Kalistan

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Ska to Return to Hutori, Adds Smoked Salmon to lineup
Skankin Hutori to tour home of The Gang for 4 Month
Dana, Suldanor
May 3, 4899


Dana Ska band Smoked Salmon included on Skankin Hutori Tour set for Fall

The recent victory of Red Tone at FOMAT last year has centered the focus of the Kalistani Music Industry on Northern Suldanor, where Red Tone is based, and has encouraged the development of myriad of new ska outfits also hoping to cash in on the area's signature sound. Ska has long found a home in Southern Kalistan, tracing its roots to Hawu Mumenhes, and the traditional Mento sound and rhythm which arrived in Kalistan about a thousand years ago. There these influences combined with Rasezanai faith traditions which are still practiced in small pockets of the Republic, and generated Reggae. While eclipsing Ska as a music form for many centuries, occasionally ska has lifted into the mainstream, especially as Two Tone and skapunk.

Kalistan is enjoying one such moment that was kicked off by the Arrival of Hutori rockers The Gang, who themselves occasionally played ska or ska influenced tunes. The Gang, and music acts associated with them have subsequently restored the popularity of Ska in the Republic, leading to the selection and subsequent victory of ska punk band Red Tone at FOMAT, and the explosion of Ska on the Mainland. The biggest name groups associated with Ska now are of course Red Tone, the Interrogators, and Dana's Smoked Salmon, who have been together for three years and are finally enjoying mainstream success, on the coattails of Red Tone's FOMAT victory and ska's subsequent domination of Radio 1 and the tremendous popularity of Radio 4.

Front man Allen Borne, who founded the group with his cousin and next door neighbor, and went on to add a three piece brass section and keyboardist, welcomed the success. "Oh, you know, there was all this talk about selling out. Joining the popular thing. Well, when we started we weren't popular at all and we weren't making any money, so we kind of got lucky that we started the band and then all this happened." When asked if he was inspired by the arrival of The Gang, Borne was explicit: "Sure we were, I mean, who wasn't. But my next door neighbor, Jimmy Jimenez was in the NSP at the time and we couldn't find a bassist that wanted to play that 'ska bullsh--', so when Jimmy got out, we decided to give Mo (Pella, of Red Tone) a call. She was already touring I think, and we kinda grew up together, but she wasn't nearly as big as she is now, of course. But she was like 'So, here's how you do it...' and she put us in touch with her guy at ARC and then even sang on one of our songs that I wrote about an ex who dumped me for another woman, and ARC gave us a deal on a record that didn't really do anything, because we didn't have a lot of exposure. But of course, Red Tone was getting hella huge and so we opened for them a couple times, and then recorded another record, and I think its really kinda blowing up."

Smoked Salmon recently released their first single from their new Album. Both the record and the single are called "Sold Out" and it describes how corporate executives are now swooping in on Dana to cash in on the new Ska craze, all looking for the next Red Tone. "I can't deny that we benefited from that too," said Borne. "I mean, ARC just included us on the Ska tour that is going up to tour Hutori for like four months this fall, over the new year. Its a big show, for real." The tour Borne is referring to is the Skankin Hutori Tour, promoted and paid for by ARC Records. Smoked Salmon have been included along with Skankin Kali veterans Red Tone and the Interrogators, along with The Gang. "Naturally, they will be making Mo's Band the co-headliners, because they're very popular in the Republic right now, and around the world, so like there's more room for another supporting act," said Borne.

The tour, which will run between mid September and early January, is set to do more than 40 shows during that time period, including a Saturday Matinee each week during the Tour. "The Matinees are a new thing, I think," said Borne. "Like not all the kids can get to a Night show especially ones during the week when they gotta work the next day and stuff, and we want to make sure, you know, the kids can see the show too. I don't mean little little kids, of course. We will have booze there. I mean the youngsters and all that. No, the little ones still have to stay home on Saturdays and watch cartoons."

The Tour will cap off with a New Year's Eve Concert in Acton, Hutori. "I have it on good authority that the Gang is super happy to play this show in particular," said Borne. "Its been a long time since they've been home, even though they apparently never intend to leave Kalistan, and playing the New Year's show in Acton is kind of like cementing a legacy, a legend for them in their homeland. So it will be a treat I think for them especially. Plus, I've never been up there, and like I personally am hella stoked to get there."

This will be the first major international tour for the three local groups, though The Gang clearly have more experience. Luckily, Hutori is also an ODEN nation, so no matter where they go in the country, they won't ever be too far from home.

Below is the Collaboration track that Monica Pella sang on for the Smoked Salmon's first record "Smoked Salmon". The Song is called "Girlfriend".

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Kalistan Announced FOMAT XIV Date
Show set for weekend of July 1, 4902
Sulari, Suldanor
June 12, 4899

FOMAT returns to Kalistan, and the date is currently set for December 1, 4901 (OOC: Next Friday, Mar 5, at 5pm CST). This edition of FOMAT will be Kalistan's third time hosting the contest, and Organizers have decided to move the show to Sulari due to the possibility for Inclement weather at that time of year in Ananto. The show will be held at Sulari National Colosseum, site of countless concert and various other entertainment, and widely considered the center of Kalistani music, movies, and arts on the Mainland.

Submissions are opened and must be made by 11:59:59 pm CST on (Thursday, Mar 4) for them to be valid. Please post your submissions on the FOMAT site, and include a link to the song itself on the FOMAT page. Not including a link will not be disqualifying, but it is courteous to do so.

Once submissions are finished, voting will begin, and all votes must be in to the Contest judges, via DM on Discord or some other method no later than 4pm CST on the day of the show. Please rank the contestants with 1 being the best and whatever the other number is being the worst.

Scoring will be based on Kalistan's formula for scoring used in FOMAT XI: 70% of the final score will be an averaged score from the crowd, 20% will be the RPed score of Kalistani viewers, and 10% will be the averaged Judge scores. This ensures that the vast majority of the score is made up of votes from the audience, but Kalistani Judges will break ties and so forth.

Kalistan will be instituting a modified cultural rule from the previous two contests. Songs DO NOT need to be in the National Languages of Culturally Protected States. But the RL equivalents need to match. For example, Hutori's RL equivalent is generally agreed to be Anglophone Canada, so his Artist should be generally from Canada. This rule will be in place to ensure that there is cultural diversity in the contest, but contestants have a bit more latitude to select artists from their countries, rather than simply being forced to rely upon folk artists. There will be no penalty to doing songs which meet the National Origin Requirement, AND are in the National Language, but there will be no specific benefit to that either.

Kalistan also strongly encourages against using songs with overtly political or militaristic messages. Social messages in your music are acceptable, as long as they are not promoting racism or non-Kalistani Nationalism.

Judges for this edition will be Idris Olofuote, Kalistani Representative to FOMAT XII, who will be the main aesthetic judge, Frieda Marquez, chief Rock Engineer for LTD Records, who will judge the Technical ability of the performances, and Radio 1's very own Drivetime DJ Tali Armstrong, who will judge based on accessibility to an audience. Musicians are invited to be creative and skilled, but not so avant garde that the music is unapproachable to new listeners.

In addition, ARC Records will be on hand once more to record the Concert, with royalties for performance and publishing being distributed evenly to all competitors.

For those who arrive in the Republic Early, FOMAT XIV will provide tourism opportunities, as well as practice space, sound checks and work with expert sound engineers to ensure your mic cues and placement to make your band sound spectacular in an arena setting. The Colosseum is a unique acoustic environment which produces a different sort of sound than an amphitheater or a club. As a result, the Engineers we have on hand, who specialize in sound for this particular building, will make your set sound as good for the people in the back as it does for those in the front of the crowd, and will put your music in the light that you intended it to be in. Sound checks will begin the Monday prior to the contest, and Bands are encouraged to arrive early, so that placement marks can be gaffed and cues and levels can be brought in on the boards.

While you are not practicing or preparing for the show, also feel free to visit Sulari. No longer a hard scrabble center of heavy industry in Kalistan, Sulari is also the home to the Kalistani Movie Industry, as well as ARC Records and LTD Records. Sulari is now widely viewed as the center of Kalistani Culture on the Mainland, and its access to infrastructure allows for easy travel to all points in the Republic. An overnight trip can take you to Neveras, where you can take part in Winter Sports like downhill skiing one day, and then be back on the beaches the next day in Suldanor. There is excellent shopping for jewelry and high fashion in Sulari, as well as opportunities to engage in fine dining and dancing. The music scene in Dana, just an hour away by automobile, is considered the Hot Spot in Kalistani music right now, and clubs to go hear great music all up and down the Coast, from Yoshimi to Dana have live music every night.

We welcome the entire world to Kalistan, whether you are here for the Show, or just here for other stuff. Welcome to Kalistan and we look forward to hearing your entries.

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Spotlight on Sulari
World turns to Sulari as FOMAT Approaches
Sulari, Suldanor
July 31, 4899


Shopping and Entertainment Districts overlap in Kalistan's "City of the Sun"

Sulari, Suldanor has long been considered Kalistan's second most Important City. The City has been the center of heavy manufacturing in the Republic for centuries, serving as Headquarters Site for the National Oil Refinery that has refined KALNAPECO oil for a thousand years, as well as site of the major commercial and industrial Port Elga, which transformed the District from a sleepy backwater and largely forgotten district into the industrial engine that powers the Dual Economy. In the last 1000 years since the building of Port Elga, Sulari has also served as a major site of technological development in Kalistan, where the headquarters of KalMD, the major consumer electronics corporation in Kalistan, and their various subsidiary enterprises, is located, among other major Kalistani corporations.

Most recently, Kalistan's center of culture generation has also shifted closer to Sulari, as several movie studios, including Republican Pictures and ARC and LTD record companies both have their headquarters in here. The world looks at Kalistan as one of the leading culture producing states, even further elevating Sulari's status as not only the cultural heart of the Republic, but a major player in the entire world. It makes sense therefore that Sulari has a special place in the list of Kalistani Cities.

With a population of 6.9 million people, the capital of Suldanor District is only slightly smaller than Kaliburg itself, and is the largest City on the North East Coast of Seleya from Lodamun to Gaduridos. It sits at the southern terminus of the Ananto Strait, and is a major hub for air travel and rail transportation across this part of the continent. The attention paid to Sulari is mirrored in the affluence of its citizens: given the concentration of industry in the region, one would think that there would be heavy wealth stratification, complete with clearly delineated working and leisure classes. But due to centuries of Socialist Policy, as well as National Service and Dual Economy, the people on the whole are far wealthier than even those in major cities in other Districts. And due to zero growth policies aggressively pushed by the Socialist Party, the people of the District are encouraged to live well and fully.

The excellent weather in the Sulari Plain is created by a weak cool onshore flow from the North East that prevents storms from forming at Sea, while providing regular precipitation to the city, especially in the winter time. Temperatures near the Ocean remain comfortably in 70s during the Winter though they will reach the 90s during the summer months, especially if strong currents come from the South, but the norm is that temps remain in the mid 80s, with thermal thunderstorm development at least three afternoons on average every week. This permanent summer has earned the City the moniker "The City of the Sun" and it is true that Sulari has more than 200 days of sun, with more than 165 of those days, on average being skies with zero cloud cover.

The sun and the precipitation patterns have generated a culture oriented around being outside at all hours of the day. This pairs well with shopping in Downtown Sulari, where people interested in spending money, and really having more than enough of it to spend, tend to be trend leaders, setting fashions and informing the Republic of their buying habits. The purchasing profiles of the people in Sulari tend to be significantly different than those of Kaliburg: In Sulari, bright and colorful clothing, perfumes with exotic and enticing aromas, and jewelry tend to prevail, while in Kaliburg, people tend to be more classic and traditional in their fashion and consumer purchases, preferring solid colors, slimmer and more utilitarian lines, and functional clothing.

And people of Sulari tend to wear less clothing than their Northern Cousins. At any time of day, you can expect to see more nudity in Sulari than probably any city in Seleya. People treat all clothing that is not specifically "fashionable" as a swim suit, and will not hesitate to strip off some clothes and take a swim in the ocean directly adjacent to the city. With its long, gently sloping and sandy continental shelf, swimmers can walk some distance out into the clear waters of the Odufarat Sea before even getting their knees wet, at low tide. Those same long flat shelves then provide for excellent surfing and swimming opportunities at high tide, though the water, which is usually around 65 degrees is generally considered a little too cool to swim without a wetsuit except during the warm summer months.


A Lone Surfer catches a wave before heading to work

The City itself is surrounded by a ring of low hills which lead just off the shore and provide excellent natural areas for residents to hike, or explore nature. An excellent Observatory, the Sulari Observatory and Planetarium sits atop one of these hills: Telescopic Hill that rises to nearly 1000 feet, and allows observers to get above the light pollution of the metropolis below to get relatively unhindered views of the stars, without travelling too far out into the country. There is still a lot of wildlife in and around the parklands adjacent to Sulari, and hikers can run into raccoons, iguanas, and armadillos with some degree of regularity.

Sulari is located about an hour down the coast from the current Kalistani Music hotspot in Dana, which is the center of the Ska punk scene currently dominating the Kalistani Music Scene and home base to FOMAT XIII Winners Red Tone, and about 4 hours north of the center of KME music in Yoshimi, the steamy Southern city which has single handedly produced half of Kalistan's FOMAT winners. Sulari itself has a long history of hosting and building bands from multiple genres like pop, Punk, Hardcore, Alternative and Reggae. As a result, there is never a night in Sulari where music lovers cannot find a show to attend, or see a major concert from multiple bands. Sulari also features venues for travelling operas and plays, to give people a lot of variety to choose from when seeking cultural experiences. In addition, most movies in Kalistan are still in some way associated with the City, which means that most of the major actors and actresses in the Republic make their home in Sulari.

All in all, there is something for every pleasure seeker in the City of the Sun. The people there, though many of them work hard in Kalistan's National Industries, still take pride in their hometown and regularly contribute to improvement of the city, for the purpose of making the City the Utopia they all think it is. The character of the people of the city is that of people who do not need or want for anything: they are generous with everything, and represent one aspect of the socialist ideal for society, which is to provide an equal contribution to the well being of the society and enjoy an equal share of the fruits of that common effort. The people there are welcoming to all people from around the world, knowing that newcomers mean the burden on each person individually becomes lighter. The people are highly literate and integrated with technology, are politically and economically savvy, and have an easy going way that allows them to put small things behind them to tackle more serious matters with clear and level heads.

This is Sulari, the City of the Sun.

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Kalistani Regular Navy nearing Full Compliment
Naval Acquisition paused following Kaliburg Earthquake
Port Swedes, Vrassa
February 2, 4900


The last shipment of fully armed 5100 Class Cruisers, dubbed "Luxon II Class" in the Republic, Arrive at Port Swedes Station enroute to Yoshimi

The Ten Year Naval Acquisition Program begun by the late Premier Marguerite Beloit in 4881 has stretched into a project almost twice as long, but is finally nearing completion, as the last ships in the reconstructed Kalistani Regular Navy are finally being commissioned for Service.

The Regular Navy is at its full complement in all but the 3rd Fleet, stationed at Yoshimi Station in Suldanor, which has been awaiting the final two 5100 class Cruisers to arrive from The Kingdom of Hutori. These Cruisers will replace the old Luxon Class ship that was in the Battle Order, adding more air defense to the fleet that maintains the South Limit of the Strait Defense. The final arrival of these last ships in Kalistani Waters brings Kalistan up to a total of 8 Air Defensive AEGIS Missile Cruisers, and shrinks the gap in power between the Republic and its neighbors.

"We were unable to salvage the vast majority of our Kaliburg-Class Destroyers, and were forced to build new ones," said Defense Minister Edmund West. "Likewise, we were entirely unable to salvage many of the old Frigates and Corvettes, but luckily, when we originally purchased the ships, we also purchased schematicsand ship designs to produce those ships for ourselves, and new design techniques have been applied to these old designs, including weight saving measures that are cutting edge and were simply not available in the Republic when the first few generations of those ships were constructed."

The New techniques include steel-aluminum alloys, advanced electronic tracking systems which make for more accurate direct fire, surface based torpedo launchers, and lighter weight, more reactive armor plating on hulls. "The design of the 5100 Cruisers (RL: Ticonderoga Class Cruiser) that went to Hutori for Armament forced us to reconsider everything we had been doing when it came to standard ship design," said Minister West. "Our engineers solved a number of problems in that one ship to make it, when combined with cutting edge Hutorian proprietary weaponry and electronic systems, literally the most advanced ship on the surface of the Ocean today. It is lighter, more maneuverable, can operate with fewer men and women, and cleaner, and what it can't shoot down, it can easily outrun. The 5100s, which will be designated the Luxon II class Cruisers in Kalistan, then served as a prototype for improvements that we could make to the designs for smaller vessels that we had to rebuild due to the years of liberal neglect of our naval assets."

The Submarine Service, which was prioritized, and was nearly completed before the Earthquake, has been standing guard in the Straits for nearly 10 years, while the remaining ships in the three Kalistani Regular fleets were slowly reconstructed. Luckily, the Militia Marine forces were deployed as well, to allow limited surface capabilities and fill in patrol gaps in both the Northern and Southern Limits. But re-acquisition came to a screeching halt when Kaliburg was hit by the devastating earthquake that killed nearly 7000 citizens of Kaliburg, and made most of the Infrastructure of the capital entirely unservicable.

"We had a lot of damage," said Minister West. "And the Shipyards were not spared. We had already had major delays around nationalization that put us more than a four years behind schedule, and the earthquake forced us to scale back our ambitions for this generation of the fleet and not go crazy the way we did with the 5100s. The rest of our fleet consists of more traditional construction techniques, but we were able to make some changes in resource management to get at least some of the benefits of the new technology in nearly all of our newest generation of ship, especially in the displacement department. This will give our ships an edge in terms of maneuverability that similarly classed ships of other nations do not currently possess, and will make Kalistan a significant player in the naval politics of the Northern Anantonese for a long time to come, even with older designs."

Now that the last ships in the Re-Acquisition Program are finally entering Service, The Premier of the Republic and the Defense Minister have formally invited their Hutorian Counterparts to the Republic to conduct training Drills. Said Minister West: "Well, these Cruisers especially handle more like Speedboats than their lumbering counterparts. We were able to reduce weight on them by 15%, meaning they sit higher in the water, which required us to lower decks on the ship by a full foot and a half to allow them to keep their traditional profile. The lowering of the Decks further decreased the weight on the ship, which allowed us to introduce additional ballast and stability measures. The result is a ship which is just as stable, even in rough seas, but also faster, has a shallower draft and wider service range and still packs major firepower in a multitude of situations."

The Minister then laughed, "As you can imagine, the handling of this "concept car of the sea" might pose a challenge to even the saltiest mariner in the great Hutori Navy. So we have invited them to Kalistan to train on these ships with us. They need the opportunity to learn the piloting under these new conditions, which are significantly different than the previous version of the 5100s they were sailing. And we need some extensive education on the proper employment of the AEGIS systems, which can track dozens of targets and hit them with pinpoint accuracy. There is still a lot of learning that needs to happen, and our Regulars are aching to test their sea legs against some expert tacticians in the Hutori Navy." The Militia Marine Forces have been invited to participate with the Kalistani Regulars in the exercise, and will work with Hutori to both practice boarding tactics, as well as teach Hutori methods of evading irregular units at sea. "Hopefully the Marines don't spend all their time on Hutori ships getting drunk," said Minister West. "That's as likely a scenario as not."

The exercises are proposed for August 4901, immediately following FOMAT in Suldanor.

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Kalistani and Dolgavan Scientists install safety net of undersea seismic stations to study and warn the public about the Anantonese Fault

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KALNAFERCO opens new Steel Mill in Sulari
Aims to Reduce Cost, Energy Consumption, and increase efficiency
Sulari Suldanor
July 12, 4900


New KalNaFerCo Mill, Steel Dynamics, opens north of Sulari

Efficiency is the key to the new KalNaFerCo operation, Steel Dynamics, which is a alloying, rolling and finishing plant that has just been opened north of Sulari.

Plant Foreman Martina Brevard, a life long Steel Worker in the Sulari Mills, spoke highly of the new, very modern facility. "We have the capacity here to either significantly increase the production of Kalistani Steel by as much as thirty percent, or entirely replace the capacity of the old mills in the south. This plant is state of the art, has six total new rolling lines, three hot and three cold, as well as a reheating facility, laser precision molds, an alloying facility, a new machine and cutting shop, and transportation links connecting to the National Rail and Port Elga. This new State of the Art facility will employ more than 4500 people and will eventually allow at least one of the old plants to close permanently."

The new mill also stresses energy efficiency in production. "As we have cold rollers, we can increase the capacity of steel out put without significantly increasing fuel needs or pollution," said Brevard. "As for our hot rolling facilities, the melting and molding utilizes electricity rather than traditional coal powered blast furnaces to create the temperatures necessary to heat the pig iron past the crystalization temperatures, to allow alloying. That electricity is created by seven major transformers powered by new tidal action generators constructed ten miles east on the coast. In this way, our energy consumption is reduced compared to traditional facilities. This allows us to dramatically lower our prices domestically, and increase our margins internationally without significantly increasing the scale of our operations or our extraction of raw materials."

Right now, KalNaFerCo operates at about 30% of its total capacity, due to domestic demand being satisfied and low international demand. "This situation is baffling to the Heads at FerCo," said Brevard. "They would produce more steel if they could, and we could easily undersell at least one major international producer, but nobody seems interested in Kalistani Steel except Kalistanis. I have a feeling that with higher efficiency and greater capacity, that will change in the near future." Currently Kalistani Steel is heavily subsidized domestically, and is sold to Kalistani purchasers at cost, while a slim 3 percent over Market margin is derived internationally.

"If we end up producing a large amount of both hot rolled and stainless steel above domestic demands, we could theoretically lower that premium to below the international market price to make Kalistan more competitive and take advantage of our proximity advantage to major consumers." While this would technically constitute dumping on the international market, Brevard said KalNaFerCo is not concerned about the implications of such practices: "Even if we sold at 10 percent under market, Kalistan would still make money, because we would save on transit costs. Buying from the Republic, instead of somewhere like Yingdala, for example, would allow a purchaser like Hutori to save literally millions on each shipment, because we are thousands of miles closer to Hutori. Even if they were able to match our prices at point of sale, which they cannot."

The opening of the new Plant will further allow Kalistan to address inefficiencies in its steel production facilities. "So far we only have one operational cold rolling line," said Brevard. "That is old, the machinery needs constant servicing, and it is dangerous because the technology is not automated. The three lines here at SD will dramatically increase the production of cold rolled steel and stainless steel, which can then be used in literally hundreds of applications across the country, including possibly a revitalized automobile industry."

The Steel Dynamic Plant will begin fulltime operation later this week with the first arrival of more than 800 tonnes of pig iron from the National Foundry which is expected to be processed into banded coils and plated steel for use across the Republic. The opening of Steel Dynamics coincides with temporary plant closures at 3 of the 7 steel mills south of Sulari for the purpose of maintenance and upgrading.

[Doc]

Republican Studios to Release New Concert Film about Ska Tour in Hutori
"Skankin Hutori" takes fans to ska Tour in Northern Latitudes
Sulari, Suldanor
July 20, 4900


Poster for "Skankin Hutori" , the latest release from Republican Studios

Last fall, three Kalistani Ska Bands joined ska/rock legends The Gang to take Hutori by storm with the ARC Records' "Skankin Hutori Tour". Together these four groups, The Gang, Red Tone, The Interrogators, and Smoked Salmon, barnstormed through the Kingdom of Hutori over 40 different shows, including weekly Saturday Matinees, and culminated the Tour over New Years' Even 4899, partying well past when the year flipped to 4900. Republican Studios was there to film the visit to the Kingdom and record the sold out New Year's Eve show in Acton Adelia Hutori. The Studios have just completed final edits on the Film, and have ensured fans that the 189 minute film will be an Immersive Experience! While full of footage and music, the film is more a documentary of the tour than a concert film specifically, and really captures Kalistani Music at the height of the latest Skapunk craze of the late 4800s.

"We shot the footage over four months in Hutori," said Director Alfred Ezekiel Delgado, "and had unlimited access to the bands, not only as they performed, but also backstage and when they were having downtime. The film I think really gives an idea of what it is like for these bands on the road, and while it is very hard on the musicians, to sing the same songs night after night, its also a tribute to their love of their music, their appreciation for their fans and their professionalism that they do it all with aplomb."

The film documents these four bands at the pinnacle of their fame. While The Gang has been well known for more than a decade, the other three bands have all risen within the last four or five years, and have ridden the wave of popularity that was sent stratospheric by the victory of Red Tone at FOMAT XIII. "Besides being great musicians who clearly have a lot of fun hanging out with one another and singing backup for one another and doing guest guitar work and so forth on each other's sets, these guys are also very close friends," said Delgado. "They were clear, they've been through a lot of joy and pain and exhilaration and exhaustion over the past four years, and it was obvious that they felt that they could lean on one another."

The movie details the deepening friendship between Red Tone's Monica Pella, who is a class of superstar in The Republic in her own right, and Interrogator Amy, the lead singer of The Interrogators. "She's so like a big sister to me," said Amy in one of the interview segments in the film. "I really look up to her and see how she has everything together for herself, and she's a lot of fun to hang out with, and she's like my best friend. In the whole world."

Pella, who was with Amy during the segment, was visibly tearing up as her tour mate complimented her, "Oh Amy, that is so nice of you to say. We are sisters, for real, not even like sisters, but totally like actual sisters..." Pella gushed about how Amy's energy and dedication is sometimes what gets Pella out of bed in the mornings. "Like, some days when we have rehearsal, but no show, and I am hungover, there's Amy right there, first one on stage ready to go. I mean, how can I complain about a hangover when she drinks and smokes and does everything else just as hard but she's always ready to go, to play, to jam or whatever?"

The movie also depicts some of the excesses the bands engaged in during their visit to the fellow ODEN Nation. "They got a whole bunch of extra sh-t here that we don't have in Kalistan, for sure," said Smoked Salmon's Jimmy Jimenez, who was in the process of chasing some sort of powder with a double shot of Hutori Whiskey. "If we did this stuff all the time we wouldn't be able to even stand up, let alone play music, so thankfully, the road manager cuts us off..."

The scenes of the life outside of the stage on the road are relatively brief compared to the actual performances. During the course of the movie, highlights from the Acton Show are inter-spliced between footage and scenes which might occasionally appear to be part of a blooper reel, but were left in the show to depict the ups, and occasional downs, or playing music on the road. For example, in one scene, during a The Gang set, lead singer Kevin Budnig is seen pogoing on stage to a ska break, and a trap door latch gives way under him. When he comes back to the stage, he continues through the trap door, and disappears from view. The band who sees Budnig disappear into the hole which opened up on the stage immediately stop playing, just at the moment that Budnig, who is still holding the mic, exclaims "What the f--k?!" And the crowd erupts in laughter. The band are then shown laughing at Budnig after their set and telling him that he has "...gotten a bit tubby in [his] old age."

For the most Part, the concert footage is spread over all four bands pretty evenly, and focuses more often on collaborations between the bands than on sets that they do alone. But there are special moments captured on this film that can't be duplicated anywhere featuring individual bands. For example, in the final scene of the Movie, following the triumphant second encore, Hutori's own The Gang tells fans that this might be the last show The Gang ever plays in Hutori, and then, with visible tears in their eyes, The Gang breaks into a surprise third Encore, where they play "RockStar," the song that they sang when they represented Hutori at FOMAT. The crowd rushes the stage and cheers wildly for their countrymen, showing them a lot of love by dancing and singing along, and as the last chords of the song ring throughout the arena and Kevin Budnig raises his mic in salute to his audience, they return the salute with a deafening roar that could be heard a mile away from the Arena.

Another example is the featuring of individuals in the bands: there are lots of interviews and expository conversations about the band members themselves, as a lot of attention is usually paid to the charismatic leaders of the bands, and the Film also wanted to cover the brass sections and the rhythm sections as well. But in the end, we tend to always have our focus drawn back to Pella, Budnig, Interrogator Amy, and Borne, the lead singers of the four groups. And this is played to great effect throughout the program. For example, as the closing credits roll, the four bands say good bye to the hundreds who turned out to see them off as they board a KalAir flight back to the Republic, but the footage ends with a close up freeze frame of Monica Pella blowing a kiss to Hutori.

Check out Red Tone's Goodbye from Republican Studios' "Skankin Hutori" below and then see the full movie in theaters all across the Republic, opening Friday.

[Doc]

Kalistan announces removal of restriction on Steel Production
KALNAFERCO expected to exceed Republican usage by 235 Percent in 4901
Sulari, Suldanor
January 3, 4901


Steel Coil Warehouse north of Sulari begins to fill up with 80" Banded Coils

Kalistan's Nationalized Steel Industry, KALNAFERCO has officially removed restrictions on production of Kalistani Steel in an effort to attract more international purchasers, Trade Minister Michelle Martinez announced yesterday. "With the near doubling of the outdated production capacity in Suldanor last year, and the slow modernization of our existing physical plant near Sulari, The Republic has decided to begin to make a bid for the lucrative international Markets which have been dominated henceforth by nations like Yingdala, and which are becoming more and more crowded each day as new nations join the Steel Export Market."

The Trade Minister announced that in the second quarter of last year, before Steel Dynamics opened in Sulari, the Kalistani Steel industry was operating at about 32% capacity, producing roughly 18 Million tonnes a year. With the opening of Steel Dynamics, which essentially doubled Republican production capacity, the existing production capacity usage dropped to about 15 percent. "Our aim is to operate at about seventy five percent capacity, which will bring our total annual production up to close to ninety million tonnes, and then use our price point advantage to attract new buyers to KalNaFerCo steel."

The news of the dramatic increase in steel production sent six month commodity futures into a nosedive in the Kalsie this morning. "KalNaFerCo is a not for Profit corporation," said Martinez. "So we can significantly undersell whatever price the capitalist nations have to sell their steel at, given that we do not need to make a profit, or even acknowledge international steel market price manipulation. The Spot price of steel is what steel manufacturers are trying to get out of their commodities, and they have as much influence in the price as the buyers of the commodity futures do. But Kalistan can afford to sell at perhaps even a discount of 20 percent from that Spot price, without losing money."

Evidence of early overproduction is available: The National Storehouse in Sulari, which is a clearinghouse for both Pig and refined iron, as well as rolled iron, from both Hot and cold mills, is currently operating at 60 percent capacity, and there is a building movement in the immediate vicinity to dramatically increase storage capacity as the finished steel awaits sale. Investors expect that the price of steel domestically and internationally will drop significantly and as storage fills up, the cost per ton will continue to drop over the coming year.

"We expect that this will cause some dislocations in countries who cannot afford to produce steel as inexpensively as Kalistan does, but this is not our concern. If we can offer the same or better quality than substandard steel produced at scale in Yingdala, or the new industries elsewhere, then we would advise them to drop the capitalist production models that govern their economy and adopt a not for profit model. Or, as we would prefer, they switch their productive resources to something they posess a competitive advantage in, and leave the Steel production to KalNaFerCo. Either way, whatever the best price that our major competitors will offer, we will offer our product at at least a 10% discount, for the foreseeable future."

Liberal economists who speak in the papers have already decried the announcement as a declaration of economic warfare. "This is dumping, pure and simple, "said Dr. Tabitha Jones of Vrassa District University. "What our government is doing is manipulating the market, without regard for the economic consequences this will have for the industries in properly organized capitalist countries, who are content to let the invisible hand of the market efficiently set the price of its commodities. It is not fair that our socialist economy, which has proven time and time to have no regard for the iron rule and essential morality of the market, is able to offer steel from a nationalized industry that is able to underprice against capitalists, and at the risk of appearing to cheer for the capitalists, let me be explicit: Socialism is evil and can never do a single good thing for any single individual except the powermongers in charge." When asked if Jones felt her words were inflammatory, she simply laughed, and answered, "No more insulting or inflammatory than the policies of the Socialist Party of Kalistan, and if they have a problem with it, I expect I will never see these words in print, and will be disappeared soon..." (At press time, Dr. Jones was still in her position and admitted that no reprisals had come upon her, "... yet" she added.)

As commodity futures continue to fall in the Kalsie, the Republic now set in for a possible hostile response from other steel producing nations.

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As Steel Glut heats up, KNF Futures Nosedive into Negative Territory
6 month contracts bounce out at K -123 before volatility forces Stock to be suspended
Kaliburg, Ananto
July 3, 4901


KNF in Freefall following Trade Ministry Announcement of met production targets

A day like none other ever seen in the Kalistani Stock Index began among news of the heating up Steel crisis between Kalistan and Yingdala. It was only last January when Trade Minister Martinez announced the policy of the Government of Kalistan was to begin putting Kalistani steel at substantial discount onto the world Market. "We've been able to achieve discounts of up to 25% in direct sales," said Martinez at a news conference at around Noon in Kaliburg, "further driving the international price of the strategic commodity down. And we have excellent numbers from the First two quarters showing that the Steel Industry has exceeded the 45 million tonne production targets for the first half of this year in early June and proceeded to process and finish another 3 million tonnes on top of that, setting Kalistan up for production of close to 100 million tonnes of steel in just this year.

"The main bottleneck, of course besides exploitable raw materials," continued the Trade Minister, "which will always serve as a break on Kalistani production, is storage capacity. We have been able to quickly increase our warehouse storage space, but it appears that until some of these major contracts start maturing, we will be nearly out of storage for additional capacity, and will have to take additional steps to encourage direct sales in Sulari."

The news of the lack of storage combined with the exceeding of production targets had an immediate effect on the speculative market. While one month and three month contracts held steady, and even made modest gains, the six month futures market immediately began collapsing, driving KNF futures into a tail spin and causing a general decline in the Kalsie over all. "We're watching KNF futures very closely" said Martinez around 1:30, when KNF entered freefall. More troubling to the Minister though was the fluctuation in the KRB on international Markets. Around 2:00, as KNF futures entered negative territory, Martinez went back in front of cameras.

"For the first time, KNF futures have crossed into negative territory. This unprecedented event is a result of reports that I myself made about storage capacity over the next six months. I think perhaps some of those comments were misinterpreted by investors to mean that the Republic was done building warehousing facilities for our production. The construction continues to warehouse the steel to meet six month contracts, but as it is, those contracts have not begun to even be filled yet, and by the time they are due, there will be adequate storage for the commodities in Sulari. But more troubling to us is the fluctuation of the Ruble overseas. Given the lack of convertibility of the KRB, we have seen its demand experience more volatility, specifically in terms of upward pressure on price against the main index currencies, and this could signal a whiplash effect in the currency markets. We have asked the Economic Minister to begin instituting capital controls over the Scrip to begin to address some of this volatility, and will keep the Republic informed on our efforts as we go through the coming weeks and months."

An increasing price of the Ruble means that the Ruble is worth more to foreign buyers, but if not carefully managed, could lead to deflation in prices, difficulty with exports in other, non-nationalized sectors, and an economic contraction in Kalistan. The Trade Minister was careful to point out "Kalistan is not at this point, and with capital controls in place, we will be able to forestall any possibility of contraction for a very long time. Currency Controls are a very mild form of downward pressure that the Republican Bank can engage in to counteract increased demand overseas, and will allow the Republic to continue to pursue our doctrine of zero growth in the Kalistani Economy, despite the spike in both production and employment the Ferrominerals Sector."

Directly following the conclusion of the Minister's conference, KNF futures bottomed out at around K-123, and then rebounded. The more than 10 percent drop followed by a sharp rise triggered volatility controls in the Kalsie, which suspended trading in KNF futures for 24 hours, but given that this drop occurred on Friday, KNF will have a two day cooling off period. Speculators expect KNF to open with a correction to about K720 when trade resumes on Monday. Due to the sharp drop in Steel Futures, the Kalsie as a whole finished down 4.65%, one of the worst trading days since the Restoration of SP rule in Kalistan in the late 4870s.

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Sulari Colosseum prepares for FOMAT XIV amid rising tensions
Climate Controlled Indoor Venue prepared for crowds exceeding 70,000
Sulari, Suldanor
August 1 4901


Floor Seating and General Admission Areas are being prepared for National Contingents

FOMAT XIV promises to be one of the Largest FOMAT events on record, as the Sulari Colosseum prepares for crowds exceeding 70,000. This amid growing tensions with Yingdala over Steel prices on the International Market.

"We are going to try to preserve the spirit of the event," said Arena Director Frank DiGioia. "This is an opportunity for the world to come together and celebrate the musical arts, listening to the best each countries have to offer. Though we will have fewer competitors this year, most assuredly, than other concerts, we expect masses of Kalistanis to come to the event and make it one of the biggest FOMATs. And we are not concerned about the Steel Crisis between the Republic and Indrala: That doesn't affect us at all."

The Sulari Colosseum is one of the largest Indoor venues in Kalistan. "The benefits of having it indoor is that we can host events during the summer, when other outdoor venues need to shut down or restrict their shows to late in the evening," said DiGioia. The tinted class roof provides plenty of natural light during the day, and spectacular views of the Sulari Skyline at night. "In addition to the natural spendor which can be experienced from within the colosseum, we also have a state of the art lighting system that is inexpensive to operate, and yet provides illumination equal to traditional methods."

The Colosseum is directly adjacent to the festival grounds which will begin to be built starting next week, as well as nearby to accomodations for musicians and their road crews and guests. "FOMAT has rented four major hotels right here for the people associated with this major event," said DiGioia. "Those Hotels are booked all week, and are not opened to the General Public during that time."


Sulari Colosseum by Night

The show which will be held in December of this year, will no doubt be a true Spectacular that will show off not only the skill and personalities of the Competitors, but will also show off Kalistani architectural and structural engineering prowess to the World. "Of course they held the FOMAT contest here!: said DiGioia. "I mean, look at this place. It's a beautiful, modern arena, and is truely awe inspiring, both inside and outside."