Ethos: Nation of Merit

 Overview 

In summary, "Ethos" has a government and economy based solely on merit, and the goal of putting its citizens in positions enjoyable to the individual and where both the individual and the nation can benefit the most.

Merit comes in two forms, PMerit (Permanent Merit) and TMerit (Temporary Merit) and functions as the "money" of this country, as well as having other uses.

Climate:
Ethos has a fairly average climate, about half marshlands, half temperate plains. Perfect for producing for a large population, and settling in.

Politics
=The Constitution Of Ethos= Article 1:

1-A: Any action that impedes upon the productivity of the nation is strictly illegal

1-B: People, People's well being, machinery, theft, larceny, and representations of government are all considered as facets of productivity.

1-C: Depending upon the severity of the impediment, the penalty can be anything from a decrease in Merit, to indentured servitude for the government.

Article 2:

2-A: Any civilian over the age of 20 without 500 or more permanent merit is registered as a Dependent. Upon this status a citizen has a grace period, in other words until next inspection, to get above 500. If this is not met certain punishments are applicable.

2-B: If any immigrant becomes a Dependent and fails to meet the grace period they're deported with haste to their home country and placed on a temporary ban from re-entry.

2-C: Should a naturalized citizen fail to meet the grace period, they're taken into custody. Afterward, depending upon their previous record, said person could either be put through skill training or forced into servitude, after the next grace period they will be released. Then 2-B goes back into effect until they find work.

Article 3:

3-A: Education as a whole is to be focused on the progression of the future generation, and getting a student into a profession and/or field of study.

3-B: Schools have nearly complete freedom to teach the subjects they wish, as long as the subjects are factual, non-hateful, and don't spread a strictly anti-government message.

3-C: Students gain permanent merit as they progress. Students require at least 500 permanent merit, acquired through any means, to graduate.

3-D: Students are allowed to choose their preferred fields of study starting at middle school. Selection of at least one field before entering high school is required. Each field branches over to the facilities that provide them.

Article 4:

4-A: Personages entering indentured servitude are to be registered as such and their merit reported monthly. Failure to do so will result in the permanent merit of the one employing the indentured servant being reduced by [insert value here].

4-B

4-C:

4-D: Professions of servitude such as Maid or Manservant do not have the above requirements applied. (Cases, where a citizen entered such a profession as a result of indentured servitude, do, however, still fall under these requirements.)

Article 5:

5-A: No authority shall be placed over your opinions, however, to express said opinions requires the other's consent. As a result, should any argument to be reliant on the grounds of opinion, it is to be discarded. Arguments should be logical, and truthful, not opinionated and petty.

5-B: You have every right, however, to Report on events using your own insight if you are a journalist

5-C: Just as your opinions are secure, your property, your life, and your freedom to express are all guarded by law.

Military
A highly organized self-defence force with the goals of optimization and efficiency. Why risk major casualties when a lesser force or single weapon can achieve the same result or better? Although they'd definitely rather destroy their enemy with quick kills, they won't shy away from toxins and other methods of prolonged suffering if they deem it necessary.

Economy
As stated above, Ethos has an economy based solely off of your merit, but what about foreign trade and immigration? Well should a citizen decide to leave, they'll be given a pension of gold, or the countries currency of choice, equivalent to their weekly TMerit. When it comes to International Trade a similar rule applies, but the government has vast stockpiles of money that they only use as a way to get resources from other nation. In all other regards, they're self-sufficient.

Technology
Likes to experiment with things that other nations would either disapprove of, or just outright not expect to be useful. Currently, they're importing electric-based creatures from other locals in an attempt to harness that power for their own uses. With much trial and error, they recently developed both a method to attract it and a way to store it... but no methods have been developed to generate such power aside from the imported creatures.

-Electromagnetism has been discovered! Ethos has a few ideas on how to use it, and has been successful in keeping them secret.

Wishing to be left to their own devices, they're also quite interested in national defense. A lot of common citizens own small guns or melee weapons, and schools often teach martial arts alongside more traditional courses. Of course, with the accuracy of guns being less than desirable, they're also working to fix that. A practice known as rifling has come into light, however, this is not quite practical yet because of the inconsistency inherent with hand-made goods. Because of issues like this one, Ethos has implemented standardized replaceable parts.

-Bullet Casing tech has been stolen from The White Empire! The race is now on to see who can seal the casings and invent primer first!

Demographics
Ethos is pretty open to any and all races. Racism and Discrimination are, after all, hazardous to productivity. There aren't really any social classes aside from Dependents either, although that's not to say that everything is equal. Your status is determined by your merit, which in turn is based on how valuable you are to the nation. Do you want to get better living conditions? You make yourself useful. Rigid Class Systems hinder the potential of the citizen.

Education
It's required, but it's not. Technically, you're free to achieve 'graduation' in any way you wish, since the only condition is to have at least 500 permanent merit. Classes do, however, boost permanent merit upon completion and are highly recommended... especially to figure out what you are both best at and like most (and hence be most productive)