Zootron

The Federated States of Zootron (Zootron) are (is) a direct democratic nation. Its capital city is Zootron City, and Zootron City is also the largest city. The next largest cities, in order of population, are Zeetron, Zaltron, Zeptron, and Ziltron. Zootron is a major scientific world power, and has the largest space program of the world powers. Zootron is also highly advanced, being capable of inertial confinement nuclear fusion from 2015 onwards. Zootronian society is highly technological. Food is mostly produced through genetically modified crops growing organically on privately owned farms.

History
In 1992, Zootron was founded by Justin Who, after the Ebelinian Civil War of 1992. Zootron was founded in the then-unclaimed territories left by the Ebelinian Civil War. In 1994, the nation was fully established, with infrastructure being mainly complete. At that time, Zootron City had a population of about 4 million people and Zeetron had a population of about 2 million, of the 20 million citizens in 1994. Zaltron and Zeptron were established in 1995 and 1996, respectively. Ziltron was established in 2000, and from there, the nation grew to its current population of 137.21 million as of 2015.

In 1995, with the establishment of Zaltron, the Zootronian government realized that the electricity generation techniques of the time, namely fossil fuel combustion and nuclear fission, were too polluting, and the Zootronian citizens voting 82%-10%-8% in favour of researching nuclear fusion, and creating a commercial system before the decade was out. 10% of the population abstained from voting. The first functional reactor was created in December of 1999, but a commercially viable reactor had to wait until 2015.

Government
"See also President Simon Cooper"Zootron's government is a direct democracy, meaning that citizens vote directly for decisions. This is made possible by public voting stations installed in cities. Those stations are connected to a central system. Citizens may vote on propositions or create a proposition. Propositions are reviewed by a review board, who are hired on 10 year tenures. The President is responsible for relations with other countries, and also has the power to veto or force through a proposition, and is elected every 6 months, with no limit to re-elections. The incumbent president is Simon Cooper, who has been president for 15 years. Because of the lack of a parliament, Zootron saves 1 billion USD annually.

Economy
"See also Zootronian Economy"The Zootronian Economy is based on technology exports and materials processing. Zootron has no national debt, as the Ebelinian debt from the Ebelinian Civil War was voted to not be honoured. The Zootronian GDP is at 1.5 trillion USD, and is slowly growing, while the unemployment rate is about 2.1%, declining, though the decline is slowing, and the rate of slowing is speeding up. No Zootronian president has ever used the third derivative of the unemployment rate to advance their case for re-election, though. Most Zootronian citizens work in the aerospace, computer technology, biotechnology, and energy generation industries. Zootron is famous for housing the headquarters of jOS. The National Research Council is a minor job producer, creating 0.1% of the jobs in the Zootronian economy.

Military
"See also Zootronian Military"The Zootronian Military and Militia is small, with all arms of the military totalling 140,000 being split into the Surface forces, with 75,000 members, responsible for both naval and ground combat, the Sub-surface forces, with 10,000 members, being responsible for submarine combat, the Air forces, with 25,000 members, being responsible for air defence, and the Space forces, with 15,000 members, being responsible for extra-atmospheric operations, including reconnaissance, satellite destruction, and orbital missile defence. Furthermore, the Space forces have a 5,000 person division responsible for missile defence, commonly known as Missile Command. The remaining 15,000 are in minor divisions, like the Covert Operations Branch, and the Information Security Branch. The militia totals 500,000 members, and is called into action in times of war for national defence. The Military handles offence and defence, when not in times of war. These numbers are often supplemented by teleoperated robots and drone craft. Robots make up 10,000 additional fighting units. They are operated by the militia or the military. Zootron is working towards replacing many humans in the field with robots.

Food
Zootronian food is generally based of local products. Rice is the primary cereal grain, with wheat and corn supplementing them. Zootronian cuisine uses many root vegetables, as well as several meats. Zootronians prefer coffee to tea, and (real world) Chinese tea to (real world) British tea. Sugary beverages are rare, and are often consumed in celebrations and parties.

Popular Media
Zeptron is the center of Zootronian entertainment. Zeptron is where most of the entertainment companies are based, and where most studios are located. Many internet shows are also based in Zeptron, because of its fast internet access. Zeptron is home to many internet service providers.

Education
"See also Zootronian Education"Students receive 8 years of primary education, then 5 years of secondary education. Afterwards, it is traditional to pursue a university degree, taking 4 to 5 years. Local citizens fund public schools. Private schools are treated as companies, and receive no funding. Education is compulsory for student up to the age of 16.

People who don't want to be aligned with public schools may practice their own education, as long as their institutions are registered, and that their curriculum is reviewed yearly by the government of the local province. Home-schooling is strictly regulated, with examinations being required monthly.

Post-secondary education in Zootron is known as university and commonly consists of four to five years of study at an institution of higher learning. Students traditionally apply for admission into universities. Schools differ in their competitiveness and reputation; generally, the most prestigious schools are public, rather than private. Admissions criteria involve the rigor and grades earned in high school courses taken, the students' GPA, and standardized test scores (Such as the ZST). Few universities also consider more subjective factors such as a commitment to extracurricular activities, a personal essay, and an interview. A regulation is in place that forbids any post-secondary educational institutions to judge a student's suitability because of extracurricular activities.

Technology
Zootron is the most advanced nation on Earth when it comes to technology development and usage. Transportation technology has advanced significantly, with most civilian vehicles, and some military vehicles being electrical power only, with regenerative brakes, however, military vehicles are mostly electrical-combustion hybrids. Large portions of public transit utilize clean energy buses and taxi services. Airplanes, however, are still limited to fuel cells or chemical drives, and military jets still use RP-1 burning jet engines. Energy generation has also been updated, with most combustion plants being phased out, and replaced with either renewable energy or nuclear fusion. Nuclear fission plants are next to be replaced. Communications are mostly supported by the internet, with public wifi in large cities. The Zootronian Military has the Information Security Branch dedicated to preservation of communications integrity. Information Security is based on the principle that any algorithm worth using must be reviewed by many people. Most computer infrastructure in the country is programmed using jCode, a platform-independent open-source programming language. Defence technology is not as advanced as other technologies. Space-based kinetic bombardment is currently in the prototyping phase, and anti-ballistic missiles are currently capable of interception of ballistic missiles. Cruise missiles, however, are too fast for effective interception. Teleoperated robots are commonly used in military operations, and there is some research into replacing teleoperation with AI control. Gauss cannons are being researched, and Zootron is planning on building a nuclear missile for the deflection and interception of asteroids.

Garbage Disposal
Zootron is relatively advanced in terms of recycling; 50% of all garbage is recyclable, and of the other 50% of non-recyclable waste, 35% is in the form of food waste, which is composted. The remaining 15% of non-recyclable waste is incinerated, either through high-temperature furnaces, or through experimental CNO cycle fusion catalysis and reduction.

Space Program
As Zootron received most Ebelinian aerospace engineers, Zootron has a distinct advantage in the fields of space exploration, and the National Research Council's Space division has published what is considered to be, the most definitive standards system for spaceflight, the Zootronian Spaceflight Standards book. Zootron is also renowned for having some of the hardware from the Ebelinian moon landing, most notably, a complete Jupiter-V rocket, and a set of LOR landing modules, the orbital module Chekhov, and the landing module Tsiolkovsky. They are not intended to be used. In addition, Zootron is one of the signatories to the Outer Space Exploration Treaty, dictating safety requirements in manned and unmanned spaceflight.