User:SpheryCube/sandbox

Introduction

 * Viridi (pronounced Ver-eye-dee) was a small civilization comprised primarily of three towns located on the coast of what is now the southern portion of the Natium Empire and what was once Peloponnese, Greece. Viridian society’s primary goal was to rederive and expand upon the scientific knowledge that was lost during the nuclear wars of the 22nd century and the great plague of 2315. Their laws, culture, and religion revolved around this goal and their people held great camaraderie in this endeavor.


 * Much of what we know about the world before the great plague is because of Viridi’s efforts to preserve knowledge. They were the only well-established and stable society in the world for much of the 24th and 25th centuries. In addition to preserving knowledge from the pre-Viridi era, they created the internet and made significant advances in space engineering, computer science, and in fundamental physics and astronomy. By the time it was absorbed into the Mediterranean Empire in 2521, Viridi had established its own large research bases on the moon and Mars.

Pre-Viridi Era

 * After the Early Nuclear Wars of the 22nd century, the nations of the world decided that all future wars would take place on the moon. This was to prevent further environmental damage. During a time of conflict between two countries, the opposing nations would send their troops to opposite sides of the rocky satellite (which had been terraformed since 2118). Because all developed countries had been very focused on space exploration and engineering since the early 21st century, the logistics of transporting millions of troops to the moon were now bearable. Once troops landed, each side would begin their assault to capture the “flag” of their enemies on a specified date and time. The winning side would take Earth land, people, and/or goods from the losing side according to a “war bet” that was established before the war commenced.


 * All of the majors wars in the 23rd century were resolved through the method described above. This civilized method of warfare lasted until 2305, when the Australian Empire and New Rome began a war on the moon. The Australian Empire had been systematically waging wars and annexing other nations. The only power left that had a chance of standing up against them was New Rome.


 * A year into the war, New Rome was facing defeat. However, the nation’s scientists had just created a biological weapon called P31B, a quickly evolving bacteria the would attack mammalian lung tissue. Test subjects died within 24 hours after exposure.


 * Facing imminent defeat on the moon and the prospect of being annexed by the Australian Empire, the New Roman government ordered its military to go against international protocols and unleash P31B inside the heart of the Australian empire on Earth. Airborne, the bacteria quickly spread across nations, killing billions. Scientists could not make effective medicines due to the rate at which it evolved. Countries began blaming each other for the outbreak, and nuclear weapons again were used on Earth. Within 3 months modern civilization had screeched to a halt.


 * It is unknown how many people survived the outbreak of P31B (now called the Great Plague) and the proceeding nuclear wars (which have come to be called the Late Nuclear Wars). What is known is that many of the people on the peninsula of what was once Peloponnese, Greece had a natural resistance to P31B. Furthermore, this area of the world did not receive many nuclear strikes. Early Viridian records indicate that approximately 30,000 people on the Peloponnese peninsula survived. However, these numbers quickly dwindled to approximately 10,000 as people struggled to farm and to find food and as different factions fought to lead the start of a new government.

2316-2320 - The First Five Years

 * Before the Great Plague and the Late Nuclear Wars, the Peloponnese was a large industrial complex for New Rome and was home to a large military-run research complex. After the initial chaos that pursued the outbreak settled down, surviving employees of the Peloponnese research complex hijacked the facility’s experimental weaponry and used them to assert dominance over the other factions on the peninsula. In 2316, this faction, which was about 1000 in size and who were known as the “Viridians” took control of the Peloponnesian peninsula. They renamed it Viridi. Dissenters were told to leave the peninsula or else be killed.


 * Initially, an oligarchy was formed among the ex-employees from the research complex. Food was difficult to find, and not enough people knew how to farm. The Viridian officials tried to regulate farming and to create government sponsored farming classes. However, the new government struggled to enforce the laws and regulations it was creating. The result was chaos.

2320s - Formation of the Five Viridian Ideals

 * By the early 2320s, most of the people on the island had congregated to one of three towns: Aelinmiley, Kamaregea, or Dodens. Aelinmiley was the largest, with 6,000 people, and was the capital seat of Viridi. Each town was given a third of the land of the peninsula.


 * Many people were starving, especially in the non-capital towns of Dodens and Kamaregea. In 2325, several revolts were held against the government. These were rooted in the beliefs that the government was ineffective and that the little the government was capable of achieving benefitted Aelinmiley more than the other towns.


 * Heeding the voice of their people, in 2326 the government moved the capital to a location on the peninsula that was equidistant from all three town centers. The capital was named Meseron. They also rewrote their constitution to something that greatly resembled its final form (see the “Political System” subsection) and took on an equal number of representatives from each of the three town districts.


 * The new constitution was completed in 2328. It listed five ideals that went on to become greatly ingrained into Viridian culture. The following quotes are directly taken from the Viridian Constitution:


 * 1) “It is Viridi’s responsibility to the human race to rederive and expand upon the collective pool of scientific knowledge.”
 * 2) “Science and technology will never be used to harm people.”
 * 3) “People from different regions and groups will work alongside one another to promote trust and companionship.”
 * 4) “Science for the sake of knowledge is as equally valuable as science for the sake of practicality.”
 * 5) "All groups and communities bigger than the family unit are required to be utterly transparent and shall have all meetings open to public viewing.”


 * The First Ideal became the core aspect of Viridian society. It stemmed from the writers of the constitution having scientific backgrounds (many of them worked in the large Research Facility on the peninsula before the plague broke out). With the destruction of the world’s universities and research facilities, they feared that the past several thousand years of achievements in human thought would be lost if their society did not make a conscious effort to preserve knowledge. They wanted to prevent another Dark Age, and in order to do this, early Viridian scientists who had been educated in universities before the plague began writing down everything they were taught. Many of them also would go on expeditions to universities and libraries in the desolate outside world to salvage books and papers.
 * The Second Ideal was rooted in the scientist's’ fear of having the events of the late 20th century nuclear wars and of the Great Plague and the ensuing Late Nuclear Wars repeat themselves. They felt that the military perverted the great enterprise of scientific thought. In line with this belief, Viridi never formed an offensive military (see the Military subsection)


 * The Third Ideal was developed to facilitate the cooperation that is needed for scientific advancement across geographic boundaries and political circles. It was also to help prevent jealousy from forming between the towns and to decrease the risk of rebellion. Manifestations of this ideal are seen in the towns’ shared schools and through the distribution of farm workers. (see the Education subsection)


 * The scientists writing the constitution wrote the Fourth Ideal in response to pre-plague societies’ narrow focus on science that had immediate, practical results. The scientists of Viridi felt that this too was a perversion of science and that it took away the sense of discovery that is supposed to be inherent to the subject. They also felt that no paradigm-changing discoveries could be made with such a narrow-focus.


 * The Fifth Ideal was written for similar reasons to that of the Third Ideal. The writers of the Constitution believed that there was no room for secrets to be withheld from one another in a collaborative, truth-seeking society.

2330s - Building the Foundations

 * The government prioritized on integrating the Third Ideal first, as they wanted to maintain stability and reduce the risk of further revolts or revolutions. In order to bridge the geographic divide between the towns, the government salvaged abandoned factories and mines on the island and began the construction of a train network that would connect the three towns to each other and the capital. These networks were later improved upon to become faster.


 * The government also began setting up the educational system to reflect the First Ideal (see the Education subsection). In 2337, after the train network was completed, the government redirected its efforts into building several observatories across the peninsula. They also began the construction of a university (simply named the University) in the center of Viridi, right next to the Government Building. The close proximity of the government to the University allowed for much legislation to be informed by science. Both the University and the Government Building were open to all citizens at any time.

Geography

 * Viridi lied on the peninsula which constitutes the southernmost part of the Natium Empire. The total land area of the peninsula is 8,320.3 sq mi. Much of the interior of the peninsula is covered in mountainous terrain. The coasts are deeply indented. Earthquakes are fairly common on the peninsula. The western portion of the peninsula features extensive lowlands. In the south lies the large Evrotas valley.


 * In 2333, the Viridian government divided the peninsula up into three administrative districts. Each region was head by a town, except for the capital (Meseron), which was under direct control of the federal government.


 * There are two groups of islands that lie off the Viridian coast, one to the East, the other to the West. However, aside from several resource mining outputs around the globe, Viridans rarely travelled outside of their nation, and therefore did not colonize these islands.

Climate

 * The Late Nuclear Wars had profound effects on the climate of Viridi and the rest of the globe. The soot emitted from the explosions clouded the atmosphere, blocking sunlight from reaching Earth. Temperature changes were most dramatic in mid- and high-latitude regions. In the case of Viridi, the annual average temperature was decreased by about 20 degrees fahrenheit as compared to pre-nuclear war levels. Additionally, the soot emitted from the nuclear blasts decreased the levels of protective atmospheric ozone, resulting in increased cancer rates among Viridians and animals around the globe. By the turn of the 24th century, however, the effects of the bombs had mostly dissipated and global temperatures and rainfall had returned to levels similar to those before the Late Nuclear Wars.

Agriculture

 * The Late Nuclear War’s effects on climate also resulted in farming challenges for the Viridian people in the early days of the nation. The decreased average temperatures made for a significantly shorter growing season in the years following the war and contributed to Viridian society’s early agricultural difficulties. Due to disturbances in the ozone layer, damaging radiation from the sun also disrupted various crops, further contributing to the Viridians’ early agricultural problems. By the beginning of the 25th century however, most of these effects had subsided. The ocean was not a safe source of food for the Viridians due to pollution from pre-plague societies.

Other Natural Resources

 * Due to a lack of resources on the peninsula, Viridian engineers would often travel out into the nearby regions to setup and maintain mining facilities. These facilities were generally very isolated and contained only a few engineers. Most everything in the mines was automated using technology from the pre-plague era.

Political System

 * There were only two levels in Viridian government: federal and local. Elections for the federal level political offices were held every year. There was only one type of federal level position, which was simply called a federal office. There were 99 federal offices, and each town district was given 33 representatives, approximately one for every 100 people in their district. Each year one third of the offices rotated out (11 from each district). Each of the three districts had their own way of choosing their federal representatives. Since each of the three towns maintained around 3300 people, the number of officials representing them did not change. As a result of being a small nation, all 99 members of the federal government were responsible for ; there were no committees or subcommittees. The main duties of the federal government included maintaining the coastal defense systems, maintaining the train networks, reassessing and updating the Constitution as necessary, and listening to court cases that had been appealed from local governments.


 * Each of the districts (except for the capital district) had a local government. The local government's main roles were to oversee all civil disputes and to run the district’s volunteer police force. Unlike federal level offices, local level offices were not considered a full time job and thus office holders worked another job.


 * In accordance to the Fifth Ideal of the Viridian Constitution, all government meetings were done open to the public. With the train system connecting the Capital to each of the towns, citizens of Viridi could watch the political processes whenever they wished. Similarly, the district governments held all of their meetings outside.

Infrastructure

 * The two principal components of Viridian infrastructure was it’s extensive train network and its coastal defense systems. The train network, first operational in 2337, connected the three towns and their surrounding districts to each other and the capital. This allowed for close collaboration among the three districts and helped further the Third and Fifth Ideals.

Educational System

 * Children began school at 4 or 5 years old. 12 years of primary schooling were required of every child. In order to exposing children of different districts to each other, every child went to one of three schools on the island.


 * In the first five years of school, students were taught English (the language of science), Greek (the common language), history, math, and science. The second five years were devoted only to english, math, and science. In the final two years, students continued learning english, math, and science, but also began learning farming techniques. In their final year of school they also studied government and civics.


 * After their final year of mandatory school, each graduate was designated to a farm to work on for three years of “farm service”. Many of the farming processes were automated, so much of the work was operating or maintaining machines. The required farm service insured that there would always be a sufficient number of farmers at any given time and everyone in Viridi society would know how to be self-sufficient should a crisis arise. The government assigned which farm each graduate was to work on and made sure each graduate worked on a farm in a district other than the one they were born in. This was again to foster good relations between the towns, in accordance to the Third Ideal of the constitution.


 * After the three years of required farming, people could decide between becoming a scientist, a farmer, a teacher, a technician a doctor or an engineer. People who decided to become scientists, teachers, doctors or engineers would continue on for additional schooling at the University, the only institute of higher learning in Viridi. Farmers and technicians were trained on the job from those with more experience.

Law Enforcement and Crime

 * Each district has their own volunteer police force. Laws were similar to those of pre-plague Western societies. Anybody accused of a crime would have a court trial. Capital punishment was only exercised on those convicted of rape or murder. Those who committed acts of terrorism against the nation but did not kill anyone were sent off the peninsula into the bleak outside world. All other punishments took the form of strenuous farm work without any automation.


 * Crime was very low in Viridian society after the nation had matured out of its infancy and had sufficient food production. Indeed, the prevailing culture of Viridi was one of passivity. This was in thanks to the close cooperation of towns and the was fostered by the educational and farming systems.

Science and Technology

 * From the very beginning of Viridi, science was the nation’s number one priority. Their goal, as outlined by the First Ideal of the Viridian constitution, was to preserve and expand upon the knowledge of their ancestors.


 * Viridians’ primary area of research was fundamental physics and astronomy. They engineered multiple large observatories across the island. By 2450, they had reestablished


 * Despite their scientific bent, the people of the island don’t put much emphasis on biology, and especially not genetics. They believe these disciplines were the root cause of the widespread death that the great plague brought.

Military

 * Viridi did not have a formal army. Instead, they had engineers dedicated to building and maintaining the autonomous defense vehicles and the missile system that covered the perimeter of their shore. The first robust version of this system was completed in 2351. However, without any outside threats, the defense system was rarely put into action. The only time in which it was used was when a group of would-be pillagers began docking their ships in 2398. This attack was quickly suppressed.


 * The lack of an offensive military and the passive nature of Viridian society stemmed from the Second Ideal of the Viridian constitution: “Science and technology will never be used to harm people.”

Economy

 * Everyone in Viridian society with a job was paid the same. The only people without jobs were the old (retirement was at 65), the people going to school (whether that be primary school or at the University), and people with disabilities. These people taken care of by their families.

The money earned from jobs could be spent on different household items and luxuries.


 * However, money could not be used to buy food. Instead, all food was distributed evenly to the towns by the Federal Government. People would pick up their food biweekly from a town market. People who lived away from the town center and in the district’s farms would simply take a train. The amount of food families received depended on how many people were in their family and the ages of the members. However, everyone was always given more than they would eat, so the differences didn’t matter. Often times people would even take less than the amount they were allotted.


 * Money also could not be used to buy houses. This, in combination with equal pay, was to prevent housing stratification from forming like it did in many pre-plague societies. All houses were designed to have a very similar style (see picture to the right). Only the size of the houses differed. That way people could choose to live by themselves or with an extended family or anywhere in between. Because the populations of the towns were so small, the members could talk among themselves to decide who would live where. Also, there were many more houses than there were people, so it was easy to switch.

Religion

 * Science and religion were heavily intertwined in Viridi society. There was no formal name to their religion and it did not have a prophet or a holy text to go along with it. However, the majority of the people believed in a deity that created the universe. They strongly believed that everything happened for a reason, and thus did not worry when something did not go as expected. They whole heartedly believed that, by definition, nature and the universe were incapable of making mistakes. What would it mean, they thought, for the universe, governed by a set of seemingly unchanging laws, to be wrong?


 * Their religion fueled their desire to find the underlying truths of nature. They believed that through understanding the universe, they could become closer to their creator. Their national motto, “The Truth Shall Make You Free,” exemplifies this belief.

Family and Housing

 * The family structure in Viridi was similar to those found in pre-plague Western societies. Most people lived in nuclear families. However, in the later years of Viridi, many people began living in extended families: by 2500, about 30% of people reported living in a household with three or more generations.


 * One of the most interesting aspects of Viridian society was their ability to maintain their population at about 10000 people. Even more amazing, each town district maintained about 3300 people. There were no laws or social policies driving this. Instead, these numbers were sustained out of couples consciously choosing to have two kids. This was the norm in Viridi.

Viridi’s Assimilation into the Mediterranean Empire

 * By 2400, several small nations had formed in the lands surrounding the Mediterranean. These nations did not re-establish the technology of their ancestors as well as the Viridians had and therefore avoided the Viridians’ due to their strong defense systems. These small nations were very aggressive and were nearly always in battle with one another. The Viridians found the wars to be disruptive to many of their mining operations in the region. By 2500, Viridi maintained only 10% of the mining facilities it had at the beginning of the century. Furthermore, by this time, many of the nations had consolidated into a larger one called the “Mediterranean Empire.” While not nearly as focused on science as Viridi, the Mediterranean Empire was extremely wealthy due to the abundance of natural resources it maintained. It was an extremely product driven society, and its people were happy. The people in Viridi, on the other hand, were losing faith in what their society stood for. Without the natural resources to produce many of the goods it once used to or to properly run and upkeep its infrastructure, the people of Viridi gradually stopped caring as much about science. They wanted the more basic aspects of their society fixed.


 * Therefore, in 2521, when the Mediterranean Empire offered Viridi a spot in their society (attacking Viridi wasn’t an option due to their strong defensive systems), Viridi agreed. The Viridian government was dissolved, and the people of Viridi were. Many of them left Viridi to live in the bigger cities of the Mediterranean Empire. Viridi became the main center of scientific research for the Mediterranean Empire, but many of the customs and policies that helped developed it to its height faded away.