Everchill
Overview[edit]
Everchill, as the name suggest, is a cold world sparsely inhabited by humans. It's run by the People's Republic of Everchill, who's closed it off from the rest of the Mirrorsky. It is Elias' and Elena's homeworld, where they grew up and spent their youth.
History[edit]
According to the government approved educational material, Everchill is the cradle of humankind, where humanity was born, grew up and reached the pinnacle of society, which democratic institution lead by humanity's finest, elected through a delicate voting process to maximize equality. The truth though, is bit harder to know because of the historical purge of year three Republic Calendar. It's very likely though that Everchill started as a colony, probably through accidental Nhihn gate migration. Before the People's Republic, Everchill was probably Feudalistic and containing several smaller countries. This changed with the people's revolution, when several simultaneous peasant uprisings through the different nations lead to the creation of the People's Republic of Everchill (this period of time is today known as the Era of Unshacklement according to textbooks). The details of how the super state was created though has been lost in the turmoil of revolution.
Today the year is year 77 Republic Calendar, meaning 67 years has passed since a formal government was formed. Life still isn't any better to the peasants than it was pre-republic era, but they don't know that anyway, since all official pre-republic information has been routinely purged, and the old revolution generation is dying off. Only rumors, myths and government propaganda remain of the old Everchill.
Nature[edit]
As the name strongly hints, Everchill is cold, and very much so. Most of the year the whole world is buried by snow, and winters are long, followed by a brief spring before a "summer" that only lasts for about a month at best. Only the equatorial line is populated by something larger than bacteria, and even then, population is sparse. Because of this harsh environment, the things that actually live there has to be tough to survive. The native species of Everchill are freaks of nature that lives in the harshest environments imaginable and sometimes even thrives there, but there are also migrated species, animals that has come from other worlds and have now adapted to Everchill, usually by becoming bigger and meaner. Ever seen a polar bear? Well, Everchillian Polar Bears are twice the size of that.
Most of the wildlife in Everchill lives off eating something smaller than themselves, but this precious ecological cycle still wouldn't be possible without the extremely tough plant life that exists at the equatorial circle. Everchillian plants are especially adapted for their environment, and are able to sustain themselves even though the ground is frozen. These plants, although tough against weather, don't fare well against concurrence, and attempting to raise them outside of Everchill is bound to fail. Everchill's primary agricultural crop is Snow Wheat.
People[edit]
Everchill's society is largely dominated by class, and you can easily divide people in nobility and peasants. The majority of people are poor and earn a living as workers in the Everchill industry or as farmers in a collective farm, but there's a select few in the minority belonging to the old blue bloods from Everchill's feudalistic past that still own the huge land areas and important industries. Officially though, there exist no such thing as nobility in Everchill, as this is a democratic society freed from old feudalistic yoke of nobility. Finally, there's middle class that isn't much larger than the high class and mostly consists of important non-nobility government officials, and poor nobles.
Most Everchill cities got large slums where the poorest in society live. Living space here is cramped, and if anyone actually got a job, it's usually dangerous and with a low salary. The slums is the place where society's most unruly elements are collect. If you're looking for a place to find dissenters and criminals and black markets, this is where you should start. Elias spent his pre-teens in one of these slums, before Luthor Snark landed a government job in the R&D branch.
Finally, the Getefuawei Mountains south west of the Capital City is inhabited by Rebels fighting a Guerrilla warfare against the government to stay independent. Once in a while the Everchill Republic Army tries to root them out, but the Rebels know their home territory like the back of their own hands, and so far all attempts have been futile and ended with more losses for the government forces than the Rebels. In turn, the Rebels have never tried to move out of the Getefuawei Mountains to bring the fight to the People's Republic of Everchill. This is because the Rebel faction consist of many different clans that lived in the mountains for countless of generations, and to them this is just a fight to protect their homeland and way of life against would-be oppressors. The Clans usually sustain themselves through herding and trade, and their most prominent animal is the noble Everchillian Goat (hence; Goat Herders), but this depends on the clan. All of the clans are deeply steeped in their traditions, and they revere nature in way that at least Tyroth would be able to relate to. For a long time it's been a mystery to government officials how the Rebels get hold of more advanced weaponry than the common Everchill Republic Army, but the explanation, as Elias found out, is that the Rebels are aware of the Nhihn gate hidden inside their mountain range and use it to trade with outside worlds. This trade tends to be a bit haphazard though, resulting in highly individual equipment, a fact made even more obvious from their tradition to decorate their individual weapons. The Rebels are very protective of their homeland and aren't keen on people that don't belong there.
Society[edit]
The People's Republic of Everchill (with a few exceptions)control all of Everchill with an iron fist. To do this, the Government uses every trick in the book to keep its stranglehold of the masses. From birth, the average citizen in Everchill will be bombarded by government propaganda about the how good it is to live in the People's Republic in Everchill. Everything, from the simplest informational pamphlet to school textbooks are subjected to government censoring before they are released, and public opinion is kept in check by quickly removing any problem subjects before they are able to voice their opinions.
Civilization in Everchill is built around the equatorial line, the only place in Everchill "warm" enough to sustain human civilization. There are several cities spread across the line, with the biggest being the Capital City, which obviously is the capital of Everchill. It probably had a "real" name before the revolution, but it is now pretty much forgotten. This is the city where you'll find the bombed out senate building and the Presidental Palace, and around the city you'll find the manors of the most important of Everchill high society. This is also the city where Elias grew up.
The law is swift and swift in Everchill. Common punishments are forced draft into the army (minor offenses), forced labor at penal colonies (intermediate offenses) and execution on the court backyard, see you in ten minutes, I just have to get my gun first (major offenses). The People's republic of Everchill are proud to say that the government judicial system got a hundred percent success rate in convicting criminals. Note though that in the eight decades of Republic history, no nobility has ever been convicted.
Government[edit]
The People's Republic of Everchill is a modern nation with a democratic government where the people elect their leaders to democratic election. Two-hundred people will become senators and take their place in the senate, whose main purpose is to vote on which laws should govern Everchill. Laws are suggested by the members of the cabinet, who are hand picked by the President. Everchill's current president is Fuhrer Empress Niko III (the title of Fuhrer means she's also commander-in-chief of the Everchill Republic Army). The President in Everchill is elected for life, the cabinet members are discharged according to the whim of the president and a reelections for the senate is held every ten years. All you need to do to participate in these elections is to be a part of the People's Republic of Everchill Democratic Party. In the case of the passing of a senator, he or she is not replaced, as this would be undemocratic. Instead the President will take over their voting duties. Since the latest terrorist attack on the Senate three years ago that was done by Mountain Rebels dressed up as army soldiers, three senators are still alive. So yeah.
If we go back to reality to a while though, it's obvious that it's actually the members of the cabinet that rule Everchill. Besides having the suggesting laws to the nonexistent (but very democratic) senate, they also have the "responsibility" of carrying out these laws. Each member of the cabinet is free to hand pick his officials, who are often relatives or other favored lesser nobles, and its common knowledge that President Fuhrer Empress Niko III is just a puppet of the cabinet who haven't opposed single suggestion put forwards during her forty years as President. The current cabinet portfolios are:
- The Ministry of Internal Affairs: The current Minister of Internal Affairs is Count Chichelnitsky. Internal Affairs main task are internal security, which to most people means the same as Everchill Secret Police (or E.S.P for short).
- The Ministry of Economics: Current minister is Count Platov. Strangely, everyone who works for this Ministry is filthy rich.
- The Ministry of External Affairs: Current minister is General-Poruchik Tchechenko. The Ministry of External Affairs handle all contact outside of the People's Republic of Everchill, so it doubles as the Ministry of Defense. Or was that Offense?
- The Ministry of Law: Current minister is Count Gubin. This ministry oversees the judicial system and penal colonies all around Everchill.
- The Ministry of Education: Thee odd jobs portfolio. Currently headed by Ivan Endronikashvili, Count Endronikashvili's oldest son after the count himself stepped down one year ago. The Ministry of Education oversees Public Relations, Schools, Research&Development and other government tasks that doesn't warrant a portfolio of their own. Because of this, it's the largest and most diverse ministry.
There is though a constant power struggle going on between the different Ministries, which results in Ministries often partaking in tasks outside their border of influence. For instance, every Ministery got their own "secret" intelligence service that's mostly busy with keeping tabs on what the other "secret" intelligence services are doing.
Military[edit]
Everchill military consists of two arms. One arm is the conventional forces, the Everchill Republic Army and Navy. The other arm is the Armor Forces.
The conventional forces is made up out of conscripts with the exception of the high command, who is exclusively made out of nobles. They have been poorly armed with outdated weaponry on purpose though, as to not become a threat to government in case of revolt. Most are foot soldiers armed with a simple bolter rifles, and their artillery pieces are designed to be unable to penetrate through the heavy plates of an Armor. The Navy is only slightly more advanced.
The Armor Forces is another story altogether. Created thanks to the scientific genius of Luthor Snark, the Armor Forces acts as a sort of failsafe in case the conventional army goes rogue. All pilots chosen from the children of nobility ajd other individuals that has very little to gain with a coup d'état and are then educated not only to become proficient in using the powerful killing machines in Everchill, but also to become extremely loyal to the state. Each Armor weilds enough firepower to wipe out a whole battalion with ease, and if the time ever comes, government military expert are confident that the Armor Forces will be enough to stop any and all open revolutions against the state.
So far this has system has worked almost perfectly, with only a single incident to blemish the project's success...
Resistance[edit]
There are many resistance groups opposing the People's Republic of Everchill, but the exception of the Rebels in Getefuawei Mountains (who are very passive in their resistance), they are all scattered. Most cities got a several resistance groups (there are probably hundreds of them in the Capital City alone), but they are usually small and powerless. Most are nothing more than secret clubs for dissatisfied citizens to get together and complain in, but some are actually more criminal networks than resistance groups, responsible for everything from Black Markets to illegal arms trade. So far the most any of these "Resistance Groups" have managed is to overwork the Ministry of Interior's intelligence service.
