Tora
The tropical islands of Tora are fast moving places, with time itself seeming rushed here. At least, from the way its citizens move through life. From people flying through the sky with their own magic, to dragons flying in between skyscrapers, lit up from the lights of the screens attached. Tora stops for little, aside from improving their technology and finding better ways to accomplish tasks. With the past firmly in the rearview, its people tend not to look back, focused on what tomorrow holds. With the present turning into a blur, it's easy to miss that the path they are taking might have more issues than they would like to believe. But if you don't try it at least once, how are you sure it's going to fail?
Controlling the skies above and many of the islands with the South-Western archipelago, Tora is the nation of the Lightning Elemental. Its glowing cities grow tall from the mountainous islands of the archipelago, with their skyscrapers far above the clouds. High enough above the ground, that depending on who you are, your feet may never touch the soil far beneath. Flying is a way of life in Tora, with the storm surfers catching the air currents in the Eternal Storms that constantly touch the shores, to the dragons that swoop between buildings. There is little surprising of Tora's dominant Air Forces that have brought ruin against those that have challenged in wars of the past. Though, Tora's true proficiency in war comes from their rapid development of technology. Dominating the field of CrystalTech and Computer Science, Tora lets little get in the way of progress. No matter the cost. Anything can be justified if it gets the nation ahead of the others, and pity those that believe they can stand in their way.
General Overview
As a nation with a focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, Tora holds the most respect to those that enter fields that forward the interest of the nation. Merit and skill focused, its citizens are able to relatively easily move between classes, provide they choose the right career. Those that attract the attention of those higher up may even be awarded with rank and power, even if they normally wouldn't be able to achieve it within their lifetime. At the head of the country still sits the Royal family, establishing Tora as a monarchy. Certain companies benefit from the lack of regulation, as long as they contribute towards the nation's interests. Changes to laws occur almost instantly, as the Royals can dictate over and above the legislative branch, and they follow the whims of the technology council more so than the elected ministers far below. Government funding exists to support citizens with the essentials, but some areas are less covered than in other nations, as much government funding is redirected towards the development of technologies.Overall, Torian law appears to be fairly hands-off. Especially in the technology industries. A move that has brought much criticism, since the only ethics that Tora seems to stand for are academic, not moral. As long as one isn't plagiarizing another group's paper, or manipulating studies for a result, the harm caused is not a variable in the equation of whether Tora will fund it. Overall, people generally go about their days, and the culture of Tora is accepting of differences so not to exclude a portion of the brain-power of its populace. Its people have little respect for the past, or its lessons, always focused on what tomorrow holds. Losing people in the cracks as they race forward.
But this perceived freedom is more of an illusion than most would prefer to believe. Trackers follow every footstep placed against the beautiful glowing streets in the cities, and each citizen celebrates their entrance to adulthood with the insertion of a tracking chip in their neck. Valuable in the sense that it provides vital health information, and allows Tora to have an accurate idea of those that are alive or dead in such a dangerous world. But the chips are constantly interfacing with the other surveillance methods, updating the location as a person moves. Between the cameras, online algorithms, and the chips, Tora is aware of almost everything that occurs within it. Privacy is a foreign word. Those that attempt to shield themselves from the constant intrusion bring themselves into competition with the nation's best computer scientists. An arms race in the background, with the challengers developing new ciphers and encryption almost as fast as the nation develops methods to crack them. If you want to be free to do as you please, you either need to have the skill, or the money to pay for the services from someone that does. All while Tora tries to buy their skills to join their side of the equation.
While the clean streets, the glittering lights in the glass of the buildings, and the publically funded schools may bring question as to what anyone has to hide from the government that they would dedicate their life to, Tora's recent alliance with Isolde has brought the lives of thousands of refugees into question. Alongside the darker aspects of society lurking in the underground of the city, hide Mixed Elementals and the critics of Isolde just trying to hold onto their lives. The extradition requests have been increasing, as Isolde knows where they ran to, with the Local Forces members that once defended them now hunting them. Relying on those that willing help them in defence of their own values, hoping that the jingling of the jewels in the bank of the Torian government won't get too loud in their ears.
Government Structure
Tora's head of state is always the highest ranking Royal in the line of succession, generally the Queen. Beside them rules their lower ranked partner, a Queen-consort, King, or Regent. The eldest daughter of the ruling pair always is next in line for succession. However, in the case no daughters can take the throne, a man or Non-binary person can take the role of sovereign. In these cases, their partner would be regulated to Princess, Prince or Prinx. In the modern day, the non-ruling Royals do not have divided roles based on gender, with all princesses, princes, and prinxes serving as diplomatic and government representatives once they are adults. Overall, Tora's Royal family lineage does face a fairly regular amount of disruption, either through small rebellions of the past, or even the acts of lone dissenters that usurp the crown. Still, their Royal family tends to hold a large amount of Golden power, and the surveillance helps to assure that groups of dissenters generally do not last long enough to build into a full-blown rebellion. It does contribute to the fact that the Torian Royal family is often paranoid of their own citizens, though.In Tora, the legislative branch of composed of the premiers of each province, generally only the size of individual islands, that are appointed by the Royals from the elected ministers beneath them. The elected ministers compose the legislative branch of the provinces, and beneath them are the representatives of each of the cities. Overall, most elected office members come from the academic field, with few coming from different career paths. A voting in Tora is done electronically. While promoted as secure, many groups in Tora often criticism the idea, given the large amount of motivation to interfere with the elections domestically. The Royals often brush off these concerns, though many wonder if this has more to do with how little they care for the votes and decrees of the legislative branch. Manipulating the votes would only affect the individual provinces and cities the most, the highest ranks are hand-picked.
Working alongside the Royals, and Legislative branch is the Judicial branch, composed of the highest national courts and the lower provincial courts that handle the majority of civil and criminal cases. The supreme court has its members appointed by the legislative branch from the lower courts. While the courts do hold power, the legislative branch and the Royals do hold the ability to pardon those convicted by the courts. As well, the Royals do have the ability to 'pause' constitutional conflicts with the court for five years, provided they apply for it after the courts have determined that a law or policy is unconstitutional.
For other councils, Tora has the Military, Diplomat and technology councils. The Technology Council handles approvals of research funding in the country. They also organize the scientists and employees that make up the technology divisions, providing offensive and defensive support for the government. Of all the councils and branches, they hold the most sway to the Royals, often requesting that long entrenched laws be bent to allow certain research, as long as they can prove that it will be beneficial to the nation. Working closely with the Technology council is the Military council, which organizes the more physical matters of offence and defence, as well as the law enforcement around the country. The Diplomat council works to fight off Tierra's constant annoyances about 'regulation' and 'ethics', as well as selling Tora's technology to the other country. And talking their way out of the militaries 'preemptive' skirmishes against the other nations forces.
Economy
Tora has a mixed market economy, with variable amounts of government regulation among industries. Overall, this regulation is less than other nations, though not as hands off for some industries as Isolde. Healthcare, emergency services, education system including post-secondary schools, prison system and military are publically funded. Medications, other than essential vaccines, are controlled through price regulation, but are not publically funded. Other goods and services are handled through the free market, determining pricing through supply and demand. Areas of the free market are monitored, but have little investigation unless complaints are brought forth, at which point it enters the courts to determine if a violation has taken place. Monopolies do tend to start to develop within Tora, as businesses start to make deals to limit the effects of competition, but generally this is left to its own devices. The culture of competition, and spying, tends to break these deals apart.While unions exist in Tora, they are often discouraged. Worker abuses are not uncommon, especially in the technology industries (ex: Crunch time). Ethical questions abound through their business practises, almost as much as they follow behind the researchers in the countries' academia sector. Protections for workers and for ethics are often cut in order to reduce red tape. Back-to-work orders are often used in the case that striking workers interfere with the goals of the nation, and enforced by Local Forces members. Part of the Local Forces goals are to protect the infrastructure of businesses, and technology production, sometimes over placing this duty over the protection of the citizen's rights they are supposed to protect.
Tora has marginal brackets for their income taxes. Those with low incomes are taxed at the lowest possible rate, while those that make enough to fall in the highest bracket are taxed at a rate of 40% on the portion of their income that passes this threshold. Non-essential goods have a goods and services tax applied. Corporate sales taxes are applied, but differ depending on the industry. In Tora, these differing rates mean that technology focused industries are often exempt from taxes, or pay extremely low rates. Industries with a focus on arts are often taxed at a far higher rate, as Tora views these industries as 'non-essential', and luxuries. This includes media, television, the film industry, books and other forms of entertainment. Other entertainment, such as recreational drugs and gambling are also taxed at a high rate, but are legal, bringing in a large amount of revenue. The central bank decides on the current tax rates, and their suggestions are made law by the legislative branch.
Military
The military in Tora is seen in a neutral light, not an esteemed career, but certainly more productive than participating in the arts. It is well funded by the government as the Technology council works closely with the Military to achieve similar goals, and advocates for funding. Tora maintains a sizeable force with volunteers during times of 'peace', excluding the constant fight against the Scourge. However, during times of active conflict with the other nations, Tora does use conscription to bolster their forces. Tora's draft does not discriminate by career choices or by gender. Those with a higher level of education will be drafted into commandant and air forces positions, while those without are more likely to end up as infantry. All citizens are automatically registered at adulthood to the draft. The powers of conscription have not been used in the case of all conflicts that Tora is involved with, and the current Royal must approve its use. Active advertising campaigns are used during times of peace to increase recruitment, often making use of the many trackers and algorithms on the web to find those most likely to be swayed.As an organization, the Torian military is composed of nine specialized divisions. Within these nine, the offensive and defensive divisions include the Air Forces, Defence, Espionage, Infantry and Magic Forces divisions. Domestic divisions include the Interrogation , Local Forces , Front Lines and Weaponry divisions. Each division is led by two Council Members, and their Lieutenant. The Military Council itself is led by two Generals, and their Second-in-Commands. The largest divisions are the Air forces and Espionage divisions. Tora's Military Council works closely with the Technology Council for data, hacking, defensive firewalls, and spearheading the technology that they would like developed.
Movement between ranks in Tora's military is fairly fluid. The institution rewards merit, innovation and wit, benefiting those that create new strategies. Bending the rules for the sake of accomplishments is encouraged. Largely, the military is unbiased against men, non-binary people, and Mixed Elementals. While Mixed Elementals may rarely be promoted to the Gold-Clad ranks of the Military Council, they can be found fairly regularly in the Silver-Clad and Bronze-Clad ranks. Similarly, non-Lightning citizens are welcome in many of the ranks, provided they are willing to bring their skills to the table.
Enforcement, the Law and Justice System
While certain industries are less regulated in Tora, their everyday people are held to the letter of the laws that they have. The law in Tora is usually enforced through their vast network of surveillance. Local Forces members occasionally patrol streets, but the focus remains on digital crimes, and those that are tracked through cameras and sensors. Small crimes usually result in fines, which are adjusted by income level to guarantee that they do not become the price of committing said crime. Theft especially is monitored through multiple system from stores, and while shoplifting is usually considered a minor crime, theft from 'strategic' industries can result in prison time being part of the sentence. Tora's justice system operates under the assumption that all are innocent until proven guilty without a reasonable doubt. Being let out on bail is available for charges, although this is not allowed for those that have been accused of committing serious crimes, especially those that are violent. Tora's court systems tend to prefer to process cases quickly, and are funded according to their ability to work through any backlogs. This is often justified by their vast array of tracking data and video evidence. Lawyers are available, and all people accused of a crime have a right to a publically funded defender. However, sometimes what the accused requires the most is someone trained to acquire the raw footage from the systems so that it may be compared against the prosecutors. Tora does allow some use of force to acquire information during investigations, though this is discouraged when more civilized methods are available. Use of force has historically been used and allowed more on Prisoners of War, rather than civilian investigations.Tora's prison system is often viewed with concern regarding its treatment of prisoners. Many are volunteered to assist with studies for developing technology, something often offered with the possibility of a reduced sentence or at the threat of worse treatment later. Given the lack of ethics found in Tora's research bodies, these can be physically or psychologically harmful. Not everyone that goes through these experiments will survive, and rumours spread that their remains are not left to dissipate naturally as is considered right in Erina, but rather donated by the government for research. Military service on the Front Lines is only available to those that volunteer to reduce their sentences. Similar to many parts of Tora's society, efficiency is held is high regard. Proper rehabilitation often can be placed as a lower priority to the numbers of getting people out of the prison system. Ex-convicts are often looked down upon in Tora's society, though they are rarely completely blacklisted from careers. They are forever monitored at far stricter rate than others.
The reliance that their Local Forces members and Justices have developed on the technology in their hands has led to several blind spots in their work. Those that wish to skirt the law often do so by working against the surveillance, creating blackouts of their activities, or by bribing those that would hold them accountable. This has created an underground market within Tora of criminals dealing in illegal substances, and trafficking of persons. Outright violence in the streets of Tora is uncommon, but not that rare of a sight when various gangs tend to surface. While those that become obvious may quickly be caught, their release sometimes comes faster than those that are not gang-affiliated. There have also been several cases of the Torian government working with criminal groups to forward their interests, while protecting the group from the Local Forces.
Societal Values
Tora's main values are the pursuit of knowledge, progress and technology. Individual freedoms are often considered disposable when working towards these goals, though in other areas are left to reign over the collective for the pursuit of money, depending on the context. Torian belief is that problems can be solved through investigation and new technologies, even those of societal origin. Debate and deliberations can often be seen as tedious., and violence is seen as a means to an end, but considered lesser to developing more elegant solutions. Most of Tora's citizens hold a mindset of acting first and contemplating the consequences later. Quickly implemented technology and solutions have caused major issues for the nation in the past, a lesson that their society has no intention of learning from. Their newest gold example has a spotlight held to it, while the pile of failed inventions it stands on top of go ignored.There is little value seen from the Arts, Social Sciences or Historical studies in Tora. These are often considered lesser areas of study and receive little funding. Unlike areas in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, degrees in these areas often are only partially funded. Those that continue to pursue them often do so at the cost of the respect of their families and friends. Even to the point of estrangement and isolation. Careers that work towards the goals of the nation are respected. Those that are neither Arts nor Science are seen as neutral, required careers, but they are rarely seen in the same light as technology.
Overall, Tora believes its acceptance of change as a benefit, and a reason it should be seen better than the other nations of the world. It is the country that brought forth the CrystalTech that the world now relies on, after all. It's also the nation that the idea of Ocean Navigating Ships sprung from, and the rest of the world is very aware of how Tora's lack of regulation of the industry was a massive part of why the Devastation Pandemic occurred. For other groups, Tora's citizen's lack of attachment to the past has been a massive boon. Specifically, Mixed Elementals, men, and Non-binary people. While historically Tora's culture was very speciesist and misandry flourished, the march of time has led to a more equal society, especially with the previous Alliance of Firina and Tora influencing policy. However, this quickness to change has also meant that Tora's values have been shifting once more with the competing ideas of Isolde. And the values that once led them to protect the refugees arriving seem to be slipping away as Tora sees the value of the alliance with Isolde. Their lack of regulation of the advertising business may have some role in this, as both Isolde and their ally, the Tuscendite work to try and sway the citizens. With a nation so focused on looking forward, some aren't able to make the connection from the present to the past. Especially between the modern day and the time the Tierrian Empire once reigned.
Foreign Relations
[Work-In-Progress, to be added later]Important Historical Figures
[Work-In-Progress, to be added later]History Overview
[Work-In-Progress, to be added later]
Type
Geopolitical, Country
Related Professions
Related Species
Related Myths
Ice Elementals: 12%
Fire Elementals: 11%
Earth Elementals: 5%
Percent Mixed Elementals: 19%
Profession Workers (Computer Scientists, software and hardware workers, Engineers, Chemists and Physicists)
Fishery Products
Electrical Power and Products
Machines
Skilled Workers (Mechanics, Technicians)
Agricultural Products (Tea, tropical crops and oils)
Agricultural Resources (Cereal Crops, Produce, livestock, raw materials required for fabrics, dairy, and eggs)
Heating Technologies
Blacksmith Tools and Products
Cooking Wares and Stoves
Forestry Products
Luxury Goods
Clothing
Professional Workers (Medical professionals, Psychologists, Combat Medics, Gold Smiths, Lawyers, and Judges)
Skilled Workers (Blacksmiths, Mercenaries, Miners and Farmers)
Friendly
While Tora does not agree with what Isolde does to their own citizens, their mutual goal of independence to do as they please without scrutiny brings the two nations together against Tierra and Firina. However, the two friends of convenience both still view each other with suspicion due to Isolde's continued belief in the Heirarchy of Elementals, and the fact that Tora's citizens have a habit of concealling refugees from extradition requests.
Neutral
Tierra and Tora have a long history of differing opinions on matter of laws, ethics, and progress. While Tierra largely sees Tora as an ally, their dominance over laws regarding experiments and technology globally works against Tora's interests. It is unlikely in the case of war or emergency that Tora would come to Tierra's aid.
Neutral
The two nations have been far friendlier in the past, but overtime the goodwill has withered away. With some minor incidents of conflict, spying, and Tora's continued practise of 'non-affliated criminals' participating in harvesting Firen tears, tensions continue to rise, and relations will likely further deteriorate.
Hostile
Tora considers the Hybrids pests, but are largely confident in preventing their infiltration, and were not effected by Emilia's previous attempts to take power. Given that their attacks have largely been against Firina and Tierra, Tora focuses on keeping them out of important roles, rather making any attempts at eradication. For Emilia's Hybrids, Tora's focus on surveillance and digital tracking has made attempts more difficult, but perhaps not as impossible as Tora believes.
Hostile
Tora has responded to Isolde's requests for assistance against the Rebels by providing information support and hacking attempts. This in turn has made their infastructure and soldiers a target for the Rebels. While the common citizens remain unaware, upper government officials of Tora are aware of the Rebels true nature through their infiltratition of Isolde systems. The limited tech of the Rebels and Tora's citizens believing in the idea of a grassroots rebelion against Isolde are largely what limits Tora's effectiveness.
Unfriendly
The Tuscendite seek to cleanse Tora of all the interspecies relations that their government has allowed over the years, as well as reinstating the Heirarchy of the Elementals as law. They have a disinformation campaign working to sway disillusioned citizens of Tora to their ideology and to increase hate. Despite the Tuscendite being allied with Isolde, Tora still works to harm their movement in subtle cyber attacks, but their effectiveness is reduced for the sake of diplomacy.
I never thought to use the relationship generator for countries before! I need to use that! Wonderfully well done article!