Athiesism
07-04-2006, 20:31
The
.......MERKAR
MERKAR
.......REPUBLIC
REPUBLIC
Information on the Merkar Republic
Population: 1 billion+
Adjective form: Merkari
Territory: The Merkar (ex-J'Kran) system, five planets, all terraformed, approximately 15 LY from Earth: two uninhabitable worlds in the Alpha Centauri system; owns an island chain on Earth
Government and capital:Digital democracy, no capital
Major cities:Earth: Athasism conurbation (former capital before 2021), population 103 million Merkar System- Planet Yiygovsken: New New York, pop 84 million; Proletaria, pop 60 million; Willemsben, pop 49 million Planet Fraconen: Unigrara, pop 31 million; Gartranumgrad, pop 26 million
Major landmarks: Planet J'kran, Mount Telium, height 53.9 kilometers; Planet Dvore, thermal boreholes reach plant core; Marketi in the Alpha Centauri system, massive lead pools on surface span hundreds of miles and change form with the seasons
Languages: English is official, and the main language; Russian is the largest foreign language spoken in Merkar, and some citizens still know native tongues
Religions: Atheism is only legal belief since Civil War of 2075
Currency: One of the only nations still using the United States Dollar
Main industries: Information Technology, Book Publishing,
Per Capita GNP: $40,000 in USD or Galactic Credits
History to 2075
This is only a bare overview of Merkari history. For more information on the period from 1545 to 2030, visit the old factbook (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=452919) or the Civil War of 2013 (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=443052) thread. For the well-written RP concerning the Civil War of 2075, the decisive event in this nation's history, go to this thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=453606). If you are curious about the J'kran Conquest, here (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=464224) This history isn’t meant to be interesting to read- it’s just here for RPers wanting to know something about Merkar. If you want to be entertained while learning about Merkari history, I’ve provided links above to some interesting threads.
The Merkar Republic was originally a group of three large islands in the East Pacific. Atheist English settlers, fleeing oppression in their home countries, landed here around 1545 and absorbed the native culture. They lived peacefully with the natives, who ended up becoming nearly entirely nonreligious despite the efforts of Christian missionaries that traveled through the region. A new British colony was founded here, called Athiesism, and become a haven for "freethinkers" and all types of oppressed and non-religious groups throughout its history. This resulted in a diverse and multilingual population, although the culture remained a mix of English and native attitudes. Although on paper part of the British Empire, it was de facto independent in most ways, and was eventually granted sovereignty for good in 1956. During the Cold War, this country was officially neutral, but became temporarily allied with the USSR in the late 50s. This caused a large influx of Russian citizens, and a great deal of military aid and doctrine was provided by the Soviets to equip the fledgling national army. (The USSR also used the nation as a "dumping ground" for several thousand of its rebellious Muslim citizens. They faced little hostility from the atheistic population, but maintained their religious beliefs, and some began to preach violence against what was, by religious standards, the extremely immoral society they were surrounded by.) Soon, though, the cold war heated up, causing a pro-Western shift.
The natural culture emphasizes hard work but not necessarily community spirit, resulting in an unusual competitive atmosphere that suited the country well when the onset of global capitalism arrived. Industrial espionage, openly supported by the government, allowed the country to avoid 20th century neo-imperialism and develop a powerful Information Technology industry to sustain itself. Some racism among natives was a problem until the early 21st century, although this rarely resulted in violence, and Athiesism was very progressive in the areas of gender equality and homosexual and animal rights. By 2005, the country had entered an era of prosperity, but received a startling blow in the short but destructive Civil War of 2013, resulting in such tragedies as the Mosk Massacre. This Civil War was caused by some militant Muslim groups that had been deported from the Soviet Union during its brief relationship with the nation during the Cold War. A large international coalition (which included Athiesism's closest ally at the time, the nation of Skycapt) was able to help the government forces crush the rebellion, and the economy recovered after a couple of years.
The nation was ready to begin a space program by 2021, but as it was ready to begin to build its first rockets, an alien race named the Eternals arrived and granted the people of Athiesism a no-strings-attached opportunity to own a planet of their own. As Earth was becoming increasingly polluted and unsafe, the national leadership accepted. The Eternals had come to find converts to their religion, and although they found many on Earth, most of Athiesism's population was not convinced. The new planet, christened Merkar, was located in the Alpha Centauri system, and colonization began immediately. About 10% of the 100-million plus citizens of the country opted to stay on Earth, where they have managed to deal with most pollution and crime problems that previously plagued this world.
Civil government ended in 2042, when an ultra-intelligent computer called the Mainframe was built to run the country. It quickly became somewhat of a sacred object, as it seemed to be perfectly logical and never made a mistake. It even possessed a limited capability to predict the future. The Mainframe functioned on a combination of exotic material and early-generation quantum mechanics, and was able to gather information about the world by receiving data on the starting state of the universe (the "Big Bang") and working forward from there until the present. Historical research was needed to see where the computer prototype went wrong and tweak the programming, until the unit was able to project an accurate picture of history and the present. This was a revolutionary development, but there was only one problem- the exotic material used in the construction of the CPU could not be reproduced after being used up, and if the Mainframe was destroyed it would be impossible to build a new one.
Around 2070, the Mainframe began to predict that one day in the distant future, theists across the universe would rise up and create a massive "armageddon war" that would destroy all life in existence. The only solution, it said, was to kill all theists. The Merkari government made plans in secret to do this, and prepared the extermination program for several years until the secret leaked by unknown means. This caused the theists of the Merkar Republic to rebel, resulting in the Civil War of 2075. The atheist government triumphed, outlawed all religion, and began to praise the Mainframe, deeming in infallible. The only problem was that the Mainframe had mysteriously shut itself down on the first day of the war, meaning that some human "scientists", who claimed to be able to interpret what the computer would do, were entrusted with leading the country. They had no official power, but were somewhat similar to religious leaders, and although the government is officially a digital pure democracy, these "religious leaders" have been given enough influence and trust from the populace to make them the real heads of state. Religion is illegal, and ever since the J'kran Conflict the government has pursued a very hostile foreign policy, often resulting in war, in relation to religious nations and groups. Although any Merkari will vehemently deny it, most outsiders claim that the nation follows a pseudo-religion of computer worship, and what was once an extremely open and logical society has become more conservative and emotion-based.
The Eternal aliens who had originally given these humans the planet Merkar began to dislike this. In the mid-22nd century, the planet fell out of orbit and its climate underwent extreme change, to the point of becoming uninhabitable. The decision was made to conquer the J'kran system of five earthlike worlds, all controlled by the empire of Spooty. Although the government could have bought the J'kran for a great sum of money, it had an axe to grind against the religious Spooty, and crushed this enemy military in a lightning campaign. The Eternals, after negotiating with the mainframe "scientists", decided to destroy the planet Merkar once and for all, and abandon its once-honored children living there. (Many hypothesize that the Eternals intentionally knocked Merkar out of orbit just to create a crisis and gain leverage to throw the mainframe scientists out of power. As the Eternals had designed the planet, it would not be surprising if they found a secret way to do this.)
Today, there is a belligerent empire residing in what was once the J'kran system, which they have renamed the Merkar system. What they are waiting for is a way to reconstruct their beloved Mainframe. What they will do with the present remains to be seen.
Origins of Culture, Mid 21st Century
Due to the slow conservative shift that has been taking place ever since the Civil War of 2075 and the emergence of "computer religion", the culture of the Republic today is somewhat different from what it once was. Here, we will lay down what the nation was like before this shift, a very unique, and some would say ironic, story.
The Merkar Republic was once an unbelievably open and wealthy land. Free market reigned triumphant, and although there was no sort of affirmative action available to help disadvantaged minorities, it was ensured that an equal and excellent education was given to everyone. In the Merkari view, affirmative action or positive discrimination was harmful, as it often ended up helping middle- and upper-class minorities, as even the most impoverished minorities were still mainly middle-class. Instead, legislation was enacted that helped lower-class citizens of all races advance, as opposed to all members of a specific race at the expense of the poorer elements of the majority. Other legislation led to gender wage equality, in the end giving female consumers enough purchasing power to deal with the age-old problems of cultural sex discrimination. Although similar laws were passed in first-world nations of the 20th century, they were not fully enforced, and so failed to resolve the issue.
The early natives of Athiesism had passed on their individualistic nature to European colonists, which resulted in a every-man-for-himself competitive culture that suited the people well in the business world. By the mid-21st century, the negative aspects of individualism, like laziness and selfishness, had been eliminated by the Mainframe's directive. This was probably the golden age of the Merkar Republic, and lasted for a mere two decades before the genius of the computer that had played such a large part in its creation was to bring it all down.
Life in the "early republic" era
This section deals with the experience of common citizens in the period between 2021 and 2075. It is meant to reveal why the nation's people considered themselves part of the best society ever created by humankind.
The first settlers in 2021 had the advantage of all of the many technological devices that their local industry had been able to develop. Virtual reality was a prime form of entertainment, although many people also pursued bodily activities like sports and socialization. The nation's virtual reality network was not yet developed enough to allow people to live their entire lives on computer, which meant that it was still necessary to work and provide for yourself and family.
As automation had taken over all manufacturing jobs, anyone who worked held some kind of office position. People worked from their homes, completing tasks using their computers and PDAs. Workdays were usually undefined, but it was typically necessary to stay on your job for 12 hours or more (Merkaris are hard workers, and have no problem with this as long as the salaries are very large). If they wished to go somewhere for recreation, they would use the extensive government-subsidized maglev network. No one owned a private vehicle unless they needed to travel to remote places out of reach of this network, and most of these owners where leadership officials.
Of course, the very first people arriving at Merkar had to make to with pre-fab housing and only crude industry. But the Eternal aliens who had provided the planet possessed extremely advanced technology, and where able to finish building the infrastructure in less than a year. Government, too, evolved during this period. Initially, it depended on 20th-century style representative democracy. An educated electorate and extreme scrutiny of leader's private lives prevented the government from becoming too corrupt and incompetent, and because the entire country was run by a 25-member elected politburo, it was an efficient and fairly transparent system. The politburo seats were awarded based on an interesting system. The top 25 vote-getters would receive seats, and political parties could split the votes that they received among their different candidates however they liked. This means that even a small party could get someone into office by placing all of their votes on one candidate, allowing a diversity in political views absent in places like America and Britain at that time. This representative process transitioned into a pure democracy as technology improved to allow it. A president was still elected to take charge of the nation in time of emergency, but had no power in ordinary situations.
Children were raised to work, as has always been this nation's tradition. Merkaris consider most first-world countries as being too lax in what they expect their youth to achieve, and will constantly push their kids to go as far as they can. Parents rarely perform corporal punishment on anything but lazy children, although they emphasize education, intelligence, initiative, and work ethic. This would be considered brutal by parents in other wealthy cultures at the time, who preferred that children not be punished severely, if at all, for procrastination or complaining that they receive too much work. Not only that, but they are usually home schooled, and are made to catch on quickly to the fast pace of learning this creates. Merkari children become intellectually mature around their mid teens, and then begin to work on their college degrees. The government spent much of its meager budget on allowing any citizen who can't afford it a full-ride scholarship to the best university they could get into. It spent just under half of its budget on financing this.
As the government was always highly supportive of business, taxes were low. A flat tax of under about 10% was applied to both individuals and corporations, although the exact percentage amount fluctuated from year to year, once reaching as high as 11%, another time as low as 3%. Almost all funding went into make-work programs, providing free college admission to anyone who couldn't afford it, and maintaining the military. As virtually all children were home schooled, usually self-taught for the most part, there was no need to spend money on building and maintaining schools. Most services were controlled by powerful corporate monopolies, which were punished harshly for breaking the law, but still abused their power often. The main thing where this kind of "small government" concept failed was in the area of law and order.
The Merkari culture's focus on individuality created both outstanding businessmen and ruthless criminals. The under-funded police force was unable to control crime, and it was impossible to give them decent equipment without raising the tax rate. Occasional attempts were made to privatize the police force, but these schemes never went well. The only way the government had any leverage over massive organized crime syndicates and omnipotent mega-corporations was by means of its large conscript army.
Merkar, at this point, had never needed to fight in anything other than self-defense, or as part of a humanitarian mission against a much weaker enemy state, and so relied on large amounts of motivated draftees to defend itself. The ancient Merkari manhood ritual, or Caractesh, requires young men to be challenged before reaching adulthood. This is the purpose that universal conscription served, and although the specifics differed from year to year, usually all 18-22 year olds were called up to serve a year or more in the army, space marines, navy, or support services. Military service to a Merkari is seen as honorable and necessary (as opposed to the way this establishment is treated in other first-world countries), which meant that morale was rarely a serious problem. The armed forces depended on a high-low mix- millions of green conscripts and reservists backed up by a very small but efficient officer corps, brought together by the latest in technologically advanced weaponry. Although difficult to fund at times, this expensive-cheap mix was able to keep together a powerful and exceptionally large fighting force. Boot camp for these conscripts was, and is, brutal as any, but an essential element of the Caractesh.
As the society began to finally satisfy itself on the material level, it began to think more about philosophical issues. Often, philosophy is given a bad name by people who argue over such arbitrary and subjective issues like "what is the purpose of life?" and the validity of fatalism. But, as computing became more developed, it became practical to set a goal for the world and work out a logical solution to all of the problems in the way of that goal. It was agreed by most that the purpose of life was to provide the greatest possible happiness to all living things, and finding a way to compute a path toward this goal necessitated a logical and unbiased leader. The only solution seemed to lie in a computer- the Mainframe.
Construction of the Mainframe
This project was just a culmination of work that had been ongoing since the turn of the 21st century. By 2015, Athiesism's scientists had put together the intelligent thinking computer AURORA, but they lacked the philosophical base upon which to set a purpose for the computer. As a result, AURORA was used mainly for mundane tasks like predicting weather, or resolving simple disputes. It could not make sophisticated moral judgments, not out of a lack of capability, but simply because no one could agree what exactly morals should be. In particular, it was difficult for Athiesism's conservatives to allow things like nudism and genetic experimentation that the scientists wished should be allowed under this moral system. But was really preventing consensus was intense political partisanism and like phenomena that were giving members of different groups unrealistically negative views of everyone else.
Powerful computers like these were expensive to build, and the AURORA project was not expanded upon, and remained a curiosity until 2042. At that time, a general consensus had been reached as to what the problem was. Since before the 20th-century, emotion had been the guiding force behind politics. People would create songs, write books, and find other ways to bash opposing groups. It was considered dishonorable to admit that you where wrong, even though most people paid lip service to conceding error. Whatever sounded good and was politically correct became acceptable to the masses. Anything that was morally ambiguous was covered up an ignored. For example, in the 20th century, many people in poorer countries became de facto or de jure slaves in sweatshops that produced low-priced goods for first world consumption. Although most people in the first world knew that this was happening, they did nothing to stop it, even though they claimed themselves the champions of liberty and equality. A similar situation applied to animal rights, specifically the practice of raising animals in hellish conditions in order to provide meat for humans. Banning sweatshops would cause most consumer goods to triple in price, and promoting animal rights would be difficult for meat-eaters to accept. As these issues were morally ambiguous, the first world media ignored them, lest it make its viewers and customers feel guilty.
The people of the Merkar Republic finally decided that politics was for logic, and not emotion. The only question left to answer was, "if we only listen to what we consider logic, then what are we supposed to do with our lives? What is the purpose of life?" It was an arbitrary issue, but rather than enter into a prolonged and pointless debate it was agreed that the purpose of life would be to increase the happiness of all conscious living things as much as possible (the exact measurement of this happiness being done by studying brain chemistry). Doing this lead to actions that would be considered ridiculous by people of earlier centuries, like allowing criminals to get away with crimes in the very rare instances where the criminal caused more pleasure for himself than pain to others, forcibly implanting "happy chips" into minds of unwilling citizens that improved their mood, totally eliminating the right to privacy, or allowing public nudism and other "sexually immoral" acts. But all that mattered to Merkar was that, at last, an objective definition of morality had been agreed on.
The construction and design of the hardware and software took only three and a half years. Prototypes for similar thinking machines had already been built, and very advanced CAD (Computer Assisted Design) and nanorobotics made it possible to get the project done within such a short time span. Some ultra-rare exotic material was needed to power the CPU (central processing unit) and ensure that it could maintain such a high rate of calculation. Although the CPU was able to recycle this material, if the Mainframe was ever powered down, the exotic material would run through the circuits without being able to regenerate, and would be expended almost instantly. As the material was so rare that all known reserves where put into building this computer, if it was destroyed then it would be impossible to rebuild.
None of this deterred anyone, and the Mainframe computer was built near the government building complex in what was then the capital, Republic City. Although there were was no longer a congress, cabinet or real government, Republic City was a national capital only in the sense that it hosted the Mainframe. The government complex was meager, and mainly consisted of offices for military leaders. Every day, almost every citizen in the nation filed through their local "processing station", where they were informed via neurochemistry about the Mainframe's advice for them. (It was not illegal to not be present every day, although a tax penalty was imposed if you did not attend). The computer also extracted information and analyzed it (Merkaris have never been big on privacy). It has already been said how the computer studied history and also gained information on cause-and-effect analysis. All this meant that the computer was able to quickly and efficiently ascertain the best course for the country to follow with regard to the aforementioned "greatest possible happiness for every living thing" goal. It would very occasionally make mistakes, never through fault of its own, but always through lack of information- this is why many people say that it has never erred. Overall, Merkaris considered it their greatest achievement.
Influence upon society, 2042 to 2075
With a moral base finally secure along with a competent form of leadership, it seemed that Merkar's problems were solved forever. Assisting the community now became more important than self-advancement, and the once-high crime rate slowly dropped to low levels. Wealth, political freedom, and civil rights advanced apace.
Although emotion was no longer the main force behind politics, it found many other outlets, like poetry and literature. But there were no more political party slogans, TV ads, speeches, or other psychological tactics. In its place came self-criticism and a rejection of jingoism, political correctness, and countless similar ways of life. There was no longer any reason to conform, and Merkaris took full advantage of this. As an example, Merkar was one of the only nudist nations in the universe. Sexual repression simply did not exist, bisexual relations were as common as heterosexual ones, and Maglev trains sometimes erupted in orgies by the time they reached their destination. This lack of taboo is very similar to the practices of ancient Greece, where there was a similar lack of sexual barriers. Most other countries considered this disgusting, but ever since the time of old Athiesism non-conformism has been a Merkari trait.
There were no laws at all regulating marriage, and people engaged in all sorts of relationships. Some married their pets, cars, or themselves. This brought with it no legal ramifications, although the Mainframe handled law and order and would order what it saw fit to resolve any problems that arose.
An interesting part of this ability to settle legal disputes is evident in the handling of corruption or immorality by those in power. Often, the Mainframe ordered citizens to harass corporate officials that did things like abuse workers and pilfer money. In most countries, allowing this kind of assault would cause a violent rampage by poorly-informed "hippie" teenagers wanting to harm anyone related to business at the expense of free enterprise, but the computer made sure that emotions were kept in check.
Lacking a human leadership, the Merkar Republic was seen by outsiders as a headless state run by an emotionless robot, impossible to communicate or engage in diplomacy with. As a result, military officials, usually the head of the most senior service, the Space Navy, were the ones foreign nations came to when seeking dialogue with the country. This gave the impression to most outsiders that the military held most of the power in the Republic, although this is probably untrue. The Space Navy, Army, Space Marines, and Support Services (all four branches of the armed forces) never played an important role in politics, but they did play an important role in maintaining the government's stability in the face of threats from corporations and crime syndicates. It could not perform this mission all the time, however, because every cent spent on policing duties was a cent not going into training. This initially left an under funded police force swamped by great amounts of crime, but after a few years the new "community spirit" philosophy, and the Mainframe's excellent planning, became powerful enough to convert people away from gangs and murdering.
It must be said here that the government (synonymous with the Mainframe) was not all knowing. It had to sort through massive amounts of contradictory and inadequate information, and was not nearly as perfect as the current "computer worshipper" rulers of Merkar would like you to believe. But it was able to convince the population that it was the one and only source of intelligence in the universe. A major part of the "philosophical revolution" of 2042 was that emotion was not a substitute for logic, and that charismatic leaders, conformism, partisanism, and close-mindedness where no longer acceptable. But charisma, conformism, and close-mindedness where just what the Mainframe engendered with its seeming perfection. All that was needed was a return of the demagogues to take advantage of the people’s willingness to commit themselves to this machine.
The Civil War of 2075
Years before the start of the war, the Mainframe made a terrifying prediction. Through a yet-to-be-refuted and highly complicated cause-and-effect analysis, the theists of the Merkar Republic where to rise up one day in the future and start a war that would eradicate all living things in the universe. The only way to prevent this, it continued, was to kill all religious citizens of the Republic now. Reluctantly, the military and human government, the only ones to hear of this, began a secret project to carry out this massacre. However, the secret leaked somehow in 2075, which resulted in the theists taking up arms and creating a civil war, assisted by many other star empires that came to their side. The rebellion was crushed by the government, which now needed something to take the place of the Mainframe in the hearts of the Merkari people. That thing was a kind of organized religion, where a group of “scientists” who believed that they were able to understand the inner workings of logic stepped up in the computer’s stead. Widespread rioting shook the nation as the war went on, as no one knew who was on whose side. But a military regime was established under Colonel Ibrahim Abdullah that was considered the new official government. Abdullah later handed over his posts to the scientists. The people of Merkar insisted on a representative democracy in the aftermath of the war, but the Mainframe scientists gained such great respect that they where the de facto leaders of the country.
2075 to Present
Even though emotion was becoming the main motivator behind politics, it still took some time for a return of conservatism to sink in. Over time, the nation’s character took a different from as what the government said became accepted as truth without question. At first, there were only a few noticeable effects of this, but it did not take long for small things to begin to change. The nation’s political commentary books, many of which once read like technical manuals, became infused with vicious attacks and one-sided evaluations, lacking in self-criticism. Public nudity was no longer acceptable at formal gatherings, where expensive clothing like business suits had to be worn. (Merkari culture previously believed that excessive attention to one’s own appearance was a sign of arrogance, and requirements for expensive clothing and manners a result of upper-class snobbery that was meant to bar poorer classes from advancement.) Calling this a revolutionary change would be considered absurd to most other cultures, which have always practiced emotion-based reasoning and cultural taboo. But if someone from pre-Civil War Merkar had seen what was going on during this new period, they would have trouble realizing that this was their own country.
By 2145, this transition had somewhat halted. The government stopped just short of legalizing killing animals for food and outlawing homosexuality- the “scientists” had nearly convinced the people otherwise by means of somewhat unscientific experiments. However, accepting emotion for truth still happens frequently, as when one is devoted to a cause or religion, one tends to modify the facts in order to comfort oneself. This was done frequently in the 20th and early 21st centuries in all human cultures, and it had now returned to Merkar. At least now the “computer priests” found it difficult to continue to spread their beliefs internally, and instead wanted to expand outwards.
In the first few paragraphs of this history, it has already been described how the J’kran Conquest came into being. Although the democratically elected civilian president, Ontian York, wanted a peaceful solution, he was powerless to oppose the pro-Mainframe population, and dissolved the government for good, turning it into a digital pure democracy. It was all he could do, as otherwise the Mainframe supporters would likely seize the government in a coup. The Space Navy seized the J’kran system, and transported its population there before the planet Merkar was consumed by its sun.
Ever since this first conquest, the Merkar Republic has existed in a state of enmity with its theistic neighbors. Its people still mean well, being champions human rights and political freedom. It could certainly not be called a conservative state by the standards of the rest of the galaxy. Religion is officially illegal, and any Merkari will be deeply insulted if you called him or her a theist. But there is one important difference between what it once was and what it is now- some day, Merkar will show the world that its first conquest of territory is not its last.
.......MERKAR
MERKAR
.......REPUBLIC
REPUBLIC
Information on the Merkar Republic
Population: 1 billion+
Adjective form: Merkari
Territory: The Merkar (ex-J'Kran) system, five planets, all terraformed, approximately 15 LY from Earth: two uninhabitable worlds in the Alpha Centauri system; owns an island chain on Earth
Government and capital:Digital democracy, no capital
Major cities:Earth: Athasism conurbation (former capital before 2021), population 103 million Merkar System- Planet Yiygovsken: New New York, pop 84 million; Proletaria, pop 60 million; Willemsben, pop 49 million Planet Fraconen: Unigrara, pop 31 million; Gartranumgrad, pop 26 million
Major landmarks: Planet J'kran, Mount Telium, height 53.9 kilometers; Planet Dvore, thermal boreholes reach plant core; Marketi in the Alpha Centauri system, massive lead pools on surface span hundreds of miles and change form with the seasons
Languages: English is official, and the main language; Russian is the largest foreign language spoken in Merkar, and some citizens still know native tongues
Religions: Atheism is only legal belief since Civil War of 2075
Currency: One of the only nations still using the United States Dollar
Main industries: Information Technology, Book Publishing,
Per Capita GNP: $40,000 in USD or Galactic Credits
History to 2075
This is only a bare overview of Merkari history. For more information on the period from 1545 to 2030, visit the old factbook (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=452919) or the Civil War of 2013 (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=443052) thread. For the well-written RP concerning the Civil War of 2075, the decisive event in this nation's history, go to this thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=453606). If you are curious about the J'kran Conquest, here (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=464224) This history isn’t meant to be interesting to read- it’s just here for RPers wanting to know something about Merkar. If you want to be entertained while learning about Merkari history, I’ve provided links above to some interesting threads.
The Merkar Republic was originally a group of three large islands in the East Pacific. Atheist English settlers, fleeing oppression in their home countries, landed here around 1545 and absorbed the native culture. They lived peacefully with the natives, who ended up becoming nearly entirely nonreligious despite the efforts of Christian missionaries that traveled through the region. A new British colony was founded here, called Athiesism, and become a haven for "freethinkers" and all types of oppressed and non-religious groups throughout its history. This resulted in a diverse and multilingual population, although the culture remained a mix of English and native attitudes. Although on paper part of the British Empire, it was de facto independent in most ways, and was eventually granted sovereignty for good in 1956. During the Cold War, this country was officially neutral, but became temporarily allied with the USSR in the late 50s. This caused a large influx of Russian citizens, and a great deal of military aid and doctrine was provided by the Soviets to equip the fledgling national army. (The USSR also used the nation as a "dumping ground" for several thousand of its rebellious Muslim citizens. They faced little hostility from the atheistic population, but maintained their religious beliefs, and some began to preach violence against what was, by religious standards, the extremely immoral society they were surrounded by.) Soon, though, the cold war heated up, causing a pro-Western shift.
The natural culture emphasizes hard work but not necessarily community spirit, resulting in an unusual competitive atmosphere that suited the country well when the onset of global capitalism arrived. Industrial espionage, openly supported by the government, allowed the country to avoid 20th century neo-imperialism and develop a powerful Information Technology industry to sustain itself. Some racism among natives was a problem until the early 21st century, although this rarely resulted in violence, and Athiesism was very progressive in the areas of gender equality and homosexual and animal rights. By 2005, the country had entered an era of prosperity, but received a startling blow in the short but destructive Civil War of 2013, resulting in such tragedies as the Mosk Massacre. This Civil War was caused by some militant Muslim groups that had been deported from the Soviet Union during its brief relationship with the nation during the Cold War. A large international coalition (which included Athiesism's closest ally at the time, the nation of Skycapt) was able to help the government forces crush the rebellion, and the economy recovered after a couple of years.
The nation was ready to begin a space program by 2021, but as it was ready to begin to build its first rockets, an alien race named the Eternals arrived and granted the people of Athiesism a no-strings-attached opportunity to own a planet of their own. As Earth was becoming increasingly polluted and unsafe, the national leadership accepted. The Eternals had come to find converts to their religion, and although they found many on Earth, most of Athiesism's population was not convinced. The new planet, christened Merkar, was located in the Alpha Centauri system, and colonization began immediately. About 10% of the 100-million plus citizens of the country opted to stay on Earth, where they have managed to deal with most pollution and crime problems that previously plagued this world.
Civil government ended in 2042, when an ultra-intelligent computer called the Mainframe was built to run the country. It quickly became somewhat of a sacred object, as it seemed to be perfectly logical and never made a mistake. It even possessed a limited capability to predict the future. The Mainframe functioned on a combination of exotic material and early-generation quantum mechanics, and was able to gather information about the world by receiving data on the starting state of the universe (the "Big Bang") and working forward from there until the present. Historical research was needed to see where the computer prototype went wrong and tweak the programming, until the unit was able to project an accurate picture of history and the present. This was a revolutionary development, but there was only one problem- the exotic material used in the construction of the CPU could not be reproduced after being used up, and if the Mainframe was destroyed it would be impossible to build a new one.
Around 2070, the Mainframe began to predict that one day in the distant future, theists across the universe would rise up and create a massive "armageddon war" that would destroy all life in existence. The only solution, it said, was to kill all theists. The Merkari government made plans in secret to do this, and prepared the extermination program for several years until the secret leaked by unknown means. This caused the theists of the Merkar Republic to rebel, resulting in the Civil War of 2075. The atheist government triumphed, outlawed all religion, and began to praise the Mainframe, deeming in infallible. The only problem was that the Mainframe had mysteriously shut itself down on the first day of the war, meaning that some human "scientists", who claimed to be able to interpret what the computer would do, were entrusted with leading the country. They had no official power, but were somewhat similar to religious leaders, and although the government is officially a digital pure democracy, these "religious leaders" have been given enough influence and trust from the populace to make them the real heads of state. Religion is illegal, and ever since the J'kran Conflict the government has pursued a very hostile foreign policy, often resulting in war, in relation to religious nations and groups. Although any Merkari will vehemently deny it, most outsiders claim that the nation follows a pseudo-religion of computer worship, and what was once an extremely open and logical society has become more conservative and emotion-based.
The Eternal aliens who had originally given these humans the planet Merkar began to dislike this. In the mid-22nd century, the planet fell out of orbit and its climate underwent extreme change, to the point of becoming uninhabitable. The decision was made to conquer the J'kran system of five earthlike worlds, all controlled by the empire of Spooty. Although the government could have bought the J'kran for a great sum of money, it had an axe to grind against the religious Spooty, and crushed this enemy military in a lightning campaign. The Eternals, after negotiating with the mainframe "scientists", decided to destroy the planet Merkar once and for all, and abandon its once-honored children living there. (Many hypothesize that the Eternals intentionally knocked Merkar out of orbit just to create a crisis and gain leverage to throw the mainframe scientists out of power. As the Eternals had designed the planet, it would not be surprising if they found a secret way to do this.)
Today, there is a belligerent empire residing in what was once the J'kran system, which they have renamed the Merkar system. What they are waiting for is a way to reconstruct their beloved Mainframe. What they will do with the present remains to be seen.
Origins of Culture, Mid 21st Century
Due to the slow conservative shift that has been taking place ever since the Civil War of 2075 and the emergence of "computer religion", the culture of the Republic today is somewhat different from what it once was. Here, we will lay down what the nation was like before this shift, a very unique, and some would say ironic, story.
The Merkar Republic was once an unbelievably open and wealthy land. Free market reigned triumphant, and although there was no sort of affirmative action available to help disadvantaged minorities, it was ensured that an equal and excellent education was given to everyone. In the Merkari view, affirmative action or positive discrimination was harmful, as it often ended up helping middle- and upper-class minorities, as even the most impoverished minorities were still mainly middle-class. Instead, legislation was enacted that helped lower-class citizens of all races advance, as opposed to all members of a specific race at the expense of the poorer elements of the majority. Other legislation led to gender wage equality, in the end giving female consumers enough purchasing power to deal with the age-old problems of cultural sex discrimination. Although similar laws were passed in first-world nations of the 20th century, they were not fully enforced, and so failed to resolve the issue.
The early natives of Athiesism had passed on their individualistic nature to European colonists, which resulted in a every-man-for-himself competitive culture that suited the people well in the business world. By the mid-21st century, the negative aspects of individualism, like laziness and selfishness, had been eliminated by the Mainframe's directive. This was probably the golden age of the Merkar Republic, and lasted for a mere two decades before the genius of the computer that had played such a large part in its creation was to bring it all down.
Life in the "early republic" era
This section deals with the experience of common citizens in the period between 2021 and 2075. It is meant to reveal why the nation's people considered themselves part of the best society ever created by humankind.
The first settlers in 2021 had the advantage of all of the many technological devices that their local industry had been able to develop. Virtual reality was a prime form of entertainment, although many people also pursued bodily activities like sports and socialization. The nation's virtual reality network was not yet developed enough to allow people to live their entire lives on computer, which meant that it was still necessary to work and provide for yourself and family.
As automation had taken over all manufacturing jobs, anyone who worked held some kind of office position. People worked from their homes, completing tasks using their computers and PDAs. Workdays were usually undefined, but it was typically necessary to stay on your job for 12 hours or more (Merkaris are hard workers, and have no problem with this as long as the salaries are very large). If they wished to go somewhere for recreation, they would use the extensive government-subsidized maglev network. No one owned a private vehicle unless they needed to travel to remote places out of reach of this network, and most of these owners where leadership officials.
Of course, the very first people arriving at Merkar had to make to with pre-fab housing and only crude industry. But the Eternal aliens who had provided the planet possessed extremely advanced technology, and where able to finish building the infrastructure in less than a year. Government, too, evolved during this period. Initially, it depended on 20th-century style representative democracy. An educated electorate and extreme scrutiny of leader's private lives prevented the government from becoming too corrupt and incompetent, and because the entire country was run by a 25-member elected politburo, it was an efficient and fairly transparent system. The politburo seats were awarded based on an interesting system. The top 25 vote-getters would receive seats, and political parties could split the votes that they received among their different candidates however they liked. This means that even a small party could get someone into office by placing all of their votes on one candidate, allowing a diversity in political views absent in places like America and Britain at that time. This representative process transitioned into a pure democracy as technology improved to allow it. A president was still elected to take charge of the nation in time of emergency, but had no power in ordinary situations.
Children were raised to work, as has always been this nation's tradition. Merkaris consider most first-world countries as being too lax in what they expect their youth to achieve, and will constantly push their kids to go as far as they can. Parents rarely perform corporal punishment on anything but lazy children, although they emphasize education, intelligence, initiative, and work ethic. This would be considered brutal by parents in other wealthy cultures at the time, who preferred that children not be punished severely, if at all, for procrastination or complaining that they receive too much work. Not only that, but they are usually home schooled, and are made to catch on quickly to the fast pace of learning this creates. Merkari children become intellectually mature around their mid teens, and then begin to work on their college degrees. The government spent much of its meager budget on allowing any citizen who can't afford it a full-ride scholarship to the best university they could get into. It spent just under half of its budget on financing this.
As the government was always highly supportive of business, taxes were low. A flat tax of under about 10% was applied to both individuals and corporations, although the exact percentage amount fluctuated from year to year, once reaching as high as 11%, another time as low as 3%. Almost all funding went into make-work programs, providing free college admission to anyone who couldn't afford it, and maintaining the military. As virtually all children were home schooled, usually self-taught for the most part, there was no need to spend money on building and maintaining schools. Most services were controlled by powerful corporate monopolies, which were punished harshly for breaking the law, but still abused their power often. The main thing where this kind of "small government" concept failed was in the area of law and order.
The Merkari culture's focus on individuality created both outstanding businessmen and ruthless criminals. The under-funded police force was unable to control crime, and it was impossible to give them decent equipment without raising the tax rate. Occasional attempts were made to privatize the police force, but these schemes never went well. The only way the government had any leverage over massive organized crime syndicates and omnipotent mega-corporations was by means of its large conscript army.
Merkar, at this point, had never needed to fight in anything other than self-defense, or as part of a humanitarian mission against a much weaker enemy state, and so relied on large amounts of motivated draftees to defend itself. The ancient Merkari manhood ritual, or Caractesh, requires young men to be challenged before reaching adulthood. This is the purpose that universal conscription served, and although the specifics differed from year to year, usually all 18-22 year olds were called up to serve a year or more in the army, space marines, navy, or support services. Military service to a Merkari is seen as honorable and necessary (as opposed to the way this establishment is treated in other first-world countries), which meant that morale was rarely a serious problem. The armed forces depended on a high-low mix- millions of green conscripts and reservists backed up by a very small but efficient officer corps, brought together by the latest in technologically advanced weaponry. Although difficult to fund at times, this expensive-cheap mix was able to keep together a powerful and exceptionally large fighting force. Boot camp for these conscripts was, and is, brutal as any, but an essential element of the Caractesh.
As the society began to finally satisfy itself on the material level, it began to think more about philosophical issues. Often, philosophy is given a bad name by people who argue over such arbitrary and subjective issues like "what is the purpose of life?" and the validity of fatalism. But, as computing became more developed, it became practical to set a goal for the world and work out a logical solution to all of the problems in the way of that goal. It was agreed by most that the purpose of life was to provide the greatest possible happiness to all living things, and finding a way to compute a path toward this goal necessitated a logical and unbiased leader. The only solution seemed to lie in a computer- the Mainframe.
Construction of the Mainframe
This project was just a culmination of work that had been ongoing since the turn of the 21st century. By 2015, Athiesism's scientists had put together the intelligent thinking computer AURORA, but they lacked the philosophical base upon which to set a purpose for the computer. As a result, AURORA was used mainly for mundane tasks like predicting weather, or resolving simple disputes. It could not make sophisticated moral judgments, not out of a lack of capability, but simply because no one could agree what exactly morals should be. In particular, it was difficult for Athiesism's conservatives to allow things like nudism and genetic experimentation that the scientists wished should be allowed under this moral system. But was really preventing consensus was intense political partisanism and like phenomena that were giving members of different groups unrealistically negative views of everyone else.
Powerful computers like these were expensive to build, and the AURORA project was not expanded upon, and remained a curiosity until 2042. At that time, a general consensus had been reached as to what the problem was. Since before the 20th-century, emotion had been the guiding force behind politics. People would create songs, write books, and find other ways to bash opposing groups. It was considered dishonorable to admit that you where wrong, even though most people paid lip service to conceding error. Whatever sounded good and was politically correct became acceptable to the masses. Anything that was morally ambiguous was covered up an ignored. For example, in the 20th century, many people in poorer countries became de facto or de jure slaves in sweatshops that produced low-priced goods for first world consumption. Although most people in the first world knew that this was happening, they did nothing to stop it, even though they claimed themselves the champions of liberty and equality. A similar situation applied to animal rights, specifically the practice of raising animals in hellish conditions in order to provide meat for humans. Banning sweatshops would cause most consumer goods to triple in price, and promoting animal rights would be difficult for meat-eaters to accept. As these issues were morally ambiguous, the first world media ignored them, lest it make its viewers and customers feel guilty.
The people of the Merkar Republic finally decided that politics was for logic, and not emotion. The only question left to answer was, "if we only listen to what we consider logic, then what are we supposed to do with our lives? What is the purpose of life?" It was an arbitrary issue, but rather than enter into a prolonged and pointless debate it was agreed that the purpose of life would be to increase the happiness of all conscious living things as much as possible (the exact measurement of this happiness being done by studying brain chemistry). Doing this lead to actions that would be considered ridiculous by people of earlier centuries, like allowing criminals to get away with crimes in the very rare instances where the criminal caused more pleasure for himself than pain to others, forcibly implanting "happy chips" into minds of unwilling citizens that improved their mood, totally eliminating the right to privacy, or allowing public nudism and other "sexually immoral" acts. But all that mattered to Merkar was that, at last, an objective definition of morality had been agreed on.
The construction and design of the hardware and software took only three and a half years. Prototypes for similar thinking machines had already been built, and very advanced CAD (Computer Assisted Design) and nanorobotics made it possible to get the project done within such a short time span. Some ultra-rare exotic material was needed to power the CPU (central processing unit) and ensure that it could maintain such a high rate of calculation. Although the CPU was able to recycle this material, if the Mainframe was ever powered down, the exotic material would run through the circuits without being able to regenerate, and would be expended almost instantly. As the material was so rare that all known reserves where put into building this computer, if it was destroyed then it would be impossible to rebuild.
None of this deterred anyone, and the Mainframe computer was built near the government building complex in what was then the capital, Republic City. Although there were was no longer a congress, cabinet or real government, Republic City was a national capital only in the sense that it hosted the Mainframe. The government complex was meager, and mainly consisted of offices for military leaders. Every day, almost every citizen in the nation filed through their local "processing station", where they were informed via neurochemistry about the Mainframe's advice for them. (It was not illegal to not be present every day, although a tax penalty was imposed if you did not attend). The computer also extracted information and analyzed it (Merkaris have never been big on privacy). It has already been said how the computer studied history and also gained information on cause-and-effect analysis. All this meant that the computer was able to quickly and efficiently ascertain the best course for the country to follow with regard to the aforementioned "greatest possible happiness for every living thing" goal. It would very occasionally make mistakes, never through fault of its own, but always through lack of information- this is why many people say that it has never erred. Overall, Merkaris considered it their greatest achievement.
Influence upon society, 2042 to 2075
With a moral base finally secure along with a competent form of leadership, it seemed that Merkar's problems were solved forever. Assisting the community now became more important than self-advancement, and the once-high crime rate slowly dropped to low levels. Wealth, political freedom, and civil rights advanced apace.
Although emotion was no longer the main force behind politics, it found many other outlets, like poetry and literature. But there were no more political party slogans, TV ads, speeches, or other psychological tactics. In its place came self-criticism and a rejection of jingoism, political correctness, and countless similar ways of life. There was no longer any reason to conform, and Merkaris took full advantage of this. As an example, Merkar was one of the only nudist nations in the universe. Sexual repression simply did not exist, bisexual relations were as common as heterosexual ones, and Maglev trains sometimes erupted in orgies by the time they reached their destination. This lack of taboo is very similar to the practices of ancient Greece, where there was a similar lack of sexual barriers. Most other countries considered this disgusting, but ever since the time of old Athiesism non-conformism has been a Merkari trait.
There were no laws at all regulating marriage, and people engaged in all sorts of relationships. Some married their pets, cars, or themselves. This brought with it no legal ramifications, although the Mainframe handled law and order and would order what it saw fit to resolve any problems that arose.
An interesting part of this ability to settle legal disputes is evident in the handling of corruption or immorality by those in power. Often, the Mainframe ordered citizens to harass corporate officials that did things like abuse workers and pilfer money. In most countries, allowing this kind of assault would cause a violent rampage by poorly-informed "hippie" teenagers wanting to harm anyone related to business at the expense of free enterprise, but the computer made sure that emotions were kept in check.
Lacking a human leadership, the Merkar Republic was seen by outsiders as a headless state run by an emotionless robot, impossible to communicate or engage in diplomacy with. As a result, military officials, usually the head of the most senior service, the Space Navy, were the ones foreign nations came to when seeking dialogue with the country. This gave the impression to most outsiders that the military held most of the power in the Republic, although this is probably untrue. The Space Navy, Army, Space Marines, and Support Services (all four branches of the armed forces) never played an important role in politics, but they did play an important role in maintaining the government's stability in the face of threats from corporations and crime syndicates. It could not perform this mission all the time, however, because every cent spent on policing duties was a cent not going into training. This initially left an under funded police force swamped by great amounts of crime, but after a few years the new "community spirit" philosophy, and the Mainframe's excellent planning, became powerful enough to convert people away from gangs and murdering.
It must be said here that the government (synonymous with the Mainframe) was not all knowing. It had to sort through massive amounts of contradictory and inadequate information, and was not nearly as perfect as the current "computer worshipper" rulers of Merkar would like you to believe. But it was able to convince the population that it was the one and only source of intelligence in the universe. A major part of the "philosophical revolution" of 2042 was that emotion was not a substitute for logic, and that charismatic leaders, conformism, partisanism, and close-mindedness where no longer acceptable. But charisma, conformism, and close-mindedness where just what the Mainframe engendered with its seeming perfection. All that was needed was a return of the demagogues to take advantage of the people’s willingness to commit themselves to this machine.
The Civil War of 2075
Years before the start of the war, the Mainframe made a terrifying prediction. Through a yet-to-be-refuted and highly complicated cause-and-effect analysis, the theists of the Merkar Republic where to rise up one day in the future and start a war that would eradicate all living things in the universe. The only way to prevent this, it continued, was to kill all religious citizens of the Republic now. Reluctantly, the military and human government, the only ones to hear of this, began a secret project to carry out this massacre. However, the secret leaked somehow in 2075, which resulted in the theists taking up arms and creating a civil war, assisted by many other star empires that came to their side. The rebellion was crushed by the government, which now needed something to take the place of the Mainframe in the hearts of the Merkari people. That thing was a kind of organized religion, where a group of “scientists” who believed that they were able to understand the inner workings of logic stepped up in the computer’s stead. Widespread rioting shook the nation as the war went on, as no one knew who was on whose side. But a military regime was established under Colonel Ibrahim Abdullah that was considered the new official government. Abdullah later handed over his posts to the scientists. The people of Merkar insisted on a representative democracy in the aftermath of the war, but the Mainframe scientists gained such great respect that they where the de facto leaders of the country.
2075 to Present
Even though emotion was becoming the main motivator behind politics, it still took some time for a return of conservatism to sink in. Over time, the nation’s character took a different from as what the government said became accepted as truth without question. At first, there were only a few noticeable effects of this, but it did not take long for small things to begin to change. The nation’s political commentary books, many of which once read like technical manuals, became infused with vicious attacks and one-sided evaluations, lacking in self-criticism. Public nudity was no longer acceptable at formal gatherings, where expensive clothing like business suits had to be worn. (Merkari culture previously believed that excessive attention to one’s own appearance was a sign of arrogance, and requirements for expensive clothing and manners a result of upper-class snobbery that was meant to bar poorer classes from advancement.) Calling this a revolutionary change would be considered absurd to most other cultures, which have always practiced emotion-based reasoning and cultural taboo. But if someone from pre-Civil War Merkar had seen what was going on during this new period, they would have trouble realizing that this was their own country.
By 2145, this transition had somewhat halted. The government stopped just short of legalizing killing animals for food and outlawing homosexuality- the “scientists” had nearly convinced the people otherwise by means of somewhat unscientific experiments. However, accepting emotion for truth still happens frequently, as when one is devoted to a cause or religion, one tends to modify the facts in order to comfort oneself. This was done frequently in the 20th and early 21st centuries in all human cultures, and it had now returned to Merkar. At least now the “computer priests” found it difficult to continue to spread their beliefs internally, and instead wanted to expand outwards.
In the first few paragraphs of this history, it has already been described how the J’kran Conquest came into being. Although the democratically elected civilian president, Ontian York, wanted a peaceful solution, he was powerless to oppose the pro-Mainframe population, and dissolved the government for good, turning it into a digital pure democracy. It was all he could do, as otherwise the Mainframe supporters would likely seize the government in a coup. The Space Navy seized the J’kran system, and transported its population there before the planet Merkar was consumed by its sun.
Ever since this first conquest, the Merkar Republic has existed in a state of enmity with its theistic neighbors. Its people still mean well, being champions human rights and political freedom. It could certainly not be called a conservative state by the standards of the rest of the galaxy. Religion is officially illegal, and any Merkari will be deeply insulted if you called him or her a theist. But there is one important difference between what it once was and what it is now- some day, Merkar will show the world that its first conquest of territory is not its last.