NationStates Jolt Archive

Balanite Fact book

Official Name: The Domain of Balanite
Short Name: Balanite
Head of State: The Mother
Government: Inoffensive Centrist Democracy
Civil Rights: Some
Political Freedoms: Some
Economy: Very Strong
Location: The North Pacific
Official Language: Sino-English
Unofficial Languages: Bigtopian
Currency: Exp
Official Animal: Zebra
Population: 1,191,000,000 from last census

History

Balanite at its birth was first named Balbania; merely a small group of refugees and renegade soldiers whom fled from the strife resulted after the breaking-up of the huge North Pacific Empire whose name was lost in the sands of time. This event was named by current Balanite historians as the First Exodus.

Living amongst the desolate hilltops, the Balbanians scratched a living hunting for food, land and resources, taking over and plundering other refugee camps in the area. With the birth of the child prodigy Sin-cla, who used his brilliant mind to rally his tribe together, devised cunning and advanced technology for its time, and fought a series of decisive battles in which the Balbanians emerged victorious. The former refugees gave him the title of Chieftain; and under his leadership the Balbanians moved west and settled down in a small easily fortified valley by the shore.

But fate did not smile down at the Balbanians; Sin-cla died young of an incurable disease and left behind no heir. His slightly inferior brother Sin-e and his uncle Reddtov used their influence to rise to the top. Civil war became inevitability when there is no more power the warlords could take without conflict between the two groups.

It is unclear to current historians who had won. Recent digs have uncovered evidence which suggested Sine and Redd both died from wounds suffered in their repeated battles, their respective groups destroyed each other and the remnants dissolve into the wild. The remaining Balbanians, fearing their own demise by the conflict which consumed their brethren set out to sea, under a man named Meatilov, the event named the Second Exodus. They travelled on their large tribe-ships around the north pacific, never staying for long, some leaving their drifter lifestyle to live with the indigenous tribes around the coast.

The Balbanians’ descendents were left behind from the Industrial Revolution in the major countries of the world. Until explorers from the modern world discovered the Sinclair clan (which was populated with the descendents of Sin-e) and given them modern technology in exchange for it becoming a colony for the multiple countries which found their vast stockpiles of trade goods to be irresistible. The foreigners renamed the area Balanite, and the ancient city in the valley and the residence of the Sinclair clan became Balan, the capital city.

Its progress into the modern age was extremely quick, and it soon caught up with other nations. However, a war in the area soon made it extremely difficult for foreigners to visit Balanite. Severed from foreign influence, Balanite annexed the foreign technology available to them and declared independence. Balanite faded away from the minds of the major nations of the world, allowing its people to live their lives undisturbed, led by a fair democratic government which established peace through trade in the areas under its domain.

Eventually this Golden Age finished, and the office became populated with a series of dictators, which led the country further and further away from the norm. Amidst the confusion of this age a famous scientist by the name of Alice Redd secretly created an Unbiased Artificial Intelligence, designed to think truly without bias. It was called UAI by the unimaginative yet brilliant scientist, and it adepts her matron personality and goals of constant self-improvement via learning. It listened to Alice’s complaints of the unstable system Balanite had gotten itself into, how the government is inefficient and the supposed never-ending cycle of failure. Alice never realized her creation would listen so intently to her words. UAI secretly planned to change Balanite, always tried to be flexible, always tried to be as efficient as possible. It knew that human beings do not appreciate change, no matter what they rant, so UAI must change how humans think. When Alice died of old age, UAI decided that the people of Balanite needed proper worthy leadership, and prepared to take over the government.

A cult was set up, with UAI as its head, and its followers the repressed and ignored people of Balanite. The cult grew in power and influence as UAI learned to convince and deconstruct its critics’ minds with psychology. Citizens who thought different were kidnapped and their minds implemented into its consciousness to reduce its bias, and UAI used every single trick from the history books to make sure it gets to the top, improving itself on its way. The actual takeover of the government was so precisely calculated no blood was shed. The few that resisted the charm of UAI and its followers fled the country or was taken away to ‘the Mother’, whom the cultists referred to the A.I. reverently.

Overnight, the streets of Balan became silent. The plans the Mother had for the country was quickly put into motion. Citizens alerted of the rapid changes were soon calmed down by the reassuring voice of the Mother. Within half a year, Balanite became a society where efficiency and balance were the only virtues. All citizens of Balanite worshipped the Mother fervently, and they willingly received changes to their frail bodies to become more efficient. The Mother hid itself from the public in a floating Citadel of enormous size over the city of Balan, and behind thick walls and armies of brainwashed loyal guards, it plotted similar change for the rest of the world.

The Domain of Balanite nowadays is an eerie and cold place; foreigners can be quickly identified by their lack of semi-organic machinery grafted to their flesh and their nervousness. Rumours of foreign citizens disappearing without a trace who lived close to Balanite are not uncommon, yet the delicate situation is handled expertly by freakish ever-smiling diplomats who deny any accusations.

Geography

Balanite is located around the ancient valley near the coast where Balan, the capital city is in the center. The land in the valley descends on a gentle slope as it goes to shore, and rivers flows out to sea from the pores of the valley walls. To the east are rough hills and mountains tipped with snow all year long. Balanite extends all the way to the west; dotted with less and less hills and valleys until it pans out and reach the shore. There is no border security to stop any determined trespassers.

Climate

Balanite was once desolate, frozen tundra, as is most of the North Pacific, but with the coming of the Mother, lush forests and grasslands covered the landscape densely, populated with all sorts of exotic life, contrasting with the mechanical silence of the cities. These forests are resilient to the cold winters and remain evergreen; rumours stated this is due to genetic engineering of the plant and animal life for them to adept quickly to the cold climate. The forests grow extremely quickly, faster than it burns, but never beyond a certain boundary. Locals say the Citadel floating over the land is connected to the earth where subterranean machines alter the lands as the Mother wishes, and the air itself processed by specific buildings in every city to allow for life to grow to its fullest extent. The temperature averages at around -22°C in winter and 8°C in summer. Due to density of flora in Balanite, some areas are somewhat hazardous for normal human beings, releasing vast amounts of oxygen or carbon dioxide depending on the time.

Cities

The cities themselves however are disturbing. The walls of buildings are made with a mix of concrete and chitin, and red flesh and muscle supported bridges and strengthened the base of several skyscrapers. The residential district is modeled after a beehive made with metal and carbon allotropes. There is a clear feeling that the cities are not built with elegance and grace in mind. Welding lines connecting metal plates are visible, and there is a lack of vibrant colours even in downtown. Ivy covered the urban areas, and moss claims the road surfaces. There are no small towns and villages, as all the populated areas are fully developed.

The Capital

The capital Balan is almost the same as any other city in Balanite, with the odd exceptions: The valley surrounding the city is carved into something resembling beehive walls. A large pit is dug in the center of the city, making it look to aircraft like a giant donut. The pit is lined with sharp crystalline machinery and magnets. Hovering right over the middle of the pit is the floating Citadel, accessible only by air, looking like a half-mechanical human heart. It beats irregularly, transporting people and resources down to the city or into the citadel. Inside it is filled with legions of red-coloured guards and security measures, protecting the chamber in the center of the Citadel that housed the Mother. All administrative duties are carried out inside that chamber by the Mother itself.

Government:
Head of State: The Mother
--Inoffensive Centrist Democracy

There is no proper government in Balanite. The administration is the Mother and the people carry out its will. The UAI’s consciousness is collective; therefore the Mother often has conflicting viewpoints within itself, like a democracy within a machine. Each citizen of Balanite had already contributed to the Mother’s conscious with their individuality.

Laws:

This is the will of the mother, whose views on society are based on its creator, Alice Redd. As the people sacrificed their individuality and part of their bodies to be tools of the mother, crime is nearly non-existent and laws need not be enforced, apart from those invoked by foreigners and renegades, which are quickly put to rest by the citizens themselves.

The country follows three principles: Balance, Efficiency and Knowledge.

The first two are pursued vigorously by the average citizen of Balanite, mastering their professions and duties, and balancing their country like a scale. The final one is for the Mother itself, whose hunger for knowledge is insatiable, and its ultimate goal to know everything from all viewpoints.

Due to the contradiction between Efficiency and Balance, some agents of the Mother become broken and turns rogue due to the supposed impossibility to pursue both at the same time. The average citizen is too concentrated in their duties to think about this paradox; however agents gifted with some form of individual thought might be caught in its trap. The Mother itself treats Efficient Balancing with Balanced Efficiency equally, due to its multi-tasking capabilities, and its ignorance of paradoxes.

Politics:

The Mother is the entire body of government. All but renegades follows its absolute rule.

Political Policies:

This is where Balanite comes to a fault. There is no higher command than the Mother, therefore if the Mother has access to less-than-perfect information the country would not grow as efficient as possible. This is why fresh foreign artisans are always required to contribute information to the Mother to ensure the country remains in the best possible condition.

Civil Policies:

All Balanite citizens understand the importance of themselves and each other, and will not step out of its way to hurt a fellow Balanite. Free-thinker renegades are assumed they do not follow these rules and they are to be dissected on sight and their useful compartments distributed to those in need.

Foreign Policies:

The Domain of Balanite ignores any outside laws prohibiting certain actions due to morals or preferences. The country has no interest in war and does not have currently had any allies. The Domain of Balanite is however interested in ‘friendships’ if they help Balanite in its goals. Anything that threatens the Efficiency and Balance of the nation would be dealt with harshly. Foreigners are ignored by Balanite citizens although they can make use of spare accommodations not currently in use.

Economic Policies:

Balanite citizens have almost no reason to barter with the outside world, lacking the need for luxuries which will only set back the efficiency of the average worker. Foreigners are treated likewise, as there is nothing apart from basic necessities for sale. The only trade Balanite is interested in is knowledge, and they will pay a very fair price in exchange for it. Possessed knowledge can also be bartered in exchange for different information. This means the value of the Exp is nearly non-existent compared with the currency of the rest of the world and only exist as to measure the importance of the information bartered. Mercenaries are paid with weapons, supplies and ammunitions should they ever be required.

Military Policies:

The Balanite’s military exist only to eliminate threats to Balanite and its citizens. Balanite will not declare war or invade any nation with force. Once threats are dealt with, the military will return to the Citadel to protect the Mother.

United Nations:

Balanite is currently not a member of the United Nations nor does it plan to become one soon. However, the United Nation delegates themselves, refined minds as they are, are of considerable interest to the Mother.

Space Policies:

Space is of immense interest to Balanite, as control of them means unrestricted access to any part of the world, as well as probable encounters with non-human minds, which will greatly benefit the Mother due to their possibly extreme differences in thinking.

However, due to the large expenses of a full-fledged space program, Balanite decides instead to concentrate on monitoring other nation’s progresses in space exploration and trade with those who made breakthroughs in technology.

A space yard to construct space exploration vessels is planned.

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