Questers

The United Kingdom of Questers
& Her Glorious Empire

Flag and Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom
Motto: To serve; to strive; and not to yield.
Spoken Languages  - De-facto	English,Japanese, Latin
Capital	London
Monarch	His Imperial Questarric Majesty Konoye I
Prime Minister	Rt Hon. Winston Foxbury
Population  - Total (2006)	8,432,925,120
Establishment  - Current Form  - Original	19th April, 1405 Antiquity
Government Type	Westminster System
Constitutional Form	Constitutional Monarchy
National animal  - Official (Parliamentary)  - Alternative (Royal)	Lion Lion
GDP (2005)   - Total (USD)   - GDP/capita (USD)	$370,658,221,969,466.23 $43,750.31
GDP Growth Rate:	3.45% per annum
Unemployment:	4.33%
Currency	1 Pound (GQP) = 10 Tenths (t) = 10 Pence (p)
International Abbreviations	None
Naval Craft Classification   - Imperial Navy   - Merchant Navy   - Imperial Fleet Auxiliary	HIQMS RMS IFA
National Anthem	I vow to thee, my country(thaxted)
Internet TLD	.qst
Calling Code	+44

Introduction

The Crown Imperium of of Questers is a large nation located in the region of Haven. The UK is heavily intervenionist and often intervenes in foreign affairs in what could be labelled as imperialism. The Crown Imperium manages an Empire upon the sun never sets, with many nations flying the Questarian flag and paying their dues to the Crown in recognition of the Questarian power. At the last census over 40 billion people of 9 different nations pay taxes to King-Emperor Konoye I.

Questers holds democratic values sancrosact, along with civil liberties and political freedoms, such as free speech and capitalism.

The Four Pillars of Society

The Five Pillars of Questarian Society are;

• Monarchy

The Monarchy is considered the ultimate power of Questarian Society. Since the Monarch holds significantly more power than it does in RL states, with the ability to legally rescind laws and stop laws being passed, the Monarch actually acts as a political entity quite often. The Monarchy does not receive the negative reputation that some believe it deserves, in fact, it's rather loved. Questarians feel that without the Monarchy they'd be some faceless republic with no voice. The Monarchy, in whatever form it takes, is extremely well respected within the UK and insulting it often receives the label of 'Commie.'

• Rule of Law

The concept of Rule of Law is actively practised in the UK, along with the similar right of Habeus Corpus, legal equality, and presumption of innocence. From studying fascism and communism, it has been decided that government needs to be kept in check - as, however, do the people. Therefore the government mantains a strong police and security force but is bound by law not to break the law. Since the Monarch has the power to dismiss the government if (and only if) it seeks to break Rule of Law, this has never happened. The concept of 'Rule of Mob' is dismissed by Questarian aristocracy and as such the people themselves are also kept in check: the idea being, the law is the law, no matter how many you have on your side.

• Free Enterprise

The government takes a rather laissez-faire approach, setting few safety regulations, no minimum wage, and minimum working hours as a 'guideline' which companies will be penalised (minutely) for not following. The nationalised companies formed in the Great Depression prior to the Questo-Doomani War have been sold off. Despite ultra-laissez-faire attitude the government follows a form of protectionism, though free trade is practiced.

• "Freedom"

The word "Freedom" has a giant meaning in Questarian Society. Firstly, it is physical - Questarians are allowed to say as they feel, no matter how anti-government it may be, and in recent years criticism of the Monarchy was legalised, although with massive protest from some of the stronger Christians and Shintoists. However freedom expands to anything - the freedom to own your own property, the freedom to worship any God, the freedom to act as an individual free from the state. 'Statist' is a popular term used to describe Communists in Questarian literary and media circles.

• The Constitution

Unlike other Monarchies, Questers mantains a Constitution, similar to that of the United States. Information on this follows later.

Questarian Society and Culture

Questarian Society is based off respect for a higher order, namely the aristocracy, the lords and ultimately the Monarch. Out of Questers' 6 billion strong manual labour force, many enjoy simple lives without the complications of modern life - a Questarian will grow up, go into the family industry (either coal mining, textiles, steel, shipbuilding, or agriculture), get married, buy a house, have children, and then retire to what is usually a rather generous retirement salary from the giant company they work for. Their children will lead similar lives, and so will their grandchildren, and their great-grandchildren. Some call it monotonous, some call it peaceful. The GDP/PC of the labour class is around $21,000, which isn't such a bad figure in Questarian Pounds. The giant corporations that effectively have monopolies on their respective businesses (regionally, that is - for example, Northern Steel and Coal will have no Northern competitors but will be in constant competition with Fieldhouse and Co Colliery and Steel in the South) can afford to pay their workers fairly generous pay. At one point, QAE Marine sent all its employees a bottle of champagne to celebrate a financial breakthrough.

Taxes are low and calls for a National Health System are constantly rejected. However, almost all can afford private healthcare due to the level of income for even a coal miner. The quality of the giant military and the security of Questers' streets inspire loyalty towards the government and the country in general, but constant calls for the 25% flat income tax to be reduced are being felt hard in parliament. Recently, the standard of living has massively improved as small social security policies have been instituted and education up to secondary level has been provided for free, raising the literacy rate to 95%. Questers produces top class healthcare and private education past secondary level, producing the geniuses neccessary for the giant technological achievements of the nation. However, the average Questarian is still fairly well educated.

Sportwise, cricket is by far the most popular sport, alongside croquet and fox hunting for the aristocracy. Other sports, such as rugby and football, are essentially unknown, although certain colonies may practice them.

Foodwise, Questarians' favourite national drink is tea, followed by any kind of alcohol and their favourite drink is Coca-Cola. Tea is grown overseas, and imported it in by the millions of tons per year. Praetonian tea is also famous, and tea is also the stereotypical drink of the Questarians. National foods include fish and chips, roast chicken, lamb, and beef, and sushi, which has for some reason become extremely popular.

Democracy

Questers is a fully functioning democracy where men over the age of 21 and married women can vote in elections every six years. These are the current parties. Interestingly if a woman divorces her husband then she loses the right to vote, but if her husband dies then she still mantains the right to vote, permanently.

Discrimination

Questers has been severely criticised by liberal and socialist nations and by human rights groups for its supposed discrimination by law. See for yourself.

Against Women

Questers is a highly sexist state and society. While women legally have more rights than blacks, they still have less rights then men. Examples:

• Women cannot vote unless married. Interestingly they retain the right to vote after becoming widows, but not if divorced.
• "Positive discrimination" laws place women below men in choosing places in universities, jobs etc.
• Women are not allowed to leave the house until dinner has been served to their husbands, if they are married.
• If a woman initiates sexual intercourse with a man and she changes her mind afterwards during the intercourse and the man continues, it is not considered as rape under the legal system, though society usually classes it as such anyway. Note that rape is one of three crimes punishable by death; the others are murder and treason.
• While this is not part of the law as such, women are usually discriminated against in society, through mostly verbal means though bartenders can refuse to serve women with a male escort and air flight companies usually tend not to allow women to fly or sail overseas without a male escort. Some call this legal because the government allows this.

Against other ethnicities

There is considerable racism in Questers especially against the black population of the south.

Against religions

• Muslims, Jews, and Hindus which have to eat specially prepared types of meat - Halal or Kosher - or just simply can't eat certain types of meat, are usually forced to do so upon basic training in national service. This is to prove their loyalty to Country over God. Interestingly Christians and Shintoists don't have to take these inhumane "tests". Other than this there seems to be no other forms of legal discrimination against these types of religions although Muslims and Jews are clearly not welcome in much of the country.

Against languages

• Immigration into the nation is not allowed unless the person (unless they are under 16) can not fluently speak either Japanese (in this case Kana and Romanji are acceptable) or English (in any kind of dialect.)
• Many African languages are not legally classed as languages. Neither is Yiddish or Hebrew. Usually only European and Asian languages are legally accepted languages. For example an immigrant who could speak Hebrew and English fluently would only actually be classed, under law, as being able to speak English.
• Dating back to one of the nations first laws it is fully legal to shoot - although you may only hit them once - an illegal immigrant.

Industry and Economy

Questers economy is focused on several main industries: shipbuilding, coal, steel, banking, and education. The last seems particularly interesting because for much of its history Questers did not have a public education system, but her private education is oustanding, sporting some of the worlds finest finance, law, and military colleges and universities.