If you are looking for the actual doctrines and the operational standards of the adherents of the faith, go to the Ecclesiarchy page.
Papal State (Gk. Κοινόν Ἱερόν, Koinon Hieron (lit. Sacred Union)) is one of the many political factions of the fanon Time Paradox, and the first of the states to be independent of the main SimNation. The Papal State is a nascent nation, claiming currently 4 neighborhoods, Sunset Valley, Twinbrook, the capital Hekatonschoinos (soon to be Heptanomis), and most recently Sunlit Tides. Although the Papal State officially runs according to the principles set by the codex written by its founding members, in practice life outside the walls of houses of believers aren't too strict. The Papal State, alongside the short-lived City-State of Twinbrook, is one of the two independent states to be introduced so far.
Nation Data
- Symbol: Vergina Sun
- Animal: Bunny
- Color: Cyan and Silver
- Average (Mean, with outliers excluded) wage per hour: Heptanomis: (N.U.)§ ; Sunset Valley: (N.U.)§ ; Twinbrook: (N.U.) ; Sunlit Tides: (N.U.).
- Flower: Screw that, We prefer fruits (As Kallistrata records)
- Fruit: Lime
- Fields of Strength: Machine technology, most notably biotechnology, cybernetics and robotics, Gemcraft
- Fields of Weakness: Performance arts, a lack of professional production studios and consumer good production, lack of large metallurgic centers
- Exports: Tiberium, Nectar, Produce, Machine Tools, Sculptures, processed gems, finished alchemical products, Robotic finished and semi-finished goods
- Imports: Meat, Consumer electronics, Clothings
- Top Wage: 2524§/h (Kallisto Syrakosia)
- Tax Rates as a percentage of income: Hekatonschoinos: 84%; Sunset Valley: 38%; Twinbrook: N/A%; Sunlit Tides: N/A%
- Official Language: Attic Greek, Koine Greek
- Mineral: Palladium
- State Motto: "αἳρεσις τρέφεται παρά Ἑρωτος" hairesis trephetai para Erōtos Heresy grows from (sexual) love and Ἐπίδοσις σωτηριά ἀνθρωπων Epidosis sōtēria anthrōpōn Progress is the salvation of mankind
- Anthem: Αλεξανδρος Σῳζει Alexandros Sozei (Megas) Alexandros Saves
- Currency: Simoleon, although the official currency is the Drachma. Simoleon is considered the fiat currency used in everyday use, while the Drachma is considered the representative money (backed by reserves of precious metal). The current conversion rate for Drachma is 1 for 1,146 Simoleons. There is also the Obeloi, which are 1/6th of a Drachma (and henceforth an exchange rate of 1 per 191 Simoleons)
Daily Life
In general, an ordinary sim would live a life rather similar to any other sims in the SimNation, as church attendance is not required, even by the ranks of believers. Regardless of that, religious structures are commonplace in the capital, having 3 chapels built based on the temples of the Ancient Greeks, one at the Triskelion Islet named the Temple of the Forefather (Naiskos Propatros), a unnamed chapel at the Agora, and lastly one at the Meditative Grounds. Sunset Valley also had one, until Esomena launched the renovation project, and it is presumed that it will be restored.
The Ecclesiarchy does little to censor information from the internet. However, Ecclesiarchy does filter out ads from the internet, claiming ads spur destructive consumerism. To counter protest from free content sites that earn revenue largely from ads, the Papal State pays for the cost that would have been accrued by traffic from Ecclesiarchal territories.
Religious Ordinances
Main Article: Ecclesiarchy
As a fundamentalist state, the Papal State technically runs on religious laws. The most significant part of the law is that romance and WooHoo is strictly forbidden to the followers of the faith, which comprises a significant part of the population of Hekatonschoinos, and a less significant presence in Sunset Valley and Twinbrook. Due to the fact that the said law applies only to registered followers, sights of couples can be still seen even in the streets of Hekatonschoinos, although in Hekatonschoinos the religious pressue is so high that such heretical relationships are nearly nonexistent, and couples usually take to their homes. Nonetheless, the Ecclesiarchy in practice largely adheres to the modern concept of separation of church and state, thus it uses only ecclesial bodies to enforce religious decisions among believers. There is an exception to this, as the Ecclesiarchy uses its government clout to screen the Simnationian pop culture material that passes through the Papal territories. All in all, a life in Papal State generally are largely similar to life in the secular developed countries. However, the increasingly liberal mood of the Ecclesiarchy meant censorship such as these are in decline, and SimNationian pop culture is no longer scrutinized by the government.
Given the Ecclesiarchy's pro-technology attitudes, Papal State is also highly advanced in terms of science. For one, Simbots are far more common in Papal territory than in any region of the SimNation, especially so given that Stratonike has been the pioneer in the field, and the makings of a simbot is an arcane art held currently only by the members of the Big 6, although some, such as Parthenope, has the aptitude and experience to be ready to make one. The Papal State is also a leader in the fields of cybernetics and biotechnology, claiming many artificial humans (e.g. Phthinophoria Eschateria) and prosthetics (such as one proudly borne by Hypatia) given the attitudes that look unfavorably to the "natural" way of reproduction.
Given the Ecclesiarchy's belief that gathering adherents should be done purely through the merit of its doctrines rather than extraneous benefits, there are very little state structure designed to reward conversion via material means: while new converts may be given grants so that they might be able to afford a skill object, this grant isn't limited to converts. In addition, most Klerouchoi are not adherents of the state religion, and the immigration to the Papal State has largely been influenced by job opportunities with little regard for the Papal State's official faith. Whereas the Papal State does not directly punish deviant behavior, they do put a significant cultural pressure on romance, and the Ecclesiarchy as a religious body has been less than tolerant to those who have turned to the atavistic culture that is centered on the celebrities of Bridgeport.
In fact, the Papal State is one of the least oppressive of fundamentalist regimes, and an average citizen of Papal State can expect a level of personal freedom in par with most democratic nations. Although no official laws or experimental policies were set in place, the Ecclesiarchy is actually open to offering representation to the nonbeliever segments of the Papal population. While the political system available in Papal territories were largely dummy systems with little power, the Ecclesiarchy shows interest in giving nonbelievers a say in the government, especially in the fields of economics where they wouldn't interfere with say laws against romance amongst believers.
Edict of Veracity
However, the relative freedom of the press that Kallisto once espouse was reversed when a false rumor (that the Ecclesiarchy was effective at suppressing for a time) hit Kallistrata: once Kallisto took note of that, Kallisto issued the Edict of Veracity: in effect, Kallisto purged all Paparazzis from the Papal State, and also ensured all media posted would be subject to reviews by the Ecclesiarchal chapter of the respective cities. So infuriated were the Big 6 (who were already fed up with the memories of constant false rumors) that they also added an addendum, the Warning to Falsehoods, in which the Big 6 legislated death penalty to any more propagators of false rumors.
With that, the Big 6 effectively clamped down celebrity culture, and destroyed the celebrity news section of the media industry of the Papal State.
However, later revisions to the law softened the penalty, although the harsh example set by the previous example have wiped out the paparazzis, and the Big 6 doesn't mind having their domain paparazzi-free.
Things to do
The Papal State is known for its large public projects, and one of the vaunted accomplishments of the Papal State is the concept of a public workhouse in which commoners may practice skills that would be otherwise not feasible to hone. In Hekatonschoinos, this is fully implemented with the Public Workplace in the central islet at the Agora region, while Nectar making is available to the public at the Nectar Market (Emporion Nektaros) right next to the public generic school and the Business Tower. The Papal States (at least in Hekatonschoinos) offers plenty of activities, such as horse riding, swimming, and in Hekatonschoinos, two large (and currently simple) libraries, alongside a multitude of shops. The Papal State generally frown upon night parties, and the only state-supported party place is the Palace of Pella-Syrakousai at Hekatonschoinos that is classified as an exclusive lounge with none of its exclusiveness (it is available to all regardless of celebrity status, given the Ecclesiarchy's burning hatred against vanity associated with celebrities, another irony given that most of the Ecclesiarchy have some level of fame) With Sunset Valley, the town used to bear the marks left by the creators of the Papal State until Esomena launched a revolution to renovate the town.
The Papal State is also liberal on foreign arts, as mentioned with the Nectary. This is an Attalid influence given that it was the Attalids who were open to foreign things, which was also an benefactor of the Simbot craze in the first timeline. Given the Papal state's love of euergetism, Martial Arts facilities are also provided via the Palaistra Stratiotike, although a public counterpart was missing in Sunset Valley even before Esomena's renovation.
Given that Twinbrook is a recent acquisition, such euergetism did not make its way into Twinbrook yet, not helped by the relative poverty of the Twinbrook chapter compared to that of Sunset Valley or Hekatonschoinos.
At all regions of the Papal State, nectar is quite an common commodity, despite the extremely high quality of Ecclesiarchal nectar. In fact, the Ecclesiarchal nectar is accepted by most experts to be better than even those of Champs les Sims, although many connoisseurs complain about the lack of variety, especially if the said connoisseur is tired of life fruits, given that life fruits make up the majority of the fruits consumed by the nectaries of the Papal State. The two most popular and common brands are the Nectar of the Throne of Pella, which is often preferred by the critics given the moodlet, and the newer Sacred Nectar of Alexandros, which fetches a greater price in the market despite expert preference for the former. There are other less common brands, such as the Inflammatory Rejuvenator, although such are far less common because Kallistrata makes most of the nectar, and the Inflammatory Rejuvenator is of Kallisto's design. While Al-Dar has pretty much taken over as the nectar maker in Sunset Valley, they have yet to produce notable brands. Of all the nectar brands, Kallistrata's main two brands are of international acclaim, and despite massive production (for one sim), it is sought after by many of the rich, and even the Bridgeport celebrities, who were about as hostile to the Ecclesiarchy as any could, have admitted purchases. In fact, Life fruits are so common in the Ecclesiarchal territory that many joke that Life fruits alongside Tiberium are the principal currencies of the Papal State. On the other hand, things like blue topaz is nearly unseen (at least in the capital), although iron and other industrial ores are quite common in the Papal State, even at its capital. However, given the recent WooHooium spike, Kallisto has ordered a quarantine, which hurt trade.
Although machineries are a strong point of the Papal States, given the arcane level of skills that the Big 6 possesses, machineries do not accrue a large portion of the economy, much less exports. In fact, the Papal State's strength in machineries are largely academic. Nonetheless, SimNation's greatest inventors and engineers often grieve that the relationship between the two states are of technical war, and curses the Bridgeport celebrities because of this.
Demographics
Given the overwhelmingly Greek origins of the Ecclesiarchy, It is not surprising that the Papal State's most visible ethnic population are the Greeks, many of them adherents of the Ecclesiarchal faith or relatives of an Ecclesiarchial member. East Asians and the Middle Easterners also have a significant mark in the Papal State, often seen manning businesses and keeping a good relationship with the largely Greek ruling class. Because East Asians and Middle Easterners make up a sizeable portion of the entrepreneurial immigration while the SimNationian immigrants who seek work are largely "Westerners," the Papal State has an unusual demography in that it is the whites in general that are the least socially advantaged, having the fewest entrepreneurs in proportion to their population in the Papal State compared to the other major groups.
Poverty rates in Papal State is very low, given the robust welfare system of the Papal State aimed to keep people floating. However, the birth rates in Papal State are also low: some claim that it is the living costs of the Papal State (which was unrefutable in old Hekatonschoinos, although Heptanomis seems to be better), others claim Ecclesiarchal sterilization, still others claiming Ecclesiarchal isolationism against the SimNation in general even though economic activity between the two states are greater than ever.
The Papal State's largest segment of the population are the young adults, female more so than males: young adults make up most of Papal State's population mainly because of job opportunities and readily available loans for education and entrepreneurship. While this normally would imply an imbalance of gender ratio towards the male side, the Ecclesiarchal culture that promotes female participation in normally "male" professions as well as the Ecclesiarchy's vastly female population made Papal State a state with a gender imbalance towards the female side, although recent waves of immigration have grown steadily more gender-balanced. In addition, children are a very rare sight in the Papal State: for comparison, Children composed around 31% of US's population in 2003. In old Hekatonschoinos, Children and Teens comprised merely 21% of the population, and figures are predicted to be even smaller in Heptanomis.
Culture
Culturally, the Papal State officially supports a more Ancient Greek one, and the Papal State is an proud practitioner of euergetism. Outside the realm of the state, Kallisto's influence remains strong, given Kallisto's status as a celebrity figure. As such, the effectively mainstream dress style prevalent in the Papal State is much more covering, for mini-skirts shorter than knee-length are frowned upon, and other unnecessary exposure is not common in Heptanomis (and to a lesser degree, Sunset Valley). Even in terms of swimsuits, bikinis are an rare sight, while swimming shirts are common sights especially in Heptanomis. Maxi skirts are quite popular in Heptanomis, although shorter skirts at lengths at least below the knees are quite popular in Heptanomis and other part of the Papal State, such as Sunset Valley which has by now permeated with Papal culture.
On top of comparatively prude dress culture, women of the Papal State are encouraged to take up a trade. Fields usually considered male, such as engineering, are especially encouraged. Due to this, the Papal State is known for female technicians, inventors, engineers, and less commonly, entrepreneurs. One notable example is Yuri Kang of the Kang Patriarch family of the 3rd timeline, who is part of the 3 Tech Nerds along with Eun Jin Choi and Kyriake Kostopoulou. Males are also expected to make an independent living if able, although unlike females males generally tend to be much more varied in their career choices: musicians and athletes in the Papal State are almost always male. Males are also expected to dress prudely, although males are given much more leeway when it comes to swimming pools. This policy is reviewed by the Ecclesiarchy, as the expected male volunteers are far below the expected figures. Given a skewed population especially in Hekatonschoinos/Heptanomis, the Ecclesiarchy has further diven into the realms of bioengineering, adding a splash of supernatural as needed. The best example of Ecclesiarchal openness to both realms would be the creation of Phthinophoria Eschateria, who is a failed attempt at making a male from a stock, although a partial success in that she's the first non-clone to have innate skills. However, the Ecclesiarchy has strangely failed to make artificial males until the most recent times...
The Ecclesiarchy is highly disapproving of nonfunctional pets, a thought shared by the old communists and socialists. And as such, household pets such as little dogs are frowned upon by the Ecclesiarchy. Although the Ecclesiarchy has no law against the ownership of pets, the explosive rate of pet adoption has wrecked the nerve of the Big 6. However, there is a pet plague that is going around killing dogs and cats while sparing horses, leading some to believe shady works of the Big 6. Big 6 currently denies these allegations. The Papal State however are far less merciful to the stray dogs and cats: If spotted, the most common fate of a stray is to be rendered in a rendering plant to be converted into raw material to be used in biological industries. Since the Papal State makes no secret of this, the animal rights organization protest wildly at the Papal callousness to the strays, to which the Papacy retorts, "Take the plank off your eye before trying to take a speck out of ours. When we say this, we mean your poor, your bullied, your disadvantaged, and your unconventional." To that responses vary: some continue to bark at the Papacy, screaming animal rights ignoring Papal arguments saying it isn't worth responding. Some respond that the Papacy is making a false comparison, saying leaving poor people alone is not even comparable to animals being ground into molecules, and the more cool-headed ones respond that an compromise can be reached.
Another quirk of the Papal State is the shrinking importance of natural birth, and natural parentage. As females are pushed towards high-paying work that has longer hours, this would naturally conflict with the need to rear children, a primary reason for the apparent gender gap. The Papacy solves this by reducing the reliance on natural birth, having public sim-making vats to allow any sim to have a child. However, the vats are engineered to stimulate growth, and vats are optimized towards making sims that are biologically young adults or older teens. In addition, preexisting children are placed under the state's care in the Paidagogia system often manned by specially designed plumbots, further reducing the opportunity cost on females to have professional jobs.
The Ecclesiarchy also pushed for more Hellenism, and succeeded in propagating more Ancient Greek culture by building the Stoa, which is an homage to the Stoa of Attalos, at the Hekatonschoinos' Agora area. They have also succeeded in building an larger public bath, the Balaneion featuring all aspect of the Barbarian thermae. They are also active investors in Hellenic education, re-establishing the Phrontisterion of Trapezous in Trabzon, Turkey that eventually resulted in the presence of Nikanor Trapezountios.
As for subcultures, the Ecclesiarchy is one of the greatest proponents of gaming subculture: An fact held more dearly given the Big 6's love (and aptitude) of computers. The Big 6 is known for game making, and it has been a profound proponent of IT education. Given that, the Big 6 is an benefactor of many gaming communities, and is an proud sponsor of many tutorial sites: the greatest of which an annual contest in programming, computer arts, and so on.
Alternative Culture
Although the Ecclesiarchal territories had a culture which is a spectrum between the traditional SimNationian culture and the Ecclesiarchal academistic culture, Heptanomis is given a very odd surprise: Heptanomis is not only the city dominated by technology, science, intellectualism, and abstemiousness, but Heptanomis would also be the focal point of multiple "rebellious" fashions, centered on the similar but distinct goth and punk fashion, mixed with a streak of lolita fashion. Like the roots of punk and goth fashion in the real world, both gained prevalence in the Papal State largely as a resistance towards the Papacy's semi-puritanical view on fashion.
With the domination of gothic fashion came the prevalence of visual kei fashion, largely a byproduct of the gothic one.
While the goth and punk fashion and the associated cultures rose to protest the status quo of the Papal State, Kallisto actually viewed it as a positive thing, at least better than the sexualization-based culture that is the Bridgeport celebrity culture. The punk and goth culture, while generally promoting fashion more revealing (with the exception of the goth lolita) than the standard Ecclesiarchal one, was largely nonpolitical, and also far less sexualized than the Bridgeport pop culture. It was also a positive as it posed another barrier against the Bridgeport pop culture, further ensuring that the paparazzis have nearly no incentive to ever come to Papal lands.
Academics
Although the Ecclesiarchy happened to be quasi-puritan socially, their lack of intervention in general set up a precedent for their far more liberal viewpoint in the fields of academics and skill-building. Those with talent are viewed very positively by the Ecclesiarchy no matter what viewpoint (save for the pro-romance ones) they subscribed to. To that matter Ecclesiarchy attracts many learned and ambitious sims (read mad scientists). Since viewpoints are largely ignored by Ecclesiarchy, this also puts those subscribing to beliefs frowned by the mainstream far more attracted to the Papal territories, the leading controversial groups the transhumanists, led by Nikanor Trapezountios under the banner of the Heraldry of Machine.
Unlike most science-based groups, the Ecclesiarchy is actually quite open to the supernatural, and Ecclesiarchal members were all too eager to embrace magic as a part of their power arsenal, using bio-engineering to graft supernatural powers into themselves. This attracted the attention of the supernatural populations, most notably the large community at Moonlight Falls, a relationship further enhanced particularly amongst Witch populations by Ecclesiarchal mastery of Alchemy. As such, witches also make their homes in Ecclesiarchal territories, and witch cults like Lizardworts and Silver Lilies (along with independents, such as Pharmakis Ammos) have dispatched members to Hekatonschoinos to make a homestead there.
Economies
Economically, the Papal State boasts an overall trade surplus given a solid base of raw material as well as a highly developed craftsmanship on the side of the Ecclesiarchy. While independent businesses exist and constitute a good portion of the consignment trade market in Heptanomis, they must compete with the Ecclesiarchy in various fields, thus the most successful ones deal in products not produced in large amounts by the Ecclesiarchy. In Sunset Valley, such crowding out is almost non-existent (given that Naos-Stratopedon II does not have the facility to produce nectar yet), and there are some independent businesses in Sunset Valley that produces finished goods, most notably the Al-Dar. Kallisto always frowned upon the service sector, and commerce is largely based on locals supplying raw materials that is easily accessible. In fact, Kallisto believes malls to be heretical given that malls are associated with fashion and trend that is a symbol of the celebrity culture that Kallisto despises with great magnitude. As such, there are no malls in the Papal State whatsoever. However, Kallisto does recognize a need for commercial sector, and the Agora is dedicated to that. However, Agora is not exactly a popular place for commercial transaction, much to Kallisto's chagrin.
The Ecclesiarchy is particularly distrustful of the power of financiers of SimNation, thus it took steps to limit the financiers: for one, the insurances on Papal stocks are sold exclusively by the Papal State as the law forbids selling of stock insurances by private entities. In addition, the Ecclesiarchy maintains a robust control on the flow of currencies, ensuring that the financiers cannot rapidly draw out or infuse foreign cash into the Papal State to cause a bubble or a collapse that would render it powerless against the financial sector. As a side effect of the strict financial regulations, Ecclesiarchy controls most of the banking functions in the Papal State. local banks do exist, but no banks in the Papal States are large enough to serve more than one neighborhood, and even those are often controlled in part by the chapter of the neighborhood. Lastly, as the Ecclesiarchy controls government functions, businesses by law cannot donate to the government as the Ecclesiarchy fears that such donations could corrupt the Papal States. On the other hand, the Ecclesiarchy is very friendly to individual entrepreneurship as well as capital investment: heavy machineries have one of the lowest tax rates, and Simnationian businesses often purchase Papal capital goods. In addition, the Ecclesiarchy gives out grants to aspirant skill-learners and entrepreneurs so that they may invest, which is helped out even more by the robust consignment market of the Papal State.
Hekatonschoinos->Heptanomis
On the surface, the capital of the Papal State seems like a ticking time bomb as it seems like a command economy. Indeed, Heptanomis' most visible economic activities, such as high-tech production and heavy capital production, are largely owned by the Ecclesiarchy, which seeks to pursue an mercantilistic general policy for its capital. However, a closer inspection demonstrates that such preconception cannot be farther from the truth, since the preconception focuses only on the large-scale industries. On the other hand, small family-scale businesses are very easy to operate in the Papal capital, and its private consignment market is the largest and unrivalled of all in Time Paradox universe.
Heptanomis is one of the most mineral-rich places. In fact, Tiberium, a very valuable mineral, is of such great availability that 6 houses compete to gain a state-approved part of the oligopoly in the production of Tiberium. Not only that, Heptanomis is also leader in the production of attenuated ore processors: attenuated gem cutters small enough for a house is quite common in Heptanomis, and individuals picking gems could easily process it to increase its value, and turn it into the ever-booming consignment market bolstered by SimNationian merchants, speculators, and investors.
Heptanomis also boasts fertile soil, especially at the southern river valley which mirrors Lower Aigyptos. Not only that, the years of breeding that the Ecclesiarchy has performed led to perfect quality fruits, which grace some public gardens such as the Basilikos Paradeisos Pankarpion and Agora Nektaros, latter serving also as a nectar market. As such, Heptanomis also boasts quality agricultural products, and Ecclesiarchal nectars are top-class to the point where it crowds out even the finest of Champs Les Sims nectars.
Whereas the industry is the most notable and magnificent element of Heptanomis' economy and commerce vilified somewhat, private endeavors are surprisingly easy to perform in the papal capital. The most noticeable demonstration of this is the fact that the consignment industry is a big booming market that outdoes just about that of any SimNationian cities. This is to the point where SimNationian tourists would joke about how being a consignment merchant in Heptanomis would earn more money than say becoming a top star in Bridgeport. As a point of reference, the consignment market handles nearly all manufactured goods produced by small households, ranging from alchemical products, robots, gadgets, produce, to even raw material. Boasting variety and quality, it attracts interested buyers from all around SimNation. In fact, it even garnered Papal State some allies such as the Silver Lilies of Moonlight Falls, who formed an alliance with the Papal State after finding its ware of potions and elixirs impeccable.
Ironically, the sheer success of the market made Ecclesiarchal attempt at using its own currency very difficult, and the Ecclesiarchal drachma, its base currency, is often looked over due to the sheer amount of simoleon that flow through Heptanomis' Agora.
As noted before, Heptanomis is the leader in state-of-the-art technology, which has attracted proposals from large SimNationian businesses that the Ecclesiarchy often rejects to keep consumerism in check. While this meant that SimNationian sponsorship and ads are rare sight in Heptanomis, it attracted purely scholarly factions around SimNation, some of which were ostracized by the growing anti-intellectualism in SimNation.
Heptanomis still suffers from low population compared to the amount of facility and jobs, although immigration rates are higher than ever, and Heptanomis boasts a population greater than Bridgeport itself.
Sunset Valley
Sunset Valley also depends highly on the informal market outside the influences of huge corporations. Like Hekatonschoinos, Sunset Valley boasts a trade surplus, although unlike Hekatonschoinos, the share of the market is far more evenly distributed, and the main component of the market is the commoners, not the elites of the Ecclesiarchy. Given that Sunset Valley does have affordable housing, Sunset Valley does not have the problem that exists in Hekatonschoinos, and thus the welfare system is far lighter in comparison to the capital. However, given the lack of Tiberium and other valuable mineral wealth, the average income of its residents are far lower than their counterparts back in the capital.
It is also the most lively economy despite its middle position, given a huge input by the locals. However, since quality isn't a priority in Sunset Valley (in comparison to Hekatonschoinos, which is controlled carefully by the chapter), Sunset Valley isn't noted for the products introduced to the markets there. However, the Al-Dar presents a significant presence there, and it is also the key figure in the Nectar market of Sunset Valley after Kallistrata's departure that created a huge vacuum there. The Al-Dar pretty much represents the Sunset Valley after it came with the brands Medina's Passion and Blessing of Allah, both receiving positive reviews by the connoisseurs. To this point, Kallistrata finds the competition very exciting, as Kallistrata always wanted to compete with an equally talented vintner, found in Anwar and to a lesser extent, Usaim.
Sunset Valley was far slower in taking in the Supernatural Revolution than Hekatonschoinos, and has yet to fully capitalize on the gains to be made. In fact, the lack of actions after the initial ruckus caused by the expulsion was so long and great that the Sunset Valley Chapter hasn't even started on the Alchemy Skills, only taking an initial peek for the moment. However, the Sunset Valley Chapter has been receptive of the said element, and have taken steps to accommodate the supernatural. In addition, they were even more receptive to the bathing technologies garnered from Sunlit Tides, and they do want to see their own Balaneion in Sunset Valley.
Although the technologies garnered were slow to be adapted, it was Sunset Valley in which the new member Phthinophoria was created, which marks the first artificial sim to be created using both science and the supernatural. Given this, Phthinophoria has shown interest in establishing a bioengineering facility here, which does not have a significant resistance given the removal of the native resistance that was the byproduct of Esomena's revolution.
Twinbrook
Twinbrook is a different story, and given its lack of infrastructure, Twinbrook is the only territory that has a regional trade deficit. However, David Pollair, the head member of the Twinbrook Chapter, hopes to reverse this, and while the Ecclesiarchy establishes the Cleruchy there, Pollair also wishes to create an agricultural base, particularly stressing organic farming (which is already a case with Hekatonschoinos, given the fruits available in the Royal Public Garden). It is also the poorest of the Papal neighborhoods, although the locals don't really have trouble with the taxes.
Kallisto have sent funds garnered from the huge boom, most notably after the Defect Tiberium incidents. However, developments have not taken full effect yet, and Twinbrook currently remains a backwater region of the Papal State.
Sunlit Tides
The most recent acquisition of the Papal State, Sunlit Tides already had enough infrastructures to have a decent standard of living, deriving most of its income from tourism. Although the Papal State has not taken much action yet, it has sought to improve the weaker portion of Sunlit Tides, such as lack of highly experienced scientists and teachers, hoping to fill the need with a chapter. With the removal of the preexisting corrupt regimes of the Kahales, it is reported that the residents have a slightly higher standards of living even without significant Papal investments.
However, the Ecclesiarchy finally made plans to guide development, having Phthinophoria Eschateria, alongside a suitable retinue, to manage Sunlit Tides. It is widely believed that such retinue will include Plumbots. Deployment and actual development would take a small amount of time, they estimate. With the arrival of Phthinophoria, the pacification stage of the government was replaced by a more powerful authority with closer ties to Heptanomis. With Papal State fully in charge, Sunlit Tides has seen the construction of new public structures, such as the Balaneion built on the same blueprint as that of old Hekatonschoinos (and new Heptanomis). It also has been endowed with consignment stores to cater to the tech-savvy robot nerds and magic store for the alchemists and witches. While this policy was met with some resistance by the surfer dudes and other pro-beach, pro-romance folks, the government got its way. A new string of protest developed after the plans to demolish the old gym (given the presence of the Balaneion) and replacing it with an artisanal art academy was leaked. However, this plan was put to hold.
Political Standings
In general, the political atmosphere of the Papal State leans mostly to the left, looking favorably to homosexuality and abortion. Although the Ecclesiarchy frown upon other issues such as drugs, no laws prohibit usage of controlled substances as Kallisto cites examples of failed prohibition attempts. There are no political parties in the Papal State, as there are no elected representatives yet. Kallisto does seek to introduce a democratically elected local council, and despite its fundamentalist roots, the Papal State is far less autocratic than most perceives. While the Papal State collects personal data often and has a strong antipathy for WooHoo, it has largely kept out of the lives of ordinary citizens. Kallisto does lean economically to the left, although Kallisto is quite centrist when it comes to level of government. Similarly, a good portion of the Big 6's favorites finds some similarity in the political spectrum. For example, Yuri also has leftist tendencies, although Yuri is lot more anti-authoritarian than Kallisto, who is centrist at that matter.
Given a largely female ruling body, the Papal State is also a center of feminist sentiments, although Kallisto et al. does not approve of radical feminism hooting down males. As such, the Papal States boast a level of gender equality that is not seen in most regions of SimNation. Despite this, or maybe because of this, there are no major private feminist groups in the Papal State. Culturally, the Papal State is very antagonistic to the ever-growing sexualization that marks the pop culture of SimNation, and looks towards desexualization, which often is cited by conspiracy theorists as a "proof" that the Ecclesiarchy secretly engages in suppression of WooHoo-oriented thoughts through chemicals, machines, etc.
Corruption is absent on the high levels of the Papal State, and Eurydike has been confirmed in multiple cases to be free of corruption, and most politicians are also clean. However, Arsinoe of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, wife of Ptolemaios Philadelphos, has been confirmed to defraud people and hence is marked as an exception.
Although major political dissent is minimal, there have been complaints about high taxes in Hekatonschoinos, and people demand cheaper, smaller housing (as noted by the extreme popularity of the Oikos Ptochon style housing in the Persis Road as well as the Nesos Poleos, despite the shameful name: Oikos Ptochon meaning house of the poor and the Nesos Poleos carrying a stigma to those who are aware of the Roman insula) as well as malls, and Kallisto responded by renovating Hekatonschoinos, adding more of the former. Heptanomis fared better, but still with high taxes, perhaps even greater than the social democracies such as those of the Scandinavia.
While there have been incidents like the Edict of Veracity that could have been seen as a preface for a pogrom or dictatorships, the Papal State have proven fortunate enough to avoid keeping problematic laws like this for too long.
Diplomatic Situation
Given the lack of independent states outside SimNation besides the micronation city-state in Appaloosa Plains that Thessalonike found, the annexation of Sunset Valley, Twinbrook, and Sunlit Tides put the Papal State in a cold relationship with SimNation. Despite the nominal hostility, as well as the opposition of the Bridgeport celebrities, things aren't as hostile as the media from both nation portrays out to be. While the Council of Bridgeport (in its bickering, inert state) continually talk readiness and constantly painting the Papacy as the big boogeyman that will force everyone to relinquish WooHoo, for the vast majority of SimNation's citizens the Papal State isn't much of a problem in the ways that the Council of Bridgeport claims it is. Yes, the Papal State does possess economic and techonogical means to construct and fire strategic weaponries as demonstrated by the orbital bombardment of Bridgeport and Moonlight Falls, but the ruling body that is the Ecclesiarchy has grown much more interested in building their own domains, namely developing Heptanomis and the rest of their towns, all but Sunset Valley quite underdeveloped. In addition, the Ecclesiarchy has grown much less interested in picking a fight with SimNation as a whole, preferring to use their allies to remove mutual enemies. Lastly, the Papal State is the undisputed leader of science and technology, having capital that puts even the University to shame, which has led to some cooperation between the academics of each nation.
While the vast majority of SimNation actually benefits from the existence of Papal State as a whole, the same could not be said of "war zones." The Papacy-backed witch cults, headed by the celibate Silver Lilies, openly fight against the pro-WooHoo forces led by Ezekiel Gretchyn in Moonlight Falls. Given the Silver Lilies' openness about their methods, which included several potion bombings, anti-Papal sentiments are very strong amongst Moonlight Falls' citizens. While Bridgeport also has a strong anti-Papal sentiments, many disillusioned folks, many of them who have falled short of stardom, have looked toward Papal States as a way to get even with the system that left them behind.
However, turmoils in Al-Simhara also created a renegade state by the name of Aigytos, led primarily by reactionaries and revolutionaries affiliated with Al-Dar, banding against the common enemy that is viewed as the more affluent people such as those of Bridgeport. The Aigytian ruling body is split in attitude towards the Papal State: the more liberal revolutionaries wishes to embrace Papal State as an ally in overthrowing the soulless consumerism and pop culture, while the reactionaries are much more cautious in dealing with the Papal State: after all, they are led by females. How can women be leaders of nations, the reactionaries argue. While even the reactionaries agree that Papal State can be a powerful ally against the current foe, they fear that the Papal State might make overlords out of women to rule over them, something they find unacceptable.
Education
"παρεχε πένεντι ἄρτον και πένης ἐσθίει ἡμέρας. παρεχε πένεντι δῠνᾰμιν και πένης ἐσθίει αἰῶνος." - Give the poor a bread and he will eat for a day. Give him ability and he will eat for ages. - Papal Doctrine
The Papal State boasts a great educational system that focuses on careers in a manner very similar to the Singaporean system. Given the sheer rigor of the educational system, it is difficult for all but the brightest or diligent students to achieve high marks. The Papal education usually involves work training as well, and teens are often assigned to specific workplaces to study in a fashion similar to interns.
Given the relatively liberal political atmosphere of the academia in the Papal State, alongside the love of science and empiricism, the education in the Papal State is considered one of the greatest enemies of the Austrian School: The Big 6 themselves have considered Austrian School voodoo religion wearing the skin of economics, and have often decried it as economic theology of the bad kind. In fact, praxeology is taught in secondary level simply as a mean to deride the Austrians. However, the Papal State hasn't taken outright hostile steps against the Chicago School, given that they actually incorporate numbers into their arguments and study. Given Ecclesiarchal love of computers, there exists an educational game in which the player defaces statues of prominent libertarian leaders, such as Hayek, Rothbard, and Rand by answering correctly questions about economic facts.
Papal State is particularly generous in grants and other material supports particularly in the vocational field: Kallisto has always been active in supporting skill developments, and have encouraged gardening and nectar making. Given so, Kallisto had first invested in Yuri, later on investing on Kyriake after seeing initiatives made from each recipients.
Phrontisterion of Heptanomis
Perhaps the rising star of skill-oriented education, Phrontisterion of Heptanomis is starting to grab the attention of SimNationian public. It is the central tertiary educational institution of the Papal State, and a state-owned one as well. The Ecclesiarchal belief in maximizing human capital to maximize progress is reflected in its admission and tuition policies: Ecclesiarchy rarely turns down an applicant: after all, there's plenty of empty rooms to be taken, and tuition is a nominal fee.
Since the Ecclesiarchy is the leader in robotics and bioengineering, especially cybernetics, the Phrontisterion is not surprisingly noted for its science and technology sectors. However, other fields like art are equally enlightening experience, and the forward-looking enterprises which hired Phrotisterion-trained sims have reaped great rewards.
While admission is quite simple, the educational schedule is rigorous to say the least: after all, the huge gains in skills could not have come from slacking around. With the Big 6 often leading classes themselves, students are often kept at their toes just to keep up and to meet the minimal skill thresholds. This has resulted in the emaciation of regular "jock" parties associated with colleges, and it is study parties that are the vogue way of socializing in the Phrontisterion. Given that even parties have been engineered to fit the rigorous schedules, knowledge-seekers predominate the student population of the Phrontisterion, resulting in the predominance of Nerds. Rebels find limited but significant appeal in the Phrontisterion: after all, the Big 6 created the Papal State to challenge the status quo, and flock primarily to the philosophy and art classes, while deviance from that, such as enrolling in technology classes, is a common sight amongst the Rebel population. Jocks are pretty much vestigial, as it is very difficult to party and play sports a lot all while keeping up: in fact, more bowling parties are held by professor-led groups than by students. The Phrontisterion supports one sorority and one fraternity, named Gynai Aristai Cheirotechnai and Huioi Epistemes Kalliphengai respectively, shortened to ΓΑΧ (gamma-alpha-chi) and ΥΕΚ (upsilon-epsilon-kappa), meaning the Best Women Artisans and Shining Sons of Knowledge respectively.
Special Thanks
to Facebookerror for providing a basic layout with his page State of Simazonya.
Trivia
- The exchange rate of Drachma is an reference to l33t: Ancient drachmai are worth 6 obols, and conveniently enough 1337 is divisible by 7, and the quotient (191) is the number of simoleon equivalent of an Papal obol.
- Speaking of the State of Simazonya, the Papal State could be considered an antithesis of the mentioned state: Simazonya is a country governed primarily by conservatives which supports consumerism and limited government, whereas the Papal State is a liberal one in which the government involvement in economy is very visible especially in detaining corporations. The Simazonyan economy is reliant on commerce based on large corporations, while the Papal economy relies on industry, light and heavy, manned primarily by individuals and state-owned enterprises.
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