The Republic of Mantle
"Maybe one day, Things will change..."
Introduction
Government
Mantle reformed into a Republic only 30 years after the Provisional Government was made after the War. Mantle operates a City State Republic that is dependent and vassalized by Atlas who has the overall say. Recently Mantle managed to win representation in Atlas' elections by slim margins but mantle is still very much occupied by Atlas. Mantle only has an Lower council which is led by Robyn Hill and her Happy Huntresses. Other seats are held by The Liberation Front or White Fang, and meetings often end in blood shed due to the war time status of all three factions. This means that Mantle's Government is in a constant state of flux as it fights it's self for control but no one truly gaining a true edge but Atlas' recent election could change that.Economy
Mantle is still recovering from the Great War 80 years ago, The worst of the Debt Crisis' are over and the city now has a GDP of 10.4 Million Atlas Lien which is pretty good considering the situation. The Schnee Dust Company however in part owns a lot of businesses in mantle through debt, you see you need money to create a business but few ever had it, so the SDC gave loans to small businesses to start up. When they fail to pay up the SDC takes 5% of that company, over time businesses are completely bought out by the SDC only for more to need money to be made. This is why Whitecliffe has it's own investment scheme where it pays all expenses for creating a business and only takes 5-10% of the earnings as pay back. It's not profitable for Whitecliffe but has given Mantle some independence from the Schnee Dust Company.Living Conditions
70% of the population live in apartment complexes owned and built by the Marrigold Development Group, these apartment complexes are heated and have living commodities but there are large towers completely devoid of residents and are full of squatters, this is because of Housing Bubble that makes living in Mantle fairly pricy, while it's not deadly bad, it has turned entire sectors into poor slums. The other 30% live in chattle slavery conditions by the mines, making equal but extremely low earnings and can get passed over for votes. Taxes are low thanks to Robyn Hill but the financial situation is still far from ideal for many. Much of the populace has substance abuse problems.
Crime
There is a high degree of Crime, from daily robberies to sudden stops by Atlas soldiers or SDC Contractors. Organized crime is at an all time high and between the faction warfare and the Grimm, Gangs also regularly shoot at each other, occupy buildings and commit shootings. The streets run red with the blood of innocents in Mantle, all done under the uncaring watch of Atlas it's self. Bribery is also frequent, corruption flourishes under Atlas, people just looking to get by sometimes slip a few notes here and there to the right peopel to get ahead.Automation
Another threat to what little progress has been made is Automated Giga factories that require almost no work force, Androids being used to replace manual workers and Atlas Knights enforcing rules even stricter then their human counter parts. Poverty and even more crime stems from this negligent replacement of the work force leading to more substance abuse and homelessness.Culture
Despite the Troubles Mantle is the home of a great cultural revolution of Colour and self expression, inventing new underground fashion trends and spreading a freedom loving attitude to others however it is not perfect. Mantle broadly agrees that the SDC is out of control and that the situation is bad but the people are split between various ways to go about this. One way is the way of total Equality and loss of Individualism. In our world we saw the closest Equivalent to this in the USSR with their Brand of Communism, brimming with Nationalism, Supremacy and Paranoia. The Mantle Liberators believe that an return to the old way is the one way forwards. Rebranding their Fascist ideology as Equlism, an idea where all are Equal and all are the same. To embrace total and utter rationality as the only way to survive the Grimm. Next is the White Fang, who don't want be the saviour but rather the New management and flip the dynamic between Humans and Faunus rather then trying to solve it. Finally there is the Reformist, Whitecliffe Style Republicans who believe in Equality, Equal Rights, Democracy, Multi Racialism and Multi Culturalism. It's not hard to figure who'd be more popular in this arrangement but even with Robyn's immense popularity both domestically and abroad. The Cultural Revolution at her back and the support of Foreign Governments there is still significant difficulties and not all of the racial issues have been solved.Racism and other Social Issues
"Fuckin' Animals! Comin' here! -Hic- Takin' our jobs!"
Mantle is excessively disenfranchised, Colour Racism might have faded to the point of being forgotten about as even being possible. But Racism against Androids and Faunus are very real. After the fall of Beacon Anti Faunus Sentiment saw an brief boost where frustrated drunken workers out of the job thanks to embargos or SDC Contracts blamed Faunus for the terrible contracts they'd sign just get food on the table. It was an import from Atlas who at the time was radicalizing in it's own racist attitudes towards Faunus. Still the real cause of this was Class warfare, and indeed many of the issues in Mantle are caused by the Elite's War on the people of Mantle to protect Atlas' supremacy over them. Religious Extremism, Excessive worship of Violence, Racism and general opposition to many forms of social progress. Media and the Net played a huge role in these divisions, this is because of the Void that Colour racism left. Over the last 80 years divisions over skin colour disappeared and that hatred went towards Queer sexual identities, Faunus, Androids and anything generally different. Part of Robyn Hill's quest was doing away with even these forms of bigotry by removing the biggest cause of them, crushing inescapable poverty.LGBTQ+ Issues
Due to the volume of the fight against Faunus Oppression it's easy to miss that not all of the Kingdoms openly accept their own people and their interests. In mantle this is expressed by a general opposition to Trans people. See in a place of such low economic opportunity, prostitution and general sex work is a reliable way to get food on the table and because most of Atlas as a country is biased towards Pornographic material made by women. Men transitioning into Women were seen as 'Cheating' and just trying to get out of hard work. It also earned you stigma from your own family. Such was the Case of May Marrigold, heir to the Marrigold Real Estate Empire turned out to be actually the Heiress but this was something the Marrigolds could not tolerate, forcing May to leave her family and find her new family in Mantle, by Robyn's side.
"Mantle needed me, and to the Marigolds, that meant I wasn't their son anymore. And I made sure that everyone knew that I wasn't their daughter. So forget 'em. They've got Henry, yours have Whitley. You get what I'm saying." -May Marrigold
Progress
Despite the many issues, Mantle has changed a lot and thanks to Robyn is changing even more. Mantle has had to contend with once being the greatest but most evil power in the world and being reduced to a vassal but now, perceptions are changing a little. Sometimes when People in mantle look up at Atlas they see a Mirror and then when they look at Whitecliffe they see it is Atlas's own version of Atlas. Something better then before. Rather then waiting for change, some are making it happen, taking up the flag of the Black Fang after the Fall of Beacon and marching in the streets for example, holding worker strikes even at their own personal risk. There is a genuine effort by many to come to terms with their situation, how they've contributed to it and their responsibility to future generations to fix it. Others are learning how complex people are and how complex society is, how it's so much more then their preconceived and while Whitecliffe's Money, lawyers and example got the ball rolling ,without the hard work of every person in Mantle, they'd not of gotten this far as to get their own candidate for Atlas' high council."Never Again."
GDP: 10.4 Million Atlas Lien
Mantle is one of the cities that replicate Whitecliffe's Tall structures but lack the means to fully develop, leading to hodgepodge structures, uncomplete districts and lots of slums. The Buildings are also not well built and tend to have quite a few problems. Streets are plenty but really thin that make defense of specific roads easier but the moving of commerce and vehicles harder, street jams happen often.
Atlas reminds citizens every day who is in charge by flying their flags everywhere, printing logos everywhere. Every holo screen plays a little national jingle and some districts have annoying loudspeaker announcements every 5 hours even if people are trying to sleep.
Founding Date
12 AGW
Type
Geopolitical, Republic
Capital
Alternative Names
The Former Capital of the World | The Fallen City | Dust Cradle | Spark of Change
Predecessor Organization
Demonym
Atlassian
Leader Title
Head of Government
Government System
Democracy, Representative
Power Structure
Dependent territory
Economic System
Mixed economy
Currency
The Atlas Lien
Parent Organization
Location
Related Professions
Controlled Territories
Neighboring Nations
Comments