Difference between revisions of "Genosha"

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[[Category: Locations - Phase 1]]
 
[[Category: Locations - Phase 1]]
[[Category: Glossary]]
 
 
[[Category: 2012]]
 
[[Category: 2012]]

Revision as of 15:01, 23 October 2014

PHASE 1


Genosha
Genosha.jpg
First Seen: Genosha Arc


A small island off the coast of Africa, Genosha was on the road to becoming an industrial power in the area, due to their use of mutant labour. in June 2012, the overthrow of the Moreau Government resulted in a number of changes to the status quo, including the freeing of all mutant 'slaves' and a more cooperative system.

Details

Current population: 3,560,000 (64% European, 6% East Indian, 12% Malagasy, 14% East African, 6% Other)

Capital: Hammer Bay (formerly Nieuw Zuider) pop: 1,185,000

Law and Order

Genosha does not have a standing army. Instead, it relies on a force called the Genoshan Magistrates, who function as a federal police force. There are three levels of Magistrates. The lowest rung – Civil Forces - are tasked for general police work across the island. The next rung – Defense Forces – are responsible for the military aspects of the island and national defense, including a small navy and airforce. The elite Magistrates are the Genoshan Task Forces, who have total authority over all mutant and mutant related security issues. The GTF is one of the elite counter-mutant forces in the world. The city of Prenova is completely staffed with GTF Magistrates. The head of all Magistrate forces is Chief Magistrate Tam Anderson, a career officer and a sixth generation Genoshan.

While Genosha was a democratic country, under the Moreaus, certain freedoms were curtailed, including free speech, the right to assembly, and the freedom of the press. State censorship was common, although lightly handled in most areas. Any information about Genosha’s mutants and mutate program was very carefully managed and censored, and access was strictly controlled. The mutant living areas on the island were another story – they were extremely tightly controlled and monitored, and all information coming into the areas was strictly censored.

Following the fall of the Moreaus, things have been changing, although slowly and not without difficulties.

Politics

Genosha is a parliamentary democracy and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. There are three main parties in Genosha – Labour, National Progressive, and the Genoshan Democratic party – however, the NPP has been the ruling party in power since the mid-50s, and indirectly controls much of the bureaucracy and the courts. Prime Minister David Moreau has been power for over fifteen years, having recently won his fourth election as the head of the NPP. Dr. Sasha Ryan is the Commissioner for Mutant Affairs – the second most powerful position on Genosha – with wide ranging powers over the entire mutant population, as well as the GTF.

The original Genoshan mutants – of which four remain – were part of a political body called the Commission. The Commission reported to Dr. Ryan, and was responsible for advising the government on mutant related policies. They had immense influence on the deployment of the island’s mutant resources, as well as the legal status of future mutants. The Commission had been Genosha’s main response to foreign criticism regarding their mutant population, and was the government’s ambassador to the Genoshan mutant population. They were widely popular and save for two exceptions, content to support the government’s curtailing of freedoms for their own kind. With the televised slaying of those two members of the Commission and the revelation of the extent of their support of the Moreaus, the role of the Commission in Genoshan politics has been reduced. Genoshan mutants are slowly learning to speak for themselves, as an equal part of society.

History

Genosha is a small island off the coast of Madagascar. It was originally colonized by Dutch representatives of the East India Company in the 1600s, was taken over by the British and then gained its independence and became a sovereign nation. Its current population is a mix of European, African and Indian settlers, with a minority native population that has been largely assimilated. The island is rich in mineral deposits, valuable in industry, which made it important to the East India Company up until the company's collapse. Genosha's position made it an excellent shipping point, and naval station against Madagascar corsairs for centuries, and most of the economy was based on either shipping or fruit exports.

Following independence and the rise of air and surface shipping, Genosha struggled to establish itself as a nation, lacking the facilities to take full advantage of its natural resources. While very rich in minerals, natural gas and oil resources, the geographical nature of the resources were extremely challenging to mine or drill. Most nations went for easier finds in the Middle East and Africa, leaving Genosha unable to fund a developing industry. The island eked out a basic existence for a number of years, until after WW2, when the island's mutant population turned things around.

In the 1960s, the eight mutants (native born and immigrants) who comprised the island's entire mutant contingent out of an entire population of less than one million, were made public. The government had been approached with the discovery of their powers, and in that meeting, it was determined that these abilities could potentially replace the vastly expensive equipment that the island needed to make use of their resources. If they would use their powers for the betterment of Genosha, in return for their service, Genosha was willing to offer specialist health services, accommodation and generous wages to them. The project was a success, and Genosha began to focus on their mineral and energy industry to supplant the lost jobs and revenue from shipping.

When an apartment building was accidentally damaged in a powers incident, it was agreed to establish separate living quarters for the mutant workers, away from the general population as a safety measure and in the vicinity of the burgeoning industrial district. The original 8 strongly endorsed this, since the study of controlling mutant powers was limited at best.

The experiment proved successful, Genosha beginning to prosper from the proceeds of the mining and trade with other nations and the mutant workers thriving. In an effort to increase the mutant workforce, immigration was encouraged, and the original eight married, having large families.

The Genoshan arrangement came to the attention of Professor Charles Xavier in the 1980s, when a newly-manifested second-generation Genoshan mutant was brought to the newly-established Muir Island Research Facility with a maladaptive mutation and Charles was consulted on the case. Accompanied by his mother, one of the original eight, the young man's treatment was covered by the Genoshan government. Unfortunately, his mutation proved fatal, and in counseling the grieving mother, Charles established the nature of the Genoshan arrangement and cautiously accepted it might prove, like Attilan, an example of a co-operative mutant-human society.

By the 2000s, with the mutant workers in their third generation, Genosha was beginning to become something of an industrial power in the region, with international investors making the government increasingly wealthy. As demand for production grew, so too did the need for mutants with industrially 'useful' powers. Unfortunately, natural means and even immigration was not providing the powers and numbers needed, despite various programs in the 1980s and 1990s, and production began to fall behind demand, the country facing financial collapse and a crippling Depression.

In 2004, when a genetic splicing technique was put on the market by a Mr. Joe MacTaggart shortly before the Proteus incident, the increasingly-materialistic Genoshan government saw a solution to their problem. The technique, created by Dr. Nathaniel Essex as a part of Project Tearaway, provided a means by which 'useless' powers could be made industrially viable. The research provided was incomplete and unstable, but in a similar series of experiments to Rory Campbell's Hounding process, Genoshan scientists under the direction of a secretive figure called the Genegineer developed the 'mutate' process, by which they could amplify - or decrease, in cases where a mutant was considered too powerful to be safely controlled - a mutant's powers, and combine two powers together to make something that could be used in industry. The process made the subject passive and easily controlled, a side effect that the government, increasingly fearful of the original eight mutants' political and financial influence, kept under wraps. The original eight mutants, now leaders among a mutant workforce of several hundred, were approached regarding providing volunteers for the process, and seeing a means to consolidate their influence and become more powerful by having Genosha relying entirely on the mutant population, they agreed. A number of mutants with 'useless' powers were pushed into the program and the resulting mutates, bonded into environmental suits that allowed the Genoshan government to track every movement and function, saved the country's economy and the government - and the original eight mutants - were hailed as heroes.

As a whole, the Genoshan population was unaware of - or was reluctant to seek detailed information about - the mutate process and its results. Aware that their rather high quality of life was dependent on the island's industry, they paid little attention to the 'new' workers and their lack of free will. There were been rumblings, however, and organizations such as Amnesty International began to receive the first rumours of something not being quite right. Charles was likewise unaware of the extent of the issue since Cerebro was not calibrated to detect artificially-generated power fluctuations such as those caused by the mutate process. The actual size of the mutate population in Genosha was a state secret.

In June 2012, following the abduction of a number of staff and students from Xavier's and the subsequent rescue attempts, things changed dramatically. David Moreau was killed by his son, Phillip, who was in turn gunned down by the Magistrates protecting him. Thomas Moreau, the 'genius' behind the worst of Genosha's human rights abuses, was killed by a mixed group of Xavier's mutants, having genetically engineered himself into a cybernetic monster as a 'solution' to the mutant 'problem'. In the wake of Genosha's liberation, Dr. Sasha Ryan was elevated to the position of Interim President, with Chief Magistrate Tam Anderson assisting to return law and order to the war-torn island. Genosha is currently rebuilding, both literally and metaphorically, seeking to become a true democracy.

Geography

47,040 km2, Genosha is a small island to the north of Madagascar. It is roughly oblong, and just under 300km long at the longest point.

Towards the east, a steep escarpment leads from the central highlands of the Ridgeback Range down into a ribbon of rain forest with a narrow coastal further east. On the western side of the island, the descent from the central highlands toward the west is more gradual, becoming the Krolik foothills, with remnants of deciduous forest and savannah-like plains (which in the south and southwest, are quite dry and host spiny desert and baobabs). Hammer Bay is set on the massive natural harbour of Crescent Bay on the south-western side of the island.

There are two seasons: a hot, rainy season from November to April, and a cooler, dry season from May to October. South-eastern trade winds predominate, and the island occasionally experiences cyclones.

Cities

Hammer Bay - The capital of Genosha, it was renamed from the original Dutch Nieuw Zuider when the British took over the island following the war between the two countries in the 17th century. Hammer Bay is the largest city in Genosha, featuring the main seat of government and the financial district. It sits on Crescent Bay, which boosts a large seaport. Genosha International Airport sits on the other end of the bay, connected with the city on part of a vast monorail system. In the city center is The Citadel, a large concrete-and-glass tower which holds the government offices plus the mutate processing labs and, in the lower levels, a prison area for political prisoners and those awaiting transport to Prenova.

Carrion Cove - a former pirate enclave, Carrion Cove is the second largest city in Genosha, and the main industrial center.

Enmann - The main leisure and tourism city, Enmann is on the west coast, in the middle of a long expanse of famous beaches and resorts.

Prenova - a small industrial city to the north, almost entirely government owned and operated, where both the main deep mining and oil and gas projects originate from. Prenova is only accessible by air, sea or rail.

Society

In many ways, before the events of June 2012, Genosha was touted as an ideal modern post-colonial country. While the majority of the population is of European origin, it maintains a strong, multi-cultural society. Genosha has strong anti-discrimination laws, covering sex, race, sexual orientation, and religion, and both the business community and the government well represent the demographics of the population. Immigration is low and tightly controlled, accepting less than five thousand applications a year. Genosha does have a very active guest worker program, especially for high tech and trades in their industrial sector from the West and Japan, and for low end service positions in their tourism and hospitality industry, which is mostly comprised of Indian and South-East Asian workers.

Genoshans are not anti-mutant, but over the last five decades, the NPP had evolved to encourage the idea that mutants represented a kind of natural resource, and that mutants were responsible to the state. Because of this idea of ‘service’ and the strong patriotic message put forward by the Commission, most non-mutate mutants considered their situation as their duty to their country – the term ‘economic soldier’ was often used. As well, the NPP had used examples of unrestrained mutants and mutant terrorism to build up the idea that uncontrolled ‘free’ mutants were a danger to themselves and others. By pushing a message of duty inside the mutant enclaves, and a message of concern and fear to the general population, Genoshans rarely questioned their position on mutants. The belief of the general population was not unlike segregation in the US – mutants were separate but equal; important members of Genoshan society who were kept separate and looked after by the government for their own good.

However, since the ‘discovery’ of the mutate process, there was a change in the government’s approach to their mutant population. Non-mutate mutants were treated with suspicion by officials and law enforcement, and rumours of attempted rebellion and escapes leaked out. Because of these, the Genoshan general population was far less sympathetic to the idea of expanded freedoms, and supported harsher measures out of fear if necessary. Mutants not part of the government program were feared, and not permitted to enter Genosha. A small mutant rights group appeared, but it was tiny, underfunded, and lacked support. Certain aid groups and NGOs, like Elpis and Red X were banned from the nation. There was also a growing group of politicians that were lobbying for all mutants to be put through the ‘mutate’ process, regardless of their power levels or age. Dr. Sasha Ryan strenuously opposed this measure, along with the rest of the Commission, but it slowly gaining support.

After the fall of the Moreaus, Genoshans discovered the extent of the corruption of their government, and the extent of the abuses against mutants. With the new government pushing a more cooperative line on mutant-human relations, the status quo is being challenged, and Genoshans are having to adapt to the changes.

Plots

Genosha Arc

Meta

This 'tourist video' was created for the Genosha arc by Mackinzie.