Dagnia
| |
| Flag of Dagnia | |
| Motto: Wealth is the measurement of man's ability to think. | |
| Region | Galts Gulch |
|---|---|
| Capital | GenZhon |
| Official Language(s) | Gengo |
| Leader | Futa Ishihara 石原双 |
| Population | over Three billion |
| Currency | None.*see economy |
| NS Sunset XML | |
Dagnia is an alternative name of the Planet and Nation Gensae 겐새. Dagnia is used formally and internationally, while Gensae is the local name.
Geography
Dagnia is a large planet on the outer rim of the NS galaxy. The planet has three continents, Kimtou, Sitou and Yutou. Dagnia is a very young planet with many active volcanoes and fault lines. All three continents have a wide variety of climates and landforms. Kimtou is the largest continent, stretching from close to the North Pole to far below the equator. It is shaped almost like an inverted triangle, with a large bay cutting through the east and a small peninsula stretching north into the icecap. Sitou is the second largest, about three quarters the size of Kimtou stretching from the southern ice cap to just above the equator. It is oval shaped, with two peninsulas stretching out of the northeast. The smallest, Yutou straddles the equator and is about one-third the size of Sitou.
Climate
The planet is a bit cooler than Earth, with only a small tropical band at the equator. Temperatures only a few times in a year ever go above 100 Fahrenheit. Temperatures in the Polar Regions regularly go as low as –100 in winter.
Animal/plant life
Dagnia scientists have genetically engineered all animal and plant life on the planet. Not a single plant or animal that lives on the planet had ever existed anywhere else. All plant and animal life is engineered so that they are not able to reproduce on other planets, since they require Dagnia soil, or are an animal that must eat a certain plant that requires Dagnia soil, or are a predator that must eat a certain prey that must eat a plant that requires Dagnia soil. They are perfectly able to live off the planet, although without a certain combination of chemicals, their reproductive organs will not function. This protects Dagnia’s growing pet animal industry. One of the more famous animals of the planet the Gensae Akma (Dagnia Devil), a modified Tasmanian Devil, adapted for many different climates, live over 20 years and with better intelligence and temperament. It has been domesticated, although it also lives in the wild on Dagnia. They are popular pets all over the galaxy. Another animal that gains popularity as a pet is the Shun (Dagnia Falcon).
Travel
Getting In and Out
Passports and visas are recommended, but not required. Background checks are required for those without any kind of documentation. Some have reported being detained for over a day for the background checks, although reports of being detained more than an hour are rare. All people entering the country must pay a Kt100 entry fee. Exceptions are made only for emergencies and refugees. The 아인란주강 ('Ainran Chugang' Ayn Rand spaceport) is considered an excellent spaceport with services to many ports across the galaxy. Several airports service cities on the planet.
Getting Around
Transportation around the settled regions is excellent, complete with paved roads, trams, buses and trains. All are privately owned, including the roads, so expect to pay fees unless you go on foot. Avoid taxis that are not certified by one of the major consumer organisations (identified with a sticker on the side windows). Travel outside the settled areas could be on a 4x4, plane or even an animal.
Dangerous Places
Even with three billion people, only a small portion of the planet is settled. The rest is either completely wild or resembles the American “Wild West”, sans Natives, of the 19th century. Private property is often unmarked and homesteaders are known to shoot trespassers. Under very rare circumstances does the government ever consider this a crime.
People
Population
The government keeps little data on the population and has no formal census, although the population is believed to be over three billion.
Ethnic makeup
Little information is available on ethnic makeup, but it is probably evenly divided into sixths between Polish, Irish, German, Ukrainian, Japanese and others. The others category is believed to grow fastest because Dagnia allows many different reasons for asylum claims.
99% insist that their ethnicity is “지진” (“Chijin” mind people) as a reference to Ayn Rand's description of “Men of the Mind” in her novel Atlas Shrugged. The government of Dagnia has no qualms about offending socialist, fascist or theocratic nations with weaker economies by boasting that they have drained all of the brains out.
Philosophy/Religion
90% are believed to be Objectivists, adherents of Ayn Rand's Objectivism philosophy. Just about all of the galaxy's major philosophies and religions are represented in the remaining 10, but mostly include other Aristotelians, Nietzscheans, Christians, Jews, Pagans and Existentialists.
Language
Dagnia has created its own language Gengo. Modeled partially on East Asian languages, words consist of monosyllabic "units of meaning", and words that denote similar concepts have similar sound (sui is water, su is hydrogen, kin is gold, ki is metal). A modified version of the Korean Hangeul alphabet is used for writing and includes separate letters for L and R, plus a few other vowels. Hanzi (pictographic characters, also known as Kanji or Hanja) is also used on storefronts, headings of official documents and for official placenames, and knowledge of these characters is considered a sign of education. The language, both spoken and written takes half the time to learn as Esperanto.
Government
The government of Dagnia is a constitutionally limited democratic republic. It is mostly modeled after that of the United States. Three branches include the National Council, the High Court and the Chief Executive. The Chief Executive can make day-to-day decisions alone (although the high court will review all executive decisions at the end of the year), while anything that changes the nation significantly must go through the Council. After a bill is passed and signed by the Chief Executive, the High Court reviews it for constitutionality. Meetings are held through the Holonet, eliminating the need for any official capital. 겐천 Genzhon is usually the place where the government meets if it needs to meet in person.
Political parties
Major
The Liberal Democratic Party: (57% of High council, 64% of total population) Believes in the "Nightwatchman State", minimal to no government regulation of the economy or people's personal lives, that the government should be limited to the police, military and courts.
The Conservative National Union: (31% of High council, 23% of total population) Believes in a minimal welfare state, with a small amount of regulation of business and personal behavior.
The Progressive Freedom Party: (11% of Council and total population) Believes the government itself should be privatised, and broken into "competing governments".
Note: Party names are not consistent with the 20th/21st-century use of the terms. The Liberal Party is called liberal because it actually is liberal, i.e. freethinking. The Conservative Nationals are conservative because they generally agree with minimal government, but believe in a few controls.
Minor
The National Front: Similar to the CNU, but believes in closing Kimtou to any more immigrants. Also advocates a larger military and some intervention in foreign affairs.
The People's Democratic Union: Consider themselves “Idealistic Communists”, mostly from communist nations that are dictatorships, which will not tolerate even small differences of opinion. Not considered a problem.
The Workers Revolutionary Front: Communists from various types of nations, capitalist, fascist, mixed, and communist countries in which there was an internal power struggle, or was not “their version” of communism. The 엥신문 Engsinmun (Picture Newspaper, see Media) recently did an expose on the group calling them “a collection of every imaginable communist low-life ... from pretentious off-world pseudo-intellectuals to former leaders kicked out of the former countries to spoiled, rich, wannabe-idealist brats who come here on their rich daddies' dime just to cause trouble.” Considered sometimes dangerous, and some members have had to be shipped off world or even executed.
Dagnia is ranked 8th in the region and 665th in the world for Most Politically Apathetic Citizens.
Dagnia is ranked 14th in the region and 3,912th in the world for Most Politically Free Nations.
Foreign Relations
While Dagnia is very outgoing in many respects (especially trade) the government seems very introverted. Dagnia has never been involved in a foreign war, has no treaties with other nations. At the few meetings that Dagnia leaders and representatives have attended, especially with any kind of anti-capitalist, they have managed to create the stereotype of Dagnians as insolent, brash, boastful and direct.
Alliances
It participates only in the Galts Gulch and ACCEL alliances, but minimally. For years, Dagnia struggled with trying to have its voice heard in the UN without having to comply with any resolutions that may force it to harm the economy. The government created Kaneshima, a nation within a nation to represent Dagnia in the UN.
Aid
Dagnia has long been against giving aid of any kind. More recently, Dagnia has been willing to give aid in exchange for trade concessions, bringing the nation under fire from several humanitarian groups. Dagnia does have an “almost no strings attached” aid programme for nations in transition from any non-capitalist government to capitalism.
Military
Dagnia maintains only a small peacetime air and space force. The few times war has come to Dagnia, civilians have done most of the fighting. Wealthier Dagnians had their spacecraft fitted with weapons and fought in space, while those who stayed on the ground fought off invaders when they managed to get a foothold on the planet.
Dagnia is ranked 136th in the region and 22,734th in the world for Largest Defense Forces (per capita).
Economy
A relatively unregulated economy combined with "GongZhin" (a Gengo term that denotes a range of individualist qualities, such as independent thought, originality, entrepeneurial spirit and productivity) has created one of the strongest economies in the universe. Lack of regulation has lead to the growth of ChimBol (megacorporations), some of which are large enough to own several planets. In spite of the fact that they practice business honestly and raising the living standards of every nation and planet which they operate on, they are criticised, more often than not, for being "too big" and their executives "too rich". The government has refused all requests to break them up.
Currency
Dagnia’s currency is the gold, which is one of the strongest in the universe. Companies and banks also print promissory notes backed by their products, which can also be legal tender. Printing fiat money is unconstitutional.
Products
Book Publishing is by far the largest industry in Dagnia. Uranium mining has also been very important, but has declined a bit in recent years. Dagnia has also become known for producing some of the finest weapons in the NS Universe, for both personal and military use. This has drawn the anger of many nations in the galaxy, because on the planet, weapons can be bought like candy and Dagnia’s companies are always finding new ways to get the products to off-world buyers. Dagnia has also developed a strong automobile-manufacturing sector, and its cars are becoming known universe-wide for their efficiency, reliability and build quality. Insurance and soft drinks are also important to the economy.
Dagnia is ranked 15th in the region and 923rd in the world for Largest Publishing Industry.
Dagnia is ranked 15th in the region and 1,469th in the world for Largest Arms Manufacturing Sector.
Dagnia is ranked 17th in the region and 1,575th in the world for Largest Automobile Manufacturing Sector.
Dagnia is ranked 355th in the region and 111,207th in the world for Largest Public Sector.
Employment Issues
Labour/Management Relations
Strikes in Dagnia are almost non-existent, in spite of the fact that companies provide few benefits and there is no minimum wage. Workers do not stay with one employer for very long, even when relations with the employer are good. Over 60% of all people in Dagnia are self-employed.
Unemployment
The unemployment rate never goes much above 3%. The government does not believe that it would not be a problem, since most people on Dagnia see any employment by others only as a means to gaining money and learning skills to pursue their own activities. The “unemployed” people create their own work.
Child Labour
It is legal for any person of any age to work any job in Dagnia. Most see child labour as the quickest way to learn skills and become financially independent faster.
Education
Less than 20% of Dagnia children attend a formal school for education. Most begin apprenticeships by age 6, or simply begin working. There are no laws against child labour and only a few to regulate it.
Dagnia’s formal schools are coming to be considered the best in the world. The Reeva Rae Montessori Academy has a large interstellar student body and is universally accredited. Several universities, especially Gensae Daehak, have become internationally renowned. Most students never return to their home nations. Literacy is 100 percent and even functional literacy is almost non-existent.
Media
Print Media
조김신문 Chokim Sinmun (Morning Gold Newspaper)- Dagnia’s largest, most popular, interstellarly read broadsheet newspaper. It is considered a model of objectivity and journalistic integrity, reporting on news from all over the planet and galaxy and printing editorials from all viewpoints. The print version is delivered early in the morning on Gensae and a weekly print version is delivered off-world. The Holonet and Internet versions are updated to the second and require a subscription for more than just a headline and stub. The weekly off-world and Internet versions come in Gengo, English, German, Japanese, Spanish, French, Chinese, Arabic, Korean, Swahili, Hindi, Quenya, Dutch and Polish.
엥신문 Engsinmun (Picture Newspaper)- A daily mass-market tabloid, known for its sensationalist reporting. Because of recent falling sales, the paper has resorted the tactic of featuring naked women and sometimes men. Chijin often look down on the Engsinmun, but some say that more often than not, it proves that it is worth reading sometimes, as it is often more willing to go ahead and break stories earlier than other papers.
Various small newspapers are published in small cities, along with thousands of organisations publishing their own newspapers and magazines.
Broadcast/Cable Media
There are too many television and radio stations to list, and not a single one is particularly prominent for two main reasons. First, there are many independent stations, because the government has no license laws regarding television and radio. To prevent stations from interfering with each other’s signals, the government has instituted the “Airwaves Homestead Act” which protects the rights to a given frequency when a station establishes itself on it. Second, the people of Dagnia despise most forms of commercial entertainment, since they see it as unentrepreneurial, and believe it is better to make one's own entertainment.
Internet/Holonet
Similar to Earth in the 20th and 21st centuries, the Internet and Holonet contains the greatest variety of news and entertainment. Most television and print news organisations have their own websites. Individuals have websites for their personal lives, including sites for diaries and pets. Inter- and Holonet pornography is not common, although many servers for this form of entertainment are located here because of the nation's lax obscenity laws.
