Belacostă

Belacostă

Established: April 20th, 1982/III

Cunstaval: Ieremiac'h Ventrutx

Maestro: Lüc da Schir

Senator: Iason Taiwos

Demonym: Belacostan

Location of Belacostă.

The Free and Sovereign Province of Belacostă (pronounced [bɛlaˈkɔstɐ]), in Talossan la Provinçù Liveradă es Soveran da Belacostă (IPA: [lɐ pɾɔvinˈsu sɔvɛˈɾan dɐ bɛlaˈkɔstɐ]), is a province of Talossa. Originally known as Mussolini, the province name was first changed to Benito following a referendum of its citizens, during which the actions of the Italian dictator were denounced. The renaming was affirmed at the national level through 38PD1, which became law on April 26, 2008. To completely divest itself of any associations with fascism, the province was renamed for a second time on July 1, 2024/XLV. This second renaming introduced the current moniker of Belacostă, taken from the Talossan for "beautiful riverbank", in reference to the province's scenic position along the Manaweg. The province was granted the right to self-govern during the 39th Cosa with the proclamation of a Constitution by then-Viceré Owen Edwards.

Belacostans who reside in the U.S. State of Ohio have established the Cjovani subculture. Notable activities of this subculture include viewing Spaghetti Western films and playing bocce ball.

Geography

Map of Belacostă and its territorial subdivisions

Belacostă lies south of Atatürk (E Kenwood), west of Vuode (N Maryland and a portion of N Prospect) and north of Florencia (E North), which was initially a canton of Belacostă. It is bordered by Milwaukee River on the west.

The province is divided into two cantons: Lançacuratx (to the north, population 3675) and Utulfaçeir (to the south, population 3678).

Each of the cantons is further divided into three sextieirs. The biggest, both by population (1642) and area (35.9 ha) is the sextieir of Riverside, the provincial capital, which contains famous landmarks such as Riverside High School (attended by many Old Growth Talossans, and the present Belacostan capitol) and King John Woolley on the Riverside Park, the largest riverside parkland area in Talossa.

Politics

List of Maestros (Constitution onwards)

Maestro				Took office
1st	#1		Matáiwos Vürinalt (LRT)	8 Mar 2008
2nd	#2		Tímoþi Asmourescu (RUMP)	7 Nov 2008
3rd	#3		Simeon Andrieu (PP)	19 Jul 2011
4th	#2		Tímoþi Asmourescu (RUMP)	4 Jul 2012
5th	#4		Istefan Perþonest (IND)	1 Oct 2012
6th	#2		Tímoþi Asmourescu (RUMP)	21 Apr 2013
7th	#5		Lüc da Schir (MRPT)	22 Jul 2013
8th	#6		Vitxalmour Conductour (NPW)	22 Oct 2014
9th	#7		Iason Taiwos (Lib)	23 Jun 2015
10th	#8		Eiric S. Börnatfiglheu (NPW)	14 Apr 2016
11th	#9		Cresti Françell (IND)	13 Mar 2017
12th	#7		Iason Taiwos (NPW)	9 Aug 2018
13th	#10		Erschéveþ da Schir (ModRad)	14 Jun 2019
14th	#11		Eiric S. Börnatfiglheu (NPW)	-
15th	#12		Mic'haglh Autófil (PdR)	21 Jul 2022
16th	#5		Lüc da Schir (FreeDem)	26 Oct 2023

Head of State

The Head of State is the Viceré (known in other provinces as the Cunstaval or Constable). The Viceré is appointed for an indefinite term by the Monarch to serve as the vice regal representative to the Province. Under the Belacostan Constitution, the authority of the Viceré is limited to powers which mimic those of the Monarch at the National level.

Head of Government

The Head of Government of Belacostă is the Maestro. The Maestro is elected by the members of the Assembly, the lower house of the Belacostan legislature, at the beginning of each term; it can be removed through a motion of no confidence. Under the Belacostan Constitution, the Maestro can issue legislative proclamations, which are similar to Prime Dictates at the national level.

To assist in his governance, the Maestro can appoint an indefinite number of Aldermen to act as provincial ministers, and can choose a member of the House he does not sit in to serve as his representative in that House. To ensure independents are properly represented, and that particularly active Belacostans are not barred from the Legislative Chancellery by not receiving seats in the Assembly, the Maestro can additionally appoint to the provincial Senate a number of temporary apppointees, up to half the number of Senators by right.

The current Maestro is Lüc da Schir; twelve different Belacostans have held the office since the proclamation of the provincial Constitution.

Legislature

The legislative authority of the province is vested in the Legislative Chancellery, a bicameral legislature composed of the Assembly and the Senate. MAs and Senators are collectively known as Chancellors, and may be removed from office by legislative force, in limited circumstances, upon being presented with a Writ of Impeachment pursuant to Belacostan law. Both the Assembly and the Senate vote on bills, but the Maestro is elected only by the Assembly and only needs to hold the confidence of the Assembly.

Assembly

The Assembly is composed of eleven seats held by elected Members of the Assembly (MAs). The seats are apportioned using the Hare-Niemeyer (Largest Remainders) method. The Arvitieir Prima, appointed by the Maestro as a sort of Belacostan Secretary of State, also serves as the Assembly's presiding officer, even if he doesn't hold a seat in the Assembly, in which case he won't be able to cast any votes.

The current Arvitieir Prima is Mic'haglh Autófil, serving since 27 March 2024.

Seats assignments following the July 2024 general election.

MA		Party	Seats
		FreeDem	5
		Open Society	3
	Flip Molinar	IND	2
	Mic'haglh Autófil	PdR	1

Senate

The Senate is unelected and is composed by all former (national) Senators, all holders of the Order of Benito, and a number of additional appointees up to half the already seated Senators; each Senator can only hold one seat, even if he falls into more than one of the previously mentioned categories. Unlike the Assembly, the Senate instead elects its own Speaker among its own members. The current Speaker is Lüc da Schir.

As the Senate is not an elected house, it's never officially dissolved, unlike the Assembly; rather, it goes into recess from the dissolution of the Assembly to the inauguration of the next one.

Senator	Category
Iason Bitxichë Taiwos	Former National Senator
Flip Molinar	Former National Senator
Tric'hard Carschaleir	Former National Senator
Istefan Perþonest, O.Be.	Order of Benito recipient
Lüc da Schir, O.Be.	Order of Benito recipient
Mic'haglh Autófil	Maestro appointee

List of ineligible Provincial Senators

Several people fall in one or both of the cathegories from which Provincial Senators are drawn from, but are currently ineligible to sit in the Provincial Senate:

• Quedeir Castiglha and Nicola Casálmac'h, who are not citizens of Belacostă, but served as national Senators
• Timoþi Asmourescu, who is both a former National Senator and a recipient of the Order of Benito, but has renounced his citizenship
• Matthias Muth, Thomas Buffone, Eiric S. Börnatfiglheu: they were all Belacostans and served as national Senators, but no longer are Talossan citizens
• Gary Cone, Weston Erni: they are no longer citizens of Talossa and never were citizens of Belacostă, but had previously served as national Senators

Provincial Honours

As per 39LC30, the Maestro of Belacostă is entitled to enroll worthy Belacostans into the Order of Benito, the province's only honor established by law.

The current recipients of the Order of Benito are:

Name	Date	Admitted by
Don Istefan Éovart Perþonest, O.Be.	April 21st, 2013	Maestro Timoþi M. Asmourescu
Don Flip Molinar, O.Be.	April 21st, 2013	Maestro Timoþi M. Asmourescu
Don Timoþi M. Asmorescu, O.Be.	February 28th, 2014	Maestro Lüc da Schir
Don Lüc da Schir, O.Be.	April 28th, 2015	Maestro Vitxalmour Conductour