Life Before the civil war part 1

Oronegro was not always at war! although her soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen were always off somewhere causing trouble the nation itself often enjoyed long extended periods of peace.

In this text we shall explore Oronegro's slow collapse into ruin during the first decades of the 21st century. a time when booming business caused by the war on terror, civil wars and international conflicts between many nations (larger ones usually fought in "imagi-nations"). Oronegro's government was for several years controlled by the right wing Freedom Markets party, who controlled government by dubious but not undemocratic means. the system of MMP in Oronegro meant that many lesser parties joined this party so they could have influence. The Freedom Markets party (FMP) was on several occasions accused of bribing these lesser parties but no charges were ever laid. So it was that with business booming the welfare of ordinary Oronegreans was overlooked.

Because of the obvious reliance on Oronegro's economy of the arms and oil industries large sections of the population were employed here. Although nearly all the major companies were nationalised and attempts by the FMP to sell them off were blocked. So the FMP allowed these companies to be run on a stronger commercial basis, the basic working rights of the employees being ignored.

Now the FMP did not represent Oronegro's entire right wing many sections disagreed with what was going on, on the basis that Oronegrean values from the founding days; respect, family and decency, were being eroded. Although most of these were already in coalition with FMP and none seemed to object to the passing of the many bills that allowed for this exploitation. Oronegro's left and centre had similar problems, many parties there had also become part of the FMP's coalition (bribery suspected in nearly all cases). The central Democrats, Centre-Left Labour and Liberal parties the Left wing Socialist an Communist parties could have presented a formidable opposition and would have controlled government if they had formed a coalition however because of their differenced they never did. the right wing Mayoral Party did attempt to bring them together but the Communists and Democrats were not happy with the proposed plan.

Living and working conditions fell due to the FMP's corrupt and exploitive control over the national economy. Trade deals were made to places that nobody knew anything about every avenue for making money was exploited even trade with fanatical terrorist groups! Yes trade with terrorists was common but until then only "freedom fighting peoples" were sold anything, more fanatical groups got only small arms or nothing at all depending on how dangerous they were seen as.

the Bunker which would become so infamous during the civil war was used to create weapons (later seen during the civil war) for states outside the standard world. Laser, plasma, dark matter and even gamma weapons were apparently made and sold. to whom no details were kept. the records only showed business transactions, giving no details of where these places were just the names of the groups, their orders, some contact details and the profits... profits in BIG LETTERS!

Resentment at the exploitation began the process of radicalisation in the population! angry workers looked to far right and far left groups. Between 2015 and 2019 the Neo Nazi gangs trebled in size and the communists quadrupled in number. this radicalisation led to violence! And for the first time in over a hundred years sectarian violence shook the cities of Oronegro. Police quelled any serious events but everyone could see that the situation was becoming desperate.

Although not all of Oronegro suffered so much. the Autonomous Regions OF Greater Oronegro (AROGO) did slightly better, the exception being with The Former Lawless Territory where serious exploitation occurred. The more fortunate areas on the whole remained loyal to the government although this was usually because the Government took so little notice of them that they did what they wanted.

These divisions between the exploited regions and those left to their own devices matched almost entirely the divisions and boundaries at the beginning of the civil war.

This concludes our text.