Difference between revisions of "McPsychoville"
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language=[[English]], [[French]] | | language=[[English]], [[French]] | | ||
| − | capital=[[ | + | capital=[[Camrose]] | |
| − | population= | + | population=4.54 billion | |
currency=[[Karmic Dollar]] | | currency=[[Karmic Dollar]] | | ||
| − | leader=[[ | + | leader=[[Erik Strong]] |
}} | }} | ||
| − | The | + | 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 Movement|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. | |
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| − | + | ==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=== | |
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| − | + | 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=== | |
| − | + | Described as the only area McPsychoville is lacking in, homosexual members of the community are still discriminated against in a number of ways; couples are not allowed to legally marry, 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. 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=== | ===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. | |
| + | ==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 | + | 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 of 4.55 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]]. | |
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| − | + | 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. | |
| − | === | + | ===Provinces and Major Cities=== |
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| − | + | *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, Ok 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 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 and London. | ||
| + | *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 Dupre Current. | ||
| − | + | 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== |
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| − | + | 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 Republic|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. | |
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| − | This | + | 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 ho 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 fifteen, although due to the required schooling age being sixteen, the only jobs they may take are those which will not interfere with their education. | |
| − | + | The national currency is the [[Karmic Dollar|karmic dollar]], the exchange rate of which currently sits at $1.89 US dollars per k$1. | |
| − | + | '''Division of Industries''' - Services, 46%; Industry, 31%; Innovation, 12%; Agriculture, 3%; Other, 8%<br> | |
| + | '''Unemployment Rate''' - 2.94%<br> | ||
| + | '''Inflation Rate''' (Consumer Price Index) - 3.3%<br> | ||
| + | '''Interest Rate''' (as set by the [[McPsychovillian Central Bank]]) - 3.75%<br> | ||
| + | '''GDP''' - $118.9 trillion/k$62.9 trillion<br> | ||
| + | '''GDP per capita''' - $26,150/k$13,835 | ||
| − | + | ==Sports== | |
| − | + | Main article: [[McPsychovillian sports]] | |
| − | The McPsychovillian | + | The vast majority of McPsychovillian citizens follow one sport or another, and many support teams in more than one sport. The national sport is ice hockey, and the [[Elite Ice Hockey League]] is naturally the most popular of all the leagues available - justifiably, as all of the sixteen teams report very high revenues yearly and most of them sell out their home matches - however, there are a lot of sports that have appeal to some sector or another; for example, gridiron football and Association football are widely played with leagues spanning the entire nation, and basketball is played on the Islands, although the [[Island Basketball Association|IBA]] (Island Basketball Association) has been considering expansion onto the mainland. The nation has national teams for an array of sports, and the football team is the most successful of all, claiming silverware in [[Cup of Harmony 19]] and making the [[World Cup]] group stages twice in a row, in [[World Cup 28|28]] and [[World Cup 29|29]]. |
| − | + | ==Education== | |
| + | Main article: [[McPsychovillian education]] | ||
| − | + | McPsychovillian education is split up into three sections, like the systems of many other nations:<br> '''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.<br> | |
| + | '''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]]<br> | ||
| + | '''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== | |
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| − | + | 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. | |
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| − | + | ==Politics== | |
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| − | + | ===Electoral Policy=== | |
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| − | + | 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]]. | |
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| − | + | ===Political Parties=== | |
| − | + | [[Democratic Coalition Party]] - One of the two largest parties, the Democratic Coalition is both socially and economically conservative, and is the party currently in power. | |
| + | [[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== | |
Revision as of 23:00, 8 March 2007
| |
| Flag of McPsychoville | |
| Motto: Negativity is life, anything else is just a bonus | |
| 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.
Contents
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
Described as the only area McPsychoville is lacking in, homosexual members of the community are still discriminated against in a number of ways; couples are not allowed to legally marry, 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. 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.
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 of 4.55 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.
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, Ok 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 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 and London.
- 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 Dupre Current.
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 ho 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 fifteen, although due to the required schooling age being sixteen, the only jobs they may take are those which will not interfere with their education.
The national currency is the karmic dollar, the exchange rate of which currently sits at $1.89 US dollars per k$1.
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
Sports
Main article: McPsychovillian sports
The vast majority of McPsychovillian citizens follow one sport or another, and many support teams in more than one sport. The national sport is ice hockey, and the Elite Ice Hockey League is naturally the most popular of all the leagues available - justifiably, as all of the sixteen teams report very high revenues yearly and most of them sell out their home matches - however, there are a lot of sports that have appeal to some sector or another; for example, gridiron football and Association football are widely played with leagues spanning the entire nation, and basketball is played on the Islands, although the IBA (Island Basketball Association) has been considering expansion onto the mainland. The nation has national teams for an array of sports, and the football team is the most successful of all, claiming silverware in Cup of Harmony 19 and making the World Cup group stages twice in a row, in 28 and 29.
Education
Main article: McPsychovillian 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.
Political Parties
Democratic Coalition Party - One of the two largest parties, the Democratic Coalition is both socially and economically conservative, and is the party currently in power. 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.
