And don't mistake Madrocea and Tarligean's bickering for drama. They are more like an old married couple. Their rivalry is as ancient as Olympus, yet they never go to war. They even share the same base currency (the Atlantean Drachma). Taergeni (or Tarks as the Madroceans love to call them) store their money in Madrocea while Madroceans vacation in Tarligean. They may have some intrigues, but these largely exist to train each others' secret agents. They are inextricably linked, and yet an outsider would see them as bitter enemies.
Yawn!!! It was SOOOO nice to sleep in everyday. Oh well, I'm back and it appears that I missed the annual migration as well as politics heating up in Madrocea.
Today's ranking is for the smartest. I am happy to say that all the Usual Suspects are in the top Eleven. Yep, I am the lowest in the list; but Madrocea is way up at third (guess the garlic and rebellion improve intelligence!) Congrats to Romnia on having the highest IQ in all Atlantis!
Someone pass the rum down here to ElinTol and I, Thanks!
Big News! Primal Current returned while I was away. Welcome back!
Today we have Most Cultured
Four of the US are in the Top Eight, with ElinTol in the Top spot! ~~Guess the mandatory Deportment classes have REALLY paid off! "Congratulations", Bettisia says with a low curtsy.
However, PC and Onyx thought they were asking about cultured yogurt, and both refused. They are warming the bottom top positions on this list.
Pass the Terran Vodka AND the Atlantean Rum- it looks to be a Monday on a Tuesday!
Cold Wet Rainy Wednesday here, hope the weather is nicer where you are! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDRbF80NKDU
The Lowest Overall Tax Burden ranking has the Usual Suspects ALL spread out. We are on every page! True Kudos to Madrocea for taking the number One spot. Lemmingtopias has some work to do- he has the silver position for the highest tax burden.
[ooc: The tax burden thing is such {expletive deleted} rubbish. Until this site sorts out the problem with every option selected raising tax levels even if it literally said one option would make taxes go down, not to mention the assumption that everything short of radical corporate options causing them to go up, this marker is meaningless. /ooc rant]
*OOC* Yeah, like how a hypermodern nation from a timeline where Atlantis never sank, with a booming economy, cloning, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence and a National Health Plan that universalizes healthcare that I've approved funding for multiple times since passing, can't seem to get an average lifespan over 40 years because... reasons. And how nations regularly have 20, even 30 billion citizens despite the fact that the planet Earth only houses short of eight billion people, NS gets a lot of crap wrong with these metrics */OOC*
Bettisia
Bettisia
Wow! Believe it or not my life span started increasing when I stopped caring for my people. Granted I bounce around like everything, but (at the moment) my folks live to be about 59 and then fall out with heart disease. :)
Commerce Party propaganda! And besides, Tarligean and Madrocea were actually at war as recently as World War II, where we stood with the Allies, and the old Supreme Corporate Empire of Madrocea played for the losing team.
And during World War II the current government's founder was a little boy living with the Royal-Family-In-Exile in your country while a cult controlled the capital. So... we cannot exactly be blamed for the actions of an illegitimate regime, as most of the people in power now had a part in or are associated with having a part in tearing that government down.
All the while the merchant class and the plutocrats that empowered the SCE still control half your districts through the Commerce Party of Madrocea. The CPM minority is large enough to obstruct a good 80% of the reforms you try to push through as your own party rarely votes unanimously on any issue that might result in a tax hike, and the other 20% that makes it always includes some sort of concession to the corporate world.
Bettisia, Madrosha, and Primal current
United corporate bank of kanaid
What really clinches it for us in the elections next year is that it's far more likely that even if we cannot remove President Trajan, we are expected by independent polling research groups to win a good 16 more districts in Assembly than the DPM next go around. And that's good for the pocketbooks of the Madrocean people. Economic freedom and personal liberty go hand-in-hand. We will keep those taxes low.
Ok so here's a stupid one. The background says "fake nudes of you proliferate the internet, people tell you to be mad and censor that" and so let's say you choose "Keep photomanipulation legal because free speech" -- it causes you to take a penalty to Civil Rights, all the while raising Social Conservativism and Compliance. Like, huh??
The issues in this game need a HUGE audit and re-balancing. */OOC*
Bettisia and Primal current
Bettisia
Gulp! There is not much a 'rational' person can say to defend THAT!!! I wish you could go back and review the entire issue and options after you've chosen. That way you could find the 'ringer' or 'poison pill' that they included in the option.
Why that would be- Madrocea!!! (Wild Clapping commences) followed by ElinTol! (Hoots are added to the claps- some of the hoots have an Igrian lisp) And finally Bettisia. (Silence- followed by whispers of 'who is THAT again?') :)
Yes, the US took the podium today. Onyx and PC are solidly representing on page three. While Lemming is lonely on page four.
Please remember: if you want to join the Usual Suspects- simply be active post or like things in the forums! It is easier than you think!
Cold! It should be outlawed to have to get up early if there is frost on the ground- and no snow! Of course we close everything if there is snow- it is such a RARE occurrence!
Today we rank the most WA endorsements. I have no clue how they rank folks who are not a WA member- tied for last? You go higher if you have a bigger population? You are higher if you've ever been a member in the past? I REALLY wish they'd explain their criteria sometimes.
Anyway: the three US with endorsements are all in the top five. Everyone else- not so much! :)
Oh that's just garbage and you know it. The word we always hear anywhere north of the Alvanea River (and even in Little Namakiera in South Cardalia, to be honest) is "gah'raen" which essentially means "non-person." A universal epithet for any foreigner, but especially Madroceans.
Or those signs that say things like, "ξένος ανεπιθύμητος" written under "gah'raen ulka" in Atriune and "foreigners keep out" in English in those neighborhoods the tour guides instruct us to avoid. Usually adorned with green and white starry flags and tree paintings and old regalia from the High Kingdom. Tarligean has its share of xenophobes and supremacists. Which is sad, because those neighborhoods are where you find the authentic kri'ayolas kitchens, not the fast food ones and the greasy fry carts you find in the tourist rows of Namakiera and Tola'nae.
Here in Madrocea you might get some snide remarks about being a "smug Tark" but they won't tell you to go eat, drink, or buy elsewhere. Your drachmae spend the same.
Some neighborhoods prefer the quiet of their own local community to hordes of Madrocean tourists on drugs, blasting dubstep at 3:AM. A couple of "smug Tarks" here and there, driving their hybrid cars and riding bicycles are nowhere near as disruptive as a Madrocean flash mob. And the fact that we have to double our police budget during playoffs to keep your football hooligans on vacation under control. I cannot blame some communities for wanting to opt out of the Tourism trade.
Bettisia
The grand puppetmaster
You will dance for me Or you will know my terror More bombs shall explode
The Assembly and Demos of Madrocea
The Endless Waddling of Ducks Looking For Grapes
The Fiefdom of ElinTol
The Concordant Communities of Tarligean
The Spacefairing Federation of The Onyx Front
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