Verse:Technoquintlan/Theocracy of the Last City
The Theocracy of the Last City is a city in Technoquintlan. It is not affiliated with any country on Terra or Tricin. This city was founded on fundamentalist Christian values.
It is also one of the only cities in Technoquintlan which ban any form of artificial enhancement of the body, like neural chips.
History
By fT 2350 (Gregorian year 2079) a form of liberalism was surfacing on both Terra and Tricin, which started as wokeism on Terra and Clofabian anti-religionism in Tricin. Because of this, non-anti-religious groups on the two worlds, especially Christian groups, have been persecuted. To solve this, these people decided to establish a city around fT 2425 on top of the Platonic mountains (Schlaub: Schrog-Schrog Pla-Tö) on the border between the Tessaronic-speaking country of Mpfa Tä and the Octaplician-speaking country of Lykker.
The founding fathers of the city (called the First) decided to create a list of moral values all humans should achieve and use it as their law-book. However, they faced a problem of being unbiased while being morally “good”. This is, in fact, the same dilemma described in Hlou morality books (which ones?).
By this time, the Darwinian theory of evolution and the Big Bang theory were widely accepted scientific theories, however, the First were pondering over how they would be possible. Since they had the luxury of studying Terran and Trician religions, they studied which ones were most consistent with science and morality. As the Darwinian theory of evolution had too many logical gaps in it, they scrapped considering it shortly after.
Eventually, after such consideration, the First used Christianity as the ‘official religion’ of the city they wanted to establish due to its belief that there is a universal being (God) who is the embodiment of truth and who created the universe through intelligent design. To the First, God was the solution to many moral dilemmas, as they believed his Son set the bar for high moral standards.
The first immigrants (from fT 2425 to present) were from Lykker as well as Mpfa Schlaub and Mpfa Tä. Shortly after, Chinese Christians found a refuge in this city (fT 2500 to present). Only a small number of non-Christians, most notably Judaists, managed to infiltrate the city (from fT 2600 to fT 2675) without the government’s knowledge: the rest were quickly wiped out. These people ‘pretended’ to be Christian in order to settle in the colony.
Today, Lykker and Mpfa Tä are currently debating over who claims ownership of the city and is one of the most heated debates within these two nations. Mpfa Schlaub and Democratic China are acting as mediators though they have been unsuccessful in their efforts. In fact, the two opposing parties involved strongly believe that the mediators are there secretly to gain ownership of the Last City.
Demographics
All data is taken from the fT 2700 Hundredyear Census of Technoquintlan.
Population: 4.5 million
Type of government: Theocracy (duh)
Ethnicity
- 40% Hlou
- 34% Han (Chinese)
- 20% Platonic
- 4% Caucasian
- 1% Other
Religion
- 96% Christian
- 90% Methodist
- 7% Lutheran
- 3% Other
- 3.5% Judaism
- 0.5% Other
Languages
The de facto official languages of TotLC are Colloquial Schlaub and Rhomboidean Octaplician. Wug Nlab is spoken by mathematicians, musicians, astronomers, and logicians. Mandarin is recognized as an official minority language. (Last City Mandarin is written with the Schlaub featural script and is called an "initial-and-rime script".) All government materials and newspapers are printed in Schlaub, Octaplician, and Mandarin. Recently there has been a creole of these languages surfacing within the younger members of the city, called Last City Creole by foreign linguists.
Other languages spoken within family units are Gloob, Tessaronic, English, Standard German, Norwegian, Russian, and other varieties of Chinese.
Structure of the city
The city consists of five districts; North, South, West, East, and Centre.
Northern district
This district has a population of 1.41 million people. Near the border of the city is the Norwegian-speaking enclave, and part of the Judaist sector (not recognized by the government) is situated there. This cistrict houses many of the speakers of Octaplician.
Southern district
This district has a population of 1.6 million. Most important historical buildings, including the Gein in Schräd and Museums of Musical Instruments and Theology are situated here.
Western district
This district has a population of 640 thousand people. It contains equally both Schlaub and Octaplician-speaking peoples with a slim majority for the former.
Eastern district
This district has a population of 430 thousand people. It contains most of the Chinese-speaking people in the city. In addition, the Last City University is situated there.
Central district
This district has a population of 520 thousand people and contains most of the Gloob-speaking people in the city. The Music Hall (the concert hall of the city) and the government office are in here.
Life in the city
There are no social classes: everyone is given the same standard of living, equivalent to an average middle-class person in a developed country today. Men and women are given equal opportunities in school and in work. As a working adult, one is expected to be a tradesman: if not, other non-specializing people can participate in volunteer work for libraries, schools, or churches.
There are no homeless people: housing is given by the government. Hotels are also constructed the same way. An average house in the Last City has one storey, a living room, a kitchen, two bathrooms, and two bedrooms and has an area of 100 square metres. Most buildings are made out of wood and stone.
Primary and secondary education is compulsory, though it believes that every child should hone their God-given talents. All students have a good training in science, mathematics, language arts, and Christian theology.
Tertiary education is not compulsory though it is encouraged. 60% of the inhabitants who are old enough to enter university study or have studied at the University of the Last City. Music is the most-studied subject there, followed by Christian theology and mathematics. The Poch Award is given by the government of the Last City to schools around Technoquintlan where the students are known to have good moral standards, and the school is known to give the students a good education.
The Last City is also home to one of the largest libraries in Technoquintlan, which is known in Schlaub as the Gein in Schräd (literally “tree of writing”).
Tourism has never been an issue: usually people come to this city to serve in universities or churches. Immigration and emigration are both legal. However, it is highly recommended that the parents of the child can give the child a good education or know places to find some.
Information is not censored, however, there is a ban on all social media for all children under the age of 13, and by the time they turn into teenagers, they will know how to discern between good content and bad content. In addition, books and movies are censored by the government, and only material which show no traces of ungodly statements or images can be imported into the city.
Since the only lawbook in the city is the Bible, many activities are legal, but activities which are illegal (or in other words, ungodly) are well-eradicated. Any form of abuse is taken seriously.
The city mostly uses either solar or wind energy: however, recently, the government has been tapping into geothermal sources due to the large number of dormant volcanoes around it. In addition, fossil fuels have never been used here.
Most (95%) people in this city do not eat red meat. There are no supermarkets in the city: instead, there are many farmers’ markets.
Important people
- Trevelyan Ekacrank - historical linguist and mathematician, notably one of the last to preserve the 21st century Anglo language