Catalasia
25-01-2007, 23:49
Karael Tanner walked into the Defence Councilroom as though she owned the place. In a sense, she did. She had ascended to the position of Chairwoman of the Defence Council, through careful planning, luck, and a likeable, vital personality. Tanner was an oddity. She was the first woman to have joined the Defence Council in its history, and the youngest member when it convened, at only 27.
To be sure, there were women in the Bureaucratia. The chairwoman of the Justice Council, for instance, was stern-faced and iron-sharp Saevitia Lederman of Azre Division. Nonetheless, the attitude towards women in the Commonwealth was still slightly tinged with the “olden days”, when only men could vote and own property and women in government was an unheard-of proposition. As the saying went, “Women should be making the laws of our homes; men should be making the laws outside them.”
While this policy had been relaxed—women could vote, own property, take public office and more—there was still distrust of women in politics. Definitely, no Catalasienne had ever held a position on the Defence Council; that was generally considered the duty of men, who were deemed both more able to stomach violence and the grim realities of warfare, and more prone to the kind of penis comparison a successful military demanded in the modern world.
Thus, when Tanner was elected into the Defence Council, people began to “talk”. There were tales told of all manner of immorality and corruption in the halls of the Bureaucratia. Somehow, the introduction of a woman into the Defence Council caused a total breakdown of both the alleged morality and the alleged toughness of that organisation.
In fact, it caused neither. Tanner was, by far, the most imperialist and pro-military individual sitting on the council, and had always been. Now that she was in charge, as she'd stated in her opening address, "Things are going to change." Catalasia was used to change, of course; but it was used to slow change, things gradually building up to reach a point thought unattainable in a swift motion. That was how Catalasia had achieved its foreign trade and its massive Barrier Ring. But the kind of change Tanner was about to instigate was unheard of.
As she walked in the Council Secretary said tonelessly, "All rise for the Chairwoman."
"Sit down, sit down," Tanner said briskly as the men rose as one, looking slightly mystified. Tanner had short blonde hair that she rarely let grow out, large dark blue eyes, and a well-concealed but still noticeable figure; she tended to dislike revealing clothing, although her fashion sense rivaled that of gay men. The Council never concentrated too much on her appearance, however, as what she had to say completely distracted them from that.
"Afternoon everyone. As you probably know, the Commonwealth Constitution authorises the Defence Council to use up to thirty trillion catoi of the yearly government budget." She tended to get right to the point. She sat down and laid out several folders and dossiers of papers on the table. "Of course, we've only ever used about a third of that at the most, and that's counting the procurement payments to RSIN and FDI.
"I've collected the list of projects we determined would be worthwhile last session, and it looks like we're going to have to ask for that extra money. In addition to the Starfires, we're replacing our entire tank forces and purchasing new guns to boot."
Councilman Derek Ijito protested, as per usual. "New guns? For the entire military?"
"Yes," Tanner said, "we're purchasing new sidearms and new assault rifles, most likely from Doom Corp. Part of the money will come from selling off our current stock, possibly to Commonwealth citizens. But part of it will have to come from taxes... The same goes for the tanks, we're looking at the very popular Macabee-made Nakíl to replace that."
There was silence.
Tanner looked around. "Does anyone object?"
Ijito looked at her almost desperately. She was half-amused. Ijito said: "Well, buying stuff from Doom Corp always brings in the issue that Doom Corp essentially owns the government of Doomingsland, and the Doomani are... foreigners." He said the last word with some distaste.
"Well, look," Tanner leaned forward slightly, "the things we don't make ourselves, we'll have to ask other people for. We've not much choice."
Silence, again. Tanner smiled; her face lit up like a lantern. "I'll assume we agree here then." Over time the Defence Council had learned that arguing with Karael Tanner was both pointless -- she was usually right -- and painful -- no man likes to see himself out-debated by a "mere" woman, not in Catalasia.
The room was silent for a bit longer. Tanner finally sighed and got up, flicking on a laser pointer as an LCD screen turned on. "You probably don't have any idea why I'm doing this. Well, here, this is a map of the Archipelago."
The islands onscreen are shown in all their glory, encircled by ocean and Barrier. She hits a button on the nearby laptop and the map begins to zoom out. Now everyone sees that other countries are colour-coded. "Look here: Praetonia. Highly similar economy, albeit with lower taxes. Similarly sized military. A world power." The map zooms elsewhere, closes in elsewhere. "Space Union. Only a bit larger than we are, also similarly sized... it's making metric fucktons of money through its arms markets. Or here: The Kraven Corporation, internationally feared and it's even smaller than we are. Xirnium, a diplomatic powerhouse. Even Doomingsland, with the vast differences in our social systems, shares some similarities with us and is one of the great military powers in the world. Catalasia has all the makings of a world power: military and diplomatic prowess, the capability to expand, our natural resources. But we're still a global unknown.
"It's on my watch this is going to change," Tanner finished. "I intend to transform Catalasia into a nation to be respected and known the way it deserves... not to keep it as some unknown, isolationist state wallowing in its own domestic problems. That's not for the Defence Council."
The Council members stared aghast. Their expressions were befuddled, but they seemed to understand, at least, the central point of Tanner's monologue. Elderly Joaquin Feldman spoke. "Well, the point is that Catalasia's never seen itself as worth pursuing the respect or recognition of the international community. Other nations spend half their time waging pointless wars, building far too large armies and then complaining when they get attacked for it, or just nuking each other. Catalasia is above that."
"So if we're above all that, why don't we get more credit for it?" Tanner smiled again. "Also, I'd recommend you look at nations such as Southeast Asia, Hamptonshire, Oceania, Sarzonia, Macisikan... there's a whole community of other well-respected nations that reject that doctrine. People in many nations look up to the Pacitalias and Wingardes of the world. They look down at the Clandonias and Hatarias of the world. And we can be in the first category if we expend a bit of effort to do so. That includes building a more powerful military to combat any potential threats once we get there."
Like a professor finishing a lecture, she said, "Any questions?"
There were none.
The Council was adjourned.
To be sure, there were women in the Bureaucratia. The chairwoman of the Justice Council, for instance, was stern-faced and iron-sharp Saevitia Lederman of Azre Division. Nonetheless, the attitude towards women in the Commonwealth was still slightly tinged with the “olden days”, when only men could vote and own property and women in government was an unheard-of proposition. As the saying went, “Women should be making the laws of our homes; men should be making the laws outside them.”
While this policy had been relaxed—women could vote, own property, take public office and more—there was still distrust of women in politics. Definitely, no Catalasienne had ever held a position on the Defence Council; that was generally considered the duty of men, who were deemed both more able to stomach violence and the grim realities of warfare, and more prone to the kind of penis comparison a successful military demanded in the modern world.
Thus, when Tanner was elected into the Defence Council, people began to “talk”. There were tales told of all manner of immorality and corruption in the halls of the Bureaucratia. Somehow, the introduction of a woman into the Defence Council caused a total breakdown of both the alleged morality and the alleged toughness of that organisation.
In fact, it caused neither. Tanner was, by far, the most imperialist and pro-military individual sitting on the council, and had always been. Now that she was in charge, as she'd stated in her opening address, "Things are going to change." Catalasia was used to change, of course; but it was used to slow change, things gradually building up to reach a point thought unattainable in a swift motion. That was how Catalasia had achieved its foreign trade and its massive Barrier Ring. But the kind of change Tanner was about to instigate was unheard of.
As she walked in the Council Secretary said tonelessly, "All rise for the Chairwoman."
"Sit down, sit down," Tanner said briskly as the men rose as one, looking slightly mystified. Tanner had short blonde hair that she rarely let grow out, large dark blue eyes, and a well-concealed but still noticeable figure; she tended to dislike revealing clothing, although her fashion sense rivaled that of gay men. The Council never concentrated too much on her appearance, however, as what she had to say completely distracted them from that.
"Afternoon everyone. As you probably know, the Commonwealth Constitution authorises the Defence Council to use up to thirty trillion catoi of the yearly government budget." She tended to get right to the point. She sat down and laid out several folders and dossiers of papers on the table. "Of course, we've only ever used about a third of that at the most, and that's counting the procurement payments to RSIN and FDI.
"I've collected the list of projects we determined would be worthwhile last session, and it looks like we're going to have to ask for that extra money. In addition to the Starfires, we're replacing our entire tank forces and purchasing new guns to boot."
Councilman Derek Ijito protested, as per usual. "New guns? For the entire military?"
"Yes," Tanner said, "we're purchasing new sidearms and new assault rifles, most likely from Doom Corp. Part of the money will come from selling off our current stock, possibly to Commonwealth citizens. But part of it will have to come from taxes... The same goes for the tanks, we're looking at the very popular Macabee-made Nakíl to replace that."
There was silence.
Tanner looked around. "Does anyone object?"
Ijito looked at her almost desperately. She was half-amused. Ijito said: "Well, buying stuff from Doom Corp always brings in the issue that Doom Corp essentially owns the government of Doomingsland, and the Doomani are... foreigners." He said the last word with some distaste.
"Well, look," Tanner leaned forward slightly, "the things we don't make ourselves, we'll have to ask other people for. We've not much choice."
Silence, again. Tanner smiled; her face lit up like a lantern. "I'll assume we agree here then." Over time the Defence Council had learned that arguing with Karael Tanner was both pointless -- she was usually right -- and painful -- no man likes to see himself out-debated by a "mere" woman, not in Catalasia.
The room was silent for a bit longer. Tanner finally sighed and got up, flicking on a laser pointer as an LCD screen turned on. "You probably don't have any idea why I'm doing this. Well, here, this is a map of the Archipelago."
The islands onscreen are shown in all their glory, encircled by ocean and Barrier. She hits a button on the nearby laptop and the map begins to zoom out. Now everyone sees that other countries are colour-coded. "Look here: Praetonia. Highly similar economy, albeit with lower taxes. Similarly sized military. A world power." The map zooms elsewhere, closes in elsewhere. "Space Union. Only a bit larger than we are, also similarly sized... it's making metric fucktons of money through its arms markets. Or here: The Kraven Corporation, internationally feared and it's even smaller than we are. Xirnium, a diplomatic powerhouse. Even Doomingsland, with the vast differences in our social systems, shares some similarities with us and is one of the great military powers in the world. Catalasia has all the makings of a world power: military and diplomatic prowess, the capability to expand, our natural resources. But we're still a global unknown.
"It's on my watch this is going to change," Tanner finished. "I intend to transform Catalasia into a nation to be respected and known the way it deserves... not to keep it as some unknown, isolationist state wallowing in its own domestic problems. That's not for the Defence Council."
The Council members stared aghast. Their expressions were befuddled, but they seemed to understand, at least, the central point of Tanner's monologue. Elderly Joaquin Feldman spoke. "Well, the point is that Catalasia's never seen itself as worth pursuing the respect or recognition of the international community. Other nations spend half their time waging pointless wars, building far too large armies and then complaining when they get attacked for it, or just nuking each other. Catalasia is above that."
"So if we're above all that, why don't we get more credit for it?" Tanner smiled again. "Also, I'd recommend you look at nations such as Southeast Asia, Hamptonshire, Oceania, Sarzonia, Macisikan... there's a whole community of other well-respected nations that reject that doctrine. People in many nations look up to the Pacitalias and Wingardes of the world. They look down at the Clandonias and Hatarias of the world. And we can be in the first category if we expend a bit of effort to do so. That includes building a more powerful military to combat any potential threats once we get there."
Like a professor finishing a lecture, she said, "Any questions?"
There were none.
The Council was adjourned.