Burninati0n (roleplay)

The Burninite League or Burninite Confederacy, sometimes referred to nationally as Burnination, is a federation of three tribes: the Gayuca, Palene, and Puoteq. Each tribe retains some of its own character, but have functioned as a single political unit for over 6 decades, and are fairly well integrated with one another. The League has a population of around 7 million Burninites spread across 32,384 square miles, but mostly concentrated in three main cities. (Only about 0.1 million Burninites live outside the cities at any given time.)

The Gayuca are known for their propensity for constructing beautiful and durable structures, and sculpting the land into a hospitable and fruitful place. Their major city is Shanendoe, boasting a population of 3.6 million.

The Puoteq are a seafaring folk known for their deft construction of boats and ships as well as their uncanny knowledge of how to encourage fish populations while also harvesting from them. Their major city is Ravaju, with a population of 0.8 million.

The Palene are known for cerebral pursuits, producing wise sages and spiritual and worldly ideas discussed across the League. Their major city is the Haogh, which has a population of about 2.5 million.

The Burninite League was formed in 1999 by agreement between the tribes to create a unified government. The political unity has been largely stable, and major internal conflicts have not arisen, mostly because the union brought economic benefits to all three tribes. Specifically, it has made more relaxed work pools achievable. Further details can be found in the economics sections of this page.

Geography, Climate, and Environment
The territory of the Burninite League has a climate categorized as Mediterranean. Such climates are fairly temperate, with 4 seasons manifest, although each quite comfortable throughout due to the smallness of the landmass and the stabilizing effect of oceanic currents and winds.

The Burninite tribes have done a beautiful job of living in harmony with their environments, leaving it pristine in most places, with the exception of the major population centers themselves, where the human environment has superseded the natural.

The mean temperature (average of high and low) in the coldest winter month of the year is -1℃. The mean temperature of the warmest summer month is 20℃.

Economics and Society
Burnination’s economic life and social life are organized under a few principles. Social life is tribal, meaning that most daily functions are taken care of in common. A Burninite might wake up in a sleeping commons and head down to the public bathhouse to freshen up, then go over to a public dining hall for breakfast. Personal property tends to be rather small -- as Burninites don’t own their own homes, they tend to keep personal possessions only to the point where they fit into a large chest that they can transport from place to place.

Nevertheless, Burnination is a remarkably rich society in two senses. Firstly, there is a large amount of publicly owned property and infrastructure. The common living spaces, bathhouses, and dining halls are beautiful, and this form of ownership precludes the possibility of homelessness or particularized hunger. Secondly, the public healthcare and educational systems are exceptional.

Burninites attend basic school from a young age -- age 4 -- and continue to receive elementary instruction in a variety of subjects until age 16. At age 16, Burninite youth may choose what vocational or academic interests to pursue. At age 20, Burninites are entered into the mandatory work pool, and by age 26, must enter into a secondary work pool as well.

Agricultural and industrial production are both very advanced, with very high productivity, as Burninites work an average of 4.5 days a week for 11 months of the year for an average of 6 hours per day, which is substantially less than in most industrialized societies. For comparative purposes, the Burninite work year consists of 1250 hours of labor, while an industrial worker in a comfortable capitalist nation might work 7 hours a day 5 days a week for 11.5 months of the year, or about 1680 hours. The Burninite workweek is about 25% shorter. This is made possible by a combination of careful consumption and the work pool system.

The work pool system contains two kinds of work pools: a mandatory and secondary work pool. The mandatory work pool contains necessary social labor that must be done in order for society to function. Examples might be garbage collection, sewage, road work, etc. The secondary work pool contains specialized labor, such as teaching, construction, research, agriculture, etc. Burninites work 4 days a week in their specialized field (secondary work pool), and every other week must work one additional day based on the mandatory work pool. Burninites are largely free to decide what specialized work they wish to do, and many try several fields before settling on one they like. The mandatory work pool is viewed as a social responsibility, and most Burninites do not resent the imposition. Each Burninite contributes to an takes from the common, producing a sense of shared ownership and collective consciousness.

The finer details of this post scarcity arrangement are maintained by the government. Burninites have access to all services without exchange or currency, but foreign currency may still flow into Burnination due to tourism or trade. Tourism is allowed -- foreigners may access Burninite goods and services, for which they pay a price in their currency. Prices are set by the Burninite state. Burninite glassworks are well known for their quality worldwide, and international demand for them means that they are exported, also at a price paid in foreign currency. This currency is collected by the government, which uses it to purchase goods and services from foreign countries that are needed to correct any imbalance in Burninite production. (For example, if Burninites tend to eat more grapes than are produced within Burnination, the government may correct this by spending its foreign currency reserves on foreign grapes to import.)

These economic conditions, when combined with advanced technological production methods, result in substantial leisure time and sufficient, though not ostentatious, wealth.

Culture, Religion, and History
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National animal is hooded crow. National symbols are the gear, the crow, and the rose.

Largest religions are monism, totemism, and nonreligious.

Citizenship is by birth to any Burninite permanent resident (citizen or noncitizen), or by birth to any Burninite citizen. Burninites may not hold dual citizenship. (They must give up Burninite citizenship to obtain another citizenship.)

Government and Politics
The Burninite government system has the standard three “branches” -- an administrative/executive “branch,” a decisionmaking or legislative “branch,” and a branch for the resolution of disputes or a judicial “branch.” However, these are not organized in a typical modern way. It also has three main political parties that operate domestically.

Political Parties
The Unity Party ⇒ Seeks to maintain a unified Burninite League, with equal emphasis on the various tribes, as well as a focus on anticorruption efforts and support for the social mores that continue to provide for the good function of society and government.

The Monist Party ⇒ Seeks to expand the influence of the spiritual, with an emphasis on the environment and community at the expense of industry and development.

The Materialist Party ⇒ Seeks to expand the productive capacity of Burnination while protecting Burniniate leisure time by advancing science and industry, even at the expense of social mores, the environment, or spirituality.

All three major political parties support the general arrangement of Burninite government and society, with differences over which aspects of society or culture should prevail. There is no major capitalist faction, although it is alleged by some that the Materialists are favored by foreign capitalists because they are willing to trade more substantially than members of the other two parties.

The Administrative Branch
This is the only branch of government where any Burninite may stand for election and elections are held. This is the case for the National Chair, the lead executive, as well as the Chair of each national department. Unelected administrators, or bureaucrats, have selected that kind of specialized work through the work pool program. There are such public administrators in all the national departments. Suffrage in national elections is given to all Burninites who have achieved the age of 16.

The elected positions are as listed below:

The National Chair, or “Chair,” currently held by Chairwoman Dierdre Skye of the Unity Party.

Responsible for national leadership

The Chair of Foreign Affairs, currently held by Chairman Teh Skew of the Monist Party.

Responsible for foreign affairs

The Chair of Education, currently held by Chairwoman Grace Bagou of the Monist Party.

Responsible for education policy and the administration of local schools

The Chair of Agriculture, currently held by Chairwoman Clara Winters of the Materialist Party.

Responsible for agricultural policy, production, and standards

The Chair of Industry, currently held by Chairman Hatzo Yang of the Materialist Party.

Responsible for industrial production, policy, and standards

The Chair of Environment, currently held by Chairman Kai Wumpoh of the Monist Party

Responsible for the preservation and improvement of the environment

The Chair of the Interior, currently held by Chairwoman Hannah Kronish of the Unity Party.

Responsible for the administration of transportation, tourism, and the development of the urban centers.

The Legislative Branch
Burninites are selected by weighted lot to be a representative in their local council, or soviet, responsible for local ordinances. Each soviet has 10 members, randomly selected, that serve for 2 years. The lot is selected to result in a representative sample of Burninites represented, and each 10-member soviet represents 20,000 Burninites. (There are 350 soviets in Burnination.) All members of the community are eligible once they turn 20 years old.

Each 10-member local soviet selects a member of the represented community to send to the national soviet, responsible for national rulemaking. That selection may or may not be a member of the local soviet as well, but in general local soviets select members from outside their own ranks, preferring to select pillars of the community. As there are 350 soviets, at present, the national soviet is a 350-member body. The national soviet is responsible for national policies and for resolving any disputes that arise between local soviets.

The political parties largely do not operate in the Legislative branch, as selection by lot at the local level precludes effective partisan control.

The Judicial Branch
Burninites are selected by lot to serve as the impartial judge for domestic disputes. 6 Burninites are selected per 20,000 Burninites, along the same lines as the soviet councils, and an election is held among the 6, wherein 3 will become the panel of judges that will serve for 2 years. Like for the legislative branch, eligibility is reserved for all citizens who have attained the age of 20 years.

In recent years, the increasing complexity of technical life has somewhat burdened the judicial selection system, which has sometimes had difficulty producing effective panels capable of handling a wide variety of cases. The national leadership has, however, been hesitant to change the judicial system itself. It has instead opted to provide general instruction in the educational system that will help obviate the problem later.

Military
Burninites are largely peaceful and have very few forces that would be capable of what is commonly thought of as “power projection.” There are domestic militias and the government keeps stores of weapons for training that are maintained by mutual aid groups. The largest militia organization claims 40,000 members across the League.

Besides that, the Administration does retain a very small elite force with little, but very advanced hardware. The armed forces are not broken into branches, but for listing purposes it makes some sense to break them up in the commonly understood way. In total, the armed forces involve about 5000 personnel, including combat and noncombat positions.

The Burninite “navy” consists of: 5 attack submarines designed for stealth and meant to destroy ships with torpedo payload. 1 frigate, mostly for show 20 “Sea King” helicopters capable of carrying substantial payloads and with good sensory equipment, usually used for rescue operations.

The Burninite “standing army” typically consists of 500 soldiers at any given time.