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THE REST OF THE WORLD
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THE REST OF THE WORLD |
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The World in 1996 | The New Commonwealth | The Octuple Alliance This page is divided into the following sections:
Click on the section names to return to the top of the page. SWITZERLANDA small nation, formally unified in 1872 against the new Holy Roman Empire. Switzerland is a small, relatively poor and relatively isolationist nation, wary of all of its neighbours. The only exception to this is the Swiss banking system, which has particularly strong, and discrete, links to the French government, but also to other governments in Europe. The basic unit of Swiss currency is the Franco. This relates to other units of currency as follows: 1 Franco is 20 Soldi or 240 Denari. THE REPUBLIC OF GREECEA nation that seceded from the Ottoman Empire during the Bosporus War of the 1860s, and which has strongly defended its freedom since then. The Republic of Greece is rather smaller than Greece in the real world, and is governed by a democratically-elected Council whose structure and rules reflect those of the ancient Greek democracy of Athens. The members of the Council are largely split between the nationalist Party of National Strength, who have rebuilt Greek national identity since independence, and the Unification Party, who wish to formally merge Greece with the Holy Roman Empire for the good of the nation. Conflicts between these two parties have caused civil unrest and the rise of party-based militias at various points during the history of the Republic. Greece is nominally neutral, and has alliances of self-protection with most of the European powers. However, given its small size and limited strength in reality it is very much a satellite of the Holy Roman Empire. Because of its position Greece is a crossroads of espionage between all of the European powers, particularly those with a presence in Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean. The basic unit of Greek currency is the Phoenix. This relates to other units of currency as follows: 1 Phoenix is 100 Lepta. CHINAChina is large, and still independent, but quite weak. It is still ruled by the Manchu Dynasty. There have been no Opium Wars, but China was nonetheless forced to open up to trade with the west by Dutch subterfuge and war-mongering in the 1790s which, when it was discovered, almost brought down the Manchu Dynasty. China has fought a number of wars with the Russians, and has alliances with the Netherlands and France, and even with the New Commonwealth, as bulwarks against Russia. It has quite a lot of coastal defences against possible aggression from the New Commonwealth in Chipangu [Japan], although these are rather less developed than those along the coasts of Europe. The Portuguese have a colony in Macau, while the Dutch have taken control of Formosa from China for strategic and trading purposes. The basic unit of Chinese currency is the Tael, which can be silver or paper. This relates to other units of currency as follows: 1 Tael is 10 Mace/Ch'ien or 100 Candareen/Fen or 1000 Li. KOREAKorea is a satellite state of China, but also has quite a lot of contact with Russia. Like China it has some reasonably well-developed coastal defences. The basic unit of Korean currency is the Won. This relates to other units of currency as follows: 1 Won is 5 Yang or 100 Poon or 500 Fun or 1000 Mun. THE CALIPHATE OF DARFUROne of only four Muslim nations in the world, the Caliphate of Darfur is also the youngest nation in the world. It was carved out of the Ottoman Empire in 1974 by the Mahdi, a fanatical fundamentalist Muslim cleric with a strong reformist streak. He is the most successful of many such fundamentalist clerics who have, from time to time, surfaced in the Ottoman Empire and other Muslim areas of the world. Since the formation of the Caliphate of Darfur the Mahdiyah (Mahdist regime) there has imposed traditional Islamic laws, and now runs the country very much as a fundamentalist Islamic military camp. Sharia courts enforce Islamic law and the Mahdi's commands. Books of law and theology have been burned because of their association with the old regime, and because of the Mahdi's belief that they accentuate tribalism at the expense of religious unity. The nations and colonies surrounding the Caliphate of Darfur are willing to let all of this continue as long as the Mahdi does not attempt to expand the Caliphate beyond its current borders, and the Mahdi seems to be aware of this. However, despite this understanding, people and governments worry about the Mahdi's plans for the future. The basic unit of currency in the Caliphate is the Dirham, introduced since the founding of the Caliphate. This relates to other units of currency as follows: 1 Dirham is 25 Fils. The currency of the Ottoman Empire is still quite widely used too, although attempts are being made to stamp out this practise. THE FULANI CONFEDERATIONOne of only four Muslim nations in the world, the Fulani Confederation was born during the 1870s as the leaders of the Fulani Empire in central Africa [Northern Nigeria in the real world] saw the increased influence and power of Europeans in Africa, and begin consciously playing the various colonial powers off against one another to maintain their independence, using the indirect competition between the Dutch and Holy Roman Empire to good effect. Wishing to properly establish their existence as an independent nation, in 1902 the Fulani people declared the Fulani Confederation, as a Muslim nation, but not a strict one, and very much a free trade area that co-operates with everyone. The Fulani Confederation is a fairly loose assembly of the various tribes of the region, ruled by a Tribal Council of representatives from all tribes that meets in the Confederation capital at Onitsha [in real world Nigeria]. The Tribal Council is overseen by the Council of Elders, a senior house of the most respected people from all of the tribes. Although there are various local and tribal currencies used within the Fulani Confederation, all of the major European currencies, particularly the Dutch Guilder and the Holy Roman Empire Thaler, are more widely accepted and used. THE FREE CITY OF ZANZIBAROne of only four Muslim nations in the world, Zanzibar was created by the French in the 1870s as a place to concentrate much of the crime and corruption in its colonies outside of their borders. Massively corrupt, anything can be brought and sold there, making it a crossroads of any number of illegal international traffics. As such it is also a crossroads of the law-enforcement and espionage organisations of many nations. Zanzibar uses the French currency system, although with their own versions of the coins and notes. The World in 1996 | The New Commonwealth | The Octuple Alliance Go to the Puritan World Timeline, Science and Technology, Society or Differences Pages. Back to the Puritan World Home Page.
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