Empire Blog – Greater Indian Empire
Last updated: Saturday November 26th, 2022
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Hello guys! The Greater Indian Empire is one of the strongest, if not the strongest already, empires the world has ever seen. So, I am obliged to write a blog dedicated to the most influential empire in the DOTJE series. Yes, it is the Greater Indian Empire! Dive right in to know more about my empire!
General Information
Leader: Emperor Aficionado
(Full title: His Imperial and Royal Majesty Aficionado, the Utmostly Noble Emperor of India, the King of Indochina, the Lord Protector of the Realm of the Indian Ocean, the Conqueror of the Moon, Vikramaditya, Chakravarti, Aryavart Samrat, Defender of Faith)
Capital: New Delhi
The capital of the empire is New Delhi.
The Emperor, however, doesn't reside there. He has two residences – Shimla (a town on the Himalayas) is the official summer residence (April to September) while Victoria (on the island of the Seychelles) houses the winter residence (October to March).
Countries included:
The empire is mostly located on the Asian continent. However, it controls several islands in the Indian Ocean. The empire maintains a monopoly over the Indian Ocean too. It also maintains subdivisions located in Africa and Antarctica. Besides these lands, the empire has claimed half of the Moon, where the construction of a sprawling colony has been envisaged. Here is a complete list of "former countries" included within the empire:
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, the Seychelles, Mauritius, Comoros, France (Mayotte and Reunion), United Kingdom (BIOT), Madagascar, Mozambique, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Norwegian Antarctic claims and half of the moon.
Area:
The empire has a monstrously huge area of 31,957,207 km2 (12.33 million sq mi). Of this, 12,992,207 km2 (5.01 million sq mi) of land is located on the Earth while 18,965,000 km2 (7.32 million sq mi) on the Moon*. Roughly 40% of the empire is located on Terra while 60% on Luna.
It is the third-largest empire on the Earth only behind the Great Southern and the Empire's Empires. When the lunar area of the empire is added, it becomes the largest empire.
[*] Only recognised by the Blaze, Chilefornia, Great Southern and Macedonian empires.
Population: 1,999,741,248
The empire has a humongous population of a little less than 2 billion people. It is the world's most populous empire. The empire is working on a programme to lower its massive population.
Population density:
The empire has a population density of 62.57 people/km2 taking the Moon's area into account. When the lunar area is excluded, it increases to 153.92 people/km2.
Official languages: Hindi and English
On national level, Hindi and English are given the status of official languages. Each of the subdivisions of the empire is free to choose any language as their official language(s).
Being a megadiverse empire, it has no true national language. English is accepted as the de facto national language for the meantime.
Aficionadoan, an artificial language, is envisaged to be given the status of national language sometime in the near future.
Borders and disputed territories:
The empire has a long border. It borders the Great Southern, Blaze, Macedonian, British Isles and Vampire empires, the Veggie and Palapayan/Botswanan caliphates, the Imperial Union and the Imperium Sanctus.
It has open borders with the Blaze and Macedonian empires and the Imperial Union as the empire has very good relations with them. Its border with the Imperium Sanctus and Vampire Empire are heavily militarised and protected.
The empire maintains a vast territory in Antarctica, which in compliance with the reformed Antarctic Law fall under its full control. It has a huge territory on the Moon as well, however, most countries have not recognised this claim.
Currency: Indian rupee (symbol: ₹)
Economy: 37.8 trillion USD (PPP)
Military: 3.26 million personnel (combined active and reserved)
Driving side: Left
Date format: dd/mm/yy or dd/mmmm/yyyy
Time zones: UTC+02:00 to UTC+07:00 (DST not observed anywhere)
Measurement system: Metric; imperial also used unofficially
History
Over the short course of its existence, the empire has achieved what was considered unachievable until very recently.
The founding of the empire has a rather dull backstory. It was founded by Aficionado. He was a respected Navy officer and commandeered several ships of the Indian Navy. Soon enough, he got promoted through the ranks of the Indian Armed Forces and somehow reached the top of the hierarchy. He also acted as an advisor to the erstwhile prime minister, Narendra Modi.
One fine day, Mr Modi stumbled upon a quiz on a website called JetPunk and got quite annoyed to see that India was #2 in population while #7 in area. The General was called and the territorial ambitions of the Indian Republic defined – to be #2 in both population as well as area.
The neighbouring nations of Pakistan and Bangladesh were soon occupied making India #1 on population but its area rank remained unchanged. Due to undisclosed reasons, a coup was staged and Aficionado declared as the Emperor of the newly formed "Greater Indian Empire" in the wee hours of the Independence Day. On the morning of 15 August, an announcement was formally made that India was, from that very point of time, an empire and not a republic.
Later on, the Kingdom of Indochina was acquired and made a vassal of the empire. Its vassal status was nullified and brought into personal union with the Indian subcontinent after the Territorial Reforms Act, 2021.
The territorial ambitions were still not fulfilled, so Aficionado felt of colonising new lands. The territorial ambitions were redefined – this time being #1 in both population and area. Being a former Navy officer, he was very well-versed with the islands of the Indian Ocean. He felt that conquering the Indian Ocean was necessary to project Indian dominance. Within three days, all of the islands in the Indian Ocean along the African coast were taken along with Sri Lanka, the Maldives and the British Indian Ocean Territory. Aficionado built a new palace in the Seychelles. He also received the title of the "Lord Protector of the Realm of the Indian Ocean".
With passing time, it had become clear that GIE was now a superpower. It participated in numerous major wars, most particularly the Korean War. It helped defend Great Southern Empire from the Koreans and triumphed.
It joined the Pentente in hopes of annexing Vietnam but later gave up this ambition of theirs. It took over the Norwegian claims to Antarctica (Queen Maud Land and two small islands) and established settlements there as well. Maitri-Novolazarevskaya is the largest settlement in the Indian Antarctic Territory.
Mozambique was acquired by the GIE from the PBC in exchange of a ton of titanium. After the dissolution of the Armenian Empire, it received Bhutan and Kazakhstan (and its space fields, titanium and uranium reserves and the vast grasslands came free with it). Azerbaijan was acquired from the GSE in exchange of a lunar palace built for Emperor Geopro of the GSE.
Speaking of lunar things, the most prized possession of the empire is the Lunar Colony. It was established with a small contingent of 7 colonists chosen from across the empire and 3 colonists from friendly countries (Blaze, Chilefornia and GSE). Today, the entire "near side" of the Moon is controlled by the GIE as its lunar colony. Four settlements have been built with Chandranagar being the largest and the oldest. He received the title of the "Conqueror of the Moon" after the establishment of the first settlement. With the Moon colonised, which the empire considers to rightly belong to them, its ambitions were finally fulfilled. The empire is #1 in both population and area (only when the lunar area is accounted).
As of writing this, nothing significant is happening in the empire. After leaving the Pentente and joining the Alliance, it has become a tad bit isolated from world affairs. It has been supplying the Macedonian, Blaze and the Veggies with weapons, soldiers and aid. The empire has neither joined the war nor made any comments about it. What will be its next move, no one knows except the mighty and the Utmostly Noble Emperor Aficionado. As the saying goes, "don't wake the tiger up, just to kill you" sits very aptly here.
Geography
In terms of geography, the GIE is one of the most diverse empires.
The Indian Subcontinent and the Indochina peninsula form one contiguous landmass of the empire. The Himalayas protect the Subcontinent from bitter North Asian cold wind and also gives rise to three of the major river systems of the Northern Plains, which is a densely populated and highly fertile region stretching from the Punjab to the Bengal. The three river systems are those of the Indus, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra. The central regions are marked with plateaus and mountain ranges as well as forests filled with wildlife. The western regions are dry and barren and home to the Thar Desert. The southern regions are characterised by the Deccan Plateau, which is enclosed by mountain ranges and finally fertile coastal plains. One of the most remarkable geographical feature of the Subcontinent is the monsoon, a seasonal reversal in wind accompanied by widespread precipitation.
The Indochina has a somewhat similar geography. To the north are mountains which are extensions of the Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau. In the centre are fertile lowlands drained once again by three rivers – the Irrawaddy, the Chao Phraya and the Mekong. In the south is the Malay Peninsula.
The geography of Kazakhstan also showcases great variation. In the south are perennial snow-covered mountains while in the north are the huge grasslands. There are also plateaus in the east and some of the world's lowest places in the western regions along the Caspian Sea coast. Azerbaijan's geography is dominated by the Caspian Sea once again, as well as the Caucasus Mountains and flatlands in the western area.
Mozambique consists of coastal lowlands with uplands in its centre and high plateaus in the northwest. There are also mountains in the western regions.
The Antarctic Territory, as you might have guessed, is covered with ice. It has high mountains and a long coast. In the western regions, one can find volcanic rocks and deposits. It has been suggested that without the ice, the topography of the region would have been dominated by deep fjords and islands similar to those in Scandinavia.
The empire also has numerous islands. The islands are home to exotic and unique flora and fauna. Many of the islands boast some of the world's best beaches, along crystal-clear turquoise waters. The islands are also home to virgin forests and most islands are of volcanic origin. Coral reefs are also found across many of these islands.
Finally, the Indian Lunar Colony which covers the "near side" of the Moon is characterised by lowlands called mares. They were created due to asteroid impacts and later filled with lava, giving rise to their smooth appearance.
Government and Administration
The empire is a federal constitutional monarchy with the Emperor having an upper say in external matters while the publicly elected prime minister looks after internal affairs along with his cabinet.
Every five years, the citizens of the Indian Subcontinent vote directly for the post of a prime minister, who later forms his cabinet and is sworn in a public ceremony by the Emperor himself. The ministers of other parties form the opposition. The executive consists of the Emperor, the Prime Minister and his cabinet.
The legislature is a bicameral one operating under a Westminster-style parliamentary system. It consists of an upper house called the Rajya Sabha and a lower house called the Lok Sabha. The members of the former serve staggered six-year terms and are elected indirectly by the legislatures of states and union territories in proportion to their share of national population. Lok Sabha members are elected by popular vote and represent an "electoral constituency" for five years.
The judiciary is a three-tier one. It consists of a Supreme Imperial Court, which is headed by a Chief Justice nominated by the Emperor, several high courts and a large number of trial courts.
The empire is divided into eight divisions of administration. They fall into three categories: realm, territory and colony. Here is a detailed explanation for each class:
Realm: A realm is any kingdom or sub-empire within the Greater Indian Empire. That being said, there are three realms in the GIE. They are the Subcontinent, the Indochina Peninsula and the Indian Ocean Islands. The Emperor and the Prime Minister rule over the Indian Subcontinent, while a governor-general is appointed by the Emperor to rule over the other two realms in his name.
Territory: A territory is an area under direct jurisdiction of the Emperor which is granted some autonomy. There are four territories in the empire: Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Mozambique and the Antarctic Territory. An Emperor-appointed administrator governs them along with a locally elected premier. A territory has autonomy to make laws of almost everything except laws regarding trade and international relations, currency, defence and other subjects of national importance.
Colony: A colony is any area that is fully or partially dependent on another entity. As of now, there is only one colony established: the Lunar Colony, which is home to around 100 settlers from Earth. The settlers come from the different regions of the empire as well as some friendly nations. It is governed by a Colonial Governor, who is appointed by the Emperor on the suggestion of the Parliament and the Imperial Indian Space Agency.
Each of the realms, territories and colony is further divided into smaller divisions.
Demographics and Culture
Ethnicity
The majority of the empire's population are Indo-Aryans, concentrated in the realm of the Subcontinent. The Dravidians and the Sino-Tibetans are the largest and second-largest minority communities, mostly found in the Subcontinent and the Indochina respectively. Besides those, the Austroasiatic, the Tai peoples, Iranians, Bantus, the Austronesians, the Turkic peoples and a small community of Europeans (mostly French, Russian, British and Portuguese) also call the empire their home.
The Imperial Census 2021 revealed the ethnic make-up of the empire as follows:
Dravidians – 16.77%
Sino-Tibetans – 4.9%
Tai peoples – 3.07%
Iranians – 2.4%
Austroasiatic peoples – 1.82%
Bantus – 1.57%
Turkic peoples – 1.56%
Austronesians – 1.31%
Europeans – 0.14%
Others (including mixed peoples) – 0.91%
Religion
The Imperial Census 2021 revealed the religious affiliations of the citizens as follows:
Islam – 29.78%
Buddhism – 7.76%
Christianity – 4.02%
Sikhism – 1.15%
others/unaffiliated/atheists – 2.22%
Languages
According to the Imperial Census 2021, more than a thousand languages are spoken across the empire. Hindi and English are the official languages at the national level, while the subdivisions are free to choose any language as their official language across the subdivisional level. The most spoken first (or native) languages of the population are as follows:
Bengali (incl related languages and dialects) – 13.6%
Punjabi (incl related languages and dialects) – 7.92%
Marathi – 4.64%
Telugu – 4.53%
Tamil – 4.17%
Gujarati – 3.12%
Thai – 3.02%
Kannada – 2.44%
Odia – 2.1%
Pashto – 2.07%
Malayalam – 1.95%
Burmese – 1.69%
Sindhi – 1.65%
Malagasy – 1.28%
Others – 12.66%
Hindi – as it is spoken in and around Delhi – is considered the national standard. It has a noticeable vocabulary of Urdu and Persian origin. The Indian English is a variety of different regional accents. Again, the accent spoken in and around Delhi – with a slight influence from the Received Pronunciation of London – is the standard Indian English.
Culture
The culture of the empire is dominated by that of the Subcontinent. As the empire expanded, Indian culture spread to all those regions. Bollywood, or the Hindi film industry, is one of the world's most renowned film industries.
It would be quite difficult to summarise the culture of the empire. Hence, this part ends here.
Economy
The Greater Indian Empire has a humongous GDP (PPP) of 37.8 trillion USD. It is estimated that the lunar economy accounts for roughly 53% of this figure. This makes it the richest empire of the world. Despite having such a huge economy, its massive population makes the per capita income ridiculously low.
The main industries of the empire are textiles, chemicals and pharmaceutical products, agriculture and food products (rice, sugar, spices, vegetables and fruits), dairy products, metals and minerals (aluminium, coal, copper, gold, iron and steel, titanium and uranium), fisheries, handicrafts, natural gas and tech and machinery products.
It is the largest producer of cotton, milk, rice, spices, vegetables and uranium and titanium. Except the metals, it exports all of these commodities in great numbers. It also exports handicrafts, fish and meat and tech and machinery.
The main imports include petroleum and natural gas, food products (especially wheat), metals and minerals (gold and diamond among others), automobiles and tech and machinery.
A vast portion of the lunar economy remains unexploited. It is often said that its economy is much larger than the currently accepted figure of 20 trillion. Its soil holds a plethora of metals and minerals, few of which are already being mined.
Military
The Imperial Indian Armed Forces is the largest armed forces in the world. It has a combined strength of 3.26 million personnel.
The Imperial Indian Army is the world's largest army. It has an active strength of 1.5 million active personnel and 1.2 million reserved personnel.
The Imperial Indian Navy is the strongest navy in the world. With just under 200,000 personnel (half of whom are reserved), it boasts control of almost the entirety of the Indian Ocean. It has numerous naval bases across the world.
The Imperial Indian Air Force, with a strength of around 400,000 personnel, is categorised as an above-average air force. It is comparatively weaker than the Navy and Army, however, strong enough to destroy an entire continent within a month.
The empire is a nuclear power and maintains an arsenal of about 500 nuclear warheads.
International Relations
The Greater Indian Empire is a member of the Alliance. Hence, it is very close to Chilefornia and Veggie Caliphate. It was a founding member of the Quintuple Entente (Pentente), which it left recently. It is still an associate member of the Pentente. Hence, it is very close to the Blaze, Macedonia, Imperial Union and the British Isles Empire.
It maintains a strong friendship with the Great Southern Empire. Both empires have helped each other in times of need. The PBC has recently become closer with the GIE. They decided to trade Mozambique in exchange of titanium. There is a strong and healthy rivalry in the cricket teams of the three empires dubbed as the "Trinity of Cricket".
It maintains extremely close relations with Chilefornia and its Indian-origin ruler. GIE trades loads of Indian food with them.
The Indian-Veggie relations had always been very cordial, even when the VC was a member of the Infinity League. Its citizens have visited the GIE numerous times to embrace vegetarianism, yoga and other practices at its best.
The Indian-Blaze relations are very good as well. Both countries are eager to establish space colonies and have helped each other in their extraterrestrial pursuits. Both have colonies on the Moon.
GIE has a somewhat neutral stance on the Infinity League. The GIE has no disputes with any of its members, after it abandoned its ambitions to invade Vietnam. The relations with the Imperium Sanctus are lukewarm and have only deteriorated when the GIE decided to move its troops to the Imperial Union for extra protection.
National Symbols
Flags of the empire
The national flag is composed of two stripes – an orange and a blue. The blue stripe has three navy stripes on it signifying the three major rivers of the empire while the blue field marks its naval dominance. The orange sky along with the rising Sun represents a bright future. The white lotus is the symbol of the empire. It is fondly called the Blooming Lotus.
The war flag is somewhat similar to the national flag. Instead of the sun, it has three mountains representing the Himalayas which has protected it several times from invaders. It is called the Triple Peaks banner.
The Antarctic Territory has its own flag. It is composed of two vertical stripes – an orange and a dark blue. They represent the six-months long day and night experienced there. The flag is superimposed by the coat of arms of the territory which has an emperor penguin and a Bengal tiger holding the shield with a snowflake on it, topped by the white lotus.
Being a self-governing colony, the Lunar Colony has its own flag as well. On a dark blue and silvery double-striped flag, a crescent is drawn to represent the Moon. The dark stripe represent the lunar mares and silver represents the lunar highlands. In the canton, a white lotus is present.
Animal: The Royal Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris) is the national animal.
Aquatic animal: The Ganges River dolphin (Platanista gangetica) is the national aquatic animal.
Heritage animal: The red panda (Ailurus fulgens) is the national heritage animal. It is widely regarded as another national animal and sometimes used to personify the empire. The thumbnail of this blog features a red panda.
Lost Heritage animal: The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) is the official lost heritage animal. It is granted this status to raise awareness and prevent extinction of animals.
Bird: The Indian peacock (Pavo cristatus) is the national bird.
Flower: The Indian lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) is the national flower.
Fruit: The mango (Mangifera indica) and the litchi (or lychee) (Litchi chinensis) are the national fruits. They are dubbed the "King" and the "Queen" of fruits, respectively.
Food: The dosa is the national dish, the samosa is the national snack, the masala chai is the national drink and the rasgulla is the national sweet.
Sport: Cricket and field hockey are the national sports.
Public Holidays
The public holidays are decided by the administrative divisions of the empire. Anyhow, there are some holidays which are celebrated across the empire. They are:
New Year's Day - 1 January
Makar Sankranti (Harvest Festival) - 14 January
Constitution Day - 26 January
Labour Day - 1 May
Martyrs' Day - 8 August
Empire Day - 15 August
Gandhi Jayanti - 2 October
Christmas - 25 December
There are several religious holidays as well, which change date every year. Being a secular state, all major religions have holidays. Emperor's Birthday is a widely celebrated holiday, though the exact date will not be given here for private reasons.
And that was it! A profile of the Greater Indian Empire. To sum it up, the GIE is a space-faring, land-controlling and ocean-conquering superpower. It is a force to reckon with! A peaceful empire for most of the time, but it can become violent when provoked. It is a resting tigress and one who tries to wake her up, will face dire consequences.
Within a year or something, the empire has gradually risen from the bottom to the top of various ranks. It is the richest, largest and the most powerful empire within the DOTJE universe.
Everyone wants to be on the friendly side of the empire because they know that if they get on the wrong side, their very existence might be threatened, or worse demolished. With that statement, I would like to conclude this blog.
Writing blogs like this is not really my cup of tea, it seems. I prefer blogs about real topics and so do my subscribers, most probably.
I promise this blog to be the first and last blog of this kind. All future blogs will be similar to what I had been writing before this.
Cheers
I grant JetPunk a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable worldwide license to use the images and to create and use derivative works.
By the way, I know you to be allied with the Veggies, but I do ask you to join me in sanctioning them. They give more rights to certain peoples, a crime against freedom and equality. Surely no civilized nation would stand for this!
Hmm, the GIE has a bustling vegetarian population as well and if I sanction the Veggies for giving more rights to their vegetarian citizens, I might very well invite a secessionist movement in my empire.
I hope you understand.
i think we should comment on the group(Also, we have officially changed the name of our country to the Palapyan-Botswanan Empire or PBE, though calling it the Palapyan-Botswanan Caliphate or PBC is still accepted).
and rule the whole world.Oh well, I had written those parts a long time ago. The blog is numbered 4815, that's older than the first WUFAW! I will remember that, though.
Oh well, it seems you guys still rule on the cricketing pitch. Yup, I too believe that our T20 performance is stronger than ODI one.
DOSAI love it and my citizens oblige to followEdit: Yup, I made up few sentences and vocabulary and then all of eventually lost interest and the group died lol.