07-04-2004, 03:09
From Wire Reports
Manetheren City- Emissaries from Artifex Candor were greeted with a gala banquet as the medieval nation of Manetherendale recieved its first formal foreign entourage in over two centuries.
Sheltered by steep mountains in the south and west, deep jungles in the east, and impassable frozen wastelands in the north, the tiny nation was overlooked for centuries. Its five million people live the same way they did for a thousand years, under a feudal system with a strong king.
For the past year, reports have trickled out of Manetherendale, telling of a massive modernization campaign. Funded by private investment loans and sitting on valuable stockpiles of oil, Manetherendale's GDP has quadroupled in the last year. The investment is evident in Manetheren City, where the 80 story superstructure of a skyscraper soars out of a city of 600,000 where medieval hovels, fortified keeps, and new modern buildings all coexist. The skyscraper, which will house the offices of several MNCs and a few super-rich capitalist merchants, is due to be completed in three years.
While some of the money has gone into flashy buildings and infrastructure, the majority of foreign investment has gone into alternative energy sources. Turbine farms now harness the searingly cold winds of the Northern Wastes and a dam is under construction on the river Erinin. At night, Manetheren City is lit by clean energy street lamps.
In the countryside, modernization proceeds at a slower pace where it proceeds at all. A few of the richer farmers and lords have spent their revenues buying modern tractors and combines, but obviously it is impossible to convert from an agricultural, feudal economy in twelve short months.
As is traditional in lands where rapid modernization is undertaken, there is some resistance to the coming of industry. A few peasants have taken up arms against the crown, as have some members certain professions, like tailors and blacksmiths, whose crafts have been rendered largely obsolete. However, the King has managed to restrict the flow of arms into Manetherendale, and the only 500 rifles in the entire kingdom rest in the confident hands of the King's elite Band of the Red Hand, a rapid-deployment special forces unit.
Government sources have indicated they are pleased with the progress of the modernization and have high hopes for the future. The ruling house could not be reached for comment.
Manetheren City- Emissaries from Artifex Candor were greeted with a gala banquet as the medieval nation of Manetherendale recieved its first formal foreign entourage in over two centuries.
Sheltered by steep mountains in the south and west, deep jungles in the east, and impassable frozen wastelands in the north, the tiny nation was overlooked for centuries. Its five million people live the same way they did for a thousand years, under a feudal system with a strong king.
For the past year, reports have trickled out of Manetherendale, telling of a massive modernization campaign. Funded by private investment loans and sitting on valuable stockpiles of oil, Manetherendale's GDP has quadroupled in the last year. The investment is evident in Manetheren City, where the 80 story superstructure of a skyscraper soars out of a city of 600,000 where medieval hovels, fortified keeps, and new modern buildings all coexist. The skyscraper, which will house the offices of several MNCs and a few super-rich capitalist merchants, is due to be completed in three years.
While some of the money has gone into flashy buildings and infrastructure, the majority of foreign investment has gone into alternative energy sources. Turbine farms now harness the searingly cold winds of the Northern Wastes and a dam is under construction on the river Erinin. At night, Manetheren City is lit by clean energy street lamps.
In the countryside, modernization proceeds at a slower pace where it proceeds at all. A few of the richer farmers and lords have spent their revenues buying modern tractors and combines, but obviously it is impossible to convert from an agricultural, feudal economy in twelve short months.
As is traditional in lands where rapid modernization is undertaken, there is some resistance to the coming of industry. A few peasants have taken up arms against the crown, as have some members certain professions, like tailors and blacksmiths, whose crafts have been rendered largely obsolete. However, the King has managed to restrict the flow of arms into Manetherendale, and the only 500 rifles in the entire kingdom rest in the confident hands of the King's elite Band of the Red Hand, a rapid-deployment special forces unit.
Government sources have indicated they are pleased with the progress of the modernization and have high hopes for the future. The ruling house could not be reached for comment.