General National Statistics
Form of Government: National Socialist Hegemony / Controlled Solitarianism
Form of Economy: Compassionate Free Market
State Religion: The Church of Dy'lathasa Kani, "the Favour of the Goddess Kani"
All immediately following numbers are approximations:
GDP: Seven trillion acos
Population: 63 million
Income tax: 0% - 100%, special*
Government budget:* 3.849 trillion acos:
Administration: Å15 billion
Welfare: Å323 billion
Healthcare: Å642 billion
Education: Å618 billion
Religion and Spirituality: Å91 billion
Security: Å455 billion
Commerce: Å128 billion
Public Transport: Å570 billion
Environment: Å909 billion
Social Equality: Å22 billion
Special Reserve: Å76 billion
* Due to the structure of the Hegemony, the government consists of people who are most qualified and willing to reign. Taxation is voluntary and based on net income as opposed to gross income. Paying no taxes is frowned upon.
Calendar
The calendar system that has been used in Arasel since time immemorial is quite simple. One year is divided into nine months, which in turn are divided into five weeks each consisting of eight days. As this contributes to only 360 days when our planet's cycle takes 365.24 days to complete itself, five additional days are used annually and every fourth year a sixth one is added.
These five days are the solstices and the equinoxes and the Day of the Goddess which is held at the beginning of the rainy season. These are non-working days in most areas of the society. The sixth additional day is the Day of Ashes, when it is forbidden by law to work to commemorate the Diamond Empire and its fall.
The day is also split differently than in most countries:
1 day = 6 hours
1 hour = 12 apiné = 4 standard hours
1 apiné = 12 minutes = 20 standard minutes
1 minute = 100 seconds = 5/3 standard minutes
Time is commonly displayed in digital clocks with hours being displayed with one digit and the rest being displayed with two. Hence, midnight is 0:00:00:00 and noon is 3:00:00:00. What in global systems is displayed as 13:54 would be 3:05:08:40. This method of stating the time is also extremely common in the Military.
The year starts with winter solstice, which is between the last and the first month of the year. The months, in chronological order, starting from winter solstice:
1. Lahlú; winter solstice before the first day, (22.12. - 30.1.)
2. Aríko; (31.1. - 11.3.)
3. Hatus; equinox between the 10th and the 11th, Day of the Goddess between the 34th and the 35th, (12.3. - 22.4.)
4. S'mona; (23.4. - 1.6.)
5. Maxima; solstice between the 20th and the 21st, (2.6. - 12.7.)
6. Tésara; (13.7. - 21.8.)
7. Mahóge; equinox between the 30th and the 31st, (22.8. - 1.10.)
8. Zhpoqmic; (2.10. - 10.11.)
9. Ricíqi; winter solstice after the last day, (11.11. - 20.12.)
The weekdays are as follows:
1. Amalga
2. Tephas
3. Jarkat
4. Sisifil
5. Mamna
6. Ix
7. Meleme
8. Dyóna