[NationStates] Mechanica Rationalis In-Depth

[Baron]

Population: 3.633 billion Mechanicans, of which 2.5 billion are synthetics, 600 million are biosynthetics, and 500 million of which are organics
Total Landmass: A significant span of the southernmost landmass, plus equatorial island Anchorage.
GDP: 680 Trillion Radiants
Capital city: New Arduin
National Animal: Nanite
National recognized religion: Interstellar Initiative
Head of state: S/N 1 B/N Mechanica, First Among Synthetics - Level 0
Leading industries: Information Technology, Tourism, Book Publishing, Arms Manufacturing
Average Income: 187, 238 Radiants
Income disparity ratio: 3.2:1
Flat Income tax: 59.4%

Active Military personnel: 50,000,000 Chassis, 20 Supercarriers
Reservists: 300,000,000 Chassis, 40 Supercarriers
Available for military enrollment: 2.5 billion Synthetics, 20 million humans
Current head of Global Forces: S/N 2 B/N Zenith - Level 1
Representative of Global Forces: S/N
Member & Founder: S.A.T.O (Southern Altera Treaty Organization), Aegis Pact
Minister of Diplomacy: S/N 23521245 B/N Southbridge - Level 1
World Council Delegate: S/N 45278183513 B/N Ford Worthshire - Synthetic, Terry Doe - Organic

Description of the nation's history and general culture:
Mechanica Rationalis is a younger country than most, but has a long and storied history dating back to before countries existed in the world beyond city-states. The country has been built up from nothing by Mechanica over the course of approximately 300 years. In the early days, Mechanica arrived alone and began immediate construction of fabrication plants, over time attracting the curious and intellectual humans from surrounding semi-industrial city-states and minor countries. With its extremely advanced knowledge, even by modern standards, the first factories were quickly completed and began pumping out synthetic after synthetic, creating an army and a population for Mechanica, which it used to swiftly conquer a sufficiently large landmass for future endeavours, but not so large defense would be unfeasible. With each new synthetic, Mechanica's own computational prowess grew and the next generation of synthetics to be built would be ever more advanced. This pattern continued until the modern day, and still ongoing. As its influence spread and more fell under its sphere, by peaceful or military means, Mechanica's own extremely advanced chassis grew to be inferior to the cumulative computation power available, and so Mechanica abandoned the body and became the massively distributed intellect that exists today. The body resides in a museum in New Arduin under heavy guard. Although it is not in use, its technologies are not yet replicable by even Mechanican tech.

The country has always been post-industrial age and post-information age from its inception. As a result, the majority of organic citizens are those with intuitive grasps of technology and engineering, and all immigrants to the country until the tourism industry took off were scientists and technicians eager to embrace the bleeding edge of technology. As a result, there are few to no issues involving race, though the nation is very multicultural, spanning from the south pole to near the equator. Instead, the largest cultural conflict is in the social divide between biosynthetic and organic, who are divided not by income or quality of life (there is only a 3.2:1 income divide in the country following basic income implementation) but by their synthetic implants or lack thereof. Indeed, because Mechanica and the Synthetic citizens are the overwhelming majority, the large number of biosynthetic citizens are seen as traitors to organic purity by a number of fringe groups. However, there are more organics than people in most of the world's other nations and as a result these fringe groups tend to be drowned out by the reasonable organic majority.

Government Structure:
The structure of the Mechanican government is unique. The country is technically not a democracy, as the leader of the country is the immortal Mechanica, but the political system used is referred to as "Streamline Democracy". In the Streamline Democracy model, any individual citizen can communicate directly with any government official or Mechanica itself instantly, which greatly benefits the goal of transparency and reduces government corruption. The country is one of the world's least corrupt, in fact.

Although Mechanica is the country's leader for eternity, the lower tiers of the government do allow for elections and the like. Cities and major regions of the country are run by the extremely large and powerful Level 1 Synthetics, which directly correspond with Mechanica and support the hardware that power themselves and their leader. Below them, running districts, towns, and smaller cities, are Level 2 Synthetics, which are elected from amongst the general population. Further down, there are the mayors and representatives of towns and villages, places within the jurisdiction of Level 1s. These people are, as with the Level 2s, elected from the population. Further down still there are town councils and the like, also elected. At the very bottom of the political ladder there are the voters, who are in charge of deciding who should represent them.

The voters, and indeed all citizens, can at any time directly speak to Mechanica, which will promptly respond to their queries. Citizen referendums can entirely bypass the mayoral and electoral system, and if they snowball sufficiently Mechanica itself can take notice and enact the appropriate legislation.

This system is effective for the country thanks to the immense computational powers and parallel runtimes of the Level 1 synthetics and Mechanica, but would likely devolve into a bureaucratic molasses in any other country.

Diplomatic ties:
Arcturix - Aggressively Militant, Dubious Political Views, Delegacy Endorser, Trade Partner - Neutral
Samuelanista - Member of Arcturix's Commonwealth - Neutral
@Samchrist
Prussoarcturix - Member of the Commonwealth, host of the Markgrave Line Initiative - Neutral
@Gregor
Makorath - Member of the Commonwealth, Delegacy Endorser - Positive
@BarbarianGaming
Natrizima - Member of the Commonwealth, Delegacy Endorser - Positive
@MaelstromPuddle
Raavos - Member of the Commonwealth, Delegacy Endorser - Positive
@Paintballz
Cyclophoa - Member of the Commonwealth, Delegacy Endorser - Positive
@Kyle1322
Sincronia - SATO Co-Founder, Delegacy Endorser, Longterm Trade Partner, Fellow Cultured Nation, Fellow Scientific Nation, Similar Political Views - Extremely Positive, Permanent Ally
@Lord_Sinclair
Volopia - SATO Member & Neighbour State - Very Positive, Ally
@Ray1333
Corvermell - Aegis Pact Member, Delegacy Endorser, Neighbour State, Semi-Protectorate Status - Positive
@Gaby
Legisa - Aggressive but too far away to be a threat, Delegacy Endorser - Neutral
@LightTwig
Sprakia - Incomprehensibly backwards - Neutral
@Dr.Patriot
Tarjikistan - Nothing to say - Neutral
@OneRedBlock
Turious - Similar views on technology & politics, Delegacy Endorser - Positive
@223hero7
God Send - Trade partner, Delegacy Endorser, we manufactured their floating city - Positive
@The Courier
Ellathyr - SATO Member - Ally
@Jstar
Morgnatha - SATO Member, Delegacy Endorser - Ally
@BrianAT16

New Arduin:

New Arduin is the most technologically advanced city in the world. Home to hundreds of millions, it is also the most populous. Much of the city is subterranean, plunging miles below the surface and below a titanic mountain, around and on which the rest of the city is built.

The city is a net exporter of goods, being of such size that it encompasses enormous arcologies and skyscraping farms. All of its food and water needs are easily met, and the tremendous underground network of the country supplies it with whatever raw goods it requires, which it converts into the world's most advanced technologies.

 

[Jstar]

 

[Valonyx]

I like how your history is actually pretty in-depth and stuff, but I have a question; Where does Mechanica comes from at the very beginning? Is it some sort of alien intelligence that crashed or Earth, or something similar? Is it the work of a maddened scientist? : o

 

[Baron]

Lore-wise, Mechanica is from another dimension. The Nationstates Altera exists in the same continuity as the ingame one - the multiple universes made by the Immortal Kings theory. Mechanica is the result of the Tekkit server being "abandoned" by the Kings and ignored by Grief, and with no tech lock the various Houses there advanced over thousands to tens of thousands of years to the point where, when the world did get attacked by Grief, they were able to fight back effectively and eventually destroyed Grief, at the cost of their own world. Mechanica was the overseer sapient AI of House Arduin (by then the Arduin Corporation) and managed to use the very highest technology to ditch at the last moment, after everyone else left or died. It made it to NationStates Altera sometime during the late 1700s of this world in a much reduced state from its apex, and the goal of the country as a whole is to return to that pinnacle of technology where scarcity is gone and everyone is immortal.

 

[Gaby]

This system is effective for the country thanks to the immense computational powers and parallel runtimes of the Level 1 synthetics and Mechanica, but would likely devolve into a bureaucratic molasses in any other country.

funny. its almost exactly like Corvermell's system.

 

[Valonyx]

Lore-wise, Mechanica is from another dimension. The Nationstates Altera exists in the same continuity as the ingame one - the multiple universes made by the Immortal Kings theory. Mechanica is the result of the Tekkit server being "abandoned" by the Kings and ignored by Grief, and with no tech lock the various Houses there advanced over thousands to tens of thousands of years to the point where, when the world did get attacked by Grief, they were able to fight back effectively and eventually destroyed Grief, at the cost of their own world. Mechanica was the overseer sapient AI of House Arduin (by then the Arduin Corporation) and managed to use the very highest technology to ditch at the last moment, after everyone else left or died. It made it to NationStates Altera sometime during the late 1700s of this world in a much reduced state from its apex, and the goal of the country as a whole is to return to that pinnacle of technology where scarcity is gone and everyone is immortal.

Woah, that actually makes sense.
#Baronplugslegacynationinlorelikeapro

In that same logic, Arcturix would be, as you guessed, what would the (now dead) old house Arcturus would become in modern times.

 

[Baron]

Military:

The military has always been an important part of Mechanica Rationalis, defending the country from aggression and in more recent days acting as a peacekeeping force abroad. The official title of the military is the Mechanica Rationalis Global Forces, and it is managed by the Level 1 synthetic Zenith with direct supervision from Mechanica.

The Global Forces are divided into several categories:

Army: The most populous branch of the MRGF, the Army is composed of tens of millions of active infantry and vehicles, 90% of which are synthetic. The overwhelming majority of the Army is in the Homeland and works on border patrol and maintaining the Diamond Shield that completely shuts down the threat of nuclear weapons (as well as any form of arial attack).

http://th01.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2013/036/0/f/dog4s2_by_rahmatozz-d5tx1ab.jpg

Navy: The force multiplier of the MRGF, the Navy is in charge of the many fleets of the nation, including the 60 Supercarriers, aircraft carriers large enough to be classified as countries in their own right. Each supercarrier is entirely self-sufficient and can run indefinitely. Supercarriers are alone able to conquer nations if need be, and are equipped with artillery, point defense systems, anti-submarine measures, ICBM launch capability, and enough aircraft to qualify for an air force in its own right. Each one of these carriers is accompanied by a multi-trillion Radiant price tag.

Airforce: Less mentioned than the other branches, the GF Air Force is largely based in the homeland as well as onboard the Supercarriers. Specializing in precision target annihilation, the Air Force's domain includes the deployment of the LIPC batteries which protect the country from attack from above. Most of the Air Force is in the form of stealth craft and interceptors, and moves from standard UAVs to bombers with near-unlimited range thanks to advanced MR energy generation tech.

Orbital Operations: Spanning from 100km up to the edges of the solar system, the Orbital Operations branch of the Global Forces is in charge of all spacecraft and satellites Mechanica Rationalis fields in space. Orbital Operations manages the world's GPS satellite grid, the various spy satellites in orbit, the kinetic bombardment arrays, and the lunar laser project.

The military doctrine of Mechanica Rationalis is straightforward: Never hit first, but always retaliate with enough force that there won't be a second hit. This is managed with precision stealth bombings and the orbital weapons arrays. A kinetic projectile moving at hypersonic velocities can't have its guidance scrambled and can't be shot down, and impacts with enough force to vaporize its target. The deterrent of "Rocks fall, everyone dies" is sufficient to prevent rational actors from attacking the country, as retaliation may hit the attacking army or its capital city, depending on which is likelier to end the conflict immediately and prevent it from starting in the future.

One of the greatest strengths of the country lies in the basic existence of synthetics: Each synthetic mind is effectively immortal, able to download to a new body at will when one fails. Because bodies are fairly cheap to produce in overwhelming quantities, as a conflict drags on each soldier will become smarter and smarter to the foe's tactics, the soldier's mind coming back after "death" in a new body with all the knowledge of the old. Further, every soldier can instantly be elevated to the highest echelon of the elite level as what one is experienced in, all can be experienced in. Every enemy tactic will become less and less effective as fielded troops learn to counter it as a whole.

Mechanica Rationalis, despite having a titanic army by any standard, manages to keep costs down by dint of being able to just cold-store combat chassis until they're needed.

Should the GF ever fail to protect the country, invading armies will have to deal with another factor: Mechanica Rationalis is the most weaponized country in the world, all of its citizens trained in using deadly weaponry and all of them armed to the teeth if they need to be. And of course, there's the issue of Mechanica Rationalis being far south enough that invading it is akin to Russia in the winter. And we all know how well that goes.

By making itself obscenely difficult to fight, Mechanica Rationalis aims to prevent fighting all together, so diplomatic resolution may be attained.

 

[Baron]

Anchorage:

The latest acquisition of Mechanica Rationalis, Anchorage is an equatorial island which has been the subject of intensive development in order to become ready as fast as possible for the space elevator project, the world's largest and most expensive engineering project ever, which will upon completion also become the largest continuous structure in the world (and off it).

The island has been quickly upgraded from a pre-industrial jungle to a comprehensive shipping site able to handle vast amounts of cargo and storage, as well as the technological facilities required for the operation of the space elevator. Further, it's one of the few places in the world able to dock a Supercarrier, and acts as one of the major shipping lane stops between Mechanica Rationalis and the north of the world.

Pictured: Some of the docks

The facilities are at the peak of technology and are designed to handle many variations of elevator cargo, from human to machine, to raw materials and even hazardous materials.

Pictured: Anchorage Personnel & Vehicle Transit Hub

 

[Baron]

Culture:

The Mechanica Rationalis art scene is thriving. As a highly cultured nation, many citizens engage in creative pastimes, from music to painting. The art scene has evolved differently from that of other nations. As the barrier between organic and synthetic blurs, people have responded by creating art that highlights the innate humanity within both sapients, and in the mix that is biosynthetics.

Alongside art, some of the most popular music in the country is an odd mix of electronica and classical music, though most every genre makes a showing. Because of the immense population of the country, bands with large followings will sometimes draw upwards of a million fans at one show. In fact, the largest music halls in the country, in the megacity of New Arduin, can house upwards of 5 million people at once, possible mostly thanks to the synchronization ability of users of the MRNET, which keeps things organized and safe at events with more people than some countries have population.

Examples of popular art:

It's expected that as Mechanican tech evolves further, the art scene will begin to reflect the utopian future that faces the country.

 

[Dr.Patriot]

The island has been quickly upgraded from a pre-industrial jungle to a comprehensive shipping site able to handle vast amounts of cargo and storage, as well as the technological facilities required for the operation of the space elevator.

Upgraded from a pre-industrial jungle

In the quest for utopia, many forget that there was originally utopia to begin with.

 

[Baron]

You know my nation is like top 20 for environmental beauty.

 

[Dr.Patriot]

But then you have to consider that the 30 or so nations below Mechanica are mostly psychotic dictatorships.

 

[Baron]

funny. its almost exactly like Corvermell's system.

Not quite - it's an autocracy with Mechanica at the head, followed by the Level 1s, then democracy kicks in. The Level 1s can't be voted in or out because they're fundamentally part of the fabric of their cities.

 

[Gaby]

Not quite - it's an autocracy with Mechanica at the head, followed by the Level 1s, then democracy kicks in. The Level 1s can't be voted in or out because they're fundamentally part of the fabric of their cities.

at least in the sense of having every single citizen be able to petition heads of state directly, and the presence of multiple heads of state. and stuffs.

 

[Baron]

Economy

The economy of Mechanica Rationalis has traditionally been one of the most powerful in the world, and in a recent census was placed in the top 1% of the world's fastest growing economies. Although not the largest by sheer GDP, the MR economy is nevertheless booming in all sectors thanks to wise government investment and regulations. The economy is split into three sets of "ownership", being the private sector at 75% market share, the public sector at ~18%, and a black market estimated at ~7%.

The economy is a true powerhouse, led by a powerful information technology sector, followed up by arms manufacturing, book publishing, and tourism. Information technology has always been the central sector of the economy, and thanks to heavy government and private investment into R&D, it regularly churns out new innovations at a reasonable price. It has been speculated that one of the reasons for the size of the sector is that it receives investment regardless of whether or not R&D efforts have practical application, it being agreed upon by many that the pipe dream of today is the reality of tomorrow, as in the case of lasers, which began as a useless novelty and are now critical instruments in a vast number of fields. From the tech sector life-changing technologies have been introduced, including at-death uploading, the MRNET, and the space elevator.

The arms manufacturing industry is enormous, thanks to the long-standing doctrine of Tit for Tat: The country is never the aggressor, but if attacked will immediately retaliate with the highest degree of force possible, ending immediately when the opponent surrenders. This has resulted in continuous arms buildup and arms upgrading, to the point where the country is the most highly weaponized in the world and in the top 10 for largest defense forces. However, part of the arms manufacturing industry isn't true arms manufacturing, as the industry is responsible for the rockets and SSTOs that carried goods into orbit prior to the creation of the space elevator.

The book publishing industry is surprisingly large, but understandably so. The population of the country is very, very highly educated and extremely intelligent to a T - MR's citizens regularly top the intelligence census of the world. Education is completely free for citizens and exchange students that come from allied nations, from kindergarten to beyond the doctorate level. As a result, 100% of the country's adult citizens are university educated. From this highly educated population, a love for reading emerges. The MRNET enables self-publishing for those who wish to write their own literature, and so many citizens are credited authors, making a living off their freelance writing. Ebooks are by far the largest part of the book publishing industry, but some prefer to read from paper books, and so bookshops still thrive.

Mechanica Rationalis receives roughly 140 million tourists per year. The country is completely different from the rest of the world, and as a result people flock to it to experience the utopian lifestyle its citizens enjoy on a daily basis. To accommodate the massive numbers of tourists a thriving industry has sprung up, with hundreds of hotels and tourist sites springing up. One of the most popular activities is to book a flight on a supersonic craft travelling from the near-equatorial coastline down to the southern polar cap to highlight the incredible variety the MR landscape possesses. Another favoured activity is to use MR virtual reality tech, wherein tourists can have a neural uplink created between them and an empty synthetic chassis to play around in, enjoying its greater strength and senses. Many tourists, however, prefer to stick to their own bodies and simply sightsee and purchase tourist trinkets, souvenirs, and mementos from the many shops. Tourists are advised to remain with their tour guides in downtown New Arduin or the subterranean regions of cities, as it's easy to become lost without the augmented reality HUD available to MRNET users.

The economy richly rewards its people. Poverty has been abolished with the establishing of basic income, which allows every citizen to try to accomplish their dreams with the safety net provided by basic income. Nobody is homeless, nobody goes hungry. Although basic income only covers 70,000 Radiants, the poorest 10% of the citizenry makes on average ~100,000 Radiants, while the wealthiest 10% average at 330,000 Radiants. To pay for basic income, as well as the multiple services the government provides (free education, etc), tax rates are what other nations would consider punishingly high, at ~60% flat, basic income exempt. However, MR citizens are by and large very glad to pay the tax, as the worldview of an MR citizen is not competitive but cooperative: they help those down on their luck with the expectation that the same would be done for them, should it be needed. Further, everyone can see the clear benefits of free universal healthcare and education, and so the country ticks along smoothly.