Your opinion on a interesting fact about the AN (II)

[The Cosmic Mainframe]

Seems like every country tries to give the appearance of military pacifism. It's nice to see a country that actually practices it. If it does, indeed, really practice it. I worry that the constant military readiness would result in the Zravvisk responding to the smallest provocation...

The Mental Enhancement Units given to organic life under the Cosmic Mainframe use the brain to contribute to computational tasks like calculating high prime numbers. People using these devices often report having very strange dreams at night, usually involving fixations on specific numbers.

[Prospesia]

Pretty scary, the treatment of beings as cogs in a machine is quite disturbing. Is this voluntary?

Prior to the ascension of the Prospesian Citizen's Party, the Second Prospesian Empire tested their first WPD (Weapon capable of Planetary Destruction) on its own moon Torgasa, due to the outbreak of a lethal virus capable of exterminating the whole empire discovered by researchers on the moon.

[Borgevia]

Destroying your own moon but still live with the massive change in planetary events to tell the story? Yikes.

---

Post-Colonial Asia and Africa are actually split into three camps: The European Sphere, Borgovian Sphere, and Red Sphere.

The European Sphere technically means the colony is independent but are still under influence of their former colonial masters (Burkina Faso to France, Egypt to Britain, etc). The Red Sphere are nations that became communist and joined ComIntern, the Borgovian Sphere are nations that became business partners of Borgovia and are for all intents and purposes under Borgovian influence.

Cambodia and Laos which were once provinces of the Empire of Vietnam, fell to the Communists. Korea, which was once a Japanese province, was jointly overseen by the USA/Borgovia so technically on the Borgovian Sphere. Mali became a French/European sphere. The European Sphere have the hardest time staying pro-West simply because antagonising sentiment towards Europe led them to become Communists. The fall of Egypt was the biggest shock as Ethiopia is now surrounded by Soviet/Chinese allies. The Borgovian Sphere went through the same process as what Borgovia did to South America, Vietnam, and Japan in the 1800s: "Grants" that are used to invest in infrastructure, sanitation, healthcare facilities, and education while rapidly mechanising the nation's agricultural industry or push an already industrialised nation into one that produces high value products like electronics or cars. The education and infrastructure would also give such nation a chance to break into the innovative's ranks. This results in a larger middle class and thus more consumption which benefits Borgovia's trade empire. Many nations are stuck in the upper middle income category (Mexico, Thailand), some are stuck in the lower middle income category (Nigeria, Guatemala), and few broke into the High income countries (United Korea, Republic of Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Costa Rica). Dwight D. Eisenhower passed a Containment Policy that assisted Borgovia in this plan, eventually scaring Western Europe away from its former colonies before more of them start to have revolts.

[Inefficient Hell]

I like the part about Italy

[Earth Orbit]

Since Inefficient Hell has clearly not gotten a grasp on the minimum standards for a reply on a F7 AN thread, I will interject and write my opinion to Borgevia's fact. One minute, please...

God damn, post-colonial Asia and Africa don't sound like very pleasant places to live. If I'm reading this correctly, it appears that communism is somehow still alive and at large, which is frankly unacceptable. A crusade should be launched against the "Red Sphere" as soon as viable, because leaving communism to fester is never a good idea. The other spheres also don't sound so hot, what with the collapse of Egypt and evidence of some sort of proxy expansion by the USSR and China. The Borgovian sphere, however, sounds far more liveable. A trade empire is honestly infinitely preferable to communism or anarchy.

---

The Federation uses tightbeam lasers as a standard intranational communications protocol. Since all of the Federation is based in space, the fiber-optic cables used on Earth to provide the gargantuan bandwidth required for the modern Internet are out of the question, and basic radio communications are too public and have a tiny bandwidth. Tightbeams consist of hundreds of small lasers - think of it as the light in a fiber-optic cable without the cable - that are pulsed between two different power levels to represent binary code. The laser light leaves from its origin point, potentially bounces off a relay or two, and then hits ultrasensitive photodetectors at the destination point, which translate the pulses back into data. This transmission occurs even faster than in fiber-optic cables, as the light is travelling through vacuum and not a solid medium. Every Federal station, ship, and satellite is equipped with one or more tightbeam transcievers. Stations have thousands in order to support the vast bandwidth needs of their millions of inhabitants.

[Borgevia]

Since Inefficient Hell has clearly not gotten a grasp on the minimum standards for a reply on a F7 AN thread, I will interject and write my opinion to Borgevia's fact. One minute, please...

God damn, post-colonial Asia and Africa don't sound like very pleasant places to live. If I'm reading this correctly, it appears that communism is somehow still alive and at large, which is frankly unacceptable. A crusade should be launched against the "Red Sphere" as soon as viable, because leaving communism to fester is never a good idea. The other spheres also don't sound so hot, what with the collapse of Egypt and evidence of some sort of proxy expansion by the USSR and China. The Borgovian sphere, however, sounds far more liveable. A trade empire is honestly infinitely preferable to communism or anarchy.

---

The Federation uses tightbeam lasers as a standard intranational communications protocol. Since all of the Federation is based in space, the fiber-optic cables used on Earth to provide the gargantuan bandwidth required for the modern Internet are out of the question, and basic radio communications are too public and have a tiny bandwidth. Tightbeams consist of hundreds of small lasers - think of it as the light in a fiber-optic cable without the cable - that are pulsed between two different power levels to represent binary code. The laser light leaves from its origin point, potentially bounces off a relay or two, and then hits ultrasensitive photodetectors at the destination point, which translate the pulses back into data. This transmission occurs even faster than in fiber-optic cables, as the light is travelling through vacuum and not a solid medium. Every Federal station, ship, and satellite is equipped with one or more tightbeam transcievers. Stations have thousands in order to support the vast bandwidth needs of their millions of inhabitants.

This was during the Cold War. The USSR Collapsed and the PRC reformed. The US-Borgovia-Britain led West won
/skip

[A m e n r i a]

A sensible move to an evil nation opposed to good itself. Why assassination and not other, quicker, and cleaner means of shutting her up though?

When he was a villain, Tianshi's secret identity was named Karma, and the organisation he led was called RevengeЯ, founded in late 2017. It was a group that carried out assassinations, assault, and robbery. The reason it got so many members to support it was the pressure felt by Chinese youth at the time. With high rates of suicide, Karma came to depressed individuals, encouraging them to join so they can take out their frustrations on their abusers instead of taking their own lives.

In 2019, the RevengeЯ was disbanded following Karma's change of heart. While some of his employees started earning an honest living while continuing their studies, some who still believed in his warped cause started a similar organisation, named Revenger ReborИ.

“Well Draft them into the Army!”-
Qadi Mehmet Khan

In Sharifistan drunk drivers must choose between prison and the Army.
This is because the Army is believed to be able to instill discipline and also to redeem themselves.
They endangered life; now they must protect it.

The Chinese government was against them, both of them.

Since Inefficient Hell has clearly not gotten a grasp on the minimum standards for a reply on a F7 AN thread, I will interject and write my opinion to Borgevia's fact. One minute, please...

God damn, post-colonial Asia and Africa don't sound like very pleasant places to live. If I'm reading this correctly, it appears that communism is somehow still alive and at large, which is frankly unacceptable. A crusade should be launched against the "Red Sphere" as soon as viable, because leaving communism to fester is never a good idea. The other spheres also don't sound so hot, what with the collapse of Egypt and evidence of some sort of proxy expansion by the USSR and China. The Borgovian sphere, however, sounds far more liveable. A trade empire is honestly infinitely preferable to communism or anarchy.

---

The Federation uses tightbeam lasers as a standard intranational communications protocol. Since all of the Federation is based in space, the fiber-optic cables used on Earth to provide the gargantuan bandwidth required for the modern Internet are out of the question, and basic radio communications are too public and have a tiny bandwidth. Tightbeams consist of hundreds of small lasers - think of it as the light in a fiber-optic cable without the cable - that are pulsed between two different power levels to represent binary code. The laser light leaves from its origin point, potentially bounces off a relay or two, and then hits ultrasensitive photodetectors at the destination point, which translate the pulses back into data. This transmission occurs even faster than in fiber-optic cables, as the light is travelling through vacuum and not a solid medium. Every Federal station, ship, and satellite is equipped with one or more tightbeam transcievers. Stations have thousands in order to support the vast bandwidth needs of their millions of inhabitants.

That's cool. How did you come up with something like that?

Since Karma was small and weak compared to his nemesis Pandora, he needed to compensate with creativity. His Finsihers (one-hit KOs) are more numerous and varied than those of Pandora's, ranging from being badass and cool, cruel and painful, to being completely absurd. One of those finishers involved breaking an opponent's arm with a doorknob, another was showing a video so disgusting the opponent would rather give up and leave. He even had one where he tripped the opponent with a skateboard before brutally beating the downed victim to unconsciousness.

[Catsfern]

Well I feel like I just read the bio for some sort of fighting game character.

In Catsfern neko girls require an independent action permit or IAP in order to attain full rights as a citizen.There are various reasons for this restriction, but until a neko girl attains an IAP they have some rights restricted. Such as not being able to own land, vote, join the armed forces, or operate a motor vehicle. Neko girls also can not own a gun in any caliber over .22 LR or 9mm, be employed to a position requiring anything above high school education, or marry without the consent of a caregiver. Caregivers are responsible for the care and raising of neko girls without IAPs and are also the neko girls legal guardian, most of the time the neko girls parents will be their caregiver until adulthood where the neko girl will either obtain an IAP or be matched with a caregiver by a government service; Caregivers are also legally liable for any criminal actions performed by an adult neko girl under their care, and a neko girl without an IAP can't travel by air or by interstate rail without their caregiver.

[Borgevia]

This sounds like fetishisation gone political. Ech.

---

The total number of Italian-Borgovian and Spanish-Borgovian is skewed because of its history. During the Vitas Aureum (Golden Life) Project of assimilating "unwanted" peoples into the Latin culture, undesirable men are neutered and women forced into marriage with single men who are either soldiers granted farming land or simply single men of economic interests. The men are always of Latino descent, chiefly Italian and Spanish. Young children of "undesirable" cultures are adopted by a Latino family and go through a process of erasing their identity to forge a Latino one. Over time, these descendants of the project grew up believing their ancestors have always been Castilian or Italian since all records have been forged to ease the assimilation.

Not all cultures are erased, just "undesirable" ones: Hmong, Central Asian, Slavic, Nordic, Germanic, Polynesian, Sub Saharan African except Ethiopian & Malians, Celtic, and non-Incan indigenous groups. The government of Borgovia encouraged single men from Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Latin America, and the Ottoman Empire (chiefly Turkey & Greece) to move to Borgovia with the promise of a wife and land for this reason. When immigration from Europe slowed down, and the US Chinese Exclusion Act bolstering Borgovia's already large Chinese & Japanese immigration, they then turned assimilating undesirables into its accepted culture, not just Latinos, as Latino immigration slowed by the late 1880s. Chinese (of all dialects), Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Punjabi schools were built to preserve their culture since they're viewed as Rome's equal and thus make good substitute for a lack of Latino assimilation.

In the end the Vitas Aureum Project artificially increased the number of "Latinos", preserved Eastern cultures to where it did mix with the Greco-Roman foundations, and left millions of citizens today (2040s) unaware that their identity may have been forged sometime in the 1800s and whatever Latino (if any) heritage they have is likely from government sponsored rape of "undesirable" women by "desirable" European men bribed by land and women to move to Borgovia. For the later victims, the large Eurasian population are also unaware their "Eur-" ancestor is likely Russian or Swedish, not Italian or French that had their identity erased for assimilation. Their "-asian" ancestor is probably from Kazakhstan, not Japan, for example.

[The Holy Columbian States]

Well I feel like I just read the bio for some sort of fighting game character.

In Catsfern neko girls require an independent action permit or IAP in order to attain full rights as a citizen.There are various reasons for this restriction, but until a neko girl attains an IAP they have some rights restricted. Such as not being able to own land, vote, join the armed forces, or operate a motor vehicle. Neko girls also can not own a gun in any caliber over .22 LR or 9mm, be employed to a position requiring anything above high school education, or marry without the consent of a caregiver. Caregivers are responsible for the care and raising of neko girls without IAPs and are also the neko girls legal guardian, most of the time the neko girls parents will be their caregiver until adulthood where the neko girl will either obtain an IAP or be matched with a caregiver by a government service; Caregivers are also legally liable for any criminal actions performed by an adult neko girl under their care, and a neko girl without an IAP can't travel by air or by interstate rail without their caregiver.

"The weird term of neko girls aside.

I find this policy of restricting the rights of individuals in such a dehumanizing manner, to be not only deplorable, but also an abuse of basic civil liberties. I do not care for whatever platitudes your government may have rehearsed to respond to these accusations, there is simply no good reason to restrict the rights of these people in such a manner. And this whole caregiver is a whole other mess to talk about, what this sounds like is slavery by another name, the idea that a grown adult, who otherwise has their mental faculties in complete order, has to be treated as a child at best, or a gloried pet at worst, is quite frankly repugnant.

To say that I am disappointed in the laws of your government is a gross understatement, and what this says about your society at large is unflattering to say the least. I would most certainly not consider your administration a friend of mine,a nd I have no doubt we would find other gross violations of common decency on Gods green earth if we looked hard enough."

~ President Henry D. Matthews

This sounds like fetishisation gone political. Ech.

---

The total number of Italian-Borgovian and Spanish-Borgovian is skewed because of its history. During the Vitas Aureum (Golden Life) Project of assimilating "unwanted" peoples into the Latin culture, undesirable men are neutered and women forced into marriage with single men who are either soldiers granted farming land or simply single men of economic interests. The men are always of Latino descent, chiefly Italian and Spanish. Young children of "undesirable" cultures are adopted by a Latino family and go through a process of erasing their identity to forge a Latino one. Over time, these descendants of the project grew up believing their ancestors have always been Castilian or Italian since all records have been forged to ease the assimilation.

Not all cultures are erased, just "undesirable" ones: Hmong, Central Asian, Slavic, Nordic, Germanic, Polynesian, Sub Saharan African except Ethiopian & Malians, Celtic, and non-Incan indigenous groups. The government of Borgovia encouraged single men from Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Latin America, and the Ottoman Empire (chiefly Turkey & Greece) to move to Borgovia with the promise of a wife and land for this reason. When immigration from Europe slowed down, and the US Chinese Exclusion Act bolstering Borgovia's already large Chinese & Japanese immigration, they then turned assimilating undesirables into its accepted culture, not just Latinos, as Latino immigration slowed by the late 1880s. Chinese (of all dialects), Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Punjabi schools were built to preserve their culture since they're viewed as Rome's equal and thus make good substitute for a lack of Latino assimilation.

In the end the Vitas Aureum Project artificially increased the number of "Latinos", preserved Eastern cultures to where it did mix with the Greco-Roman foundations, and left millions of citizens today (2040s) unaware that their identity may have been forged sometime in the 1800s and whatever Latino (if any) heritage they have is likely from government sponsored rape of "undesirable" women by "desirable" European men bribed by land and women to move to Borgovia. For the later victims, the large Eurasian population are also unaware their "Eur-" ancestor is likely Russian or Swedish, not Italian or French that had their identity erased for assimilation. Their "-asian" ancestor is probably from Kazakhstan, not Japan, for example.

"Words cannot describe the sheer disgust I feel hearing of this, lost for words. I was already put into quite a funk earlier, but this has only worsened it. I can only say that I hope the crimes of your past catch up to you, no sin goes unpunished, no matter how long it takes to catch up, all dues are collected.


~ President Henry D. Matthews

---

In the final bleak days of the 21st century, the greatest war mankind ever fought ended in the mass exchange of nuclear weapons. Many would come to call this event the Endwar, for it brought with it the slow collapse of then, modern society. The various countries of the world did not fall overnight, as it was an extremely drawn out process given the circumstances. The crumbling of infrastructure, end to global trade, years of nuclear winter, and underlining problems such as the outbreak of world wide epidemics and the lasting effects from global warming that had set in, brought the United States to it's knees.

In those darkest of times, people were clinging to whatever they could in hope of finding some semblance of salvation. It didn't take long for many Christians to begin rethinking their various doctrines and to question the teachings they were raised on, and while many left the Church, many more began to see the light. Atomicism became a major denomination of the Christian faith in the century following America's collapse, believing that the nuclear holocaust was a sign of Gods righteous anger towards the world, that descended into a state of degeneracy and sin worst, than even Sodom and Gomorrah. Much like how God swallowed the earth under the waves in the times of Noah, the slate needed to be cleaned once more, and mankind provided the cheapest shortcut imaginable.

Now, centuries after the Church's founding, Atomicism has become the de facto state religion of the United Columbian States, as well as many others. It's influence runs deep here, and many Presidents, including the recently elected Henry Matthews are adherent followers.

[A m e n r i a]

That's stupid. Nukes are man-made and have nothing to do with God.

While Karma was a giggling, knife-wielding psychopath of an antagonist, he wasn't all bad. He is supportive of his mother, and genuinely loves cats, always attempting to greet, if not pet and feed any strays he finds. His dream of becoming a loving husband and parent and raising a family with his nemesis Pandora wasn't a ruse either. To an extent, he truly cared about her and their future child(ren).

Inversely, Pandora, while being a more emotionally stable protagonist, was far from a saint. It was her abuse that led Karma to the path of evil, and her indulgence in blood and sex is notorious enough even for a vampire. Not only that, she actually enjoyed causing suffering to weaker-willed men because it helps with her insecurity.

[Wawakanatote]

That's stupid. Nukes are man-made and have nothing to do with God.

While Karma was a giggling, knife-wielding psychopath of an antagonist, he wasn't all bad. He is supportive of his mother, and genuinely loves cats, always attempting to greet, if not pet and feed any strays he finds. His dream of becoming a loving husband and parent and raising a family with his nemesis Pandora wasn't a ruse either. To an extent, he truly cared about her and their future child(ren).

Inversely, Pandora, while being a more emotionally stable protagonist, was far from a saint. It was her abuse that led Karma to the path of evil, and her indulgence in blood and sex is notorious enough even for a vampire. Not only that, she actually enjoyed causing suffering to weaker-willed men because it helps with her insecurity.

I'm getting a "Hitler was a vegetarian and dog lover" energy vibe from that little description of Karma. As for his feelings about Pandora, I will just say that they are strange and that oddly they should be together as to prevent either one of these terrible people from getting close to anyone else (preferably in a mental hospital, though I doubt it could hold them)

---

Nikita Romanic was the former Chairman of the Council of Democrats from 1953 until his political retirement in 1966. He was considered by Voslavic Laxim (former leader of the Soviet Union) as one of the purest revolutionary thinkers of the post-Amundsven figures and true friend not only to him, but to the working class of the world. In 1954, he would address the 20th Congress of the C.D. by officially denouncing Laxim and his "cult of personality" along with many of the policies that occurred under the Laxim era.

After his death in '82, conspiracy theorists began to form communities centered around the topic of whether or not Laxim's vegetative state near the end of his life was induced partially by Romanic and his allies in order to create a power vacuum and give themselves more political power within the Council of Democrats.

[Catsfern]

Im kinda with the conspiracy theorists on this one, sounds an awful lot like something corrupt socialist leaders would do.

Catsfern has a well deserved reputation internationally for promiscuous and lewd behavior. This includes polygamy, public nudity, and even the production, sale, and use of bdsm equipment. All of this is completely legal, and it runs even deeper into the nations culture. Children's TV often features full frontal nudity, the government has put funding into adult animation industry on several occasions, and sex ed classes are thought by retired adult entertainers. This cultural lewdness has even worked it way into the nations food culture with breast milk being a popular beverage and is often used to make high quality cheese.

(Note all of this was the result of NS issues and stats, Its just a culmination of some of the choices I'v made solving the issues from the list below) https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1312789

[Britannia Maior]

To say I am repulsed and disgusted would be a grand understatement.

---

Britannia Maior, unlike Catsfern, is a conservative and modest country. Prudish and modest fashion is common, and the imperial family’s female members almost always wear such clothing. Vulgar language and behaviour are stamped out at an early age by compulsory etiquette and manners education.

[Empyrius]

I guess that makes sense, basing your lore on satirical flavour text is bound to end up with weird results.

AN: Sounds a fair bit more agreeable than Catsfern at least, if I'm perfectly honest. Although it does make me wonder where exactly they stand between "polite and dignified" and "stuck-up puritans".

---

Among the ranks of the Futurist ideologues who led Veskrona into the revolution that established its current government, the topic of Hylrin I, an ancient Veskronan king and emperor similar to Genghis Khan or Alexander the Great in our world, who has been elevated to almost god-like status in the public eye since his death around 800 years ago, has been a subject of significant debate. They were more or less divided into two camps, with both sides being ashamed that their country hadn't managed to come up with any other real national heroes for itself, but presenting very different approaches to deal with the matter in a way that would allow for it to move forward. This was seen as no small matter, given that he was extremely pervasive in the national culture and treated essentially as a watchful protector-diety.

The Rejection movement, often considered to be more "hard-line" Futurists, believed that the glorification of Emperor Hylrin had long since run its course and that the time frame in which it would have been constructive to the nation was long gone, advocating to erase these tendencies from the public mind and fill in the gap with Revolutionary figures. The Redemption movement, on the other hand, believed that the main problem was the way in which his glorification was being handled, not the glorification itself - they held that the Revolution was an act of channelling his true spirit, and that it would transform this tendency from slavish worship of a bygone era into constructive, forward-thinking nationalism. The Redemptionists won out in the end, with the new national leader, Commandant Shioris Valthar, being among them, and despite their hard-line nature, the Rejectionists were satisfied since the common goal of national rebirth was being achieved regardless.

[The Holy Columbian States]

That's stupid. Nukes are man-made and have nothing to do with God.

"I can see the education system of Amenria is of poor quality.

Just enough to type, not enough to read, an interesting paradox nonetheless."

/skip

[Palmyrion]

I guess that makes sense, basing your lore on satirical flavour text is bound to end up with weird results.

AN: Sounds a fair bit more agreeable than Catsfern at least, if I'm perfectly honest. Although it does make me wonder where exactly they stand between "polite and dignified" and "stuck-up puritans".

---

Among the ranks of the Futurist ideologues who led Veskrona into the revolution that established its current government, the topic of Hylrin I, an ancient Veskronan king and emperor similar to Genghis Khan or Alexander the Great in our world, who has been elevated to almost god-like status in the public eye since his death around 800 years ago, has been a subject of significant debate. They were more or less divided into two camps, with both sides being ashamed that their country hadn't managed to come up with any other real national heroes for itself, but presenting very different approaches to deal with the matter in a way that would allow for it to move forward. This was seen as no small matter, given that he was extremely pervasive in the national culture and treated essentially as a watchful protector-diety.

The Rejection movement, often considered to be more "hard-line" Futurists, believed that the glorification of Emperor Hylrin had long since run its course and that the time frame in which it would have been constructive to the nation was long gone, advocating to erase these tendencies from the public mind and fill in the gap with Revolutionary figures. The Redemption movement, on the other hand, believed that the main problem was the way in which his glorification was being handled, not the glorification itself - they held that the Revolution was an act of channelling his true spirit, and that it would transform this tendency from slavish worship of a bygone era into constructive, forward-thinking nationalism. The Redemptionists won out in the end, with the new national leader, Commandant Shioris Valthar, being among them, and despite their hard-line nature, the Rejectionists were satisfied since the common goal of national rebirth was being achieved regardless.

And may the future be bright for the Veskronans.

---

FACT 1:

The Great Plague of Palmyrion lasted from 1503 to 1509, killing 50 million through a combination of plague (by an Palmyrion-endemic strain of Yersinia pestis), dengue (spread primarily by a Palmyrian subspecies of Aedes Aegypti), an early form of super gonorrhea, and an HIV-like virus, the first former being the result of the Lardite cultists' use of plague-infected bodies as a form of biological warfare, the second former being a result of an uptick in mosquito populations caused by failing plumbing systems, and the latter two through widespread prostitution and sexual relations starting with, and stemming from, a sect of the Lardite cult that syncretised with the Temple of Balesh (whose followers also formed the Urban Community of Kesslerstaadt); the Great Plague marks the first and earliest AIDS-defining opportunistic infections in Palmyrion.


It is a rumored "state secret" that within the modern-day descendants of the plague's survivors lie Palmyrians with a natural immunity to the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, their ancestors having survived what seemed to be from Palmyrian geneticists' speculations as a precursor to modern-day HIV/AIDS; however, whether or not these naturally-immune descendants are truly immune to the modern-day HIV strain (considering that their survivors survived a precursor strain dating back to the 1500s and not the modern-day 21st century strains) remains to be known - or if already known, a well-kept state secret living only among the Palmyrian populace's conscience in whispered rumors...and in Palmyrion's highest - and most esoteric - tiers of governmental command as a "state secret with long-term, far-reaching predominantly sociocultural consequences upon revelation".

Nevertheless, Palmyrion has a dedicated research effort for the cure and eradication of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, an effort which has gained support from progressive walks of life (especially from that of Palmyrion's oldest organised religion, the Marshist Church, having financially contributed billions alone starting from the early 2000s) and flak from conservative groups (such as the Palmyrian Anglican and Catholic conclaves and the Islamic ummah).

FACT 2:
Palmyrian beauty standards for women can be summed in three words: "thicc", curvy, and fit. Likewise the beauty standards for men revolve around muscular men with a mesomorphic body type. One can compare both standards to Renaissance-era beauty standards, though on the slimmer side for women - and for women it has led to the "balakang babe" phenomenon with women known for "thicc" and well-toned hips and thighs.

"After all, what do you expect of beauty standards from a socially liberal, militaristic society with a strong gun culture telling you to bulk up and get fit? Well, you do bulk up and get fit."
-Margaux Vera, Thicc, Fit and Curvy: How Societal Militarism affects Beauty Standards, FHM Palmyrion

[Godular]

What? Conservatives getting angry about HIV being treated as a condition to be cured rather than god-given punishment? Ishock.

---

The Godulan Weapon known as Mourning Glory has an entertaining effect when applied to enemy shielding. As most shields are the result of virtual-particle manipulation, Mourning Glory has the capacity to usurp control of such fields. This allows the new controller to do amusing things such as turning an enemy vessel’s shielding into the equivalent of an industrial crusher, or to cause the shielding to emit sufficient radiation to very precisely replicate the photosphere of a star. A ship exposed to such radiation for even a few moments will under most conditions be rendered molten.

The same can be done with planet-encompassing shield systems, with similarly dire ramifications.

[Kasa Tkoth Sphere]

I don't think I've ever seen a shield system described to use virtual particles. Admittedly, I haven't looked too far into it, but the ones I come across tend to be electromagnetic, gravitational, or based on some additional force used to reroute incoming mass and energy. (My old nation used nested screens of exotic, super-massive charged particles.) If the virtual-particle thing is instead just typically the case in your canon - great! I can see lots of counterplay; one of many ideas is having the defender reshape and propel their virtual particle arrays to "ablate" their own shields if such a mechanism is attempted, potentially causing area of effect damage to outsiders in the process.

After all, every remotely interesting FT device is only made interesting by the options it gives to its opponent.

---

K-Sphere instrumentation, calculation, and even philosophy has long since concluded that only one universe exists, and that any anomalous physical or chemical effects are the result of FTL interference from typically not-causally-connected regions of space resulting from different inflationary regions in the early universe's history (Tegmark II). The theory has worked well enough that Holder of Dreams and the Freed typically discard claims of "multiversal travel" as reasonable exaggeration, misunderstood wording, or pure intimidation tactics.

The physical phenomena observed in the recent "flare anomalies" striking K-Sphere fleets, however, have brought this model into question; the somewhat extra-physical nature of the unknown attackers' interactions with reality have led many to adjust their priors.

Some consider that, if a multiverse existed, it would be an inhospitable place in which most laws of physics would result in total annihilation of atomic structure or the like, and only a few stable pockets would be able to mutually interact. Calculations also suggest that permanent bridges between a pair of these stable pockets would eventually result in the destruction of both, foiling schemes for infinite energy by running heat engines between universes. It seems, to the K-Sphere, as if entropy is truly unavoidable and only a finite time remains before all life, real or emulated, must eventually halt.

[Godular]

I don't think I've ever seen a shield system described to use virtual particles. Admittedly, I haven't looked too far into it, but the ones I come across tend to be electromagnetic, gravitational, or based on some additional force used to reroute incoming mass and energy. (My old nation used nested screens of exotic, super-massive charged particles.) If the virtual-particle thing is instead just typically the case in your canon - great! I can see lots of counterplay; one of many ideas is having the defender reshape and propel their virtual particle arrays to "ablate" their own shields if such a mechanism is attempted, potentially causing area of effect damage to outsiders in the process.

After all, every remotely interesting FT device is only made interesting by the options it gives to its opponent.

Pretty much any kind of field, electromagnetic, gravitational, etc, involves virtual particles. Did ya use energy to make it? You're gonna get got.

And yes, there are ways to counter it... not that I'll say that out loud

/skip

[The Cosmic Mainframe]

That's a really interesting, if bleak, take on the multiverse concept. I also love it when the science in science fiction projects is actually well thought out and not just technobabble.

---

The Cosmic Mainframe has assimilated several primitive planets with no understanding of technology. It has been found to be more efficient to ease people in to the idea of becoming processing power for a grid computer the size of a quarter of a galaxy, rather than explaining all of it at once, so usually the Mainframe poses as a god to these societies, using religion and "magic" to bring their population into submission. Pieces of technology are disguised as religious artifacts; brain implants are usually installed along with religious adornments. Afterwards, the population is introduced to how the "magic" actually works. This is a gradual process, so as not to disturb loyalty to the Mainframe, but not too gradual either, as efficiency is very important to the Mainframe.

[Borgevia]

This is disturbing, even my space fascist nation Soleos has more morals than enslaving an entire primitive species. Soleos, go, protect the Milky Way.

---

"Borgovian Pasta" is a category of its own the same way Japanese Omelette is its own thing. Cooks experimented with new spices and create new food trends to keep the wealthy amused. It resulted in Borgovia having stronger spice tolerance and a more open mind towards foods than Europeans who abandoned seasoning a long time ago outside of say, Italy, Turkey, and Southern France because "poor people can afford it now". When all spice combinations seem to be exhausted, they turn to mixing cuisines to keep the foodie culture of Borgovia's elites going. An example of it is "Ginger fried pasta" which consists of boiling penne pasta in boiling, salty water. In a separate pan, they mince garlic, ginger and then mix with nutmeg, turmeric, star anise, five spices, szechuan peppercorn, black pepper, and salt with sesame or olive oil with ground meat, often chicken or pork. They then remove the chicken and add in the drained cooked pasta to the pan/wok. It is then mixed together like Dan Dan Noodles and have thin slices of Mozzarella cheese to melt onto it. Copious amounts of Cayenne Pepper is then sprinkled on before mixing it again for a spicy, cheesy dish. Crushed nuts are optional.

Another type of "Borgovian Pasta" is "Pseudo-Pesto" which is made from boiling broccoli and then mashing it with minced garlic, cheese, crushed almonds/peanuts/cashews, and olive oil to create a fake pesto when Basil + Pine nuts either became more expensive or they want something different. Angel hair pasta is to be boiled and on a separate pan, shrimp, asparagus, and tomatoes are cooked in olive or sesame oil before tossing in the angel hair pasta to be mixed with the pan. It's then poured to a dish and the pseudo-pesto is poured on top. There are also fusion variations where Italian pasta is cooked the Thai/Chinese way with peanut sauce in place of tomato sauce or Vietnamese dishes being cooked the Italian/Spanish way with tomato-based dipping sauce and wheat noodles in place of fish sauce and rice noodles for 'bun cha' whose pork patty also made with garlic, rosemary, and sage for a more European flavour alongside the Vietnamese lemongrass. Curry based spaghetti dishes are also popular. Once a trendy dish becomes cheaper, it either sank, stayed for the wealthy, or became a cultural dish if the lower class choose to preserve it.

Italians actually don't like how people have to specify if it's Borgovian or Italian style pasta the same way they don't like to compete with "American Pizza".

[Holocovoy]

This is disturbing, even my space fascist nation Soleos has more morals than enslaving an entire primitive species. Soleos, go, protect the Milky Way.

---

"Borgovian Pasta" is a category of its own the same way Japanese Omelette is its own thing. Cooks experimented with new spices and create new food trends to keep the wealthy amused. It resulted in Borgovia having stronger spice tolerance and a more open mind towards foods than Europeans who abandoned seasoning a long time ago outside of say, Italy, Turkey, and Southern France because "poor people can afford it now". When all spice combinations seem to be exhausted, they turn to mixing cuisines to keep the foodie culture of Borgovia's elites going. An example of it is "Ginger fried pasta" which consists of boiling penne pasta in boiling, salty water. In a separate pan, they mince garlic, ginger and then mix with nutmeg, turmeric, star anise, five spices, szechuan peppercorn, black pepper, and salt with sesame or olive oil with ground meat, often chicken or pork. They then remove the chicken and add in the drained cooked pasta to the pan/wok. It is then mixed together like Dan Dan Noodles and have thin slices of Mozzarella cheese to melt onto it. Copious amounts of Cayenne Pepper is then sprinkled on before mixing it again for a spicy, cheesy dish. Crushed nuts are optional.

Another type of "Borgovian Pasta" is "Pseudo-Pesto" which is made from boiling broccoli and then mashing it with minced garlic, cheese, crushed almonds/peanuts/cashews, and olive oil to create a fake pesto when Basil + Pine nuts either became more expensive or they want something different. Angel hair pasta is to be boiled and on a separate pan, shrimp, asparagus, and tomatoes are cooked in olive or sesame oil before tossing in the angel hair pasta to be mixed with the pan. It's then poured to a dish and the pseudo-pesto is poured on top. There are also fusion variations where Italian pasta is cooked the Thai/Chinese way with peanut sauce in place of tomato sauce or Vietnamese dishes being cooked the Italian/Spanish way with tomato-based dipping sauce and wheat noodles in place of fish sauce and rice noodles for 'bun cha' whose pork patty also made with garlic, rosemary, and sage for a more European flavour alongside the Vietnamese lemongrass. Curry based spaghetti dishes are also popular. Once a trendy dish becomes cheaper, it either sank, stayed for the wealthy, or became a cultural dish if the lower class choose to preserve it.

Italians actually don't like how people have to specify if it's Borgovian or Italian style pasta the same way they don't like to compete with "American Pizza".

That's pretty interesting, alot of attention put into cooking recipes which is a part of culture that I wouldn't really touch, I gotta say the Vietnamese dishes with Latin influence seems the most delicious, I know you can't really answer but I wonder if these dishes are influenced by some home/family cuisine or if they were invented on the fly for the purpose of NS.

Within the Mir of Gadaš, a Mir being a rural subdivision, cannibalism was and still is a commonplace phenomenon and socially accepted in their communities, while it is now regulated by the local government of the Mir and only the meat of people who were already dead can be served. This is due to the long history of the area: initially the Gadašians (or Gadaškars) were a cult in the eastern lowlands of Holocovoy, they were later deported to serve as colonists in the northern Krajina under the Kralstvo of Holocovoy for their crimes of "occultism, human sacrifice and cannibalism", they populated the city of Mavrovor before the person who was the namesake of the city and serving as it's millitary governor, Mavrovor, kicked them further north, to what is today the northernmost tip of the panhandle of Holocovoy called Odžak, where they founded Gadašica and continued their affairs but were accepted by the Kral in Holocovoy until they continued to pay their tributes and keep populating the areas to the north. Eventually the area assumed it's own identity but became more secularised as time went on, the Gadaškar cult eventually disappearing, Gadaš becoming one of the 4 subdivisions with a non-religious majority, but it left it's mark on the Mir, as now donating or giving "IOU" for organs to be eaten is commonplace and a few restaurants in the area still serve it, though most won't deny that consuming human meat is a health hazard in the region.

[Palmyrion]

This is disturbing, even my space fascist nation Soleos has more morals than enslaving an entire primitive species. Soleos, go, protect the Milky Way.

---

"Borgovian Pasta" is a category of its own the same way Japanese Omelette is its own thing. Cooks experimented with new spices and create new food trends to keep the wealthy amused. It resulted in Borgovia having stronger spice tolerance and a more open mind towards foods than Europeans who abandoned seasoning a long time ago outside of say, Italy, Turkey, and Southern France because "poor people can afford it now". When all spice combinations seem to be exhausted, they turn to mixing cuisines to keep the foodie culture of Borgovia's elites going. An example of it is "Ginger fried pasta" which consists of boiling penne pasta in boiling, salty water. In a separate pan, they mince garlic, ginger and then mix with nutmeg, turmeric, star anise, five spices, szechuan peppercorn, black pepper, and salt with sesame or olive oil with ground meat, often chicken or pork. They then remove the chicken and add in the drained cooked pasta to the pan/wok. It is then mixed together like Dan Dan Noodles and have thin slices of Mozzarella cheese to melt onto it. Copious amounts of Cayenne Pepper is then sprinkled on before mixing it again for a spicy, cheesy dish. Crushed nuts are optional.

Another type of "Borgovian Pasta" is "Pseudo-Pesto" which is made from boiling broccoli and then mashing it with minced garlic, cheese, crushed almonds/peanuts/cashews, and olive oil to create a fake pesto when Basil + Pine nuts either became more expensive or they want something different. Angel hair pasta is to be boiled and on a separate pan, shrimp, asparagus, and tomatoes are cooked in olive or sesame oil before tossing in the angel hair pasta to be mixed with the pan. It's then poured to a dish and the pseudo-pesto is poured on top. There are also fusion variations where Italian pasta is cooked the Thai/Chinese way with peanut sauce in place of tomato sauce or Vietnamese dishes being cooked the Italian/Spanish way with tomato-based dipping sauce and wheat noodles in place of fish sauce and rice noodles for 'bun cha' whose pork patty also made with garlic, rosemary, and sage for a more European flavour alongside the Vietnamese lemongrass. Curry based spaghetti dishes are also popular. Once a trendy dish becomes cheaper, it either sank, stayed for the wealthy, or became a cultural dish if the lower class choose to preserve it.

Italians actually don't like how people have to specify if it's Borgovian or Italian style pasta the same way they don't like to compete with "American Pizza".

That's pretty interesting, alot of attention put into cooking recipes which is a part of culture that I wouldn't really touch, I gotta say the Vietnamese dishes with Latin influence seems the most delicious, I know you can't really answer but I wonder if these dishes are influenced by some home/family cuisine or if they were invented on the fly for the purpose of NS.

Within the Mir of Gadaš, a Mir being a rural subdivision, cannibalism was and still is a commonplace phenomenon and socially accepted in their communities, while it is now regulated by the local government of the Mir and only the meat of people who were already dead can be served. This is due to the long history of the area: initially the Gadašians (or Gadaškars) were a cult in the eastern lowlands of Holocovoy, they were later deported to serve as colonists in the northern Krajina under the Kralstvo of Holocovoy for their crimes of "occultism, human sacrifice and cannibalism", they populated the city of Mavrovor before the person who was the namesake of the city and serving as it's millitary governor, Mavrovor, kicked them further north, to what is today the northernmost tip of the panhandle of Holocovoy called Odžak, where they founded Gadašica and continued their affairs but were accepted by the Kral in Holocovoy until they continued to pay their tributes and keep populating the areas to the north. Eventually the area assumed it's own identity but became more secularised as time went on, the Gadaškar cult eventually disappearing, Gadaš becoming one of the 4 subdivisions with a non-religious majority, but it left it's mark on the Mir, as now donating or giving "IOU" for organs to be eaten is commonplace and a few restaurants in the area still serve it, though most won't deny that consuming human meat is a health hazard in the region.

Just...ban it outright.

---

From 1820 to 1935, Palmyrion had (closeted) LGBT military officers from lieutenants to generals, on top of closeted gays in its enlisted rank and file.

Knowledge of these LGBT soldier's came from the preserved journals of many of these soldiers, many of which wrote in their personal journals about being attracted to the same sex or to both sexes, as well as such relations being kept in secret. Nevertheless they weren't fired when their "homoerotic orientation" was revealed, though they almost invariably voluntarily resigned out of fear of persecution.

Nevertheless, many of these officers are highly decorated, having participated in the Long War (100BCE-2000 CE) against the Cult of the Vile Lard, the Mokan War of Independence (1849-1842), and the Second Intercessor Crusade (1870-1875) against a Lardite separatist uprising in Palmyrion. They have also served in the War of 1912 (1912-1916) against a communist separatist movement, but lost despite valiant efforts to a combined force of Christofalangist and Wahhabist revolutionaries in 1935 (which started the Fascist Tripartition from 1936 to 1952).

Nowadays, LGBT can openly serve in the Palmyrian military, and a few of them have gained honours and medals of prestige for exemplary service, especially in the Sabine War of Defence, the Zelphosian Civil War, and the conflicts (particularly, Operation Consolidator from 2014 to 2015 and the Reunion War from 2016 to 2018) that dotted the Palmyrian Troubles (2009-present).

[Ostsee Empire]

That's not entirely surprising. I mean, the fact that historians don't argue "they were just very good friends" like they do for actual LGBT people in history IRL is, but the existence of gays and/or others in the military isn't. Armies typically have a "don't show, don't tell" policy about these things.

---

The Religious League War ended much differently in this timeline than it did in real life. For one thing, modern Europe has a lot more Protestants than it does Catholics.
Apart from Wallonia and Flanders, all of Europe north of Main and east of the Rhine is Lutheran, while the territories west of the Rhine (and north of France) are Calvinist. Hungary (in its pre 1919 borders) is majority Protestant and Bohemia-Moravia is almost completely Hussite. Austria itself, outside of Vienna, is also Lutheran, though it is ruled by a Catholic Habsburg Emperor from the catholic Vienna. Terra Mariana itself has almost no Catholics outside of its small Polish minority, and is neatly divided between Lutherans and Calvinists.