SPLODAx

SPLODAx, Systematic Protocols Linking Outgoing Data Access, is a service, independant of the New Democratic Government, that supplies its users with top stories taken from all of the New York premium news feeds and the largest database of job listings available in the city. SPLODAx also functions as an interactive encyclopedia, holding virtually every detail of New York living in our databanks. Our subcribers, which include you, have access to our Daily Informational report, as well as personalized archive pages (unavailable at this time) that store previous news stories, job listings, and various other pieces of data. SPLODAx is funded through nominal yearly subscriptions and advertisement space in our Daily Informational Report.

Simplified, SPLODAx provides its users with a consolidated point of contact for all of your daily needs. Why go through all that legwork to get a job when you can simply e-mail jobs@splodax.com with your preferred job and have everything taken care of automatically? Why pay those astronomical monthly subscriptions to each news feed when you can get the best of the best news emailed to you daily for one low price?


Currency

Every citizen of New York is assigned an Identification card that contains, along with personal data, Dollars used for purchasing government-sanctioned items such as food and clothing, job security clearance, and a key to your residence. Of course, Cash is still in circulation and can be used to buy anything that Dollars won't cover.


Dates/Calendar

NDG Follows the traditional calendar of the past. The current year is 2004. This is the best estimate after looking through remaining historical and scientific data.


Education

All children have the chance to go through normal schooling (Grades 1-12). Students who show above average learning have the chance to attend NDG's Higher Learning Center where they study additional concepts and skills based on their strengths.


Food

One thing that hasn't changed is New Yorkers love to eat. Although not as large as it once was, New york's population is still very significant and very diverse. The heart of the city may seem over run with NDG sponsored cafeterias, but off the main streets you should be able to find almost any type of restaraunt from a French Bistro to a Japanese Hibachi with a little searching.

Most food is synthetically created, and paid for with Dollars. Many attempts are being made by the NDG to repopulate the fishing waters around NY also, but progress is slow.


TV

NYNet is a network of communication (TalkNet), information reference (DataNet), and entertainment (EnterNet) wired to the viewscreen in every household paid for by the NDG and corporate sponsors. Most pre-war entertainment is gone, and any pre-war books left are mainly fiction and only available in digital form. No real TV shows or movies made it through the great war, as broadcast attenas were some of the first targets, and the fragile media did not survive. TV, movies, plays, and other forms of entertainment still exist but they are a small part of life.


History

Since the destruction of most material forms of recorded history, many dates are vague or unknown. What we do know is that just when things were looking their best, just when we had finally become a peaceful nation, having not been involved in war for over half a century, aggression released itself in the form of social unrest. The cause was an unexplainable trick of nature, spurning a wave of random genetic mutations in newborns across the country. Because of their visually distracting features, these newborns, all suffering from what scientists coined SLHOA (Scarce Levels of Hormone with Oculocutaneous Albinism), were soon persecuted as a national epidemic arose.

Areas of Civility maintained kinship with all Americans. Some scientists even believed these SLHOA babies were the next step in our evolution. Other areas of the country were unfortunately not so civil. Local segregation laws were passed and soon enforced with zealous aggression in many areas. Many didn't agree with these laws. This topic eventually became a heated topic of debate.

The origins of our current Quarantine are indeed rooted in this conflict. The other "countries" of the world were afraid. Understandable since not much was known when the first SLHOA babies were born. Many thought a virus was the cause (and unfortunately, many uneducated citizens still do). National hysteria was the result. A Board of representatives from these other "countries" (what was then known as "United Nations") met and discussed bringing about a quarantine of the United States, blockading our coasts and enforcing a rigid border to the north and south. The movement was discussed by the board (representatives from several "countries" including our own did not agree with the quarantine). This also became a heated topic of debate.

Although the date has long since been forgotten, the names of two Americans shall live in everyone's mind from here to eternity: Gerald Barnes and Everett Dennehey.

Barnes and Dennehey, democrat and republican respectively, were running for the presidency. Naturally, the platform topics of most heated debate and strongest concern were those of SLHOA rights and the National Quarantine. It was the position of the Democratic candidate, Gerald Barnes, to enforce equal rights between SLHOA citizens and the rest of the nation, forcing each state to abandon any segregation laws in effect. Barnes also believed that the national Quarantine would not be long, and that it was only fair to allow other "countries" their safety until the cause of this unexplainable trick of nature was discovered. Everett Dennehey however, believed that all SLHOA "pigs" should be "corraled" into their own state (namely Florida) and that the rest of us should be able to travel internationally if need be. He clearly did not understand the United Nations' viewpoint, nor did he care to.

This all culminated on Election Day when, remarkably, Dennehey won the Popular vote although Barnes won the electoral. Never before had we been so divided as a nation, but the answer was clear: Electoral colleges are instituted for a reason, and Barnes was clearly the winner. Dennehey did not agree however, and called for what was known at the time as a "Coup." Basically, this entails Dennehey's followers to start attacking innocent civilians. Naturally, Barnes' only course of action was to protect us against Dennehey's mob mentality.

As we all know, things escalated to war.

It is unfortunate that, with the United States' representation absent at the United Nations, the decision of an unequivocal quarantine was placed on us and still remains today. Borders to the north and south have been installed, guarded by military forces of neighboring territories outside the U.S.

Not much is known about the particulars of the war, although the following is perceived as fact:

-Dennehey's followers managed to unify against the various armed forces of our Government and stand off for quite some time before surrendering to the logic of Democracy.

-Everett Dennehey was assassinated approximately five years after the crucial election date. It is rumored that his wife did the deed.

-The close proximity of our country luckily refrained both forces from using nuclear arms. The only known use of such device during the War is in the middle of the Southwestern desert; a site known only as "Las Vegas".

-Use of biological warfare, electronic warfare, robotic warfare, rocket warfare, and hand-to-hand combat ravaged most of the country, reverting select areas to uninhabitable wasteland.

-Many routes of transportation were severely hindered, eventually making all forms of personal transportation extinct.

-In a heated battle, the capital was officially relocated to New York City, due to it's defensible position on the island Manhattan, and concentrated population of Democratic followers.

-Gerald Barnes officially took office as President of the New Democratic Government approximately ten years after he was elected.

However, despite the near-fatal blows of the War, the United States still Prospers.

The city of New York (referred to in history books as the island Manhattan and surrounding area, now officially just the island Manhattan), has been undergoing a truly massive renovation project for all of your lifetime, retrofitting old commercial buildings as residential, or making the burnt out inhabitable once more. Many, many people are employed by the Government, which enables superior technologies such as the subway system, food manufacturing, fishing, electricity, and waterworks to function in constant operation. In fact, there is even a form of entertainment broadcast on NYnet, a network of communication, information reference, and entertainment wired to the viewscreen in every household.

Currently, President Richard Meade picks up the presidential task of spreading word of the NDG's continual growth in power. The New Democratic Government's sphere of influence steadily increases with every year, soon to envelope the entire nation as it once did gloriously so long ago.


Acronym Quick Reference

HLC - Higher Learning Center
NDG - New Democratic Government
SLHOA - Scarce Levels of Hormone with Oculocutaneous Albinism
SPLODAx - Systematic Protocols Linking Outgoing Data Access