NationStates Jolt Archive

Esthar: Bjornoyan Capital (http://0101.netclime.net/1_5/T/H/T/NoticeofDeath.mid)

Patriarch Sedaht Rand waited patiently for his guests to arrive. This issue would require the intelligence and co-operation of each of the Bjornoyan herrgotts, who had been summoned to meet in the Grand Hall in the Bjornoyan capital of Esthar. His sister and Heart of State, Fraugott Lucy Rand was the first to arrive, greeting her brother with an embrace before taking a seat. Lucy was the first person Sedaht would turn to for advice regarding public relations between the Bjornoyan Federal Government and its citizens. The next herrgott to arrive was Visara Co. CEO and Right Hand of State Wilhelm Kaufmann. The elderly man shook Sedaht’s hand and patted him reassuringly on the back before taking a seat. The last to arrive was the Bjornoyan police and military coordinator Herrgott Jacksehn Hegel. The herrgott raised his right fist across his chest and stated, “For love and honor” giving the traditional Bjornoyan salute before taking his seat.

“Dear friends, as you know we are expanding Bjornoya’s borders almost daily. With this expansion comes the incorporation of foreign elements; some can provide great benefit and growth to our nation and its citizens, other elements are as an infection or cancer, threatening our very existence. As you should be aware the regions of Africa which we have assimilated are not in the best of shape. The region is unindustrialized, the previous political system has left their citizen uneducated and unhealthy, and until this moment no-one has done anything to fix the situation.”

“This is why we are here; to fix the problem of the rapid spread of HIV and AIDS throughout our territorial gains in Africa. About 30% of citizens have been infected throughout the entire region we now control. It is disheartening; in many villages it is considered abnormal to not be infected. Of course, the populace has little knowledge of what is occurring. The average lifespan for those infected is 37 years, and even lower for those born with it.”

“Amgen Corporation has been working on ways to help, and we can now extend an infected person’s lifespan by about 10 years. However, this is not a cure, only a temporary remedy. Our task is to eliminate the spread of AIDS within the region. Let us explore the possibilities; no matter how absurd. Herrgott Hegel, you may proceed first.”

“Thank you Patriarch. As you said, we are exploring possibilities. I do not support this; but one solution would be to kill those infected. Another solution would be to forcibly remove them from the rest of society. We are talking about millions of people, and I do not think this would be viable unless we perhaps conscripted them into either special segregated units in the military or put them to work in some of the mining facilities Visara Co. will be running down there.”

Lucy grew visibly upset but before she could say anything the Patriarch spoke,

“I will not allow such travesties to occur within this nation. All of these would solve the problem, but would compromise the basic moral standings which makes our nation complete. Killing those infected is obviously not acceptable, and forcibly removing them is absurd. We could not fit millions of people onto a little island; the populace and the world would know about it immediately, a simple photograph from the hundreds of satellites would destroy the secrecy, but more importantly the vast majority of those infected are youth. I will not condemn a child to such a fate. Thank you Jacksehn, let us continue; Wilhelm?”

“Well Sedaht, if we could wait a few more years Amgen is damned close to finding a cure, however this is not certain. Visara Co. would be happy to begin some informational campaigns throughout the region. We can begin distributing large amounts of condoms to stop the spread.”

Wilhelm hesitated, but went further,

“But Patriarch, the point of the condom is not merely to stop the spread between two people, but to stop the creation of another infected child. Insofar as the condom can only be beneficial if it is accepted and used, it is limited. A far more direct and guaranteed solution would be to sterilize those infected. We could advertise an injection as being a ‘Cure for AIDS’ and the injection would lead to sterilization and complete impotency within a week. These injections would only be given to those who tested positive, of course. A problem would arise if the population caught on to what we were doing, and spread the word faster than we gave the injections. We would need to give the injections at nearly the same time throughout the entire region. The only problem that would remain if we successfully gave the injection to all those infected would be keeping foreigners from around the region who were infected out of the country.”

Sedaht cradled his head in his hands, and thought. He gave no reply. He thanked Wilhelm for the suggestion, and offered the floor to his sister.

“Sedaht, we could do nothing and let this plague spread throughout the entire region. If it comes to the point where everyone is infected, the populace would not even know the disease existed. Given a life expectancy of say 35 years, they could at least live a happy life if they were oblivious to the disease. The problem may not arise so much from the disease itself, but from our observation of it. We feel so sorry for these people because we believe by comparison we have better lives than those infected with HIV. But if they had no knowledge, if they could make no comparison, couldn’t they lead a happy and complete life? Isn’t that one of the goals we assigned ourselves upon the success of the revolution; to offer every individual living within Bjornoya the chance for a happy and completed life?”

Patriarch Sedaht Rand looked into his sister’s eyes to see what she was feeling. He could tell she was upset by the other suggestions which had shattered a bit of himself as well. After a minute and a half of silence, the Patriarch had made his decision,

“Wilhelm, I want Amgen Corporation to produce enough gallons of this injection to make 65 million people and impotent. Start educating, then advertising to the populace we have found a ‘cure.’ Jacksehn, upon our conquest of New Jyrian Africa, I want no-one crossing or coming into our borders. This will be a top priority of our Federal Peacekeepers. Raise local militias under Bjornoyan command to protect the villages and cities, but I want the majority of our forces covering the borders. Lucy, I’ll need you to issue, order, and organize the mandatory testing and injections of every individual within Bjornoyan Africa. Use the spare Federal Peacekeepers and employees of Visara and Amgen at your disposal. You will also be in charge of the Bjornoyan Federal Government’s presentation of this to the citizens of Bjornoyan Africa.”

“As you wish, Sedaht.”
“By your command!”
“Brother…”

“You are all dismissed, thank you for your time and suggestions.”

One by one, each of the Bjornoyan herrgotts exited the Grand Hall, except for Lucy. She wanted to say something to Sedaht.

“Brother, it is my greatest hope as a woman to one day give birth to a child. That feeling of creation, that feeling of love towards the child you have created; I don’t think you understand. Sedaht, you will be denying millions this chance to accomplish something great, perhaps the only chance to accomplish any greatness.”

She was right, Sedaht did not understand, nor would he ever. He did understand one thing though, making a tough decision and taking responsibility for it as a leader.

“Lucy, I am also not condemning the next ten generations to a life filled with fear of becoming infected. Children will not longer be born with Death hovering over their shoulder. When given the choice between allowing a woman to give birth, or guaranteeing a child a certain sense of longevity to their life, I will choose the rights of the child over the rights of the woman. I feel really…there was no other solution that could fix this problem.”

Sedaht gave his sister a hug before she departed. At night, Lucy went home and began to write the first announcements that would be given to the citizens of Bjornoyan Africa… “Amgen Corporation has found a cure…” “We will be distributing this cure throughout the region for free…” “Mandatory…” impotency. The Bjornoyans were going to castrate an entire region, an entire culture.

Lucy’s head fell upon her desk, and she wept.

OOC: If you went through the trouble of reading this, please give me some feedback.

Not bad. I know, not very helpful.

OOC: Since I suppose this wasn't ICly revealed, I'll just comment OOCly, although if this is known ICly then I'll convert it.

No. 1, it's impossible to find a "cure" for HIV. HIV is a RNA virus, meaning the chances of it mutating are much higher than a DNA virus (such as smallpox). This is because the RNA virii lack the capability to "check" themselves for errors like the DNA virii do, thus making them impossible to really cure.

(Side note: the "flu vaccine" is nothing more than last year's flu, since a new flu virus arises every year due to the fact the flu is a RNA virus)

No. 2, you can sterilze the infected people, but you can't stop them from transmitting it. They're still able to spread the disease via sex, shared needles/razors/toothbrushes, spilled blood, etc. Sterlization just prevents the person from having a child, and since HIV spreads mainly through blood, preventing the ability to have a child will have little to no effect on the situation. The infected people are still going to mingle with the rest of society, and while sterilzation may bring the incidents of infection down, since there's still the possibility of blood interaction (even accidental), infection incidents will still be present.

What does this mean? Segregation is your only option, since that address the issue of contact. Simply put, this program has about as much effectiveness as sterilizing everyone with the common cold- people are still going to spread it, just not through their babies, and the only way to address that issue is to prevent contact; and the only way to prevent contact is to segregate. Unless you develop a vaccine that's as effective as the flu vaccine.

ooc: The injection would not merely cause sterilization, but impotency as well, inflicting them with hypogonadism. A simple chemical or biological agent known to attack and destroy gonad tissue would do the trick. No sex, no spread.

As for the 'cure' Wilhelm was talking about, the treatments we have now are only useful for a certain period of time before the virus mutates. However, there are some continuing aspects of the virus even though it undergoes mutation such as the binding sites on certain cells. If we could block those sites, we could prevent the virus from entering those cells. This could be a potential cure.

Also, any type of vaccination that would allow the immune system to recognize the virus as a threat; if we created an antibody to target the HIV virus it would be a cure, but again the virus might mutate and become unrecognizable to the immune system again. Due to the nature of the virus such a cure is unlikely in the future, but not impossible.

Stupidly interchanged the virus with the syndrome: editted

OOC:Well the flu vaccine is the three most likely strains, not neccisarrily what happened last year, so if you could do something like that with HIV strains, and offer a year of protection, that might work, though it would be expensive and im not positive it is possible

ooc: The injection would not merely cause sterilization, but impotency as well, inflicting them with hypogonadism. A simple chemical or biological agent known to attack and destroy gonad tissue would do the trick. No sex, no spread.

As for the 'cure' Wilhelm was talking about, the treatments we have now are only useful for a certain period of time before the virus mutates. However, there are some continuing aspects of the virus even though it undergoes mutation such as the binding sites on certain cells. If we could block those sites, we could prevent the virus from entering those cells. This could be a potential cure.

Also, any type of vaccination that would allow the immune system to recognize the virus as a threat; if we created an antibody to target the HIV virus it would be a cure, but again the virus might mutate and become unrecognizable to the immune system again. Due to the nature of the virus such a cure is unlikely in the future, but not impossible.

Stupidly interchanged the virus with the syndrome: editted

OOC: Impotence would work if HIV was solely an inherited disease. It isn't. It spreads primarily through blood. Thus, keeping HIV-infected people within the populace means the risk of infection is still present.

Elephantum: My mistake, although it still means that the flu vaccine still isn't a cure-all.

My suggestion:

Lets take a huge land mass, like america.
Let us transport all those that has these viruses and the like that we can't cure, but we can eradicate it, over to america.
Of course we would have to move all the "healthy" people out of america first, but that is just a minor problem.
Let those that have aids, hiv and etc etc live as normal a life they can.
They will recive everything that they need.

Of course there would have to be some healthy person in there to manage the hospitals and the like, but that is no problem.
That way, we have isolatd the virus, and can with some effort contain it.
Not 100% though, but alteast more then in todays world.

But this would be barberic and so on and so on, so we would never manage to do it.

Just my 2 lousy cents

OOC: Impotence would work if HIV was solely an inherited disease. It isn't. It spreads primarily through blood. Thus, keeping HIV-infected people within the populace means the risk of infection is still present.

OOC: True, however the majority of transmissions from infected to healthy individuals occur through the means of sexual intercourse. The hope is that without this primary means, the growth rate of the disease will come to nil or close to it. There's always the chance of transmission through some bloody accidents or something similar, but such transmissions are not nearly as often as through sexual intercourse.

In time, the majority of those infected will die off without passing on their disease, and all of them will perish without creating another human bearing the disease. In this hypothetical scenario, in about 40 years after this the number of cases should be severly reduced.

OOC: True, however the majority of transmissions from infected to healthy individuals occur through the means of sexual intercourse. The hope is that without this primary means, the growth rate of the disease will come to nil or close to it. There's always the chance of transmission through some bloody accidents or something similar, but such transmissions are not nearly as often as through sexual intercourse.

In time, the majority of those infected will die off without passing on their disease, and all of them will perish without creating another human bearing the disease. In this hypothetical scenario, in about 40 years after this the number of cases should be severly reduced.

Still need some segregation, but your plan just may work if executed properly. Just remember that there may be some people who will *doubt* this cure.

Still need some segregation, but your plan just may work if executed properly. Just remember that there may be some people who will *doubt* this cure.

OOC: If people wish to RP the roles of either blissfully ignorant infected individuals who believe they will be cured, or some of the more sceptical ones (the region is not industiralized and rather uneducated, we hope to fool a good majority), or even some of the Bjornoyan Federal Peacekeepers assigned the task, feel tree to. This will start immediatelly after the Topaz Campaign is completed.

OOC: Do what the Empire did. We put everyone with an incurable disease on an island called Isla Sorna & Isla Nova. We kept it very secret (and still do) and because of the thick jungles and such on the islands, the presence of actual people is impossible to see. The presence of the military base on the one island is just written off as a medical test lab in isolation. We've had a great cover story thus far.

ooc: Thought about it, figured taking people away would cause as much if not more discontent than making them impotent. We have about 30% of the population infected, millions. I don't think they'd fit. Plus, if they remain they could work. I want to explore how a human would act and react if this sort of thing occurred to them, and how they would turn out.

ooc: Thought about it, figured taking people away would cause as much if not more discontent than making them impotent. We have about 30% of the population infected, millions. I don't think they'd fit. Plus, if they remain they could work. I want to explore how a human would act and react if this sort of thing occurred to them, and how they would turn out.

OOC: Yeah it is a pretty good idea I must admit. Removal of those people who are incurable is definitely necessary. Making them impotent is even better. Why not combine the two? Perhaps Isla del Enfermo can have some changes...

OOC: Yeah it is a pretty good idea I must admit. Removal of those people who are incurable is definitely necessary. Making them impotent is even better. Why not combine the two? Perhaps Isla del Enfermo can have some changes...

ooc: oh dear, what have I done?

OOC: Given me the necessary...

14 Months Later: (http://0201.netclime.net/1_5/T/T/6/Anticipation.mid)

Bjornoyan forces had forged a vast empire spanning from the far south of Angola to the northwest of Nigeria and far east of Zaire. For the past year forces had been recruited or conscripted amongst the region. A sufficient border patrol was established, setting themselves up at every major route to and from the dozen or so Bjornoyan territories. Airports, harbors, and roadway checkpoints now required 'proof of cleanliness' before entering Bjornoyan Africa. For the past 3 months ships arrived throughout the African coastlines unloading a fleet of medical transports and the 'vaccine.' Many public buildings had been converted into temporary hospitals for the immense project. Already in the established hospitals the test was given to many unknowing patients including newborns, and the vaccines given immediately if infection was detected.

The blood test for the virus had been simplified and took less than a minute to complete, and this would help immensely. At least 200 million people resided in Bjornoyan Africa, 200 million people to be tested and nearly a third to be 'vaccinated.'

The first region to receive the vaccines were those who had been under Bjornoyan control the longest, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Gabon, and the Congo. Visara had already monopolized communication lines in and out of the region. What would happen here would stay here, at least long enough for the other regions to not figure it out until it was too late.

The major cities' populations were given the day off of work with the exception of utilities which were graciously run by Visara Co. employees from the mainland for this special occasion. Hordes of hopeful people flocked to the streets (or were forcibly removed from their houses if uncooperative) to get their free vaccinations provided by Amgen. Nearly 250,000 specialists from the Bjornoyan mainland were shipped from their normal duties to participate with this task. A handful new what they were really doing, but most would be returned home before they could find out. Scattered about the region these doctors had an easy task the first round, vaccinate on average 100 individuals through Cameroon, E. Guinea, Congo, and Gabon within 2 days. For remote regions the fleet of specialized military trucks were recruited, nearly 25,000 of them. After the vaccinations military presence would be greatly increased as the doctors left to continue their work elsewhere and the Peacekeepers waited for the populace to figure out what had happened.

OOC: Great move!

ooc: thanks lay, thought you'd like this

Bjornoyan Africa (http://0101.netclime.net/1_5/T/H/T/NoticeofDeath.mid)

It was perfect, almost too perfect. Throughout the regions of Bjornoyan Africa that had been tamed sex talk was now taboo. A thorough education or better re-education of the region had left the region quiet, ignorant, and now impotent. The Bjornoyafication of the region was nearly complete. All that was needed was to rid the region of certain undesirables. Fate seemed to favor the Bjornoyans.

Half-way around the world another group of oppressed and humiliated natives were suffering under the hands of the Terron government. Visara was aware of a few native movements to destroy the ‘evil whitey.’ Bjornoyans were never one to blatantly censor hate. Instead they manipulated it, cast it away from them. They knew these people would rise against them eventually if left in Africa. Instead another carefully planned public relations campaign by Visara would send these restless and lost people to fight in distant Australia. With no other communications to contradict them the populace would follow Visara's lead.

Immediately upon hearing the news of the expulsion of the Aborigines from Australia Visara portrayed the Terronians as monsters. Native Africans freely described them via radio as ‘evil whities,’ ‘imperialists,’ and ‘predators.’ They encouraged all those who felt as they did to join their brethren in crushing the Terronian devils. Little did they know this was precisely what Visara wanted them to do. Those with such irrational racisms would be removed from their society through this war; it was natural selection at its best. The fanatics who would potentially do harm to the Bjornoyans would instead likely die in distant Australia before they could do anything.

Not only this but the divisions composed primarily of native Africans would be sent to Australia leaving the more loyal and better trained Bjornoyan mainlanders to maintain the peace. This would prevent any subversive movements by certain members of the Bjornoyan Federal Army that might sympathize with the populace once it discovered what had happened.

Meanwhile the Bjornoyan specialists packed their bags and headed for Nigeria. One of the most densely populated region in Bjornoyan Africa it could become a potential hazard.