Factbook of the Client-States of ABDS Corporation

[ABDS Corporation]

ABDS Corporate Region
"ABDS Corporation. Making Government Profitable."

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The Client-States of ABDS Corporation

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Flag

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Motto: Efficiency and Unity

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Population: 136 Million
-Density: Calculating...

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Capital: Blackmore City, Central Administrative Zone
Largest City: Port Highpoint, Mindova

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Official Language: English

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National Languages: Mindovan, Allocaise, Rovik, Galt

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Demonym: by state: Absdovan

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Government
- President of the Board of Directors: Isaac P. Dunnet
- President of the Shareholder's Association: Ishmael bin Ishmael
- Vice President for Shareholder Liaison: Xi Jinwei
- Vice President for Justice Division: Justice Mary-Beth Waters

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Legislature:
- Upper House: Board of Directors
-Lower House: Shareholder's Association Directorate

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Establishment: 1956 from Mindova

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Land Area: Calculating... mile²
Calculating... km²
Water Area: Calculating... km²
Water %: Calculating...

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Elevation
Highest Point: Mt. Spears
Lowest Point: Kurran River Valley

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GDP (nominal): 17 Trillion ¤
GDP (nominal) per capita: 134,000 ¤

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Human Development Index (NS Version): 0.930

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Currency: Value Point Share (¤)

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Time Zone: -

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Drives on the: Right

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Calling code: -

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Internet TLD: .ac

CONTENTS

1. History
   
   • The Mindovan Contract
   • Rove and Gallie
   • Alloise Experiment
2. Politics
   
   • The Board of Directors (Direx)
   • Shareholder Confidence Indexing
3. Map
4. Economy
   
   • Import and Export
   • Internal Economics
5. Law & Order
6. Military
7. Culture
   
   • Education
   • Recreation
   • Language
   • Sport
   • Transport
   • Welfare
8. International Relations
9. Character Roster
   
   • Government Officials
   • Military Personnel
   • Others
10. Question & Answer

The Client-States of the ABDS Corporation are a Federal Corporatocracy composed of the four former nation-states of Mindova, Gallie, Rove, and Aroa, formed over the last fourty years in a series of Accession Agreements. These four states are collectively ruled by ABDS Corporation, to whom they have contracted out all governmental function. It occupies the whole of the Mindovan Peninsula with ports all around the coastline. With a population of 136 million, it's reasonably densly populated. The merger of the economies of Mindova, Gallie, Rove, and Aroa lead to a large and powerful economy with a startling GDP per capita.

With the privatization of functions normally held public, the foreign perception of ABDS Corporation is often rather dystopic - however, this is not necessarily the case. While it's granted that civil liberties have a somewhat different appearance than they might in other countries, the Corporation does have a form of Democracy installed in its Charter, which itself is a form of Basic Law akin to a Constitution. There is an independent judiciary in the form of the National Arbitration Studies Institute which was created by several of the Accession Agreements and is paid for by the rather limited taxes the states themselves can still collect, making it independent from the Corporation itself. Certain basic rights are guaranteed to all citizens and the overwhelming majority of companies in the Client States have little or no tie to, and are not directly managed by, ABDS Corporation, providing economic competition.

While in a number of ways the human-dominated Client-States are not ideal for many foreign conceptions, overall the Absdovan citizenry shows remarkable approval. Approval numbers are available for every member of the Direx Board and semiannual elections are held to the Shareholder's Association Directorate. Some rights considered common throughout Borealia do not exist in the Client-States, but some rights extended within the Client-States are likewise absent in other nations.

[ABDS Corporation]

History

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The Mindovan Accession
ABDS Corporation was established in the year 1927 to form a holding corporation among four large investing families - the Adams, Blackmores, Dunnets, and Spears-es, who had hands in Finance, Infrastructure, Manufacturing, and Arms, respectively. Shortly after being founded, it acquired majority stakes in a number of important economic players in Mindova, including (most crucially) two large banks - First National and United Financial. By 1950, ABDS Corporation, through their subsidiaries, controlled some 40% of total economic output in Mindova.

In 1952, Henry Spears III was appointed the chair of the Mindovan Central Bank. A push shortly afterward by lobbyists resulted in a motion to privatize the bank being ratified into law. Shortly afterward, Spears sold a majority stake in the central bank to the much larger ABDS Corporation, in order to raise the capital the bank needed to modernize and update the National Mint. This resulted in something of a political crisis, leading to the 1953 Riots in Port Highpoint.

By 1964, Mindova had entered a period of fiscal crisis. Unable to directly control their central bank, they instead became reliant on private banks (including the central bank) to frequently bail out their government - eight times between 1964 and 1967 - in order to cover foreign obligations. In 1967, ABDS had had enough stalling - as their earliest bonds came due, it was impossible for the Mindovans to pay the debt, and ABDS corporation was unwilling to absolve.

By the winter of 1967, a referrendum among Mindovans settled the issue - whether to allow themselves to be annexed by their warlike Aroise neighbor or acceed to ABDS's demands. The Mindovans decided home rule - however modified - to be preferable. The subsequent Accession Agreement codified matters into law - ABDS now managed governmental budget and performed the functions thereof, through their National Management Solutions Division.

Gallie and Rove
Almost immediately, the Corporation turned its attention northword. Two nations occupied the ithsmus between Mindova and the rest of Furrona: Gallie and Rove. The two small, isolationist nations were technological and economic backwaters. Apart for some trans-shipping through to the penninsula, they engaged in no meaningful trade.

In 1969 the Corporation determined that it would put new oil and gas pipelines as well as rail lines through one nation or the other, and plied both to find the better deal. The resultant Gallan economic boom stoked a mixture of envy and resenment in Rove. In 1972, Rove approached ABDS Corporation, offering to sign an Accession Agreement in exchange for their own infrastructure enhancement investment. By 1975, Gallie experienced disaster with the rupture of a pipeline. The resultant losses sent the small nation into critical debt, and they agreed to Accession if ABDS would absolve their existing massive debts.

This solidified the Client States, creating a firm set of borders that remained the same until the early part of the 21st century.

Aroise Experiment and Accession

See Also: The Ocean Perigee Disaster

On June 2, 2009, a deepwater oceanic drilling platform, the Ocean Perigee, caught fire after a large gas explosion, killing 23 members of the vessel's crew. A subsequent investigation into the fire lead to the thereto-unprecedented announcement by Security Services Division that the cause was believed to be sabotage. Further investigation was demanded, and the Aroise special services were indicted.

ABDS Corporation issued a declaration, requiring payment of damages from the Aroise government by a fixed deadline on the 27th July. The Aroise, predictably, refused this payment and responded by placing economic sanctions on the Client-States as a whole, upto and including refusing to purchase further government investment bonds - effectively, ABDS corporation was going to have to repay their dull debt load to the Aroise within 5 years as the longest-term of those bonds expired.

Diplomatic and economic channels exhausted, the Corporation then prosecuted its first open war, against the Airoise Federation. The majority of the fighting took place in a militarized area known as the Niska Canton. The war was comparatively brief - a period of surgical attacks directed at military installations to cause panic, followed by a chemical attack on the city of Niska itself. Subsequent losses were absurd, and the threat of projection of similar attacks into the more densely populated heartland prompted the Aloise to sue for peace.

Initially, the Federation was allowed to remain independant, though they had to agree to an extensive "reparations" package. However, the government's swift capitulation lead to a period of internal conflict. ABDS Corporation extended an olive branch - sign an Accession Accord and we'll take care of the problem.

Fighting in the Niska Canton, and the whole Aloise District, is now at an all-time low since the war began. While a few extremist groups operate ineffectively, most are now mollified. As a consequence of the loss of the original government structure, the Aloise District is the only de-jure area where ABDS Corporation forms the government directly instead of simply doing so de facto.

[ABDS Corporation]

Politics

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The Board of Directors

See Also: [url=404.com]Current Membership of ABDS Corporation Direx Board[/url]

The Board of Directors of the ABDS Corporation, sometimes called the Direx Board, forms the executive branch of the government of the Client-States. The precise size of the board is not set out by the corporate Charter: at present, it has seventeen members. With the exception of the President and the Chief Executive (who have historically been the same person), each Vice President on the board is the head of a corporate division equivalent to a cabinet ministry. The sole exception is the Vice President of Competitive Revenue, who himself heads the smaller board directing revenue-generating companies outside of ordinary governing function.

Positions on the Direx Board are at the pleasure of the President of the Board, and of late are usually tied to a combination index of performance plus approval. While by the corporate bylaws a member of the Board can only be removed when their one-year term expires, in practice many corporate officers have been removed by imposed retirement or resignation. The position of President can be revoked or granted at bi-annual meetings of the Shareholder's Association.

Annual Shareholder's Meeting

See Also: [url=404.com]ABDS Corporation Share Structure[/url]

Per their Charter and Corporate Bylaws, the ABDS Corporation must routinely disseminate information pertaining to the performance and activities of the corporation. This is done quarterly, but annually, a shareholder's meeting is conducted where concerned shareholders may attend personally. Most recently, such meetings are three-day-long information sessions hosted over the first weekend in June, in one of four major Absdovan cities. These seminars include specialist information sessions, Q&A, and, on odd-numbered years, elections to the Shareholder's Association Directorate. This directorate, a 48-person panel, consists of one person from each of the 48 Shareholder's Association Regional Chapters, who internally elect officers such as President and Vice President of the board. This Directorate is responsible for opinion polling and voting co-ordination for the entire Shareholder's Association and does so on a budget set by the Direx board.

On even-numbered years, the Shareholder's Meeting includes a voting round. Each holder of a Class A Voting Share in ABDS Corporation (other issues not counted) recieves one vote for each such share. Business is usually restricted to approval or disapproval of a further two-year contract for the current President. As a matter of course, these motions almost always pass. Only one president - the current president's father - has ever been voted out on a matter of confidence, after his failures in the Aloise Affair.

[ABDS Corporation]

Placeholder for Maps

[ABDS Corporation]

Economics

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Import and Export

See Also: [url=404.com]International Trade in the Client-States[/url]

As a natural consequence of a lack of taxation revenue, many of the more progressive programs in the Client-States are reliant heavily on the outcomes of international trade for their funding. The Corporation pursues an aggressive internationalization policy, establishing favourable duty and tariff structures to maintain a competitive edge. Chiefly, exports are technological. Computers are becoming an increasingly large form of trade, and pharmaceuticals have been a traditional strong point. Imports - through specially-licensed import corporations - bring in everything from raw materials and foodstuffs to automobiles. Currently, the Client-States draw in a trade deficit.

Internal Economics

See Also: [url=404.com]Acession Accords[/url]

A key component of each of the four separate accession accords establishes "free and open trade" among the Client-States, analogous to the internal economics of any given federation.