Posts from Actaea

A Brief History of the Free Land of Tarpaulin Fields

Three Centuries Ago.
Long ago, about three hundred years ago, in the mountainous region of the south, there existed a small but very developed and wealthy state called Epylandia.
The Epylandians considered themselves very intelligent and civilized, so they developed trade, science, and education, but paid little attention to defense and law enforcement, because violence was the domain of savages.
And they were also very rich. Compared to neighboring countries, even the poorest Epylandians lived in luxury. And with each passing year, they became richer, lending money at interest to other countries, and there was more and more luxury. And luxury increasingly consumed their time and thoughts, and made their bodies overly pampered.
It was then that the Spiritual Movement emerged in the student community, as it usually happens. They rejected excessive luxury and chose a simple life in a commune, and valued moderation and human relationships instead of accumulation. In the crowd, they could be easily distinguished by their simple tunics without adornments.
The core of this movement later formed an expedition away from their wealth-corrupted compatriots to the northern lands, seeking spirituality and freedom from excessive civilization.
Along the way, many things happened that forced the naive romantics to reconsider their views on things that had seemed obvious until recently, and they elevated spiritual strength and spirituality to the rank of religion, supplementing it with rituals and sacred texts that often gave them the strength to survive in the new, dangerous world.
The savages of the northern lands turned out to be not so savage, and the wearing of weapons, once considered the domain of savages, became the norm in the community. But human life was still considered sacred. "And if someone threatens your life, you can defend yourself as you see fit, even to the point of killing the attacker."
Unfortunately, the community members forgot how to solve problems using the principles of the Free Land of Tarpaulin Fields, or perhaps the excessive intelligence of the Epylandians was always just a myth about a "golden age when people were smart, beautiful, rich, and happy."
Clothing changed from tunics to more functional garments, shoes became more durable, food became more nutritious and simple, religion became more stoic, and views became more free.
For a long time, tarpaulin tents served as shelter for travelers, later giving the name to the new country.
Finally, the community reached the northern coast and chose a place for its first new settlement. On the coast, the ocean threw up many pinkady-pearl shells, which were decided to be declared the national animal, as a symbol that most accurately reflects the essence of man - a beautiful world, invisible to outsiders.

Our Time
It is unclear who assimilated whom in the end - the northern savages the Epylandians, or vice versa, but the modern Free Lands of Tarpaulin represent a federation of communities with a common ideology and religion.
The burden of state administration lies with the Council of Communities, whose deputies are elected on the basis of an imperative mandate. They are assisted by professional civil servants who have no right to make decisions without the knowledge and approval of the deputies.
Military service is compulsory for both men and women. However, Epylandian pacifism still makes itself felt: the Tarpaulinians are not a warlike nation, quite the contrary.
The institution of marriage is encouraged by religion, but it is not mandatory, because a person is free to decide for himself how to manage his personal life.
Despite the leading role of religion in society, it is not mandatory either - "it is not the one who goes to church every day who is righteous, but the one who does righteous deeds." The highest virtues are still considered to be spirituality, moderation, and kindness towards people.
Yes, I know that it's somewhat pompous and probably not viable in this region. But we have what we have.
I may change/supplement the structure of government later; I'm not sure how well this system works.
I will correct the statistics later if anything changes in beliefs/social structure. Or Revant will correct it himself.

By the way, there's a suggestion to create a sub-section for this world and move this topic there, plus create a topic for each country, which will contain the history of the state, various details, and changes, if any occur.

I’ll probably write a story about my own kingdom soon as well. By the way, I’ll also write something about samurai as soon as I figure it out properly…

And yet, this is a troll game ((
I don't understand why, after this decision, my economy went up, but neither computer technology nor the pizza industry grew.

I'm saying the same thing.
I was just offered to build a monorail between cities to somehow compensate for the cars that I banned. Three options - not to build; to give it to a private company, but it will be expensive; or to subsidize it from the state, but it will be available to everyone. I chose the second. What do you think? private industry 0% They are mocking me. :mad:

Rex Ventorum is sending requests to hold diplomatic negotiations.

Come on over, no problem. You will be met at the airport. You're lucky that the monorail was built, at least you can get to the city comfortably. Otherwise, you would be rattling around in a cart.

Is nudism mandatory in Ventorum, or why are the percentages of nudists so high?
And why is there nothing about this in the advertisement for the relocation program?

People simply don't have enough money for clothes, and in a capitalist world, people must provide for themselves.

I understand that many people received the issue about the sunken warship. Did anyone choose the option "send more spies to neighboring countries"?

Added 1 minute ago

Come on over, no problem. We'll meet you at the airport. You're lucky they built a monorail, so you can get to the city comfortably. Otherwise, you'd be rattling around in a cart.

=/
How do you have an airport?

I only had pirates, which I successfully destroyed with my fleet.
Oh well, there are buses anyway.

Today, a large number of activists from the public movement "Down with Capitalism and Corporate Slavery!" or simply DKCRS gathered in the square of the capital city of Rex Ventorum. Six thousand dissatisfied strikers left their workplaces and gathered here, disrupting traffic and urging others to join their righteous cause. They were building some kind of barricades, attacking police officers, and so on. Leticia observed this from the window of a Humvee, sitting in the back seat. Hector Pride left a platoon of soldiers under her command and tasked her with resolving the situation, while he flew to the Kingdom of Great Water for diplomatic negotiations; he should have already arrived there by now. Not that it particularly interested her – frankly, she didn't care much. She glanced at her watch. Time was passing, and the activists were still not calming down; well, they would suffer the consequences. Leticia opened the Humvee's hatch and leaned out, placing her hands on the stationary machine gun.

By the way, there's a suggestion to create a sub-section for this world and move this topic there, plus create a topic for each country, which will contain the history of the state, various details, and changes, if any.

Is there a need for a separate sub-section?
Firstly, the fact-book engine seems to handle Russian texts quite well. At least, I just duplicated my history there. And I'm going to post descriptions of national holidays there as well (I have two so far).
Secondly, I don't know about others, but I would find it tedious to go through ten different topics with descriptions of the situation in the countries. I think it's more convenient to have everything in one topic.

Today, a large number of activists from the public movement "Down with Capitalism and Corporate Slavery!" or simply DKCS gathered in the main square of the capital city of Rex Ventorum. Six thousand disgruntled strikers left their workplaces and gathered here, disrupting traffic and urging others to join their righteous cause. They were building some kind of barricades, attacking police officers, and so on. Leticia observed all this from the window of a Humvee, sitting in the back seat. Hector Pride left a platoon of soldiers under her command and tasked her with resolving the situation, while he himself flew to the Kingdom of Great Water for diplomatic negotiations; he should have already arrived there by now. Not that she was particularly interested in it – frankly, she didn't care much. She glanced at her watch. Time was passing, and the activists were still not calming down; well, it's their own problem. Leticia opened the Humvee's hatch and leaned out, placing her hands on the stationary machine gun.

What do you think, who is sponsoring this movement?

The history of Shaylion spans many centuries, during which its form of government, views, and even traditions have changed repeatedly. Shaylion did not immediately become a unified state. Initially, the island of Shai-Jing consisted of many small states with different forms of government. No one knew about this island, so the culture of these states developed independently of external influences. After another internecine war that claimed the lives of thousands of innocents, an order was formed in the province of Lyon, which not only maintained close ties with the local ruler but also had great influence, both in the spiritual and financial spheres. Possessing a wealth of secret knowledge, the order recruited novices, whom it trained according to a special system of combat training. People, wanting to be able to protect themselves and their families in the difficult times of internecine conflicts, massively joined the ranks of the order. Thus, soon, thanks to the support of the order, the province of Lyon was not only able to repel attacks from its neighbors but also to conquer new lands. The order promised peace and prosperity on the island of Shai-Jing, believing that if the lands under the control of one ruler were united, the internecine conflicts would cease.

The people, tired of constant internecine wars, fought with desperate determination, and soon the entire island was under the rule of the ruler of the province of Lyon. The ruler, Li San, solemnly named the united lands the Empire of Shaylion, combining the name of the island and the capital region, but, as it turned out, his expectations of unlimited power over the united lands did not come true. The inhabitants of the country not only absorbed the knowledge of the order but also its ideology. The order believed that power should not be in the hands of one person, as this leads to abuses, and soon forced the emperor to sign a decree on the creation of the Council of Shaylion, which included the highest officials of the order.

After the death of the emperor, who did not leave an heir, the imperial system of Shaylion gradually gave way to a theocratic one. Military values were replaced by spiritual and economic interests. This does not mean that knowledge in the field of martial arts was forgotten; manuscripts with a system of training fighters were still kept in the library of the order, but they were not distributed as widely. The order changed its priorities towards the development of spirituality and education. After a series of discoveries in the field of navigation, an expedition was sent in search of new lands. To the surprise of the Shaylionians, it turned out that their small piece of land was very small compared to the large continent that was discovered during the first expedition. As soon as the first inhabitants of the island landed on it, it turned out that there was not much free space left for their Theocracy; almost all the lands were divided among their new neighbors, with whom it was necessary to establish diplomatic relations. Over time, the scholars of the order were able to master some modern technologies and train their fighters in them.

The Shan-Zen samurai monastery especially distinguished itself in the development of new technologies. They tried to combine the new and the old, technology and the traditional secrets of the order. Their warriors went through 3 stages of training. In the first stage, they were intensively trained, developing their bodies and hardening their spirits. In the 2nd stage, they were taught how to use a sword and secret combat techniques of the order. Most novices stopped at this stage of development, and only the bravest agreed to undergo a special test in the crypt of the order. What kind of test it was, no one knew; only terrible rumors circulated about the fate of those who did not pass it. Those who succeeded became first-class fighters of the 3rd stage of initiation. Their eyes, after passing the test, inexplicably changed their color to bright blue.

Who do you think is sponsoring this movement?

The Order of Suicides.

No. They are sponsored by a competing corporation that wants to undermine the reputation of the current one and take its place.

It's more convenient to have it all in one thread, IMHO.

In one thread where all these messages are scattered?