An example of ''Chinese Realism''.

Being born in SC's world can have an influence on youngster minds.

Fashion styles might be clashing, but uniforms always remain classy.

Some seek answer in cyberpunk, while others - in retro dieselpunk.

Also, not everyone is anglophone.

Early life

She was born in Yellowknife, in the depths of Greater North, and was the only child in family, so she felt a great pressure from her family members, who wanted her to succeed. She had a big interest about astronomy, and often visited the observatory in Greater North, because it was easier to see starts from the skies of far north, than further south. So, many thought, that she would make a great astronaut for the new space program.

She got most of her education in Yellowknife, but then she moved to Inuvik, in order to study there. At that point, observatory was taken by the Canadian military, and it was used for possible research purposes, so she couldn't access it for a while.

After she completed her studies, she was finally able to actually apply for this job. She had to undergo a bitter competition, as cosmonaut was a job, that had a high prestige, and demanded a lot. However, she was able to shine in the new competition, and she got accepted into the agency.

Career in space agency

As a first female CEO of the agency, she faced many hardships, and stereotypes. Most of the staff hardly tolerated her. However, by sticking to Tom, and playing her cards right, she managed to keep the position, and convince skeptics, that she is fit for her role.

She started a program, in order to raise awareness about the benefits of space program, and to encourage more youngsters to if not to become astronomers, then at least to ''realize the benefits of space exploration.'' She has visited a lot of universities in North America, especially in Canada, and America. Once she visited an university in Rockies, and was shocked about the ''backwardness'' of students there, just as about of ''barbaric'' personality of soldiers there. After that, she said, that ''If SC is going to be like Rockies, it will have no future''.

One of her highest accomplishments is actually the increase of CSA's budget as a whole. She managed to convince Tom, that ''Space research is necessary for our survival'', and Tom gave some funding to the cosmonauts, and promised to ''give the rest funds after the Commonwealth will be created.''

As space technology isn't quite advanced for feasible space colonies yet, she has put effort into concepts, and experiments on Earth. She has also expanded the satellite network around Earth, which has made more precise GPS maps. She wants to travel one day to moon in a space shuttle.

Personality:

She often calls herself as ''an average Joe'', and doesn't consider her to be either very nice, or rude - she thinks, that she is neutral, with a bit leaning to the good side. However, others have said, that ''she is fairly kind hearted'', especially those, who are long-time friends with her.

She has become basically like an icon of the SC, just like successful generals, or scientists have. However, she doesn't let her fame get into her way.

One from posters, and a part of her ''Space awareness campaign''

Political opinions:

She is perhaps one from the most commonly known liberal wing members (As liberal as SC allows, of course), but she mostly hides her political beliefs from others, as it might be dangerous for health, or even endanger her life.

She supports free market, but with regulations, and wants to make sure, that workers wouldn't get screwed over by corporations, and sometimes protects lower rank workers from being yelled at. She could effectively be called as ''center-left''.

She staunchly opposes the current system, and would like to see it reformed further. She currently has aligned with reformist wing, but she has concerns, that in future, reformists will become more conservative themselves.

She is also quite progressive, and a globalist. While she supports idea of colonizing the space, and especially the Solar System, she is against conquering of more primitive aliens, and instead favors either diplomatic ties, or uplifting them. She also is sometimes complaining about the lack of funding for space, but she also knows, that money comes from somewhere, and that she has to be content with current situation. In fact, she doesn't let politics get in her job, and sometimes even doesn't allow anyone talk about them in the room.

Scarlett's 8values test results

(Officially, she is ''apolitical'', mostly because of concerns about her security. That is far from the case, though.)

Pro: Social liberalism, space exploration, progressivism, peace, limited democracy, technocracy, critical thought, limited government economical control, social democracy, globalism, individual rights, space colonies, transhumanism, extended AI rights, environmentalism, atheism.
Anti: Totalitarianism, nationalism, fascism, conservatism, war, mindless submission, extremely large government, collectivism, anarcho-capitalism, socialism, conscription, prejudice against possible aliens, theocracy, neo-reactionaries, unquestioned authority, corporate monopolies.

Quotes:

''Trying to stop progress is like fighting with windmills - you can slow them down, but not stop them entirely. Well, unless you break the mechanism.''

''We should not enslave possible aliens, or declare war to them - we should observe them instead, maintain healthy relations, and try to fix our own mistakes. After all - what if they are stronger than us? What we are going to do - try to negotiate with our dollars, which would be worthless for them anyway?''

''Some say, that nationalism is silly. But it is more than silly - it is dangerous. It is what brought us into this mess in the first place. Hence why I am against it.''

''When sh*t will hit the fan, our space colonies will provide a backup of essential resources. Without them, we would be screwed.''

''I am tired from this government, let's be honest. It sits on my neck all the time, and I can't focus on my damn job. Couldn't it be just a tad smaller?''

''Let's be open and honest - most of the leaders of so called ''Silver Commonwealth'' aren't religious at all, and use religion as a tool to fool masses.''

''If this nation has any hope, it lies within democracy, not authoritarian rule.''

''Could you stop saying, that ''my place is in kitchen''? That shtick has become old and boring - we now are slowly moving towards equal position.''

''I don't understand, why Tom hates constitutional monarchy so much - after all, if people have a free voice, king is just a mere figurehead, and parliament isn't oppressive, it is better to live under it, than under a totalitarian jacobin regime.''

''Our future is in the stars.''

Some stats

Karma: Good

S.P.E.C.I.A.L stats:Strength: 4
Perception: 6
Endurance: 6
Charisma: 5
Intelligence: 8
Agility: 4
Luck: 5

Preston is the President-Governor of Midwest, and one of the oddball leaders of the SC - he has described his system as ''communitarian agrarianism'', which some call as ''nationalist anarchism'' instead. However, the later is more often used by his more authoritarian opponents in both Midwest, and outside of it.

Early life

Preston was born in Iowa, in 1995, when SC was still undergoing massive reforms. During that period, food shortages were common', and Tom often took grain from rural communities to provide for the bigger cities, which created a massive pressure on the rural communities, and even sparked protests. His family mostly consisted from farmers, or people related with jobs in agriculture, so his education was focused in the same direction.

It is said, that his fairly unique system of beliefs for the Commonwealth was mostly formed during his childhood - as he was born in a rural, conservative family, he was schooled in traditional values, and nationalism was drilled in from very early age. However, he also saw several government acts of totalitarianism (One of them being forceful confiscation of the wheat from farmers, and fish from the local Inuits), and life in the cities, and he found peace in his rural community.

He went to a government's specialized university, to get a degree in agriculture. He was also advised to perhaps seek a position of Minister of Agriculture as well. He had already began to develop his own political idea back then, and decided to try his opportunity in Party's ranks. Of course, it didn't just gave pass out of blue air, so years of long, and tiring studying followed, and tons of practical jobs as well.

As a Minister of Agriculture, and President-Governor

His political career's first large accomplishment was in field of agriculture, as expected. Before becoming a regional governor himself, he gave advice in matters of the crops for farmers, and argued in SC's council for increased demobilization, and more money for farming techniques. At first, he was a supporter of the Party's conservative wing, but after seeing them drifting more and more in the supportive direction of totalitarian statism, he started to support reformist wing instead, due of his agrarian communitarian beliefs.

He also met Scarlett Newman - the head of the Commonwealth's Space Agency, during one of her presentations in Midwest universites. While not being too interested in space exploration himself, he still wanted to find more contacts, and possible support. During conversation, it became clear, where they had common ground, and where they did disagree with each other. Later, Scarlett said, that "While Preston is a man with a good heart, he is misguided at the same time, and actually isn't ready for a deep reform of the Government''. Some others have been even more critical on him, citing his other traditionalist and authoritarian takes of past, which implies that he isn't that supportive of democracy either.

Also, thanks to his effort in studying the politics as well, he was later able to be elected in the Midwest President-Governor elections by the Party's members, as "Preston had the most knowledge about politics", according to one of the Party's members.

One of his first implemented policies was cuts of military spending, and diverting money for agricultural sectors instead - a move, that wasn't common in SC. Other regional governors weren't fond of this idea, and accused Preston of ''weakening the Commonwealth's military power'', to which Preston responded ''But how I am weakening it? I am doing exactly the opposite - giving more for food industry, so more soldiers could march with a full stomach! Besides that, Midwest army wasn't that useful anyway.''

He also started to slowly merge farming groups together into communitarian guilds, and ''farming field campaign'' - a campaign, where some of the larger city inhabitants would be taught, how to work in a farm. At the same time, Preston expanded the membership of the factory guild syndicates, and cut SCPS functions to very important, and most necessary needs - most of the internal security matters are now handed by vigilantes, which is unique for the SC, as it hasn't been really tried yet, and in other Commonwealth state, SCPS feels almost omnipotent in a way.

At the same time, he has started to work on a decentralized military command, with state militias protecting the towns, and cities, in order to slowly replace the regular army. He also allowed a bit more economic freedom, particularly for farmers, while still keeping control on some parts of the economy. He also upgraded Russian version of tachanka for his own technical (vehicle), and added laser weapons on it. He calls it ''The weapons of the worker, and farmer''.

Personality: Preston is somewhat stubborn, like most of the SC's citizens. He often says, that "it is in our (Midwest) blood". He also prefers negotiations over confrontation, and often will try to find a peaceful solution, before using fists. He can be often seen working on the field, or reading a magazine. He wears a fanciful farmer's suit - a special order from the Commonwealth's retail, as he wasn't a fan of formal suits.

Despite being sure about his political stance, he finds it hard to argue for it in debates, so he mostly prefers to avoid them. That is one of the reasons, why he also prefers working with robots, as they "don't ask stupid questions", according to his words.

Political opinions: Although he isn't a luddite, Preston has a strong agricultural preference, as a large part of the Midwest consists from farmlands, and often is called the ''Breadbasket of the SC''. He also is an non-interventionist, and somewhat of a pacifist - while still keeping military around, and ready to defend himself, if war would break out, he supports cuts for military, and diverting more money for food sector instead, as ''military has grown too big by now, and eats away resources, which would be more useful elsewhere''.

Economically, he supports a guild model, and has careful supported anarcho-syndicalist model in the past. He envisions, that ''in future, Midwest economy will be ran by farmer, and industrialist guilds, which will decide matters in local councils, and will work together in a synthesis''. While he has been critical of the current planned economy model, he would prefer breaking the monopolies as well.

Unlike for most of the other SC's governors, liberty is very important to Preston - he has been a supporter of rights to own firearms, and legalization of a few drugs for limited use, and has been often described as a ''proto-anarchist'' by the rest of Midwest leaders. However, he is also a nationalist at the same time, which has also often got himself in debates with the Party's liberal opposition.

Socially, Preston is pretty conservative, and religious, however, and unlike most of the other opposition members, isn't too fond of the liberal wing. While he thinks, that ''revolution is sometimes necessary'', he also thinks, that ''it is the best, if we try to negotiate our way as much as possible, because revolution spills blood, taking away workforce''.

Preston's 8values results

Pro: Gun rights, communitarianism, agrarianism, nationalism, traditionalism, anarcho-syndicalism, guild socialism, mild industrialization, Christianity, georgism, non-interventionism, vaccination, ''common sense'' ethics.
Anti: Totalitarianism, corporatism, warhawk diplomacy, excessive military, rapid industrialization, enormous government, chauvinism, command economy, absolute monarchism, cruel experiments.

Quotes:

''Think of the money, that has went for military during the last few years - an enormous sum. If at least a part of it was spent for agriculture instead, we would be more fed nowadays.''

''Totalitarianism wasn't what brought the change - reformism did. Now, we must move forwards, and abandon the rigid system as a whole.''

''Ideally, world would be made of agrarian, and rural communes, with local militias protecting the land, and society education, without much government interference. Sadly, utopias don't work as well in practice, so perhaps we can just reduce government's influence as much as possible?''

''Just because of my anarchic-leaning stances, I don't think, that laissez-faire is the way to go. It paves way for corporatism, which paves way for corporatocracy, and authoritarianism in the end.''

''Every hardworking human should have a right to carry a gun in self-defense.''

''If a community can ensure traditional values, and patriotism, then they don't need to be forced upon the citizens.''

''Have you thought, about how much souls have been lost in our conflicts? Perhaps sometimes it is better to just back off, and don't pull our hands in matters, which aren't ours.''

''As a farmer, I can tell, that a smell of your homemade corn soup is one of the best in the world.''

''Some have called me an ''anarcho-syndicalist''. Perhaps one of the reasons, why I still walk on this planet, is because I am a proud Christian, and a nationalist.''

''Socialism has got some good points, but flaws in it can lead to extreme authoritarianism. Some systems, however, are built on oppression cornerstones.''

Some stats

Karma: Neutral

S.P.E.C.I.A.L stats:Strength: 5
Perception: 7
Endurance: 7
Charisma: 6
Intelligence: 5
Agility: 6
Luck: 3