Random Kingdom

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Random Kingdom
random_kingdom.jpg
Region: Aurora
Motto: "For Great Justice"
Map: Here
Official Language(s): RK English
Capital: Acoria Prefecture, Perania Quarter
Population: Approx. 4 billion
Currency: Orca
Government: Head of Government: Core Module, Head of State: Chairman Nathan Atille
Tech Level: Near-Future Tech
National Anthem "United Citizens' March"
Stats: NSEconomy Pipian XML


This is part of the Random Kingdom factbook. What follows is an entry on the nation of Random Kingdom.

Introduction

Random Kingdom is a medium-sized (geographically) nation landlocked on all borders barring one (it is on the southern coast of mainland Golden Hills. It is a Near-Future Tech nation, at the time of writing (March 2056). It only has 20 actual "cities", as smaller settlements are usually "linked" to a larger settlement and treated like districts. An example of this is the capital, Acoria, which is a walled city (soon to be an arcology) some 2km away from the sea, and its 16 "ruralities", which stretch out from the city proper and onto the beaches of the southern coast. One of these ruralities is in fact a former capital of RK.

Notable Accomplishments

  • In the Sophisticated Era, Random Kingdom hosted its own "unity" festival, as a publicity stunt. It was well subscribed but turned out to be a flop, due to rumours of espionage (and even the venue collapsing!).
  • Random Kingdom has started two wars, both due to the supposed "atrocities" carried out by other parties, however, these allegations are usually countered with those of attempting to breach national sovereignty.
  • It has had many different government models, including a Westminster-esque system, and most recently, a supercomputer.

National Anthem

The National Anthem of Random Kingdom since 2105 has been an orchestral piece, the "United Citizen March". This replaced the former, "Land of Peace and Prosperity", because the composer of the latter was found to be a veteran supporter of Farmina (during the war, and publicly attested that he had no regrets.

National Holidays

The Festival Calendar

Random Kingdom has a separate six-month calendar (introduced in 2080) used to plot tax cuts and festivals other than the founding celebration and the population milestones. Each month lasts 56 days, so it does not fit in with the normal twelve-month calendar used for other events. These are:

  • Conception (Day 1 - Day 56), first started on 4th October/Fall-Intern 2079, the celebration of RK's founding. Massive tax cut on Day 1.
  • Reclaim (Day 57-Day 112), month-wide remembrance of the Farmina war.
  • Aspiration (Day 113 - Day 168), first day is remembrance of the botched war on USN, month of the lesser Civerian.
  • Spacefare (Day 169 - 224), most space missions occur this month. Tax cut on Day 28.
  • Normalcy (Day 225 - 280), no holidays. The Core is usually backed up and reset for the next term of government.
  • Rehash (Day 280 - 336), End of Festival Year celebration.

Standard Calendar

The Standard Calendar, also initiated in 2080, and revised in 2135, is a variant on the Gregorian calendar (the names are changed and the year starts two months later, and there is no leap year system, resulting in a "quarter day". All months except the months of Winter and Season are simply named after their position in the calendar.

RISE

  • Rise-Premier (March)
  • Rise-Intern (April)
  • Rise-Termina (May)

SEASON

  • Peritia (June)
  • Acorial (July)
  • Medit-Ani (August) (Civerian tongue for midyear)

FALL

  • Fall-Premier (September)
  • Fall-Intern (October)
  • Fall-Termina (November)

WINTER

  • Oldina (December) (Old Termina)
  • Oldinita (January) (Old Inition)
  • Ani-Termina (February)
Events on the Standard Calendar
  • 1 Rise-Premier, New Year
  • 5 Rise-Premier, Rise Term Begins
  • 10-18 Rise-Intern, Rise Term Holiday
  • 25 Rise-Termina, Rise Term Ends
  • 1 Peritia, Start of Season
  • 5 Peritia, Season Term Begins
  • 1 Acorial, Exodus Celebrations
  • 12-20 Acorial, Season Term Holiday
  • 15 Medit-Ani, Midyear
  • 25 Medit-Ani, Season Term Ends
  • 1 Fall-Premier, Start of Fall
  • 5 Fall-Premier, Fall Term Begins
  • 10-20 Fall-Premier, General Harvest Day
  • 12-20 Fall-Intern, Fall Term Holiday
  • 25 Fall-Termina, Fall Term Ends
  • 1 Oldina, Start of Winter
  • 5 Oldina, Winter Term Begins
  • 25 Oldina, Christmas Day (to Christians)/Goodwill Day (to Atheists)
  • 1 Oldinita, International New Year
  • 12-20 Oldinita, Winter Term Holiday
  • 25 Ani-Termina, Winter Term Ends
  • 31 Ani-Termina, End of Year

Government

This section provides some information on the government of Random Kingdom.

The Core

Random Kingdom does not have a parliament. Instead, it provides a crude method of direct democracy with its supercomputer, the Core Government System, which delivers the people's voice using public polls and a team of top-level law-enforcers called Enforcers. It is added to and maintained by a rota of computer programmers, usually known as the "Government Science Division".

The Enforcers

The Enforcers were top-level law enforcers that used a neural interface to download information about new laws from the CDS, and, using code also pulled from the computer, enforced it, by working with police and other lower-level law enforcers. They have been discarded along with the national police and the Law & Order budget, but many legal vigilantes were Enforcers, and Core implants are still used by others for the same purpose.

The GSD

The GSD, or Government Science Division, is the human side of the Core. They maintain and program the Core, or they used to, as the Core hasn't been manually updated in many years. It is often rumoured that they now ARE the Core, or that they are permanently connected with it, as recently the Core has shown a major increase in intelligence and variety.

The Chairmen

Main article: Chairman of Random Kingdom

As well as the Core, there is a Human and Civerian (nonhuman) Chairman, which acts as a head of state and declares RK's point of view to the world. The post of Chairman is traditionally elected every eight years or manually through a special vote.

At the time of writing, the Human Chairman was Dr. Nathan Atille, and the Civerian was Anai-Soralan I.

Culture and Lifestyle

This section deals with life and culture in Random Kingdom, and its various services and tendencies.

Religion

The Constitution of Random Kingdom declares explicitly that "There will never be an organized religion in Random Kingdom, and any resolution with the intent of introducing such a religion is unconstitutional."

The majority of RK, however, is deist.

Fashion and Trends

The current craze in Random Kingdom is "Asfunc" (short for Aesthetic Functionality) - a combination of Brutalism, Art Deco and Minimalism. This has found its way into such things as buildings (the newer sections of Acoria Tower are built in this movement), fashion (Single-layered T-shirts are making a comeback) and even music (synthpop).

Food and Drink

The RK palate is heavily influenced by European and American cuisine, with the Asfunc style mandating such items as beefburgers and toast. Local delicacies include the Civerian setae cocktail (a drink made with a small amount of setae from the feet of Lesser Civerians) and fudge-filled bread rolls.

Structure of RK

Random Kingdom is split into four quarters and 11 prefectures.

Quarters

The four quarters, Civeria, Dodasa, Asteria and Perania (the last three are named from important figures and their cities), are separate government bodies, albeit ruled under the same CGM, and have some freedom in lesser laws. Each department capital has its own lesser Core which lessens the load on the major Core by running its own inquiries and informing its own Enforcers.

Prefectures

The eleven prefectures of Random Kingdom each contain a major city (see below) and its rurality. Since 2111, the prefectures were:

CIVERIA (The Civerian Homeworld)

  • Uciris (capital)
  • Suivoris
  • Border-Civeria

DODASA (The Land of Integrity) (Named after the initials of its members)

  • Delta (capital)
  • Orateria
  • Delastra
  • Asteria
  • Serenia
  • Aria
  • Disputed (Border-Civeria)

PERANIA (The Clifftop Quarter)

  • Acoria (capital of RK)
  • Inceria

ASTERIA (Eastern Comfort)

  • Asteria (capital and namesake)

Settlements

City Hubs

As written above, Random Kingdom is comprised of several major cities and "ruralities" - smaller settlements "tied" to nearby larger cities. Most of these city hubs are arcologies (eg Unity City in Northeast RK is a small arcology built during the Sophisticated/Modern Era) or complexes, and most are walled off from the ruralities. Each nucleus typically includes an administration and public services sector (usually in the middle or at the top in multi-level cities or arcologies), large apartment complex, a fringe-benefit government-run hypermarket (surrounded by a private sector), and, on the outskirts (or at the bottom in multi-level cities or arcologies), the industry.

Ruralities

City ruralities are small settlements owned by or "tied" to a larger city, for example, the Confusion City Memorial Village is tied to Enigma City, Central RK. Tied ruralities are affected by local-level rulings and other political events, but enjoy support from the major city in terms of development. Due to overcrowding in the arcologies, many people live in ruralities but work in cities.

Language

See RK English.

Services

Education

Curriculum

Basic education, defined in the curriculum as basic arithmetic, the English language, housekeeping and science is compulsory, the rest is less restricted (however, education itself is compulsory until the age of 16). It can be taken at school, or at home so long as the tutor is qualified to do so.

School is split into three sections: BASIC (5-10, compulsory), NECESSARY (11-16, limited control over education), and ADVANCED (16+, fully optional). At the end of each section is an official exam administered by the government.

In the first two years of NECESSARY, all subjects are taught, but for the next three years, students can choose a "career primer package" - a set of subjects tailored for a specific category or categories, similar to a university major. In addition to the subjects on the CPP, a very basic course of English Language, Sciences and Mathematics will be taught (unless it is already featured). The main CPPs available are:

Main CPPs
CPP Name Major Subjects Lesser Subjects
General Studies English Language, Sciences, Mathematics Physical Education, Housekeeping, Arts and Technology, Music
Cultural Studies English Language, English Literature, Modern Languages, Arts and Technology, Music Dead Languages
Arts and Crafts Arts and Technology Music, Mathematics
Sports Physical Education Sciences, Mathematics
Sciences Sciences Mathematics
Business Business Studies Arts and Technology, Mathematics
Information Technology IT, English Language Mathematics
Political Sciences Politics, English Language Business, History
History History English Language, Politics

Many other schools/tutors allow other CCPs, but these five are required to be available in all NECESSARY education.

At ADVANCED level, students can either continue with their CPP or choose their own subjects.

There is no homework.

Examinations

Public examinations occur at the end of every level, and on the NECESSARY and ADVANCED levels, are taken based on the CDD or subjects a student takes. Marks are always given as an absolute value, a percentage, and a relative grade:

PASS

S (exceptional) = top 5%
A (excellent) = top 10%
B (good) = top 25%
C (average)= top 50%

FAIL

D (below average) = bottom 49%
E (low) = bottom 25%
F (very low) = bottom 10%
G (unacceptable) = bottom 5%

People who fail a public exam in BASIC level, instead of moving directly onto the NECESSARY track, spend the holiday in tuition, revising, and then attempt the exam again just before the beginning of NECESSARY level. Failure again results in having to restart BASIC again, but since the exam is always pretty easy, this is yet to happen.

Those unfortunate enough to fail in the NECESSARY level will have to do the same, but for an actual school year. Failure again results in the person dropping out of schooling without qualifications, but they can attempt NECESSARY again at any time as a series of courses taken at a special "Re-Entry School" similar to college, or at home.

Failing ADVANCED level is similar to failing NECESSARY level, but a second failure doesn't mean forced expulsion. An ADVANCED student can retry their course as many times as they need to, in fact, a recent news story featured a man who'd tried and failed ADVANCED over 25 times in a row.

Time

The imposed school day lasts from 9:00am to 4:00pm, usually with a with a 1 hour lunch recess/break at 12:00. There is no form time within this period and assemblies are only usually given four times a quarter, with no specific time.

The weekday is from Monday to Friday, sometimes with an optional Saturday class (usually 12:00 to 2:00).

Terms are called quarters in Random Kingdom and follow the patterns of the seasons (Spring = 1st Quarter, Summer = 2nd Quarter, Autumn = 3rd Quarter, Winter = 4th Quarter). Breaks are much shorter and orderly than in most other nations, but to compensate for this lessons are more relaxed and "free time" spaces are often allocated in place of lessons on hot days etc.

Institutions

All schools are public and open to all. Most are "residential academies" - extreme versions of boarding schools. Students occupy apartments near the academy, sometimes in groups, sometimes with younger students paired with older students or graduated volunteers. In extreme cases, professors sometimes have to be drawn in. They go to the academy for school hours, return to the apartment, and then spend the time from 4:00pm to 9:00pm freely. They then take supper in the academy, spend an hour working and socializing in the complex, and then go back to prepare for bed.

Some schools, however, don't operate a residential scheme.


Law and Order

Random Kingdom has no funding for policing or defense.

"Citizens Against Criminal Organization"

This is a popular vigilante group, led by Miriam Colaro of Acoria, with over 20 chapters across the nation. It is the closest entity to an organized police force, funded only by donations and completely voluntary.

The Voluntary Army

For more than a century, the RKVA have been the de facto military organization, due to a lack of government-funded entity. Whilst sometimes defecting (in the Random Kingdom Civil War they, let alone siding with the National-Socialist Coalition, were the NSC). They specialize in land defense.