Meridianica

Meridianica (/məˈrɪdɪənɪkə/), officially the Socialist Republic of Meridianica, is a country in the North Sea. It is located between Northumberland and Denmark, with the eastern tip being parallel with London. Its capital city is Omega City, which was built in the late 19th century.

There are 12 counties in Meridianica, which are each known for a different industry (for example, Argentum Fjord is the sole provider of minerals and, previously, coal for the country; whereas Ingoe provides fish, seaweed and lobsters).

During the late 20th century, the country had the same levels of waste and emissions of carbon dioxide and methane as the UK, but a change of leadership and a rapid escape plan cut them down to a negligible and almost natural level by 2002. However, due to other nations’ lack of haste in the matter, Meridianica became slightly carbon negative, employing large banks of carbon capture machines to help everyone else.

Viking Era
Meridianica was first discovered by Vikings in the year 843 CE, when they were trying to reach Britain from what is now Denmark. Discovering quickly that this was uninhabited land, they stopped briefly to collect supplies before continuing around the northern coast, eventually reaching what is now Northumberland.

The nation was later rediscovered by the Vikings in 976 CE, by which point they were looking for new lands to colonise. However, these Vikings were approaching from the west side, and came across the previously unheard of Merid people, who were indigenous to the land and had cultivated the now-iconic rolling heaths. They were soon pillaged and moved into the east, where they stayed until the Vikings evolved into more peaceful settlers.

Roman Era
It was around this time (in around 1050 CE), when Byzantine Romans discovered Meridianica again (by accident). At last, they decided to write it onto their maps and end the cycle of rediscovery and abandonment. They brought with them the Greek alphabet (which led to the Merids renaming their former refuge "Omega Habitaculi", meaning something along the lines of "Final Dwelling"), grape vines (which quickly perished in the frost) and wine (which was a lot of fun).

After the wine ran out, however, the Merids began using the stamens of the heather to make a fragrant-but-bitter alcohol, which became known as "Juk" when the soft C was dropped from the Meridian alphabet.

Norse-Merid Era
At the same time, the Norse people of the west were creeping east and happened across the Merids by chance, drunken and decimated. These people were, however, not here to pillage and helped the Merids get back on their feet.

Pretty much nothing happened for a while after that, besides basic development and (somehow) a complete aversion of the Great Plague.

Middle Ages
In 1565, the Meridians got bored and decided to see what lay beyond the thick fog and vast ocean to the west. They intended to sail back to Northumberland, but great storms blew them off course and, as a result, they landed in Norfolk, but immediately undocked and sailed further south to Essex. Only a quarter of the crew survived. Thankfully, the English were amazed (rather than angry) and sent for Queen Elizabeth I, who reportedly fell in love with one of the surviving crewmates. He, however, did not return this; and they left for the south of Meridianica the following summer.

In the year 1765, a Scottish explorer named Leighton Gunn decided to map Meridianica and assess its resources, and introduced a number of modern concepts to the island. These included, but were not limited to:


 * Permanent housing, built from stone bricks instead of wood
 * Farming of animals (this practice was continued for eggs, milk, feathers and leather, but not for meat)
 * Gunpowder
 * Tea
 * Tobacco

- and -


 * Whiskey

19th Century
Precisely 75 years later, in 1850, a British explorer sailed to the country and attempted to colonise it under the British Empire, but one of the descendants of Gunn had cottoned onto the idea and sailed for Meridianica two weeks ahead of the expedition to warn the Meridians; at the age of only fifteen, I might add. His attempt was successful and they used a precursor to guerilla tactics to take the expedition out; and they did a good job, too. The expedition was believed to be simply "lost" until 1968, when archaeologists uncovered their ship and found no human remains within.

During the 19th century, transport links between Meridianica and its surrounding nations had improved a lot and they regularly traded their minerals and agriculture in exchange for tea and other foreign goods. By this point, a form of unspoken leadership had risen up from the bottom to keep people from squabbling and to discuss matters with other nations. This was the start of a meritocracy and the country's first leader was named Torgärd Brunidottir.

20th Century
By the turn of the century, Meridian architecture had developed into a style of its own. It appeared fancy from a distance (so as to impress others), but was clean and functional up close (because it just worked). This style was a precursor to postmodernism and has been used across the globe ever since.

The first Meridian police force was created in 1910, to capture a criminal gang in Handelssted.

World War I
In July 1914, war was declared across the world after Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated. Meridianica, however, decided to join Switzerland in staying neutral throughout the four years that followed. The country did, however, supply neighbouring countries with defensive weaponry and raw materials.

Post-WWI
Radio came to the nation in 1923 and, after a few experiments, Meridianradiostasjonen was launched in April with that week's news, a short attempt at a radio play and a broadcasting of Elgar's Symphony No. 1 and Meridianica's former national anthem. It was a resounding success with the eight people who had bought crystal set radios ahead of the public release; however, it didn't take long for this medium to become more popular and, before long, everyone in the country had a set in their front room.

Television came to the country in 1934, but public broadcasting didn't commence until tests had been carried out and more people had bought sets. It was possible to pick up grainy feeds from BBC TV (UK), Fernsehsender "Paul Nipkow" (Germany) and Radio-PTT Vision (France) from the coast, but it wasn't ideal. Thankfully, the leadership pulled themselves together and formed the Radioreguleringsgruppe, which would oversee all radio communications in the country and keep them in check. Meridianica's first television station, M-TV, began broadcasting on 3rd November 1936.

World War II
In 1939, disaster struck again when Nazi Germany invaded Poland and caused Britain and France to retaliate. Meridianica, however, did not stay neutral and joined the Allies. This was partially down to people referring to both Meridianica and the Nazi party as socialist, despite there being a very clear difference between either's actions, so they decided to fight the Nazis to make a point. It is also believed to be because of deals they had with Britain, which they could no-longer live without. The most effective reason to join the fight however, is that Meridianica unanimously hated the ideas of the Nazis, and would not have stood for their victory. And, so, Meridianica went to war.

During World War II, the Meridians employed an "all ideas welcome" mindset when thinking of ways to win the war. Places for people to post their various thoughts, known as "seiersbokser" were stationed on every street and every idea was read and thought about, then tested rigorously until they either failed or succeeded. All VHF television transmissions were cut, but low level radio broadcasts were still commonplace. Radio during the war only operated for around four hours per day, and changed frequency every day in attempt to confuse spies.

Unlike other armies, Meridian militia had no set uniform. This meant that camouflage was easy and comfortable, as well as easy to come by and very cheap. The only rules were that you couldn't wear enemy uniforms, as they may get the wearer confused with the enemy or they may have been poisoned.

In the country itself, the Nazis weren't kind. Air raids were so common, people ended up building new houses underground, accessible only via 4 ft high doorways or trapdoors, concealed with vegetation. It worked perfectly for a while, until the balance between targets and hideouts tipped too far and bombers started aiming everywhere in the hope of hitting someone. The construction of false houses alleviated this, but the war was over within a few months of this anyway.

Post-WWII
The war ended in 1945 and television came back almost immediately, along with a new name (MK Én) and a second channel (MK To). Both were now owned by a larger body with a public service remit, called MK (Meridian Kringkastingsselskap) or MBC (Meridian Broadcasting Corporation).

The late 1940s and early 1950s were not the best of times. The country's landscape would never be the same again, everyone was a whole lot poorer and the Cold War had begun (Meridianica was part of NATO). However, the various shells had brought hope to the land by uncovering a gigantic seam of placer deposits, from which platinum, nickel and copper where mined. 1958 also helped, as a small meteor shower brought iridium to the North Sea. By 1960, Meridianica was raking it in.

1967 was a year of change for the country. Here is a brief overview of what happened:


 * Cannabis was decriminalised, but sale was still highly restricted. (February)
 * Meridian rockstar, Øyvind Bang, became internationally famous after his third album, "Cesium" (March)
 * The Meridian travel industry saw a huge increase in arrivals, as LGBT people came to the country to escape foreign persecution (May)
 * Meridianica joined the European Union (May)
 * The first colour TV transmissions began (June)
 * A third channel, run by the University of Omega City, began broadcasting as OTV (Stylised as ΩTV; June)
 * The sale of tobacco was made illegal outside of therapy clinics, certain places of worship and hotels (outdoors only; June)
 * The use of opiates and opioids in medicine was made illegal, except for codeine and morphine (August)
 * The first commercial channel, Kanal Fire, began broadcasting to the entire country and parts of Britain and the Netherlands (September)

In 1992, Meridianica won two gold medals and two silver medals in the Barcelona '92 Summer Olympics.

In 1999, the national anthem was changed to a variation on "Far Away", as the old anthem no-longer reflected the country's values or customs.

21st Century
In 2008, Meridian customs blocked the import of Microsoft Windows licenses, citing a new law that banned anything along the lines of "further payments that are required for basic functionality of a device". After a number of complaints, the licenses were imported but marked "For Business Use Only".

In 2010, unprecedented snowstorms caused a number of road traffic accidents and power failures up and down the country, causing a spike in the imports of sledges and snowshoes, as well as hypothermia.

Nothing really happened after that, until late January 2020, when officials uncovered reports of coronavirus cases in Europe. The current leader, Vivi Paulsen, immediately recalled most Meridian residents from around the world and closed the borders to all except world leaders and traders, who would have to quarantine for two weeks before being allowed to enter the country officially. A year later, however, the virus somehow got in and caused 88 cases and 2 deaths before border restrictions were tightened and Handelssted county was quarantined for a month.

So far, Meridianica has accepted imports of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Janssen vaccines, as well as using their own vaccines from Norgeberg Legemidler.

In early 2022, almost as if the country was giving in to the rest of the world having issues, Meridianica is facing major problems on several fronts:


 * February: Far-right politician, Louis Blackwood, attempted to stage a coup d'etat against the current leader, Vivi Paulsen. Some damage was dealt to the façade of the Ministry of Decisions as a result of brute force and the use of homemade explosives. Eventually, the mob had to be dispersed using heat cannons and over 4,000 people were arrested. The incident has since sparked debates on the police and just how free the country is, despite the force used being generally thought of as appropriate.
 * March: After supplying Ukraine with top-of-the-line equipment, as well as experimental weaponry, Meridian IT infrastructure has come under a series of attacks from Russia, China and Belarus. This has led to a nationwide firewall being erected, effectively blocking all communications between the nation and the attackers except via Tor. This has also led many to debate about whether Meridianica is a free country or a dictatorship.
 * In the fight against Russia, Meridianica has also founded the world's first official military cyber force; a mostly anonymous network of state-sponsored hackers sending DDoS after DDoS to confuse enemies. However, the forces are heavily monitored to ensure no unwarranted damage is being dealt and no malware is infecting civilian or unwarranted devices.
 * March: A lab leak in Argentum Fjord has led to a virulent strain of influenza sweeping the nation. A mass vaccination program is in progress, but the problem will take at least until August to contain.
 * May: The hotspot that created the east and west has seen some unusual activity, thought to have been down to a loss of permafrost in the arctic, which has caused earthquakes, avalanches and the formation of a small shield volcano in the centre of the island, which then started a wildfire in the nation's iconic heaths, endangering the eidolon population (a type of rare lizard) as well as exports of juk.
 * June: For the first time in the history of Meridianica, the answers to one of the Perussoveltuvuuskoe papers (the equivalent of GCSEs in the UK or SATs in the US) were leaked and posted on the popular imageboard site, Aurora, delaying the exams and leading to a full investigation and cybersecurity assessment.

Geography
Meridianica is mostly made up of igneous rock, as it was created by an undersea volcanic eruption. There is, however, a wide strip of sedimentary rock that bisects the country and will, some day, erode all the way through and leave us with two Meridian islands.

There is a single mountain range in the south east, which is just under 3,000 ft tall at the highest point and is a highly popular destination for mountaineers.

As mentioned before, most of the rural areas are completely carpeted with rolling hills of heather, which can be seen from space at the right time of year. There are also plenty of native trees and rare birds, such as the Meridian Owl and the Asclepius Fowl, which have been illegal to hunt since the middle ages.

The heaths are also home to a rare species of lizard, known as eidolons (Rankinia arcticum) or arctic heath dragons.

There are twelve major rivers in Meridianica, which separate each of the counties neatly.

Education
In Meridianica, standard school hours are 9.00 AM until 4.00 PM. However, not all of it is spent in the classroom - from the age of 12, children are given an hour and a half to go out for lunch; whereas younger children are given activities to participate in.

Most of the country uses a simple organisation system, meaning students are separated as follows:

Media
Meridian media can be found in English, Norwegian and Meridian. The country has allotted nine channels to each county; the first four are for MK Én, MK To, ΩTV and Kanal Fire; a fifth is for a local station (normally just news); and the other four are for whatever anyone wants. Meridianica is also one of the last countries to still widely use analogue terrestrial broadcasting, reasoning that it's cheap, functional and easy to use, although digital terrestrial is popular and has brought the number of public access channels from nine to ninety.

There are around twenty-eight different radio stations operating across the country. We have DNP (Det Norske Programmet), Meridianprøgrammät and TEP (The English Programme), which broadcast virtually the same content at the same time in Norwegian, Meridian and English, respectively. We then have Offentlig, a commercial station aimed at young people; and Fineprogrammet, which is aimed at the elderly. The rest are either amateur stations or local stations.

Meridian news must, by law, be completely truthful and as unbiased as possible. It also cannot be run, owned or presented by politicians, foreign leaders or political dissidents. Despite this, according to RSF, Meridianica has one of the highest press freedoms in the world.

Laws

 * The life expectancy is around 104 for both all genders.
 * The drinking age is 16 if a parent or guardian is present, 18 if not.
 * The marriage age is 16, but the age of consent is 14 if the other party is the same age.
 * Homosexuality has always been legal.
 * Draft dodgers, LGBTQ+ persons, and refugees have had the right to seek asylum in Meridianica under the Geneva Convention since 1990, provided they are either under 16, over 60, disabled or prepared to work.
 * A visa is not required to visit Meridianica or to seek asylum, but it is for permanent residence.
 * In an attempt to stop monopolies from forming, it is illegal for more than eight chain shops to exist within more than 50km of each other. Since nearly every shop or business is either a franchise or locally-owned, this is really just to deter TNCs.
 * Meridianica has strict anti-hate rules. Offensive use of slurs or discrimination based on race, gender or sexuality can land a person in jail and/or with an unlimited fine.

Traditions

 * Every New Year's Day, crowds of people gather on top of snowy mountain ranges to roll snowballs down the slope, which increase in size until they smash against rocks. This is seen as a way of pushing away the previous year and starting afresh.
 * The coming of age and the traditional age of adulthood is seen as 16. On a person's 16th birthday, there is usually a gigantic party lasting several days. It is (thankfully) considered bad luck to drink alcohol (specifically juk) during this time.
 * Christmas Eve is supposed to be either spent with family, with friends or righting wrongs.
 * For followers of the Fides Sine Nomine, the solstices and equinoxes are spent in places of full nature, such as mountains, heaths and forests.