Gathyanjo
From Shahara
Contents |
Overview: Capitalism at its Finest
Gathyanjo is one of the most powerful countries in the world; and indeed it may very well be the most powerful, presuming that you consider material wealth 'power'. Of course, calling Gathyanjo a country is inaccurate, since it is not run by the standard system of government that most people identify with. The best way to describe their system of governing is to imagine the epitome of capitalism. It is, essentially, a gigantic corporation. Everyone that lives there is considered an employee of the Company, as opposed to a citizen. Gathyanjo is set in a primarily arid environment- there are very few mountains, only a few large repositories of water, and their cities sit on vast expanses of mostly flat deserts. Though they lack the agricultural plentitude that Pureacea and Sharaha enjoy, they have the richest supply of oil, minerals ores, precious stones, and uranium anywhere in the world. And unlike the average capitalist society, they realize that these resources are not infinite. Therefore, recycling is easily the third or fourth largest industry in their economy. Having a population of roughly 500 million people, recycling is an absolute must to capitalize on the meager supplies that the deserts provide people with to survive. They also live in more harmony with the environment than most people realize; though the wildlife may suffer occasionally, pollution is kept to a minimum for the sake of the employees. When atomic power was discovered, Gathyanjo was the first to figure out that it could be used for more than mere -bombs-. Bombs are expensive, especially nuclear ones, and after Hekaitor's fate it has been evaluated that nuclear war is far too cost-inefficient. Nuclear power plants are cheap, efficient, and last for a very long time, and while it may not provide much in the way of profit, their plants are so utterly necessary to their society and business that they are the most well guarded and safety-minded facilities. Other industries may be more profitable, but it's transfinitely cheaper to rebuild a factory or reopen a mining facility than it is to replace highly skilled technicians and engineers, not to mention cleaning up an irradiated environment and caring for those suffering from radiation poisoning. Terrorists who fail at sabotaging these facilities are invariably executed on the spot if discovered, the Company has little mercy for those that threaten the flow of Currency. Historically, Gathyanjo has almost always been the way it is now. Mercantilism has always ruled their deserts, cities springing up around valuable resource depositories and allying with each other in the face of raiders. Most of the nomadic tribes of their past ended up joining and helping to expand the cities, those who lived as raiders were stamped out.
Society
As it is an enormous corporate body, it is thus controlled as one. Everyone owns at least some small amount of stock in the Company, if you don't you're little more than a resource to be used. Most people would think that running a country as a business might lead to absolute corruption, since obviously whoever has the most stock in a company ultimately has the most power. This is indeed, true, and those at the top DEFINITELY have the most power; however they have long since realized the power of the people, and if enough people stop working, no one makes any money. As such, moral and ethics committies, labor unions, and Osha-like safety regulations are in place, with considerable success. If a CEO or other higher up is the consistent cause of a major loss of capital, their 'lessers' can always find someone willing to sell them out and have them eliminated if necessary. But this is only necessary, or even feasible, in cases of obvious and severe corruption. And thus, you have the working government of Gathyanjo- a vaguely democratic Megacorporation, tempered with the occasional dose of assassination. As the entirety of Gathyanjo is a constant attempt to climb a corporate ladder, one would presume that backstabbing, lying, and other unsavory business practices take place. This is true, but only to some extent, you can only make it so far if you don't have the trust of those who work for you and those you work for. No one wants to let their job be taken by some sleazy upstart who will cause more damage to the economy than they can bring in profit. So, criminal practices are -extremely- discreet. Even criminal organizations and functions, such as the black market, are very organized and adhere to a strict hierarchy. Gathyanjo has long since learned the lesson that corruption is inevitable- what matters is keeping it controlled for minimal damage. The legal system of this country is something of a puzzle- they change constantly. What is legal today may very well be illegal tomorrow due to whoever can influence their way the most. There are obviously basic morality laws, but these are fairly lax at the best of times, blatantly ignored and openly violated at the worst. Usually one only sits before the Board of Inquiry if one has comitted an offense to someone of a higher station, foreign visitors get treatment based on their importance. Adventurers should take care not to agitate an Assistant Director (or whatever person you run into of considerable influence), or the repercussions could be fatal. Though a diplomat only has to worry about upsetting the highest ranking CEO's, they will rarely suffer the fullest extent of their wrath. Piracy has always been a capital crime in Gathyanjo, unless it could be done in favor of the country, so pirates that sell goods to them are valued as allies, but those who attack their shareholders are registered as 'kill on sight, without quarter or mercy.'
Economy
Always seeking to improve their infrastructure, if an employee or a group of employees can discover a means of advancing or improving any significant technology (manufacturing, agriculture, computers, so on and so forth) they can be assured of having a comfortable life. For this reason, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of private facilities whose sole purpose is to experiment with new technology in all its forms. Tree farms, biospheres, hybrid plants, optical computers, robotics, and carbon rods for construction are their major R&D projects. They are of the mind to make sure it's a perfect product the first time around, so countless gold has been poured into the perfection of these still-experimental ideas. The tree farms have been so successful thus far that they may begin mass production soon. Recently however, Magic has been their prime R&D project, and the demand for those who can help them study this phenomenon is immense. Magic-users can easily enjoy a life of wealth, if they can handle deadlines, paperwork, tribunals, and balance their R&D budgets, all without causing trouble. The average employee in Gathyanjo works 9 to 5, she has three options on how to do her job. One, doing it to the best of her abilities and acquiring a promotion or raise through hard and honest work, which may be slow but it's a simple and efficient path. Two, she can wheel and deal her way to the higher ranks, creating intricate webs of favors, blackmail, outright lies, and once in a while do some actual work. Three, she can ply the trade of the cutthroat businessman; going to great lengths to ensure that her corporate enemies fail, are made to lose face, simply executed, or delayed long enough for her to get the job done and get the prize. Option one tends to be the course of those at the lowest rung of the ladder, since it's usually the only way to really get a foothold in the Company. Option two tends to be used by the upper-middle class, whose children never had to work for what they had, and those who are used to getting their way, wanting more. Option three is the most common (and stereotypical!) way of life for the Gathyanjo employee, and though it leads to setbacks in production and development, it often yields great rewards in profits. Entertainment comes in a myriad of forms in Gathyanjo, very few vices are illegal unless they cause too much damage to the business environment. Prostitution and gambling are not only legal but are a major part of their tourist attractions. Prostitutes are kept clean of drugs and free of disease, gambling establishments are kept relatively honest through the threat of being shut down- they take these particular businesses, among others, very seriously due to the huge amounts of capital generated. The pornography industry is likewise well regulated, though it faces fewer restrictions than others. With the advent of Magic in an age of Information, many tech heads are teaming up with spellcasters to create unique virtual reality/illusion simulators, desperately pouring all their capital into the creation of facilities that could allow people to act out their fantasies in a safe, controlled, and perfectly realistic environment.. For a fee. There are several enormous arenas that are used for all manner of public sporting events- from what we might consider sports, to bloody and violent combat bouts. Slavery is still alive to some extent in Gathyanjo, under the guise of 'indentured servitude for past offenses', and the worst of it can be witnessed in the Arena.
Government
Gathyanjo is divided into six major cities- they do not have names, they have numbers. They are spaced roughly 300 miles apart in a circular pattern going out from the largest city, connected by major highways and bullet trains. Each city is run by a CEO, who has absolute control over his or her city, they answer solely to the President Vincent MacMurphy. The President is an outgoing dark-skinned half-elf who is officially renowned for acts of charity to his poorest employees and for ensuring that visitors are given a warm welcome. Unofficially he is well known for having an extremely erratic and explosive temper, and those who cause him to lose it are hunted to the ends of the world to sit in his private experimental R&D facilities. Gathyanjo does not have much in the way of a military or police force- these are almost entirely mercenary, and only used when necessary. This leads to a lack of loyalty in the troops, and though these soldiers are sometimes unreliable, they -are- well paid and always have access to high level weapons technology. Though the Global Peace forbids it, they are rumored to be experimenting with cloning technology to provide themselves with a loyal, easily controlled military force. They vehemently deny any experiments in cloning technology, but people would really be more shocked if they -weren't- trying to build such an army. About the only time Gathyanjo can present a militaristic threat is if the entire country is threatened by invasion. Gathyanjo maintains decent relations with Sharaha, and even though the latter disapproves vastly of their indentured servitude and some of their less ethical practices, the trade between these countries is healthy. Gathyanjo also do a great deal of trade with Zipangu and some of Pureacea's neighbors, but Gathyanjo is a bitter enemy of Pureacea and the Naryubia Union- both of these countries hating Gathyanjo to the core for their political, social, and religious practices. Were it not for their money and Sharaha's miraculous ability to maintain the Global Peace, the likely war between the Union, Pureacea, and Gathyanjo would be horrific.
