Note: Please limit your posting in this thread as much as possible until I've put up all the information, at which point I'll open it up to a Q&A and you can post to your heart's content. In other words, it's not a closed thread at this point, but make sure whatever you post is damn well solid gold in terms of quality. Thank you.
Basic Information
Location: 10000 Islands
Population: 974,003,000
WA Member: Yes
WA Category: Inoffensive Centrist Democracy
Civil Rights: Excellent
Economy: Fair
Political Freedoms: Below Average
Culture and Traditions
Public holidays
November 1st: New Year's Day (pagan calendar)
First full moon of November: Mooning Day
December 21st: Winter Solstice
February 9th: Bukkake Day
March 17th: St. Patrick's Day
March 21st: Vernal Equinox
March 25th: Election Day
April 1st: April Fool's Day
April 22nd: Earth Day
April 24th: Arbor Day
April 26th: Founder's Day
June 7th: Suprise Buttsex Day
June 21st: Summer Solstice
August 4th: Memorial Day
September 21st: Autumnal Equinox
September 22nd: Alliance Day
October 8th: Day of Dionysius
October 31st: Samhain
Important traditions
The traditional method of greeting in New Olwe is not a bow or a handshake, but a passionate kiss. Keep this in mind when traveling to the country. Citizens are vaccinated against mononucleosis, so there is little danger of catching a disease. There is a protocol for kissing, as outlined below.
Kisses have a sliding scale of passion, as follows:
Strangers, lovers, other people who you want to know you're available: Turn up the heat. This is the most urgently passionate kiss you can possibly give, letting whoever you give it to know, without a doubt, that you're ready and willing to go further than kissing right then and there (public sex is legal in New Olwe, so even in the middle of the street this is an option). This is the sort of kiss that sends more prudish tourists running back to their own countries, never to return again and probably scarred for life.
Close friends who have been or could be more, family members, former lovers with whom there is still some spark: Tongue is still mandatory, but there's no need to try and make them weak in the knees... you're just being polite. If sex occurs as a result of this kiss it's an unexpected bonus rather than an expectation being met.
Less close friends or platonic friends, certain more distant family members, former lovers with whom the thrill is completely gone: Open mouth is considered polite but not mandatory, tongue is completely optional. Again, you're just observing cultural etiquette by kissing them... you probably don't expect it to lead to sex.
Classmates or coworkers: In the interest of productivity, chaste kisses with closed mouths are all that is expected of you in a work or school environment. The only exceptions to this are breaks (for work) and free periods or sex-ed classes (at school), where the rules are looser (especially in sex-ed classes, since proper technique is taught in our sex-ed program... until the teachers are absolutely certain you can satisfy a lover, you're not allowed to graduate).
As an addendum, it should also be mentioned that if you're in the presence of someone of noticeably higher rank (whether an employer or teacher, or a high-level government official who outranks you), it's customary to let them initiate the kiss, and to let them dictate the level of passion involved (however, it's considered a severe breach of protocol to kiss them back with less passion than they're showing you, so err on the side of "take me right now" if you're unsure).
