Revision as of 03:04, 29 December 2005

Qarez

Flag of Qarez
Motto: "Death Before Dishonor"'
Region	Zurich
Capital	Qarez City
Official Language(s)	English, Arabic
Leader	Emperor
Population	~55,000,000+
Currency	The Dollar
NS Sunset XML

The Holy Empire of Qarez is a very large, economically powerful nation, renowned for its compulsory military service. Its compassionate, hard-working, cynical population of 56 million are ruled with an iron fist by the corrupt, dictatorship government, which oppresses anyone who isn't on the board of a Fortune 500 company. Large corporations tend to be above the law, and use their financial clout to gain ever-increasing government benefits at the expense of the poor and unemployed.

The medium-sized, corrupt government juggles the competing demands of Defence, Commerce, and Law & Order. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 3%. A powerhouse of a private sector is led by the Automobile Manufacturing industry, followed by Gambling and Basket Weaving.

The government's new 'Crime Can Fight Itself' policy appears to be backfiring rather badly, Pinkerton agents are called in to forcibly break up white collar strikes, welfare funding has recently gone through the roof, and hundreds of thousands of convicts work as slaves in Qarez's many privately-owned prisons. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is relatively low, thanks to the all-pervasive police force. Qarez's national animal is the scorpion, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its currency is the dollar.

Modern Qarez

Today, Qarez is a fast evolving, economically powerful country, which prides itself on its growing military, public transit system, and rich history.

Government

The government is a technically a dictatorship, though is run by an emperor. The nation is divided up into seven regions, based on the seven ancient tribes, with each region being represented by a Consul, the American equivalent of a governor. Each city or town is run by a Sultan, or mayor.

Military

The Armed Forces of Qarez, or AFQ, is a small but growing efficient defense force. Focusing primarily on defending its borders, in recent years Qarez has gained the ability to project force abroad, and could participate in an invasion of a small to medium sized country. The AFQ is divided up into four main branches:

Branch / American equivalent

• Qarez Marine Corps (Army)
• Qarez Air Guard (Air Force)
• Qarez Naval Guard (Navy)
• Department of Intelligence (CIA/FBI)

According to recent studies, Qarez spends the majority of its budget, 37%, on defense. This is evident in the explosion of purchases in the last year, with Qarez nearly doubling its Air Force and tripling its Navy.

Culture

Qarez is a central middle-eastern dictatorship, but with much American influence. Relative to most dictators, Qarezian emperors are fair and relaxed. While there is a large focus on domestic art, sports and entertainment, Qarezians are very much interested in American movies, music and sports, specifically, The NBA. This is primarily due to Hasek Lazir, a Qarezian-born basketball player who recently entered into the NBA draft.

Economy

Gross Domestic Product: $1,630,915,060,716.23 GDP Per Capita: $26,305.08 Unemployment Rate: 2.89% Consumption: $1,443,360,000,000.00 Government Budget: $222,254,887,500.00 Government Expenditures: $200,029,398,750.00 Goverment Waste: $22,225,488,750.00 Exports: $192,949,336,809.98 Imports: $205,423,674,843.75 Trade Deficit: $12,474,338,033.77

Geography

Qarez is a reasonably large nation, roughly shaped like Africa but closer in size to Saudi Arabia. While 85% of Qarez is desert, it has some distinguishable features. A large mountain range in the north-west housed one of the seven ancient tribes, and even today helps protect the nation from land invasions. To the north-east is a barren wasteland, little more than rocks and dirt. On the west and east coasts are two large beaches. The western coast houses the third largest city in Qarez, on the north part of the beach. On the east coast, adjacent to the largest lake in the nation, is the largest city in the country.

The most remarkable feature of Qarez is the large rainforest in the south-west, a rarity for a desert nation. This is the lifeblood of Qarez, as, excluding oil, it accounts for 65% of all exports. The capital city is located on the edge of the rainforest, near the coast, and another large city sits to the south, even closer to the forests edge on the south coast.

History

Qarez has had a rich and interesting history.

Ancient History

From the 3rd millenium BC until the 16th century AD, Qarez was a sparsely inhabitated region, insolated because of its geographical features. Seven nomadic tribes roamed the land.

• The mountain peoples
• Peoples of the wasteland
• The lake peoples
• The rainforest tribe
• The beach peoples
• The desert clan
• The south-desert clan

Besides oil, which was then both undiscovered and useless, and the rainforest, which was guarded fiercely by its tribe, the region was of no interest to other nations, from ancient explorers to the Romans. However, in 537 AD a large asteroid struck down in the northern desert, bringing with it gold. By 545 AD the ancient nation was threatened with invasion by outside barbarians.

The 7 tribes, while nomadic, seldomly moved outside their regions and had little contact. There is archeological evidence of small trade routes, but for the most part they had each adapted to subsist off their own surroundings. However, when the news of the asteroid spread around, and tribes began sending messengers to view it, contact increased. But when the first tribe was attacked by outsiders, a man stood up and organized the country for the first time ever. This man was Sayid Al-Qarez.

Sayid Al-Qarez

Sayid Al-Qarez is a legendary figure in Qarezian history, and obviously the country is named for him. Faced with the prospect of losing control of the country to outsiders, he united the seven tribes under his name. A member of the lake peoples, they began setting up a city, which is even today the most populous city in Qarez. With his military philosophy and love of his country, he inspired all regional residents, regardless of origin, to fight for their land, and they did, for several decades. The barbaric tribes were eventually pushed out of the country, and control was established by 700 AD.

Colonization

Sayid Al-Qarez was made emperor over the seven tribes after the war, and the country became a monarchy. Each tribe moved back to their origins, but stayed connected to the others through as principalities, each with an appointed sultan. With the gold, Qarez began to trade with other countries.

With the onset of the era of colonization, Qarez was claimed as a territory by 18th Century America. Like India and England or Canada and France, Qarez was treated as a son, not a slave. The unique brand of western thought that is America greatly influenced Qarez, and is still noticable today. However, as Qarez was milked for its gold and other valuables with little return profit, many began to feel this was unfair.

The request for independance

In time, the native Qarezians began to feel abused by their American colonizers. And again, for the second time in history, a young warrior stepped up and pushed back. Farik Wased, a young politicion and warrior, began organizing a rebellion force. He claimed to be a direct descendant of Sayid Al-Qarez, and changed his name accordingly, although modern historians are skeptical of this claim as Sayid had no recorded children.

The rebellion force led by the newly named Farek Al-Qarez claimed the title The Arabian Knights. Given that the majority of the population sympathized with the cause, the Knights did not have to be secretive about their activities, and after several weeks held a sizable army. It is widely acknowledged that Farek Al-Qarez stood up on a boulder outside of his home city and gave a rallying speech to his troops, demanding that they gain independance, "...if not for our earthly pride then for our childrens hearts". He had written a peace offering to the Americans, demanding sovreingty, and there he and his six other top advisors signed it. From here it is difficult to seperate fact from legend.

According to the general story, Farek once again gave an uplifting speech asking for any citizen who desired freedom to step right up and take the treaty by horse to the American governmental setup in the south. A mob of patriotic residents all burst forth, but a young teen boy reached the rock first. Again, and this is still according to popular legend, Farek asked his name.

"Amir" shouted the eager boy.

And Farek yelled "Ride Amir" as the crowd cheered him on.

The fight for independance

Continuing the story, Amir rode seven nights and seven days to the American town with three compatriots. Upon arrival he was confronted by two guards. According to procedure, they asked what he wanted. Amir responded with a call of freedom. The guards told him to go away, and when he refused to move, they shot him. The other three brought this news to Farek, and he called for an immediate march on the Americans.

Here fact presides again. The Knights, as well as a growing mob of angry Qarezians, marched again, this time only taking six days and six nights. They arrived at dawn on the morning of June 29th, 1821, and promptly attacked the first guard they saw. Soon the American cavalry met them with some resistence, and the Knights were pushed back to behind a large dune. Night fell, and the leaders met. The defeat was discouraging, but Farek felt strongly that they should persist. The next afternoon, June 30th, the Americans rode out to finish off the resistance. The Knights faught valiantly, and the colonists retreated at night fall.

Again on July 1st, the colonist militia rode out with additional firepower. The Knights advanced from their bunker, and the two sides faced each other, neither daring to shoot first. As the two generals rode up and down their respective lines rallying the troops, tension grew. As the story goes, each sides guns were aimed and fingers were on the triggers when two messengers rode out onto the middle of the field. An American messenger on a white horse and a Qarezian messenger on a black horse slowed as they reached the middle, and each dismounted and turned to their own sides. They read, one in English and the other in Arabic, that America had granted Qarez freedom on the condition that the two nations retain good relations. Within two weeks, Qarez had its own government set up once again, and Farek Al-Qarez was appointed emperor.

Trivia

• Qarez is the home country of the Qarez International News Network.