Random Kingdom

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Random Kingdom
random_kingdom.jpg
Region: The Golden Hills
Motto: "Hop on the beam"
Map: No official maps yet
Official Language(s): British English (RK-ized)
Capital: Acoria, Southern RK
Population: 1.6 billion
Currency: Orca
Government: Core Module
Tech Level: Near-Future Tech
Current Era (see below): Reclaim Era
National Anthem "Ecrandta a Truacc e Prosto (Era of Peace and Prosperity)"
Stats: NSEconomy Pipian XML


This is part of the Random Kingdom factbook. What follows is an entry on the nation of Random Kingdom, founder of Region 32767 and the (dead) Left-Wing Alliance.

Introduction

Random Kingdom is a medium-sized nation landlocked on all borders barring one. 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 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 is "Ecrandta a Truacc e Prosto", which is Veratanese (a dead language native to RK, is no longer used formally) for "Era of Peace and Prosperity". The anthem was originally sung in Veratanese, but since it is no longer used, it was recently translated into English:

Era of Peace and Prosperity
From street to street to street
Pass on the spirit of Random Kingdom
To all that you shall meet,

Era of Truth and Justice
To all peoples of this land
In all mouths and papers
And writing in the sand,

Era of Life and Love
Through this great reality
For there will always be
An Era of Peace and Prosperity
over this land.

The piece is usually accompanied with a synthesizer and spoken through a vocoder to symbolise the progressive civil rights and few traditions of the nation.

History

The history of Random Kingdom can be easily split into "eras", and these are shown below. Note: years are approximate.

The Classical Era (2004-2005)

Random Kingdom was founded in October 2004 by British settlers. RK was founded with a parliament mimicking Westminster, but this quickly changed into a unique government form. The Random Kingdom became the aggressor of debates and even into war.

Notable Features of the Classical Era

  • The government changed frequently during the Classical Era, from one end of democracy into the other, and is the only era of RK history that actually had frequent elections.
  • The Uncommon Gecko was selected as Random Kingdom's national animal.

The War on USN

Known OOCly as a rather n00bish, sloppy war on RK's part, the USN war made and broke alliances everywhere. Both sides pulled out of peace talks, and if it were not for the dissolvement of the USN, possibly due to another war later in time, RK would still technically be at war.

The Sophisticated Era (2005-2010)

Peace prospered and so did Random Kingdom, turning itself around from a land of poverty into a land of prosperity. And so it continued, until the new form of government, the Collective of State Unions, was derailed by right-wing activists, propelling the nation into civil war.

Notable Features of the Sophisticated Era

  • This era led Random Kingdom into its first Civil War, and marked the end of Random Kingdom's "everyone welcome" approach as all rightists were exiled after the Civil War.
  • Geckoids were created in the Sophisticated Era.
  • Confusion City was nuked and New Hope became the capital, for many years to come.
  • The Unity Festival was held in Random Kingdom to mark harmony and prosperity in RK and its allies.

The Random Kingdom Civil War

The attack on the CSU propelled RK into a long civil war which saw the previous government killed off and the nation divide into fragments. To make things worse, a mafia family came in and threatened the sovereignty of the nation when peace resumed.

The Modern Era (2010-2035)

After the Civil War, all known rightists were shipped out of the nation and for decades RK was peaceful. A new government system pioneered, the Core, which finally brought democracy down to the laity, and until Random Kingdom heard of atrocities being carried out by the distant empire of Farmina, peace prevailed. RK prepared for war...

Notable Features of the Modern Era

  • Random Kingdom became a PostModern Tech nation in the Modern Era.
  • The Modern Era is RK's longest era of peace, stretching between tech levels.

The War on Farmina

Random Kingdom declared war on the Holy Empire of Farmina on grounds of mass genocide and misuse of weapons of mass destruction. It was promptly rained down on by Farmina and its close ally Wolfish, and was crippled due to regular infrastructure sabotage. The Core ran out of power, and the nation plunged into anarchy. Farmina took over control of the nation, installing a new government. Meanwhile, many RK citizens took their own lives or went underground, razing the nation to the ground as they went. This is known as the Last Stand of Random Kingdom.

Control Era (2035-2045)

After the Farmina War came a period in which Random Kingdom was in effect a vassal of Farmina. A new government was installed, and Victory Point became the capital of RK.

Notable Features of the Control Era

  • Random Kingdom had little independance during the Control Era.
  • The government was typical democratic fare. The first, last and only president of RK came to power (and then lost it) in this era, president Meg Herst of the Capitalist Block.
  • RK was known for a while as New Random Kingdom, not to be confused with Neo RK.

The Ascot Exodus

Typically hailed as the greatest event in RK history, the Ascot Exodus was a mass smuggling act, transporting citizens of RK to other lands. It gets its name from Ascot, real name Acoran Smith, who initiated the operation, and is known by many as "RK's martyr" - he was murdered in distant lands by the secret service. For a while, an island northwest of RK called Neo RK was inhabited by these people, but then the government was overthrown in RK, and they returned. The natural geckoids became extinct here, as they attempted to make a new nation in the island chains.

Redux Era (2045-present)

This is the current period of time in RK.

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 are top-level law enforcers that use a primitive neural interface to download information about new laws from the CDS, and, using code also pulled from the computer, enforce it, by working with police and other lower-level law enforcers..

Prerequisites

See below topic on Education.

To become an enforcer one must attend the Government Sciences Academy and take (and pass) the Enforcement CDD.

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 3 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.

Prerequisites

Again, see below topic on Education.

To become a GSD worker one must take either a Politics CDD or an Information Tech CDD and pass with at least a grade C.

The Representative

As well as the Core, there is a human representative, which acts as a head of state and declares RK's point of view to the world. Every time a representative dies, another is elected, and elections can be started manually if the public feels the representative hasn't done well.

At the time of writing, the representative was Sornia Astrellamo Jr. (elected in 2048)

Culture and Lifestyle

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

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.

Case Study: Acoria

Acoria itself is a small city with only 500,000 citizens living in the central complex. However, 15,000,000 citizens live around it, spread over 50 cities and 120 smaller settlements. The city of Acoria is an arcology with 5 levels, split into 3 sections, positioned around a central tower. Above the 5th floor of the main section is a system of transport tubes and airducts, and above them is a garden. Between the tower and the main arcology is a steep drop, with the River Acore (after which Acoria was named after) flowing below and up tubes into purification systems and fountains. Open, lit walkways connect them and six elevators take sightseers high above the central tower, allowing them to view the entire Acore Valley.

The city uses a layering system that places apartments on the top two levels, private-sector services on the third level, and clean industry on the bottom two. (Dirty industry is located in the ruralities, and offices are located with public services and administration in the central tower).

Language

The official language of Random Kingdom is "British" English, although other languages, including a disguised form of English known as Ascotian is spoken as a hobby, and by the RKSS on espionage missions.

Dialect

English dialect in Random Kingdom is varied, but most citizens speak with a dialect similar to that of Yorkshire in the United Kingdom (due to the fact that the first RK natives were descendants of settlers from that region).

The RK form of English is slightly different to actual British English, as attempts to simplify and distinguish it have introduced concepts from Latin-based languages (and some unique):

  • Question marks and exclamation marks are used in the "Spanish" way (opened and closed similar to quotation marks)

For example: ¿How are you?

  • The letter K can be substituted for a C in any type of word excluding proper nouns, unless the K is followed by a C, or substituting the letters will result in a different word (eg kite cannot be changed into cite) (both of these exceptions can be worked around by adding a cedilla to the substituted C, for example cnocç = knock, or çite = kite)

This can be very confusing for non-natives, and therefore is rarely used intentionally.

  • W is named "double V" (as opposed to "double U" and can be pronounced as a long V.
  • Y can be alternatively named "greek i".

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.