Cardinal

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Cardinal is the most renowned country on Earth. Located in the central Northern Hemisphere, and entirely laying claim to the continent of the same name, this country is where the vast majority of all role play in Alternate DBZ occurs. It is often equated to IRL North America. Due to Cardinal's open-door foreign policy and aggressive aeronautics campaigns, compared to the rest of the world, almost all space travelers end up going through or to Cardinal when they land on Earth. Consequently, Cardinal also receives the brunt of almost every extraterrestrial invasion that arrives on Earth.

AltDBZmapedit001a.png
A comprehensive map of Cardinal (click to enlarge)

Cardinal was, originally, the only land mass in the world, before the events of The First to Fall caused the obliteration and reformation of Earth. This, in turn, was a direct copy of a map of the planet Earth in the Dragonball manga. City names and many canon landmarks are direct descendants from the manga map, as well. During the Pre-Null eras, a single empire governed the entire world peacefully, known in Alt as the World Empire. With the recreation of Earth, the World Empire turned into a democracy known as Cardinal.

The government of Cardinal, known as the Directional Council, is considered the fairest in the world. This is in spite of the sudden surge of power wielders and the government's many ideas on how to handle the situation.

Vital Statistics

Official Name
The Grand Democracy of Cardinal
Universal Location
The topographical center of the northern hemisphere of Earth
Population
Under construction.
Population Breakdown
Under construction.
Government Mode
Small, pontiff-led democratic council
Technology Level
Mid-to-High Information Age
Currency
The Zenny, equiv. $0.01 USD

Major Cities

Essential Links

Government

Despite its official designation as a democracy, Cardinal could also be described as a constitutional theocracy. Its Head of State is the Grand Cardinal, a title inherited by lineage. The Grand Cardinal is also the head of government, the Commander-in-Chief of all Cardinalian armed forces, and the head of the official religion of the country. As such, even with the constitutionally-described limits of his powers, he wields awesome influence in addition to those powers he still retains.

The majority of national decisions for the continental country of Cardinal are made by the Directional Council, a body which fuses the primary legislative and executive powers of state. It consists of four senior directors known as "Cardinals", four junior directors known as "Diagonals", and the Grand Cardinal, who actually only rarely makes appearances in council, as his presence is typically not necessary. He is often consulted by the various directors, individually and in groups, outside of the formal convocations of the Council, as well. The directors are elected, the seniors for four-year terms, and the juniors for two-year terms. The directors are all elected nationally -- none of them represent any particular city or population group.

Generally, most issues are solved by majority vote in the Council. The Junior Directors get one vote each, and they each tend to highly specialize in one field of knowledge. The Senior Directors get two each and are more generalized in their knowledge, though they do have their biases and political affiliations. The Grand Cardinal only votes in event of a tie, but as such, with such a rather small number of decision makers, his tiebreaking vote becomes very frequently the landmark vote in many heated battles between opposing political wings.

In addition to this highest form of government, a formidable bureaucracy also exists, to advise the government, administer its policies, and take care of the administrative details.

The judiciary of Cardinal is largely independant of the Directional Council. All judges are officially appointed by the Grand Cardinal, and officially, only he has the right to revoke their status. In actual fact, judgeships are confirmed by the Directional Council, and a unanimous vote of the Directional Council to recommend the Grand Cardinal revoke a judgeship, while technically having no force in law, has never been ignored, historically, although a more divided opinion has. By keeping the judges thus at arms-length from the Council, they avoid direct political interference.

The highest court of the land is the Supreme Court of Cardinal. Various other courts also have jurisdictions in the land, such as lesser appellate courts and civil courts. The Supreme Court of Cardinal has the ability to review laws formed by the Directional Council and deem them to be of no force if they contradict the constitution of Cardinal.


Military

Cardinal boasts a fairly sizable and well-established military. After the assault by Zell, the army was reformatted into the Compass Guard.

Immigration and Naturalization

Aliens, both in the geographical sense and the galactic sense, flock to Cardinal more than any other nation, due to its aerospatial and interdimensional connections and advances, as well as its open-door attitude. However, foreign persons wishing to live in Cardinal (without being completely isolated from civilization, of course) must follow a process in order to gain the rights of a civilian.

Visitors

Visitors are free to stay in Cardinal for up to six months out of any 2 year span. Visitors are not given the right to work, vote, or enlist in Cardinal's Army. Additionally, visitors who are not victims of a crime are only very rarely considered to be acting on Cardinal's behalf, as far as legal procedures go. Otherwise, they are treated ordinarily.

Foreign Resident Cards

Individuals from foreign countries who either do not wish to give up their previous citizenship or do not meet the standards adherent to securing citizenship may instead be eligible for a Foreign Resident Card. Obtaining such a card allows the cardholder to live and work within Cardinal, indefinitely and legally. They may still not vote, or enlist in the military. However, they are occasionally granted more leniency than visitors when defending personal property and related persons.

The FRC card is usually, colloquially called the "Red Card", mostly because it is easier to say and remember, and because the card has a great deal of red on it.

Individuals are generally barred from obtaining an FRC if they have been convicted of a felony, or if they are a national from an territory that Cardinal is currently at war with. In addition, foreign residents committing a felony will likely incur revocations of their FRCs and deportation. In certain situations, an aptitude test may be required to ensure that applicants possess needed skills for the economy. Being able to beat people up is not necessarily a needed skill. FRCs do expire after a 5-year period, and must be renewed.

Naturalization

It is also possible for foreign individuals to secure permanent citizenship within Cardinal. This allows them every right that any other Cardinalian citizen enjoys, including voting and military service. This is also a permanent honor; the only way to lose a Cardinalian citizenship is to gain citizenship elsewhere (which, regardless of that country's customs, is considered a renounciation of Cardinalian citizenship). They may even take office in the Directional Council, if voted in. Cardinal does not permit double citizenships.

In order for a foreign individual to be considered for naturalization, they must:

  • Have lived and kept a steady job in Cardinal legally for 3 years, ending with the time of application
  • Have not committed any crimes above minor traffic citations
  • Undergo a thorough background check
  • Possess three Cardinal non-felon citizen references
  • Be able to fluently speak and write Common.
  • Take an aptitude test for knowledge of the Cardinalian government
  • Take an aptitude test for knowledge of Cardinalian history
  • Publically renounce all other citizenships
  • Publically pledge allegiance to Cardinal

Valid references from important individuals within Cardinal's government may allow waiver of several of the above restrictions (depending on the importance and particular position of the individual), but not all, and particularly not the last two. These references are almost never given out lightly, and are usually done for interest of the country.

Because of the great diversity of Cardinal and its position as intergalactic hub to Earth, there are many applicants for Cardinalian citizenship. At the same time, the naturalization process is lengthy and often runs into ruts. Thus, some applicants may be forced to wait for an entire year before their application is fully processed. Again, however, having connections within the government can speed this up a great deal, so long as the applicant is punctual and prepared.

Certain circumstances automatically confer citizenship, if the individual chooses:

  • Being born in Cardinal (the individual may choose this on their birthday of adulthood)
  • Marrying a Cardinalian citizen within Cardinal (certain checks must be made to ensure legitimacy)

Miscellaneous Places of Interest

If you have an establishment in Cardinal that you would like to publicize, and it does not lie within or very close to one of the major cities, please place it here. I suggest you either make a short description of it directly on this page, or link to a page with any description over a paragraph or two.

International Relations

Alaris

( This section is pending )

Azshar

( This section is pending )

D'hennex

( This section is pending )

Galactic Relations

As one of the more developed nations of Cardinal, and certainly as the most cosmopolitan and open nation, Cardinal is typically the country that alien races first make contact with, when they come to Earth. As such, Cardinal has recognized relations with certain other planets.

New Namek

Cardinal's relationship with New Namek is almost religious in nature. As Namekians have fulfilled the role of Kami of Earth since time immemorial, and Cardinal is an officially (and practically) Kamist, good relations were practically guaranteed from the beginning.

New Vegeta

Relations with New Vegeta have been somewhat more cool than those with New Namek, as New Vegeta's militaristic society runs counter to Cardinalian sensibilities. Despite that, certain trade treaties are in place, and travel back and forth between Cardinal and New Vegeta is possible, via a rigorous customs process.

Parallel Histories

Many power wielders, especially those who are seasoned veterans and heroes of the past, will recall an authority that predated Cardinal's democratic government, known as the World Empire. Predated may not be the correct word to use, since the vast majority of the world has no record or recollection of any such entity ever having existed on Earth. However, those survivors of the parallel reality recall it with a clarity that thwarts skepticism. Meanwhile, the sheer numbers of people in all walks of life and states of dissociation with one another encourage an entirely different past of the continent and world. Since both versions are not only ultimately true but relevant, both have been recorded here.

One World, One Empire, One Catastrophe

The unified world of the World Empire began in roots not entirely dissimilar from those of Cardinal's world. As life began to thrive on Earth, it was selected by forces unknown to host a sentient species, and so, to it, a Kami was sent from the planet Namek. On this version of Earth, only the land currently known as Cardinal existed. As life evolved over thousands of years, humanity was born from the ape and began forming tribes as their technology ever advanced. Somewhere in the second millenium of men, the religion of humans suddenly began to include demihuman icons. The first such icons were clay statuettes of demihumans that had evidently been captured by the early tribals, who took control of the humans by manipulating their lingering superstitions to work themselves into minor deities. The number of demihuman demigods grew, and eventually, some remnants of the all-but-destroyed early demihuman culture fill in to indicate that though the demihumans were originally superior to humans and were the pioneers of spiritual powers, there was a great deal more infighting and conflict between their own tribes. Frequently, tribes were completely shattered by makeshift alliances, sending individuals wandering on their own through the forests, and this is believed to be how the first demihumans took power amongst men.

As more demihumans were exposed, and entire tribes of them emerged from the forests, the deified families were ejected violently, and there was a period of war between the generally more culturally advanced demihumans and the far more numerous and less internally conflicted human tribes. This consumed much of Earth's late stone age and early bronze age, ranging into the 3rd and 4th millenium of men. Toward the end of the fighting, the demihumans began to work into the favor of different human factions, as their numbers had dwindled severely and would not stand more than a few more centuries of fighting. This had the unforeseen side effect of introducing their less politically slanted kin to their human counterparts, and soon there were secret, interracial families, especially amongst the more "attractive" tribes of demihuman. Thus, when demihumans saw their ancient rivals cozying up with enemy human factions, and old tempers began new wars within humankind's own boundaries, the two races shared in the bloodshed. Socially cunning but emotionally devastated demihuman tribal leaders now sat in thrones and council seats next to the progeny of humans' lengthy and enduring family lines, and toward the end of the 4th millenium of men, the Accord of Unity was signed. With it, almost the entire population of humans and demihumans on Earth were bound together as a single, great Empire -- the World Empire.

A century prior, the first human to climb the Tower of Korin (then known as the Sky's Pillar) met with the Kami of the time, who had only recently replaced his predecessor, due to a general failure to lead the men of the lands to peace. The new Kami, whose name remains unknown to all but the Kami who came after, taught Elaina Denissus about the subtle link between the Kami and the people of the world, and showed her the path of peace through spiritual belief. When she returned to the Earth, she spread the word of what eventually became known as the Kamist faith. The faith spread like wildfire amongst humans and demihumans abroad, and in just forty years, the teachings of the Kami had significantly touched every part of the world. It was largely accepted that the tenets of Kamism had a large influence in the creation of the Accord of Unity, though Kamism was not declared the state religion and fully integrated into the government until nearly two hundred fifty years afterward, when politics began to pull the skillfully woven cloth of the Empire apart. Ever since, however, the year has been recorded in terms of time before and after Denissus' public recitation of the Declaration of Spiritual Unity in modern Central Capital; A.D. refers to years "After Declaration" and B.C. refers to years "Before Conception".

The unity was an unprecedentedly successful political move. There was to be a single Emperor, but this Emperor would be swapped every 30 years by the heads of the five ruling tribes and factions, known as the Council, who each shared the same level of power as the Emperor for the most part. The Emperor became a public figure, then, representing the will of the Council and directing its military forces. Matters in the Council were forbidden from public speech, to prevent politics from becoming too involved; a decision which wasn't completely successful but tended to make the more honorable district leaders more well liked. With nearly all fighting and war dispelled throughout the world, the Empire leapt as one into a heavily watered-down medieval era, which only lasted four hundred years, and the Renaissance swept science and forethought through the culture so quickly that the Industrial age had occurred by the 5,500th year of men, or 600 A.D. Technology began to slow down, here, as the united races of mankind grew consummate in themselves and developed the five major cities, each with its own peculiar cultural and distinguishing appeal. By 1,000 A.D., computers and other information technologies began to become slowly popular. Ever rooted in tribalism, men were seen to polarize into the big cities, where men were lavished by the latest technology and luxuries but largely lost their senses of individuality, and into a peppering of community-oriented villages that were scattered across every part of the Empire, from the snowiest peaks to the very doorstep of Korin's Tower. These small villages often strongly emphasized a particular cultural state, such as the medieval-era, honor-loving shinobi of Yamagakure, or the mini-metropolis Penguin Village.

At 1210 A.D., baby Son Goku landed on Earth, and was taken in by Gohan Sr., beginning the events of the Dragonball adventures. At 1232 A.D., the first Saiyan contact since Goku landed reached Earth, starting the events of the Dragonball Z adventures. However, in 1244 A.D., events twisted from canon when Perfect Cell killed all of the major protagonists of the day, including Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, and any progeny they might have had. However, the day was not completely lost.

( This section needs filling with the events from the beginning of Alt to The New Era. )

( This section needs filling with the events from the New Era to the incident of the Null. )

A Whole New World

( This section needs filling with events that supposedly happened before the Null incident on the current Earth. )

( This section needs filling with a brief summary of events since then. )