The Technocratic Corporate Confederation Of Dunwik

ARCHIVED POST: OLD LEADERS


Howard Philips Nelson is a tall man in his late forties to early fifties. Square jawed and grey haired, he has a formidable handlebar mustache, a great, flat nose, deep-set green eyes and a broad build. He is most commonly dressed in a dark suit, with each silver button machined to resemble a small cog. A ring of platinum rests on his right ring finger, and his shoes are shined to a mirror polish. He is a blunt. quiet man and does not prefer to do things directly, but his interventionist policy means he is always ready to make himself known. He owns Pole Star Shipwrights as well as the South Seas Trade Corporation, and his globalist view has bolstered his own wealth substantially.
-Slain by Arthur's goons in March 1918.

Maxwell Haig is a short, thin man with gaunt features and a pointed chin. His brown eyes are cold and stare ahead for quite a distance and his white hair is thin and wiry. He prefers white suits, keeping himself immaculately clean, and it is rumored he bathes three times a day. Prone to ramble and emotionless, his business portfolio encompasses a wide array of different smaller businesses stitched together. Meticulous to a fault.
-Killed by the DIA in 1919.

Percival Clarke is the youngest of all the Ministers, and his unlined face is strange amid the gaunt and stern ranks of his compatriots. With a full brown beard and a shining, good natured look to him, he is far more disarming than the others. He prefers red suits, with the same cog buttons as the Grand Chairman. His fortune was made in chocolates and luxury foodstuffs. He's the most empathetic and charming of the ministers, a friendly and calm presence, slow to anger.  
-Killed by Isaac Arthur in February 1917. 

Isaac Arthur is a man in a rumpled suit with black hair streaked with grey. He wears a truly prodigious set of glasses that reflect light, making his eyes difficult if not impossible to see, and his face has severe burns from some distant time. Relatively uncaring of hygiene, he smells like grease and often fiddles with strange trinkets in his pockets. The most flighty of the Ministers, his biggest investments are in electrical corporations, the Edson monopoly being his charge. A tinkerer and a fidgeter, prone to coming up with wild, unorthodox ideas.
-Killed in rocket explosion in 1930

Trevor Lucas is a giant of a man with a crooked nose, small, dark eyes, and a square jaw. His shoulders are incredibly broad and he is bulging with muscle. He wears almost nothing but outdated military dress uniform, and the sword on his hip is anything but ceremonial. He is a temperamental and passionate man, quick to speak and quick to anger, and he sits on the chair of many arms corporations.
-Perished from rapid-onset dementia in 1917

George Lysin is a short, rotund man who would look better in a pair of overalls than a suit, with a huge, bushy white beard and three chins, he waddles about and seems almost a caricature of the farmer. He doesn't speak much, instead preferring his charts. His fortune is held in agriculture, fitting his station. Quiet and conservative, he grounds whatever meeting he's in.
-Died in an accident in 1915.

"Big Tony" is an art magnate, a tremendously fat and jolly man known for his easygoing mannerisms, cultural futurism, and ruthless acquisition of culture.
-Gunned down by Arthur in 1912.

Oscar Bayer is colloquially known as the Magnate of Sin. No man holds as much influence over slavers, prostitutes, smugglers, or mafia men as he. A tall and gangly man, pale and grievously scarred from mob fights in his youth, he has his fingers in just about every debauched industry there is, and his mixture of raging egotism and gallows humor belie a ruthless cunning.
-Died of a stroke in 1910.



Customs

In Dunwik, it is customary to give gifts when beginning negotiations, and failing to do so is almost seen as a slight. Thus, the average Dunwikki considers most foreigners almost disgustingly rude for failing to provide even a tiny trinket from their lands, while the Dunwikki almost always offer generous gifts of exotic drugs or fruits in their business dealings. An intentionally poor gift is an insult, the most common "bad" gift being either the smallest denomination coin one can find, or a withered tulip bulb.

The Dunwikki rarely lie outright, but will obfuscate and exaggerate to twist fact towards their own benefit.

The Dunwikki as a whole love to gamble, and the Dunwikki rich love to open casinos. 

The five largest cities in Dunwik, in descending order, are Miskatonic, Arkhom, Providence, Goldbridge, and Vagus. 
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LAW

INHERITANCE:
In Dunwik, there is no inheritance tax, but debt is also heritable. If a man is to die while holding outstanding debt, his estate is auctioned and as much of his debt as possible is paid off. If no debt remains, the remaining inheritance is dispensed in accordance with his will where applicable. If there is still debt remaining, it is equally split amongst his children, or delivered in accordance with the will. Some incredibly spiteful men holding grudges against their sons have intentionally accrued a tremendous amount of debt just before their deaths, and assigned all of it to one unlucky heir.

SLAVERY
Slavery is legal in Dunwik, and there are three classes of slaves. With sufficient fees, one can purcahase themselves back from their owner.

Class III, or Servants, are men who have sold their exclusive labor to a company. Servants are not particularly discriminated against, and can hold any high office that they can claw their way up to. Indeed, some previous Grand Chairmen were officially Servants to the companies they owned. 

CLASS II, or Indentured, are men who have sold their exclusive labor to a person. Indentured have it harder than Servants. While they receive a higher price for their exclusivity than being a Servant, most who stay here are still quite badly in debt. Upon their death, any bond of being a slave is broken.

CLASS I, or Property, are men who have sold their entire autonomy to a person or corporation. Property are chattel slaves who do not receive wages, and instead are given food and shelter for their labor... sometimes. Usually, becoming Property gives sufficient money to waive all debts a man could reasonably accrue, but it also locks one out of most ways of generating capital. Upon death, becoming Property is passed onto the children - there are corporations who own entire bloodlines. Property can in theory hold office, but this is so ludicrously implausible as to be a joke in Dunwik.

Being a servant from birth was outlawed by Arthur.

EUTHANASIA: In Dunwik, it is legal to kill yourself, so long as you do not have any outstanding debt. If this debt is possessed, then it is increased by half upon suicide. Should the deceased have no family, a friend is given this debt instead. Should the deceased be truly alone, the debt is split between many random distant relatives.

FORBIDDEN ITEMS: In Dunwik, to help support a wide variety of industries, very few items are actually prohibited from being possessed by the public, bar explosives in large amounts and certain forbidden literature (anything positively reflective of Communism or Ludditism). Due to high crime from the urban poor, most Dunwikki are armed, and heavily so. At least every third man in Dunwik has a gun.

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The Resources Of Dunwik: Dunwik, due to being a large area with a wide variety of terrains, is blessed with great natural resources. Most exploited are iron, coal, silver and gold, but other deposits, such as zinc, lead, copper, aluminum, bismuth, manganese, uranium, and phosphates abound. Non-metal resources, such as diamonds and oil are also plentiful, but while the former are mined heavily, the latter is not looked into much, save as a novelty. 

Most of Dunwik's farming is not dedicated towards food, but for the plant prerequisites of a variety of drugs, such as quinine, diamorphine, cocaine, and digitalis. As a result, Dunwik has almost no capacity to export food, and the stockpiling of food has recently been put into place by the government, just in case.

As a heavily industrialized nation, Dunwik does have finished goods, such as carriages, automobiles, and railway engines in spades, but only recently emerging from an isolationist phase has meant that their exports of these things are limited.


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FUN FACTS
Chemistry is a very popular field of science in Dunwik, and chemists are highly sought after due to the booming narcotics industry.
Science fiction is loved by the upper class of Dunwik. The lower class are fond of gambling. 
The Dunwikki national animal is the Dunwikki parrot, a brilliantly colored and fiercely intelligent bird. Well-trained specimens are considered some of the most valuable gifts possible to offer.
The Gini coefficient of Dunwik is 0.6695. 

The flora, fauna, and symbols of Dunwik

The Greater Dunwikki Red Parrot is a large bird renowned for their intelligence, if not their grace in flight. Capable of manipulating objects finely with their beaks and talons, they take some time to take off in flight. However, that is not what they are famous for. The parrot has become a Dunwikki icon for their capacity to speak, not just mimicking other birds, but also people, gunfire, and logging instruments.

The parrots have swarmed the cities and are effective enough to scavenge there, flying easily from building to building and making their roosts in telephone poles just as easily as they do the rainforest. They are seen as the natural exemplar of the Dunwikki spirit for their most common ploy: they panhandle!

The birds have learned to mimic human speech and often fly about, repeating sales pitches. It has been Dunwikki custom to feed birds with particularly amusing pitches, and over the decades they have become fearsomely adept at panhandling.

These birds are the national bird of Dunwik and the pride and joy of Dr. Isaac Arthur, who has been intently studying and breeding them since 1890, hoping to generate a bird of human intelligence to prove that human intelligence can arise without divine intervention.
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Clothing in Dunwik had shifted dramatically at the tail end of the Monarchy, with a shift away from indigenous Dunwikki clothing to Germanic-style outfits from imported cotton to try and fit in with the outside world. However, after 1918, rising Dunwikki nationalism lead to the discarding of such articles and a return to the old methods of dress. Dunwikki clothing is made of fibers from the trees of coconut, banana, or pineapple trees, and dyed either naturally or synthetically, but always bright. Vibrant reds, blues, purples, pinks, and yellows adorn the Dunwikki, oftentimes their clothes smelling sweet, flowing loosely around their bodies. Small pads often exaggerate the size of the shoulders or chest, but otherwise the body beneath is hard to see. 

So too did names see a stark loss of German identity, especially with the Ostrean wars sparking off in the early 1920s. Under the rumors of Ostreans being degenerate and stupid subhumans contaminated with leaden soil and rampant dysgenics, the desire for a more "Dunwikki" identity emerged. Many Dunwikki renamed themselves, with only a few exceptions like Dr. Arthur (too in love with his own name to change it) and Maxwell House (for fear of offending Ostrean trade partners.) Dunwikki names still follow the pattern of: Degree, given name (personal identification), honorific/nickname, family name, governmental position (if extant). An example:

Bch. Zyel "Fingers" Yalmin, Min. Petty Cabinet of Security. 

Dunwikki degrees or honorifics, ascending order of importance:
Bch.
Master.
Dr.
Pf. 

Generally, one is only referred to by the highest honorific, which supersedes all lower ones.

Sample Dunwikki given names:
Ayk 
Borro
Cillan
Dern
Hayak
Obar
Satan (popularized during the Leng War).
Zyel

Sample Dunwikki honorifics/nicknames:
Satan/Accuser (an enemy of religions, cults, or general nonsense. Often taken or given to fiercely militaristic or nationalist Dunwikki.)
[WIP]

Sample Dunwikki last names:
Gilman 
[WIP]

MILITARY OVERVIEW:

As of 1/1/1921 the fleet, army, and navy are as follows:
Aircraft carriers: 10:
8 purpose-built, Oscar Wright Class. 

Oscar Wright, CV-01, Oscar Wright Class. (Commissioned Jan 10th, 1916)

Tomorrow's Dream, CV-02, Oscar Wright Class (Commissioned March 14th, 1916)

Atheist, CV-03, Oscar Wright Class. (Commissioned April 8th, 1916)

Simon Goldwheel, CV-04 (Commissioned May 22nd, 1916)

Miskatonic, CV-05 (Commissioned June 1st, 1916)

Victory, CV-06 (Commissioned November 2nd, 1916)

Robert Wesker, CV-09 (Commissioned May 1st, 1919)

Assured Bed, CV-10 (Commissioned December 8th, 1920)

2 converted battleship hulls
Invisible Hand - CV 07
Arkhom - CV 08

3 battleships
Goldwater (1910)
Fearless (1911)
Nelson's Folly (1919) <- Superheavy.

Heavy Cruisers: 10
Light Cruisers: 20
Destroyers: 40
Submarines: 75
Minelayers: 75

Dunwikki Air Force:
2,500 New Model "Heavy Fighter"
1,000 New Model "Naval Fighter"
1,000 New Model "Heavy Bomber"
500 New Model "Naval Bomber"

Dunwikki Army:
150,000 standing, 300,000 reservists. Approx 3 million Dunwikki men of fighting age are veterans but not called.
Heavy coastal batteries and anti-aircraft guns ring the shores of Sothoth. 

Privately Owned Forces:
4 retrofitted dreadnoughts (1905-1910 manufacture)
Approximately 1,500 older aircraft. (1910-1914 manufacture)
Approximately 150 operational tanks (Sadaler make).

Just before the civil war:
All aircraft carriers had been retrofitted. The total number was 15.
The Nelson's Folly remained intact.
20 heavy cruisers
35 light cruisers
70 destroyers
120 submarines - mostly new.

The Dunwikki Air Force had remained about the same size but were almost entirely new aircraft. Large stocks of spare parts existed.
Private forces remained mostly the same, although a few tanks were lost due to poor maintenance and many planes were upgraded. 

The Dunwikki army had another 200 tanks, for a total of 400. 
Defensive emplacements, particularly anti-shipping and anti-aircraft, had become formidable.