Where do your people NOT want to go? Geographic, mythological, or religious, whichever (or all three, if applicable).

Earthly example of a wisecrack involving two such is "If I owned Hell and Texas I would rent out Texas and live in Hell." - Philip Henry Sheridan

I've already mentioned one such Auroran quote - "Hell is not an underworld, it is just what sticks the Kijanas together." (meaning Wondusoland, which I have in gestation, btw; I just like to put up mostly-complete pages :-) )

Nobody take offense - plenty of our citizens think another Auroran nation is just the pits :-).

A blooming black hole in the darkest jungle of Sam'thuma?

(Indiana Jones meets Stephen King?)


Regrettably I'm not good in Sam'thuman names :unsure:

:lol:

LOL thanks Jake...

Odessa... Many Karsosians would put that as #1, even over Communalist countries.

The bureaucracy would kill them. I mean a country that is nominally free, constricting itself with rules and regulations and petty bureaucrats and edicts and "fill in Form 28435-1a, a requisition for the application for consideration of independent movement within prescribed limits of section "A"as described in manual O-9738-c... press hard seven copies...

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!

Now... storyline. Mr Smith goes to Firston... :D

In all likelihood, no Kantonian would want to enter Sjertiva. They woulf generally view it as a cold, barren, war-torn, toxic wasteland. Kantonians and war or totalitarian regimes don't go well together, after all they've been through together. ;)

You missed "don't staple, spindle, or mutilate". Or am I showing my age here?

As for Odessans, they largely would prefer to avoid third world countries but accept going to such places might be part of doing business. While undesirable, it's just one of many business assignments.

With a variety of religions, there's no single "hell" for Odessans, but they generally all accept the concept of such a place. If pressed to provide an Auroran analogue, they'd probably point to Antara because of the mystique of the Adamantines and their hold over Antaran society. Odessans like their bureaucracy because it's predictable whereas absolute power is arbitrary and, perhaps, capricious.

For Pravnicks, most will name Antara as the top of the pyramid in stockist evils. Some will point to Karsos as a communalist society gone rogue. Very few would admit to some after-life concept of netherworlds since religion is generally dissuaded. Religion, as with any sub-group, is considered counter to the overall absolute union of society as one holistic group rather than sub-elements.

That said, there's no shortage of "pressure" to be a good citizen for fear of repercussions, either from the state or as a result of bad kharma. The working off purgatory time effect, if you will. So while most may not talk about a hell, there is still a feeling of such a place.

In the words of the late Empress Gerta "I would only be caught dead in Maloumba". This reflects the feelings of most Tors about that fearsome land.

And.. if Anahuac, as some Tors almost endearingly refer to it, is Torentine's rump... Fernandina is its toilet (0:

Thoughts on Deria... most young Tors (as well as many adults) tend to publicly uphold, at least in front of the older generation, that Deria's carefree culture is corrosive to old Tor ideals... however, this doesn't keep them from crossing the border for some weekend fun.

Thoughts on Odessa... Odessa is looked upon as a bland and semi-repressive state and entry is avoided unless absolutely necessary as the over-zealous Odessan customs guards can turn a simple crossing an all-day affair.

You know I've been musing for some time that one possible reason why the Odessans may have been so obsessive-compulsive was because their colonial occupier (Translithania) has such a laid-back lackadaisical way of governing, where decisions can wait after tea...and then after supper...or maybe tomorrow afternoon after cards, or even next week, if the weather is sunny. Given such a scenario, and perhaps realization that one could die by leaving such decision making in shambles, the nosy Odessans soon learned how to organize things that it eventually became part of the national consciousness...which soon presented itself, as can be seen in Odessan economic growth vis-a-vis Translithania immediately after independence.

OMG! The birthers are sorta right! Obama's a Translithanian!

off topic...
in response to Jerry

haha, yes, this sort of shows your age or at least age range (0:

which reminds me.. i have this horrible fear of paper spindles.. whenever i see one (which is rare) i feel like my eye is inevitably yet somehow accidentally going to plunge itself onto it.