Texacano

Texacano is a large country in the region of Esportiva.

Geography
Texacano is a large country taking up a swath of land across the narrowest part of the continent of Terra Bondante in Esportiva. It is home to approximately 55 million people in a fairly low population density. Much of Texacano is arid or semiarid, and two large deserts span much of its western half.

Northern Texacano, especially Tejas is rich in oil, and Texacano is entirely self-sufficient in fossil fuels. Gold and copper are mined further west in Gadsden, while cattle are raised throughout eastern Texacano. Additionally, fishing on the Gulf of Texacano and the Sea of Cortez accounts for much industry throughout the country.

The techncial boundaries of "Texacano proper" are coterminous with those of Tejas; however, the former provinces of the Republic of the Rio Grande, namely Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas, as well as Chihuahua since the early twentieth century, have been absorbed as "incorporated territories" which have de facto parity with Tejas in matters of government, while the unincorporated territory of Gadsden has many of the rights of the incorporated territories but cannot vote in government.

Government
Texacano's government is a federal presidential republic, with the President of the Republic elected for a single three-year term and having supreme authority over the executive branch. The President is selected by the Electors of the territories, who are in turn elected by their territorial legislatures. The legislature is bicameral and includes the Senate, which has two representatives elected by the territorial assemblies of each of the incorporated territories plus Tejas, and the Assembly, which has representation proportional to population.

The Nationalist Party is the ruling party in Texacano, and it advocates an isolationist foreign policy  with low taxes and low government spending, and opposes the incorporation of Gadsden. The National Unity Party is the ruling party in Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Gadsden, and advocates for the incorporation of Gadsden as well as lower trade barriers. The Democratic-Republicans call for a more federalized form of government, with more power shared between the territories and the federal government, while the Urban Unionists are considered a radical socialist party.

Sports
The two codes of football, American and association, are the most popular sports in Texacano, with American football reigning in Tejas and northern Gadsden, and association elsewhere. Basketball is generally the second-most popular sport, followed by baseball.

American football is played professionally by the Texacano Football League (TFL) and the Republican League of Ironman Football (RLIF), which plays by a set of rules derived from arena football. The Republican Collegiate Athletic Association, RCAA, also organizes a football league, with Tejas and Rio Grande conference champions playing in the Laredo Bowl each year. Additionally, the College Station A&M Aggies have played in the NationStates College Football (NSCF) league.

Association football, or soccer, is played by four leagues at the top level: the Gadsden Premier Division; Liga Primer de Chihuahua; Liga Primer del Rio Grande, which includes teams from Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas; and the Tejas Professional Soccer League. The best teams from each league compete in a sixteen-team Copa Republicana each year, and the four champions compete for the Supporters' Shield.

Basketball is played professionally by the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto, LNB, which is presently the top-ranked domestic basketball league in the world. The LNB has increased in profile since the re-introduction of the IUBC, and has seen its popularity increase domestically and abroad in recent years. The signing of Taijani phenom Troy Baker by the Las Cruces Angels is seen by many as a sign that the league will soon be globalizing.

Starting in its fifth season, the League has begun to expand by two teams each season from its original twenty-four to thirty in season seven. The Broncos de Chihuahua have won the last four LNB championships, and appeared in both the Trophy of Champions finals held thus far, winning the second one and becoming the highest-ranked basketball club in the world.