(RP) Overview

Languages spoken in your country
Most people were raised in one of the 3 most common local languages (Lastaukes, Larossian and Lavallon) dependent on ethnic origins. English is taught as second language in the whole country and is used by most people as a common language. It is also the official government language and the one used most in business.

Knowledge of foreign languages
Most people only now their local traditional language and English. However highly educated people tend to know more local languages and of course skilled interpreters are trained for public and private use.

Facts about your language; speaking distance & directness
The three original languages are much alike, but sound and pronunciation, as well as the use of certain words are different. All in all, people find it difficult to understand the other local languages.

NUMBERS
Decimal point
The decimal point is a point.

Definition of a billion
Thousand million is a billion. Thousand billion is a trillion.

System of measurement
Bachtendekuppen uses the metric system.

How date is written & most important dates
Dates can be written dd-mm-yyyy or day(in numerals) Month year(in numerals).
Most important date is 18 October 1991, when the Great war between the 3 regions came to an end and Bachtendekuppen was officially founded.

RACE
Variety of races / attitudes about race & foreigners
Although the people from the 3 regions are mostly Caucasian humans and therefore the same race, there are some notable differences. Over the years, the Lavals, who live in the northeast and northwest, have gotten more darker of hair and a more compact figure, probably because of harsher living conditions in the cold and mountainous north. The Larossi are statistically more lighter of hair and have a more narrow long build. The Lastauk are mostly like the Larossi.

You make jokes about…
Jokes are mostly made about the people from other regions in the nation, politics, minorities, celebrities etc...

POLITICS
Political parties
There a four different parties: Democracy&Liberty (D&L) mostly interested in civil rights and economic liberties; GreenLeaves, who are very worried about the climate and the planet; Red Revolution (RR), a very socialist party mostly advocating for lower class incomes, welfare and health issues and lastly, the Bachtendekuppen National Party (BNP) who are seen as somewhat conservative, very liberal on economics and nationalistic about the young nation.
The BNP has the current majority in Parliament and Senate and is the party that has been since the founding of Bachtendekuppen as a nation in 1991, uniting the 3 regions.

Does the government listen to you?
The people are represented in Parliament and Senate. As a fairly new nation and a very broad supported evolution that has been successful, the government is quite interested with the ‘opinions on the street’, even if it was out of pure necessity. Debates in parliament and senate can be very lengthy and not all problems get an immediate response.

Can problems be solved?
Of course. Find the right guy.

If a politician cheats on his wife…
Et Alors?

Military involvement with government
The President is the official head of the army. Politics and the military are separated mostly. Active military involvement can’t be combined with political mandates, but some military leaders went in to politics after the war (end after their service) though.

Freedom of speech, patriotism, royalty, changing names, misc.
Freedom of speech is tightly guarded, patriotism is encouraged, royalty is non-existent but there is some ‘aristocracy’ and changing names can only happen with approval from the Department of Justice.

ECONOMICS
Utilities & companies: public or private
The private sector forms about 91% of the economy.

Inflation & unemployment
Unemployment is quite low and has not been a problem since the founding of the nation. Inflation is around 2%.

Taxes
Taxes are very low, for some even as low as 3%, on various incomes and profits. It's a government policy not to impose high taxes and make cuts when possible.

Variety of items for sale, haggling
The variety and quality of items for sale has been going up, together with the economy that has taken off very high. Commerce in Bachtendekuppen is fairly healthy where there are more SuperConglomoMarts per capita than in most of its neighbors. Haggling is not a custom in common stores and shops.

Credit cards
Everyone uses them.

Inheritance
Can be freely drafted and organized with a will, within the regulations of private law. No tax.

SOCIAL WELFARE
Welfare, unemployment help and social equality measures are in place though not very extensive. Basic care is provided but not much.

INTERNATIONAL
Knowledge of world capitals & leaders
Basics are taught in schools.

Attitudes toward the other countries of the East Pacific
Due to the long internal war and affairs, not much attention has gone to the outside world. Bachtendekuppens people are mostly neutral about international affairs and other countries. Recently however interest in regional politics has flared up.

Has your country been conquered?
Never.

Wars
The 3 regions had a long military conflict last century. Bachtendekuppen itself as a nation has never been in a war.

LAW AND CRIME
Court system & lawsuits
Bachtendekuppen has a hierarchical court system consisting of several lower and specialized courts, courts of appeal (1 for each regio) and the High Court of Bachtendekuppen. Precedent doctrine is used. The law is a combination of public acts of parliament and judge made law through precedents, based on the principles of the Constitution and those developed trough case law.

Bribes
Not impossible, but certainly not cheap or safe. Millionaires will not buy a lot of people. Bachtendekuppen's government is one of the least corruptible governments in The East Pacific.

Police & gun ownership
Gun ownership is regulated but not banned. Only small firearms and hunting rifles though. Police Force and the Bachtendekuppen Army are strictly organized and well-funded.

Dangerous places
What is dangerous?

Lawyers
A thriving business.

EDUCATION
History you learned
History of Bachtendekuppen and notable happenings in international history are taught in the schools.

Cost of school
Value for money. State funding is available for students from lower income families.

College
College is five years long. Additional doctorate is possible which takes another 3 years.

EMPLOYMENT
Are you a farmer?
Only if you live in the south on the countryside and don’t have an expensive manor.

Can you be fired?
Certainly. The job needs to be done good. We’ll just hire someone else. Severance packages can be arranged and some minimum amount must be payed, which depends on the salary one earned.

Labor day
Not existent. Who the (censored) celebrates labor?

Appointments, punctuality, negotiating
Punctuality is greatly appreciated. 10 minutes late can be joked away. Half hour needs a good reason. If longer, family must have died and you had to identify the body. Negotiating is an art in some private sectors and in public/political affairs.

TRANSPORTATION
Which side of the road / traffic lights / pedestrian safety
You drive on the right side. If traffic lights are orange you drive through, if green you stop if you still can, and red is stopping at all costs. Or the police will stop you for a longer period of time. If they see it of course.

Taxis
Good service, try to make their honest living off tourists.

Quality of public transportation, trains, buses, planes
Generally considered acceptable, mostly used in big cities and for intercity travel.

RELATIONSHIPS
First names & forms of address
First names are used for persons who you know well and they know you well, on all informal occasions. ‘Sir’ and last names are for the rather formal ones.

Arranged marriages & wedding customs
Marriages are not arranged and are a right for everyone. (censored)ual orientation, gender, religion and all other differences raised by self-righteous pressure groups are irrelevant.

Importance of family background & social status
Just like it is everywhere, It certainly can’t harm you. A lot of money always helps too. If you don’t have you can still get educated on state funding and move up in the world. It’s up to you.

Preferences of physical appearance
People like all kind of stuff. Sometimes weird stuff.

(censored)uality & attitudes toward (censored)(censored)uality
Very liberal. Marriages are available for everyone and this is generally accepted.

Relations with family / visiting / misc.
Is different for each family.

AT HOME
Things in your house
A door. Oh and most people have a decent living standard and have a comfortable house, with all the silly stuff people buy over time. Of course in cities most people live in apartments. Both are expensive, but not impossible, even for low-wage workers.

Bathroom
Okay, I only know about my own bathroom.

Telephone
Everyone got one at home. Everyone got cellphones. Or smartphones, tablets, etc...

Climate
It’s there. Quite soft in the southern part of the island. Not so much in the north, high mountains to be clime there. With snow.

FOOD
Biggest meal of the day
Dinner.

What you won’t eat (and odd things you will)
Puffins are off limits and eating humans as well. Beyond that, there are always weirdos who eat the weirdest things. Nothing wrong with that, it’s their life.

How you eat & local cuisine
Most people cook and/or warm something at home. Weekends tend to be used for going out eating and family dinners. The more high class rich people have obviously more fancy dinners. With nice silverware.

Fast food & restaurants
They exist and make their victims, serve (some) people their daily bread.

Packaging
Is available as well. Large stores with all kinds of prepackaged food available everywhere.

HEALTH
Quality of health care & national health insurance
The health care and national health insurance is one of the best available. The Bachtendekuppen government donates so much funding to health care that the entire nation is now protected under an umbrella universal coverage policy where free health, dental and medical services are available within five miles of you wherever you go in the nation.

Attitudes toward doctors
Doctors are highly educated and skilled and regarded as one of the better doctors available. They also have a lot of of diploma’s.

RELIGION
Major religions & attitudes toward them
A while a go the government stopped supporting any religion and cut the government position of religious adviser. Most people are not religious any more, although they are still being practised in some communities.

Relationship between church and state
None whatsoever. Not existent.

Christmas & other holidays
We kept all the holidays of course. Most important holiday is the Founding of Bachtendekuppen on 18 October.

VACATIONS
Amount of vacation time
4 weeks a year.

Top(censored) & (censored) beaches
There are a few dedicated beaches were (censored)less and (censored) is tolerated. All other beaches need to be appropriate for kids.

Hotel rooms with private baths
Most hotels have private baths and showers.

Popular travel destinations & recreational activities
The south of Alacana is very popular because of its long beaches and sunny weather. The small separated islands to the south of the big island (Alacana) are popular destinations as well.

ARTS
Attitude toward opera, ballet, theater, etc.
They are generally supported and also encouraged as extracurricular activities (among a lot of others things). Theater buildings and such need to be sponsored by private companies, government support is scarce.

MOVIES
Dubbing or subtitles?
Subtitles. Dubbing is for morons.

TELEVISION
TV news, newspapers, & print media
The public that is kept well-informed by seemingly limitless media outlets, the news is everywhere. Some drama is not unusual.

COMICS
Formats
All kinds. Libraries have collections of them and kids like it all. Not like candy of course. Or video games.

SPORTS
Popular sports
The most popular sport is mountain diving in the north. Regarded as the nations most popular and dangerous sport, mountain diving is a sport where the contestants dive of high mountains with parachute-like wings and steer along and in between the ridges. First one down (without uncontrolled falling) wins. Good insurance is important.

Types of playing cards used
Standard 52-card deck.

This information was lastly updated in May 2014.