Your Nation's Fact of the Week

[Kim Il Korea]

Kim Il Korea was refounded, after a long period of being extinct, and given its own planet to rule by Christos because the King of Christos just felt like it.

[Christos]

There are many rock bands in Christos, one band in particular called "The Bush Adminstration" is a band with look alikes of George W. Bush (Singer/ Guitar Player), Saddam Hussein (DJ Player), Dick Cheney (Bass Player), Colin Powell (Drummer), Donald Rumsfeld (Fiddler, Banjo Player), John Kerry (Back Up Singer), John Edwards (Back Up Singer).

[Hypnodia]

This nation is based off of a (fanmade) My Singing Monsters element.


My old flag was the Syrian one.


My past two nations were Undertale and Dumb Ways To Die based respectively.

[Voxija]

In 2011, an awful cyclone blasted North Voxija. That event made Voxija relevant to the nations that gave it foreign aid.

[Subhurbia]

Suhurbians aren’t exposed to any western media or culture, neither does its internet have access to sites like YouTube, Facebook, and various other sites that exist in RL. Suhurbia displays mostly its own media, and has its own sites.

[Shikonjima]

On July 31, 1967, General Yoshifuni Khorulas Khaad Ichigawa, a political theorist and leading commander of the Imperial Shikonjimanese Army, with roots in both Shikonjima and the Sharulsi Khanate, gave one of the speeches considered the most insane ever given on public. After causing protests at the University of Nashinya and getting condemned by numerous personages of Shikonjimanese Royalty, he eventually apologized and, due to the loss of his face, committed Seppuku.
Excerpt from the speech of the Kogane no Kyuuden in Toriyama, the most controversial parts of it:

"[...] And thus, my fellow people, citizens of the Empire, subjects of His Majesty Yamura no Yoshita Shogun and Her Majesty Narantsetseg Khatun, we will finally have to admit, that there is no reasonable way out of the mess that Imperialism has caused, except for the creation of a World Empire ourselves. For too long, the rise of Christianity and other Abrahamic sects has caused the death of possible hundreds of millions of deaths of innocent people who have done nothing wrong but to believe in what they consider heresy - and to either cry like newborns, to stamp their foot like Cubs, or - in worst case - react with violence, if they are told, that their 'faith', for a given definition of the term, is possibly anything, but not the true one, either. [...]
People of the Eastern Realm, it's time for a reaction! We are on our best path to take control over huge chunks of the Continent of Janilaima, we are on our best path to become Lords of the Seas, and with a strong development plan in our realm, I'm sure, that we will slowly, but surely, pave our way to winning the final battle against Christian Imperialism! No one will dare calling us 'backward heathens' anymore, once they become aware of our might, strength, and power! 'We are the Golden Sun, the Endless Steppe, the Sword and the Grain!' [This is a quote by Oktai Khan (1472-1549), Editor's Note.] With the Power of the Four Souls and the Spirits of the Steppe, we will fight, one filthy and heretic imperialist at a time, until our superiority will never be questioned ever again! [...]
To reach this goal, our fights, sadly, will not be limited to the actual oppressors. For the creation of a pagan co-prosperity sphere, we will need to get rid of other, less visible oppressive forces first. The Shikonjimanese Empire, be it ever so powerful, cannot - and will not - fight on its own. Only with the gradual annihilation of the communist revolutionaries in Shamsiyya and the narrow-minded bunch of little state premiers preventing the creation of a unified, strong Nordic Ally in the Lillöer-Archipelago, and pagan nations of other parts of the world that might be interested - and surely will be -, we will make sure, that our children and grandchildren can live in a consistent, strong realm free from the oppression we and Our Ancestors have faced for many centuries! [...] To ensure a future for us all, we have no chance but to do away with individualism and hedonism, for these are sins - sins that stand in our way and bring us down to the level of the filthy heretics we are about to wipe off once and for all! We must start with ourselves first, before we continue with the Total War we all will have to fight in order to give your and our future a remote chance to survive! [...]
Henceforth, Brothers and Sisters, grab all weapons you have and go out fighting! In a time like this, there is no other option but to either shoot, or get shot! Fight for your survival, your glory, and the Power of the Gods - no matter which ones you believe in!
Shikon e no eikou! Tengeriin aldar! Al-Alihat Kabira! Heil Odin!
The Golden Age awaits us all!"

[Zawikhiztan]

During the Zawikh-UCPR War, Zawikhiztan was able to defeat the UCPR forces in the Battle of Wayr Fanunokh even though they were outnumbered by the UCPR Forces 10:1
This led to Zawikhiztan continuing its independence until its occupation from 1952-1979

[Greater Miami Shores]

:
We are not just Cubans in charge.
Wadi Gaitan, of Honduran birth and descent.
Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources.
Keep Miami Great Again.
Conservative Republican Nationalist Party.
Miami Shores Council of Ministers.
The Democratic Capitalist Republic of Greater Miami Shores.

This week Miami Shores went through a major Hurricane scare called Dorian, will it hit us directly, will it hit us in directly and when will it hit us, will it be a category, 1,2,3,4 or 5, but other fellow nations were not so lucky, and one in particular was not lucky at all, The Bahama islands of NS, with whom we have excellent, economic, political, cultural and tourist diplomatic relations, our government and people will do whatever they can to help The Bahamian People rebuild their nation, the USA can hold it's own, and is also helping the Bahamian People recover from the monster storm that has destroyed their nation.

Expect a post from the government and nation of The Bahama Islands.

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viewtopic.php?p=36191692#p36191692

[Silver Commonwealth]

Ministry of Education

Fact time!

''(SC's collapse AU) The Great Patriotic War was a conflict between National Republic of England, and Celtic League, which lasted from June 23rd, 2185 to 14th September, 2187. The conflict broke out soon after SC's, and European Federation's complete collapse, when the autonomous Celtic republics (Ireland had the biggest level of autonomy) broke off from the Republic of British Isles, while National Republic of England tried to hold at least a small part of its former power - after the collapse of European Federation, British lost most of the influence in continental Europe, and as Britain was the capital region of European Federation as well, the collapse hurt it particularly bad. Although England had a way bigger population, better resources, technology, and commanders than Celtic Coalition's nations combined (Cornwall, Isle of Man, Wales, Scotland, Ireland), it still meant, that it had to fight into a three front war. British army decided to take out Cornwall the first, as a lot of its population was still British, and for this reason, Cornwall's government was also pretty unpopular. However, England also wanted to reduce the amount of fronts it had to fight into. In Wales, units were tasked with slowly pushing in the country, as Welsh military was relatively weak, but advised to ''not rush it'', as Ireland would probably send reinforcements across the coast. Units on Scottish border were tasked with holding the line against Scottish attacks in Northern England, as while Scotland's military wasn't the strongest, it wasn't as weak as Welsh, or Cornish units. Anyways, due of the England's diversion tactics, and unpopularity of the government, British soldiers were able to spark uprisings against the government, which resulted in the already weak Cornish army being paralyzed, and the capital - Plymouth, being taken without much casualties for British side. However, even after Cornwall's Republic's capitulation, a few Cornish partisans (Mostly those with Cornish heritage and language) still continued to resist, albeit their resistance wasn't significant enough to seriously endanger England's positions in Cornwall, or draw away its soldiers from fronts like Welsh front, or Scottish front.''

''After Cornwall was dealt with, England turned its attention towards Wales. The commanders split army into two branches - northern army had to take control of Llŷn peninsula in northern Wales, and disrupt Irish supplies in the sea, but southern army's goal was to take Cardiff, and Swansea. However, Welsh army had already started the offensive from Central Wales into England's territory, as while Welsh army was still very weak, Irish reinforcements had arrived, and Welsh decided to strike as fast as possible. So, the southern army was split into two again, and the new central army was tasked with countering the offensive. United Irish and Welsh armies met with British troops near the city of Ludlow, and the battle of Ludlow began, which resulted in heavy defeat for the Celtic Coalition's troops. After the battle, British units didn't want to let the defeated Welsh units to resupply, so they chased them all the way over the border, and went on an aggressive offensive in all sectors of Welsh front. Despite having mountains as an advantage, and Irish support, Wales with its about 3 million people couldn't put up a big fight against England, which was geared towards being a great power. So, after a few months of war, British Blackshirts were marching in Cardiff's streets. Although Welsh President-Governor (Tywysog, a.k.a Chief) successfully fled to Swansea, he was killed there by disloyal officials not long after Cardiff's fall, and later the government surrendered to British Army. Most of Welsh soldiers, however, refused to surrender, and continued to wage war in form of asymmetrical warfare, similar to Cornish partisans. After defeat of Wales, England turned its attention towards the north again - during the war in the south, Socttish had captured many of towns near border, like Longtown, Spittal, and Byrness due of them having slightly more modern, and better equipment than southern members of the Coalition, and Scottish army boasted about ''reaching Newcastle as well in a few weeks''.''

''While some of the units were left in the south to deal with the rebel activities, most of England's army launched a mass attack against Scottish troops, and at such odds, Scottish army quickly started to be pushed back, as entire battalions were encircled by British troops, and Scots suffered heavy losses, despite the fighting spirit. Unlike with England, which could replenish its lost tanks and soldiers, Scotland's industry eventually became unable to do so, and the equipment of soldiers became more and more insufficient. Soon, the British army crossed the Scottish-English border, and started a campaign of conquering the Lowlands of Scotland. Although Scotland had quite a lot of natural advantages, most of them were in the sparsely populated highlands, which meant, that the lowlands experienced a lot of hellish artillery bombardment, usage of napalm, intense firefights, and even usage of toxins in warfare. Due of the fact, that some regiments had a few mini-nuke launchers as well, some parts of the Scotland were left in ruins, and highly toxic after the war, and it took months, or even years for them to recover. Although Irish sent troops to help out Scottish too, most of their military now was contained near the Irish sea, where they were battling with English navy, and air force. Siege of Edinburgh became one of the most bloodiest episodes of the conflict, as Scots had fortified the city well, and used the urban warfare well to its advantage. In highlands, terrain was better suited for defense, but the highlands also experienced a famine after a lot of the soldiers, and armed civilians fled to the north, because such mountainous land wasn't able to sustain such a big population for extensive periods of war. While holding out longer than the southern nations, at the end of the conflict, the Scottish military capabilities were nearly completely destroyed. Shortly before the war ended, Scottish Gaelic speakers declared independence from the rest of Scotland on a few of the western isles, but while the new government tried to negotiate a some kind of deal with the English Blackshirts, London wanted to unite all of British Isles, so the independence groups were quickly crushed after British army was sent in.''

''After Scottish defeat, Isle of Man surrendered to the British without a fight, as it was afraid of facing destruction in case if it refused, as its army was practically nonexistent. Only Ireland was left to take, but English military leadership didn't rush the attack - it instead tried to destroy the Irish navy and airforce in preparations of taking control over Ireland's sea and airspace. However, Irish had heavily fortified not only Dublin, but Belfast as well, as Northern Ireland is close to the Scotland, so Irish expected English to land there as well. However, British decided to strike first in Cork instead, where Irish weren't fortified as well. Thanks to the naval superiority, British captured Kork fairly easily, and Irish attempts of counterattack failed, as the local troops weren't strong enough. Meanwhile, British airforce kept doing bombing runs on Irish airfields, in order to prevent them from repairing, and continued to further paralyze the army by using cyber-attacks as well, in preparation to take the actual operation's goal - Dublin. Irish Bueshirts, and British Blackshirts, who had fought side by side just a few years ago, now were trying to destroy each other... Although most of the troops in Dublin remained there, Irish army sent a lot of reinforcements from Belfast to defend the western Ireland. Now, when Belfast's garrison was weakened, British decided to strike, as without enough soldiers, Irish couldn't hold the city. However, the few remaining naval ships in Belfast assisted the Irish against continued English attacks, until the city fell. After Belfast's fall, British forces pushed further into Northern Ireland, in order to try to force Irish defend in all directions, thus stretching out their forces.''

''After a few months, British military leadership thought, that ''it was the time to strike at the capital'', as British airforce had leveled a lot of Dublin's defenses during air raids, but at the same time, Irish forces were gradually pushing out British troops in the west. However, the defenses were still strong, and as Irish had various energy weapons, the first assault on Dublin failed. After the failed assault, Irish continued to push the British troops in west even more, so the Lord-Protector ordered to try to take Dublin again in April 12th, 2187. This time, British managed to establish a foothold near Dublin, and after long street battles, Dublin had fallen, which was a boost to British morale. After that, Vertibirds became a common sight in Irish skies, as they kept remains of Irish airforce pinned down, and were dropping paratroopers behind lines. Now Irish armed forces were losing in all directions, and after Irish radars were destroyed, British planes were free to operate in the airspace. English troops slowly tightened the grip over both Irish airspace and sea waters, thus preventing any supplies from other countries, and bringing the country close to starvation. Although there were plenty of radicals, which were ready to fight till the last breath, government itself felt, that the war was lost, and wanted to''preserve what's been left from Ireland'', and the propaganda back at home encouraged English soldiers to ''strike at the last remaining sources of concern''. So, in September of 2187, peace talks were held in London, which resulted in all of British Isles being annexed by National Republic of England.''

''Overall, war was very costly, and there were about 550,000 military casualties for both sides combined, and many in the territories of Celtic Coalition were left homeless after the war. While England itself wasn't hurt as badly from the conflict, the newly conquered lands of Wales, Ireland, and Scotland were in need of reconstruction and repair, which took a significant funding from England's budget. One of the first decisions of the English was to reinstate direct rule in all of British Isles, which sparked discontent, of course. In some isles, which were further, Scottish resistance persisted longer - for example, in Shetland, a soldier movement lasted for an another year after Celtic Coalition signed the treaty of surrender, and the inhabitants of Faroe Islands even joined the State of Norway in order to avoid being a part of the new National Republic of British Isles (In SC's timeline, Free American Empire occupied Faroe Islands during the period, when three superstates were forming, thus it became a part of SC's Britain). However, just after 3 weeks, British issued an ultimatum to Norwegian State to hand the Faroe Islands back, or else it would ''burn down Oslo to the ground with the might of British Navy'', as Lord-Protector of British Isles threatened in the ultimatum. As Norway had seen the British technological edge, and (sometimes) savagery in battle with Celtic Coalition, Norwegian State gave up Faroe Islands. After moving in, British army carried out repressions against Scottish partisans, which had fled to the islands. The annexation of Ireland also led to the revival of IRA once again, as many of the former Irish soldiers went underground, and started to use partisan tactics, while avoiding direct engagements, as Brits had way higher organization, and more advanced weapons (Like Plasma defender), which meant, that any direct engagements would be basically a suicide.''

Ministry of Education

Fact time!

''Kalahari Territory is one of the various SC's autonomies, which is located in southern Africa, and consists from territories of former Namibia, and Botswana. (About 1 425 789 km²) Although Namibia had Namibian-German groups way before SC's arrival, for a long time both it, and Botswana were directly administrated as provinces of SC's South Africa, and didn't receive any particular autonomy, and there weren't much calls for it either. (In SC's timeline, the Namibian mandate by UN didn't exist, so South Africa just eventually fully annexed Namibia, and administrated it like its own province. Botswana was ceded in a similar manner to SC's South Africa after the British colonial governments in Africa were defeated) The situation changed only relatively recently, when the scientists Renier rescued from Germany with a super-cavitation submarine, settled in Namibia. However, the scientists eventually started to push more demands for Namibia as an autonomous entity, and even managed to get Botswana merged with Namibia, creating the Kalahari Territory. (However, the regional reform similar to the megastates reform was already going on by then, with merging Zimbabwe, parts of Zambia, and parts of Mozambique into Greater Rhodesia, along with dismantling Lesotho and Swaziland as provinces, and merging them into Transvaal, Orange Free State, and Natal provinces). After the completion of regional reform in 2051, Kalahari territory was still a province of Renier's South Africa on paper, but in reality, National Party's authority had significantly diminished in the region - so much, that the South African central government had to set up a ''consulate'' in Walvis Bay, similar to the ones in other administrative regions, and autonomies, where rulers often rule pretty independently. (Some speculate, that Renier sold the rights to Kalahari to institutes because of his debt, and he hoped, that the money from purchase would help him to repay it) Behind the demands of autonomy, the actual goals of scientists were way more cynical - to establish a territory, where they could freely conduct their experiments, and not having to conform to the very few regulations SC's government put for unaligned scientists. (Which is concerning). Commonwealth's Tourism Bureau has marked Kalahari territory as ''reconsider your need to travel'', and has applied even higher travel advisories for some regions of Kalahari territory. (For comparison, SC's South African core territories are labelled as ''Exercise normal safety precautions'', or ''exercise a high degree of caution'' in some parts of it) In general, tourism has become very limited after the German scientists from Russian Empire's territories made Kalahari territory as an autonomous zone, as most of the Kalahari's income now comes from natural resources like diamonds, and development of new technology (And the various institutes there don't even think about revealing the manufacturing process and secrets to anyone in South African central government). If anything, it is largely the opposite - various Namibian-German professors are said to ''prefer seeing tourists go away, rather than come'', and despite the relatively small size of Kalahari's army, most of tourists are allowed in only with a special tour guide, and with a few soldiers guarding them, which get angsty the moment tour group wanders even near a weapons test site, or a military base. Kalahari territory is often compared to the Switzerland, and Korea of SC's world, as all three of them have a big level of secrecy. (If anything, Namibian tour guides in SC are allowed to lead tourists only through official routes, which means, that if any tourist from another Commonwealth's region wanders off the official road, not only they, but the tour guide are punished by the Kalahari's government.)''

''The Skeleton Coast, which got its name from the various dead whale skeletons, and sunken ships washed in the shore, is mostly empty, asides from the occasional fishing boats (It is possible to set off sail from Skeleton coast, but impossible to return back, due of the currents, so in order to return back, you need to travel further south.), and the sea patrol rafts by the Namibian scientists. Some of the research facilities have been built exactly across the Skeleton Coast, as it is a pretty desolate place, where few people dwell, and is also away from major cities like Windhoek, or Lüderitz. (When the various institutes, and German scientists got the power in Kalahari, it turned out, that ruling over a civilian populace brought new difficulties, as running an institute was one thing, but an entire country - an entirely new level. In fact, some of the researchers commonly say, that ''civies are problematic''). In combination with Skeleton Coast's shipwrecks and whale skeletons, night skies of Namibia, and the ocean, the various research centers give a surrealism vibe. The official language of Kalahari territory is German, and Afrikaans, as Afrikaners had administrated Namibia and Botswana long before Renier handed it over to the institutes. While Kalahari is ran by scientists and various universities, it isn't a technocracy per se, although it is oriented on scientific advancement, and many of the government's members are actually technocrats. Kalahari kept the apartheid, and bantustan system from Renier's South Africa, and some of the rescued German scientists were strasserites, but overall the Kalahari Territory's political structure still is pretty vague, and covered in fog, due of the secrecy of its government. Technically, no one is completely safe from the institute claws, but the scientists mostly raid Bantustans for their experiments, as the local native autonomies are often too weak to put a serious fight against the more advanced Kalahari's army, which also has things like drones, and special trucks adjusted for arid terrain. However, some Bantustans have banded together, and have started to fight back against the scientists - Kalahari's army's weakness is its small size, as it doesn't recruit native Africans, so its size is limited. The Bantustan, and Kalahari's conflict is also known as the ''Secret War'', due of the fact, that Kalahari's government tries to either cover up the news about conflict, or doesn't tell very much to other Commonwealth states, or even other African regions. The special units believe, that ''they can't rely on any other region's aid in their fight, not even Renier's South Africa, and that it is an issue, with which Namibia should deal alone.'' However, some of the people have fled to Angola from Kalahari, and have caused uproar from the local governors about the methods of scientists used in the conflict. For the same reason, Kalahari has practically been under a martial law since its very existence. Although South Africa is its closest ally, and also a trade partner, even Boer politicians don't have the full picture about situation in Kalahari. (In fact, unlike Renier's South Africa, Kalahari doesn't seem to follow Tom's pan-human doctrine)

Ministry of Education

Fact time!

''As of 2051, SC has only one company, which produces advanced phones like smartphones, tablets, or Ipads - Cybertron. It uses a modified Temple OS version for its smartphones, and other gadgets - in fact, it is very similar, as both have pre-installed religious texts depending on the region, they both filter out content which the OS sees as "obscene", or "nsfw", and can block various apps, or have a backdoor for quick access for government organizations, if person is a suspect. (In case, if a non-government associate somehow manages to open the backdoor of someone else for their own use, however, it is considered a serious crime, and can led to being imprisoned for many years, or even executed in some territories). Of course, it is impossible to directly manage an entire world, so Cybertron has many local branches, which produce smartphones for local markets, like Cybertron Turkestan, for an example, which produces smartphones for the Central Asia, and East Turkestan, or Cybertron Europe, which produces smartphones, and gadgets for European Federation's members. So, while on paper they are under control of Cybertron's main branch in SC's America, in practice they are almost like independent companies - the web is similarly complex as SC's politics. However, things like smartphones cost a lot more in SC's timeline, due of various factors - first, the capacity of production is way lower, and smartphone technology isn't as advanced (In fact, the first smartphone model in SC was invented only in 2044), which means, that the SC's most modern smartphone is about on a level of iPhone 3GS, or iPhone 4 at most. (Although Temple OS for Cybertron's products is more similar to Android) Second, smartphones are a way rarer sight in SC's world, and in newly conquered regions like Indochina, or India, they are typically seen as status symbols, as smartphones cost a lot more in there, if compared to the purchase power of the locals. Although Tom has estimated, that more factories will be built in future, and price of phones will go down, it is still estimated to be pretty high in foreseeable future. While some might argue, that ''SC's smartphones are way more durable than OTL counterparts'', they still are more fragile, if compared to the old mobile phone models released by Russian Empire's, and RNGOC's companies (One of them being Nokia, as Empire absorbed it during its conquests of Europe). Speaking of that, RNGOC did try to release its own smartphone model, but it didn't take off as much. Still, Cybertron absorbed various phone, and technology manufacturers from both Empire, and RNGOC during its conquests, in order to ''help it better accustom to the local market''.''

''Some of SC's industrialists have proposed merging Cybertron with PC manufacturers in an another super-state company, but the proposal has been denied multiple times. In fact, there is a bitter competition going between the two, despite them being expected to work in unison, and each wants its product to get popularized in new sectors like former disputed zone, which for some companies is like a land of opportunity. Either way, both the PC producer, and Cybertron employ dirty tactics to secure their place, and nowadays almost all of SC's smartphones are produced by Cybertron, or its branches (There are some custom-mades circulating in various SC's black markets, but it is ill-advised to carry an one in public, as it would draw attention quickly, because black-market's phone OS is not supported by Cybertron, hence it looks more ''outdated''. However, unlike with normal Temple OS for both smartphones and mobiles, black market version usually has the GPS tracker blocked out). However, ironically enough, most of SC's government services, and important institutions still use the old stationary, and mobile phones, as while their conversations can still be tapped, and location - traced down, they can't be infected with viruses, unlike smartphones (As SC's programmers are already combating the first viruses of SC's world, and the amount of pressure is estimated to only increase as time goes on). So, at least in government sphere, Cybertron tolerates the old phones. However, when it goes to civilians, Cybertron has been aggressively pushing for replacing the old phones with never models, albeit most of people still use the old stationary/mobile phones, even in SC's USA. Some conspiracy theorists speculate, that ''SCPS, and Cybertron are cooperating, and that the smartphone push is to increase surveillance more effectively. While Cybertron themselves also produce some of the older models as well, they aren't produced with the same amount of capacity as smartphones, and usually are produced only as a special order from government - a civilian would have a hard time getting such a model. (On an unrelated note, equivalent of Adobe Flash is still one of the most used programs in SC, as its internet is still in relatively early stage, and HTML hasn't emerged yet)''

Ministry of Education

Fact time!

''1. In SC's timeline, OUN fought against both Third Reich, and Russian Empire's army by using asymmetrical tactics, and partisan warfare in Ukrainian territory. However, after WW2 eventually came to an end, OUN primarily focused on fighting against Empire's armies, and lasted until mid 50s, when most of it was eradicated by NKVD special units, while dissenting sentiment remained in Empire's controlled Ukraine for much of its existence. During the Great Nuke War (A nuclear exchange between the three superstates, and although it didn't completely destroy civilization, it still hurt all three superstates a lot), OUN's remnants used the chaos to rise up in an uprising in Eastern Ukraine, but were crushed again after a few day fighting, when the Great Nuke War came to an end. After the collapse of RNGOC and Empire, OUN's successors came out of hiding, and although a centralized state was never really established, there was a loose confederacy of local villages, which both fended off the raiders, which now were common in the former Empire's territories. OUN, similarly to many other pre-collapse organizations, was integrated by SC's authorities following the Scramble for the World, and when it came to the conference about European Federation's future borders, it was one of the groups which got invited, as it was a strong sign, that they could become the main governors of one of SC's Europe's regions. While Kayden (President-Governor of European Federation) initially supported the OUN's idea of a Greater Ukraine, Tom had other plans on the territory - Bessarabia was ceded to the Balkan region, which also included the Odessa Oblast, Eastern Commonwealth received most of the western Ukraine, in combination with western Belarus, and while Ukrainian region got Crimea, OUN's claims on western Caucasus got rejected in favor of the Cossacks, which later carved out their own Federation's region out of Caucasus. Still, OUN got parts of Russia out of talks, and eastern part of Belarus. However, it meant working with an another nationalist movement, which was centered around Belorussian identity and language, so Rutheno-Ukrainian region's politics are usually full with tensions, as OUN, and Black Cats (Another group, which emerged out of two superstate collapse) rarely agree with each other on decisions, and a separatist war remains a possibility. Relations with Eastern Commonwealth (Basicaly Poland) are also very tense, as leadership of both regions often brings up atrocities of each side during WW2 against its populaces.''

''2. Although American Football has been SC's America's favorite sport for a long time, Biathlon has slowly started to compete with it during the last years, due of various military leaders of SC saying, that ''Biathlon prepares youngsters for military service better than football'', resulting in promotion of Biathlon in various Megastates. It is also not only a phenomenon of SC's America - Biathlon is being popularized in SC's Canada, European Federation, Siberia, Ring of Fire, and other northern regions. Even some of the southern, and equatorial regions (like Australasian Confederation, South America, Indian Confederacy, etc.) have shown interest in the sport, albeit not as high as the northern countries, and sports like cricket, baseball, table tennis, and wrestling are still more popular in those places. Overall, Biathlon has experienced an explosive popularity boom in just a few years, as just a decade before it wasn't nearly as popular in SC as it is now. However, some are concerned about Biathlon's future, because just like in OTL, SC's Earth is starting to warm up (Albeit its average temperature is still lower than in OTL, but only because SC's world in general is behind the OTL in both era, and development in a way), and in future, it might be hard to organize winter sports in general, not only Biathlon. Some suggest, that in such case, ''Biathlon would need to be replaced with running distance with a rifle, and shooting targets instead''.''

Space AU coming next time. *Signing off*

[Azorztka]

There are currently 12 zombie-like creatures roaming the Black Forest. The bodies were dumped there after experiments were performed on them. It was assumed that the bodies would simply decompose but within the next few weeks several stories had begun in nearby villages of pale, ghost-like monsters chasing after villagers in the middle of the night. The Ministry of Media and Information has given as little attention to these stories as possible in order to avoid suspicion however a portion of the Black Forest has been closed off. A military camp had been stationed there in an effort to hunt down these ghouls. However, this is how it's been since the 1980s so that should tell you how well it's going.

[Jerbasa]

Jerbasa has a significant population of neopagans compared to most other countries. Neopaganism accounts for 17% of the religious population.

[Voxija]

Voxija's DnD alignment would be Lawful Neutral.

[Nou Pais Valencia]

The only letter valencian language that has no entry in the dictionary is letter ç as no word starts with that letter.

[Aikoland]

Princess Caroline, the middle child of Emperor Henri VII, is the most recent member of the Royal Family to marry a commoner and give up being a Royal. In 1929 at the age of 31, she married Aikolandais socialite Joseph Georges Calvet-Poulin and hence became known as Caroline Cavet-Poulin until her death in 1981 at the age of 83.

(We feel we should say that there have been a few cases since Caroline where Royalty gets engaged to commoners, but in all instances since Caroline, the sovereign has granted the commoner a title of nobility prior to the marriage, thus making it a marriage between Royalty and nobility, not one between Royalty and a commoner)

[Velka Slovia]

Zalata Gora (Залата Гора) can be considered our equivalent of Area 51. It remained classified for a long time since it was the site of intelligence and weapons testing facilities, but it is now open to the public. However, there are still strict rules to prevent radio interference to sensitive instruments. Cell phones and wireless routers are prohibited within city limits, and detection vans are used to patrol for offending devices.

[Subhurbia]

Pyranian (South Suhurbian): less patience, greater tendency to prove themselves

Ventunese (East Suhurbian): rebellious, more likely to not let obstacles hold them down, good communicators

Aquatican (North Suhurbian): less ego oriented, more feeling and empathetic, less prone to anger, no matter how extroverted they have an air of mystery

Terranian (West Suhurbian): more prone to depression, more sensitive and awkward, very good with organization and/or details

[Drongonia]

The Bill of Rights Act 1951 is our most referenced law, appearing as a referenced Act in over 1,500 laws in our nation.

[Purpuriae]

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[Guatemala City Guatemala]

:
Sandra Jovel.
Ministra of Foreign Diplomatic Relations.
The Democratic Capitalist Republic of Guatemala.

14 of the 140 La Habana Cuban doctors and nurses in Guatemala have asked for political asylum and have been granted it.

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[Voxija]

In Voxija, lawyer jokes are one of the most favored kinds of jokes. No comedian's repertoire is complete without a good lawyer jokes. In contrast, no one in Voxija tells mother-in-law jokes.

[Silver Commonwealth]

Ministry of Education

Fact time!

''(SC's space expansion AU, a.k.a. the most unlikely scenario) ''Reclamation War of the moons'' was a short conflict between Martian State, and the Martian loyalist forces of Pax Solaris [1], which attempted to establish a ''Government in Exile'' on the two Mars moons. Some of SC's historians consider it a separate war from Martian War of Independence, while others think of it as ''one of the last phases of the National Liberation War'', as it removed one of the last pro-Tom's administration influences around Mars. While some from the expats from Phobos-Deimos Republic claim, that ''the Republic was one of the first serious attempts to restore democracy again'', such a claim is dubious at best, if judging from the nature of SC's universe, and this version is mocked not only by Martian Spartakists [2], but also by a lot of Earthling humans. While most of the defenders were Martian humans, there were some mercenaries/stuck soldiers from Earth as well. (In the millennias which followed after SC started to colonize other planets, and moons of the solar system, humans on the other planets/moons started to adapt for the local conditions, and in result, a lot of human-subcategories were created - for example, Martian Humans are generally taller, and skinnier than Earth Humans, due of the lower gravity on Mars, but they are way more fragile, when visiting planets like Earth, where gravitation is stronger. During these years, new, unique cultures arose in the newly colonized lands as well. Unfortunately, due of SC's fascistic nature, soon conflicts broke out not only between various Human species, but even between each other - for example, Spartakist laws often are considered as discriminatory against non-Martian humans, including Earthlings. Also, after the end of Martian War for Independence, those ethnicities, which supported Tom's loyalists, were persecuted as well.)''

''Even after the triumph of Spartakists on Mars, and creation of a Pan-Martian state under multiple autonomous republics (which later would be annexed), remnants of the people loyal to Tom were still around on the two moons of Mars - Phobos, and Deimos. (One of Party's members once suggested to throw Deimos and Phobos together, in order to create a single, larger moon, but Tom eventually rejected that, as he didn't saw much use for that.) If compared to The Moon, which was an autonomous entity from Earth, and Pax Solaris, and could even possibly be terraformed [3] in very far future, Deimos and Phobos were more like settlements/refueling stations for travelers in overall lifeless void, and albeit they had underground supplies of weapons and food, which meant, that they could hold off for some time, they were still very dependent from imports, on par with other asteroid refueling stations, which meant, that they were administrated directly from Mars, which itself was an autonomous entity within Pax Solaris. Still, the remnants of Mars administration proclaimed the Republic of Phobos-Deimos, with a CEO of the former state megacompany on Mars being in charge [4], along with the few loyalist military leaders, which had managed to successfully flee from Mars and refused to recognize the Spartakist authority on the planet. Such an action meant, that invasion on both moons was imminent at some point, and although Republic of Phobos-Deimos tried to secure support from Tom, Pax Solaris as a whole was undergoing a crisis [5], which meant, that Tom couldn't help them out. Also, due of the distances in space, arrival of any meaningful help from the nearest space objects would still take months, but due of proximity to Mars, Spartakists could launch an invasion just within a few days. Still, the leaders of the Republic of Phobos-Deimos started to fortify both moons in anticipation of an attack from Spartakist forces. A lot of anarchists, and monarchists, which factions were defeated on Mars, fled to Phobos as well, in order to prepare for the last stand against Spartakists. For many of the soldiers there, however, it would be the last battle they would ever fight in...''

''Spartakist space fleet started its invasion just mere 5 days after Republic of Phobos-Deimos declared its independence. Most of the generals advocated for ''concentrating the small defense force of both moons as tightly as possible, in order to hold off as long as possible'', which meant, that all of the defense was concentrated in Phobos, and that Deimos was left undefended, resulting in it being occupied in a less than a day after the start of invasion. However, it proved to be harder to deal with the defenders of Phobos, as despite the lack of supplies, the weaponry stocked in Phobos was pretty solid, and modern, along with other technology. In fact, defenders of Phobos had an another ace - there were rumors, that ''one of the defenders has a nuclear bomb with small yield, which in case of detonation would destroy the whole city, and any enemy troops within it''. (That said, the bomb never went off, most likely because its owner was convinced to not use it). Although its space force consisted mostly of small shuttles, it was enough with them to hold out against the more numerous Spartakist attackers for days. Streets were turned into deadly mazes for attackers, and urban battles were bloody. In fact, defenders managed to wipe out a small squad of invader soldiers by turning off the artificial gravity, along with supply of oxygen in some buildings, which resulted in vacuum from space getting into some of the buildings, and killing anyone without a space suit on [6]. However, soon such tactic became not viable, as Spartakist commanders ordered soldiers to ''have a space suit on at all times'' during for the rest of the operation. Defenders also managed to strike down some of the shuttles in lower parts of the skies by using the anti-air defenses installed in previous years by the former governor of Phobos, and morale was high during the first days.''

''However, during the 5th day, the short supplies of the Phobos defenders started to run out, and defeatism started to take its toll in defender ranks - although some still insisted to ''fight till the last man'', some decided to surrender to the Spartakist soldiers instead. However, a couple of soldiers in desperation decided to sneak past the Spartakist space shuttles, and raid Deimos instead, in a last attempt to boost morale, and distract enemy troops from Phobos capital. At the beginning, raid was a success, as the small Spartakist force left at Deimos was caught unprepared, and in a short, but brutal melee fight with proton swords, the raid group managed to seize most of the the small moon's territory. However, the garrison of Deimos capital itself didn't fell for this trick, and refused to surrender. While the raiders were trying to quickly take out the garrison, moment of surprise was lost, and all of the raid's members, along with their personal space shuttles, were destroyed. Failure of operation was a blow to the defender morale, and after a few weeks, shortage of food had kicked in as well - at this point, most of means to produce enough ammo for energy weapons were almost empty, and most of soldiers had switched to the normal rounds, which were antiquated that far in future. Knowing, that his troops will not be able to put up a fight for much longer, President of Phobos-Deimos tried to sign peace with Spartakists. After a few hour talking round, President ordered the defenders to lay down arms, and Republic of Phobos-Deimos was officially annexed. (Scattered hostilities still continued for a few days, however).''

''Aftermath: During the war, a lot of the defenders were killed during battles, as a lot of them were ready to ''fight to death'', and few surrendered, as they were sure, that ''Spartakists would shoot them anyways, even if they surrendered''. Most of those few, who did surrender, were mostly shot by Spartakist soldiers, indeed, as they viewed them as ''untrustworthy'', and a ''burden''. However, a few hundred of the loyalist troops managed to escape once again in either their own personal space shuttles, or through various trading ships. Most of them returned to Earth, and continued to advocate for an action against the new overlords of Mars. Those, who decided to continue wage war, landed on the Mars surface, and joined various anti-communist movements, which participated in the short-lived Yamolijian uprising [7]. One of the soldiers even went as fleeing to the southern poles after defeat of Yamolijian uprising, and fought against the Spartakist troops during the Promethean Expedition [8]. As for Phobos and Deimos themselves, while the infrastructure on both was repaired pretty soon, the war had a significant toll on civilians as well, which meant, that population of the both moons had shrunken significantly. It could be also noticed by the activity of the capital town on each of them - if before the war the towns of Kepler and Copernicus (the capitals) were small, yet thriving space ports with lots of activity, after the war they became sleepy towns, with only occasional activity when new ships arrived in space ports. In fact, both moons became the only regions of Martian State, where population started to decline, instead of growing [9]. Eventually, Spartakist military would start to gradually use both moons for joint military training with the Earthling troops [10], and activity became restricted.''

---

[1] Pax Solaris was founded in 4000, when Silver Commonwealth had grown in size past the first colonies on Luna and Mars - now it claimed all of the inner Solar System planets, and it had started to colonize the moons of Gas Giants as well. At this point, Silver Commonwealth extended way past Earth's borders, and Tom also thought, that it would need a new flag. Pax Solaris new flag was something akin to this. Despite name ''Pax'' being ''Empire'', the official classification is still ''The World Syndicalist Republics'', or ''All-American Union'', and Tom is still staunchly anti-monarchism, and has proclaimed, that ''Pax Solaris is a Jacobin Federation''. By then, SC had also achieved various scientific breakthroughs, and technological advances. However, there was increasing rift and inequality between the descendants of the first colonists, and the administrators of SC's colonies, which mostly were native to Earth, and while some of them valued the local traditions, most weren't well liked by local Martians, and there were constant tensions.

[2] Spartakist Movement is a political party, and organization on SC's Mars, which first arose during about the 6th millennia (6000s), and advocated for a Pan-Martian nationalism, in combination with militarism, mercantilism, Martian humanoid supremacism, welfare state, and planned economy. The movement also supported further prospects for resources not only on Mars itself, but on asteroids as well, and further development of advanced industrial tech, along with subsidies for workers, which grew meat in vats (Traditional agriculture became increasingly inefficient even for a traditionalist like Supercomputer Tom, and he ordered to replace it with vat-grown meat.). It was one of the main opposition coalitions in Martian government, where it often duked out with Tom's loyalists, and were the driving force during Martian Revolution. Although most of SC's politicians consider Spartakists as ''Communists'', some of SC's thinkers rather describe Spartakist Movement as ''fascists, or even state-capitalists''.

[3] While Supercomputer Tom has stated for multiple times, that ''Terraforming of Mars and Luna would be one of the first projects of such kind'', the process hasn't been completed, or even began, even after the lots of millennias, which passed since SC's space explorers set their feet on Mars, and Luna. Terraforming of other space bodies like Venus, or Mercury is even further in the future, as even Pax Solaris doesn't have infinite resources for that, and if wars would happen in middle of all of that, the process would be delayed. For now, most of settlements are within domes, which protect them from the deadly rays of Sun.

[4] Before the Martian War of Independence, Phobos and Deimos were directly administrated as a single region. Officially, the system was a weird form of diarchy, because governors of Phobos and Deimos ruled together. However, in practice, Phobos governor ruled single-handedly, as the Phobos capital was more prosperous than Deimos capital, due of more trade flowing through. It also meant, that Phobos capital was more strategically important, and it got more funding from the Mars administration, leaving Deimos more undeveloped. After the loyalist defeat on Mars, a lot of soldiers flooded in Phobos and Deimos, in order to prepare. The two governors of the moons were later impeached by soldiers, as their commanders thought, that ''governors aren't doing enough to prepare for the Spartakist attack''.

[5] Martian War of Independence wasn't an isolated conflict - in fact, it was a part of a larger wave of unrest, which sparked across the entire solar system, when the descendants of the colonists were tired of being ran by Tom, and his ''Earthling Human'' cronies - even on Luna, the Earth's moon itself, there were brutal riots, which demanded if not independence, then at least autonomy. It is also likely, that if not for Tom being distracted in the war, Spartakists would most likely lose the War of Independence. However, there weren't much revolts on Earth itself, as by the time of Martian War for Independence, most of Earth's cultures, and languages had melded in a single one, and SC finally transformed Earth into an unitary state. Later on, Supercomputer Tom was able to reconquer quite a few of the rebellious colonies, but in order to hold on to them, Tom had to apply the same decentralization system, as he did on Earth in SC's past.

[6] Atmosphere, and gravitation on Phobos and Deimos are artificially created, and only within the city's buildings, and city itself, which means, that outside of the Phobos capital, you will die without a spacesuit, as there is no air, and no protection from the Sun's rays as well. Also, even if you have a spacesuit, you will float away in space, due of the weak gravity. At first, Phobos capital was supposed to be a dome, just like the settlements of Mars, but as it was built more as a trading hub, it would mean, that whenever a new ship would come in, vacuum from space would come in the dome as well, as otherwise the ship crew wouldn't be able to access the city.

[7] Yamolijian uprising took place in the region of Arabia Terra, and it was sparked by disgruntled locals, as while they had supported Spartakists during the Martian War of Independence, they wanted to preserve the independence of the Republic of Yamolijia (or 亚墨利加 in Chinese), which had been declared during the Independence War, and advocated for a pan-Martian alliance instead. However, not all of the locals supported the uprising, so the rebels failed to get popular support, and uprising was quickly crushed. In fact, after the uprising, Spartakist leadership was convinced, that ''it needed to work on an unitary state as fast as possible, in order to avoid such rebellions in future'', and scrapped its previous plans of federalism/autonomy.

[8] Promethean Expedition was a punitive expedition against the locals living in southern Polar Regions, as although Polar Regions swore no allegiance to either side during Martian War for Independence, they refused to recognize Spartakist authority afterwards. Although Spartakists won every major engagement, and captured the Polar Region capital with relative ease, partisan warfare from the locals made administrating the region a nightmare, and many soldiers found their deaths in the ice fields. Just like with the Reclamation War of the moons, Promethean Expedition is sometimes considered as one of the ''last phases'' of the Martian Independence War.

[9] Before the Martian War of Independence, Mars was experiencing a population boom, and during the period, the first cities with over a million of inhabitants were being built. However, at this period, there was also a lot more pressure on Mars administration to feed the growing population, as the production capability wasn't adjusted for the new conditions at first. During the independence war, population experienced a decline, but after the war, it shortly started to grow again. Spartakists also give subsidies to Martian families with a lot of children, so it might be an another reason for the population starting to recover. However, some regions like the Polar Mars regions, and mountainous highlands (Particularly in the west, where some of the tallest mountains not only in Mars, but the whole Solar System are located), population still remains small.

[10] Years later, when Supercomputer Tom had stabilized the situation, Pax Solaris embargoed the Martian State, and put a continued military pressure on it. As both of them had not only nuclear weapons, but other advanced WMDs, there could very well be a destruction between them two. However, Martian State's economy started to stagnate during the blockade, and a deficit of advanced goods started to kick in, so eventually Martian State joined the Pax Solaris again, but as Tom had changed the system of Pax Solaris to be a lot more decentralized, Martian State kept a high autonomy, and was even free to raise its own army. While radicals thought of it as cooperation with Earthlings, and thus ''betrayal'' of the movements values, moderates were happy, that the economical blockade was finally over.

Ministry of Education

Fact time!

''(SC's space expansion AU, a.k.a. the most unlikely scenario. Non-canon, of course! ''Current'' year would be 6030) Ever since SC set its first steps in space colonization by building the first settlements on Earth's moon, there have existed two factions within CSA (Commonwealth's Space Agency), each with different approach towards space exploration- first branch wanted to spend more on things like space shuttles, and transporation technology, in order to push the limits of speed of a spaceship, and occupy more territories in a shorter amount of time, a.k.a focusing on space expansionism. The other branch, however, preferred to focus on the Solar System's colonization only, and albeit they would still send probes to places outside Solar System, they have no plans to colonize much there. Instead, they plan to ''perfect'' SC's home system, by terraforming planets, some of the larger moons, and even creating new planets. (The second branch has commonly called the Asteroid Belt a ''mistake made by Jupiter'', which should be fixed by putting all of the asteroid mass in Ceres - a dwarf planet, and the most massive object in the belt) Some even have presented future plans for Gas Giant terraforming and colonization, but for now, even Tom, and the most enthusiastic members of the branch aren't considering the idea seriously, as SC (Or Pax Solaris) hasn't terraformed any planet or moon yet, despite the efforts towards that on Mars, or Luna. At first, Tom favored the second wing's ideas more, as the idea of ''making all of planets and moons in Solar System a home of humanity, and part of SC'' sounded appealing for him, and he also wanted to possibly extract some of the resources in process, in order to feed the growing size of SC. However, when it became clear, that an action like terraforming Mars alone would take an obscene amount of resources, and about 100,000 years, which required cooperation spanning through generations, Tom started to like the idea less, as the ''explorationist'' wing proposed to build domes, and floating ships in atmosphere, instead of terraforming a whole planet - it would still take a lot of time, but it would be a lot faster in comparison, and would also take significantly less resources, which also means, that more of them could be diverted towards upgrading, and building a spaceship fleet (Also, terraforming the Solar System would mean remaining isolationist on a space scale, which would contrast with Tom's rabid anti-alien crusader doctrine). However, that also meant, that cities had to be hermetically sealed, in order to avoid vacuum floating in. In general, the architecture of an average extraterrestrial city looks similar to a research station, and has an one distinct feature from Earth's cities - no city has a naval port. (Due of SC's traditionalism, and taste for retro-futurism, dome cities gradually were upgraded, but their research station architecture could still be very well seen, as traditionalists said, that ''building in such style will remind us of our pioneer past and traditions''.''

''While officially Supercomputer Tom still claims, that ''Terraforming the Solar System is Pax Solaris (Silver Commonwealth's) main goal'', in reality, Tom's colonization approach is more similar to the ''explorationist'' wing's proposal - CSA (Commonwealth's Space Agency) has been building the dome cities, and spaceship ports, and although the ground under the domed cities is somewhat green by now, along with ''sufficient enough'' amounts of oxygen, the rest of Mars remains a lifeless desert with little to no protection from the deadly Sun's radiation. Situation remains similar on Luna as well, and other planets/moons. Also, while terraforming is still a very far goal, Tom already prepared seriously for that - he asked Pax Solaris astronomers to calculate the latitude of Mars and Luna's surface, and afterwards, Tom didn't allow any major settlements in areas, which were estimated to be underwater after terraforming would be complete. Those areas (Future oceans, lakes, seas, rivers, etc) are administrated as federal lands by the local planetary, or moon governments. However, although major settlement is prohibited in the area, there are still a lot of resource extraction plants, as SC wants to get every resource available from the planet soils, and although at first the issue of housing wasn't big, there have been illegal settlements in the federal land following the population boom on Pax Solaris territories. Example on Mars - territories in white are a ''federal land'' of Martian State, where major settlement is prohibited. On Luna, the ''far side of moon'' is generally more cratered, and has a bigger latitude than the ''near side of moon'', which is generally more flat, and has less craters. It also means, that the ''near side of moon'' has a lot more ''federal land'' than far side of moon, as most of the ''federal land'' on far side would be lakes, but on the near side, there would perhaps be even some actual seas.''

Ministry of Education

Fact time!

''(SC's space expansion AU, a.k.a. the most unlikely scenario. Non canon, of course! ''Current'' year would be 6030) Although Luna was traditionally the most loyal colony of Silver Commonwealth (Or Pax Solaris in the future), even it was hit by the wave of nationalism, which arose out of living under the yoke of Tom, and many of the planets were gearing up for independence wars. On Earth's moon Luna, there also was a strong movement, which advocated for more autonomy from Earth, and it was particularly popular within the lower classes, as they thought of it as a possible gateway for change. However, for a long time, the movement remained in opposition, as most of the Luna's ruling elites supported the Earthling loyalist government, and only the Party's members could vote in elections, which meant, that loyalist government was able to keep its power for a long time, despite being unpopular between most of the populace. However, eventually the loyalists lost in Party's Elections as well, due of leadership, and generational change, and influx of new politicians. Now the Independent Lunar Bloc was finally in charge. However, troubles hadn't ended yet, as there were two branches of the Lunar Bloc - Radicals, which favored a complete independence from Earth, and moderates, which
were content with autonomy under a dominion system. [1] Both groups formed militias, which eventually became even better organized, and although confrontations between the two groups were more like heated debates at first, eventually they spilled over in physical violence not only in major cities, but even in rural communities. With tension brewing for over a year, the culmination of the conflict of two branches was so called Battle of Araki [2], where militias clashed in the streets, built barricades, and soldiers from both sides tried to seize the parliament building violently, but only one of the sides would end up victorious... a lot of civilians were involved in the crossfire between the two sides as well, and several were killed in the chaos. In the end, however, moderate branch was victorious, and as various of the radical branch leaders were killed in the Battle of Araki, radicals lost a lot of their political power.''

''However, the loyalist troops tried to use the chaos in capital, and in one last desperate attempt, they attempted to seize power, and in case of their victory, moon would still probably be under direct rule from Earth for a some time [3]. That said, when Independent Lunar Bloc found out about loyalist divisions marching to capital, both radicals and moderates decided to put asides their differences, and fight off the loyalists. Loyalists also tried to seize various military bases, and space shuttle ports on Luna's surface, but for the most part, those attempts were futile. After a few days of intense fighting, moderate branch leader officially announced on a radio, that ''loyalist coup has officially failed''. The ring leader of the coup attempt tried to escape in a space shuttle to Earth, while being disguised as an Earthling tourist [4], but he was captured by Lunar Republican Army's soldiers, and was executed, along with most of the other coup leaders. However, it was the last time when radicals and moderates fought side by side, as moderates started to purge the radicals from the Independent Bloc soon after. For the rest of the Revolutionary Period (The wave of revolutions against Tom's loyalists), Luna remained a highly autonomous entity of Earth, and unlike many other planets and moons, Luna wasn't embargoed by Earth, and soldiers from Earth weren't kicked out [5]. Also, while it was not a valley of peace either, it fared better than some other planets like Mars, which were devastated after the independence wars. Currently, there is not a high demand of a complete independence from Earth, as most of citizens are content with status as a dominion. In fact, many of Luna's politicians believe, that ''If radicals had won, Earth would most likely go to war with Luna at one point''. However, the status of freedom of democracy remains just as bleak as it was before - due of living in a Solar System, which had been shaped by totalitarianism for millennias [6], many of the Pax Solaris citizens can't even grasp the concept of ''democracy'', and even those, who are highly educated, usually have a hybrid regime in mind at most.''

---

[1] Pro-independence movements within Pax-Solaris rarely consisted from a single group, or were ideologically stable - in fact, anarchists once were a part of Spartakist Movement on Martian State, but as Spartakists started to purge other factions from their government during the Martian War for Independence, Anarchists broke off from them. Another example is the rebellion of Triton (A moon of Neptune), which was a fragile coalition of space merchant unions, and loyalists of the Despot (President-Governor) of Triton. After Triton had gained its independence, space merchants overthrew the Despot of Triton, and established a Council of Shadows, which despite its name operated very openly. However, this didn't bring democracy to Triton - not even close.

[2] Araki is the capital, and largest city of Luna, and also one of the first settlements built by SC's cosmonauts outside from Earth. Tom named it after one of the Japanese WWII generals - Sadao Araki, due of SC's tendencies to name its extraterrestrial settlements after historical persons, mostly from 30s, or 50s (For example, one of the largest Martian State's cities is named as Kai-Shek Town), and the fact, that the founders of city were the cosmonauts from Commonwealth of Ring of Fire (Japan, Korea, eastern Manchuria, and parts of Eastern Siberia). In fact, a lot of cultural differences on planets and moons are because of the nationalities of the first colonizers - for example, Martian State's cultures are mostly a mix of various European cultures.

[3] ''Tom's loyalists'' are a catch-all term for governments, and political organizations, which preferred the old system of Pax Solaris. While most of them were against planetary independence, and conservative, some of the loyalists still wanted to lessen Tom's power over their homes, but they just didn't want to break off completely, for various reasons. For those reasons, they often found more common ground with Luna's moderate Independence Bloc supporters, than the Lunar Tom's loyalists, as compromise was nigh impossible with them. Moderate loyalists took power in dwarf planets like Ceres and Pluto, as they either benefited greatly from trade with Earth, and didn't want to lose it, or just were too small to survive on their own. Often the moderate loyalists are considered as ''true victors of the revolutions'', as radical loyalists often were wiped out by revolutionaries after the conflicts, and once Pax Solaris had stabilized itself, Tom was able to get most of the new planetary and moon republics back in his fold anyways, either through military, or economical warfare.

[4] During the Revolutionary Period, most of the governments of planets/moons denied entry to tourists from Earth, but those, who were there when the war broke out, usually had no safe way to get home, and either were conscripted by either side, or were killed by more radical revolutionaries, as the rule from Earth had made some of the locals resentful, or even violent against humans from Earth. However, on Luna there wasn't a large conflict with frontlines, but rather skirmishes between the groups in major cities, so the Earth's tourists could still visit the moon, just with a warning to ''reconsider the travel'' before. (On another note, some suspect, that some of Earth's military personnel, if not Tom himself, organized the loyalist coup attempt)

[5] During its colonization of the Solar System, Pax Solaris had set up hundreds, if not thousands of military bases across the entire Solar System, in order to better administrate the territory. The soldiers in those bases were usually from Earth, and fiercely loyal to Tom, which meant, that they were a threat to most of pro-independence movements (In fact, a lot of locals despised them even before the waves of revolutions). After the wars of independence, those bases usually were seized by new governments, and soldiers stationed there were usually wiped out to the last human. (For example, after Io got its independence, soldiers were forced out of their bases on the moon, along with the few dome cities, and were exiled to the outside, which mostly consisted from fields of sulfur, due of immense volcanic activity. Despite them having space suits, a lot of them died from either the heat, toxicity of sulfur, or were picked off by local snipers) So, in a lot of cases, those soldiers fought with Tom's loyalists, as they had no illusions about their fate afterwards.

[6] Due of extreme censorship, and continuous suppression of resistance, The Party managed to wither away most of the democratic opposition in this AU, and at one point, not even the most oldest people could remember something about democracy, or underground groups existing. Of course, there were always those, who had ideas different from SC's overall doctrine, but without an organized resistance, it meant, that those individuals were usually rounded up, and separated from society. Yeah, there were still revolutions, but often they were full-circle revolutions, and they more often were about disagreements between Party's members about some ideological viewpoint, not calls for democracy. There are rumors of a group known as ''Freedom Fighters'', which are described as ''liberal-democrats'' in SC's media, but if compared with our timeline, ''Freedom Fighters'' are still very autocratic, somewhat similar to Singapore's system.

Ministry of Education

Fact time!

''(SC's space expansion AU, a.k.a. the most unlikely scenario. Non-canon, of course! ''Current'' year would be 6030) Although SC would become a space entity at some point, and has moved on a lot in terms of new technology research, the staunch traditionalism, and nostalgia still run deep in the SC's society, including music as well - a lot of SC's people consider the 1930s, 1980s, and the mid 21st century as some sort of ''golden ages'', so a lot of the music from that period is still popular within SC, including vaporwave, and its variations. Overall, the musical taste changes very slowly, and even when it changes, there is usually a lot of space interval between the changes - for example, while metal was a part of the counter-culture, and had a hard time to become popular in SC at first, it eventually became one of the icons of SC's mid 21st century, when it also started to set its first steps in space (In fact, due of SC's societal structure, a lot of the former ''counter-culture'' genres eventually merge into SC's ''mainstream'' music) Of course, the songs which are considered ''nostalgic'' differ depending on the SC's region - for example, in most of SC's American states, Big Iron by Marty Robbins is generally considered as a ''classic piece'', which has remained popular even after thousands of years, while in Kalahari Territory the ''nostalgic'' piece would be Das Südwesterlied by Heino. When it comes to Supercomputer Tom's tastes, however, it gets pretty bad - Tom has said, that ''he stopped listening to music thousands of years ago'', as he had seen trends come and go, and ''in a lot of times, they were just variations of the same old pieces''. (As a Supercomputer, Tom is a pretty strange figure on its own - he has somehow been kept around for millennias, and although he has lost quite a few of his memories about the past during OS upgrades and processor updates, he still remembers a lot of his older comrades, including the current canonical leaders, like Cousineau, Kayden, Kirk, and Leal. During these years, however, he has said to ''have lost a lot of his sanity'', due of seeing his former partners come and being replaced by new partners, only for them to pass away after about 40-60 years as well, while he just sits and watches)''

''However, by 6030, most of the previously mentioned music is popular only in Earth, as although the colonists brought the music from Earth along with them during the colonization of moons/planets, it wasn't as actual there, due of the colonists practically building a new society, and future countries out of a scratch. So, the culture and music on the various planets and moons colonized by Pax Solaris evolved differently - often the dominant characteristics were techno vibes, or drums. So for a while, music was thriving exactly on Pax Solaris colonies in Solar System, not the homeworld of Earth, as many new styles were tried out by the cosmonauts and colonists, in order to find a musical theme, which would fit their land the best. However, over time, this new growth opportunity started to close, as music of the extraterrestrial colonies started to solidify, and at one point, system became similarly traditionalist as on Earth - although musical instruments had evolved (For example, guitars being retro-futuristic), some still used very old looking ones, and musical tastes changed slowly. However, the music of Luna (Earth's moon) generally has more of a solarpunk/cyberpunk vibe, along with a tone of idealism, as those were the ''good old days'' for the space conservatives, when there weren't any countries on the planets and moons yet. The older generations often claim, that ''back in the day, communities were small, and everyone knew each other in their small dome city, but nowadays cities have started to grow into concrete jungle just like they do on Earth, and that a lot of smaller dome towns get abandoned, due of little job opportunities there'' . (However, past isn't as rosy in SC, of course, as during space colonization era, there were still problems and issues, as some longed for their blue marble home - not everyone volunteered to be sent to the extraterrestrial colonies, as some were sent forcefully)''

Ministry of Education

Fact time!

''(SC's space expansion AU, a.k.a. the most unlikely scenario. Non-canon, of course! ''Current'' year would be 6030) [1] When SC started to colonize Luna and Mars, it soon found out, that the traditional agricultural methods were way more insufficient with the amount of limited available space and land in the colonies. So, out of necessity, SC put a lot more effort in researching cultured meat production, and alternative greenhouses, where available space was used as much as possible. At first, however, SC faced issues with cultured meat - one of them was the lack of structure in meat, if compared to the traditional beef/chicken/mutton/pig meat, which meant, that at first, the cultured meat was available only as minced meat. Second, there was also a lack of immunity for the meat, so albeit there weren't much of bacteria on Mars anyways, some of the microbes and bacteria from travelers themselves could potentially infect the meat. Still, those issues were sorted out eventually, as alternative farming methods progressed past their infancy, and soon they became the main source of production of food for SC's colonies in Solar System. Of course, with the growth of population on the colonies, the size of cultured meat vats and alternative farms was in a need of expansion, but it still took a considerably less amount of land, than in case, if traditional farming methods were used. (In fact, SC's astronomers estimated, that ''in order for traditional farming methods to pay off on the colonies, those planets and moons would need to be terraformed, which would require an absurd amount of time and resources, making it even more inefficient to do) However, Earth - the capital planet, and birthplace of SC, still held on to the traditional agriculture for a long time, as it had a lot more space available, despite the traditional agriculture becoming increasingly more inefficient. However, in the end, even the most traditionalist politicians had to admit, that ''traditional agriculture was not sustainable in the long term, due of increasing population pressure on Earth's food supply system, which would mean cutting down even more trees for agricultural pastures''. Of course, many traditionalists opposed the switch, and there were even revolts, and civil wars within regions, where traditional agrarianists had held power - perhaps the most noticeable war in SC's America was the Midwest Revolt, where national anarchist, agrarian militias seized power, after their party's leader was ready to accept the reforms, and smashed apart most of the cultured meat vats, as they thought, that ''it would put traditional farmers out of work'', and Tom had to use military force to crush the agrarian militias, and restore order there. Tom ordered to burn down the farms/fields of those farmers, which supported the agrarian militias, and plant trees afterwards instead. However, by 6030, traditional agriculture is practically unheard of in Pax Solaris, and is mentioned only in history books, and most of meat is grown in vats. Some theoreticians think, that ''traditionally styled agriculture will be re-vitalized with terraforming the Pax Solaris colonies'', but as terraforming is a very long and expensive process, it is not likely to happen in near future. Also, even if Mars actually got terraformed at some point, the first winters wouldn't be anything pleasant - as Mars is further from Sun than Earth, it would be colder by default, leading to shorter farming seasons, thus reducing the amount of crops being able to survive on its terraformed soil.''

''[2] The way how internet functions in Pax Solaris is significantly different - due of the distances between planets, there is an extreme amount of latency, as it can take 30 minutes to send data from Mars to Earth, and even for Luna - the Earth's moon, there is about 1-3 second latency. The latency increases even more the further you go away from Earth - for example, it would take hours to send a signal from Neptune's moon Triton to Earth alone. So, the planets and moons have so-called ''internet bubbles'', which means, that things like surfing, and live streaming are solely restricted to the local planet/moons internet - for example, the equivalent of youtube on Mars would be titled as ''youtube.mars'' (In fact, SC (Pax Solaris) eventually ditched the domain .fae, and replaced it with .earth, for an example, in order to indicate the internet bubbles in Pax Solaris, as SC was no longer located on Earth alone), which means, that its users would be able to mostly see only the content from Mars itself - even linking to the Earth's youtube through e-mail wouldn't work, as a message like this would appear: ''The access to this video was denied by the state internet provider, due of the fact, that it is located outside of Mars internet bubble''. Speaking of e-mail, however, it would be one of the few things, which would be available to be used in transferring the data between planets/moons, as while it would still take a long time for message to get to the receiver, and for receiver to reply to sender, it would be way more plausible than accessing a life-stream from an another planet. Even with the advance of technologies like 5G, internet speeds between planets remain painfully slow. However, for smaller planets, internet connection is pretty fast - for example, due of Mars being about 2 times smaller than Earth, internet on Mars would be 2 times faster, if the same provider would be used. For a while, there was an attempt to store as much information as possible from Earth's internet in the servers of other planets, and update it regularly, so the colonists would be able to use Earth's internet in a way. However, that meant, that the colonists were inevitably using outdated content, and they still weren't able to do things like playing games based on Earth's servers. So, it was eventually scraped in favor of the local internet bubbles - it meant, that users of each planet produced a relatively unique content from Earth, as they weren't able to directly interact with Earth's internet, and communities in internet were built from scratch too. However, such system also made it very easy for planetary administrations to block things what they didn't like, and instate censorship, as any news from Earth had to be directly delivered with spaceship (Which could take weeks, even months), or as transcripts through e-mail, and as all of SC's planet and moon governments can read private messages, they could very well throttle the connection between Earth and other planet/moon, and use ''unexpected latency problems'' as an excuse. Some have criticized the idea of ''internet bubbles'', but Tom thinks of it ''as the best system available''.''

Ministry of Education

Fact time!

''(SC's space expansion AU, a.k.a. the most unlikely scenario. Non-canon, of course! ''Current'' year would be 6030) [1] As a lot of Pax Solaris are still dependent on imports from Earth (Food as well), food has always been a pretty valuable thing, and periods of starvation aren't anything uncommon in Pax Solaris history, as often the planetary force just couldn't feed all of its big populace. However, some colonies were worse-off than others - for example, on one of the most recent colonies (Pluto), food is so expensive and valuable, that it is issued through ration cards, in order to ensure, that the settlers there get enough calories to not fall down, but not much else. However, the underground gambling on Pluto has taken a different turn - often, people use parts of their food rations on ration cards to gamble, in hopes of getting some extra food. However, just like with usual gambling, there is a big risk of losing everything you have - for example, those, who play a lot, can lose not only their part of bread loaf, but their entire ration card, which on Pluto might be very deadly, due of lack of food production methods like greenhouses. However, even the winners often aren't able to satisfy their hunger, or feed their families, as a lot of the lost food rations on cards actually go to the owner of the underground casino, which means, that the owner is the actual winner. Although illegal gambling with money is also widespread on Pluto, it is perhaps the only place, where gambling with food is more popular. (Gambling with food first started between groups of colonists on Pluto after the introduction of food rations, and as a way to possibly get some extra food, but soon organized underground places were formed) However, Pax Solaris is trying to crack on this form of gambling especially hard, due of concerns of such gambling ''depriving nutrients from workers'', and Tom has condemned it many times. However, some are still ready to risk, and try to win something in this dangerous game... As for Pluto in general, some of the Pax Solaris tourism companies offer mountain climbing trips to Pluto already, as it has some pretty tall mountains - Tenzing Montes is a mountain group, and peaks can reach as high as 6.2 km, making them the tallest mountains on pluto, and also the steepest, with mean slope of 19.2 degrees. Tombaugh Regio is an another important object for Pluto's tourism, due of its heart shape, and bright surface. It mostly consists from frozen nitrogen, and other ice, and the western basin is called ''Sputnik Planitia'', while the eastern part has more uplands. Tom has estimated, that ''a part of the Tombaugh Regio will be covered in water in case of terraforming Pluto, creating a beautiful, heart-shaped lake, which could bolster the tourism even more''. However, terraforming the Pluto is not going to be Pax Solaris priority for a long time, due of the extreme cold on it - it would need to first figure out, of how to keep the dwarf planet warm. Also, Pluto is considered a planet by the Pluto's administration, while rest of the Pax Solaris still considers it a dwarf planet, which has even led to some tensions between leaders.''

''[2] When arriving on new planets/moons, colonists took many things with them, including the board games. For example, ''Go'' - an ancient board game from East Asia, was taken to the Luna by SC's Chinese, Korean, and Japanese colonists. (Go is a game, where your main goal is to surround more territory than the opponent. Playing pieces are called ''stones'', and there are two colors - one is black, and second is white. Once you place the ''stones'' on board, you can't move them anymore, although you can ''capture'' the stones by surrounding the enemy stones in all orthogonally-adjacent points. Usually the size of board is 19x19, although smaller variants all the way to 9x9 exist, and the game is played on the grid lines. Traditional game set consists from 361 ''stones'', 2 bowls with each color in them, and a wooden floor board with grid lines). After some time, the colonists from planets/moons were allowed to participate in international Pax Solaris tournaments, which previously were reserved only to Earth's inhabitants. There, a lot of them showed talent, and beat the grandmasters from Earth in the first tournament. By 6030, Luna is one of the places popular between Go players, and chess is actually less popular there. Speaking of chess, situation is kind of similar there as well - a lot of the chess grandmasters from Martian State have reached high ranking in the Pax Solaris chess ranking system, as there were various skilled chess players between the colonists of Mars, and it had strong chess traditions. Meanwhile, checkers are popular on Ganymedes - one of the Jupiter moons, but backgammon (Or Nardi in Russian) is popular on Pluto.''

*Signing off*

[Kynovia]

Narcissistic travel vloggers are banned, if they cross border illegally, they will be apprehended and every strand of hair on their body will be shorn before being sent back to their home country. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

[Korwin]

On major motorways in the Anthrostate, there are large yellow-and-white-striped sticks at the start of the turn-lanes and exits of a motorway exit. These are to serve as a guide to drivers when they should begin signalling and stop signalling when getting off a motorway.

[Sagyr]

A total of 11 private defence agencies, of varying sizes, are tasked with upholding contractual agreements and the maintenance of the territorial borders of Sagiria under the collected name of the Free Protection Brigades (FSB). The FSB presides over a total of 47,500 armed personnel, including the branches specifically overseeing the enforcement of contracts and agreements.

[Cybus1]

Spiro’s Dining Club, the most exclusive restaurant on Arcadia, does not have menus. They simply serve whatever the chef, a female Orsonian who simply calls herself Spiro, and her assistant, a Vulcan, Vulcanius, have prepared for the evening, though they always maintain backups for dietary restrictions or allergies. No-one, not even the Emperor, has ever been in the kitchen but them and a small handful of trusted wait staff, and health inspectors. Spiro has a seemingly supernatural ability to detect when people attempt to bribe or bug the wait staff to try to see into the kitchen, and the offending party is promptly banned for one human lifetime. The reason for such harsh penalties was once explained by Spiro herself in a rare interview “Life lacks both mystery and refinement. I seek to restore both, even if only in my little club. Hopefully such a long wait for another dish here will teach them not to try to peek behind the curtain.” Spiro’s dishes are among the most popular in the Empire due to their reputation for mystery and heavenly taste, and the waiting list for membership is extremely long, and if you are even accepted, there is a year long probation period, during which you may be banned for life for any infraction.