Great Britain

Great Britain is an authoritarian, corporation-puppet rump state in Northwest Europe and represents the loyalist remnants of the United Kingdom. Its central administrative apparatus is located in Manchester.

History

Corporate deregulation

In the 2020s, the United Kingdom left the European Union, starting a slow period of corporate deregulation. This allowed large domestic and international monopolies like Helios Corporation to rise to power unchecked, while smaller companies suffered. These monopolies became nearly the sole parties of choice for government contracts, responsible for the implementation of projects worth billions of pounds, such as the NEXUS mass surveillance system.

The corporations eventually gained control over many formerly government owned industries, such as British Energy, the British Business Bank, Network Rail and the Department for Transport's holdings, and even ITV and the BBC as part of a new "British Media Group". In 2028, the government even allocated Helios and CHI representative boards, which had almost as much voting power as the rest of the country's population, exuding even more anger from working-class separatists.

Balkanisation

Main article: Independence Wars

Tensions began to slowly rise over the years, and Scotland as well as Northern Ireland accused the British government of selling itself out to the corps. Meanwhile, the corporations' influence began to grow exponentially in England - but the majority of the English working class continued to be apathetic, as the government promised the creation of new jobs.

In 2030, the United Kingdom declared martial law after a revolutionary group called SLAM pushing for Scottish independence began violent protests across the country. When the Helios Private Military Corps were deployed to Scotland, Scottish forces threatened to use nuclear missiles stationed at HMNB Clyde against the UK. When the government attempted to call their bluff, they launched a warning shot which resulted in the destruction of a small, unpopulated island. This forced the conflict into a ceasefire.

Meanwhile, similar protests erupted in Northern Ireland, pushing for reunification in light of the deep corruption in the British government. Similarly, Wales began its own efforts to declare independence. Scotland's new government quickly formed a mutual defence pact with the two, vouching to use the nukes if the country threatened either of them.

Three years later, and with attrition weighing heavily on Helios, the British government begrudgingly ceded Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales, as well as its overseas territories. The war was over - and in a day, the United Kingdom lost over half of its land mass. Several months later, a referendum resulted in the country being renamed to Great Britain.

End of the United Kingdom

Main article: London Revolution

After the conclusion of the Independence Wars, a new insurgent group known as Blackbird began to form in London, consisting of those who rejected the influence of corporations such as HELIOS over what remained of the United Kingdom.

In 2052, after years of guerrilla operations against corporate facilities, Blackbird operatives launched a surprise attack on Helios Tower in London - destabilising its fusion reactor, which resulted in its collapse - and assassinating Helios's incumbent director, Melissa Wallis. This was a clear call to action for all Londoners - it was time to fight.

With the Helios PMC in disarray, the British government was quickly pushed out of London. In a last ditch effort, retreating PMC members detonated an Entropic Flashover Bomb (EFB) in North London in an attempt to escape revolutionary forces, resulting in the creation of the Southern Exclusion Zone. The British Government - now in exile - effectively ceded itself to the corporations, while the Thames Republic formed.

Transport

British Rail operates the majority of Great Britain's rail network, apart from some networks within the corporate territories which are devolved, respectively, to the relevant corporations. For legacy reasons, the ticketing system remains fully paper-based, which is criticised by many as being wasteful and a technology stuck in the past. Identification documents are required to book train journeys, which reflects the heavily authoritarian nature of the transport system.

Internet

The internet in Great Britain is subject to heavy censorship by member corporation states in order to suppress dissent, and is split up into several networks for each one of its autonomous regions, each with differing restrictions. Metatron stands out as one corporation not to place extensive restrictions on its employees, allowing a degree of freer access to the scientific community. Lesser constraints exist in the British Capital Territory, but it is still heavily surveilled by the controlling corporations. Most types of encryption are banned, and where it is allowed, government key escrow is mandatory.

Because of this, the hacker subculture has given rise to underground networks such as the TeleNet in order to circumvent surveillance. Once such network maintains a link through forgotten telecommunications infrastructure, crossing the border to the Thames Republic, which is highly illegal. But despite the corporations' distaste for these activities, they are incredibly hard to suppress due to their decentralised nature and budgetary limitations.