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Big Brother is Watching You
The Flag of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania
The Unitarian Republic of Oceania is the last remnant of the Unitarian Commonwealth and one of the most repressive dictatorships in the world. Human rights activists have constantly decried the “Unitarian Republic” for its brutal suppression of human rights which has led to Oceania being consistently being rated as the lowest country in the world in terms of press freedom and in level of democracy with not even the theocratic regime in Persia, despite their abysmal human rights record, reaching Oceania’s levels of oppression or repression of civil liberties. Despite its Unitarian origins, Oceania has devolved into a pseudo-monarchial system under the Stassen Dynasty. However, how did this nightmare arise and what factors led to Oceania’s descent into insanity?
The Unitarian Republic of Oceania once showed promise as Harold Stassen referred to his country as a “Unitarian Republic” and referred to himself as the “Democrat” of Oceania. His policies on religion were initially relatively moderate compared to the radical state atheism of the Union, the Unified Indian State, or the Confederation of Unitarian States as religious organizations were initially allowed to exist as long as they didn’t intefere in politics. In addition, Stassen’s regime initially was also notionally a multi-party state as the Unitarian Party of Oceania was notionally in a coalition with various minor “non-Unitarian” parties in a “National Unity Coalition” where the Unitarian Party of Oceania was the “leading party”.
However, this initial “honeymoon” and moderation would pass due to the Great Asian War. The Great Asian War would heavily shape modern Oceania for the worse as the Unitarian Republic fought a brutal, if largely inconclusive and low-intensity, naval war with the United States which resulted in the loss of New Guinea/Aozhou to Lusang. In addition, the Great Asian War resulted in the Unitarian Republic of Oceania becoming the last remnant of the Unitarian Commonwealth with the destruction of the Unified Indian State and the fall of Aceh, Burma, and the Union of the Mekong. This would lay the foundations for the fortress mentality and the radicalization of the Unitarian Republic which would transform it into the nightmare which is today.
In addition, the Great Asian War would be the crucible which would forge nationalism in the Unitarian Republic as the peoples of Oceania were united in the cause in which they fought for the defense of the Unitarian Republic. This would be warped in later years by the regime of Harold Stassen to strengthen his totalitarian control over the Unitarian Republic of Oceania.
July 11, 1960 would mark the end of the Great Asian War and the beginning of the post-war world as a cease-fire was signed between the Unitarian Republic of Oceania and the United States. That day would be pivotal in Oceanian history as Harold Stassen, effective dictator of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania, would use the fortress mentality which prevailed amongst the Oceanian elite as the Unitarian Republic of Oceania was the last member of the Unitarian Commonwealth “left standing” to consolidate his power over the Unitarian Republic.
While much of the world celebrated the fall of the Unified Indian State and discussed how to restruct (and partition) India, the Unitarian regime in Oceania saw a series of purges which tore through any and all potential opponents of Harold Stassen. First of the victims were those who had fought against Harold Stassen during Oceania’s Unitarian revolution against British rule and the civil war which followed. Once this was completed in May 1961, Harold Stassen then turned on the minor non-Unitarian parties ostensibly in coalition with him, which were forcibly merged into the Unitarian Party of Oceania. Anyone who opposed the mergers, like Max Swanson, head of the Progressive League, the largest of the minor parties, and a major academic, or Andrea Vincent, the head of the People’s Democratic Party and a prominent scientist, was executed after a show trial where they were accused of being “traitors to the revolution”, planning to assassinate senior government officials, and conspiring with foreign powers (namely the Kingdom of Britannia, the Republic of France, the Empire of Lusang, the Kingdom of Germania, the Nusantaran Confederation, and the Empire of the Great Shun) to subvert the Unitarian Republic of Oceania. As the minor non-Unitarian parties drew their base from blue-leaning intelligentsia which were symphatetic to but skeptical of Unitarianism, the purges helped neuter said intelligentsia politically.
The second round of purges would go after rival party leaders and the military high command, deemed by Harold Stassen to be potential power bases for a coup d’etat against his rule. These purges would follow the same modus operandi as his elimination of the minor non-Unitarian parties as they would be tried and executed for treason against the Oceanian government and conspiring with foreign powers. The first of these public show trials would be the “Trial of the Anti-Unitarian Officers’ Clique”, which took place from November 21, 1961 to December 5, 1961, where 19 senior military officers including Admiral Alexander Kirkland, Major General Cameron Cooper and General Christopher Foster, who were the main heroes of the Oceanian military during the Great Asian War were tried on suspicion of plotting a coup against the Oceanian government. All nineteen confessed to the charges placed against them before being found guilty and executed for their supposed “crimes”, which would stun the world.
Admiral Alexander Kirkland, Major General Cameroon Cooper, and General Christopher Foster, who were executed in Harold Stassen’s purges
However, all of this would pale in comparison with Harold Stassen’s purge of the party leadership which occured between mid-1962 and early-1964. Out of the members of Harold Stassen’s government, about a third of them would be tried, imprisoned, and/or executed in his purge with 7 out of the 23 members of his wartime cabinet and 72 of the 208 members of the National Council of the Unitarian Party of Oceania being victims of the purge which followed. Out of the surviving members of said government, 9 ministers and 76 members of the NCUP had either been sent to remote posts or forced to retire early, and they were the lucky ones. The world was exposed to the spectacle of prominent leaders, of the Oceanian Revolution confessing to “betraying the revolution”, spying for foreign powers, and plotting to overthrow Harold Stassen during several rounds of show trials before their execution for “counter-revolutionary activity”. The most prominent of these trials would be the ones for Foreign Minister Lucas Ball, who signed the peace agreement betwen the United States and Oceania, and Anthony Jackson, Chairman of the Unitarian Party of Oceania, along with 22 lesser figures within Oceania’s leadership, which occured between October 2, 1963 and October 12, 1963.
Foreign Minister Lucas Ball and Chairman Anthony Jackson
While the fate of the Oceanian elite drew the most international attention from foreign media, it is important to remember that Stassen’s purges tore through all sectors of Oceania’s society with impunity. Religious groups, which had been more or less left alone as long as they didn’t intervene in politics, were eliminated with their leaders either executed or sent to prison camps in Oceania’s deserts. Ethnic minorities, namely Native Oceanians and the Gorgonesians [1], were also a major target of Stassen’s purges, with their culture suppressed by the Oceanian government and what passed for an intelligentsia amongst these two ethnic groups being purged by the Oceanian government. On the other hand, the Maori were largely left alone and even formed a major segment of Stassen’s elites. A major factor in this could be how one of Harold Stassen’s closest friends (and amongst the few ministers who weren’t purged), Amonga Tame, came from the Maori ethnic group. By the time the purges had subsided in 1967, up to three hundred thousand people were dead and another half-million were in prison camps in the Outback.
Amonga Tame, close friend and ally of Harold Stassen
Aside from political purges, Harold Stassen’s regime turned to indoctrination and propaganda to consolidate Stassen’s rule over the Unitarian Republic of Oceania. A major part of this was a quasi-religion (or “cult of personality”) around Harold Stassen where he was proclaimed as the “Big Brother” of Oceania’s people. The Oceanian people were bombarded with propaganda about how Stassen was the savior of the Oceanian nation and its benevolent “Big Brother” even as his brutal policies ripped through Oceanian society with 1 in 15 Oceanians at one point or another falling victim to Harold Stassen’s purges. This cult of personality would be all-pervasive in the Unitarian Republic as all citizens of the Unitarian Republic were required to have images of Harold Stassen at their homes and were bombarded from waking up to going to sleep with propaganda lionizing Harold Stassen. By the end of his purge, Harold Stassen had full control over the citizens of the Unitarian Republic and his control over society would only grow with his reorganization of Oceanian society and government.
In the 1969 Party Congress of the Unitarian Party of Oceania, held in the city of New Plymonth [2] between March 5 and March 12, Harold Stassen announced the reorganization of the Unitarian Party of Oceania into an “inner circle” of leaders to guide the Oceanian people towards Unitarianism and an “outer circle” which would carry out the day-to-day work of supervising the Oceanian people. In the future, this system would form the basis of a de facto aristocracy which would rule the “Unitarian Republic”. He also announced that the new television technology would be used to “make sure that the vanguards of Unitarianism don’t backtrack” through the development of what he called “telescreens”. Said “telescreens”, in addition to making sure that party members stay in line, would allow them to get entertainment as well. In addition, the head of the UPO’s Dunley [3] branch and a former singer and actress, one Rose Andrews, proposed several radical proposals in the Congress.
Rose Andrews, Head of the Dunley branch of the Unitarian Party of Oceania. Her proposals would alter Oceanian society in various ways
Her first proposal was to reorganize the police force in the Unitarian Republic into a single force entitled the Internal Security Force with a special section for tackling dissent entitled the “Thought Police”. This Thought Police would use modern surveillance technology, drugs, and disappearances to eliminate enemies of the Unitarian Republic.
Next, she proposed that a system of “bread and circuses” be set up. Said system would consist of two parts. The first part would involve the distribution of state-produced entertainment like movies, songs, novels, and cheap newspapers through machines to keep the ordinary citizens of Oceania content and entertained. The second part would be the infamous “Patriotic Entertainment” system. This system would involve the distribution of “patriotic entertainment” meant to demonize the Unitarian Republic of Oceania’s enemies through daily short movies which the people of Oceania would be required to watch where Oceania’s enemies (with China, Britannia, Lusang, and France given special emphasis) would be demonized, whipping the peoples of the Unitarian Republic into a patriotic fervor against their enemies, along with a week-long annual “Festival of Oceania”. Said festival would include parades, speeches, lectures, the creation of new slogans and patriotic songs, and other measures designed to build up support for the regime.
Another proposal Rose Andrews made at the Party Congress was for the very thoughts of Oceania’s citizens to be made grounds for potential elimination through the creation of new segments in the Oceanian penal code dealing with “Mental Crimes”.
In addition, Rose Andrews proposed that a new system of thinking based on recent psychological breakthroughs made in recent years be implemented. This system of thinking would be called “flexible thinking” and was the brainchild of Tom Wright and Thomas Elliot, two of the finest psychologists in the Unitarian Republic of Oceania. Both of them proposed conditioning and drugs could allow people to accept contradictory thoughts, switch perceptions of the world either at will or in accordance to stimuli, and generally think more flexibly, being able to adapt to the situation at hand.
Her final proposal would be to make Unitarian the only language taught in the schools of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania. She proposed this idea on the basis that it would help strengthen Oceania’s national identity by giving them an independent language of their own and deter international attempts at undermining the Unitarian Republic of Oceania.
At the end of the party conference, all proposals given by Rose Andrews were formally approved by the Unitarian Party of Oceania with near-unanimous support. Their implementation over the next few years (though full implementation would have to wait until the early 1980s) would render Oceanian society near-unrecognizable to an observer from the era prior to the Great Asian War. In addition, during the party congress and its aftermath, Harold Stassen infamously raised several of his children with his wife Julia, who was prominent behind the scenes in the politics of the Unitarian Republic, to prominent posts with Henry Stassen named as Foreign Minister along with how Evelyn Stassen became Governor of Lockhart [4], the island off the coast of Oceania, Alexander Stassen became the first head of the Internal Security Force, Richard Stassen became head of the “Blue Guards”, the paramilitary forces of the Unitarian Party and a “parallel army” to the regular military, and Katherine Stassen became Governor of Gorgonesia.
Julia Stassen, wife of Harold Stassen and a major figure behind the scenes in the Unitarian Republic.
While the concept of the Unitarian Party of Oceania being divided into an “inner circle” of senior officials and an “outer circle” of bureaucrats and low-level officials was not meant as such, they would devolve in later years into an informal aristocracy ruling over Oceania. A major factor in how the Unitarian Party of Oceania devolved into a de facto aristocracy ruling over the Unitarian Republic of Oceania was how membership in the “inner circle” of the Unitarian Party of Oceania was necessary for all officials above a certain level as enacted after the 1969 Party Congress.
As Harold Stassen’s health declined from 1970 onwards, questions were raised over the succession to the Unitarian Republic as Harold Stassen had not named a clear successor at this point and his children were all ambitious and desired the leadership of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania after Harold Stassen’s death. Even before the death of Harold Stassen, political analysts were already seeing signs of turmoil in the Unitarian Republic of Oceania and apparent signs of a low-level power struggle.
On April 7, 1975, Harold Stassen, first Democrat of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania, died from complications from a botched surgery on April 3 at the age of 67. In the aftermath of Harold Stassen’s death, the doctors which performed the botched surgery were executed on charges of murdering Harold Stassen by the Oceanian government after a show trial.
After Harold Stassen’s state funeral and entombment in the Mausoleum of the People in Saint Anselm [5], a power struggle ensued as Julia Stassen was elected Acting Democrat of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania. However, everyone knew that the 65 year old Julia Stassen was merely the interim figure and a “placeholder” as her children, along with the late Democrat’s niece Isabel and nephew Vincent, were out for the post as Democrat and full control over the Unitarian Republic.
In the power struggle which followed, Henry Stassen initially looked to be the potential successor to Harold Stassen and became Democrat of Oceania for a short period between October 13, 1975 and May 2, 1976. On May 2, 1976, he was assassinated by a lone gunman while giving a speech in Randwaide [6] and while never proven, the assassin is widely suspected to have been an agent of the Thought Police. A few weeks later, Evelyn Stassen died from a mysterious plane crash where her plane broke up shortly after take-off, killing all 36 passengers and crew onboard the plane. At this point, Isabel Stassen formed a coalition with Richard in a bid to stop Alexander Stassen from assuming power in the Unitarian Republic of Oceania.
However, Alexander Stassen would prove to be more ruthless than his rivals and would, over the next few months co-op (in the case of Katherine and Vincent) or eliminate (in the case of Isabel and Richard) his main rivals to become the head of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania as Democrat on October 15, 1977. Katherine Stassen was co-opted to serve as Chairwoman of the Unitarian Party of Oceania while Vincent was made Foreign Minister.
Alexander Stassen, Democrat of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania from 1977.
While Katherine and Vincent were rewarded with comfy posts and relative positions of power within the Unitarian Republic, Richard and Isabel would be less fortunate as they ended up being tried and executed for subverting the Unitarian Republic of Oceania through “factionalism” and “betraying the revolution” after a quick trial which occured in two days during January 1978. All these presaged the brutal rule of Alexander Stassen which saw Oceania’s brutal totalitarianism increase in ferocity and its control over the masses.
After the executions of Richard and Isabel, Alexander Stassen would carry out a brutal round of purges against the supporters of Isabel and Richard, leading to the deaths or imprisonment of 50,000-100,000 people, many of which had the sole “crime” of being closely associated with either Isabel or Richard Stassen. This vicious purge would be conducted in some cases via children brainwashed from birth by the Oceanian government’s education system ratting out their family members to the Thought Police. Once they had been arrested, the victims of Alex’s purge would be brutally tortured in the buildings of the Thought Police/Internal Security Force (under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Security) with a room in the basements of said facilities being particularly infamous for subjecting victims to their worst nightmares to break them.
Another major portion of Alexander Stassen’s purges would be how the alteration of historical records, already present in the period of his father Harold Stassen and in the Unitarian regimes of Turkey, India, and Japan, was transformed into an artform through Oceania’s Ministry of Information. Those who were victims of Alexander Stassen’s purges were demonized as “enemies of Oceania” whereas a few months earlier, their achievements were being touted in propaganda. The government of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania went as far as to rewrite the history books of the Oceanic Civil War and the Great Asian War to fit the official propaganda line of the Oceanian government.
In 1980, Alexander Stassen formalized the de facto aristocracy which had existed in the Unitarian Republic of Oceania since the creation of the “inner circle” by making membership in the “inner circle” of the Unitarian Party of Oceania hereditary. The members of the “inner circle” would comprise only 2.5% of an Oceanian population (while the “outer circle” was comprised of 7.5% of Oceania’s population) of 21 million (as of 1980) but they would rule the country (and live) like kings. Unlike the vast majority of the Oceanian population, they had wealth, imported luxuries, and news and entertaiment which weren’t nonsense spouted by the Ministry of Information.
Alexander Stassen would also take the cult created by Harold Stassen around himself to new levels as he was proclaimed to be the savior of Oceania from the forces of imperialism, capitalism, and feudalism who continues to protect Oceania from beyond the grave. Such a cult developed many aspects of a formal religion during this period, which many attribute to the influence of British Purtianism on Oceanian culture, complete with pilgrimages to Harold Stassen’s birthplace.
In addition, Alexander Stassen’s foreign policy was generally more belligerant than that of his largely isolationist father. Under him, Oceania’s navy started an expansion drive which would result in Oceania having a navy with five aircraft carriers and four “missile Magentas” [7] by the end of the decade. In addition, naval skirmishes with Lusang and harassment of foreign fishermen would increase during the years of Alexander Stassen’s rule over Oceania.
Alexander Stassen’s regime generally saw Oceania go “from bad to worse” in terms of repression and warping of the principles of Unitarian ideology. In addition, he was notorious for ratcheting up pro-natalism policies by previous Oceanian governments, making it a priority for the Oceanian population to reach 35 million by the end of the century through any means possible.
However, Alexander Stassen’s belligerant policies and utter insanity would be his downfall. In 1984, he released plans to “cut the privileges of the inner circle” to “create a New Sparta” and began plotting how to manipulate the powers of the world so they would launch a global conflict which Oceania could take advantage thereof. Oceania’s chemical weapons arsenal would also increase as Oceanian scientists would work on developing more lethal and deadly chemical weapons. Biological weapons were also being developed en masse by the Oceanian military as well.
All this planning regarding a “Spartan state” and manipulating the world powers into fighting a global conflict would lead to the downfall of Alexander Stassen as the “Blue Aristocracy” of the Unitarian Party of Oceania were unwilling to lose their privileges or allow Alexander Stassen to manipulate the world powers to trigger a global conflict.
A conspiracy arose around Katherine Stassen to overthrow Alexander Stassen as the leader of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania in a quick palace coup. The conspiracy knew the risks were high and that if they were defeated, they would inevitably be purged by Alexander Stassen, who would reach new heights of brutality. Despite these risks, the coup plotters launched their coup on January 25, 1986 as Alexander Stassen woke up to the sound of landships storming through the streets of Saint Anselm. Over the next few hours, fierce street-to-street fighting ensued in Saint Anselm as the paramilitary forces of the Internal Security Force and the Blue Guards fought the regular army and and some international commentators felt that Oceania was on the verge of a civil war.
However, as the regular military was largely on the side of the coup plotters, the result of the coup was a foregone conclusion and by the end of the day, the coup plotters had marched into the Palace of Unitarianism. Alexander Stassen, it is reported, charged into the forces with three loyal bodyguards before being killed by the forces which had stormed the palace.
In the aftermath of the fall of Alexander Stassen, Katherine Stassen was immediately named Democrat of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania. Her first action was to scrap the more insane policies of her brother and predecessor as “Democrat” of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania.
Katherine Stassen, third Democrat of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania
In addition, her government eschewed the belligerant militarism of Alexander Stassen, instead focusing on achieving full autarky for the Unitarian Republic of Oceania. In pursuit of this, the Oceanian government was a pioneer in the field of solar energy, owing to the fact the deserts of Oceania were a prime location for solar panels. Programs to exploit Oceania’s vast potential shale oil reserves, which were reported to be about 58 billion barrels, and natural gas reserves were pushed into overdrive by the Oceanian government. Another part of this drive for autarky was the creation of vast coal liquefaction plants owing to Oceania’s massive reserves of coal. The fact the Unitarian Republic of Oceania had near-total self-sufficiency with the only imports being luxuries for the elite would be a major factor in why it would be so hard for sanctions to take an effect to effect.
Another manifestation of the Unitarian Republic’s fortress mentality would be the network of bunkers built into the mountains of Oceania and Terra Ultima and the massive coastal fortifications built around the shores of both Oceania and Terra Ultima. These fortifications were designed to make the Unitarian Republic an unbreakable fortress if it was ever invaded.
While many see Oceania’s nuclear program as another act of an insane dictatorship which had distorted Unitarianism into something which would disgust Weber, Kubilay, Nijasure, Aras, Samsa, and even Koves and Nagai, there is a twisted logic behind the Oceanian nuclear program (along with how Oceania has one of the world’s most extensive biological and chemical weapons programs). This logic is rooted in the fortress mentality the Oceanian government has developed ever since the end of the Great Asian War, which has imbued the Oceanian leadership with a sense that if they don’t develop weapons of mass destruction of their own and a powerful military, they would be invaded by foreign powers.
The Oceanian nuclear weapons program began development in the 1980s, taking advantage of Oceania’s vast uranium deposits, the largest in the world. This vast uranium stockpile would allow Oceania to develop large-scale nuclear reactors, which helped boost Oceania’s autarky. In addition, the Oceanian government used uranium exports as a means to provide the regime with a degree of cash to pay for the luxuries imported for the benefit of the elites. World powers started to suspect the Oceanian regime was using their vast nuclear program for military purposes in the early 1990s. This was so as spy planes were detecting that uranium enrichment facilities were springing up in the outback at breakneck speed. Chancellor Yang Xiao Long of China (who had been elected a few months earlier) and German Prime Minister Elsa Weiss met in the Vilnius Summit in September 1994, which was most famous for how Chancellor Yang Xiao Long’s agenda of developing a “Modern Silk Road” to link east and west was introduced to the world but also included the first agreement to impose sanctions for “Oceania’s illegal nuclear program”. While negotiations carried on in an attempt to curtail Oceania’s nuclear program and additional sanctions would be implemented against the Unitarian Republic, these would be ineffective in stopping Oceania’s nuclear program with Oceania detonating its first nuclear weapon in 2003. Currently, Oceania has ten nuclear weapons but it is important to note that Oceania has had missiles tipped with either nerve gas or “supergerms” for years before Oceania developed nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, in the realm of Oceanian politics, Katherine Stassen would die at the age of 65 from breast cancer on May 5, 1995 (some suspect the rapid deterioration in her condition in the weeks leading up to her death meant she was poisoned) and be entombed beside her father Harold. This would spark another power struggle in Oceania’s political sphere amongst the Stassens and the rest of the “Blue Aristocracy” which was the “inner circle” as a segment of the “inner circle”, led by Samuel Thomson, would try to impose a new ruling family on the “Unitarian Republic”. A series of coups and counter-coups threatened the stability of the Unitarian Republic until the 42-year old Marcus Stassen, head of the paramilitary Blue Guards and nephew of Katherine Stassen through Vincent Stassen, seized power in the Unitarian Republic of Oceania on February 16, 1996 and was “elected” Democrat the next day.
Marcus Stassen, 4th Democrat of Oceania
Marcus Stassen would open his rule over Oceania with a new round of purges of the supporters of the conspiracy to overthrow the Stassen family and install a new “dynasty” in its place. As part of blocking out democratic ideas from penetrating Oceania, the Internetwork and cellphones were banned from use outside of the “inner circle” and certain members of the “outer circle” of the Unitarian Party of Oceania. Dissidents who flee Oceania are often hunted by assassins, causing fear amongst defectors from the Unitarian Republic, and the Thought Police, which is recruited from the higher ups of the “outer circle” and the lower “inner circle” keeps a constant watch on subversive thoughts from entering Oceania.
Marcus Stassen would also win over the loyalty of the “inner circle” by furthering their privileges over the unfortunate peoples of Oceania, which furthered the comparisons foreign media and observers made of the Oceanian model to medieval feudalism as a small elite lorded over a great mass. Nowadays, a member of the “inner circle” could rape or murder a non-party member if he or she has a “valid excuse”, which is woefully easy to find.
However, Marcus Stassen’s rule over the Unitarian Republic would prove short-lived as he would die on November 4, 2003 at the age of 49 from a car accident. Despite the young age of his daughter Ingrid (she was just 26), her accession to the “throne” of the Unitarian Republic was the first to be carried out relatively bloodlessly and quietly.
Ingrid Stassen, current Democrat of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania.
Currently, Ingrid Stassen is the leader of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania but with her young age, who knows whether her rule of the Unitarian Republic would last long? However, even so, she has shown a distinct willingness to consolidate her power and purge her enemies with a notable example being the execution of Ramsey Bolton, head of the Internal Security Force, with some reports indicating he was executed by being fed to 120 dogs. As for foreign policy under Ingrid Stassen, she has moved away from the isolationism of her predecessors to some degree, with her state visit to New Delhi in February 2005 to meet with Aditya Chograhad being the first an Oceanian head of state has made since the 1950s. However, the level of skirmishes with Lusang, France, and Nusantara and harassment of foreign fishermen has also increased during the rule of Ingrid Stassen.
[1] TTL's name for Melanasian people (taken from this post by @LostInNewDelhi)
[2] OTL Melbourne
[3] OTL Auckland
[4] OTL Tasmania
[5] OTL Brisbane
[6] OTL Perth
[7] Think a bigger version of the Kirov-class BCGN for a basic idea on what they're like
Big Brother is Watching You: The Unitarian Republic of Oceania
The Flag of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania
The Unitarian Republic of Oceania is the last remnant of the Unitarian Commonwealth and one of the most repressive dictatorships in the world. Human rights activists have constantly decried the “Unitarian Republic” for its brutal suppression of human rights which has led to Oceania being consistently being rated as the lowest country in the world in terms of press freedom and in level of democracy with not even the theocratic regime in Persia, despite their abysmal human rights record, reaching Oceania’s levels of oppression or repression of civil liberties. Despite its Unitarian origins, Oceania has devolved into a pseudo-monarchial system under the Stassen Dynasty. However, how did this nightmare arise and what factors led to Oceania’s descent into insanity?
The Unitarian Republic of Oceania once showed promise as Harold Stassen referred to his country as a “Unitarian Republic” and referred to himself as the “Democrat” of Oceania. His policies on religion were initially relatively moderate compared to the radical state atheism of the Union, the Unified Indian State, or the Confederation of Unitarian States as religious organizations were initially allowed to exist as long as they didn’t intefere in politics. In addition, Stassen’s regime initially was also notionally a multi-party state as the Unitarian Party of Oceania was notionally in a coalition with various minor “non-Unitarian” parties in a “National Unity Coalition” where the Unitarian Party of Oceania was the “leading party”.
However, this initial “honeymoon” and moderation would pass due to the Great Asian War. The Great Asian War would heavily shape modern Oceania for the worse as the Unitarian Republic fought a brutal, if largely inconclusive and low-intensity, naval war with the United States which resulted in the loss of New Guinea/Aozhou to Lusang. In addition, the Great Asian War resulted in the Unitarian Republic of Oceania becoming the last remnant of the Unitarian Commonwealth with the destruction of the Unified Indian State and the fall of Aceh, Burma, and the Union of the Mekong. This would lay the foundations for the fortress mentality and the radicalization of the Unitarian Republic which would transform it into the nightmare which is today.
In addition, the Great Asian War would be the crucible which would forge nationalism in the Unitarian Republic as the peoples of Oceania were united in the cause in which they fought for the defense of the Unitarian Republic. This would be warped in later years by the regime of Harold Stassen to strengthen his totalitarian control over the Unitarian Republic of Oceania.
July 11, 1960 would mark the end of the Great Asian War and the beginning of the post-war world as a cease-fire was signed between the Unitarian Republic of Oceania and the United States. That day would be pivotal in Oceanian history as Harold Stassen, effective dictator of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania, would use the fortress mentality which prevailed amongst the Oceanian elite as the Unitarian Republic of Oceania was the last member of the Unitarian Commonwealth “left standing” to consolidate his power over the Unitarian Republic.
While much of the world celebrated the fall of the Unified Indian State and discussed how to restruct (and partition) India, the Unitarian regime in Oceania saw a series of purges which tore through any and all potential opponents of Harold Stassen. First of the victims were those who had fought against Harold Stassen during Oceania’s Unitarian revolution against British rule and the civil war which followed. Once this was completed in May 1961, Harold Stassen then turned on the minor non-Unitarian parties ostensibly in coalition with him, which were forcibly merged into the Unitarian Party of Oceania. Anyone who opposed the mergers, like Max Swanson, head of the Progressive League, the largest of the minor parties, and a major academic, or Andrea Vincent, the head of the People’s Democratic Party and a prominent scientist, was executed after a show trial where they were accused of being “traitors to the revolution”, planning to assassinate senior government officials, and conspiring with foreign powers (namely the Kingdom of Britannia, the Republic of France, the Empire of Lusang, the Kingdom of Germania, the Nusantaran Confederation, and the Empire of the Great Shun) to subvert the Unitarian Republic of Oceania. As the minor non-Unitarian parties drew their base from blue-leaning intelligentsia which were symphatetic to but skeptical of Unitarianism, the purges helped neuter said intelligentsia politically.
The second round of purges would go after rival party leaders and the military high command, deemed by Harold Stassen to be potential power bases for a coup d’etat against his rule. These purges would follow the same modus operandi as his elimination of the minor non-Unitarian parties as they would be tried and executed for treason against the Oceanian government and conspiring with foreign powers. The first of these public show trials would be the “Trial of the Anti-Unitarian Officers’ Clique”, which took place from November 21, 1961 to December 5, 1961, where 19 senior military officers including Admiral Alexander Kirkland, Major General Cameron Cooper and General Christopher Foster, who were the main heroes of the Oceanian military during the Great Asian War were tried on suspicion of plotting a coup against the Oceanian government. All nineteen confessed to the charges placed against them before being found guilty and executed for their supposed “crimes”, which would stun the world.
Admiral Alexander Kirkland, Major General Cameroon Cooper, and General Christopher Foster, who were executed in Harold Stassen’s purges
However, all of this would pale in comparison with Harold Stassen’s purge of the party leadership which occured between mid-1962 and early-1964. Out of the members of Harold Stassen’s government, about a third of them would be tried, imprisoned, and/or executed in his purge with 7 out of the 23 members of his wartime cabinet and 72 of the 208 members of the National Council of the Unitarian Party of Oceania being victims of the purge which followed. Out of the surviving members of said government, 9 ministers and 76 members of the NCUP had either been sent to remote posts or forced to retire early, and they were the lucky ones. The world was exposed to the spectacle of prominent leaders, of the Oceanian Revolution confessing to “betraying the revolution”, spying for foreign powers, and plotting to overthrow Harold Stassen during several rounds of show trials before their execution for “counter-revolutionary activity”. The most prominent of these trials would be the ones for Foreign Minister Lucas Ball, who signed the peace agreement betwen the United States and Oceania, and Anthony Jackson, Chairman of the Unitarian Party of Oceania, along with 22 lesser figures within Oceania’s leadership, which occured between October 2, 1963 and October 12, 1963.
Foreign Minister Lucas Ball and Chairman Anthony Jackson
While the fate of the Oceanian elite drew the most international attention from foreign media, it is important to remember that Stassen’s purges tore through all sectors of Oceania’s society with impunity. Religious groups, which had been more or less left alone as long as they didn’t intervene in politics, were eliminated with their leaders either executed or sent to prison camps in Oceania’s deserts. Ethnic minorities, namely Native Oceanians and the Gorgonesians [1], were also a major target of Stassen’s purges, with their culture suppressed by the Oceanian government and what passed for an intelligentsia amongst these two ethnic groups being purged by the Oceanian government. On the other hand, the Maori were largely left alone and even formed a major segment of Stassen’s elites. A major factor in this could be how one of Harold Stassen’s closest friends (and amongst the few ministers who weren’t purged), Amonga Tame, came from the Maori ethnic group. By the time the purges had subsided in 1967, up to three hundred thousand people were dead and another half-million were in prison camps in the Outback.
Amonga Tame, close friend and ally of Harold Stassen
Aside from political purges, Harold Stassen’s regime turned to indoctrination and propaganda to consolidate Stassen’s rule over the Unitarian Republic of Oceania. A major part of this was a quasi-religion (or “cult of personality”) around Harold Stassen where he was proclaimed as the “Big Brother” of Oceania’s people. The Oceanian people were bombarded with propaganda about how Stassen was the savior of the Oceanian nation and its benevolent “Big Brother” even as his brutal policies ripped through Oceanian society with 1 in 15 Oceanians at one point or another falling victim to Harold Stassen’s purges. This cult of personality would be all-pervasive in the Unitarian Republic as all citizens of the Unitarian Republic were required to have images of Harold Stassen at their homes and were bombarded from waking up to going to sleep with propaganda lionizing Harold Stassen. By the end of his purge, Harold Stassen had full control over the citizens of the Unitarian Republic and his control over society would only grow with his reorganization of Oceanian society and government.
In the 1969 Party Congress of the Unitarian Party of Oceania, held in the city of New Plymonth [2] between March 5 and March 12, Harold Stassen announced the reorganization of the Unitarian Party of Oceania into an “inner circle” of leaders to guide the Oceanian people towards Unitarianism and an “outer circle” which would carry out the day-to-day work of supervising the Oceanian people. In the future, this system would form the basis of a de facto aristocracy which would rule the “Unitarian Republic”. He also announced that the new television technology would be used to “make sure that the vanguards of Unitarianism don’t backtrack” through the development of what he called “telescreens”. Said “telescreens”, in addition to making sure that party members stay in line, would allow them to get entertainment as well. In addition, the head of the UPO’s Dunley [3] branch and a former singer and actress, one Rose Andrews, proposed several radical proposals in the Congress.
Rose Andrews, Head of the Dunley branch of the Unitarian Party of Oceania. Her proposals would alter Oceanian society in various ways
Her first proposal was to reorganize the police force in the Unitarian Republic into a single force entitled the Internal Security Force with a special section for tackling dissent entitled the “Thought Police”. This Thought Police would use modern surveillance technology, drugs, and disappearances to eliminate enemies of the Unitarian Republic.
Next, she proposed that a system of “bread and circuses” be set up. Said system would consist of two parts. The first part would involve the distribution of state-produced entertainment like movies, songs, novels, and cheap newspapers through machines to keep the ordinary citizens of Oceania content and entertained. The second part would be the infamous “Patriotic Entertainment” system. This system would involve the distribution of “patriotic entertainment” meant to demonize the Unitarian Republic of Oceania’s enemies through daily short movies which the people of Oceania would be required to watch where Oceania’s enemies (with China, Britannia, Lusang, and France given special emphasis) would be demonized, whipping the peoples of the Unitarian Republic into a patriotic fervor against their enemies, along with a week-long annual “Festival of Oceania”. Said festival would include parades, speeches, lectures, the creation of new slogans and patriotic songs, and other measures designed to build up support for the regime.
Another proposal Rose Andrews made at the Party Congress was for the very thoughts of Oceania’s citizens to be made grounds for potential elimination through the creation of new segments in the Oceanian penal code dealing with “Mental Crimes”.
In addition, Rose Andrews proposed that a new system of thinking based on recent psychological breakthroughs made in recent years be implemented. This system of thinking would be called “flexible thinking” and was the brainchild of Tom Wright and Thomas Elliot, two of the finest psychologists in the Unitarian Republic of Oceania. Both of them proposed conditioning and drugs could allow people to accept contradictory thoughts, switch perceptions of the world either at will or in accordance to stimuli, and generally think more flexibly, being able to adapt to the situation at hand.
Her final proposal would be to make Unitarian the only language taught in the schools of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania. She proposed this idea on the basis that it would help strengthen Oceania’s national identity by giving them an independent language of their own and deter international attempts at undermining the Unitarian Republic of Oceania.
At the end of the party conference, all proposals given by Rose Andrews were formally approved by the Unitarian Party of Oceania with near-unanimous support. Their implementation over the next few years (though full implementation would have to wait until the early 1980s) would render Oceanian society near-unrecognizable to an observer from the era prior to the Great Asian War. In addition, during the party congress and its aftermath, Harold Stassen infamously raised several of his children with his wife Julia, who was prominent behind the scenes in the politics of the Unitarian Republic, to prominent posts with Henry Stassen named as Foreign Minister along with how Evelyn Stassen became Governor of Lockhart [4], the island off the coast of Oceania, Alexander Stassen became the first head of the Internal Security Force, Richard Stassen became head of the “Blue Guards”, the paramilitary forces of the Unitarian Party and a “parallel army” to the regular military, and Katherine Stassen became Governor of Gorgonesia.
Julia Stassen, wife of Harold Stassen and a major figure behind the scenes in the Unitarian Republic.
While the concept of the Unitarian Party of Oceania being divided into an “inner circle” of senior officials and an “outer circle” of bureaucrats and low-level officials was not meant as such, they would devolve in later years into an informal aristocracy ruling over Oceania. A major factor in how the Unitarian Party of Oceania devolved into a de facto aristocracy ruling over the Unitarian Republic of Oceania was how membership in the “inner circle” of the Unitarian Party of Oceania was necessary for all officials above a certain level as enacted after the 1969 Party Congress.
As Harold Stassen’s health declined from 1970 onwards, questions were raised over the succession to the Unitarian Republic as Harold Stassen had not named a clear successor at this point and his children were all ambitious and desired the leadership of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania after Harold Stassen’s death. Even before the death of Harold Stassen, political analysts were already seeing signs of turmoil in the Unitarian Republic of Oceania and apparent signs of a low-level power struggle.
On April 7, 1975, Harold Stassen, first Democrat of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania, died from complications from a botched surgery on April 3 at the age of 67. In the aftermath of Harold Stassen’s death, the doctors which performed the botched surgery were executed on charges of murdering Harold Stassen by the Oceanian government after a show trial.
After Harold Stassen’s state funeral and entombment in the Mausoleum of the People in Saint Anselm [5], a power struggle ensued as Julia Stassen was elected Acting Democrat of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania. However, everyone knew that the 65 year old Julia Stassen was merely the interim figure and a “placeholder” as her children, along with the late Democrat’s niece Isabel and nephew Vincent, were out for the post as Democrat and full control over the Unitarian Republic.
In the power struggle which followed, Henry Stassen initially looked to be the potential successor to Harold Stassen and became Democrat of Oceania for a short period between October 13, 1975 and May 2, 1976. On May 2, 1976, he was assassinated by a lone gunman while giving a speech in Randwaide [6] and while never proven, the assassin is widely suspected to have been an agent of the Thought Police. A few weeks later, Evelyn Stassen died from a mysterious plane crash where her plane broke up shortly after take-off, killing all 36 passengers and crew onboard the plane. At this point, Isabel Stassen formed a coalition with Richard in a bid to stop Alexander Stassen from assuming power in the Unitarian Republic of Oceania.
However, Alexander Stassen would prove to be more ruthless than his rivals and would, over the next few months co-op (in the case of Katherine and Vincent) or eliminate (in the case of Isabel and Richard) his main rivals to become the head of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania as Democrat on October 15, 1977. Katherine Stassen was co-opted to serve as Chairwoman of the Unitarian Party of Oceania while Vincent was made Foreign Minister.
Alexander Stassen, Democrat of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania from 1977.
While Katherine and Vincent were rewarded with comfy posts and relative positions of power within the Unitarian Republic, Richard and Isabel would be less fortunate as they ended up being tried and executed for subverting the Unitarian Republic of Oceania through “factionalism” and “betraying the revolution” after a quick trial which occured in two days during January 1978. All these presaged the brutal rule of Alexander Stassen which saw Oceania’s brutal totalitarianism increase in ferocity and its control over the masses.
After the executions of Richard and Isabel, Alexander Stassen would carry out a brutal round of purges against the supporters of Isabel and Richard, leading to the deaths or imprisonment of 50,000-100,000 people, many of which had the sole “crime” of being closely associated with either Isabel or Richard Stassen. This vicious purge would be conducted in some cases via children brainwashed from birth by the Oceanian government’s education system ratting out their family members to the Thought Police. Once they had been arrested, the victims of Alex’s purge would be brutally tortured in the buildings of the Thought Police/Internal Security Force (under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Security) with a room in the basements of said facilities being particularly infamous for subjecting victims to their worst nightmares to break them.
Another major portion of Alexander Stassen’s purges would be how the alteration of historical records, already present in the period of his father Harold Stassen and in the Unitarian regimes of Turkey, India, and Japan, was transformed into an artform through Oceania’s Ministry of Information. Those who were victims of Alexander Stassen’s purges were demonized as “enemies of Oceania” whereas a few months earlier, their achievements were being touted in propaganda. The government of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania went as far as to rewrite the history books of the Oceanic Civil War and the Great Asian War to fit the official propaganda line of the Oceanian government.
In 1980, Alexander Stassen formalized the de facto aristocracy which had existed in the Unitarian Republic of Oceania since the creation of the “inner circle” by making membership in the “inner circle” of the Unitarian Party of Oceania hereditary. The members of the “inner circle” would comprise only 2.5% of an Oceanian population (while the “outer circle” was comprised of 7.5% of Oceania’s population) of 21 million (as of 1980) but they would rule the country (and live) like kings. Unlike the vast majority of the Oceanian population, they had wealth, imported luxuries, and news and entertaiment which weren’t nonsense spouted by the Ministry of Information.
Alexander Stassen would also take the cult created by Harold Stassen around himself to new levels as he was proclaimed to be the savior of Oceania from the forces of imperialism, capitalism, and feudalism who continues to protect Oceania from beyond the grave. Such a cult developed many aspects of a formal religion during this period, which many attribute to the influence of British Purtianism on Oceanian culture, complete with pilgrimages to Harold Stassen’s birthplace.
In addition, Alexander Stassen’s foreign policy was generally more belligerant than that of his largely isolationist father. Under him, Oceania’s navy started an expansion drive which would result in Oceania having a navy with five aircraft carriers and four “missile Magentas” [7] by the end of the decade. In addition, naval skirmishes with Lusang and harassment of foreign fishermen would increase during the years of Alexander Stassen’s rule over Oceania.
Alexander Stassen’s regime generally saw Oceania go “from bad to worse” in terms of repression and warping of the principles of Unitarian ideology. In addition, he was notorious for ratcheting up pro-natalism policies by previous Oceanian governments, making it a priority for the Oceanian population to reach 35 million by the end of the century through any means possible.
However, Alexander Stassen’s belligerant policies and utter insanity would be his downfall. In 1984, he released plans to “cut the privileges of the inner circle” to “create a New Sparta” and began plotting how to manipulate the powers of the world so they would launch a global conflict which Oceania could take advantage thereof. Oceania’s chemical weapons arsenal would also increase as Oceanian scientists would work on developing more lethal and deadly chemical weapons. Biological weapons were also being developed en masse by the Oceanian military as well.
All this planning regarding a “Spartan state” and manipulating the world powers into fighting a global conflict would lead to the downfall of Alexander Stassen as the “Blue Aristocracy” of the Unitarian Party of Oceania were unwilling to lose their privileges or allow Alexander Stassen to manipulate the world powers to trigger a global conflict.
A conspiracy arose around Katherine Stassen to overthrow Alexander Stassen as the leader of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania in a quick palace coup. The conspiracy knew the risks were high and that if they were defeated, they would inevitably be purged by Alexander Stassen, who would reach new heights of brutality. Despite these risks, the coup plotters launched their coup on January 25, 1986 as Alexander Stassen woke up to the sound of landships storming through the streets of Saint Anselm. Over the next few hours, fierce street-to-street fighting ensued in Saint Anselm as the paramilitary forces of the Internal Security Force and the Blue Guards fought the regular army and and some international commentators felt that Oceania was on the verge of a civil war.
However, as the regular military was largely on the side of the coup plotters, the result of the coup was a foregone conclusion and by the end of the day, the coup plotters had marched into the Palace of Unitarianism. Alexander Stassen, it is reported, charged into the forces with three loyal bodyguards before being killed by the forces which had stormed the palace.
In the aftermath of the fall of Alexander Stassen, Katherine Stassen was immediately named Democrat of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania. Her first action was to scrap the more insane policies of her brother and predecessor as “Democrat” of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania.
Katherine Stassen, third Democrat of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania
In addition, her government eschewed the belligerant militarism of Alexander Stassen, instead focusing on achieving full autarky for the Unitarian Republic of Oceania. In pursuit of this, the Oceanian government was a pioneer in the field of solar energy, owing to the fact the deserts of Oceania were a prime location for solar panels. Programs to exploit Oceania’s vast potential shale oil reserves, which were reported to be about 58 billion barrels, and natural gas reserves were pushed into overdrive by the Oceanian government. Another part of this drive for autarky was the creation of vast coal liquefaction plants owing to Oceania’s massive reserves of coal. The fact the Unitarian Republic of Oceania had near-total self-sufficiency with the only imports being luxuries for the elite would be a major factor in why it would be so hard for sanctions to take an effect to effect.
Another manifestation of the Unitarian Republic’s fortress mentality would be the network of bunkers built into the mountains of Oceania and Terra Ultima and the massive coastal fortifications built around the shores of both Oceania and Terra Ultima. These fortifications were designed to make the Unitarian Republic an unbreakable fortress if it was ever invaded.
While many see Oceania’s nuclear program as another act of an insane dictatorship which had distorted Unitarianism into something which would disgust Weber, Kubilay, Nijasure, Aras, Samsa, and even Koves and Nagai, there is a twisted logic behind the Oceanian nuclear program (along with how Oceania has one of the world’s most extensive biological and chemical weapons programs). This logic is rooted in the fortress mentality the Oceanian government has developed ever since the end of the Great Asian War, which has imbued the Oceanian leadership with a sense that if they don’t develop weapons of mass destruction of their own and a powerful military, they would be invaded by foreign powers.
The Oceanian nuclear weapons program began development in the 1980s, taking advantage of Oceania’s vast uranium deposits, the largest in the world. This vast uranium stockpile would allow Oceania to develop large-scale nuclear reactors, which helped boost Oceania’s autarky. In addition, the Oceanian government used uranium exports as a means to provide the regime with a degree of cash to pay for the luxuries imported for the benefit of the elites. World powers started to suspect the Oceanian regime was using their vast nuclear program for military purposes in the early 1990s. This was so as spy planes were detecting that uranium enrichment facilities were springing up in the outback at breakneck speed. Chancellor Yang Xiao Long of China (who had been elected a few months earlier) and German Prime Minister Elsa Weiss met in the Vilnius Summit in September 1994, which was most famous for how Chancellor Yang Xiao Long’s agenda of developing a “Modern Silk Road” to link east and west was introduced to the world but also included the first agreement to impose sanctions for “Oceania’s illegal nuclear program”. While negotiations carried on in an attempt to curtail Oceania’s nuclear program and additional sanctions would be implemented against the Unitarian Republic, these would be ineffective in stopping Oceania’s nuclear program with Oceania detonating its first nuclear weapon in 2003. Currently, Oceania has ten nuclear weapons but it is important to note that Oceania has had missiles tipped with either nerve gas or “supergerms” for years before Oceania developed nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, in the realm of Oceanian politics, Katherine Stassen would die at the age of 65 from breast cancer on May 5, 1995 (some suspect the rapid deterioration in her condition in the weeks leading up to her death meant she was poisoned) and be entombed beside her father Harold. This would spark another power struggle in Oceania’s political sphere amongst the Stassens and the rest of the “Blue Aristocracy” which was the “inner circle” as a segment of the “inner circle”, led by Samuel Thomson, would try to impose a new ruling family on the “Unitarian Republic”. A series of coups and counter-coups threatened the stability of the Unitarian Republic until the 42-year old Marcus Stassen, head of the paramilitary Blue Guards and nephew of Katherine Stassen through Vincent Stassen, seized power in the Unitarian Republic of Oceania on February 16, 1996 and was “elected” Democrat the next day.
Marcus Stassen, 4th Democrat of Oceania
Marcus Stassen would open his rule over Oceania with a new round of purges of the supporters of the conspiracy to overthrow the Stassen family and install a new “dynasty” in its place. As part of blocking out democratic ideas from penetrating Oceania, the Internetwork and cellphones were banned from use outside of the “inner circle” and certain members of the “outer circle” of the Unitarian Party of Oceania. Dissidents who flee Oceania are often hunted by assassins, causing fear amongst defectors from the Unitarian Republic, and the Thought Police, which is recruited from the higher ups of the “outer circle” and the lower “inner circle” keeps a constant watch on subversive thoughts from entering Oceania.
Marcus Stassen would also win over the loyalty of the “inner circle” by furthering their privileges over the unfortunate peoples of Oceania, which furthered the comparisons foreign media and observers made of the Oceanian model to medieval feudalism as a small elite lorded over a great mass. Nowadays, a member of the “inner circle” could rape or murder a non-party member if he or she has a “valid excuse”, which is woefully easy to find.
However, Marcus Stassen’s rule over the Unitarian Republic would prove short-lived as he would die on November 4, 2003 at the age of 49 from a car accident. Despite the young age of his daughter Ingrid (she was just 26), her accession to the “throne” of the Unitarian Republic was the first to be carried out relatively bloodlessly and quietly.
Ingrid Stassen, current Democrat of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania.
Currently, Ingrid Stassen is the leader of the Unitarian Republic of Oceania but with her young age, who knows whether her rule of the Unitarian Republic would last long? However, even so, she has shown a distinct willingness to consolidate her power and purge her enemies with a notable example being the execution of Ramsey Bolton, head of the Internal Security Force, with some reports indicating he was executed by being fed to 120 dogs. As for foreign policy under Ingrid Stassen, she has moved away from the isolationism of her predecessors to some degree, with her state visit to New Delhi in February 2005 to meet with Aditya Chograhad being the first an Oceanian head of state has made since the 1950s. However, the level of skirmishes with Lusang, France, and Nusantara and harassment of foreign fishermen has also increased during the rule of Ingrid Stassen.
[1] TTL's name for Melanasian people (taken from this post by @LostInNewDelhi)
[2] OTL Melbourne
[3] OTL Auckland
[4] OTL Tasmania
[5] OTL Brisbane
[6] OTL Perth
[7] Think a bigger version of the Kirov-class BCGN for a basic idea on what they're like
- Whiteshore
- Word Count: 5.1k