NationStates

Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Welcome visitor, to the Department of Information. We have recently been formed and tasked with answering every question foreign people, organizations and governments have about the New Mushroom Kingdom. A subdepartment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we hope to answer your question quickly and properly. The one exception is obviously excluding topics that are deemed to be classified, which we will provide no information on. We hope this will be a very useful source of knowledge for you.

(OOC: Answered questions may be integrated into my wiki-thing. I very much prefer IC questions, but I'll take OOC ones too. Questions about classified stuff will be answered properly OOCly because giving away top secret information like that ICly would be stupid and lead to executions for treason.)

Are your citizens edible?

Do your citizens thrive in cold, wet, and dark places?

The Oceansky wrote:Do your citizens thrive in cold, wet, and dark places?

Fatatatutti wrote:Are your citizens edible?

Answer #1: Toad Misconceptions
Our first two received questions are ultimately based on a single, obvious and forgivable misconception: Toads, being part-mushroom, obviously inherit mushroom characteristics by default. Unfortunately, this is an entirely FALSE myth. It's technically true that Toad mushroom material can be eaten, however all people have tried have said that it wasn't worth it, at best it was bland and unflavoured and at worst the taste was positively disgusting. Unless you're a food masochist, parts of a Toad's mushroom are not edible. Additionally, doing this under NMK jurisdiction means you have committed the crime of assault on whichever Toad's mushroom you were eating. Moving on to the other question, this is best answered first by saying that obviously Toads aren't entirely mushroom, and in fact the majority of their DNA is humanoid in nature. Humans generally don't like cold, dark, wet places do they? Toads share this behaviour, and very much prefer being comfortable in their nice warm Toad House or other form of accommodation. Even the mushroom part would not like the situation, as it has adapted to integrate with the rest of the body and does not grow using the same mechanisms but instead is supplied nutrients from digested food like any other organ.

If you wanted actually edible mushrooms, may I suggest reaching out and importing some from the many corporations that export them? I can provide contact details if needed.
-- Scott Hayward, Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

If a subject of your nation were to go out, say, mushroom picking, and then proceeded to make a mushroom risotto from those picked mushrooms, then would that subject have committed both homicide and cannibalism, and would that qualify said subject as a serial killer?

How well do your mushrooms stand up to flogging? Do they deflate?

Are you based upon the Mario games and if so, what is your opinion on Mario?

May we ask as to why your nation's flag features the poisonous Amanita muscaria?

The Oceansky wrote:If a subject of your nation were to go out, say, mushroom picking, and then proceeded to make a mushroom risotto from those picked mushrooms, then would that subject have committed both homicide and cannibalism, and would that qualify said subject as a serial killer?

How well do your mushrooms stand up to flogging? Do they deflate?

Picardiastan wrote:May we ask as to why your nation's flag features the poisonous Amanita muscaria?

Late Answer 2: Toads II
After a delay due to other activities, I am pleased to answer three old additional questions. They are all incorrect (FALSE) in some form for another.
The first question is based on the expected misconception that regular mushrooms and sapient Toads are the same, but this is entirely incorrect. While I am aware of another nation that takes the absolutist stance described in the question, under the law there is a clear distinction between regular and sapient mushrooms. Consequently, the person described has committed no crime at all, everything is completely legal. We think this is only logical and just because regular mushrooms are not sapient - they cannot think, react or feel pain, so obviously they can't be murdered or have serial killers target them. The closest thing to cannibalism would be if a Toad ate part of another Toad's mushroom. Such a situation would be very weird, and they'd not be charged with cannibalism but instead common assault.

As for the question related to corporal punishment, I wish to state that in the NMK, most people have a neutral or negative opinion of corporal punishment in general. This also reflects the government's infrequent use of this type of punishment. However, even if a Toad were to be flogged the mushroom head would not be a target, and the reaction of it to flogging or similar punishments has not been tested. Due to the suffering and potentially harmful results, there are no plans to officially test or research this now or in the future.
As for the third question, the flag does not represent any specific mushroom species, but instead it represents in general the two major native types of mushroom - The white/red mushroom represents Toads, despite the colour scheme being rare, while the brown mushrooms represent the native Goomba species, of which some variants can achieve sapience.
-- Scott Hayward, Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Kenmoria wrote:Are you based upon the Mario games and if so, what is your opinion on Mario?

(OOC: I personally like Mario, particularly Toad - the NMK is based on the Mario universe but set an uncertain amount of time in the future, leading to divergence and the creation of the NMK vs the old Mushroom Kingdom)

"What does your Military Branch look like?"
Prime Minister Aoroza Yoshisada

Shogunate of the Uzumaki Empire wrote:"What does your Military Branch look like?"
Prime Minister Aoroza Yoshisada

Answer III: Military
While many details are obviously classified by the Ministry of Defense, they do have this to say about high-level knowledge and overall structure:

The Mushroomian armed forces are one of the largest branches of the government, with the Ministry of Defense being the primary government organization for the military. It maintains very close links with the Ministry of Intelligence, numerous research departments and when appropriate the Secret Service. The internal organization is as you would expect: 3 branches for the army, navy and air force respectively. Being an island nation, a highly capable navy is of crucial importance both for defending and attacking, although the former role is exercised most often. The navy is backed up by an expansive army, which is the largest single component, especially as the government prefers to distribute things over larger groups rather than concentrate them on fewer individuals. To date, unlike the navy or the army, the air-force branch has not been particularly vital in any conflict or other operation, and as such it is the smallest and least-prioritised of the three. It remains to be seen if any future events will cause policy and practice changes in this area.

Bolstering the Ministry itself is a very sizeable domestic weapons industry, indeed it's one of the largest single types of industry present in the New Mushroom Kingdom, despite domestic firearm laws being comparatively restricted. Where it's practical to do so, all three branches of the military strongly prefer domestic weapons to international ones. One reason for this is the obvious security argument, but there's also some corporate welfare and similar by the government, as well as favouring corporations that give benefits or other things to the right people at the right time. Whereas international arms trading is done by a consortium, domestic dealings are directly with the companies responsible for the products. While the majority of weapons are procured this way, the more sensitive, classified or newer weapons are usually manufactured either by the Ministry or part of the research division that the weapon itself originated from.

-- Lorene L. Jennings, on behalf of the Ministry of Defense.

"What is your Nation's National Anthem?"
Prime Minister Aoroza Yoshisada

Shogunate of the Uzumaki Empire wrote:"What is your Nation's National Anthem?"
Prime Minister Aoroza Yoshisada

(OOC: I'm not going to make lyrics because I'm not musically talented.)
"The Mushroom World".

(OOC: Bump, hopefully I can give a proper answer to the next question)