I Know Better Than You
| |
| Flag of I Know Better Than You | |
| Motto: "I want ROOM SERVICE!" | |
| National Anthem: Plug in Baby | |
| Coming soon | |
| Region | The Spectrum |
|---|---|
| Capital | Oriens |
| Official Language(s) | IKBTYish and English |
| Government | Republic |
| - Supreme Chancellor | Nwara Ven |
| - Supreme Commander | Dur Gejjen |
| - Master Diplomat | Lady Galney |
| - Grand Inquisitor | Lumiya |
| Formation | |
| - Medean League founded | <647BC |
| Population | 2.2 billion |
| Currency | Nick-el (NIC)
|
| Timezone | IKBTY Western Time (UTC-9) |
| - Summer (DST) | IKBTY Western Summer Time (UTC-8) |
| Internet TLD | .ikb |
| Calling code | ++871
|
| ISO Code | ISO 3166-2:CL
|
| NS Sunset XML | |
The Shiny Consumerocracy of I Know Better Than You is a massive, economically powerful nation, notable for its varied and spectacular landscape. Its hard-nosed, hard-working population of 2.189 billion are free to succeed or fail in life on their own merits; the successful tend to enjoy an opulent (but moralistic) lifestyle, while the failures can be seen crowding out most jails.
The medium-sized, government can be considered as either massively corrupt, or largely privatised and it juggles the competing demands of Defence, Law & Order, and Commerce. Income tax is considered a profanity. A powerhouse of a private sector is led by the Uranium Mining industry, followed by Information Technology and Gambling, though with such a booming economy this fluctuates often.
State subsidies are almost non-existant to help keep taxes to a minimum and to promote a free economy. Crime has been unknown for decades, since the government began barcoding citizens and equipped all inner-city police forces with heli-jets to aid in response times and the apprehension of criminals.
Contents
History
Ancient period
Civilisation in the Media region of The Spectrum can be traced back to c. 4000BC when the Western deserts and mountains were populated by nomadic tribes known as the Borra. These people are thought to have lived initially in small family groups, but in time they began to amalgamate and as the mountain passes that allowed passage from the summer camps of the highlands to the winter camps in the north plains forced groups into close proximity, communities began to form.
The Borra kept cattle and would drive them hundreds of miles, to escape the deep winter freeze of the mountains in favour of the desert rainy season in autumn and to the meltwater rivers from the desert heat in the spring. However as communities became increasingly large, the logistics of this bi-annual migration made it impractical and the remains of entire groups have been found in valleys where the heavy snowfall would have made the route impassable later in the autumn. The first evidence of permanent settlement was found at Borrego Springs (which takes it's name from the first documented leader of the settled tribes) where cereals were grown in the fertile ground.
Settlement in the Demetrian region predates the Borra civilisation as the fertile plains and the bountiful Saronic Gulf lent themselves to more permanent centers of population. City-states sprang up from the Kaftor mountains in the West to the edges of the Eastern desert, walled acropoli forming many of the major cities and much of the land beyond the walls being given over to farming. Despite the primarily mercantile culture that existed between the city-states, each city had its own army, although degrees of professionalism varied greatly between cities.
Historians consider the end of the ancient period to be around about 1800BC when the construction of the Colossi at Saron, Kaftor and Orien began, marking the start of the Classical period.
Classical Period
As the trade routes across the Median plain became almost entirely free from bandits, the city states grew to remarkable prosperity and without concerns of drought or famine and with many natural defenses attentions were turned towards philosophy and the arts.
Theatre and debate became a popular pass-time for the increasingly educated populace and it was because of this that what is now termed "democracy" began to take shape. While each city was ruled by a "king" there was the constant threat of the populists that would draw vast crowds to the Forums of the cities to hear their public criticism of the incumbent government. Most cities in Media were tolerant of this and rather than suppress the dissenters, the kings found that while there were men that would argue against them, there were also those that would argue for them and so debate ensued. The inflexible kings were invariably removed through populist uprising and replaced (although not always by those that spoke against them) and the kings that remained in power did so by appeasing the masses.
The Median League was formally formed in 1790BC as a defensive alliance, as all the city-states of the Median plain had an interest in ensuring the natural borders remained unbreached. Signal towers were established in each city to relay messages across the League faster than any messenger could run, but went unused for hundreds of years as the Median League went largely unchallenged due to its lack of expansion.
The Rise of Democracy
While the people were able to exert their wishes through the public speakers throughout the peak of the Classical period, there was no actual democratic process until 1480BC. The true democratic movement began in Oriens as the newly elected populist leader turned to the crowd that had accompanied him to his new palace and asked them to elect his officials, there and then. Historians have quite accurately branded this "Mobocracy" rather than democracy, but it marked an important and sudden step towards true power for the people. This move turned the Forums into a political arena wherein intellectuals could campaign for popular support and rather than oppose the King specifically, target the members of his government in an attempt to replace them personally. Naturally this led to life as an incumbent politician being particularly gruelling, though several politicians managed to lead life-long terms in office due to their exemplary service to the city.
In 1267BC the Governor's Palace in Oriens was converted into a Council chamber and the Assembley was formed. Every man of the city over the age of 20 was entitled to attend the Assembley whenever they wished and votes were made by a simple show of hands. Unlike many early democracies the Orieni democratic system was only gender exclusive and all men regardless of social standing were eligible to vote. This often led to cries of "Quiet! Men are talking!" In the columnades around the Assembley, when women that refused to respect the importance of democracy insisted on turning up to watch procedings.
Medean Period
In 823BC the Primate of Kaftor, with the support of the merchant classes, seceeded from the Medean League, taking control of the lucrative trade routes between Medea and the Orient. A council was convened at Oriens between the leaders of the other city-states of Medea and the Orien Captain of the Watch, Nikephoros, was given a force of 15,000 militia-men and around 600 Immortals to retake Kaftor. The force was intended to outnumber the defenders of Kaftor massively, with the hope being that the city would be forced to return to the League without blood being shed, but the Kaftor militia had the advantage of maintaining the higher ground and the narrow passes made fielding a large army against the city difficult.
The first day of fighting was one-sided as Nikephoros launched a tempered attack of just 500 soldiers against the Western gate of Kaftor. The narrow, winding path that led up to the gate exposed the Medean force to a protracted period of arrow-fire that greatly diminished their numbers, the Kaftori militia able to fire down from the battlements without fear of effective retalliation. The militia retreated quickly to the camps and the survivors reported to Captain Nikephoros. In the dead of night 10 Immortals of Helle scaled the walls of Kaftor and slipped past the night watch to start a fire in the timber warehouse that neighboured the cities largest grain store. The fire-light stirred the camps of Nikephoros into action and with the watchmen slain, by the time the defenders of Kaftor realised they were under attack the city gates had been opened and the Medean force was already in control of much of the city, including the Council Chambers and the Primate's residence.
Confronted with an enemy that could offer considerable resistance and without the Primate and his conspirators to threaten retribution, the Kaftori militia surrendered the city quickly and offered service in Nikephoros' army to redeem themselves for fighting against him. With the fourth great city now represtented in his army, Nikephoros became the de facto leader of a combined Medean military.
The Medean army wintered in Kaftor, before beginning what would later be known as the Nikean Campaigns (Campaigns of Victory).
The Orien Schism and the New Society
In the early 1500s, boosted by vast income from her colonies, the Empire of IKBTY began a process of rebuilding expansive areas of her major cities. As the heart of the Empire and home of the East Ediroth Company, at the time still under operating under mandate from the Imperial Palace, Oriens was at the heart of this redevelopment and the nations overflowing coffers paid for the replacing of both private and public structures.
Revolutionary building techniques, particularly the use of reinforced concrete, combined with thousands of years of experience in large-scale construction led to structures hundreds of metres tall being thrown up by vast work-forces in just months. These new structures resulted in a total redesign of the cities social structure. Without passenger elevators to move people between the floors the practicalities of such buildings were limited, the vast floors becoming small communities in themselves. Urban immigration increased rapidly with the availability of inner city living space, marble faced buildings in the most affluent areas, parades criss-crossed with bannered walkways providing a favourable alternative to the slums on the city outskirts.
By the late 1500s the class divisions that had once been drawn as horizontal lines in the districts that radiated out from the Imperial Palace and the variably useful Senate had been redrawn to split the city through a vertical plane. The highest levels of the new blocks were often acquired by the wealthy for their own personal accomodation, the lower levels purchased for manufacturing and the levels in between providing housing for the workers and polution tracts were run down into the sewer systems that were built as part of the inner city renovations.
This divided the city cleanly into two societies that rarely mingled. Those that could afford higher level living space could spend their entire life looking down on the world from marble walkways, the contained city blocks usually providing them with enough amenities to make travel by the roads below completely unnecessary.
The Capitalist Revolution
The Capitalist Revolution of the late 1800s was in direct response to the Socialist Revolution occuring over the border in Calumnius at around the same time. Many disenfranchised, wealthy individuals from Calumnius sought to cross the border into the Empire of I Know Better Than You, while the poorer labourers of the Empire wished to cross into Calumnius. Initially this presented the Empire with a lucrative opportunity, as the new wealth brought into the country was subject to their less than lenient taxes, but as Socialist murmurings began to grow into the political majority, fears grew among the Praetorians that the labourers of the Empire may be influenced into their own revolt.
In 1876 agents of the Praetorian Guard, in collaboration with the Republican Party of Calumnius, assassinated Frederick Hanson the leader of the Socialist majority, inciting a military coup. But the seeds of revolution had already been sown and after four years of civil war the Socialist party of Calumnius regained control of the nation. The Empire were careful not to become publicly involved in the civil war, as direct attacks on the Socialist party may have incited sympathy in their own nation, instead beginning reforms in the Imperial economy. Taxes upon individuals in almost all forms were abolished, the powerful primary and secondary sectors of the country filling the Empire's coffers through trade and value added tax, while at the same time other restrictions on business were removed. The intentions of freeing the individuals and the businesses was good, but misguided, as situations for the individual became far worse, now very few could afford to flee across the border to the Socialist haven of Calumnius.
Money lenders and banks sprang up to cater for those that had carved out a niche between oppulence and poverty, though this was by no means similar to the pre-industry leisure classes, as almost everyone had to work to earn any kind of living.
The despotic rule of the Emperor and the Praetorians had secured their position and the future of their nation, but at the expense of the masses.
The Essadan Revolution
After an unprecedented 92 years in power Emperor Xam reportedly died in his sleep of natural causes, though other sources suggested otherwise, leaving the control of the nation in the hands of Supreme Chancellor Essada. Her first act was to introduce a minimum wage and to codify laws that prevented children from working more than 18 hours a week. Overnight this freed the lower working classes from the yokes placed upon them by their employers, who often owned their workers residence and provided them with meagre wages and food packages.
This nearly sent the Senate into revolt, as many Senators were also wealthy businessmen and the new laws had been passed through the emergency powers granted to Essada by the death of the Emperor, rather than through a Senatorial majority. No amount of discontent in the Senate could have had the laws repealed without sending the general populace into rebellion. The situation was viewed with great irony, as after nearly a century of despotism supported by the Senate, it was now the Senate that was preaching about the sanctity of democracy, though the introduction of Essada's new laws were in fact the first real moves to empower the citizens rather than the kleptocrats.
The Cold War
The Cold War took place largely between Calumnius and I Know Better Than You in the early days of The Spectrum. Though tensions had run high between the two nations since the Second Great Revolution in Calumnius their lack of a military meant that no major hostilities ever took place. The development of nuclear arms in The Spectrum shattered the fragile political balance between the two nations, plunging the region into economic turmoil as the fear of nuclear war brought economies to a halt. Ironically the economic powerhouse of I Know Better Than You capitalised on this, its continued strength despite the falls in other nation's currency values enabling it to continue growing at an unprecedented rate. This along with Calumnius' lack of any kind of currency meant that the two instigators of the crisis were largely unaffected by it.
While the financial implications were insignificant to the two large nations, many members of the Calumnius Secret Service lost their lives as they attempted to infiltrate the borders of I Know Better Than You, most falling foul of the sophisticated barcoding and tracking system used across the nation.
Repatriation of the Secret Service agents led to outrage, as on several occasions the bodies were dessicated to cut down on postage costs. Many nations saw this as a barbaric and unjustified act, but as I Know Better Than You does not tax its citizens on their income, and keeps taxes in general to a minimum, the price of repatriating the bodies intact would have crippled the Foreign Office for the remainder of the fiscal year. This incident led to the signing of a treaty that stated that all member nations would pay for the repatriation of their own citizens.
After the launching of the RSS Icarus, Calumnius and I Know Better Than You re-opened diplomatic channels, with Calumnius later adopting the Nick-el as their currency for all international trade agreements, making the Nick-el by far the most powerful currency in the region.
Politics
The current political system of the Shiny Consumerocracy is dominated by the Republican Senate, wherein each City State or District within the Republic has its own interests represented by a single elected Senator. The Senate itself elects a chair-person, the Chancellor, who then appoints Aides and Secretaries to administer the country on a day to day basis, and carry out changes voted on by the Senate.
The Senate primarily votes on foreign policy changes and other larger issues that affect the entirety of the nation, as the local government within each District has the ability to manage many of its own problems. Each District has it's own Worker's Committee and it's own Business Committee, which handle the greivances of both and work to balance the economic growth of the country against any possible exploitation of the work force. Workers unions are banned to remove any risk of workers holding corporations to ransom.
Military
The Armed Forces of the Republic (AFR) is comprised of three Services.
- The Navy Service (including the Fleet Air Arm and the Republic Marine Commandos)
- The Air Service
- The Republican Army (including the Air Assault Brigade)
Trivia
I Know Better Than You received its current name during the socialist uprising in neighbouring Calumnius, when the nations government decided that it would be appropriate, considering their perceived superior economic policy and values.
