Greater German Reich

Arguably the most successful nation in continental Europe, the Greater German Reich takes aspects of socialism, capitalism and feudalism.

Unlike the citizens of the Union of Socialist and Communist Republics or the Western Federation, every citizen of the Greater German Reich is looked after, at least to a bare minimum. However, in exchange for this service, every citizen must work at a government assigned job, one that has been calculated to fit their skill set the most efficiently.

The Greater German Reich consists of Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Eastern France, a selection of democratically annexed towns and villages in Poland, Austria and Czechia, and South Limburg, the only part of the Netherlands not flooded by the rising sea levels.

Their closest trading partner is the Nordic Union, located to the North, and the Western Federation.

## History

By the time of the impact of The Big One in 2031, Germany was in the midst of withdrawing from the European Union in the wake of the success of Brexit. This caused a cascade effect of other countries withdrawing from the EU, contributing to the gradual destabilisation of Europe, an issue which was made worse tenfold following the Marcoule Attack, and the subsequent Nuclear Riots of the 2030s.

Many different countries in Europe dealt with this destabilisation in vastly different ways. While the UK began to rely tremendously more on the United States, Spain underwent a communist revolution and France erupted into riots - Germany, however, did something more drastic.

In the face of anarchy, the German people voted for a new party, that rose from the chaos, the Partei für soziale Stabilität, or the Social Stability Party (SSP). The party promised to not only bring unemployment to zero, but to ensure that every member of society was productive, and cared for. Winning the election with a slim majority, the party soon did something unprecedented - succeed.

It took a little over two decades. They reinvested heavily into nuclear power, dubbing the common fear of it as "Luddite propaganda". They erected Centralised Citizen Utility Centres, where those who were homeless were assigned cubicles to sleep in, and provided with clean, frequently washed clothing and warm food. For a nation that was, merely twenty years ago, teetering on the cusp of anarchy like so many countries around them, this was barely believable. People were happy, nobody dreamed of voting for anyone else, and when the elections were simply suspended one year, people barely raised an eyebrow.

Soon, Germany was stable, their stability rivalling that of the Western Federation or Greater India. Those who worked for the state were looked after by the state, and everyone worked. In the 2060s, several years after finally competing their stability plan, the SSP announced that it was unfair for Germany to keep their stability to themselves, and that it was only fair for them to share it with those less fortunate.

Within a month, Luxembourg, which had recently experienced a coup, voted to join Germany, and were welcomed with open arms. Belgium followed not long after, in the wake of a famine so bad that a quarter of the population starved to death. Within another decade, individual villages from Poland, Austria and Czechia had essentially begged the SSP to annex them, and they were more than happy to comply. The counties typically were not accepting of this, Poland in particular refusing to recognise the annexed villages as German territory, but they were in no position to contest it in any way other than verbally. Slowly, other countries elected to join, gradually growing Germany larger and larger, village by village, town by town.

The largest, and most recent country to join the Greater German Reich is the "Grand Est" of France, 60,000 km² region in the East of France. With this, the area of Germany is more than twice the size that it was in the days before the meteorite.

Other countries have since attempted to adopt the "German Model", with varied success.

## Social System

The social system of Germany, much like everything within the nation, has been carefully engineered to run with optimal efficiency. No citizen of the Greater German Reich goes hungry, none are homeless. All is provided by the government.

Of course, sacrifices must be made. As it is possible for anyone, around the globe, to join the Greater German Reich and receive this security, resources are stretched thin, especially so for those classed as Warten auf Klassifizierung, or those awaiting classification. While these, the lowest rung on the citizen hierarchy, are given housing, food, and medical attention, the housing is little more than a capsule large enough to sleep in, the food is a form of processed gruel, and treatment for all but the most life threatening illnesses and diseases is regarded as the lowest priority.

Of course, it is possible to progress past this rung, and in fact, the only purpose of this classification is doing so. The very spirit of the Greater German Reich is that anyone, no matter where they started, can progress to the highest echelons of German society. Of course, in practise, this virtually never happens.

Once classification has been carried out - a gruelling process that can take upwards of two years - the new citizen of the Greater German Reich is assigned to one of the following social rungs. Citizens born into Germany directly, as opposed to immigrating, inherit the social rung of their parents, and are sorted into which rung suits them best on their thirteenth birthday.

* Ungelernte Arbeit / Unskilled Labour - E.g. Factory workers, farmers, waitstaff.
* Facharbeit / Skilled Labour - E.g. Construction workers, soldiers, chefs.
* Gebildete Arbeit / Educated Labour - E.g. Plumbers, electricians, teachers.
* Spezifische Arbeit/ Specialised Labour - E.g. Doctors, accountants, researchers.
* Verwaltung / Management - E.g. Company CEOs and political leaders.

Each rung has its own privileges, which range from better quality food, better housing, and better clothing, but there is no segregation. German society has been especially engineered so that all rungs must mix. There are no districts within which only one rung lives in.

Further reading on the social system of the Greater German Reich can be found here.