Sandy White Beaches

The Sultanate of Sandy White Beaches
National motto: "So what is YOUR drink?"
Region	Q102
Language	English (official)
Capital	Centralia
Religion	none dominant
Tech Level	Modern_Tech
Time zone	GMT+1
NSEconomyPipianXML

Geography

Size: About 1/2 of the desert in the northern part of the Island of Schotze, although estimates vary.

Topography: Mostly desert; 10 percent land is mountainous and a small crescent of rainforest stretches along the coast. Three major regions: Celestia Mountains, Emerald coast and the desert of Gor.

Climate: Hot and dry, except for Emerald which is humid. Wind blows mainly from the north, losing most of it's humidity on the west side of Celestia Mountains.

Boundaries: Celestia Mountains on the west, shore on the east. The Gor forms the northern and southern border. Schotze is the closest neighbour, situated in the south of the island.

Emerald Coast

Sandy White Beaches coastline has a tropical climate. The coast is famous for it's beaches, which gave the country it's name. A very long but not very broad rainforest borders on the beaches. More than 90% of the population is concentrated here.

Celestia Mountains

A chain of sky scraping mountains in the middle of the island of Schotze. They separate the fertile north from the southern-eastern desert. They contain medium sized iron deposits.

Gor

The barren,inhospitable desert forms 80% of Sandy White Beaches territory. Rocky on the north, the Gor turns into a sand desert in it's southern half. It has rich oil deposits.

Economy

Until recently, the fishing industry was dominant. The discovery of oil in the Gor changed that dramatically. It gave birth to a couple of companies, each of which controls one ore more spots. Refineries ,situated on the shore north of Emerald coast, process the oil. Most of it is currently exported in exchange for luxuries. Huge investments have been made into research and production industry by the oil companies, however. On the long run the “black gold” is to be used for nation purposes only. Or so are the CEO's plans. The economy is almost completely deregulated. Employees have few rights.

Government

While the Citizen elect a parliament every 5 years, it is virtually powerless. MP candidates are without exception members of one of the nation's enterprises. There are no taxes of any kind, which means the government has to rely on the voluntary support of the companies. Which means only public works, that are in line with the interests of the economy receive funding. Law enforcement has been privatized. There are no jails. Instead, offenders have to work as servants for their victims for a period of time. The victims are allowed to sell this right of service.

Society

With no wealth redistribution by the government, the gap between rich and poor is very broad. While the poorest of the poor have to slave in the iron mines in the Celestia mountains, richer citizens sit in luxurious offices with view to the beach. Those who can afford it, make a point of spending the whole day with leisure activities, while letting their money work form them. Sandy White Beaches' hospitals have the best equipment oil money can buy, but service is not cheap.

National Security

Sandy White Beaches has no standing army as this is written, since nobody was willing to pay for it. Every citizen is supplied with guns and expected to defend his homeland in case of need. The head of the armed forces is called Strategos, an unpaid position, elected every 5 years. However,the current military exercise with other Q102 nations, led to a new line of thought. In the future, an army of remote controlled robots will replace the infantry.

Plans for a navy and an air force are still in their initial states.