Aztec National League

From NSwiki, the NationStates encyclopedia.
Revision as of 22:37, 28 May 2007 by 71.107.215.105 (Talk)

(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to: navigation, search
Aztec National League
ANLFlag.gif
Flag of Aztec National League
Motto: The Vanguard of Aztlán
ANLMap.jpg
Region The Allied Socialist Defense Union
Capital Tenochitilán
Official Language(s) Nahuatl, Spanish, English
Leader Premier Quetzalcoatl Nochtli
Population Over 4.5 Billion Inhabitants
Currency Cacao 
NS Sunset XML

For the full ANL Factbook - The New Era of Aztlán, please click here.

General

The United Socialist Republic of the Aztec National League, or ANL for short, is the modern day coalition of individual states ranging from México through all of Central America, ending in Panama. Economically powerful, this socialist government considers itself to be a beacon of civil liberties, although they tend to be more restrictive on political freedoms. Although the majority of the population is Aztec, and its culture is dominated by Aztec traditions, the nation has many different ethnic groups, including Mayans, Meztizos, Spaniards, English and Russian.

A major player in international politics, the ANL has gotten involved with several international incidents. Although not willing to go into war, the Aztec military is massive and technically advanced, capable of putting down small rebellions, fighting civil wars or even full, blown out wars.

History

The history of the Aztec National League is divided into five eras – the Formative Era (900 AD-1320), the Classical Era (1321-1521), the Dark Era (1522-1926), the Nationalist Era (1926-1996) and the Modern Era (1996-Present).

The Formative Era

The roots of the Aztec National League begin around 900 AD with the Maya Empire. The Mayan contribution to the present day ANL has long been overlooked; however, it should be noted. During this period, the Mayan natives began to build an empire stretching from the Yucátan Peninsula to the northern sections of Honduras. The government, although religiously based, was based on a system of united city-states. The Mayans built many pyramids and cities, such as Uxmal, Chitzén Itzá, Cobán (although the ruins are protected, close to many of these sites is a town or city bearing the same name.) In these cities developed a highly religious, yet science and sports oriented culture. The Mayan religious and scientific system became highly advanced, while art and literature flourished. Although much of the Mayan culture disappeared abruptly around 1100 AD, their influence is still strongly felt today and their civilization continued in small numbers throughout Guatemala and Honduras.

The Classical Era

In the late 1200’s, a band of three northern tribes teamed up and headed down from their homeland, Azltán. After wandering and living a nomadic lifestyle for approximately 120 years, the gods of these people sent them a sign – an eagle standing upon a cactus with a serpent in its talons. Thus, at Lake Texcoco, Tenochitilán, the first Aztec city, was founded. In a little less than 100 years, the three tribes grew into a bustling empire and became both culturally sophisticated and scientifically advanced. The Aztec caste system was one of the first vertically fluid caste systems in existence at the time. In addition, the nation’s military conquests gave the people a strong warrior identity. Their polytheistic religious system (which still exists today) was centered on astronomy and the use of human sacrifices, usually enemy warriors, to please the gods. Although many would look at the system as a brutal and bloody religion, the period of time was bloody for the entire world. Utilizing many of the Mayan and Olmec advances made previously, the Aztecs were able to develop all aspects of society beyond most nations of their time. In addition, they were the only Native American group to have a centralized government aside from the Incas. The height of their civilization came in between the years of 1400-1520 AD, in which they controlled from slightly north of Tenochiltián to the borders of the Yucátan. However, by the 1520’s, the Aztec Empire fell to its demise because of internal strife and foreign invasion.

The Dark Era

Following the collapse of the Empire In 1521, the civilization entered a dark period. The indigenous people lost all political power and the society was largely converted from its ancient ways into new European religion and traditions. A two three tiered society was formed, the Europeans, the meztizos and the indigenous people. However, towards the end of the Dark Era, two major political systems were introduced to the people – republican government and socialism. Although it would be years before wither system took hold, both were instrumental in the formation of the people.

The Nationalist Era

(OOC: Note, this is where history begins to diverge from real history to NS history)

The Nationalist Era began during the economic heyday of the 1920’s. That is, the heyday for the rest of the world. México, Guatemala, Honduras was in a state of economic collapse and total poverty. Meanwhile, Panama, although economically better off from the Panama Canal, was under an oppressive foreign rule. However, the people of México began to see what the rest of the world was experiencing: prosperity, happiness, health, glamour and advancement. This gave the people a good look at their system and realized there was no real system. Indeed, there was a government, but it was widely ignored and virtually powerless. The people took up in massive revolt and in 1926. Four months later, the government was completely overthrown. However, while the previous government was completely inept, the new government was now a harsh dictatorship. Mixing together the free market economy and an oligarchy government, the new government took an iron hold of the people. However, it controlled the populace through universal military conscription, nationalism, scare tactics and secret police. Despite the cruelty of the regime, the new Mexica Empire caught up with the rest of the world in terms of technology and economics. By the 1960’s, the Mexica Empire had taken total control over all of México and half of Guatemala. However, the people began to grow weary of the harsh oppression and several peaceful protests took place. Fearing a democratic revolution, the Mexica Union chose to become even harsher – public tortures and executions, assassinations and secret “vaporizations”. In addition, the government funded paramilitary groups and ordered its intelligence organization, the Internal Security Division (ISD) to crush rebellions and torture and rape people or family members, either in public or private. In 1952, over 300 people were killed after troops attacked the people for no reason. Later, in 1984, after the public torture and execution of one of the major resistors, massive riots took place throughout the empire and the police and military killed over 579 people in various clashes.

However, in 1994, the Mexica Union took complete control over Guatemala. Although it is still how this occurred is still unknown, graphic pictures spread through the populace of what the army did to the people. In addition, several highly classified files were spread out to the people by rouge ISD agents. The files documented the number of tortures, executions, and secret military detentions and experiments done on innocent civilians. The populace was outraged and massive revolution was waged over the next two years. The resistors, calling themselves the “Aztec Warriors” fought against the brutal regime. The leader of the revolution, Motlapal Mocualan, quickly gained fame and support in the revolution. After fighting bloody battle after bloody battle, no progress was made in the revolution. In 1995, Mocualan was captured and, after a kangaroo trial, on July 26, 1995, was publicly tortured until dying for “dishonorable treason.” It took 10 hours to kill him, but the revolution was almost crippled soon afterwards.

As it seemed the revolution would die along with Mocualan, a young warrior stepped up from the shadows. Quetzalcoatl Nochtli, only 16 at the side, had fought at every battle since 1994. Feeling he had nothing to loose and nothing to live for, we choose to get people rallied up again and re-led the revolution. Although not the best tactician, he was widely respected by all and was able to mount affective attacks among the regime. However, he was caught with an group of friends and they were almost executed on the spot, if it weren’t for a follower of the revolution, Coyotepec Xoxoctic. Soon afterwards, the revolution began getting international support, and by mid-1996, southern Mexico were liberated under a new government – the Aztec Confederation, lead by Coyotepec Xoxoctic. This created the ailing Mexica Union in northern Mexico, the new Aztec Confederacy in the south. In addition, Guatemala defected and formed their own nation with Honduras, siding with the Confederation.

The Modern Era

The summer of 1996 was filled with turmoil in the Mexican and Central American region. Several border clashes between the Mexica Union and Aztec Confederacy caused many deaths on both sides. In addition, many of the people who fought in the revolution grew tired of the sweaty, dirty and hard work of fighting a revolution. They began to settle down and raise families. It would seem the new Confederacy would grow into complacency – that would soon change.

In November of 1996, the Mexica Union raided several towns within the new Aztec Confederacy. Almost 10,000 people were brutalized, tortured and killed. The new leader of the Confederation was disgraced by the attack and millions of people began to question the future of the confederacy. Again, the maverick 16 year old Quetzalcoatl came to the rescue, and in a lone covert operation, blew up a border checkpoint and led and invasion group into the Mexica Union. Although taking heavy loses initially, the Aztec forces began to slowly invade the Union after three months of stalemate warfare.

The Aztecs conducted several sabotage actions against the Union’s military, giving them an advantage. By mid-1997, the Aztecs had taken almost all of Central México, leaving the state of Jalisco, and the cities of México City and Veracruz.

On a very hot September day in 1997, the Aztec troops bombarded and raided the city of Veracruz. Already weakened by the hurricanes of the El Niño, the city was still difficult to take. After an 8 day battle, Quetzalcoatl Nochtli was able to sneak into the governor’s palace and forced him (at gunpoint) to sign the surrender papers for Veracruz. The news spread quickly and within hours, people were out in the street celebrating and protesting to overthrow the government. The Aztecs warned the Mexica Union of their intent of attacking Tenochitilán, and on September 17, 1997, at 9:30 PM, the President of the Mexica Union resigned and ran away before the Aztec authorities could locate him.

Immediately, all of México became part of the Aztec Confederacy. Massive celebrations and fiestas commenced for days straight. However, the new government was in for quite the surprise. Immediately, the government was plagued with problems. Its confederal system proved to be extremely difficult to work around. A weak military was created, but all parts of society began to decline. The economy collapsed and many began to question the government’s ability to do its job. The situation obviously was not good.

In the first Aztec elections in 2002, two major forces came to power. Quetzalcoatl Nochtli and former leader of the Confederation Coyotepec Xoxoctic were elected on the socialist platform. On September 23, 2003, Quetzalcoatl became the Premier while Coyotepec became the Vice-Premier.

Immediately, the government peacefully consolidated its power over the states, economy and people, forming the Aztec National League. Production skyrocketed and society began to turn around. Things began to look good for the new socialist state, but, more troubles abound. Twice, fascists have tried to take over the ANL. However, both attempts failed and the economy boomed afterwards. In early 2004, the ANL annexed Guatemala and Honduras into the Union, and the economy prospered even more so. In mid-2004, Quetzalcoatl was re-elected in a landslide election. The ANL maintained a peaceful existence until it was invaded by Allanea in 2005 in an unprovoked attack. However, the war was short lived, as Allanea soon withdrew.

After the war with Allanea, the ANL began another military expasion program. During this time, the High Soviet Congress approved to annex all of Central America. It seemed as if the entire region would be in peace after the annexation process, however, much trouble lay ahead.

During the late spring months, the nation of Hataria began an imperialistic invasion of Communist Louisiana. With the Aztlán's internationalist foreign policy, the ANL was quick to the defense of Communist Louisiana. However, this began a massive battle between Hataria and Belem and the ANL. During the course of the war, the Panama Canal was all but destroyed, and several major cities have been damaged. While it appears a cease-fire has been placed, it is unsure how long this peace will last.

In the mist of heavy reconstruction, the High Soviet Congress had become overburdened with work. In three months, over 80,000 bills were introduced into the congress. With the health of several Congressmen being harmed, the High Soviet Congress chose to disband itself temporarily to reform. New represenatives were voted on and quickly sworn in, trying to make the transition as easy as possible.

However, peace would soon be interrupted again. Aztlán’s ally, ViZion, was attacked and used nuclear weapons against the Generic Empire. ViZion was blockaded as a result. Although against the use of nuclear weapons, the ANL decided to challenge the embargo to bring food and weapon supplies to ViZion. Currently, the blockading nation, Guffingford, has not attacked the blockade.

Culture

The culture of the people in the Aztec National League seems baffling to most. Although the people are devoutly religious, particularly to their indigenous religion, they are fiercely loyal to the socialist government. The government, although secular, recognizes the people’s rights to religious practice, and allows for numerous religious festivals and celebrations.

The government of the Aztec National League allows for a high degree of civil liberty to the people. As a result, the people tend to be much more open than other cultures. The people are in a sort of clash between ancient traditional customs and new-age social liberalism. Some have theorized that the only reason why the society exists is because of nationalism. In any case, the people are usually always happy, thus making Aztlán one of the most politically stable nations in the world.

The Aztec culture has a series of mandates and emphases. These emphases revolve around loyalty, honor and strength. Although there are no set goals to accomplish that are mandated by a religion, they generally cover the same issues:

-Loyalty to family -Loyalty to Empire -Loyalty to Faith -Honor -Physical strength

Loyalty to family is the drive to pursuit a stable and productive family. In general, this means finding a spouse to co-exist with and have children. This goal is considered legitimate for gay couples as well. While the subject of sex isn’t considered taboo, polygamy and incest are.

Loyalty to Empire is a much broader goal, which pretty much encompasses public life. Anything a person does that has an effect on the well-being of the nation is judged. No matter how small, social status is built by one’s deeds. Actions that benefit Aztlán is praised highly. Although the most mundane acts can build social prestige (i.e. menial labor), actions such as military service, police service, religious life or scientific work is deemed to be of great importance, thus unlocking many benefits.

Loyalty to Faith, simply put, is loyalty to one’s religion. However, this itself is unusual, because of the different religions in the nation. Although a vast majority of people believe in indigenous religions, every single major religion has a following. Regardless, faithfulness to religion is highly praised, regardless of one’s faith. However, those who deem themselves as atheists are not pressured to pursuit this goal.

Honor goes hand-in-hand with loyalty to the Empire. So as long as you go about your business without harming or exploiting others, and have pride and dignity in your work, then this goal is easily accomplished.

The demand for physical strength derives from the people’s militaristic edge. Physical strength is highly prized in every individual, particularly males. This is considered an asset to almost every part of Aztec life. Various tests are conducted for those in manual labor and the military.

However, the various cultures in the ANL do not all follow these goals for life. That is why they aren’t legislated by government or church. The rest of the ANL are an eclectic mix that resemble a typical Western culture. Although not as honor bound and traditional as the Aztecs, the other groups are both well meaning and an asset to the nation. Regarded with as much legal right and power as Aztecs, people of foreign decent are well respected and not discriminated against. Even more, many non-Aztecs, namely the British Dr. Darius Wellington and Supreme Court Chief Justice Horatio Starling have been appointed or voted to high government positions.

Government and Politics

The Aztec National League is a constitutional socialist republic. Although democratic, the government has proven somewhat hostile to major rebellions. Although the nation has an excellent record on civil rights and a generally good record on political rights, the state has illegalized many parties and prosecuted many "criminal dissidents" to the fullest extent of the law.

Governmental Structure

The Aztec National League employs a strong central government a moderately strong state system and an incredibly weak local government. At the central level, there are three branches of government – a strong and all-encompassing executive branch, a unique tri-cameral legislative branch, and an aggressive, adversarial judicial system. The state governments have a good amount of power and are largely independent from the central branch. Meanwhile, local governments mostly carry out the orders of the state and central government and exist at the will of the central legislature. That is not to say that local governments have some legislative and executive power, however.

Voting privileges is given to all ANL citizens over the age of 16, regardless of any extenuating circumstances. In addition, the central government is rather aggressive pursuing equality.

Party Structure

The ANL, although having four official parties eligible for ballot status, the coalition between the Socialist Labor Party and the Soviet Republican Party has an nearlu unchallengeable hold on politics in the ANL. These two parties hold at least 60% of the vote in all three chambers of the legislature, holds the overwhelming majority of state, local and judicial seats. In addition, the Tlatoani (Premier) of the nation, Quetzalcoatl Nochtli is the founding member of the Socialist Labor Party. Accordingly, the majority of Ministers and government officials are either of the Socialist Labor Party or the Soviet Republican Party. However, the two non-socialist parties in the nation, the Conservative Union and the Libertarian Confederate Party have significant strength in the state of Panama and holds 122 seats in the lower chamber of the legislature – the same number of seats held by the Soviet Republican Party.

Economics

The economic model of the Aztec National League is very disticnt in that it is distinctly centeralized and socialist in nature, but has much flexibility and interplay with private firms. While the economy is almost entirely controled by the government, there is a robust, yet heavily regulated private sector as well. Furthermore, while the government has enacted strict, centrally planned fiscal policies, the government's monetary policies have reflects some market-based theories and practices. An even more intriguing aspect of the economic system is the ability to "buy out" of certain functions of the public system and participate in the market place. Although it is impossible to completely to "buy out" of the public system, certain service buy outs, such as housing, clothing and cars, are becoming increasingly common.

Industrial speaking, the country is well developed and is largely, but not entirely self sufficient. The strong industrial base, particularly manufacturing is derived off of protective trade tariffs and an overall emphasis on the construction of capital goods. In addition, the nation has well developed and efficient infrastructure, with the noticeable exception of the transportation system. In the less developed southern state of the ANL, agriculture is the dominant industry. There is a significant state run mining and oil industry in the nation as well which has proven to be extremely profitable for the nation.

Resource Allocation and Employment

The Public Distribution System is built upon a massive network various boards managed and operated by the Ministry of Education, Health and Social Services. The Distribution Boards only have one purpose - ration out as many supplies as equitably as possible. The various boards have developed a mathematical forumla for distribution at every level. The Central and State level Distribution Boards consider how much population growth, the macro-economic contributions to the national economy, amount of resources distributed in the prior year and so on. Meanwhile, local boards and community stores distribute items based on family size, need, microeconomic contributions to the economy, and so on. At the very top of the network is the Central Distribution Board, which allocates resources to the government and private firms and the eight different state distribution boards who then distribute the materials to county distribution boards. County distribution boards provide the actual storage for these materials and then distribute it to city distribution boards, which ration out supplies to local boards, if needed, and community stores. In addition, the distribution boards are responsible for distributing monetary pay to workers for their services. The money is more often than not allocated to government projects and international trade, although a sizeable portion of these funds are also used by private individuals and firms as well.

The Public Planning Board, on the other hand, distributes resources with the key goal of developing industry and housing in the nation. This board is operated by the Ministry of Commercial, Industrial and Residential Development. Unlike the Public Distribution Board, the Planning Board system is slightly more streamlined, only having Central, State, County and City level boards. Another difference is that each board is charged with pursuing its own projects and thus, must be actively involved with these projects. However, the distribution mechanism is still the same - from the top down.

In the case where there maybe overlap between the two board's duties, they can and do work cooperatively, such as operating jointly managed stores.

Unemployment in the Aztec National League is generally extremely low, ranging from 2.5 to 3%. The over 76% of the population is employed by the state, while the remainder are employed by various private firms. Needless to say, the majority of employment opportunities are within the various distribution or planning boards. The State Employment Agency is operated by the Ministry of Commercial, Industrial and Residential Development as well.

The Private Sector of the Aztec National League

The private sector of the Aztec National is quite small in comparison to those of other states. The majority of private businesses are small businesses and vendors. Ironically, the state has allowed book publishing to be entirely privatized, along with a good portion of the media. Furthermore, due to the demographics of the nation, there is a healthy automotive industry.



Military

The Aztec Military has been an oddity of sorts. Originally, until the year 2004, the military was severely underfunded and ill equpied. The military was so weak, that Aztlán refused to get involved with armed conflicts, even if the cause was just. This was in part to the government’s relativly poor beginnings. However, the ANL Civil War, which took place in April of 2004, pointed out a dire need of an much improved military. What, by most standards was a weak insurection ended up being a major internal conflict and lead to heavy casualties for the Soviet forces. Embarrased by this fiasco and failing their reputation as great warriors, the Aztecs began a massive militarization campaign.

Today, the Aztec military is incredibly formidable. Aztec stratagy relies on three principles - large numbers, advanced weaponry and unconventional tactics for offensive manuvers and heavy dbombardment for defensive operations. In addition, the various branches of the Aztec military work extremely efficently. So much so, that the military is considered to be the most efficeint branch of government.

It should be noted that the ANL employs advanaced silicate based warheads. Although these weapons are new to the military, the vast majority of all warheads and other large scale explosives have been refitted to accomidate the new weaponry.

Branches of the Military

There are several different braches in the ANL military. They are the Jaguar Warrior Infantrymen (JWIs), The Red Guard (RG), the Red Air Core (RAC), and the Soviet Navy.

The Jaguar Warrior Infantrymen

The most famous of these is the Jaguar Warrior Infantrymen (JWI), which is an elite division of the regular army. Physical and psychological training and conditioning begin at the age of 16, the bare minimum age set by the UN for military recruiting. In training, cadets undergo “harsher-than-real-war” conditions and come out more battle ready then most veterans are. Jaguar Warriors emphasis honor, strength, loyalty and combat – these are the hardiest of the hardiest, and tough opponents in battle. Although infantry troops, the Jaguar Warriors are trained in almost every weapon and have been known to use anything to kill an enemy. The Jaguar Warriors even have an elite division, the Obsidian Blade. Virtually nothing is known of it, except it is supposedly deeply religious; almost cult-like, and yet loyal to the socialist government.

The Red Guard

The Red Guard (RG), which is the largest division, cleans up whatever the Jaguar Warriors don’t. Therefore, they have not been involved in any major battles. However, they are important never than less. Their training, although not as rigorous as the Jaguar Warriors, is still one of the toughest programs in the world and is upheld to the highest standards of conduct and performance. The elite divisions of the Red Guard are The Soviet Order and the Aztec Guard. Both of which require 20 year pledges to military service and being at the forefront of battle. In addition, it has one defensive civilian branch, the National Guard.

The Red Air Core

The Red Air Core (RAC) has always been highly emphasized. All planes are specialized Soviet aircraft, and although some would say are old, are still incredibly dangerous. The Red Air Core’s main job is to be the first force to engage the enemy to soften up defenses, and then provides cover to the Jaguar Warriors and/or the Red Guard. The Red Air Core’s fleet consists primarily of jet fighters; all “tuned” by the ANL’s government owned aerospace company, Devonshire Aerospace. However, the ANL has a large fleet of combat ready helicopters as well. Although combat capable, the Red Air Core also does much cargo shipping for the government, although for more serious issues rather then regular business shipping. The Red Air Core has one elite division, the Eagle Warriors, which are the top guns of the RAC. They demonstrate the best combat and piloting skill and are considered to be some of the best fighter pilots in the world. The Red Air Core also has a defensive civilian division, the Red Air Guard.

The Soveit Navy

The Aztec Navy used to be considered the laughingstock of the sea. Indeed, there were few ships in the fleet, and each was weak and easily defeated. However, this is not the case anymore. The Aztec Navy is now incredibly strong, with fleets of close to two thousand ships and many large capital ships. In addition, the Aztec Navy has the ultra-secret, ultra-stealth Typhoon-II submarine, which is almost undetectable by sonar or hydrophone. The Navy has an elite division, the 1st fleet, which is under command of the 1st Admiral of the Navy, Thomas Erricson. The civilian defensive branch of the Navy is the Coast Guard and the Port Guard.

Nuclear Ambiguity

It should be noted the ANL does not publicly acknowledge it has WMDs, and if it does, it is practicing “nuclear ambiguity”. However, it is unknown if there are any WMDs in the ANL’s possession. Some confidential sources have said the ANL's nuclear program is called "Project Omega", however, these reports are unconfirmed.

Intelligence Agencies

The Intelligence Agencies of the Aztec National League are both incredibly complex and massive. All aspects of the government are being monitored by either the Aztlán Intelligence Agency (AIA) or the Internal Security and Protection Agency (ISPA.) The military, the government, business, and the people are under the microscope like eye of the Aztec intelligence system. However, the AIA has major foreign operations as well. The AIA cover domestic and foreign issues while the ISPA covers only domestic issues and security. Although very powerful, both agencies are under heavy watch and any slip-up or “dangerous fascist approach” would lead to a cut in funding, and job terminations and, in severe cases,