Faction overview: Rim Billiton
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Administration and politics
Family communities
Rim Billiton is de facto a stateless society and an anarchy which is extremely unique to all the Terran nations. The nation is absent of a central government or a head of state. In turn, the political power usually comes from the grassroots with family communities as the core. These communities are made up of large families and usually set up districts for factories and mines governed by their own family members. If a situation requires involvement of many communities, they will dispatch their own representatives for discussion. Any private property that is owned by multiple families in name is usually considered a separate community of its own.[1]
Most Rim Billitoners prefer to keep their affairs on their own within the realm of their families or factories rather than involving various communities. To a Rim Billitoner, it is better to keep a matter small instead of becoming too big to be unresolved, as their saying goes: "The bigger the problem, the more frequent a meeting is held, and the more time is wasted." As such, unless it involves sovereignty and diplomacy, interaction among the communities is very limited.[1]
Traditionally, Rim Billitoners treat their members within a community as their own family members regardless of bloodline. Nevertheless, entering the industrial era in which the Billitoners came under foreign influence, these communities have begun to specifically divide into subgroups such as "guilds," "miner organizations," or "production teams." But it does not dissolve the Billitonian family culture as they still regard these subgroups as roles among family members.[2]
Because of its unique political structure, many Terran superpowers did not immediately recognize the Billitoners' sovereignty but rather treated them as forgotten, rebellious colonial outposts, resulting in armed conflicts between the superpowers and the Billionian alliance. But over the years, many superpowers began to realize they needed the Billitonian mineral resource to maintain their industries, so they have gradually acknowledged their de facto independence. In turn, the Billitoners establish a healthy diplomacy with various Terran nations via trade and economy while maintaining their neutrality from political affairs.[2]
Military
The Rim Billy Federal Defenses are the sole military of Billitoners, but they are not a national military; these armies are formed by local guards and patrolmen overseeing their mines and factories within their own communities which only band up together during a state of emergency. In the early years of its independence, political pressure from various superpowers, notably Victoria, forced the Billitoners to establish a united armed force under the name of their nation that would repeal their colonial overlords. But by the time these nations abandoned their interest in them, the Billitonian communities formally declared to abolish their national military and handed the responsibility of national defense back to respective communities.[1]
Despite the lack of a large professional army, the Billitoners are able to maintain their border defenses. Not only their abundant factories and strong heavy industries enable them to self-sustain their weaponry, but also they often interact with foreign defense industry companies through business contracts, notably from Columbia such as Blacksteel, Raythean, and Volvort Kochinski.[1]
Administrative divisions
Rim Billiton land administration is made up of several autonomous prefectures or autonomous districts. These autonomous prefectures or districts are formed by an alliance of larger mine districts by grouping up local factories and mines into one entity. These local mine districts are run by their respective families within the communities or an alliance of several families running the districts under one name. Owing to their anarchistic culture, all the prefectures are self-governing entities run by the locals.[1] In some cases, an autonomous prefecture or district can also be a colonial exclave of foreign nations such as the Eureka Autonomous Prefecture ruled by Victoria.
Geography
Rim Billion is mainly composed of arid deserts and shrublands known as "outbacks" by the locals. These barrenlands are formed by constant Catastrophes in the region which is mainly caused by large amounts of exposed Originium shards. Furthermore, Rim Billion is located right in the heart of the Targangils Prime Vein, one of the major Originium prime veins in Terra that composes rich Originuium deposits. Consequently, the Catastrophes often alter the outback's environment, resulting in constant droughts and tectonic activities as well as formations of geographical features such as large canyons, geysers, and geothermal springs. They also block migration routes of many animals which in turn create an evolutionary phenomenon called allopatric speciation in which these isolated animals evolve separately to become unique endemic species such as tallfoot featherbeast, marsupial fangbeasts, and giant metalcrabs scaling as large as eight meters.[3]
The Targangils Prime Vein in Rim Billiton possesses several unique geological features. This prime vein possesses the densest amount of Originium deposits which in turn causes Originium shards to penetrate to the surface and creates the most complex underground structures. The Targangils is also the cause of Rim Billiton's constant Catastrophes due to accumulating mineral dusts, and such features has already been a norm before the industrial revolution, debunking the argument that modern industries result in Catastrophes in the present days.[3] Nevertheless, the Targangils Prime Vein makes up 60% of uncovered Originium deposits across Terra, and Rim Billiton alone occupies 30% of the prime vein's resource.[4]
Economy
Owing to the Targangils' rich deposit, Originium mining industry is the main economic activity in Rim Billiton. It holds the most advanced mining production line in Terra as well as subsidiaries benefited from the mines from construction, transportation, processing, to manufacturing. In the meantime, the construction industry is another major economy in Rim Billiton thanks to its large quantities of nomadic cities and mobile platforms that are crucial in their mining. In some cases, they may even accept requests from other countries to build mobile platforms locally and transport them back to the respective nations upon completion.[5]
Nevertheless, despite Rim Billiton's solid foundation in heavy industries, only a small portion of the Targangils is extracted. This is mainly caused by extremely high safety precautions in unstable quarries and mines which might damage the infrastructures and bring high casualties among the miners. As such, technological innovation remains underdeveloped.[5] In some cases, the miners might use many crude methods that are seen as cruel in modern eyes. One such practices is the "pitsinkers," miners who are dispatched to the deepest part of the mineshafts to investigate hazardous areas and clean up the obstacles, and many of these pitsinkers are made up of uneducated youngsters.[6] Another method is the domestication of sandbeasts as sentinel species to test air quality within the shafts.[7] Even though modern machines have mainly replaced these roles, many rural areas still practice them due to financial reasons.
Demographics
Rim Billiton has a total population of 17,000,000 people based on a 1099 national census. Nevertheless, there are estimations that it might have a maximum number of 28,000,000. This is mainly because census is very hard to be conducted in Rim Billiton due to high social mobility and frequent migration among the Billitonian communities, especially the local Cautuses who often encourage their youngsters to explore the outside world. Furthermore, the two waves of immigration since the colonial era and a boom in heavy industries attract others to migrate to Rim Billiton to search for new job opportunities. As a matter of fact, observers believe that Rim Billiton's population might further increase in the coming future.[2]
Rim Billiton is predominantly made up of the local Cautus race. These Cautuses have the tradition of having a large family thanks to their high fertility rate. As such, they highly value relationships among family members and others living within their communities, and these family communities are the basis of Rim Billiton's anarchistic structure in politics.[8] Other non-Cautus Billitoners are mainly immigrants from the two colonial eras by foreign superpower, mainly Victoria, Leithanien, and Gaul, who have since integrated with the Cautuses' communities.
Culture
The Rim Billitonian culture is an amalgamation of the local Cautuses' large family tradition and cultures of immigrants during the two waves of colonial era. As long as these cultures are gladly accepted by the Billitonian families, anyone can become a part of the Billitonian communities regardless of race, nationalities, or social hierarchy. Rather, it is the emphasis on industrial production that becomes the heart of their social structure. As a matter of fact, any activity that involves physical training and rebinding relationships among community members is widely encouraged. One such unique culture is the Billitoners' craze over sports or entertainment events like traditional sports of athletics from Minos. It is so popular that when Minos outlawed all sports under Sargonian colonization, some of them are well-preserved in Rim Billiton.[9]
References
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