Hospital Real, Granada, Andalusia, 25th April 1982:
"You surely must be joking!" was the scream heard throughout the whole building. Several orderlies carrying documents to somewhere else in the building cringed when they heard the imposing voice of Vice-Admiral Baturone ring from the main office where the upper echelons of the government were meeting.
"I believe myself to be talking seriously," General Arquillo said coldly to the Vice-Minister of the Navy.
"But this will be the end of our country as we know it!" Baturone cried.
"Hardly," Minister of Education Jara said. "Germania uses a system like the one Manuel is proposing, and its working well for them, and the UFS has been working with a similar separation of governance ever since the 18th century."
"And look where they are!" Baturone said, enraged. "Half of Germania's territory is irradiated, and the UFS is fighting itself!"
"And you believe that those are consequences of having a system of several regions with independence in some small matters?" Minister of Foreign Affairs Pérez-Llorca said. "Obviously you haven't been to either of those countries many times."
"That's enough, gentlemen," General Arquillo said. "In spite of your opinion, Vice-Minister Baturone, I believe that this measure shall bear great benefits for the country, as it will allow the Government to deal with more important matters while the regions take charge of the healthcare system and the smaller constructions. The regional governments will be still controlled by the central government, that is, us, but since their zone of working will be smaller than ours, it will allow them to see the smaller details that might be missed by the ministries. Also, it will help us to measure the level of wishing for democracy without making it look like as if we are going too fast. Is there any other objection, Vice-Minister?"
Baturone seemed to struggle with the answer, as he clearly wanted to expose his opinion that the introduction of - his eye twitched - democracy, even in such a small scale, was an absurd mistake that would destroy Andalusia. However, the due obedience he owed to the Chief of State - even if right now he didn't want to acknowledge him as his superior - made him take a decision he would regret.
"I fear that, unless this proposition is retired, I will have no other option than to turn my resignation."
"Duly noted," General Arquillo said. "I will expect for your write of resignation tomorrow at 9 AM. You are dismissed."
Vice-Admiral Baturone stood to attention, and left the room without a glance behind. As he came out, he started thinking over some of his friends of the "old guard", those who had worked alongside Francisco Franco nearly twenty years ago. It was obvious - to him at least - that General Arquillo was not worthy of leading the nation. It would take him some time, but he was sure that, with the help of his friends, he would be able to return the nation of Andalusia to the glory it lost when Arquillo was chosen as the Chief of State...
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General Arquillo looked at the recently closed door with a mixture of regret and anger. He knew that, after Miguel Primo de Rivera, Baturone was the best Navy officer Andalusia had. If he could read the signs well, and he was pretty good at it, he would say that he was planning something big. He resolved to have someone in the Ministry of Home Affairs to get to watch out for any subversive complots from either him or any of the "old guard" he knew Baturone would go to if he really wanted to plan something.
He then turned to all his currents companions, who were looking at him expectantly.
"We will have to find someone that can support our vision of a new Andalusia," Jara said.
"It's fortunate that we have found a way to get someone new," Pérez-Llorca said. "Baturone likes the old times too much, and certainly wouldn't support our efforts."
"Yes, but he might cause problems if he is left unchecked," Arquillo provided. "There are still many in the Army that wish for a returning to the roots of our political system. Barrionuevo, Miguel, I hope that you can keep him in check through your contacts."
"Rest easy, Manuel, we will do our best to make sure any conspiracy stays in the planning phase or before," José Barrionuevo, Minister for Home Affairs, declared.
"Very well," Arquillo said, nodding. "Now, let's think about the Reorganization Plan. Any other addendums you wish to add to it?"
"I do have something that could be added to it," Minister of Industry Alberto Oliart stated.
"Yes?"
"As my ministry's investigations have brought forward, there are several zones in our country that lack of industries, more prominently in the coast of the provinces in Huelva, Almeria, Murcia and Alicante, as well as Jaen. In the case of Huelva and Murcia, it should be easy, as the offer made by the CTI Corporation to build warehouses and some ports would allow us to diminish the unemployment rate in both places, and Almeria is already on the rise thanks to the CES Plan. However, this still leaves us with Jaen and Alicante. I suggest that we level out the importance of industries and make it so that Provincial Governatures take care of the small industries in each province, the Regional Deputies take charge of the medium level and the Central Government does the same with the most important industries. As you have already said, it will allow each level to see better the details that might escape our attention."
"How would the money be shared among the local, regional and central administrations? This will raise the level of bureocracy the government will have to deal with, and it isn't something that can be changed at our whim," Minister Alfonso Guerra asked.
"Easy. Complete informatization of the bureaucracy should be accelerated," Minister González said. "The new technologies should help us a lot, instead of hindering us. And the Net system should allow us communication between the different departments, thus reducing the time the civil servants spend searching for the required information."
"Very well. That should be added to the Reorganization Plan. Any other ideas?" Arquillo asked. When no one answered, Manuel stated that the meeting had ended.
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Málaga, Andalusia, 1st May 1982:
Guillermo Fernández was waiting for his wife of six months in the cafe next to his house. After asking for a caña (OOC: long, thin glass with beer), he took the newspaper that someone had left in the table next to his and read it, to make the time pass. There, in the first page, stood out a very big news.
SUR
El diario de Andalucía
The new Reorganization Plan, key to the government.
This kind of thing isn't exactly normal. I mean, I can count with the fingers of my left hand how many times the government has decided to go out with a full press conference just to announce a new law. However, what Minister Barrionuevo presented to the authorized members of the press was, in my opinion, too much important for our nation to just publish it in the BOE and leave it there.
According to the Minister, this plan was initially created as an effort to improve public investing in each of the thirteen provinces in our country, and then it grew into a complete reorganization of the government system, helping them reach "a level of accuracy when regarding to small but important details that the central government alone would not be able to do".
This plan calls for the organization of the Andalusian nation into two different regions, which would be given limited autonomy regarding to matters like the healthcare system and the small and medium level constructions, leaving the most important things in the care of the central government in Seville. Also, each province will also be given control over matters like local building construction and maintenance of the streets, while asking the higher levels for funds or support when it comes to larger-scale projects.
Also, an addendum to the Plan has made mandatory the informatization of the bureaucracy in order to reduce the time spent by both civil servants and the people in bureaucratic matters, which is hoped to also make a dent in the expenses the government experiences...
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http://img367.imageshack.us/my.php?image=banderacu7.png
This is the flag of the Andalusian Nation. It is very similar to the
Flag of the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, but its coat of arms is slightly different (let's see who finds the difference!) and I have added two things that are considered to be symbols of Andalusian nationalism:
- To the left, the Tartessian Star, the symbol with which the nation of Tartessos represented the Sun. It might be confused by some with the
Rub el Hizb, but there is evidence that points out to the existence of this star way before Mohammed was even born.
- To the right, the
Indalo, also called the "Messenger from the Gods", which was first found in a cave in Vélez-Blanco, Almería. It has been considered a symbol of Almería and a good luck charm for a lot of time, and IRL, in the 1930s it was first used by a group of Andalusian nationalists.
http://img255.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mapandaluciazm2.png
This would be the new map of Andalusia. If anyone has a problem understanding what anything means, I'll be glad to answer.
This is the provincial key:
AB=Albacete, AC=Alicante, AL=Almería, BA=Badajoz, CA=Cádiz, CO=Córdoba, CR=Ciudad Real, GR=Granada, JA=Jaén, MA=Málaga, MU=Murcia, SE=Sevilla.
EDIT: If you compare my map of Andalusia with EQ's world map, you will see that the point in the north-east of my map is part of Castile in EQ's map. If anyone has a problem with that (I hope not), I'll try to talk it over with EQ and see what can we come up with.
).
And EQ is the one who created this world (as much upside-downed that it is), therefore EQ is the almighty, nearly-all-knowing God in TWTUD. 
