Difference between revisions of "McPsychoville"

Latest revision as of 12:12, 2 July 2007

McPsychoville

Flag of McPsychoville
Motto: "Unsere ist die hand die verwundet"
No Map Available
Region	Alliance of Honourable Peoples
Capital	Camrose
Official Language(s)	English, French
Leader	Erik Strong
Population	4.54 billion
Currency	Karmic Dollar
NS Sunset XML

The Capitalist Republic of McPsychoville is an economic powerhouse and a significant player in the Alliance of Honourable Peoples. A republic rooted heavily in an economically capitalist set of viewpoints, McPsychoville is odd in that despite being known on the world political scene, it has abstained from joining any of the global alliances and pacts, most notably the United Nations and the Right Wing Collective. A firmly right-wing nation, the nation faced a political embarrassment when long-time Prime Minister Aaron R Jackson disappeared a week before his third National Election in office; his opponent, the liberal Daniel Huet, easily defeated Jackson's Deputy Prime Minister in the polls and introduced a number of controversial reforms and new laws. Before being voted out in favour of Libertarian James Lemaire, Huet approved a number of bills the liberals in the McPsychovillian Parliament had been lobbying for for a number of months, incuding that allowing gay marriage, and his whole tenure in office was viewed as an egg on the entire nation's face.

The average McPsychovillian citizen has a number of characteristics that sets him apart from the rest of the world. He is rich, with an income of k$26,770, and is a moderate social conservative. He has a secondary diploma, reads the Chronicle and enjoys the cartoons of Jay Danielson. He watches hockey at least once a week, is married and has a child; he drinks in moderation and smokes two packs of cigarettes weekly. All this can be collected from censuses and surveys, but what sets the McPsychovillian people apart from other nations around the world is their sense of patriotism - many still support the archaic monarchy, for instance, and the Camrose Wolverines were followed by a crowd of fans many thousands strong during their recent tour of neighbouring Friendly Aliens. McPsychoville is not even approaching the most conservative nation in the world, and its citizens maintain a good level of social and political freedom; the government maintains a flat tax rate of 50% to a certain level of income, at which point the rate decreases in order to ensure nobody is left making a wage below the official poverty line (set at k$5.60/hour or k$11,300/year).

Not considered a strong global power for many years, current Prime Minister Erik Strong has stated that he will putting a question to a national referendum regarding McPsychoville's place on the political scene; namely, the question of whether the Capitalist Republic should apply for membership into the Right Wing Collective. The referendum is an unprecedented move never seen before, and public opinion seems to strongly be on the side approving the move - while the McPsychovillian Armed Forces are strong, they would also be alone in any conflict against an alliance, and a war of attrition would lead to their eventual loss. This referendum is one of a series of signs that Strong and McPsychoville are preparing to enter international diplomacy in earnest.

History

Like many civilisations, the early McPsychovillian society was made up of a number of tribes, some nomadic, others more sedentary. The best surviving records, dating from around the 1400s, indicate that the Urlach tribe played the biggest part in creating the present society; they were settled in the north and north-east of the nation, and kept to themselves for the most part, creating a solid wall of warriors by having units settle on the outskirts of the borders and repel any hostile intrusions into their territory. That most of the land they occupied is now part of the Urlach Province is testimony to the success of their ventures. Their chief enemies were the nomadic horsemen who terrorised most of the other nations, who were known by different names to different tribes. The most common of these is Zandig, which seems to be used as a collective name and the term to denote the various leaders of the tribe – the word still remains in use, but it is now the name of a species of horse, in tribute to its origins. It was soon after this that the constant warring between the tribes reached a new level; the Zandig and the Urlach tribes had a non-aggression pact, but the Urlach warriors, in a stunning powerplay orchestrated by their warlords, attacked the Zandig camps and stole the designs for an improved crossbow and a chemical compound not dissimilar to napalm that could be packed into containers and used as a basic grenade. From there, the Urlach and the Navarre tribe, who occupied the western region, allied with one another to attack the Frerottes, the final nomadic tribe and destroy them. It all came to a head at the legendary Battle of Leinart Isle when the Urlach/Navarre alliance attacked and wiped out the Frerottes for good; the battle was cataclysmic, with tens of thousands of casualties from all sides involved.

Despite the violent beginnings of the new society, the newly-christened Frontenacs got on fairly well with one another, although there were some teething problems in settlements where citizens from both tribes clashed over cultural and religious differences; the Navarre people were fundamentalists in every form of the word, putting their faith in a pantheon of gods who lived in a place called Nieihaus - roughly translated to mean “The Place By The Waves” – whereas the Urlachers were basically hedonists, who believed that their life was the only one they got and the only goal was to enjoy yourself as best you could. Nonetheless, the two meshed well; the Navarre warriors reaped the benefit of the Urlach tacticians, while the Urlach citizens enjoyed the fresh, new technological ideas. Despite collectively being little more than tribesmen mentally, this union yielded fruit swiftly with the accidental – if you believe the stories – development of steam power, and in turn, this lead to the discovery of the printing press. While not as advanced as some of their neighbours within the region, they had yet to make proper contact with other nations and so had no frame of reference; there was some contact, but all it involved were patrols of warriors encountering those of other nations and threatening them away from “their land”. While the northern continent of the Alliance was in constant flux, the Frontenac borders stayed fairly stable on the mainland, although there were some skirmishes on the smaller islands to the west over territory.

By the time of the Altarian Wars, in 1590, the Frontenac society was ensconced in a cross between the Renaissance culturally and the Victorian era technologically. The steam engine was the most common method of providing power, but it was being phased out slowly in favour of electricity; the famed scientist Tuomo Paule published his pamphlet on the subject in 1595, and two years later developed his first working prototype for a power generator. His brother, Jarkko Paule, worked with a senior member of the newly-organised Armed Forces to work towards the creation of a more effective crossbow weapon but inadvertently created an automatic crossbow firing half-sized darts not unlike modern flechette weapons. Nobody knows quite how he managed to create it accidentally; he kept silent until the day he died, but his work laid the foundations for the sidearms and weapons the modern military uses.

Modern McPsychovillian society is not too far removed from this period, considering that the 17th century society was derided for offering women the same civil rights as men. It still retains it's more militaristic aspects, but given it's violent beginnings and skirmishes throughout it is somewhat more understandable.

Origins of the nation's name

The name of "McPsychoville" was adopted by the Frontenac nation after a missionary from neighbouring Roudland remarked upon the newly-founded nation's oddness, declaring them "a band of psychotics organised into a society". It took some time for the new name to spread, and was greeted with some confusion on the international stage - indeed, many citizens from other nations prefer to refer to McPsychoville as Frontene

Population

Nationality

Uncommonly, in this age of multiculturalism, the large majority of citizens living in McPsychoville describe themselves as being McPsychovillians - the figure stood at 93% in the last annual Census; 4% believed themselves to be half-McPsychovillian, most likely as the result of being second-generation citizens, and 3% acknowledged they were migrants. The migration figure has been steadily falling for the past two decades, reaching a high of 11% in 1987, leading some to believe that soon, there will be no migrants into the country at all.

Ethnicity

While the majority of McPsychovillians are Caucasian, the majority is significantly smaller than nationality, only 62% of citizens falling into the category. 16% are African-American, and 14% are Asian, both rises from the previous years. Just 5% are of Latino heritage, and the remaining 3% fell into the "Mixed" category. The inclusion of a "Mixed" category is a recent one and also one that provoked some complaints; it was seen as pointless, since the census-taker was asked to choose which of the choices they felt most represented them.

Age

The average age is a surprisingly-young 28.6 years of age, but this has been skewed by two recent developments; a virulent strain of influenza that claimed the lives of almost ten million of McPsychoville's elderly and dropping the age for citizens to be issued with a Census from eighteen to sixteen. This figure is, however, still the best current measure. The average female age is 27.9 years of age, the average male age 29.3. McPsychoville has been getting younger of late, a surprise considering the life expectancy figure is at 74 years; this itself is not particularly impressive, but until twenty-five years ago, a person was considered to have had a good life if he reached 60. Why the sudden jump has occurred is a mystery.

Sex

Thought to be the most lacking area of McPsychovillian society, homosexual members of the community are still strongly discriminated against in a number of ways; couples are not allowed to legally marry or even be in a relationship together, and in cases of death, unless a specific will has been made the person's property will go directly to his or her next of kin. It is also noted that many violent crimes committed against homosexuals receive more lenient sentences than those committed against heterosexual citizens. This is likely to be a factor in the amount of citizens who have come out of the closet; only 4% answered that they were homosexual, with a further 3% claiming to be bisexual.

Religion

While Christianity is the official state religion, it does not have a significant hold over the populace, a total of just 43% of all citizens describing themselves as Christians, both practicing and non-practicing - interestingly, only 6% are Roman Catholic and 3% belong to other Christian denominations, the remaining 34% being Protestant. The other Abrahamic religions are well-represented, 21% being Jewish and 19% Muslim. 6% considered themselves athiest and 2% agnostic. Both Hinduism and Buddhism accounted for 3% each of the population, with the remaining 3% describing themselves as "Other"

Literacy

Despite the excellent, publicly-funded education system, adult literacy - defined here by possession of an Eleven certificate - sits at 96%. No reason has ever been found for the mysterious illiterate 4%, but it is believed that they may have lived in areas that were simply too far away from schools to get a classical education and so could not have taken the Eleven exam.

Suffrage

For McPsychoville, the age of suffrage is a flat seventeen years; it is at this time that a child becomes an adult and gains the best-known freedoms - to drink, to smoke, to vote and to join the Armed Forces. However, in order for a person to be granted suffrage, they are required to take the Citizenship Test, which tests their knowledge of the nation as a whole. This is the same test potential immigrants are required to pass to be granted their visa, but here, children who fail are allowed to retake the test once every month, whereas immigrants may not apply again for six months. At the age of nineteen, every citizens is obliged to go through a eighteen-month period of service in the Armed Forces, usually with the Reserve Guard.

Language

The two official languages of the nation are English and French, with English the more widely-used. 89% of the population can speak English to an acceptable degree, compared to 77% who can speak French. These are the two official languages, although both Rejistanian and Russian are spreading (on the Islands and the mainland respectively).

Geography

Sitting atop the Northern Continent, the McPsychoville mainland borders no less than five seperate nations; from west to east, it shares borders with Super Rome, Friendly Aliens, Violet Strawberries, Roudland and Gothria. The large cluster of islands lying off the west coast is likewise part of the nation, including those of Ikaneba and Rosletta, two small sovereign nations who were annexed little over a decade ago. The nation is divided up into seven large provinces each, most of these throwbacks to the days in which McPsychoville was a group of member-states rather than a combined nation, spread across the nation fairly equally.

The climate differs across the land - being so close to the Arctic Ocean, much of the mainland is frozen, giving it the nickname of the "Wastelands" or the "Frozen Wastes"; however, parts of the Urlach Province and many of the Islands maintain a temperate climate, particularly Ikaneba/Rosletta, due either to their proximity to warmer climes or simple distance from the arctic zones. A disproportionately large amount of the population has chosen to live in the more temperate zones, and although enough remain in the major cities of the Frozen Wastes, it has created an odd effect whereby the larger cities are dots of population in a more rural landscape. Leinart Island strikes a good balance between the two climates, with warm summers and cold winters.

As you might imagine, with a population in excess of five billion, most of the Islands have become very crowded, and an increasing number of citizens are choosing to brave the cold and live on the mainland again. This has created an interesting number of occurrances, where large groups of members who formerly lived as a community on the Islands have uprooted themselves and created small towns on the mainland - the first example came about in 1912, when approximately 40,000 citizens, in a fantastic effort, moved from Ikaneba to a position just outside of Calder and created a new town out of thin air, Hamhuis.

The terrain has adapted to the different climates, as you may have guessed, and so the McPsychoville mainland is a significantly less pleasant place than the Islands are. With the lengthy Sakic mountain range running along a lot of the northern coastline and encompassing the city of Tilson Falls, it has become a favoured destination for skiers and snowboarders; the mainland contains large expanses of evergreen trees, from which has sprung a healthy logging industry. There are few laws against the practice - indeed, it was hoped this would thin out the forests and provide more land for expansion. On the other hand, the Islands are mostly flat, and the forests are small in patches, many having sprung up near the numerous lakes.

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A stylised representation of the McPsychovillian landmass, marked with province names and borders

Provinces and Major Cities

• Urlach Province - Comprised of the south-western part of the nation, which borders on Super Rome (to the south) and Friendly Aliens (to the east). The capital is Camrose, and other major cities are Fort Wayne, Boca Raton and Leyden.
• Kaber Province - Comprised of the north-western and central part of the nation, which borders on Friendly Aliens and Violet Strawberries to the south. The capital is Lalonde, and other major cities are Calder, Royston Valley and Blind River.
• Lalime Province - Comprised of the four small islands between Leinart Island and Ikaneba/Rosletta, and the western half of Leinart Island. The capital is Bourque, and other major cities are Sawchuk City, Weinke and Filion Creek.
• Legace Province - Comprised of the three small islands between Leinart Island and the McPsychoville mainland and the eastern half of Leinart Island. The capital is Halas City, and other major cities are Triela, London and Carson City.
• Ikaneba Province - Comprised of what was previously Ikaneba, the northern part of the westernmost Island. The capital is Holody.
• Rosletta Province - Comprised of what was previously Rosletta, the southern part of the westernmost Island. The capital is Lebel Ridge. Despite being annexed, there still remain tensions between the two ex-nations, to the point where McPsychovillian citizens must still carry their passport if they wish to travel freely between the two provinces.
• Dube Province - Comprised of the eastern part of the mainland, which borders on Gothria, Roudland and Violet Strawberries to the south. The capital is Selke City, and other major cities are Tilson Falls and Hamilton.

Along with being the capital of the Urlach Province, Camrose is the nation's capital and largest city, although not the most economically-powerful one, that honour belongs to the city of Bourque, which houses a large financial district.

Economy

The official United Nations designation for the McPsychovillian economy is "All-Consuming", which, in real terms, means a stage below global powerhouses such as Pacitalia; the capitalist mentality has survived and proliferated throughout history, regardless of which political party has been in power (the only period in which the economy was abandoned was a time in the later 1800s when the Eighth Star was in power - their candidate was forced out of office after a vote of no confidence in 1892). The stance of the government regarding intervention into the economy has varied many times; the usual policies have advocated a more hands-off policy, but the Neo Republicans have based their manifesto on a firmly conservative set of economic viewpoints, involving governmental intervention - their plan was met with criticism, however, when their spokeperson mentioned they would put control of the McPsychoville Central Bank back into the hands of the government.

The unique landscape has offered McPsychoville a number of diverse industries to take advantage of; the logging industry has experienced a surprising upswing in demand recently but still remains a minor goods industry behind arms manufacturing and mining. The Sakic Mountains have proven to be rich with minerals discovered through new technological advances - the veins of gold, silver and platinum have been known for years, forming the backbone for Selke City's development, and large deposits of uranium have been uncovered in the upper reaches of Mount Svatos; the precious metals and resources have helped to push the division of industries in the nation in a new directions, as where the economy was primarily service-based, the goods market saw a revival of sorts. This actually prompted the infamous recession in the 1960s, when it was unreasonably believed that without the deposits, the economy would collapse and that the deposits were running out.

This was the catalyst for the creation of the three best-known firms in the nation - the Browning Munitions Corporation, which supplies weaponry for the Armed Forces and is believed to be interested in multinational expansion, Data Dynasty Ltd., the biggest provider of services in the nation, and Point Zero Consumables. The government's sociological priorities for public spending have remained constant over time, with law enforcement, education and the Armed Forces getting the lion's share of the tax revenues brought in; as mentioned above, a flat tax rate of 50% is maintained above a certain level of income, allowing the provision of excellent quality public services. Increasingly large amounts of money have gone into healthcare and the encouragement of commerce, but all other important sectors receive nothing - the environment is the responsibility of private companies, with stiff fines and punishments meted out for those who do not do their part, whereas public transport has been completely privatised.

Of particular interest is the differing rate of suffrage with relation to employment - while the age at which a child becomes an adult is seventeen, as mentioned above, people can enter employment at fourteen, although due to the required schooling age being sixteen, the only jobs they may take are those which will not interfere with their education.

One notable aspect of the McPsychovillian economy that is mostly unique is that the nation is a net exporter of energy; the oil deposits below the Perreault Forests in the north of the Kaber province, the uranium deposits in the Sakic mountain range and the wind farms dotted all over the Dube province have combined to provide McPsychoville with a ready stock of fuel to export, and it has quietly turned into a very profitable industry for both private investors and the government.

The national currency is the karmic dollar, the exchange rate of which currently sits at $1.89 US dollars per k$1.

Statistics

Division of Industries - Services, 46%; Industry, 31%; Innovation, 12%; Agriculture, 3%; Other, 8%
Unemployment Rate - 2.94%
Inflation Rate (Consumer Price Index) - 3.3%
Interest Rate (as set by the McPsychovillian Central Bank) - 3.75%
GDP - $118.9 trillion/k$62.9 trillion
GDP per capita - $26,150/k$13,835
Population Growth Rate - 0.13%

Government Priorities

As mentioned above, the McPsychovillian government funnels much of the tax revenue into either the Armed Forces or homeland law enforcement; a total of 35% of the government budget goes to the Armed Forces, helping them to become one of the elite units in the world, and 33% goes to the police force, something that accounts for the miniscule crime level. Of the rest, 12% goes to the commercial sector and another 12% to the national healthcare system, which has remained at a high quality despite being completely government-funded. The final 7% is granted to the educational system; public transport receives nothing, as it has been completely privatised, nor the environment, social equality, welfare, administration or religion (the latter of these was the subject of a controversial 2001 bill that stipulated churches and cathedrals would no longer be government-subsidised, but would also not be taxed on any revenues that came in).

Sport

Main article: McPsychovillian sports

Anton Black of the Camrose Wolverines in 2006.

Sport holds a significant place in the hearts and minds of McPsychoville’s citizens, thanks mostly to the almost-excessive promotion of fitness and physical health the various Ministries of Health have kept up for years, and the nation remains a haven for sporting connoisseurs the world over. It has to be noted, however, that there are some commonly-played sports on the world scene that have little more than a niche following in McPsychoville – baseball is the best example, with the World Baseball Classic in its second year, but rugby and cricket have both seen their popularity take a hit; on the other hand, mixed martial arts has taken off. The national sport is ice hockey, and the Elite Ice Hockey League is the most popular of all - justifiably, as all twenty-two teams report very high revenues yearly and most sell out their home matches. Alongside hockey, both gridiron and Association football are well-supported, whilst basketball is mostly played on the Islands.

Education

McPsychovillian education is split up into three sections, like the systems of many other nations:
Primary education runs from five years of age to eleven years of age, and is capped with the Eleven exam, which is also designated the measure of literacy.
Secondary education runs from eleven years of age to sixteen years of age, and is capped with the Certificate of Education exams - this is followed by an optional three further years of study towards the Higher Certificate of Education
Tertiary education, or further education, describes any courses taken after the conclusion of the secondary educational phase, such as studying for university degrees. At the moment, the amount of citizens without an Eleven certificate is 4% of the population, and a further 5% chose to leave secondary education after attained their CoE qualifications.

Communication

Despite the landscape and landmass restrictions, McPsychoville has still managed to maintain a top-quality system of communications through the use of both a satellite communications web and the archaic (although effective) underground telephone wires.

Politics

Electoral Policy

Each of the seven McPsychovillian provinces is divided up into anywhere from 25 to 45 smaller regions, each of whom is contested by two or more political parties; the total number of regions is 229, each one representing a seat in the McPsychovillian Parliament. The party that claims the highest number of regions is elected into full office, regardless of the margin of victory - in a number of years, power has been decided by a single region, and in 1941, the vote was split with the Democratic Coalition and the Neo Republic gaining 87 seats. It was then decided that in such cases, a repeat election would be held in one month, with the party previously in office retaining power until then. Elections are held every five years at a minimum, but it is possible for an election to be forced through a "vote of no confidence"; in order for this to occur, at least half of the elected members of the party in power, along with three-quarters of the other members of Parliament, must support the motion, and the motion must be proposed by a member of the party in power. This has occurred a handful of times in the past, and most famously in the recent case of Daniel Huet.

The Eighth Star is currently in power for the first time, having won the 2006 Election with 81 seats, and the Neo Republican Party forms the Opposition, earning 72 seats. The United Republic earned just 55 seats, putting the gap between them and the Coalition at 26, the highest for half a century. Of note was that the Libertarian Movement gained just 2 seats after the scandal involving the People's Front for the Protection of Animals and their influence, while the Democratic Coalition earned a surprising 19 seats. Erik Strong is the Prime Minister, with Gareth Roberts the Deputy Prime Minister and Ian Lapierre the Leader of the Opposition.

Political Parties

Democratic Coalition Party - One of the two largest parties, the Democratic Coalition is both socially and economically conservative.
United Republic Party - One of the two largest parties, the United Republic is socially liberal and economically moderate.
Neo Republican Party – The recognised third party, the Neo Republic is economically liberal and socially moderate. Unlike some third parties, it has held power a number of times.
Libertarian Movement Party - A niche party, the Libertarian Movement is very liberal, but have also been connected to terrorist organisations, particularly the environmental group Green Chain.
The Eighth Star - A religious party, the Eighth Star are strongly fundamentalist Roman Catholics and are almost fascist in their ideologies. They were the most outspoken critics of the Neo Republicans allowing gay marriage.

Transport

Despite the vast size of the nation, the McPsychovillian transport system is nonetheless of a surprisingly high quality, with good rail and road services coupled with a localised air traffic service. Due to the cold climate, it was judged that allowing air passenger services to run to and from airports in the colder provinces - Kaber, Dube, and such - would be too problematic with the frequent snowfalls and ice; as such, passengers are only allowed to travel by air from the Islands and the Urlach province. However, goods-carrying planes have no such restrictions due mainly to the need for quick and efficient transport in the logging industry.

The rail service, like the rest of the public transport alternatives offered, has been privatised for a number of years - although, while the bus and coach services are good examples of competitive industries, there are only three notable rail providers in the nation (MTrack, Mainland Rail and Western Line). Each controls rail transport for a section of the nation, with Western Line being the most lucrative of all three with their services covering the entirity of the Islands. There also exists one niche services, the Bullet Trains; the Bullet Trains have one line that runs from the very westernmost to the very easternmost point of the nation and back again, with their boast being that you can travel for one end to the other in under twelve hours. The trains stop at each of the major cities' stations, but nowhere else, and reach speeds of up 220 mph on the mainland (they decelerate when travelling underwater between the Islands).

Boats are also used from time to times, most commonly for goods transportation to the Western and Southern Continents; they will travel through the Freeman Canal, the largest man-made waterway in the Alliance to reach the Atlantine Ocean. They are also infrequently used for passengers as well.

Military

The McPsychovillian Armed Forces is a three-pronged organisation dedicated to the defence of the nation and their interests abroad, comprised of the McPsychoville Territorial Army (MTA), the McPsychoville Naval Force (MNF) and the McPsychoville Air Force (MAF). The minimum age for service in the Armed Forces is seventeen, with the age for national service being nineteen. More than US$23 trillion from the government budget goes towards defence, and the entire personnel of the Armed Forces - civilians and soldiers - numbers more than 115 million men, just over 2.5% of the population.

The Armed Forces is split into ten seperate Units for classification. The first seven form the Territorial Army, and contain 7.43 million men each (of these, 5.2 million are fighters). These units comprise infantry, the armoured divisions, the anti-air defense, the artillery and the Special Units.
The Eighth Unit forms the Naval Force, which has recently undergone a small period of expansion. However, for the most part the navy does little more than border and protectorate defense - small bases are also found in Vetaka, the Fighting Stars and other such countries to primarily maintain order, and it is very noticeable that the Naval Force is not particularly strong.
The Ninth and Tenth Units form the Air Force, and contain a total of 22 million fighting men, all of which are skilled in use of fighters, bombers, helicopter gunships or some form of support vehicle.