4/11/05
World Sketch
This
planet, Desdina (derived from the name for a goddess
of fertility), is heavily populated and dominated by one powerful, consumer
nation, Evanesca.
There is an emerging power as well,
Evanesca, the dominant power, has a government that started and still in name is a representative democracy with a congress branch, judicial branch, and an executive branch. However, as public interest tapered off from politics, as the quality of news went down, and as being entertained and holding vague, spoon-fed opinions became the trend (in a world where one’s information is entirely dependent on another source in such an expansive world where most people don’t venture outside their counties) the government became overrun by a select group of corporate executives who held all of the real power in Evanesca. These corporate executives held the influence of media tightly in their fists, and the population depended so much on their intake of music, cartoons, sit-coms, “news”, virtual-interactive sit-coms, the internet, and other forms of media that the threat from the governing body to cut off the power and utilities that kept this influx of media coming was obviously an empty one. There was no chance an elected official could vote for a bill of this nature because it would expose the weakness of the government and also guarantee civilian uprisings, riots, and no hope of getting re-elected.
Thus, these powerful lobbyists held the nation in the palm of their hands, and their motives were and are, for the most part, to become as wealthy as possible. The cities in Evanesca are seamlessly a glorious display of technology. The break-throughs in holographic projection and miniaturization made it possible for anyone to cheaply and easily to access the internet from anywhere, listen to their music anywhere, watch ads specifically tailored to their age-group of interests as determined from hobbies and most watched shows. Foreigners to Evanesca, who are barely exposed to such advanced technology, (while it’s rare that someone would visit who hasn’t been exposed to it) are normally quite overwhelmed with the metropolises of the country and at times fall ill to sensory overload and get dizzy and vomit.
The economy in Evanesca is a free-market, capitalist one, and is the hub of the global economy when it comes to the selling of technology and information.
The norms of the society are made entirely by those who control the media, which is the source of their power, and to be out of style is a huge social taboo. There is also a heavy emphasis on the individual and uniqueness, while, ironically, most people prescribe to an image presented to them by the media. However, there are those individuals who have traveled outside of Evanesca or who are immigrants to the country, despite immigration being tightly regulated because of the hatred the country has spurred in most of its enslaved-producer nations, who see, to a varying degree, the short-comings of the nation. Nevertheless, these people are a minority within the country and thought of as queer.
Similar to the social norms, the religion which thrives in Evanesca is primarily focused on the cultivation of the individual and his or her soul. The teachings of this religion are extensive and, while they would condemn the formed habits of Evanesca to the careful eye, the teachings that are promoted are ones that promote meekness, humility, charity, and the emphasis that anyone is capable of attaining spiritual perfection within a lifetime.