recruiting teachers. Civil unrest ensued in the more conservative provinces, in what was dubbed as rébellion scolaire (“School Rebelion”): in 80 of Saintonge’s 90 departments, majority of parents refused to send their children to state schools and majority of teachers refused employment in the state schools. Informal, unrecognised schools (“free schools”, écoles indépendantes) popped up, which enjoyed wide support in many areas. The Duke of Beaujolais even hosted one at his castle in Roanne (population in 1890: 35,000); meanwhile, the three state schools in the same city had only two dozen students. The province of Bethany nearly erupted into a revolution when the intendant of Lanester (Rance) started imprisoning parents who refused to send their children to the state schools.


The upheaval in education alarmed many intellectuals and academics: renowned chemist Alexandre Becquerel wrote that “while the varying quality of church-provided education was a concern, the government was woefully unprepared to provide a viable alternative… some education is better than no education at all.”

This contributed to the fall of the Lesdiguières government in September 1887, but the disruption in education continued. The new government of Jean-Arthur-Pierre Maisonneuve de Briance tried to solve the problem, but the more radical, anticlerical parties of his government opposed all compromises. The major complaints about the pre-Lucotte Santonian education system were:

• Compulsory education stopped at the age of 12 or 13;
• Education system varied throughout the country, with the quality varying from diocese to diocese without a standard curriculum;
• Some schools were only focused on catechism and basic literacy;
• Saintonge’s educational system needs to be modernised to adapt to the increasingly-industrialised society and economy, with greater need to focus on science, mathematics, and engineering.

It took two years and another snap parliamentary election for the unrest to subside. In 1889, a more conciliatory government led by Centre Party Prime Minister Matthieu-Nathanaël Lafourcade was elected. Its education minister, Charles-Caleb Chenonceaux, was tasked to fix the Santonian educational system. Chenonceaux convened a commission with representatives from parliament, the Santonian National Church, the academe, and the Royal Santonian Academy of Sciences. The Chenonceaux Law of 1890 was the result of the commission. The Santonian National Church recognised their own shortcomings in providing for the education of Santonian children and agreed to yield this function to the government; however, the major concession was that religion continued to be taught in Santonian state schools. The Chenonceaux law provided for:

• Compulsory education for both boys and girls up to the age of 16 (raised to 18 in 1910);
• Standardisation of the curriculum throughout all schools and implementation of a quality control system;
• Transfer of all écoles paroissiales and écoles diocésaines to the state, including the écoles indépendantes;
• Establishment of school boards in each intendance to manage the school system locally;
• Retention of religion and catechism teaching in Santonian schools;
• Legalisation of homeschooling (instruction à domicile) and allowing private schools (écoles libres), with provision of standards for them (as a compromise for those still abjuring state schools);
• Institution of a national school-leaving exam (baccalauréat) for all children, to assess the students and the quality of the schools.

The Chenonceaux Law remains the basis for the Santonian education system until today, despite having been altered and amended many times, including a near-total ban on homeschooling (Loi Gasquet, 1958) and substantial modifications to school financing (Loi Journiac, 1964).

School Boards
Similar to the healthcare system, state schools in Saintonge are built and managed by School Boards (Conseils scolaires), which are organised by intendance. A large city may have its own school board separate from its intendance. The school boards are supervised by the Departmental Councils and monitored by the Santonian Ministry of Education.

Santonian school boards are not publicly-elected bodies. Members of the school board include a delegate from the Ministry of Education for the intendancy (under the supervision of the intendant), members appointed by the departmental council, a representative of the local ordinary (a holdover from Loi Chenonceaux), representatives of the teachers, representatives of the parents, and representatives of the students. School boards are responsible for preschools, elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools (see below) within the intendance; this also includes school buses. Day care is the responsibility of parishes and communes. Tertiary education is the joint responsibility of the national government, the departmental government, and sometimes, city governments.

School System
The Santonian school system includes the pre-school, as part of the comprehensive state support for children. The educational stages for children in Saintonge are as follows:

• Crèche (day care) – ages 2 to 3 (optional)
• École maternelle (pre-school) – ages 4-6 (optional, but more than four-fifths of Santonian children attend)
• École élémentaire (elementary school) – ages 7-12 (compulsory)
• Collège (middle school) – ages 13-15 (compulsory)
• Lycée (high school) – ages 16-18 (compulsory)

Unlike many other school systems, Saintonge had resisted the increasing specialisation in primary and secondary education. Former Santonian minister of education Rosselle Dubrunfaut said that “at age of 15 or 16, many students are still undecided on their future careers. It is impractical for us to pigeonhole lycée (high school) students into certain career paths or tell them they couldn’t do this or that.” Instead, Saintonge maintains a “general education” (education générale) system in high school, and students are allowed to simply take elective courses that interest them. The Ministry of Education has requirements with regards to what, which, and how many elective courses should be made available to high school students.

After graduating from the lycée, students take the national school-leaving exam (baccalauréat), which determines their eligibility for tertiary education. Universities (université), polytechnic institutes (école polytechnique), and vocational schools (école professionnelle) determine their own admission requirements based on the baccalauréat scores, with different cut-off scores and emphases given to the various parts of the exam, depending on the courses being offered. Thus, the baccalauréat scores serves to categorise the students into the career paths where they might be suited for. However, if the student’s baccalauréat score is not enough for the career path s/he wanted, s/he can re-take the exam again, up to a maximum of three attempts. The baccalauréat results also serves as an indicator for the performance of the school district.


Financing
The Santonian educational system is the responsibility of the Ministry of Education, which has one of the largest budget shares in the Santonian government. Saintonge is notable in that it funds students, not schools.

1964 Loi Journiac set out educational financing in Saintonge, which closely resembles the Saint-Maxent system. From the age of 7 (lowered to 2 in 1987) up to the age of 18, all Santonian children, regardless of family income, will have an “educational endowment” (dotation éducative, commonly shortened dot-ed) from the government. This is partially analogous to school vouchers in other educational systems.

The amount in the dot-ed depends on the child’s age, and its use is restricted. The money isn’t given to the parents; instead, it is paid by the state directly to the school, per pupil. Generally, it cannot be converted to cash and can be used only for education in licensed educational institutions in Saintonge. Any unused funds in the dot-ed are forfeited (except for crèches, see below). Loi Gasquet forbids the use of the dot-ed for homeschooling.

• Crèche – dot-eds partially cover the fees for day care. Parents who don’t send their children to crèches and stay at home with their children can instead convert the dot-ed into cash.
• École maternelle, École élémentaire, Collège, Lycée – dot-eds cover all of the fees for state schools. For private schools, dot-eds will only partially cover the fees, typically one-third to one-half of the tuition fees. The parents would have to pay for the remainder of the tuition.
• Tertiary education – dot-eds end when the child turns 18, and so tertiary education is funded differently. Contrary to popular perception, tertiary education in Saintonge is not free. It is highly subsidised, as the various levels of government and private entities (such as the Santonian National Church, the Royal Trust) fund the various educational institutions. This makes tertiary education in Saintonge essentially free. Tertiary education in Saintonge can be financed by a variety of ways:
  • Student loans (prêts étudiants) – Loi Portejoie in 1908 established the Santonian Education Financing Company (Société de financement de l’éducation, SFE), a crown-corporation responsible for granting means-tested, state-guaranteed, very low-interest student loans. Such loans are repaid via the tax collection system. SFE also provides merit-based grants (not loans) to exceptional students and to students with special needs.
  • Service return agreement (retour de service) – some institutions pay for the student’s studies entirely; in return, they are required to enter employment with the institution and serve where needed. This used to be more common than student loans as not only will the student get education, s/he will also have guaranteed employment afterwards. Examples of institutions utilising these are:
    • Santonian National Church – studying in seminaries is actually free.
    • Royal Santonian Armed Forces – Loi Courtial in 1920 expanded the military’s capacity to enable soldiers to study for free, but are required to render service afterwards. Loi Courtial is responsible for funding a big majority of the military’s doctors, nurses, healthcare personnel, engineers, and technical personnel.
    • Ministry of Agriculture – the ministry has standing agreements with many universities offering agriculture-related courses (agronomy, veterinary medicine, etc) to provide for free tuition and support for students; in return, the graduates are required to serve as under the Ministry of Agriculture.
    • Departments – most departments have scholarships and support for students wanting to enter healthcare- or education-related courses; they then enter into employment with the department’s health facilities or schools (health and education are competencies of the departments)

Like in healthcare, the Santonian government also has an "Education Equalisation Fund" (fond de péréquation de l'éducation, FPE), which subsidises the cost of running schools in rural areas and more thinly-populated areas wherebecause of low student population, the school's income from the dot-eds might not be enough to sustain school finances. The FPE also aims to reduce inequalities in education in the country, giving additional funds to poorer school districts and schools.

Statistics
Literacy Rate: 99.99%
Total Enrolment: 33.9 million
Attainment

• Secondary diploma: 97.8% of adults
• Tertiary diploma: 57.5% of adults
• Mean years of schooling: 13.97 years

Despite the reorganisation of the government in Saintonge after the Santonian Revolution, many titles and positions remain in use, mostly repurposed for civil administration. This is a non-exhaustive list of titles and positions in Saintonge:


Many of the department- and intendance- level titles are falling out of use, especially those associated with the central government's representatives in each department. Each ministry (except the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) has a representative in each department or intendance who is a career civil servant; nowadays, the word délégué ("delegate") is increasingly being used for all of them, with their position clarified as to which ministry they represent (ex. délégué de la santé pour les Simbruins = "delegate of the [Ministry of] Health for the [department of the] Simbruins"). As such, the terms Aumônier, Châtelain, Côntroleur, Dépôtier, Émissaire, Légat, Préteur, Prévôt, Questeur, and Syndic are becoming increasingly uncommon. Conversely, Intendant, Préfet, and Superintendant remain in common use.

Taxation in Saintonge
Taxation in Saintonge consists of a comprehensive system of direct and indirect taxes, levied by three levels of government (national, departmental, local), but is collected by a single agency, His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (Recettes et Douanes de Sa Majesté, RDSM). RDSM is a government agency under the supervision of the Ministry of Finance. Saintonge’s low levels of corruption and the streamlined collection system makes tax compliance in Saintonge one of the highest in the world. For 2022, the Santonian government’s total tax revenue is about 50% of the national gross domestic product (GDP), or £5.2 trillion (3.4 trillion IBU).

History
From the reign of King William I 'the Accountant’ (Guillaume I ‘le Comptable’), royal taxes were separated from local, provincial taxes levied by the nobles. (Previously, in some areas, local nobles collect taxes on behalf of the monarch, and remit part of it to the royal treasury.) In the 1070 King William I commissioned the Livre de Recensement de Saintonge (“Census Book of Saintonge”) wherein the king sent his agents to all corners of the kingdom and record all the lands, its value, its owners, and its resources in manpower, livestock, and other resources such as gold or silver. Saintonge was divided into twelve generalities (généralité), which in turn, is divided into five or more provostries (prévôté). The provostries oversee the bailiwicks (bailliage) and seneschalties (sénéchausée), which are essentially the tax collection districts. A certain area can only be part of a certain bailiwick or seneschalty; their territories do not overlap.

The difference between a bailiwick and a seneschalty is subtle: the bailiffs (bailli) are usually outsiders; the seneschals (sénéchal) are usually locals. Seneschals may actually by the local noble himself. The bailiffs and seneschals are assisted by assessors (assesseur) in their tax collection.

Each provostry is headed by a provost (prévôt), assisted by two or more receivers (receveur). The provosts and receivers report to the generality’s intendant (intendant); the generality’s accounts are audited by the comptroller (côntroleur). The intendant and the comptroller report to the chancellor (chancelier), who is responsible for the Kingdom’s finances.

The royal taxation system is different from the local and provincial taxation system. Taxes may need to be paid to the local government (the province’s noble, the city government, etc.), in addition to the royal taxes applied throughout the kingdom. Double (or even triple) taxation may ensue: for example, a piece of land may be taxed by the king, the local noble, and tithes need to be paid to the Church. Both royal taxes and church tithes steadily declined in real value over the years. Royal taxes continued to be based on the Livre de Recensement de Saintonge, which fixed the land’s value and ignored improvements in the land and improvements in production. Moreover, all royal taxes needed to be approved by the Estates-General of the Kingdom, which was infrequently convened and usually resisted additional royal taxes. Church tithes declined as the church increasingly relied on the land it owned; an additional factor is that bishops in Saintonge are elected by its diocesan chapters, which meant that partially democratic way of choosing bishops skews elections towards candidates who will not impose additional taxes or even collect the existing ones. By the time of the Santonian Revolution, only six dioceses in Saintonge collected tithes.

In addition, the local nobles sometimes prohibited their collection depending on their relationship with the monarchy and/or the church; oftentimes the local nobles seize it and keep it for themselves. Despite the tradition in most Santonian provinces to have their local legislatures/estates approve these taxes, from the 16th century, the local nobles levied the heaviest taxes and collected the most income. Many nobles ignored tradition and unilaterally raised taxes to fund their petty wars or their luxurious lifestyles. These made the local nobles even more hated by the people. The crushing weight of taxes caused various revolts during the ancien régime, the last one led to the Santonian Revolution itself.

This situation led to three curiosities: first, the least-taxed provinces were the ones under royal domain (domaine royal), that is, provinces that are held personally by the monarch. Because lands under the royal domain lack that intermediate level of government, they also typically lack the bulk of local taxes levied in other non-royal provinces. Only taxes approved by the estates of the province had to be collected. For example, in 1780, the median tax paid by a peasant in the province of Aunis (which passed to royal domain in 1516) was approximately one-fifth of that paid by a peasant in the neighbouring province of the Griffonné, which has its own duke and set of nobles.

Second, some of the royal tax collectors (bailiffs, seneschals, provosts, intendants) became local heroes. As royal tax collectors, they are entitled to collect taxes from everyone, including nobles. Disputes sometimes arose when royal tax collectors attempted to collect taxes from nobles who did not want to pay them. These royal tax collectors then did to the nobles (ex. seize their property, jail them) what the nobles did to the commoners who refuse or fail to pay taxes. This was a reminder that nobles, too, were subject to the same laws as commoners. As one of most visible royal officials, royal tax collectors frequently become the focal point of resistance against the oppressive local nobility. This was the subject of the 15th century Santonian folklore Robin des Bois, a heroic outlaw who was the Bailiff of Rarogne in eastern Saintonge. Robin des Bois had a conflict with his chief opponent, the Duke of the Soleure, who refused to pay royal taxes but levies oppressive ones on his subjects.

Third, the various tax-free exemptions enjoyed by some nobles, areas and jurisdictions made centralisation of taxation and removing exorbitant privileges gain widespread support in Saintonge, as it was established that the tax burden should be distributed equitably throughout the country and among its people. Article XIV of the 1792 Santonian Declaration of the Rights of Persons and of the Citizen (Santonian: Déclaration des droits des personnes et du citoyen) also established the right of any Santonian citizen to seek out proper accounting of the tax collection and state spending. This can manifest in a wide variety of ways: tax declarations and returns are public documents; and the data and information on government spending are publicly-available by default unless redacted for extraordinary reasons such as national security or judicial decision. Any Santonian citizen may request for the tax data from the RDSM or how monies are spent by any level of government; such requests are filed at the Audit Courts (Chambre des comptes), which examines the need for the data. This transparency led to the country having one of the highest rates of tax complicance and one of the lowest rates of corruption in the world. The system of petitioning for data also meant that it was a template for ‘freedom of information’ laws in Saintonge.

Current laws
The Santonian tax regime dates to the Santonian Revolution, in which resulted in the centralisation of taxation and uniformity of taxes. This left local governments severely underfunded and dependent on assessment from the central government, which became subject to politicking. The Centre Party government of Prime Minister Jean-Marc Juneau allowed the levying of some local taxes. As subsequent governments expanded and delegated powers, local taxes progressively increased and became more disorganised.

In 1903, the supermajority National Party government of Marc-Childéric Battiston passed the Comprehensive Tax and Impositions Law, colloquially known as Loi Rochant, after Finance Minister Saül Rochant. Loi Rochant invested in a single agency, the RDSM, the collection of all taxes in Saintonge for all levels of government and for all institutions. This means that Santonians would only need to deal with one institution for all taxes and impositions being levied. RSDM will then calculate and dispense the collected taxes to the appropriate level of government and institution. The various levels of government and institutions still legislate on the tax rates; RDSM only collects them.

Taxes
Loi Rochant then consolidated all of the taxes and reserved them to the different levels of government, which is still the framework used today. For instance, income taxes were assigned to the national level, which means only the national government can levy income taxes; departmental or local governments cannot set or levy income taxes. Conversely, property taxes were assigned to the departmental level, which means that the national government cannot set or levy property taxes. The departmental and local taxes are not the sole source of revenue for local governments; they are also allocated monies by the central government through the various ministries for their activities. For example, health and education are under the purview of departmental governments, but the central government has various mechanisms to allocate money to the departmental governments for the purpose of providing these services to its constituents.

Various modifications to Loi Rochant were made over the years as some taxes were introduced, abolished, or tweaked.


Confusingly, in Santonian parlance, a tax (impôt) is different from a levy (taxe) or a contribution (cotisation). Impôts are assessed on persons (such as income taxes), while taxes are levied on transactions (such as sales taxes). Cotisations are collections meant for a specific purpose, such as social security contributions.

Customs
Saintonge has a unique customs practice. While the RDSM collects customs (douane) and tariffs (tarifs), RDSM does it in cooperation with the Royal Santonian Armed Forces, which is responsible for border control. As such, under the 1882 Loi Babin, the Royal Santonian Armed Forces are entitled to ‘retain’ a certain percentage of the customs collections for its funding. This is the minimum statutory funding for the military, but in practice, Saintonge’s defence budget is much larger.

Under the current regime, the military ‘retains’ half of Saintonge’s customs and tariff collection. This meant that for 2021, the military was given £45 billion (30 billion IBU) of the total customs and tariff collection of £90 billion (60 billion IBU). This £45 billion is only 16% of Saintonge’s defence funding, the rest came from government allocations.

Statistics
Total Tax Collection: £5.2 trillion (3.4 trillion IBU)
Tax collection as % of GDP: 50.48%
Double taxation treaties

• META area (Predice, Sasten, Demescia, Naizerre, Vivanco, Mouxordia, Lanceria, Dhahara, Trinster)
• Prydania
• Arcanstotska
• Mintoria
• Esthursia
• Ulstome
• Merilia