Social Issues in Our Federation

No nation on Earth, especially not one as large and diverse as the Federation, can exist without there being problems. The Federation is far from perfect, and despite what it looks like, there are divisive issues among the population.

The following is a basic explanation of ongoing conflicts of interest in the Federation.

1. THE ONGOING CIVIL WAR
2. MILITARISM?
3. WHO IS ATHENA?
4. THE THIN BLUE LINE
5. IT'S ALL... SPANISH TO ME?
6. ONE HOLY, CATHOLIC, AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH
7. PROSTHESIS-FOR-BENEFIT

Ever since the Fascists took over roughly three decades ago, the Federation has been fighting a civil war that pits the Government against the Liberty Confederation.

This started as a "legitimate" secession of roughly two-thirds of the Charter Provinces (original GWO provinces), which would have placed just over half of the Federation under the flag of the Confederation without their explicit consent. Most of the people who suddenly found themselves as Confederate citizens were fairly uncaring of this, though. The Federation refused to accept this, and the Civil War began.

Ten years later, the Federation razed the Confederate capital of Proletariat to the ground, leaving nothing behind but the old Memorial to Socialism as a way to spite the traitors. The country would celebrate their first victory as a nation, completely ignoring the atrocity that was committed to herald it. This was the end of the "Symmetrical Phase."

The Asymmetrical Phase began immediately afterwards and climaxed in the legendary Magna Polis Uprising, which saw 40 million Orderians dead in three months, and eight million more dead during the aftermath. Most of the Confederation was finally dead.

However, even today, Confederate rebels hide in our cities, occasionally lashing out at the people. While no longer a true threat as they used to be, the Liberty Confederation is a terrifying force for many, but nobody truly knows how to stop them, or rather, nobody -wants- to do the things necessary to stop them.

The Government could bow to some of their demands and increase political freedoms throughout the country, as peacefully (and legally) proposed by the Association of Reformed Confederate Veterans. This, however, would legitimize Anarcho-Communist beliefs in the country, and demonstrate that the Government negotiates with atrocity-committing terrorists.

Alternatively, they could dramatically increase their surveillance measures; this would be rather unpopular, and would drastically make the lives of common citizens more difficult. The Government views this as a slightly malevolent option.

As it stands, however, the Confederates will be around, even if just an annoyance, for quite some time.

It's no secret that the Federation is a violently expansionist nation, and that the culture mostly supports it. But how far is too far?

The world depends on the Federation. If the Federation fails to spread the Enlightenment to all corners of the globe, mankind will inevitably collapse as a result of the proliferation of inferior mindsets.

At the same time, literally hundreds of millions of our best, bravest, and brightest are standing at arms, being sent to other countries to solve their problems.

Many flag-draped coffins have been coming home from wars most people aren't aware of. We've been fighting for so long that, despite the fact that we despise violence, we have become one of its greatest purveyors, and it has become just another part of daily life for us.

Do we abandon our fundamental beliefs, that every human has the right to live under a benevolent, Fascist government such as ours, or do we accept that our children murder and are murdered by those of other countries?

Are we creating nightmares while pursuing our dreams?

Grand Commander Griffith Victor was and is known as one of the greatest heroes of Our Federation. So who, then, is Grand Commander Athena?

Not much is known about the process of succession in the GWO. In secret, it's actually a very secure system that ensures artificially birthed recreations of Griffith the First will always rule, with members of this project cryogenically frozen and scattered all around the globe and even aboard one of the GWO's satellites. Publicly, all that is known is that the first thing every Grand Commander does is select an heir to replace them if they die, and that heir is kept a secret known only by the highest echelons of the State.

"So who is Athena?" the public asks. All that is really known about her is that she seemingly is of European origin, that she served as an officer in the elite 1st Special Infantry Division alongside the Reconnaissance and Intelligence Directorate, she's bled significantly for her country, and she is now completely blind. Orderians are naturally cautious, and knowing so little about someone who wields technically ultimate power over them is cause for concern- but how bad can it be? They didn't even know what Victor looked like.

There are few countries whose law enforcement officers are as bonded as the Federation's.

Between the good people of the Federation and the well-armed malcontents, criminals, and degenerate underclass stands Our Federation's Civil Control officers and State troopers. They are our first line of defense against civil war and a return to the horrors of anarchy that our nation fought so hard to escape. They are also community leaders, role models, and representatives of the bond between citizens and the State.

Many of them die. Civil Control officers and their families are the most common target for terrorist attacks in the Federation, and sometimes are faced with attempts at systematic murder. Every man and woman thus is put into a position where they must trust their fellow officers with their very lives and the lives of their children; as stated before, few organizations can share a bond as powerful as this one.

This results in "professional courtesy," however. CCU officers have gone unpunished for assault, drunk driving, and even robbery and murder in some very rare cases. It is both unacceptable to the State and it breeds contempt from the population. The Internal Control Department has sought to deal with this problem by creating two organizations: the Federal Guard Enforcement Review Board and the Court or Magistrate's Officers program.

The Federal Guard (the national gendarmerie) has traditionally been the bulwark against police corruption in the Federation, and in one case actually had a shooting war against a Civil Control Unit. The Enforcement Review Board formalizes this position. However, animosity has increased between the Guard and Metro or State police officers to the point of shouting matches and even brawls breaking out nearly constantly between the two. The police view the Guard as bureaucratic idealists with little understanding of the streets of the Federation who shouldn't be interfering with their work.

Court (or Magistrate's, pending on the jurisdiction) Officers are judges in training. Like the ERB, they fight police corruption, and their status as members of a "detached" organization prevents them from integrating with the regular police population. However, Court Officers also provide a streamlined way to sanction the more controversial actions of police personnel, as they have the power of the Court. Thus, the relationship between COs and police officers is best described as love-hate.

The official languages of Our Federation are English, German, and Italian, and most Orderians speak at least one natively, and another with "passable" ability. That said, there is controversy around the use of German as an official language of the GWO.

For starters, it isn't the third most-spoken, or even fourth, in the GWO. Spanish is spoken more often than German is, and by a landslide. Russian is also common, and given that it's majorly different (to the point of using a different writing system,) many Orderians are underserved by not accessing official documentation in Cyrillic.

The same arguments that have been given for not including Spanish as an official language are also used against the inclusion of German as a language, notably, that the Federation government considers Italian and Spanish "intelligible enough" for native Spanish speakers to be properly served with minimal education in Italian. By this logic, German speakers should be able to understand official documents by learning minimal English- the entire "frame" of the argument, of course, is controversial.

Outside of this, language also has been an issue in the Federation's Middle Eastern and East Asian holdings. In East Asia, many signs and official documents are printed in local languages, such as Korean or Japanese, alongside English. In the Middle East, regional governments have been reprimanded by the national government for solely working in Arabic. Further, the adoption of multiple languages has led to organic melding of these languages, creating a series of bizarre pidgins and Texmex-like mixtures.

During the Fourth World War, the Vatican was atomized by a nuclear weapon, a fate it shared with most major cities in the developed world. This immediately created a crisis for Catholics, as almost all of the upper strata of the Church was annihilated in hours. As a result, Our Federation is home to numerous supposed successor churches, each with varying degrees of legitimacy to their claim of being the successor to the Roman Catholic Church. Congregationalist branches of Christianity, such as Lutheranism, were largely unaffected given their decentralized nature. Eastern Orthodoxy, which has promoted the creation of "national" branches of Orthodoxy since the Soviets puppetized the Moscow Patriarchate, experienced an explosion among the survivors of World War Four, with the Federal Orthodox Church of Christ becoming a major religious force in the country.

For both Catholics and Orthodox Orderians, though, there is much controversy over which successors to previous centralized Churches are legitimate. While most follow the Sacraments the same way their claimed predecessor(s) did and maintain the laying on of hands, there have been more than a few examples of false prophets, unqualified priests, and grifters grossly twisting- if not outright fabricating- the Gospel to the goal of their own personal enrichment.

Officially, the Orderian government stays out of matters of religion. In reality, it is heavily biased towards Christianity- and controversy erupts when branches suspect that it's favoring one particular denomination over another.

The Federation is one of, if not the leader of human prostheses. Our neural and robotic prostheses are at the very cutting edge of medical science- many would claim that this is to be expected when a nation with an advanced infrastructure is forced to fight almost constantly.

But after being able to replace lost limbs, what comes next? Upgrading them. Evolving. Transhumanism.

At the moment, only a few impossibly expensive devices can truly outperform their natural counterparts in all aspects, but that may not be true in the future. It is also illegal in the Federation to intentionally dismember one's self in order to acquire artificial limbs- and healthcare providers who take part in this can lose their licenses and face severe criminal punishments.

One side of this argument claims that the human body has been outpaced by the mind, and that it is time to abandon it in favor of what science can offer us. Transhumanists believe that death itself can be conquered by these developments.

The other side claims that this would interfere with evolution and/or God's work, that a fear-based industry of "If I don't cut off my arms, I'll be inferior to the rest of the country" will emerge, or, most pressing, that such devices would easily be turned into another way for the Government and companies to control the people.

Advanced prosthetic devices in the Federation interface with the neurons that went to the now-missing body part. These devices require "master controller" operating systems (of which there are many designed specifically for prostheses), and many are concerned that these devices can be compromised. In a theoretical future where someone could have the majority of their body replaced simply to provide an edge, this could translate to almost textbook mind control.

Additionally, there are some rather believable rumors floating about that the Government, as well as defense contractors, are currently developing bio-integral weapons systems and, perhaps, even organic drones made from political opponents or mortally wounded soldiers. These same rumors have also suggested that people are being kidnapped and experimented on without consent. The population is utterly terrified at the prospect of these experiments being real.

Do we abandon what nature has provided? Are we smarter than nature, able to make such a decision?

Can we defeat death?