TENSEI

[inthesomeday]

Report From the Office of the Director of Mainland European Affairs​

The situation in the South Baltic, in old Poland, has begun to escalate with the reunification of a German State to its west. Many of the barbarian polities in old Prussia have managed to procure heavy arms with which to bombard one another's positions, and the most prominent factions have started to grow in political capability. Given these considerations, the decision to arm and recognize the Teutons should become clearer to High Command.

They are a militant party, with values not far from those of the Imperial populace. In keeping with the Eastern European economic demographics at large, most of the actual organization are soldiers, with an official membership of more than 3000 and at least an 80% mobilization figure. They are more efficient, as the Aryan blood would imply, than most any other of the groups vying for control of the region.

At the present moment, they control at least 7 major outposts, 3 coastal and 4 inland, and some figure of 23% of Prussia's population pledges loyalty to the Knights. Agriculturally, many of this peasantry support small rural farms or fisheries, but the largest food source is animal. The only lacking area of the Knights is ammunition, as many of the soldiers have relied on guerrilla tactics and physical superiority to secure their existing territory.

For the above reasons, as well as the purposes of securing a future for the Aryan race in the region, establishing a strategic ally in mainland Europe, and the stabilization of Eastern Europe in the interests of the Empire, the Directory of Mainland European Affairs has taken action to arm the New Teutonic Knights with superior firearms and tactical naval and air support.

Hail the Fatherland, Salomon Omdahl

 

[Zappericus]

The Dominion of India announces that is has entered a cooperative relationship with the Federation of India.
The details of the cooperation includes mutual open borders and free trade between our two great nations.
Let this be the beginning of a great and prosperous friendship based on the principles of respect, peace and for the betterment of all of India.​

 

[J.K. Stockholme]

Doctor Storm, Welcome to the Control Room

Here we are, the place where all the big decisions are made. These computers you see here are processing information collected by scouts, polling firms, and data centres across the English countryside – this is the bridge of the national population control system. These data are then manipulated by narrow artificial intelligence and trained human staff to predict trends in mass opinion and calculate event risks. We can catch many protests and strikes a few weeks in-advance and take pre-emptive action. Since the directors restored our executive power to act on risks as they occur there’s been are real upsurge in optimism and activity here.

Why did the directors even take away the population control team’s powers in the first place?​

​

That choice was terrible in hindsight. It didn’t get much coverage in the media due to the chaos of the time, but back then the leaders of Cambridge opposed using population control programs except in a state of emergency. They didn’t want computer programs influencing most of the decisions of government – especially not ones designed at Oxford. Remember the first generation of mass psychology models were pioneered at Oxford, and Cambridge was already uneasy about enacting major policies like rationing or rearming of the police on the evidence of computer programs whose outputs were difficult to scrutinize. What if Oxford was manipulating outputs to help themselves? Cambridge tolerated the population control system because they didn't have time for petty fights while parliament was a smoldering ruin, the terrorists had nuked York, and the Prime Minister had fled the country. But when the social collapse plateaued, Cambridge succeeded in taking away our powers for a time.

I wasn’t aware of the particulars, but I’m not surprised to learn of secret infighting. National foundation myths always depict the leaders of a new regime in solidarity with one another – even when they struggle with each other for dominance of the new state. America’s founding fathers, the Bolsheviks, Her Majesty’s loyal opposition, et cetera.​

​

An excellent observation, and proof we need more forward-looking historians like yourself at the population control system! Anyway to finish the story, the directors gave us back our powers as you know, but only after Cambridge had their own team of distinguished scientists developing second generation mass psychology models – so that’s politics.

You say that with derision, but the rivalry is a necessary prerequisite to the stability of our political order.​

Oh yes, don't get me wrong, I’ve read your work on how political architecture affects the endurance of a regime to the forces of history. You convinced me that a political system with two competing factions is the most politically stable configuration for our regime type. The chiefs in the control system are all looking forward to what you’ll do next now that you’re head of the historical forecasting unit. You’re a young man but you’re gonna make an enormous impact if research progresses in the area of international prediction and risk assessment.

I’m looking forward to meeting my team. Shall we take the elevator?​

They’re looking forward to meeting you too Frank. Hit number 10, we’re going to the top floor.

 

[Shirogane]

"In peace - Vigilance.
In war - Victory.
In death - Sacrifice."

The light of the summer sun shimmered over the palace grounds and reflected off of the many gold statues which centered the private rose gardens. Behind walls of reinforced concrete, security checkpoints, weapons emplacements and armed patrols stood the lavish and heavily defended fortress-palace of Darul Aman, rebuilt in the early 2040s by the former democratic government before being turned into the Caliphate's center of power in Kabul, and later on, the nation at large. It had come to be a symbol of the Caliph's choking grip on the region.

New Kabul had unrecognizable from the shadow it once was fifty years ago. High rise housing, proper roads and parks had been erected throughout the years and the third world war had been, somewhat, kind to these parts of the middle-east. There were still parts of the city that laid in ruins, but were hard underway of being rebuilt.

But whilst the nation of Afghanistan may look pretty, there were no amounts of aesthetics that could hide away the fact that Islamic extremism had buried its roots deep under the guise of the wahhabist Islamic Caliphate. Caliph Wakil Razaq Al-Ummah was the new and "benevolent" ruler and spiritual liege of these lands. His militaristic tendencies had left the nation with a sense of "strong and faithful rule the day" mentality.

Schools and education focused almost purely on military-applicable practices and purist Islamic views. Propaganda against non-islam was commonplace, and homosexuality among other things were punishable by death. One thing was for certain: Were you not a Muslim in Afghanistan, you'd be safer in the slums of Brazil.

Around every street was a military checkpoint probing for outsiders, around every market were Sharia law enforcement patrols. Afghanistan had become a hateful nation thanks to the Caliphate blaming the western world for bringing about World War Three. Those who rejected their rule became western spies and sympathizers whom would later vanish in the night at the hands of the Caliph's secret service. Those who would not follow the will of pure Islam would find themselves hanged in public, surrounded by cheering crowds of extremists.

Dark clouds rise high above Afghanistan. The fires of industry bring about the terrible war-machine, fueled by an economy of crime and blood. The Caliphate had proxy drug cartels all over the world, fronting firms slashing funds to fuel the militarization of the country. What crime could not pay for, the Caliphate directly pulled out of the ground by erecting massive quarries, oil pumping fields and solar stations. Among these were of course the selling of arms and equipment to known Islamic terrorist organizations across the globe.

Perhaps there were dissident factions within New Kabul, or the nation at large. Perhaps there were sympathizers wishing for a new dawn. But for the time being, they all cheered the tyrant and his growing army of brainwashed extremists.

 

[Civ'ed]

A SHORT LOOK AT SOME OF THE SPA'S ARMORED WEAPONRY
this advertorial was sponsored by APSAA
Since 2035, the armored wing of the Sahel Protection Allianca (AWSPA, APSAA) has been hard at working producing vehicles to replace our outdated armory. With some of the tanks in our arsenals as old as 100 years, the time has come to explain what we have been doing all this time.

The first vehicle we shall take a look at today is the APSAA VB-PA Samoo AFV. The Samoo was designed based on Italian and older Soviet designs. Designed as a supporting vehicle to infantry pushes, the Samoo is the only non-tracked vehicle that is not a technical in use by the APSAA. Roughly 200 are in use today.
TOP SPEED: 100km/h top speed on road
CREW: Driver, Gunner + 2-3 soldiers depending on variation
MAIN ARMAMENT: 76.2mm Nouakchott Armaments rifled (30 rounds)

Next is the Light Tank in use by the APSAA. The VB-1 Ñonkomoo is built on 1970s British and South African designs, recovered after relaxation of troubles in West Africa. A relatively old design, It is the VB-1 that shows up most alongside older vehicles such as the T-55. Over 500 are in use by various armies today.
TOP SPEED: 80km/h on road
CREW: Driver, Gunner, Commander
MAIN ARMAMENT: 90mm Nouakchott Armaments rifled (25 rounds)

Finally, the pride and joy of the APSAA is the VB-101 Mansa MBT. Designed as an attempt to fix crucial issues with the nearly 100 years old T-34, the APSAA combines a remodeled T-34 chassis with a more modern-styled gun. Although it is often criticized for its large gun barrel, counterweights are usually applied before firing, and indeed the Mansa often takes more of a self-propelled howitzer role.
TOP SPEED: 54km/h on road
CREW: Driver, Gunner, Commander, Loader
MAIN ARMAMENT: 105/52mm Aaiun-type

From the clearing the streets of Azawad from anti-SPA insurgency, to demonstrating the power of Africa today, the APSAA is a manufacturer to be reckoned with!

 

[Traveller76]

EDITORIAL: Divide and Rule by Dr. Anand Manu, Doctorate in History (ret.) Central University of Karnataka

7 June 2051

One of the questions I ask my students is this. How did the East India Company and then the British Empire exploit and rule South Asia for two hundred years? How did a distant empire with a total population in India of around one hundred thousand run a country of millions? One can mention technology such as the telegraph and railroad but the biggest policy was Divide and Rule. Now Divide and Rule is not a new strategy or weapon. The satirist Traiano Boccalini cites "divide et impera" in La bilancia politica as a common principle in politics. The use of this technique is meant to empower the sovereign to control subjects, populations, or factions of different interests, who collectively might be able to oppose his rule. Machiavelli identifies a similar application to military strategy, advising in Book VI of The Art of War (Dell'arte della guerra), that a Captain should endeavor with every art to divide the forces of the enemy, either by making him suspicious of his men in whom he trusted, or by giving him cause that he has to separate his forces, and, because of this, become weaker.

The maxim divide et impera has been attributed to Philip II of Macedon, and together with the maxim divide ut regnes was utilized by the Roman ruler Caesar and the French emperor Napoleon. So it is not simply an invention of the British, it has been used by empires for over a thousand years simply because it works, if we let it! Took much blood has been spilled for the benefit of a few who wanted to accumulate more wealth and power for themselves. The British and others have used our diverse societies to divide us into smaller and smaller segments based on ethnicity, language, religion, sex and then pit these segments against each other. However, when we work together and live next to each other and tolerate each other we can accomplish anything!

Now, this does not mean uniformity of thought or religion or culture. What it means is that we reject those who would promise a small amount of power or wealth in return for betraying your neighbors or family. We all live together in this country and the greater world. If you want to change the world there are ways both peaceful and positive to do it. We have much to do, let us start!

 

[Crezth]

As pre-approved by Decamper...

Trade Symbol: TLUNA
Identification: TransLuna Incorporated
Ideology: Futurist - TransLuna operates according to a strict positive-ROI principle on all research projects.
Centralisation: Low (25%) - TransLuna is a corporation owned by many shadowy entities with fingers in every dirty pie across the globe. A few key members maintain public face and company reputation, however.
Political Freedom: Moderate
Tech Expertise Priorities: Energy, Psych, Computing, Bio, Materials
Claims: Switzerland
Extra: TransLuna was founded recently, starting as an investment by nascent German Globalist interests which eventually secured major influence in the sequestered Swiss Market Society [Schwizermarketsutopien]. Although the cantons had maintained their political independence nominally for many years within the sequestration, they ultimately succumbed to the growing private influences that had made their home there - including a major spate of investment concerns in high-energy devices.

The two core companies of TransLuna are the Applied Atomics Company (Société atomique appliquée/Angewandten Atomgesellschaft), and the Psychological Institute of Bern (Institut psychologique de Berne/Psychologisches Institut von Bern), also called PIB. When the hostile takeover of the final independent cantons occurred, the SAA and the PIB entered into a contractual agreement to form the TransLuna corporation under the new unified trading symbol TLUNA and the name TransLuna Incorporated. Since TransLuna employs a full 52% of the population of Switzerland, and a further 28% of the population are registered affiliates, the move was largely seen as gestural. On that same day, they hosted the launch of a major satellite to facilitate the construction of future cis-lunar (and, the company hopes eventually, trans-lunar) infrastructure projects.

The demography of TransLuna's employees is diverse, as the sequestration attracted many refugees during the early parts of the Troubles. Despite later attempts to staunch this flow, nationalization efforts were considered mostly effective, and so the issue was dropped except by hardcore nativists. This coincided with the eventual softening of the Swiss national identity, which came to be somewhat more cosmopolitan and daring-do. Hence the ambitions of companies like the SAA and (what were initially) worker cooperatives like the PIB were well-suited to the dynamic atmosphere of the sequester.

Now TransLuna is owned by a diverse board of associated international traders who prefer to divulge as few personal details as possible, but who eagerly and - some would say - greedily invest in the newest technologies that the now-prosperous TransLuna seems to generate on a daily basis...

 

[Decamper]

Orders are due in 23 hours.

I am still waiting on orders from the following players: @Daftpanzer @JamesCaesar @Nuka-sama @Ailedhoo @Belgarion95 @Sonereal @Bair_the_Normal @KaiserElectric @Red_Spy @christos200 @Sniiperman456 @Crezth

If you do not get orders in time, your points will be transferred to next turn.

 

[Nuka-sama]

Orders will be in tomorrow morning

 

[Decamper]

Order edits will no longer be accepted. New orders will still be accepted, but you will automatically lose any contested province claims.

 

[Traveller76]

Universal Basic Income coming to India
8 August 2054

BANGALORE-The Ministry of Human Development, along with the Ministry of Finance and a coalition of state and private banks announced the creation a Universal Basic Income (UBI) program for all residents of the country. The program would provide an income of one thousand Rupees in each person's bank account to residents who have a bank account and that banks will assist those without accounts to set up a new account for the deposit. There will be few restrictions on the UBI, only that guardians would have access to the accounts of minors until they attain majority. While many have been hesitant on the cost of the program, experts have estimated the cost to be 3-4% of Gross Domestic Product. According to Human Development Minister Sneha "This program will save millions of wasted rupees in inefficiencies and thousands of hours. No longer will someone be subjected to intense scrutiny to see if they are 'worthy' or made to feel shame for receiving aid. Government employees will no longer spend time determining what goods or services should be subsidized or how they are distributed. This will also trim down corruption by those who would hold this aid in return for favors."

The news of the UBI has been seen in a positive light by much of the population. One example is Rama (whose name has been changed), a nurse at a major hospital in Chennai. "I already work over forty hours in a week and then go home to help my partner to take care of our children and my parents. We have had to struggle to meet expenses and have a small savings account. This income will most likely go into our savings and will not affect our spending. However, it provides additional security to my family. I may even be able to reduce some of my hours in the future."

Savitri, a domestic worker. "I think this is a great program. I no longer have to take a bus on my day off to go to pick up my rations. Even with that ration, I have gone without eating so my daughter has enough. It was only because my employer has been generous to me that I have been able to take care of her on my income. I will save this money for her education, she is a top performer in Maths and I want her to attend University when she is older."

 

[Zappericus]

- "Mr. Sarabhai."
- "Sarabhai?"
- "Sir ..?"

Kamaraj representative Rao Sarabhai turned away from his computer screen, taking off his reading glasses and placing them at the side of his office table with an audible sigh. The war had not been kind to him. Radiation burn scars covered most of his right hand, elbow and shoulder and he had bags underneath his eyes -- the result of recent events unfolding on the Pakistani-Indian border. Rao turned his attention towards his secretary. She was a young beauty, fresh out of college. She was, perhaps, too young to fully appreciate the horrors of the war which nearly destroyed mankind. And while many may think of such bliss to be a good thing, Rao was proud of having survived to see the dawn of a new era. He'd rather remember the fallen, than have them be forgotten in the ashes of the old world.

- "Yes, Saanvi. You were saying?"
- "Your session at the gene therapy center is in an hour, sir. You should get ready."
- "That was today? I must be honest with you, I do not feel well. Would you be a dear and cancel it?"

Sannvi seemed overly concerned. After his exposure during the war, Rao's body was constantly harassed with spontaneous tumors and malignant growths. Like nearly the entirety of India's population, if not the entire world, the damages caused by atomic annihilation is still a lingering problem to this day. The gene therapy treatments were one of the only options aside from traditional medical treatments that kept people like Rao alive. However, most of these clinics were run by private enterprises and like every firm, it had gone on to become a costly affair. Many did not have the money to pay for their treatments and so, were left to die agonizingly. There were those in the Kamaraj whom had tried tirelessly to make these treatments free, but to this day this bill has not been able to push through. Too many pockets had been filled, and too many players had their stakes in it. Rao frowned as the thought of corruption in the Kamaraj went through his mind.

- "Please, sir. You must proceed with your treatment. You are three sessions behind. You're not looking we-"
- "How can I take the time to heal myself when my people, whom I have promised to protect, suffers?" Rao interrupted with an irritated tone in his voice.
- "How can I sit back and enjoy luxury when half the country lies in ruins, when numberless Afghan armies rally under a ruthless dictator? Did you know they are experimenting on biological weapons to bypass the nuclear arms ban?"
- "No. I cannot, and will not allow myself the time for treatments I do not deserve. I must focus on the tasks at hand. To save India, to restore India, and to keep India safe from the growing threat in the west."

- "I will not let India fall."

 

[JohannaK]

Why China Can Be No More​

Once upon a time, there was a land called China. There was many different Chinas, and there is one who still claims to be it, if much diminished. But China shall never again be one. It shall never be complete, because so many of its peoples have pushed it aside. Millenial name that peoples upon peoples took as their own, generation after generation, it is extinguished now. Xueians have renounced it. It is a name that lives on elsewhere, but has died in its cradle. No matter how many times it fell, how many times a new people rose, the name was hailed back into existence. This fall was the last one. We are a New people, and we are not ashamed to proclaim this. Too long has China been rewashed and reused, too many times it has been dragged through the mud to be raised again. We are the Spirit of Revolution, and Revolution is here to stay. We predicate the extinction of the Old and the constitution of the New, learning the lessons that must be learned and forsaking the ideas that need forsaking. There is no place amongst us for Old names and Old words, so we are no longer Chinese or in China.

The malevolence of the Old was made patent in the magnitude of its strife, on the swift eradication that it poured its spirit into. China died when nine in every ten men, women and children were wiped from the Earth. From the soil their corpses fertilised, we rise. We bloom. We have come to sow this land anew, to live their lives again, knowing what their deaths have taught us: that we cannot rely on ourselves. We can only rely on each other, as equals. What the Old World forgot in its blissful stupidity, was the nature of humanity. When the few commanded the many, and the many forgot to speak up, the Old was already dead. That the bombs would fall was merely confirmation of this fact. Only by knowing what it is to suffer together, can we enter the world confident in ourselves and in our neighbour, our comrade, our friend, our family. While we remain together, we remain strong, and if we are strong we do not need nostalgia for the days of nuclear fire. Let its remembrance be a notice of alert, not a chord of longing. If we reaffirm our New values and hold steady in them, we shall not need to hark back to the Old ones that brought only Doom.

Today, we are anew. Today, we stand together. That is why China can be no more in our hearts.

General-Director Lu Xinren,
New World magazine, Anniversary Special​

 

[Ailedhoo]

A spokesperson from the U.S.S.D/S.U.D.S wishes to confirm that we are in communications to ensure the whole of France joins our union, plus we are sending a team to ensure the communes in Aragon may consider joining us.

 

[Crezth]

TransLuna Incorporated is proud to make several announcements about the exciting accomplishments in store for TransLuna and registered affiliates!

Ad Astra -- News for a New Age
AdAstra TransLuna Official Newsletter is a registered trademark of Starline Studios, a wholly-owned subsidiary of TransLuna corporation

TransLuna Orbital Services launches major infrastructure satellite: "Hecate I"
February 19th, 2051 C.E.

Spoiler Artist's rendering of Hecate I shuttle docking bay when 'peak traffic conditions' are achieved. :

TransLuna Orbital Services (TLOS) was proud to announce at a press conference months in advance of the plans to launch "the first of the long line of Hecate platforms" by the end of February 2051, a promise they made good over the duration Feb-19,20 when Hecate I was launched from Yavin-platform and became fully operational in geosynchronous orbit above Switzerland.

Hecate I is intended to be TLOS' inaugural move in the space industry, being the first TLOS-Engineering design to be designed entirely in-house and by TransLuna subsidiaries. Chief Technical Officer of TLOS, Mark Zhu, who will be the first Commander of Operations aboard Hecate I, stated in a press-conference held shortly after the successful launch from the newly-operational Orbital Telecommunication Services Center: "We at TransLuna are hopeful Hecate I will become known internationally as a symbol of the great heights of science and human achievement. Our Orbital Life Sciences division will pioneer new technologies to facilitate life in space and beyond. Our Psychological Instrumentation division will investigate advanced AI technologies to help people become accustomed to the bold new world we live in. The new Harkon Balgar Waves & Beams Laboratory will conduct physics experiments we could never dream of accomplishing practically trapped within the surly bonds of Earth's gravity."

Spoiler Hecate I is a Stanford Torus-model design. Here is a helpful infographic detailing a standard Stanford Torus design. :

The new satellite launch has accompanied much fanfare among rumors of TransLuna's new partnerships with entities as diverse as the new German state, the Bulgarian nation, the Korean and Japanese nations, and even the Jah-worshippers of the Caribbean. It is clear with moves such as these TransLuna is meriting respect in the new international community.

 

[Immaculate]

Growing a New Home


“Opportunity!”

I am a six-year-old girl. My name is Cascata. I am mostly ignoring my teacher.

Some of the other students are staring at her. She is standing on a pile of concrete debris overgrown with vines and fine tall grass. She is pointing all around us at all the ruins of Macapá, the piles of concrete and rebar that were once the homes of the metanat executives and their soldiers. I wasn’t alive during the war but mama was and she is listening to teacher.

I stop planting and put the Asilo seeds in the front pocket of my overalls, wandering back to mama. She slings her rifle across her back and picks me up, balancing me on her hip the way she did when I was little.

“Listen, little waterfall,” she whispers in my ear pointing at teacher with her chin.

“I see ruins and I see opportunity,” teacher is saying and the parents are all nodding but many of my classmates are lost or don’t care. “The bombs and the great fire left us ash and debris and we lost our homes and our livelihoods.” The parents look thoughtful and sad. “But from the ruins you arise.” Teacher pauses and she steps lightly over the piles of concrete and twisted rebar and ruffles Fernanda’s hair. Fernanda smiles and stops planting to listen to teacher.

“The metacorps and their client nations built high-rises and surrounded them in walls. They built of ferrocrete and steel and they trusted in the permanence of their fortress homes.” Teacher doesn’t speak to us like children. If we don’t understand we ask but she is not like some of the others who try to pretend we can’t understand. “Unchanging, forceful, without compromise. Not like us, the Verditas. We adapted, harnessed the flexibility of nature, of the resistant forces that lie at the heart of life itself.” She stoops and plants an Asilo seed. "Our homes will not be steel and concrete, imposing and inaccessible, a spot of death in the great green Amazon." She plants another, gently placing it in the ashen soil between two blocks of concrete.

She points to the south, across to the island and we can see the new Asilo buildings growing already, taller than mama, taller than our tent or even the great tents. The seeds we are planting will become like those.

“Opportunity. The destruction of our homes have given us a chance to grow our new homes. These seeds will become your homes and as you grow, they will grow, and as you get taller, they will too. When you are big and have your own babies, your homes will grow and new rooms will form and your babies will have rooms too. Flexibility. Growth. Our very homes a reminder of our role in the world. Sustainable, always changing, but especially… alive.”

Mama is smiling and nodding but I am bored and wiggle free. Teacher is talking. She is speaking about the future and symbols mixing with the everyday. Marcela shrieks and we all run to her. We crowd around and she is showing us a pale green plant she has found. It is short, only as tall as my waist but has six massive leaves, each as big as me. The class crowds around, teacher and parents too.

“This is the plant that grew from last year’s sowing trip,” teacher says. “Your big sisters and brothers planted here too and you can see your homes are already starting to form. Look carefully, see how the concrete around the plant is dark and brittle and there are thin vines woven through it. Look aslo and see that this piece of rebar is pitted and rusted thoroughly. Those are the roots of the Asilo- they are living in symbiosis with engineered bacteria; they are drawing calcium and aluminites and ferrites from old debris to make the heart of the plant strong.” She takes her rifle from her shoulder and pokes the plant with it. It does not move; it looks hard. “See? Longer roots press into the ground and draw water from the river”

Marcela is smart and she interrupts teacher. “Mama says its not a plant. That the seeds are not really anything, not plant, not animal but something else. Planta Asilo is something that never was before.”

That earns her a smile and I smile too, happy for Marcela who is my friend and plays dolls with me, “Its true. Its not a plant though it has leaves and roots and many things that plants have. And it is not an animal, though it has muscles and a simple brain. It is true, it was born in a lab just as many of the things you use everyday were, even as some of you were. But that is the way of Intendência Verditas. We are a balance, the white and the green and we cannot forget either part of that balance.”

We stop for a moment and the silence feels thick and somehow special. The parents are looking down at the Asilo plant. Mama looks sad and I can tell she thinking about Papa. Teacher looks thoughtful and stares out at the green of the great river, “I think that is why it is important that you plant these seeds today- not the drones or soldiers. Asilo are more than our very real homes, our hope for a future where everyday life is a reminder of our commitment to sustainability and flexibility, they are a symbol of the balance.
She places her hands side by side as if juggling an unseen thing, “On one side our drive for more, of our very human spirit to innovate and improve, On the other side our ties to… this,” she spreads her arms wide as if to hug all of the river and hills, “our reliance upon the earth and the life that surrounds us. Verditas lies at the center of that balance. Green and white.”

Marcela whisper, “Opportunity” to me and looks very serious. I make a face at her, sticking out my tongue and she laughs. Then the other children are laughing. And then the parents.


Green and White. Balance.




with apologies to Seon for stealing the idea the architecture of your home is a symbol

 

[Immaculate]

Intendência Verditas Background I: Gene Hacks

The last years of the war between the Green Resistance (the precursor to Intendência Verditas) and the meta-corps and their nation-pets was marked by extensive use of biological warfare. It was the Greens who first made extensive use of these methodologies- turning the ecological wealth of their homes, the genetic diversity of the jungles, oceans, and synthetically, the labs, into a very real physical weapons to stop the corp soldiers. As Europe and North America and then the world fell to thermonuclear fire, what was once a war for resources turned into war for survival and both sides grew more desperate. The corporations amalgamated further and unleased new weapons upon the Greens, desperate to carve a new home far from the cratered north. They learned from the best and turned Green bio-vectors upon the resistance, developing their own agents that crippled and killed. The results were devastating.

As a consequence of these attacks, much of the survivors of today have had to undergo significant gene therapy to repair damage done to their genomes and to make them resistant to the pockets of weaponized retroviruses that await in half-buried canisters in the jungles and ruins. The Intendência Verditas government has decreed however, that the haploid gametes of the populations not be modified, at least at present, while gene therapy is still in its relative infancy.

This has meant that many newborns undergo gene therapy early in life, usually before their first month of age. It also means that much of the population raises their children from affected zygotes in artificial wombs where otherwise deadly genetic mutations can be corrected early. Indeed greater than fifty-percent of the post-war population was decanted from synthetic incubators and not born to women.

Another consequence of the gene wars is a huge skewing of the population towards the female gender. A series of particular virulent gene hacks targeted genes controlling growth factors causing metabolic wasting and death were later determined to be particularly sensitive in males. Today approximately 75% of the adult population (especially amongst the military where males are extremely rare) and >60% of post-war newborns among the Intendência Verditas are female.

 

[Immaculate]

Intendência Verditas Background II: Currencies

The Verditas economy operates on two levels and even uses two currencies. Because the state is still relatively new and the development of the Verditas economic system in many ways still very experimental, the government is heavily involved in economic affairs, controlling the banks, brokerages, etc. They speak of loosening control as some goal in the future but that future looks distant indeed as government control is relatively comprehensive.

The first currency, Amaz, is based on necessity and represents what is considered the material ‘rights’ of all people and forms the basis for the socialist heart of Intendência Verditas. It is the ‘fair’ currency. Every citizen receives varying income in Amaz, even the unemployed and this can be used to buy shelter and food and other necessities. Ninety-percent of transactions within the nation are done in Amaz but very little external trade makes use of this currency. It is the green in the white and green.

The second, Cima, are used for luxury items or for items historically considered ‘capitalist’. It is earned through excellence and entrepreneurship and while initiated by the state is less finely controlled by the state that the Amaz. The state understands that materialism is a motivator, and a part of the human psyche and that while unchecked capitalism and materialism does lead to conflict with the people and the environment, there is a place for it, a very real and human need for material gain. The Cima provides opportunity for entrepreneurs and would-be capitalists to exist within the largely socialist economy of Intendência Verditas. Most external trade makes use of the Cima. It is the white in the balance of white and green.

 

[Ailedhoo]

Calls for the Global Alliance of Socialism
Report by Adelise Gil and Mae Pain
Translated into English by Abd er Rahman El-Amin and Sage Martin​

Today in a joint session in Paris with representatives from the members of the S.U.D.S. have come to a joint discussion in the need for a new international political alliance to help protect socialist powers from potential aggressions and to increase the social well-being of the world.

From Picardy the Councillor Iven Carton, a chair in the S.U.D.S.'s International Relations Committee, has put forward a request to request a joint request for the formation of a socialist alliance between the democratic socialist and anarchic powers of the world, arguing there was a need to "protect ourselves and others from potential conflicts." The alliance purpose would serve as a defensive first but could form into a global intrigue to ensure the help of the global populace. The proposition for a "Global Alliance of Socialism" has been a idea among the Parisian originated democratic socialist faction that is the Social Liberation Guide. Adam Roux, a senior figure in the Socialist Liberation Guide, has stated the pragmatic need to ensure the S.U.D.S would have a pact with like-minded powers to help encourage international co-operation, hoping this would benefit democratic movements and help ensure security.

The idea for a socialist international alliance has at this stage been challenge by one of Adam Roux's colleges in the Social Liberation Guide: Selena Levy has issued a cautious need to "focus on ensuring the unification of the powers in France and Aragon before going beyond" while Falcon Felix has made the need for "more low key pacts" stating the S.U.D.S. needed "to walk before running."

Meanwhile Saber Bon, a spokesperson from the Anarchist Federation of Brittany-Normandy which is making moves to join the S.U.D.S, has stated the A.F.B.N welcomed the idea of forming a new alliance or International but stated the need to ensure "it was a peaceful focused operation" while in Catalan the Barcelona councillor Susan Rojo has demanded the need for a more hard-line security pact to "avoid a repeat of the tragedies of the 1930s in Catalonia."

 

[Decamper]

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