Bigton

**Bigton**, officially the **Federal Republic of Bigton**, is a nation located to the south of the Rinnarit Republic, on the southern parts of an eagle-shaped island on the planet of Sarpinia, located at a solar system on the other side of the Milky Way.

 Factfile

* Official name: Federal Republic of Bigton
* Anthem: Long Live Bigton
* Official motto: N/A ("Serve the People")
* Capital city: Bigton Metropolis
* Official languages: English, Zergonian, Neo-Norse, Esperanto
* State religion: N/A, secular
	+ Major religions include Christianity, Araxarism, and Asatru.
* Government: Constitutional republic
* Climate: Temperate grassland, tropical at the southeast
* Population: 9,000,000
* Currency: Dollar (100 cents)
* National Day: June 26 (Founding/Independence Day)

## Flag

The flag of the Federal Republic of Bigton is a yellow rectangular banner with a blue horizontal line and three blue triangles over it. The yellow on the flag represents activity and zeal, the blue line symbolises honour and unity, and the three blue triangles represent the three mountains north of its capital of Bigton Metropolis.

## History

It was founded by colonists who fled from oppression and war in an earlier colony. Out of its people's love of their American ancestors, it was among the first of their region to aid the Resistance on Earth as they fought against the tyrannical Earth Union, and it especially favoured relations with the restored United States of America. Because of its pride in American culture and its promotion of asexuality, it became a target of Farsider terrorist attacks, who viewed the republic as a "Loki-worshipping abomination".

Bigton's founder and first president was Arthur Banford, a well-dressed man in a white suit.

After it fended off the assaults of the Rinnarit Republic's militants in the north, it became a dictatorship under the cult of the Unifier, forcing many of its people into the southern provinces of their former Rinnarit foes. Centuries of warmongering later, the Unifier's rule in Bigton ended when the Galaxials invaded the archipelago. The Bigtonian Republic was re-established after its loyalists successfully defeated and expelled the Galaxials from their land, but as a component of a united Centrosian federation.

## Culture

See also: Zergonian glossary, Zergonian calendar, Zergonian mythology

Its traditional culture -- the Zergonian culture -- appears to resemble the aesthetics of 1950's science fiction, blended with that of 50's suburban America and Art Deco aesthetic. While Bigtonians seem to live "casual" and "carefree" lives, they also like to behave in a more dignified, polite manner, earning them the respect and admiration of their neighbours.

Although the Bigtonians committed the Vetarbroitar sin of loving America, the latter's great enemy, they also used examples of America's atrocities and corruption in history as a warning not to repeat. This is how they became more helpful and diplomatic, rather than warlike and selfish.

One Zergonian dish involves two pastes -- one made from pork (or chicken) and one made from vegetables -- prepared as cubes next to some mashed potatoes, fried eggs, or steak.

Bagpipes are a popular musical instrument in Bigton, and they are used on important ceremonies such as New Year's Eve and Independence Day.

"Alexander", "Julius" (in response to the persecution of Italians in the north), and "Nicholas" are popular names in Bigton.

###  Public holidays

* Jan 1 - New Year's Day
* late Jan-early Feb - Thorrablot
	+ Norsefolk celebrate this festival with speeches and hymns in praise to Thor, and with special bread and meat dishes known as "thorramatur".
* Feb 27 - Zormasjun
	+ This day is an important holiday to the Astrovian minority, as it commemorates the victory of their hero Dima Dozen's victory over Overlord Zrugan.
* late Feb-early Mar - Disablot
	+ Norsefolk celebrate this festival by thanking the disir (mother ancestors) and seeking their help to bless the harvest. It is also an occasion for a market festival.
* Feb-Mar (sixth Wednesday before Easter) - Ash Wednesday
* Mar-Apr (Friday after Palm Sunday) - Good Friday
* Mar-Apr (Sunday after Palm Sunday) - Easter Monday
* April 15 - Eostra, Sigrblot
	+ This day is celebrated with colourful eggs and prayers to the gods (or towards God for Christians and Araxarists) for Bigton to resist its enemies.
* May 1 - Tyranny Day
	+ This was the day that the oppressive Earth Union and its empire were founded. It is observed with a sombre parade commemorating the destruction of World War III and the rise of the Earth Union.
* May-June (39 days after Easter) - Ascension Day
* May 21 - Miranda Day
	+ This is the most sacred holiday of the Mirasian minority, as it commemorates the start of their show. Offerings of folded, colourful paper were burned to idols of Queen Miranda, the Mirasian goddess of wealth and beauty.
* Jun 2 - Seivandara Day
	+ This sacred day to the Mirasians celebrates the victory of their heroine, Seivandra, over the Great Pale.
* Jun 17 - Thanksgiving Day
	+ Some Christians take the day off to worship Jesus on that day, as Galactic Christians considered this date to be the date when Jesus was born, according to astronomical calculations. Christians celebrate this day by prayers and flying kites.
* Jun 23 - Summer Blot
	+ The days between it and Republic Day are an extended holiday, suitable for vacations and tourism.
* Jun 26 - Republic Day/Independence Day
	+ This commemorates the day that the Federal Republic of Bigton was founded. It became known as "Independence Day" when it defended itself from the Rinnarit Republic's invasions.
* Jul 4 - America Day
	+ This day commemorates the founding of the United States of America, which Bigton looks up as the home of its ancestors. It is observed with a moment of silence and a prayer for the well-being of any living people in America itself.
* Jul 19 - Redemption Day
	+ This day celebrates the defeat of the Farsiders, sparing the Earth from further extermination and destruction.
* Aug 1 - Freyfaxi Blot
* First Monday of Sept - Labour Day
* Sept 30 - Eternity Day
	+ It is observed with prayers, weddings, making wishes, and scaring people with eternity-themed monsters, as this day was considered to be the date of the Last Judgment in Zergonian folklore. As a result, it becomes a mixture of Valentine's Day and Halloween.
	+ Zergonians also believe that it will always be September in Heaven, since the popularisation of an old meme known as "Eternal September". Likewise, it will always be March -- its opposite -- in Lorehaz (Hell).
	+ Zergonians also believe in a bear, Stephen Pauldrick, who sleeps every September and awakens only on October or Halloween. In some cases, the bear sleeps until the end of the world, when he partakes in the destruction of the universe. To honour Stephen, people wear costumes of black bears on the start of September, dance on those costumes on Eternity Day, and burn the costumes on the next day when October begins.
* Oct 30 - Vetrnætr Blot
	+ It is observed with meat offerings to the ancestors and the elf-spirits. In Bigton, it is also celebrated with dramatic readings of poems.
* Oct 31 - Halloween
* Fourth Friday of November - Native Americans' Day
	+ This festival honours all Native Americans, whether on Earth, Bigton, or elsewhere in the Galaxy. To celebrate them, films directed by Native American Bigtonians are shown in cinemas nationwide.
	+ In Bigton and other major cities, town squares and some halls invite Native Americans to sell their handicrafts or show off their skills.
* Nov 30 - Memorial Day
	+ This was the day held in prayer to those people lost to various disasters in Earth's history (such as genocides and wars, including the colonisation of the Americas, World War III, and the Earth Union's massacres of dissidents and elderly people). It is observed by donations of food, clothing, and supplies to Earth's people or the descendants of the victims.
* Fourth Sunday before Christmas - Advent Sunday
* Dec 1 - Innovation Day/Odinblot
	+ A certain blot dedicated to Völundr and Odin that has been set as a day to celebrate science and technology.
	+ In Bigton, it is observed with metallic crafts, electronic art, lanterns shaped like crows, people wearing costumes of old wizards with canes, and firecrackers. It is also considered the start of the Christmas-Yule festive season, which lasts until January 6.
* Dec 6 - Nicholas Day
	+ People go around leaving gifts to children as they wear costumes of St. Nicholas. This is also a day when Bigtonians donate more supplies and food to the poor.
* First Friday of December - Black Friday
	+ Out of respect for the Native Americans, Black Friday is moved forward to this date. It is usually a time to decorate homes for Yule and Christmas.
* Dec 15 - Astrosia Day
	+ A special blot held by the Astrovian minority to celebrate their show's founding and culture. It is celebrated with statues of their gods made from plastic and junk, and more firecrackers.
* Dec 21 - Yule Blot (Norse New Year)
	+ This sacred Norse festival can be observed for twelve days, lasting until January 1.
	+ In some provinces and districts, animals are killed on the spot as sacrifices to the gods. In others, consecrated meat from nearby abattoirs is offered to the deities.
	+ Another custom on Yule is a race between two teams: one team represents an army of ghosts led by Stephen the Bear, and other represents Odin's warriors. It can alternatively be interpreted as a fight with water or foam guns or snowballs instead.
	+ This leads to the practice of eating a roasted pig on Yule and Christmas dinners.
	+ Some Bigtonians celebrated Yule by raising red cups: according to them, it was done to celebrate American culture and laugh at its faults, from activism to Internet quarrels and religious fundamentalism, which were supposedly long gone. Some Christian members draw crosses on their red cups in honour of their God, while others did the same for their respective religions.
* Dec 24-25 - Christmas
* Dec 31 - New Year's Eve/Thanksgiving
	+ This festival is observed with a family dinner, and (for religious people) a thanksgiving prayer to God or the gods for the year.
	+ Every year, someone plays "Auld Lang Syne" at a pipe organ within the City Hall, and their performance is broadcast to television screens throughout the whole nation. After that, they play the national anthem as a new flag is raised at the flagpole outside, ending at the stroke of midnight, and burn the old flag at the next morning.
	+ At military bases throughout the country, people play "Auld Lang Syne" as they raise the Bigtonian flag and fire cannons southwards on the last minutes to midnight. Some people use the bear costumes for Eternity Day to usher in the new year.

In Bigton, Norse festivals are celebrated separately from Christian festivals. Nonetheless, many Bigtonians of various faiths and no faith wish each other "Happy Holidays", because they want to save time and money.

## Demographics

Most Bigtonians belong to the Zergonian ethnicity. The majority of Zergonians are White, particularly of Anglo-Saxon or Nordic origin, with minorities of brown-skinned Chronosians, Mirasians, and Rinnarits living in the north and east, and other smaller minorities scattered all over the country, all of which have civil rights. The White peoples of the Republic of Bigton come from the Zergonian, Bigtonian (Americanised), American, Retrovian (50s American art), Norse, Italian, and Astrovian (50s retro sci-fi) cultures: however, the American minority also has non-Whites among their numbers.

Other ethnic minorities within Bigton include:

* Black Bigtonians (mostly of West African descent, some Cosmopolitans)
* Jewish Bigtonians (mostly of Ashkenaz descent)
* Native American Bigtonians (mostly of Cherokee, Navajo, Lakota, and Chippewa descent, who have immigrated from Kheya Wita and the American nations)

The official languages of Bigton are Zergonian, English, and Esperanto: Zergonian was the mother tongue of the founders, American English is their classical language (alongside Greek and Latin), and Esperanto (or a dialect of it) is a lingua franca used for communicating with other nearby and distant colonies all over the Milky Way. Italian and Latin became popular languages in Bigton, out of its society's contempt for the Rinnarit government's persecutions and to emulate the finer arts of the First Renaissance. Many Bigtonians also speak in their variant of Neo-Norse.

Even though it is a secular state, the majority of Bigtonians are Evangelical Protestant Christians, with minorities of Araxarists (who worship a phoenix god, the traditional Zergonian religion), Catholics, Asatruar (worshippers of Norse Gods and Goddesses), Buddhists, other pagans, and atheists. Alarmed by the Rinnarit Republic's fanaticism, any form of "extremism" is viewed as a danger to be absolutely avoided. Unlike their American ancestors, Bigtonians do not force either Christianity, atheism, Araxarism, or Asatru towards nonbelievers. They are fine with the government and schools conducting religious ceremonies, and students and members are also permitted to just watch and not take part.

## Trivia

* The patron saint of Bigton is St. Nicholas of Myra. He was selected because he was popular among the Bigtonian populace, as he represented Christmas and American nostalgia.
* Bigton's name was derived from "Bigweld", a character from the movie "Robots".
* Many Bigtonians take pills to help them concentrate and sharpen their minds.
* The first thing that Bigtonians think of when they hear about Vietnam is not the Vietnam War, but chickens (*những con gà*). They think that chickens are so common in Vietnam, that these birds freely roam around its denizens.
	+ Another Vietnamese custom adopted in Bigton is "đi bão" (also spelled as "deebow" or "deebo"), which involves riding motorcycles and yelling around to celebrate an event, such as a victory or a win in a sporting championship. It was deliberately done to make fun of the Rinnarits' fanaticism.
* Even though Bigtonians loved America and its culture, they tend to be more critical of America's actions and history: they were taught about its many faults in schools and history records, every day. They wanted to save what is good of their ancestral homeland from being lost.
* Arthur Banford, the founder of Bigton, was largely inspired by Spencer Bennett, the antagonist of Django Unchained.