Macronesia

AFRICA || ASIA || AUSTRALIA || EUROPE || WESTERN || HISTORY
::Bioculture:: Macronesians are ethnically very diverse. They are descended from mainland Polyasians, colonial Inca, and Indians. Most of the islands of western Macronesia were taken in the early 1900's by the Indus Codominion to be used as plantations and free land by settlers. The native tribes of these islands were exterminated or enslaved. The islands returned to Macronesian rule, but the inhabitants live the lives of starving peasants trying to grub a subsistence from the now infertile soil. They are enslaved by Khmer pirates who take them to serve in either the brothels of Bangkok or as raw material in the bio-farms of Nongkhai and Mumbai.

The dwindling Nipponese population is clustered in insular guild arcologies around the mountain peaks that are all that's left of the Japanese Islands since the Pacific Rim Quake. The Nipponese export much of their plastics to the rest of Macronesia in return for food and raw material.

The islands of Nippon and southeastern Macronesia, as well as the more powerful islands of the west are, in contrast to the poor islands very wealthy, more than capable of defending themselves against foreign agression, and somewhat insular.

::Totem:: The Macronesians of Nippon had made their Covenant with the carp, while those of the southern islands had made theirs with the shark.

::Religion:: Macronesians are very practical about their religion. They have little problem casting off one religion in favor of a newer, more evolved one. Macronesians have a particular affinity for those religions that emphasize self-reliance. When Taoism came to Nippon it was taken up and integrated in the Shinto nunneries. This synthesis produced a rigorous contemplative tradition known as Zen Taoism, or simply Zen. When Nippon became more secular during the rise of mercantile interests the ubiquity of Zen faded. When Heliotheism swept through the Old Democracy of Macronesia in the 1700's, the Heliotheist priests were very impressed by the meditative practice of the nuns and incorporated it into their practice of merging consciousness with the Sun God. Conversely, the Nipponese, having themselves a popular Shinto Sun Goddess cult adopted Heliotheism with great zeal. When Nippon was forced to open its borders to the Old Democracy following the Pacific Rim Quake of 1903, Zen Heliotheism poured forth from the crucible of Nippon to spread throughout the islands. Within 70 years, the religion had become the single most popular in the history of Macronesia.

::Government:: Macronesia is a libertarian constitutional confederacy based on the loftiest principles of freedom as elucidated in the Paz Incana of the 1800's. Federal government exists only to ensure that the islands do not become tyrannies. The liberty of the individual reigns supreme. Drug use, sexual experiCalxion, and body alteration are all engaged in with abandon.

The wealthy islands of the east enjoy sustained prosperity. The poorer islands of the west are left to fend for themselves. Occasionally, a powerful island will charitably send food or medicine to a weaker island, but mostly the islands are only interested in their internal affairs. Increasingly the powerful islands are becoming more closed to the world and each other. There is no coherent foreign policy anymore, and in some areas of Macronesia civil society itself has broken down.

::Gender:: Macronesians are matrifocal. The Incan women's movements of the Time Between the Wars (the 1800's) increased awareness of sexism within Macronesia, leading ironically to an improvement in the status of men. Macronesians are very liberal as regards sexual and gender dynamics. Homosexuality is considered to be every bit as normal as heterosexuality, much to the anger of the rest of the world.

::Guilds:: The guilds of dance are reknowned the world over. Performances are produced for the mandala and bring in the majority of foreign revenue. Macronesia has produced arguably the most advanced plastics in the world. Nipponese hypersapient organisms dwarf the human intellect. Quicksilver can be bought on the open market. All of the limitations of the Dusseldorf Convention simply don't apply, and so far disaster has mostly been averted.

::Military:: Each of the wealthy islands has small armies of plasmed organisms that perform reconnaissance, predict the possible outcomes of engagements, generate strategy, launch attacks and modify tactics. Macronesians see soldiering as a duty unfit for a human, and are unaware of most of the conflicts that occcur in defense of their Democracy. Some weaker islands will get defended by the armies of the wealthy islands, based upon the decisions of the military plastics. Hawai'i is a garden paradise due to the fact that during WWII all humans there were killed by an overzealous army. The army continues to be extremely vigilant against any human presence.

::Shashi:: Shashi have all the rights of other Macronesians, but they are extremely poor and most have been forced to sell themselves into indentured servitude.

::Geography:: Macronesia includes all of the islands of the western Pacific, with the exception of Tazmania and Aoteaia. Indian settlers implemented slash and burn agriculture upon the western islands, and many of these are now pretty much lifeless because of the loss of topsoil due to erosion. Nippon was turned into a chain of small islands by the same earthquake that altered the western coast of the Seeded Grounds.