Sarakaan
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| Flag of Sarakaan | |
| Motto: "Onward To Glory" | |
| No Map Available | |
| Region | Bambooshka |
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| Capital | Sarakaania City |
| Official Language(s) | English |
| Leader | Martino Zwar (CEO Sarakaan Star Corp.) |
| Population | Greater than 12,000,000 |
| Currency | The KwarLukta |
| NS Sunset XML | |
Official Summary
The Empire of Sarakaan is a small, economically powerful nation, notable for its complete absence of social welfare. Its hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical population of 12 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 small, corrupt government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defence, and Commerce. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 5%. A healthy private sector is led by the Automobile Manufacturing, Pizza Delivery, and Uranium Mining industries.
Thieves are flogged in public for their crimes, there are no minimum wage laws, military spending is on the increase, and military spending recently hit a new high. Crime is a serious problem. Sarakaan's national animal is the three-eyed croc, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its currency is the KwarLukta.
History
The land that is now known as Sarakaan was originally part of a large broad-leaf forest. The high-ground regions of the forest were home to several rare species of monkey, while the low-ground regions were littered with rivers and swamps, and were the only known habitat of the Three-Eyed Crocodile. During the monsoon season, the rivers would swell and burst their banks, causing large areas of the forest to be flooded.
The land of Sarakaan was first discovered by an expedition party from The Commonwealth of Gorgan Almighty (now known as The Democratic States of Gorgan Almighty) in the spring of 1911. The party discovered that the land was not only an area of outstanding natural beauty, but it was also rich in mineral resources, such as coal, copper, iron and oil (the building blocks of industry). In November of 1911, The Commonwealth of Gorgan Almighty formally staked a claim on the land of Sarakaan and began mining operations. A small colony was soon established in Sarakaan, as more workers were brought in to work in the mines. Industries that were struggling in Gorgan Almighty at the time, such as metal refining and oil refining, soon realised the huge opportunity that the Sarakaan colony offered them, and quickly re-located. As these industries flourished, they paved the way for many other industries to emerge.
In 1947, an Automobile Manufacturing company named Star Autos Ltd. was founded in Sarakaan, and started producing high-quality top-of-the-range vehicles for export. Star Autos Ltd. was hugely successful, and quickly became very powerful. A moderate logging buisness was also started in Sarakaan, although it was heavily restricted because of pressure from Gorgan Almighty's increasingly powerful enviromental lobbyists, who were dismayed by the increasing destruction of Sarakaan's forest. In 1956, (some say, under a cloak of corruption and bribes), the Sarakaan Mining Corp, Star Autos Ltd and the Sarakaan Logging Federation merged to form the Sarakaan Star Corp. The Sarakaan Star Corp. was now undeniably the greatest power in the Sarakaan colony, directly employing over 40% of the colony's workforce, and being relied upon, in one way or another, by the vast majority of the other industries in the colony. This hugely powerful corporate body was able to make demands of Gorgan Almighty's Pro-Business government, and know that their demands would be met.
Being a wholely owned part of The Commonwealth of Gorgan Almighty, the Sarakaan colony was a huge source of income for Gorgan Almighty, and had quickly become The Commonwealth's main centre of industry. The homeland of Gorgan Almighty, in comparison, was mainly devoted to agriculture.
In 1985, a huge political upheaval took place in Gorgan Almighty, and the mainly Pro-Business political parties were replaced with socially minded political parties. This of course resulted in a government whose priorities were social welfare orientated, and decidedly anti big business. The Commonwealth of Gorgan Almighty was renamed to The Democratic States of Gorgan Almighty. The government levied huge corporate taxes on the Sarakaan Star Corp, and made increasing demands of pollution control and fines for environmental damage. The Sarakaan Star Corp, unwilling to accept these knew restrictions, engineered a coup. All Gorgan Almighty officials were thrown out of Sarakaan, and the Sarakaan Star Corp. declared the land an Independent Sovereign State. The Democratic States of Gorgan Almighty tried to respond, but it's military forces were few, and it discovered that Sarakaan was just too far away for Gorgan Almighty to have any meaningful influence. With the vast majority of its industry lost to Sarakaan, The Democratic States of Gorgan Almighty was bankrupted, and suffered economic collapse.
The Sarakaan Star Corp. shaped Sarakaan into a corporately run empire, with goals of acquiring more wealth and power. Initially a small assembly, named simply The Civil Assembly was set up to manage the civil requirements of The Empire. The members of The Civil Assembly were voted to power by a select elite of wealthy businessmen. However, the Sarakaan Star Corp. quickly grew frustrated by The Civil Assembly's inability to get things done, and on 9 May 1991, The Civil Assembly was abolished, and the Sarakaan Star Corp. took direct control of the nation. Until this time, the laws of the land had remained mostly unchanged from the original laws of The Commonwealth of Gorgan Almighty (with a few notable exceptions). But after the Civil Assembly was abolished, the laws were radically altered to remove many human rights (especially free speech). All restrictions on pollution and environmental damage were removed, resulting in the almost complete destruction of the small remnants of forest that remained. The Three-Eyed Crocodile, once Sarakaan's indigenous claim to wildlife fame, now teeters on the brink of extinction. It's natural habitat is completely destroyed, and the only remaining specimens live in the tiny Sarakaania City Zoo.
