Kaross
| |
| Flag of Kaross | |
| Motto: "In one, legion. In legion, one." | |
| No Map Available Yet | |
| Region | Heroic |
|---|---|
| Capital | Trylo |
| Official Language(s) | None, most speak Trylo |
| Leader | The Governer |
| Population | 137 million |
| Currency | script |
| NS Sunset XML | |
Kaross is a nation founded (very recently) on the principal that happiness is a right, not a privilege. As such it is a small, self sufficient land which venerates family and community values. Most people have established small villages, usually numbering no more than 200. The people of Kaross are fully aware that they are living in a fragile Utopia which could be destroyed by the slightest mistake, so they are fiercely protective of themselves, their principles and their nation.
The original Government wasn't so much elected as simply strolled into by the general populace who take an active part in every level of administration, so there was no recognised 'leader', although the citisens will often follow somebody who they view as having the solution to the current issues. Despite the looseness and informality of government Kaross is exceedingly well run, mainly because most people are oficially part of government as well as holding down a day job to bring in the Scripts.
There is no real Karossian identity, apart from the desire for a quiet, happy life, and a constant striving to improve the entire nation's lot. This has led to a melting pot of culture garnered from every corner of the world. As waves of the dissilusioned migrate to Kaross, so the country becomes ever more diverse and confusing to the outsider (and recent immigrants). Due to the high diversity of cultures and alien nationalities represented in Kaross and the country's exceeding youth, the closest thing Kaross has to an official language is a bizzare mix of English and Esperanto spoken mainly in greater Trylo (Kaross answer to the need for a capital), which makes for very interesting slang. As a result, most Karossian citisens can make themselves understood in multiple languages, according to which part of the country they live in. Kaross is, however, quite succesful by it's own criteria. For instance, the Greater Trylo area, while recognised as the state's capital, was not, until recently, actually a city, but a loose grouping of the largest towns in Kaross united in the job of supplying a base for Government. In most states this would be a problem, but Kaross is not like most states! Due to the fluid nature of Government and Administration, Trylo was more than sufficient for the task.
There are only three truly centralised organisations within Kaross. The Police force, the Welfare Comittee and the National Mint. The Police force currently consists of around twenty professional officers who spend most of their time at Head Office in Trylo answering telephone calls, and anybody who happens to be useful to the law at the time. The Welfare Commitee is a much more powerful presence which has huge political clout and at least one branch in every community, just to be on the safe side. It's job is to ensure that all citizens are well looked-after, and that no social injustice goes unnoticed or unpunished. Finally, there is the National Mint, which also doubles as the nation's one bank. The largest (only?) body in the country to work entirely independantly of the Government, the Mint deals with all matters economical, such as trade with neighbouring nations, and most importantly, the printing and issuing of Scripts. Scripts have no tangible value in themselves, they're not even cheques in the same way as normal banknotes are. Instead, a Script indicates a favour in man-hours or property, In essence, it indicates how much the holder has done for the Nation. This rather wispy form of money does, however carry a good deal of psychological value, a rich man has worked hard for his country or, in rare cases, his (gasp) employer, and thusly a script carries with it the weight of Human sweat and effort. This is why the Mint has to be oh so very careful about issuing Scripts and setting the value of a Man-minute, more commonly known as a 'Mini' (a sixtieth of a Man-hour Script in the same way a Cent is a hundredth of a Dollar) so as to avoid inflation or depression due to over-valuing or under-estimating somebody's work. So far they've done a good job, and the economy is growing slowly but surely.
In the more immediate past Kaross underwent a severe political upheaval when power was seized by an anonymous man calling himself 'The Tyrant', and although life went on much as usual The Tyrant outlawed all elections, keeping himself in power for the forseeable future. The arrangement of 'run for office by turning up and talking sense' was replaced by a strictly hierarchical and organised government which still did incredibly well for itself, starting by expanding the Greater Trylo area with new habitations and relocating the homeless housed by the Welfare Commitee into Trylo, which can now truly be called a city, if a small one. The Tyrant's dictatorship did not last, however, as he soon realised that his machinations were falling apart because of the way his government was organised. There simply weren't enough new ideas or any real debate over how to do things, which led to a near collapse of Government. The Tyrant has re-instated the political processes, but continues to rule as The Governer, and will do so until he is voted out.
Since the re-instatement of Democracy, Kaross has been struggling to recapture the vibrance and sponteniety that was destroyed when The Governer first came to power as a Dictator, and not having much luck. Although life in general hasn't changed all that much since Kaross' foundation the fact that Government is solidified and centralised is beginning to take the utopian shine out of the nation, although Welfare is still the main concern. Many outsiders still see Kaross as a dictatorship, as an attempt at creating Utopia gone horribly wrong, but the Governer, together with his cabinet, are working hard to redress this.
As Kaross' population continues to grow, government is having to face off against the problems that the nation was founded to either solve or sidestep. Only time can tell if this will work.
(I do intend to turn all of these unrelated chunks into a cohesive and informative whole some day, just not right now)
