Steel and Fire
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| Flag of Steel and Fire | |
| Motto: When in doubt, kill it! | |
| [Map URL], or No Map Available | |
| Region | Athar |
|---|---|
| Capital | Arcadia |
| Official Language(s) | Standard |
| Leader | The Triumvirate |
| Population | over 6 billion |
| Currency | Large Rock |
| NS Sunset XML | |
The Republic of Steel and Fire is a massive, economically powerful nation located in the northeastern reaches of the North American continent. It consists of one major landmass and over a hundred islands, of which the most prominent are Southwest, Kitchener, Avalon, and Alyrion Islands; it also holds the Black Island (about 450 km south of Steel and Fire Proper), Pacifica (an island in the far northwest of the North American continent), and Parnassus (a small landmass and island chain in southern Africa).
History
Steel and Fire was founded untold (well, 5) centuries ago, back when the musket was still considered revolutionary technology. Led by the enigmatic and eccentric Prince-General George Arthur Dennis Peter John William Henry Satterthwaite Francis John James John de Gouvernier, a small group of colonists from a largely unknown island off the British Coast landed near what is today Avalon, eventually proceeding inland to found Arcadia at the mouth of the Arcadine Bay.
De Gouvernier was remarkable in that he and his colonists, rather than being exiled Puritans or other Protestants such as were settling farther south, were in fact Pastafarian. While until recently it was believed that Pastafarianism emerged in 2005, it turns out that it was actually around in the distant past, as reports of the "Flieing Spageti Monsterre" (as de Gouvernier put it) personally visiting his worshippers ascertain. de Gouvernier himself was allowed to travel to the beer volcano, as it seems he was unable to pen further journal entries for a full four days after the visit from the FSM.
At any rate, de Gouvernier ruled -- if not wisely -- at least in a relatively violent manner, and was finally put to the guillotine on his own request in Arcadian year 814 (1572). For the next fifty years it appeared that Steel and Fire had no idea what it wanted to do: it was led by a few Emperors, a Queen, a Lord Protector, and a Commissar among others. In 867 Director Ruben Hergiz of the Department of Intelligence apparently grew sick and tired of the constant changes; he invited every influential personage in Steel and Fire to a top-secret meeting, stationed his guards at every entrance, and had every one of them killed. (The influential personages, not the guards.) Subsequently, he declared himself President. Since the Hergiz administration, a similar process has been used to select the next leader: whoever can kill off the old government in the most creative manner is allowed to ascend to the leadership. This is perhaps the world's most egalitarian system of choosing a leader; as virtually anyone may own any sort of weapon, even people of low social standing may become leaders of the nation (for as long as they can survive).
[To Be Continued! I think.]
