Orbin Federation

The Orbin Federation is the name of a fictious country in which As The Orb Turns is set. It comprises the real life Manitoulin Island, as well as Great Duck Island, Cockburn Island, and a few other islands. It is made up of eight provinces and its national capital is the city of Poncet. It was officially established on September 4th, 1936.



Pre-Orb (1776-1898)
Orbin history begins at the start of the American Revolution. A group of English loyalists in an unspecified location or locations wanted nothing to do with the war, so they migrated north to the wilderness of Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron. They then set up a group of about ten or so defacto colonies, of which, the British crown had no knowledge of.



The Orbins eventually came to embrace independence themselves, albeit in a different, less direct way: During the War of 1812, the Americans knew that there was a nest of British living on Manitoulin, so they sent a naval force to the island, only to be chased back to Fort Michilimackinac, where legend has it Capt. James Coldwell, a well-seasoned sailor from Minising, upon the American commanders asking, "But aren't you British?", reportedly replied, "We are not British! We are the Orbins; the people of Manitoulin and the Isles; and we want no part of you and your insipid war!"

Not long afterward, the British became aware that there was aparently a colony they knew nothing about in Lake Huron. Due to the Napoleonic Wars, and reports from the Americans that these people were extremely hostile to foreigners, they didn't bother with Manitoulin.

Finally, in 1852, the British Crown announced relinquished all claim over Manitoulin Island. Though it cannot be verified, George Benson, the leader of Wessex, is purported to have remarked, "It took them that long to figure it out?"

The Orbins however, were not a unified people. By the year 1890, Orb was divided into ten polities: Wessex, Daawinaki, Lakemark, Little Current, Gomez, Mashkosi, Minising, Odaawa, Temikahah (native territory), and Great Duck Island.

Great Duck Island War (1898-1900)
In the late 19th century, Great Duck Islanders had been settling Cockburn Island, which belonged to the Temikahah tribe, and eventually got sick of being "under the yoke of savages." Great Duck Island decided to liberate its fellow Great Ducks on Cockburn, and launched an attack to take the island by force, attacking on June 17, 1898.

Minising and the Temiakahah had always been close friends and allies, so it stepped in to help Temikahah, only to get attacked itself. In the end, Great Duck Island's military strength was too much for the two nations, and they were forced to surrender in 1900. Temikahah lost Cockburn Island, and Minising lost a tract of land called the Evansville Strip. The Great Duck Island War would ultimately be the last time war would be waged on Orbin territory.

Unification (1925-1936)
In 1925, a man named George Templin was elected leader of Wessex. His name would go down in Orbin history as that of the leader of the Unification Movment. Templin's goal was to create a single Orbin state by uniting all the Orbin nations together peacefully through diplomacy.

The First Unification Council, which commenced in the closing months of 1925, ultimately achieved nothing. Templin sat down with the leaders of Little Current and Daawinaki, but niether would accept the proposed terms of unification. However, Cedric D'Cain, leader of Daawinaki, was interested and invited Templin to try again. The Second Unification Council began in March 1926 and resulted in the creation of the Manitoulin Confederation, comprised of Wessex, Daawinaki, and Lakemark, on May 1st, 1926. But Templin was not satisfied; he would not rest until the entire Manitoulin archipelago under a single flag.



Gradually, the other nations of Orb one-by-one joined the Manitoulin Confederation, until only Great Duck Island held out. They remained stalwart in their refusal to join; one of Templin's military commanders, General Charles Copperminer, wanted to invade Great Duck Island and force them to join; but Templin denied him permission, stating that doing so would create bad blood between Great Duck Islanders and Manitouliners for "generations to come".

Finally, on September 4th, 1936, the Eleventh Unification Council concluded with Great Duck Island joining the country on the condition that its name be changed to omit "Manitoulin", ultimately renaming it the Orbin Federation; that GDI (and by extension, all provinces) be allowed to keep their parliaments; and that the capital city be moved from White Wolf (the old capital of Wessex) to another city with no previous political history. The city chosen was Georgetown, a dirty old merchant city, which was renamed Poncet and renovated for four years, being re-chartered in 1940 as the official capital city of the Orbin Federation.

After 11 years, Premier Templin finally retired in 1947. His righthand man, D'Cain, was made Premier. Starting immediately after the unification and accelorating in the 1950s.

Pax-Orbanna (1950s-1980s)
The following years would birth an era of economic and social prosperity known as the Pax Orbanna. During these years, Orb was known as the "Yugoslavia of the West"--an industrialized capitalist nation in North America that was aligned with niether the United States or the Soviet Union. The Orbin Federation had always been intended to be a strictly neutral nation-state for the Orbin people.

Edward Benson was elected Premier in 1964 after the retirement of Premier D'Cain, and began a campaign called Pan-Orbinism. Pan-Orbinism could be described as a sort of romantic nationalism, which sought to glorify Orbin culture and make the Orbin people feel truly united. The most visible product of this movement is the Pinnun bills, which were designed by artists contracted by Premier Benson personally, and are renound among currency collectors as some of the most beautiful banknotes in the world.

However, Orb's industrial boom eventually came to an end. By the early 1980s, much of Orb's industry had either migrated overseas or collapsed, due in part to seething xenophobia on the part of many Orbins which became increasingly visible after evangelical protestant and Mormon missionaries from America came into the country at this time. The Economist ran a report in 1988 exposing massive corruption in the national government. The Pax Orbanna was over.

Premier Vivix (1991-1999)
On July 20th, 1991, Premier Edward Benson announced his retirement after serving 27 years as leader of the Orbin Federation. This news greatly saddened a nation already suffering low morale. Benson recommended General Roger Vivix, who was running on the Nationalist Party ticket, as a successor. On August 26th, OBC News announced that Vivix had been elected almost unanimously by parliament, and would be sworn in on September 4th--Federation Day.

Almost immediately after taking office, Premier Vivix began a series of campaigns to get the nation back on track. Any member of Parliament found to be engaging in any corrupt behavior was immediately dismissed--and promptly replaced with a member of the Nationalist Party. He established a national youth curfew, and reformed the education system. Billions of Pinnuns were spent purging the country of lead piping; changes in school lunches were made to vastly decrease the amounts of fish students were fed; prior this, lead and mercury poisoning were the leading health problems faced by Orbins.



In 1993, Orb suffered a massive power-failure that left the entire nation, except for Great Duck Island, hospitals and other places with generators, in the dark for 17 hours, left 80% of Orb without power for two days, 48% without power for three days, 35% without for five days, and a remaining 24% without power for a week. In response, Vivix "re-wired the country" by completely rebuilding and replacing the aging Orbin electrical grid--which was, in fact, actually ten early electrical grids, those of the old nations, crudely stitched together shortly after the Unification.

By 1995, the Orbin economy was spinning again. Vivix had never been a charismatic leader; speeches of his often escalating into eranged rants, and he managed to completely sour US President Bill Clinton; but he was an effective one, and the people were content. However, in early 1997--the conclusion of the last of Vivix's many labor-demanding projects of the early 90s--the economy again collapsed and stagnated.

At the end of the decade, many people were becoming increasingly displeased with Premier Vivix. He was a cold, fairly unlikeable person, he lead a harsh, quasi-authoritarian regime, and the economy was dismal. The 2000 election was approaching, and the members of Parliament knew they would be voted out if they did not do something. On April 20-23, while Vivix was on a diplomatic trip to Iceland, Parliament quietly voted to depose Premier Vivix and arrest him on return to be tried for abuse of power. He was ultimately acquited, and sent allowed to retire with a pension.

De-Vivixization (1999-2008)
Howard Turner, a quiet, mild-mannered lawyer from Odaawa, was elected to succeed Vivix. As Premier, Turner improved relations with the United States, Canada, and various European diplomats, and repealed many of the harsher laws of Vivix's reign; an act referred to as "de-Vivixization". He would ultimately resign in 2003, and continues practicing law today.

The Traditionalist Party, which had gained popularity by demonizing Vivix and the Nationlists, promptly elected Premier Benson's son, Edward Benson Jr. He has since come to be regarded almost universally by Orbins as the most utterly useless leader the nation has ever known, having done literally nothing political while in office--all actions taken by the Orbin government during this time were acts of Parliament. He would ultimately retire in January 2008.

2008 has come to be known as Orb's "leaderless year"; for 11 months, the Orbin Federation had no head of state what-so-ever. A small committee of five people was set up to run the day-to-day operations of the country, until a new, sufficient leader, could be picked.

Orb Under Simmons (2009-2013)
On January 1st, 2009, their choice, a Roger Simmons, a former professor of economics at the University of New Bristol, was sworn in. The first Premier to belong to the Liberal Party, he would lead the country in a new direction; legalizing all homosexual activity, and beginning programs to change Orb's image to its neighbors, which had come to veiw it as a country of neurotic xenophobes who elected a wannabe dictator.

The election of 2010 would change the course of Orbin history. The Liberal party won a majority, displacing the Traditionalist Party, which had held power since the end of the Vivix government.

Swanson (April 2013-present)
In April 2013, the Liberal-dominated Parliament announced a plan to provide free condoms in parks for homosexuals having one-night stands there. This bill, along with many other "windmill chaser" bills, caused a massive backlash from the Orbin people, and Simmons issued an order that the "condom bill" be put to another vote, which passed in Parliament, but he vetoed on the grounds that "any bill that generates this level of controversy would, if implimented, only do more harm than good."

On April 16, Parliamentary Orator Jim Sandwich announced to Verity that the previous night, Parliament had voted to depose Simmons, winning 82-18, and Liberal Party head Harold Swanson was installed as Premier. The eighteen non-Liberal Parliament members also resigned, making the Orbin Federation a de-facto single-party state.

At Swanson's inaugural speech, many parts of his speech were drowned out by the crowd's booing.

On April 20, the St. Edmund Times, Great Duck Island's principal newspaper, published an article called They Were Forced Out! which stipulated that Premier Simmons and the eighteen non-Liberal members of Parliament were forced out by a corrupt government, and that the Liberal Party was aiming to turn Orb into a single-party state. The following day, the Times released another article pounding Swanson's government. Everyday for the next week, the Times would include an article viciously attacking Swanson, Parliament, the Liberal Party, and the current government.

In response to this, Premier Swanson issued an executive decree on April 27 ordering the St. Edmund Times to cease all political editorializing on the grounds that it was "inciting social and political unrest in times when the country is already seething"; the following day, the cover of the St. Edmund Times' Sunday issue featured the cover story "PREMIER SWANSON INSECURE; ORDERS TIMES TO SHUT UP", which rediculed Swanson, calling the Premier "insecure", "unable to take critcism", and "crybaby."

The following morning, the National Police raided the St. Edmund Times, arrested all staff and siezed the property. The following day, Beth Cartright, covernor of Great Duck Island, denounced Premier Swanson's actions, calling them illegal and a violation of Great Duck Island's provincial sovereignty "as promised to us by Premier Templin. In response, Swanson purportedly said: "Do not invoke Templin's name against me, woman. I am sitting in the chair of Templin!" (Whether or not he actually said this is as yet unverified).

The final week of April saw something unprecedented in Orbin history: a standoff between a province and the national government. On May 3, Gov. Cartright finally sent a message to Parliament and Premier Swanson suggesting that Great Duck Island be allowed to peacefully secede, as, "We refuse to submit and you refuse to talk to us. We would clearly be better off separate." In response, Premier Swanson threatened to arrest her and the entire GDI Cabinet, occupy the province with the military, and garrison St. Edmund. However, the High Court ruled that Swanson could not legally take action against Great Duck Island as the province had not attempted to commit sedition, but only informally proposed separation. Since May 16, St. Edmund and Poncet have been in another standoff.

Culture
The Orbins are an insular people, often stereotyped as xenophobic to an absurd degree. They prefer to lead their owns lives, and, as a country, "life and let live"--thus why Orb has no history of alliances or fighting in wars.

Though definitely not universal, Orbins are often fairly conservative compared to their American and Canadian neighbors. Girls are vastly more likely to wear dresses, men are usually the breadwinners while women become homemakers, and religion is generally very important to the Orbin people. 80% belong to just the Church of Orb alone, with another 8% practicing some other form of Christianity.

Orb has the highest standard of living in North America and almost in the world. The life expectancy of Orbin citizens is about 81.

Popular Orbin television programmes include The Kenny Vornem Show, OBC World News With Owen Chapman, The Starcrushers, Byronic Bunny, and Kaixo Kitty. Popular Orbin musicians include Kevin Closs, The Diesel Powered Alley Cats, Beachweed, and Jenny McKay. One of the highest grossing Orbin films ever made is Reverse Our Own Future History (1991), sequel to 1989's This Even Will Occured in the Present.

Economy
Despite being stagnant from 1997 to 2013, Orb is (statistically) the richest country in North America. Indeed, middle class Orbins are on average 20% wealthier than middle class Americans. Orb is a free market economy.

The nation's currency, the Pinnun (₱ or Ᵽ), is divided into 100 Pinnettes (p). The currency is denominated as follows: 1p coins, 5p coins, 10p coins, 20p coins, 50p coins; ₱1 bills, ₱5 bills, ₱10 bills, ₱20 bills, ₱50 bills, ₱100 bills, ₱500 bills. ₱20 and ₱50 gold coins are also issued.

The average exchange rate for a one Pinnun (₱1) is as follows: ₱1 = US$0.82, CA$0.83, €0.62, ₤0.53, ¥81.63

The principal industries of Orb are mining, fishing, farming manufacturing, trade, shipping, investment, and high-tech industry.

Demographics
In the 2010 census, the Orbin Federation was found to have a population of about 8,234,000.


 * Numbers have been rounded for simplicity.Dawinaaki.png

Religion
Christianity is the dominant religion in the Orbin Federation, and the Church of Orb is the main denomination thereof. The total religious breakdown of Orb is as follows:

Ethnicity
There are two principal ethnic groups in Orb: Orbins (decendents of the first settlers of the island), and Natives, (tribal peoples who have lived on the island for thousands of years; in USA called "Indians", in Canada called "First Nations"). This is the total ethnic breakdown of Orb: Orbins mostly originate from England, but they also have Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, French, Dutch, German, and even Spanish heritage. The black Orbin population comes from blacks fleeing the United States during the era of slavery. During the Cold War, there was also a small number of Soviet and Eastern Bloc defectors who settled in Orb, a neutral country, in hopes of leaving the Cold War all together.

In the late 1940s, Premier D'Cain established Homelands for Natives, which they were required by law to live on. Premier Benson would ultimately repeal this law in 1974, allowing Natives to live anywhere in Orb, or if they wanted, leave the country completely. The Native Homelands were gradually dismantled; the last one officially disestablished in 1989.

Language
English is the official language of the Orbin Federation, though in Gomez, Odaawa, Minising and Cockburn Island, Native languages are also accommodated. Linguists typically recognize three distinct Orbin accents: Eastern, Western, and Great Duck Islander.

Orbin English, the dialect spoken in the country, is something of a linguistic curiosity of North America. It is noticeably more formal than American English, by simultaneously more flexible as well. For example: when writing, an Orbin may use either British spellings (colour, centre, encyclopædia) or American spellings (color, center, encyclopedia). Grammar is also flexible; you may say either "My family is going on vacation", or "My family are going on vacation". Though a common rule to follow is that groups, such as crowds, families, church congregations, or an unspecified army, are pluralized; while organized entities such as corporations, governments, clubs, church parishes, or a specific army, are singular.

One noticeable quirk of Orbin speech is the use of the term "as to". Orbins never say "as for" (as in "And as for you..."), instead they always say "And as to you..." "As to" will also frequently be used in place of words such as "about" and "regarding". For example:

Son: "Do you know are we still going to Lake Kiawak this summer?"

Mother: "I don't, but your father should."

Son: "I'll go talk to him as to that."

It is such that even when reading text, if an Orbin comes to "about" it is not uncommon for them to mentally substitute and say "as to" instead, without even thinking about it. "As to that" is considered a stereotypically Orbin phrase in the USA and Canada.

Politics

National
The national government of the Orbin Federation is headed by the Premier, who is both the executive head of government and ceremonial head of state. The Premier is elected by Parliament, and serves indefinitely. A Premier could, in theory, serve until death, but this has yet to happen. Premiers usually retire after a certain period of time, and, as demonstrated with Premier Vivix, Parliament can vote to depose the Premier.

On a more ceremonial note, the Premier is also thought of as the leader of the Orbin people, "the knot that ties all the Orbins together", the face of Orb to the world.

Parliament is the national legislative assembly. It is composed of 100 members, who are elected every five years. The Orbin constitution is vague as to whom has more power; the Premier or Parliament. The Premier is the head of government and state, but Parliament elects the Premier.

The High Court of the Orbin Federation is the supreme judicial authority over the nation. It is composed of 50 judges who are appointed by Parliament. It handles both civil and criminal cases.

Other actions and duties are carried out by the Ministries. These include: The Ministries are each headed by a Minister who is chosen by Parliament.
 * Ministry of Justice (Police and legal)
 * Ministry of Health & Safety (Food and drug regulation, safety standards, worker benifits, hospitals)
 * Ministry of Finance (Currency minting and regulation, taxation, budget)
 * Ministry of Agriculture (Farms, crops, land use, mining, livestock, wildlife, fertilizer, environmental protection)
 * Ministry of Relations & Defense (Diplomacy, military)
 * Ministry of Education (Education, curricula regulation)
 * Ministry of Family (Census, birth/marriage/death records, CPS, adoption, parental custody, family planning)
 * Ministry of Information (Regulation of media, censors, management of records, production of print)
 * Ministry of Technology (Television, radio, telephones, internet, computer technology)
 * Ministry of Science (Regulation of all Orbin laboratories)
 * Ministry of Infrastructure (Power, water, gas, roads, bridges, railroads, airports)

Meta-info
Lotz first dreamed up Orb at age 7. He placed it on Manitoulin Island because it was close to home and because Manitoulin, unlike Isle Royale, was shown on a map of the USA (that had bits of Canada and Mexico) hanging in his room when he was a child.