Your Nation's Fact of the Week

[Transmaura]

Transmaura's transmaurinen freiwillinger legion or wehrmatch 289th Regiment of infantry formed by 3000 troops served in the East Front from 1941-1944 in various shifts. Being Transmaura in theory neutral was very proaxis. In 1944 it was "retired" so new shifts of "volunteers" didn't arrive. So it disbanded one battalion and was placed very diminished into the italian front by spring 1944 it surrendered in May the 2nd 1945. Other Transmaurans entered Germany after the official dissolution of the Regiment joined the SS as kompanie 104 and 103 in Berlin were it was destroyed.
Being their members repatriated between 1947-1949. Wbeing many members shoot for war crimes against partisans.
Many Legion members rose high in the ranks. As one West German military aggregate commented in the 80s:"It seemed than serving in the 289 RI was a requisite to rise to general".
Some 500-800 transmauran individuals joined the French Foreign Legion in Algeria and fought first in operation torch for Vichy and then fighting for the Free France in Italy and metropolitan France. After the war most of the survivors settled in France instead of returning to Transmaura. Some continued their military careers in the French army in Indochina and Algeria.

The number 289 is used in Transmauran neonazi circles.

[The Union of British North America]

The Prime Minister Dame Felicity Graves is going to have her wedding this weekend, though given how the 'pound flu' is limiting large social gatherings, the couple, with their immediate families will have a small in-person service at the Prime Ministerial retreat at Nootka Lodge, Nootka Island, Province of Vancouver with limited teleconference capability among staff, friends, and extended families of the couple to witness the event.

[Torculmania]

King Alexander I is the last ever king of Torculmania. He was overthrown by a mob of 450,000 citizens and 50,000 of the military. After the mob arrived at the palace, the king abdicated and Gorgeian, the leader of the mob was declared the first president of Torculmania.

[The Thalassocrats]

The Republic of the Thalassocrats is both a sovereign state and a corporation. The public company, "The Republic of the Thalassocrats" is owned by the country The Republic of the Thalassocrats. The apparatuses of the state are operated by the public company The Republic of the Thalassocrats.

[Bengal and Assam]

Bengal's Legislative Council will vote this week on whether to take away the right to vote, free healthcare and subsidised housing from those who dodge mandatory military service, replacing incarceration as a punishment for dodging the draft.

[Voxija]

Both Tabletop RPGs and video games are popular in Voxija.

[Andocara]

• Paramount City is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in North America. There are more people born outside of the country than in it. In 2019, 52.9% of the city’s population were foreign born. Between 1/4 and 1/3 of the Paramountian residents are not citizens of Andocara. One in four people have multiple citizenships.

• Coy has an extremely secular population, even by Andocarian Standards. Nearly 80% of its population aren’t affiliated with any religion and only 5% take religion seriously.

• Midchester, the national capital, is the only city in the country that is officially tri-lingual in English, French, and Spanish.

• Gialayo, another tri lingual city’s official languages are English, Mandiran, and Tagalog. It is likely the only city in the occident world that has a non-western language as an official language.

• Over 40% of drivers in Andocara own electric cars.

• Menetou is considered the gambling capital of Andocara. It is known for its distinct appearance best described as a hybrid of Las Vegas & Quebec City. It has the colorful, vibrant, and flashy appearance like Las Vegas, as well as a major gambling industry like Las Vegas. It possess the Old French architecture and houses like Quebec City.

• San Marcuba is a popular destination location, both for Andocarians and abroad (mainly the rest of North America). It’s the only major city with major Spanish colonial architecture. This architecture can’t be found in Mainland Andocara.

[Subhurbia]

The Golden Dragon is a supermarket brand based in South Subhurbia and Southeast Subhurbia.

[Rosmana]

The choirs, the clergy and older women are the only people singing in churches these days for some reason.

Men on the other hand, and especially young boys seem to despise singing.

And school musicals have either died out, or they have an all-girl cast.

[Silver Commonwealth]

Ministry of Education

Fact time!

''In the 60s, some of the members of The Party considered to demolish the Statue of Liberty in New York, because they saw it as a symbol of the ''old, decadent US'', and they also thought that destruction of it would give a blow to the morale of anti-government insurgent groups. The demolition was planned to be carried out by explosives, with the long-term goal of building the statue of Father America in place instead. However, those plans never came to fruition, for various reasons. Some think that it was the architects and other political advisors which saved it, because of warnings about potential unrest in such case, and also citing the artistic value of the statue. However, some think that the military commanders also had their part in saving it, as it was rumored that the general of Midwest Army Brigade in a conversation had said, that ''those explosives and money would be more useful in front for soldiers, if compared to such waste'' (In 60s SC was fighting an active war not only against three superstates, but the remnants of other nations which kept resisting). However, over time The Party attempted to change the meaning of the statue, even renaming it to ''Statue of Independence'' instead. In its view, it would symbolize SC as a whole, but the torch later on would symbolize Tomism - the ideology created by Supercomputer Tom. The Party also insisted, that ''the statue also showed SC's desire to spread its ideology across the world''. Eventually its image would be transformed to something like Juche Tower.

Ministry of Education

Fact time!

"SC has tried to show how advanced its newer technology is - from power armor showcases, to newest magitek rifle demonstrations. However, the actual situation behind the scenes is more blunt - SC's overextension has created an increased demand for new equipment, as size of the army has grown at extreme rate since Scramble for the World. Not even the PMT versions of the local weapons in second or third world are in enough amount. Also, even after the "unification", situation across the world hasn't got much safer, and regional armies, alongside with police still require increased spending to defend citizens from things like cartels, rebel groups, etc. One episode in particular described how bad the situation with supplies was in SC's army - When European Federation's armies arrived in territory of former Albania, they looted the remnants of Russian Empire's chemical weapon stockpile there. The amount of looted chemical weapons was well over 16 000 kg, and it included things like mustard agent, adamsite, and others. The regional governing party of SC's Albania wasn't as mad about it because Kayden Watson (President-Governor of European Federation) promised to ''replace the looted chemical weapons eventually'', but so far the process has been slow, and SC's Albania has received only a small amount from the taken chemical weapons. However, the production facilities and delivery systems have been left intact. Meanwhile, SC's Britain registered the Albanian stockpile in SC's American chemical weapons storage facility in Great Lakes Region, from where those later were transported to other regions on demand - although a lot of the canisters were old, their contents still were valuable for SC's armies. According to SCPS data, largest demand for Albanian stockpile was in Renier's South Africa (Particularly the Ossewabrandwag paramilitary), which was reported to assume large quantities of WMDs in preparation to possible conflicts with the native Africans. However, some of those chemicals were also ordered by Pan-Africanist collaborationists of The Party.

''(Speaking of chemical weapons in SC in general - there is no such thing as Chemical Weapons Convention in SC's timeline, because Geneva Convention was abolished by three superstates in 1970s, although it was most likely ignored at least a decade before that. It also means, that not only disputed zone saw a widespread use of chemical weapons, but the various factions there tried their hand at making them too, to have at least some sort of counter against armies which stomped over the land again and again. However, SC also understands how dangerous those things can be in wrong hands, so it has created a different commision instead, which is tasked with documenting the found WMDs and the production facilities, in order to be ahead of certain groups which could use WMDs against the regional governments. Also, the authorization process of using WMDs like chemical weapons has been made stricter since 70s, so the military persons or politicians can't just request a strike and get it done - they need the approval from military council command first.)''

Ministry of Education

Fact time!

"Like with a lot of conservatives across SC, ''family values'' are one of the major talking points of the conservatives in SC's America. However, conservatives in SC usually view the ''joint family'' model as ideal one, instead of nuclear family - in a joint family, multiple generations live under a single roof, and every member makes a contribution to the common fund. In some regions such as Disputed Zone, joint family became a necessity because the chances of surviving the hellfire and armies trampling the ground were greater if individuals stayed together, but in SC's America, such a change was more politically motivated - The Party thought, that ''joint family was way more suited for purposes of collectivism than nuclear family'', and started to particularly agitate for it in 80s during reformist period, where it considered nuclear family a ''remnant of the capitalist USA before SC'', and presented the shift as ''victory of socialism''. Although nuclear family would continue to hold out, joint family would eventually get the main positions alongside with other changes to the SC's society, which would later get spread to the other territories as well through its conquests (Some regional governors think, that ability of adjusting the SC's system to their needs was one of the reasons for its fast spread.) However, not everything is ideal in such model - if anything, there are a lot of darker sides to it. For example, the anonymous surveys and calls from Abuse and Neglect Hotline have revealed that a significant portion of the SC's younger generation doesn't feel happy in their families, due of one or multiple family members being restrictive, and/or abusive. In some cases, the socialization with others is also limited, and in combination with SC's increasing depression rates, along with reports on domestic violence, it paints a pretty grim picture. That said, it is not unusual for police in SC's America (Or Militsiya in the former Russian Empire's territories, for an example) to brush those cases under a carpet, as a part of the ''rugged collectivism'' policy, or just as an attempt to downplay negative sides in order for citizens to not lose morale. On another note, it has been said that SCPS, Tom, and SC's leadership as a whole ''doesn't have a heart to consider the actual families'' - kin/collective punishment or breaking apart the families of dissenters are only a few examples of this.''

''(Also, there are a few things on which SC's conservatives and IRL American conservatives wouldn't get along - for example, a typical SC's conservative isn't that opposed to command economy and/or socialism, and doesn't like market capitalism either. Same for the ''small government'' supporters - due of the conditions SC has found itself in, its government has grown enormous over the decades, and most likely will continue to do so. A lot of SC's conservatives also support STEM cell research, although mostly because The Party finds the STEM cell research as ''useful for the needs of the State and Collective'', and it is likely that those who oppose it have their voices silenced on the matter, just like when it comes to SC's governments taxing churches, or (military) science research. That said, they both still would probably share the anti-abortion stance, anti-LGBTQ+ opinions, religiousness&prudism, the gender roles in society (partially, as SC is a bit more similar to USSR when it comes to that), etc. So, while in some fields they could have disagreements, in others they aren't actually too much different.'')

Ministry of Education

Fact time!

"In SC's timeline, Holden Kingswood car was made by the Glass Sport Motors - a state megacompany in Suid-Afrika, which initially made sport cars like Protea, but after nationalization and reorganization it started to focus on production of various personal cars in Africa (Sport models included). When Holden Kingswood's first model was released in SC's South Africa, it quickly became a very popular car there, thanks to the clever advertising campaigns (Which in some cases also involved ''word from mouth'' being a way to advertise the car), being featured in various SC's South African movies, and it was also a personal car of some of the members of Renier's National Party. It was also often called ''Chevrolet Kommando'' as reference to Kommando units during Anglo-Boer wars, and HK cars are still a common sight in rural SC's South Africa. However, even with the upgrades to the model, it entered a decline in South Africa, as it was losing the competition to other models. Still, GSM megacompany had plans of what to do with the remaining HK models from surplus, and such a chance shined when SC's army pushed in Congo during the Scramble for the World - GSM was one of the first which saw an opportunity in the African part of disputed zone, and assumed the role of ''putting the life back in Africa's Disputed Zone car industry''. One of the first things which GSM did was slashing the price for its cars in those parts of disputed zone, while also murdering the competition in both black market and legal - it was approved by the blessing of Renier's National Party, as he, along with the rest of SC's leadership, considered the dismantling of private manufacturers in disputed zone as a ''necessary part in triumph of command economics''. However, the GSM doesn't have enough resources nor hold to be in complete charge of personal auto manufacturing in such a big continent, so the further from South Africa, the less the influence of GSM is felt - for example, in Cairo, the capital of SC's Egypt-Sudan, GSM has the regional headquarters there, but outside from there its influence isn't as felt, and other SC's state megacompanies usually operate in there to satisfy the demand, as GSM's car sortiment for such regions is smaller in comparison. GSM has the strongest influence in SC's Congo - a region bordering SC's South Africa in south, which was carved more as a buffer, without much regard for the local peoples. In SC's Congo, GSM operates very directly - setting up and overseeing plantations of rubber, regulating the prices of components and which cars are for sale, etc. The Pan-Africanist President-Governor of SC's Congo has nicknamed the HK car as ''The People's Car'', because its price makes it as one of the few affordable cars in the region, although having a personal car is still seen as symbol of status in former disputed zone. However, Toyota too has started to send some cars for export to SC's Congo, after starting to operate again from the decades of slumber after RNGOC's collapse, and being lumped together with other car manufacturers into a state megacompany in Ring of Fire (Japan + Korea, half of Manchuria and eastern Siberia) Commonwealth. Still, even then there are people which have enough knowledge in engineering and/or about cars, and which can offer to fix even vehicles which would be discarded by GSM's inspectors. Those people are typically very hardworking. Although such business is risky due of the SC's interpretation of how much private businesses can operate in its command economy, in remote parts it is often the cheapest and quickest way to repair vehicles for locals, as closest state's vehicle repair service can be even hundreds of kilometers away. For this reason, GSM is also interested in increasing taxing for those people.''

"The specs of the first HK's models are as following: A full-size car, from two-door coupe utility to 5 door station wagon, depending on the individual car. It had a six-cylinder engine, but in later models, the gradual switch to a V8 engine happened (V8 is an eight-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in V configuration). Early HK's models had two-speed automatic transmissions. HK was described to have ''rode smoothly like jet'', and over the years it got changes both in the visual outlook and customization - air conditioning, power steering, different interior and exterior, etc. The sedan variant released in 1980s was an another success for the model in SC's South Africa. Unlike in OTL, HK released the third generation of its cars, which also featured liftback car body style. Still, the fuel and oil crises affected the GSM megacompany a lot, despite receiving aid from the Renier's government. Some of GSM's engineers, concerned about SC's reliance on fossil fuels (Which is still quite high), have revealed concepts of a nuclear-powered Chevrolet Kommando model, inspired from Ford Nucleon, which is an another popular car model in SC, but in Megstates instead. However, despite it having been praised by SNN, it is not going to come to fruition without appropriate support from GSM. Engine being nuclear-powered also means, that more safety checks would be required, along with convincing the citizens that the car is safe. Overall, a very expensive project.''

Opinion:Depending on what nature those supernaturals have, Commonwealth having a secret organization trying to contain/exterminate various paranormal or supernatural beings is understandable. That said, it wouldn't be surprising if the government itself started that rumor too, while not revealing further details.

Ministry of Education

Fact time!

"After the magic appeared again in SC's world*, people reacted to it differently - while some tried to combine the conventional weapons and other technology with magic (magitek), others started to scour for mythological items/places, as appearance of magic meant that they had gained their strength again. Motivation for the adventurers are various - some are in for their own well being, while others want the wealth or items serve their region, or even SC as a whole. However, despite the Wendigo's confirmation that those things can be somewhere in SC's world, they are still extremely hard to find, as otherwise the SNN's news feed would constantly be clogged about newfound mythical places/items, and multiple people/factions would desire to get those for themselves. One of the examples of regional governors trying to find those legendary items is the SC's Ireland - some time after the existence of magic in SC's world was confirmed, the SC's Taoiseach of Irish Autonomy secretly ordered to launch an expedition to find some of the legendary items mentioned in the story of ''The Tragedy of the Sons of Tuireann'' (One of the three Three sorrowful tales of Erin), where Lugh, which is one of the gods in Irish mythology, sets the sons of Tuireann in series of seemingly impossible quests after various legendary items as a revenge for killing Cian - Lugh's father (Tuireann and Cian were old enemies). Those searches are about on level with searches for Holy Grail and El Dorado (Things which might actually exist in SC's world, btw), or the expeditions of Third Reich in Tibet during interwar period. Although adrenaline of the adventurers is fueled by the fact that all legendary places or items might have existed at some point in SC's world, search of most from the items of ''The Tragedy of the Sons of Tuireann'' has been fruitless so far (Even with the usage of various modern archaeology technologies like light detection and ranging (LIDAR), geophysical survey, remote sensing, etc), and although various mythologists were called for assistance, Taioseach had to carefully choose to which people the Irish Blueshirts should call for help, as the Irish Autonomy's government ultimately wanted to keep it a secret, and mythologists had to keep their mouth shut when the topic of the story or the legendary items was mentioned by anyone else. Most of those involved in the operation assume that those items are either very well hidden, or have been lost to time over the timespan of when magic disappeared. (On another note, astrology still most likely doesn't work in SC's timeline, and Supercomputer Tom mostly dismisses it, as he considers the planet movements as ''concepts with scientific explanation'', thus they don't affect the future of horoscopes).''

(*Although magic had existed on earth in SC's timeline, it fell in slumber at some point in SC's Earth's history, but the amount of negativity and spilled blood during 20th century was able to bring it back. Wendigo is somewhat like a intermediary between SC's humans and mythological beings on SC's Earth)

"However, SC's Irish have managed to find one of those items - the legendary pigskin, which was King Tuish's treasure, with which it was possible to heal serious wounds. In the archives of Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI, Irish branch of SCPS), it was said that the pigskin was found under the Hill of Tara - ancient ceremonial and burial site, which also appears in Irish mythology. After it was found, a van with a group of DMI members with sunglasses arrived (Most likely to make identification harder), put the legendary item in a thick, metal box, and drove back to an unknown location. Since then, nothing much is known about where the pigskin is - the Taioseach, DMI, and the involved army members are obviously very secretive about the matter, and even the mythologists involved don't have a clue of its location, although some have speculated that it was given to a some Intensive Care Unit in Irish Autonomy. However, one of the top-ranked commanders in SC's Irish army wrote a diary, and in one of the pages he mentioned that ''the militarists which knew about the treasure hunt weren't too satisfied with what the expedition had found, and would have rather wished for the poisoned spear which belonged to the Peisear, King of Persia. With the spirit of war inside it so powerful, It had to be kept in a pot of soporific herbs, because otherwise it would fly out, raging for death''.''

Ministry of Education

Fact time!

''The original Confederate Battle Flag and other symbols are considered as symbols of secession, and thus - as treason as well. Considering how strict SC is against attempts of secession from the Commonwealth, waving the battle flag could end up badly, and advocates for another secession are usually arrested. However, due of SC's structure, the Dixie megastate (created in 2010, but as the last from the United Megastates) in SC's timeline has a lot more autonomy, and although the official flag of the megastate might not explicitly look confederate, the variation by Southern regional nationalists is allowed to be used by The Party, despite still being strikingly similar - not only it can be seen in several places across the megastate, but it also has become the unofficial flag for the regional army of Dixie. The cogwheel and wheat are supposed to symbolize Tomist ideology (particularly the socialist part), and, according to what the President-Governor of Dixie says, it also symbolizes the ''new Southern nationalist, who is not a secessionist''. This separation sometimes creates curious situations - while even the bumper stickers of original CSA battle flag aren't seen much in SC's South, the ''Tomist'' version of the flag is often seen in regional nationalist marches in the streets of major Dixie megastate cities. Still, it is not like that The Party is also not aware of the slavery and racism within Confederate symbols, considering that in its ranks there are several people which are familiar with the history, and are aware of the actual meaning and implications of those symbols (Also because conditions in a lot of labor camps in SC could be considered similar to slavery, and considering its size, not all of regions would have abandoned it). Thus some people have a theory that by allowing those variations of the battle flag, The Party is not so subtly signalling that despite its pan-human doctrine, in the end it has a lot of internal prejudices and racism - the flag in question has also been seen a lot in Renier's South Africa, which still has the policy of apartheid, and intends to exploit the resources of other members of African Commonwealth after helping in ''rebuilding'' the former disputed zone. Also, the narrative of ''heritage, not hate'' is not heard as much, as most of the southern nationalists in SC are aware of that due of the core history curriculum of SC's America, but the southern nationalists in SC are no less disturbing, considering that their approach is more similar to Supercomputer Tom - acknowledging that there is a problem, but not doing anything to actually fix it, or even unapologetically supporting it.''

[Greater Cosmicium]

The Pages of History
^{A Cosmician initiative to record and archive historical events.
NOTE: Article may contain off-dimensional temporal alignments (OTL)}
The Collapse of General Motors
Occurred: 2013, Archived 1 May 2063

General Motors was an automotive company founded in Detroit in 1908. By the 1960s, they controlled 50% of the automotive market, and had a foot in everything from trucks to planes to, especially, the military industry. Their first blow came with the 1973 fuel crisis, when the USSR and the Middle East, responsible for controlling the largest oil reserves, put an embargo on exports to the Western world, and they began a slow slump in market share. Their release and then sudden cancellation of the EV1 didn't help matters, as well as their destruction of the US tram network (unlike OTL, GM was directly involved), creating many a conspiracy theory about General Motors suppressing innovative technology. By 2005, they reported a loss of over $10 billion, and by 2007, $38.7 billion. Unlike OTL, the 2008 financial crisis was way worse for the capitalist world, and it would take nearly 10 years to recover (this is why the United States bought Sonora). General Motors was one of the victims, and unlike OTL, its situation was so bad it couldn't even undergo Chapter 11 bankrupcy. Without money to continue normally operating, the company spiralled into bankrupcy. Most of its assets were liquidated (including the GMC, Buick, Cadillac and Holden brands, its military branches and all foreign subsidiaries), while the remaining was turned into the Motors Liquidation Company, awaiting a further fate. In an unprecendented move, the United States government nationalized in 2013 what remained of GM after liquidation (MLC and some of its military branches), which became the state-owned Chevrolet Motor Company, or just Chevrolet.

Not surprisingly, the state-owned Chevrolet company was run far better than GM was in the 2000s, just because GM couldn't be possibly be run much worse. Chevrolet saw a slow, but steady growth, and by 2017 it was profitable for the first time in over a decade. In 2063, Chevrolet is the third largest car company (13.2 million cars, $1.06 trillion in assets), behind Volkswagen/VW (17.6 milion cars, $1.33 trillion in assets) and Tesla (14.0 million cars, $1.6 trillion in assets).

[Gandoor]

It's not uncommon for some younger Gandoorese to get confused when they watch American TV shows or movies and a character gets excited over getting an 'A' on a test.

This is because, unlike in the United States where an 'A' signifies that someone got at least a 90% on a test, in the Democratic Republic, an 'A' grade on a test stands for Average and means someone only scored between 70 and 79% on a test.

[Ranoria]

Ranoria once lost a war to a space faring nation that severed dozens of oil pipelines, from up high with satellites, in order to cripple our infrastructure

[Voxija]

A Voxijan man fought in the American Revolution. His name was Erlantz Elizondoa, and he died in action.

[K-poptopia]

Male Kpop groups were banned in our nation six years after our founding.

[La Xinga]

Abortion, contraception, and affirmative action are BANNED in La xinga.

[Shikonjima]

Tanaka Shiori is a Shikonjimanese Manga series, created by Shinjirou Miyazato in 1995 and continued to this day. The crime/mystery/action drama enjoys much popularity within Shikonjima and a few other countries, consisting of 68 Manga books as of July 2020. Since 2004, Yonrei Teikoku Anime Studios (YonTeiAn), Toriyama, produces an Anime series (90 minutes each episode) based on the Manga. In 2017, the first live-action movie out of three (loosely) based on the series was released.

How it all began.
In the first Manga, Shiori is 15 years old and attends a High School in the (fictional) city of Yamarano in Akebono. She considers herself your average schoolgirl - until two new substitute teachers, who appear unlikeable to her, come into the school. Only three days later, Shiori's class goes on an excursion to the (real-existing) Nakanouchi Temple by bus, accompanied, to Shiori's heartfelt disliking, by said substitute teachers. During the ride, one of them is called on phone, speaking in a low tone; Shiori manages to hear a few numbers which don't make sense to her at first out. Her friends keep her distracted from her thoughts for the next hour. However, only about ten minutes before their projected time of arrival, the bus's motor breaks down, and they keep standing on the side lane of the highway waiting for assistance. One of the substitute teachers, however, suddenly walks away into the woods. Assuming, that he was just going to follow the call of nature, Shiori suspects little, but after he doesn't return after five minutes, she takes her best friend, Miyuki Rokuda, along and decides to follow his traces. They walk on through the forest. Suddenly, dense fog arises, and they quickly lose each other. Shiori tries to call her with her phone, but it has no signal - thus, moves on, hoping, that she would find Miyuki back, while also finding the place her suspect teacher had gone to. Ultimately, the trace ends near a shack at a small lake. She closely manages to hide behind a bush, as the door opens and the teacher comes out again, going to a SUV parked nearby. As he drives off, Shiori manages to burgle into the shack, finding nothing unusual - except for a few newspaper articles about war heroes buried in the Nakanouchi Temple for their honor. She takes some with her and leaves the shack. As she wants to head back towards the highway, she suddenly hears gunshots. She runs away, deeper into the forest, through the mist, until she finds a tree stand, which she climbs up and stays in. From here, her phone has signal again; she tries to call Miyuki again, but she doesn't answer. She vaguely remembers, that on her way here, a private property sign had suggest, that the area belongs to a certain Kyushichi Ozawa, a name sounding vaguely familiar with her, and considers calling her parents first, but decides against it, in order to not make them worry - instead, she calls a friend from another class, asking him to find out who Ozawa is. After a quick search, Ozawa turns out to be the owner of a demining enterprise operating in various previous warzones, removing the mines and preparing them for reuse in order to supply the Royal Shikonjimanese Army; he also makes a side income by stock speculations. Ozawa bought this area for private hunting. Then, she calls another friend on the bus, Sayuri, to ask where they were and learns, that the emergency services have already arrived, and while they had needed an unusually long amount of time, they had managed to fix it by now; all they were now waiting for were for her and Miyuki to return; the second substitute teacher had already gone searching for them. Alarmed by this, she tells Sayuri to call the police - as Sayuri wonders why, Shiori simply repeats her order and hangs up. Unwilling to sit this out, Shiori climbs down the stand and carefully moves on again, slightly back towards the shack, but not directly. As she approaches from the other side of the lake, the fog dissolves itself, offering her a good view from distance. She spectates how a car, which seems to look like an emergency service car, drives away from the shack. As she believes, that nobody is in there anymore, she comes closer - only to suddenly hear the click of an unloaded pistol behind her, and a male voice telling her to move on and not turn around. She gets forced to go to the shack; as she comes close to the door, she is pushed inside, and the door gets locked. Minutes later, the door gets unlocked, and both substitute teachers as well as Miyuki stand there, telling her, that they were worried about her, and the police had already arrived in order to search for them - and also, that they had already had talked to a man who was a guard of this private ground and had called the police after having caught Shiori. As they move back towards the bus, Shiori keeps thinking about all this - the teachers' story sounded credible, but something with that emergency car didn't seem about right. As they enter the bus and move on towards the Temple, Shiori repeats the numbers she had overheard earlier on loudly. Miyuki gets to the idea, that it could be a phone number, and takes her phone out to call it. All of a sudden, Shiori screams, jumps up, goes to the driver's seat and pulls the handbrake, startling the driver to death. Shiori loudly tells everyone to leave the bus, go behind the road's scarp and duck. As no one reacts, she repeats the order. As everyone eventually is safely on the ground, the bus explodes. As they get up and police sirens are heard from afar, one of the substitute teachers pulls a gun and points it at Shiori, but as the police arrive, he surrenders. - Shiori, who had sent a SMS to the police beforehand, had counted two and two together all the time, deducing, that both supposed substitute teachers, as well as the supposed emergency service employees, were actually employees of Ozawa, who needed an unsuspecting vehicle like a school bus in order to smuggle demolition bombs past the Temple's Guards, hence why the supposed teachers had manipulated the motor and called the 'emergency services' in order to fix these bombs. As turned out later, they did this on behalf of Ozawa, who had served in 'some past war' (it is not named in the Manga explicitly, but it was most likely one of the Colonial Wars) and was the only survivor of a regiment that was killed due to misarranged order, the Commanders having been celebrated as war heroes and given the honor to be buried in special shrines in the Temple - an unjustified honor, as Ozawa had thought, so he wanted to blow the Temple up. In the last scene of the Manga, one sees how Ozawa enters a helicopter, escaping from Shikonjima.

Ever since, Shiori discovers life as a Private Investigator for herself, investigating in numerous cases, some of which deal with crimes of varying severity, whereas other include mysterious, and sometimes even (seemingly) supernatural events. Over the time, she gains a lot of experience, and, according to the old proverb, "Friends come and go - enemies accumulate", also a number of people who would rather see here outside this world.

Important Characters (Shikonjimanese names in italics).

• Shiori Tanaka (Tanaka Shiori) is 15 years old and, until her first 'case', used to consider herself an average schoolgirl, with average, above or below average grades depending on the subject, an interest in Languages, History, and Arts in particular. Her parents, Hideyasu and Noriko Tanaka, are businesspeople, thus rarely at home at the same time. Shiori is extremely curious, a trait she quite does annoy her family and friends with once in a while. She is athletic, doing well in PE class, especially volleyball, dodgeball, and endurance race, and with 172 cm of size, she is relatively tall by Shikonjimanese standards. She rides a Morimoto M6 motorcycle. Ever since the beginning of the series, she developed an interest in criminology and mysterious phenomena, and grows more and more committed to solving any case coming across her way, using her most valuable advantage - that adults don't take her seriously.
• Miyuki Rokuda (Rokuda Miyuki) is Shiori's best friend. Unlike her, she isn't too much excited about the things Shiori develops a taste for, but does help her out whenever needed, especially when it comes to things dealing with mechanics or technology, which Shiori has but limited knowledge about. Miyuki occasionally drops jokes or sarcastic comments, but is overall friendly and calm. After the 12th Manga, where Shiori and Miyuki get trapped in the camp of gun smugglers and only closely avoid getting shot, Miyuki develops an interest for 'opinion amplifiers' and begins to learn shooting at a range.
• Inejirou Takei (Takei Inejirou) is a classmate of Shiori's and Miyuki's, and leader of the school's football team. Shiori is occasionally alleged to have a crush on him, and even though she vehemently denies this, some of her reactions are considered evidence for this. Inejirou shows little interest, even if he keeps being nice to Shiori and praises her fast conclusions and reactions in the first Manga, and even more so after no. 16, when Shiori successfully investigates the theft of his parents' car. They stay friends, but the closer he comes to their classmate Sayuri, the more his interest shifts away from her.
• Lt. Keitarou Futashima (Futashima Keitarou) is in his late 30s and highest officer of the small Yamanaro Police Department. He becomes aware of Shiori shortly after her first case, but it takes him a bit to acknowledge her talent. Over the time, he recognizes her as a unofficial colleague and assists her wherever he can, providing information to her - even though he has to bend the official instructions for this every now and then.
• Kyushichi Ozawa (Ozawa Kyushichi) is in his 40s and, in the beginning, running a demining company. After his plan to blow the Nakanouchi Temple up failed due to Shiori's quick intervention, he abandons his business and escapes from Shikonjima with the rests of his fortune gained by stock speculation wins. In Manga no. 16, it turns out, that he had lived in a tropical island since then and built up a crime syndicate focusing on financial fraud. After the attempt to have Shiori killed out of revenge fails, he anonymously returns to Shikonjima one in a while, to try to challenge Shiori with arranged cases. Over the time, this begins to be more like a game between them.
• Malte Esterholm (Esuteruhorumo Marutte) is 16 years old and an exchange student from Lillorainen. He is a year older then Shiori, but this doesn't have much of an effect he has towards her. However, he spends most of the time with Miyuki, especially at the shooting range, systematically training her - and occasionally introducing her to the nuances of brewery products. Even though he struggles with the Shikonjimanese language, he tries to be as communicative as he can. Like Shiori, he rides a Morimoto M6 motorcycle, which he loves racing around with. In Manga no. 20, he becomes witness of a mysterious traffic accident, which he asks Shiori to have a further look into.
  
• Aiko Iwabuchi (Iwabuchi no Aiko) is well within her 60s and of local nobility. Although she isn't a part of Shikonjimanese Royalty, she is often said to brag about the enormously huge estate as if it were her own little empire. In Manga no. 19, she invites Shiori's parents over to a meeting over an investment deal, during which mysterious incidents happen, which drive the superstitious lady all but crazy. Shiori, who happens to be around, successfully investigates the origin of these, a plot of her family against her. As a sign of thankfulness, but also in order to prevent family problems from ending up in the press, Aiko begins to pay money to Shiori in regular intervals and promises to support her during her upcoming career.
  

Trivia.

• Shiori's first case (see above) is loosely based on an actual event. On April 3, 1990, a group of veterans from the Colonial War in Nho Quoc tried to blow the Nakanouchi Temple up. The police managed to catch them during their ride towards the Temple, and during the interrogation, they claimed, that they did this in order to, as they stated later on, "take the honor from incompetent people who never deserved this honor in the first place". This incident has also been dealt with in an episode of the (live-action) crime series Sakai & Inoue in 1991.
• In the anime, Shikonjimanese Royalty can be heard as voice actors in several occasions; both Prince Shinji and Princess Kyouko have already acted as themselves, where public radio speeches were wanted. Princess Shiruko of Akebono can be heard in various roles.

[Voxija]

Xirroni's sister cities are Miami, Florida and Baku, Azerbaijan.

[Karakalpak Republic]

''While the border war between Karakalpakstan and Uzbekistan (2001-2004) is an important part in the region's history and textbooks, there are several less known episodes of it, with one of them being the assistance from environmentalists to Karakalpak side during the conflict. When the conflict started out, several Karakalpak Green activists sent out letters of help to environmentalist groups in order to convince at least some people to volunteer - although the conflict had started off as a border war, there was a risk of it escalating in a full-blown conflict, with Uzbek forces taking small parts of Karakalpakstan slowly, but surely, along with the cultivation of Uzbek revanchism by Karimov, in order to reclaim the ''lost province''. However, the main focus of the letter was put on the Aral Sea - in the early 2000s, it had started to fill up as a result of efforts from Kazakhstan and Karakalpakstan, and the fish species along with other fauna were making a recovery, but the Karakalpak Greens were concerned that in case of Karakalpakstan's annexation Uzbekistan would ''reverse all of the progress, and divert the waters of the rivers towards the cash crop - cotton production again, rather preferring to tap the gas fields under the dried riverbed''. While most of the groups sent political or moral support (Like Greenpeace), the Karakalpak Greens actually managed to convince some of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's (SSCS) members to volunteer in the war against Uzbeks - Sea Shepherd is a marine conservation organization using both conventional protests and direct action, but in the 2001 the Greens convinced some of its members that the conservation of marine was related to war very directly, and that an entire lake was at stake. At the arrival foreigners experienced roughly the same training as the soldiers of regular army, although individually the length of course was shortened a bit. Some of the volunteers might have received methamphetamine, which was used on a small scale by both sides of the war for night patrols, night battles, or shifts (It was taken out from the prescribed list quickly when the war ended, however, and Karakalpakstan's stance on drugs still remains very strict today). While most of the environmentalist volunteers guarded the positions alongside with Karakalpak soldiers, some in particular stood out like the unit of the SSCS which held off the attacking Uzbek soldiers at town of Kokcha for about three hours until they were forced to retreat and take positions with Karakalpak soldiers along the road R-183. Another symbolic moment was the SSCS volunteers raising its banner in Beruni after it was retaken by Karakalpak forces after being under occupation since 2001. Several of ''Green Volunteers'' received awards for their contribution from the Karakalpak military, and at the beginning those volunteers were a hot topic in press of Karakalpakstan, but the western press in particular didn't write much about them, often only mentioning them fragmentary. The volunteers themselves later on in interview and memoirs told about their experiences during the conflict, which also gave an insight on the society and country as a whole - overall consensus was that ''while Karakalpakstan was going in ''right direction'' with environmentalism due of experience with Aral Sea, there is still a lot to do considering the corruption and the interests of industrialists which not always align with those who support ecology'' (Also, as of 2020, Karakalpakstan is closer to the climate action goals of UN than some other countries, mostly due of a small country being easier to manage).''

[Carlten]

The animal on our flag is a Janath, our national animal

[Andocara]

Metropolitan Andocara
* More pro-capitalist
* High technological development; almost futurist
* Highly secular
* Fast paced, more complicated life
* Only 10% of recyclable matter is recycled
* High and advanced surveillance presence; big brother like system
* Commercial and industrial center of Andocara
* Industrialized
* Where 90% of the population lives

East Andocara
* More socialist tendencies
* "Classic Modern" society, very eco-friendly
* Highly religious or spiritual
* Slow paced, simpler life
* Over 99% of recyclable matter is recycled
* Alot of environmental protection laws
* Agricultural center of Andocara
* Least populated region in Andocara

[21st Century Peronia]

New rules for blood donation issued by the Ministry of Health of 21st Century Peronia

To move towards a safe, supportive and inclusive national blood system, the Health Minister of the Nation, Andrés Salinas, today signed a Resolution related to the blood donation, which ends the institutional discrimination against the LGBT+ community, who were prevented from donating.

"Based on these measures, blood in Peronia will be safer than it already was" said the minister after signing the resolution at the headquarters of the national health portfolio, during an event that included the presence of the Secretary of Human Rights of the Nation, Victoriano Vidal; the auditor of the National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism, Pedro Mouratian, and of representatives of the non-governmental organizations that participated in the process of modifying the regulations.

In a historical review of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Salinas recalled that "for a long time people believed that if they had a relationship with a homosexual person they were more at risk than having them with a heterosexual person. The epidemic was in charge of demonstrating that it was not so and that what had to be safeguarded were practices and behaviors that could be risky". Modifying this false belief "took time and probably cost many people to become infected by living with this prejudice" said the minister.

The head of the national health portfolio stated that "what we are doing is scientifically and technically supported" and "based on a health criterion that replaces the old concept of 'risk groups' with the real question of increased risk situations", in allusion to unprotected sexual relations.

According to Salinas, it can be concluded that this policy "is not only scientifically indubitable but also, from the gender point of view, it is one more right that we must expand and recognize to end all kinds of discrimination in our country".

For his part, the Secretary of Human Rights of the Nation, Victoriano Vidal, declared that "this is a day in which rights and science win over prejudice" and added that for these decisions "one must have courage but also conscience, and I believe that within the Ministry of Health of the Nation these two characteristics exist ". He also expressed that "it is essential for public health that we have a reservoir of blood that depends on public policy but also on honesty, transparent conduct and care for our own lives and that of others. We appeal that the more information the donor has, the better the quality of the donation will be. It has been demonstrated worldwide that a system of blood donation that is solidary and that contemplates the subject who is going to donate as the most important person, is what guarantees a good blood system".

Finally, the president of the Peronian Homosexual Community highlighted the quality of the pre-donation questionnaire since "it guarantees more and better both the fact of donating blood and receiving it. Because the right questions are asked, without no kind of prejudice, without thinking that the virus is transmitted through sexual orientation or gender identity".

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1412208

[Lanoraie II]

Unlike in some countries, being a police officer is considered a respectable career, and police are highly favored by Lanomirans. This may be due to their extensive training and extremely strict vetting. In order to become a police officer in Lanoraie, one must:

- Become and stay a certified EMT (if you decide to graduate to paramedic, even better)
- Take a minimum of 4 classes about law and 2 about psychology; must pass both with a grade of 80 or higher
- Undergo 1 year of police academy, where they learn everything else they must know before stepping out into the field
- Pass a strict psychiatric and physical evaluation
- Undergo 1 year of in-field supervision as cadets

On average, it takes about 2-3 years for someone to become a police officer, but often takes longer, sometimes willingly, as people will take more than just the required classes. Once they step into the field, things are quite different from how they may be in your country; educational enforcement is considered the gold standard, and they do not have arrest quotas. After 1-3 years depending on performance, they may become a specialized officer, where they undergo additional training to work in specific areas, such as armed response teams, community outreach and repair (think field therapists who collaborate with EMS + hospitals to get people the help they need), highway patrol, and national park rangers. They can also choose to remain a "typical" officer who is a jack of all trades, master of none.

Because of all this training and focus on truly protecting and serving, the job is much less likely to attract power hungry and corrupt individuals. The public has a highly favorable view, and each side works hard to keep a strong bond. In Lanoraie, you can rest assured knowing that they're actually there to help and protect you.

[Gandoor]

As of 2024, there are an estimated 520,000 people who still use the Gandoor Internet Service Corporation's dial-up internet service.

[Omarios]

Due to strict anti-alcohol laws, trafficking alcohol can land you sentences as severe as if you were trafficking drugs in Omarios.