NLC - Arts and Entertainment

The Northern Lights Confederacy is caught between strong values of diversity and its fundamentalist roots. The media, art scene and popular entertainment industry are some of the most hotly contested areas in this perennial Norlight debate. The diversity of cultures and outlooks present in the NLC, from hard-drinking miners of Innsbruck to the artists of Sesshu and politicians of Valeria, creates an impetus for a wide variety of art and entertainment forms. The revival of the Revisionist church, with its emphasis on moral guidance and the primacy of faith, stifles many of these avenues of expression. The extensive Norlight morality laws render many things illegal and place law enforcement officials in key positions of power in the entertainment and art worlds. This social conflict has fueled some very powerful art, but also sent many into exile into more permissive leagues such as the United Mercantile Federation.

Religious art has always been supported and patronized by the church. Even in this area, however, artists must reconcile themselves to follow the visions of others. While painters, songwriters and others are encouraged to explore their own faith in their arts, the church imposes limits on what can be said in sanctioned pieces. Religious artwork that is not sanctioned is judged as immoral, and the artist can face prosecution. Emil Ratij, a painter from Petropolis who achieved recognition for his murals in working-class residential spaces during the TN 1920s was recently arrested for obscenity and indecent expression after revealing a series of murals on the life of the Gentle Prophet. Several of these clearly showed Mamoud and Nathani as ardent, physical lovers and outraged several members of the church. Prominent theologians have suggested a sexual relationship between the Prophet and Second Follower, but the explicit nature of Ratij's murals was enough to get him into legal difficulties. Members of the Norlight artistic community have come to his defense and obtained skilled legal counsel. A legal battle in the CNCS Supreme Court is expected to ensue.

Mass entertainment is diverse in the NLC, but competitive sport remains unchallenged. Soccer, automobile racing and professional Gear dueling achieve ratings and attract live audiences unheard of for other forms of diversion. Electronic media is somewhat underdeveloped in the NLC and many trideo shows and holofilms are imported from the UMF, although current affairs programming is well-respected. Homegrown dramas and comedies that appeal to the mass market have an unfortunate, but not undeserved, reputation for predictability and preaching.

The Media

The Northern Lights Confederacy is a poor neighbor to the United Mercantile Federation when it comes to mass media. The extensive morality laws of the NLC place a great deal of restraint on material that is acceptable on national airwaves or in print media, banning many products as too violent, pornographic or "inappropriate." Consequently, a certain dynamism is lacking in Norlight media productions and the number of trideo channels, music broadcasts and holofilms is much lower than in the UMF or the Southern Republic. Norlight trideo tends to concentrate on the real world rather than fantasy, with current affiirs programming and sports coverage most common and respected. Norlights enjoy comedies and dramas as much as their national neighbors, but locally produced shows tend to flat when compared to Mercantile output. Documentaries, news programs and political coverage, however, are of unparalleled quality, and are exported across the North and Badlands. The spread of Hermes 72 satellite trideo has caused some trouble in the NLC because of the sudden access to programming not subject to morality laws. Eastern bloodsports, gladiatorial dueling from Khayr ad-Din and Ashantite fashion shows are available to properly equipped Norlights. Norlight legislation demands that "screening chips," which can black out some programming, be installed in all Hermes 72 equipped trideo viewers, but new ways to defeat such measures appear on the black market daily and are easily accessible to most viewers.

Electronic media may not be thriving in the NLC, but the league has the best print industry on the planet. The large pulp and paper manufacturing complex fuels a phenomenal number ofjournals, newspapers and publishing houses that present material simply unavailable in other media. The Prophet Mamoud 's distrust of electronic media is well known, and print is still considered by many to be the preferable medium for communication. Morality laws are also less stringent for nongraphic material, so the Norlight literature market i s far more vibrant and creative than its trideo market. Literacy is universal for children above eight cycles of age because of the value placed on the written word. Norlight homes often feature extensive libraries of religious and secular texts and newspaper subscriptions are a prerequisite of urban life. Many homes and public areas are equipped with dedicated fax machines that can receive and automatically bind the daily paper and any other text the residents may desire to consult (the paper itself is later recycled). To prevent long printing time and waste, though, most Norlights prefer to simply go down to the local library to consult particularly voluminous texts.

Fine art has suffered the most under the hold of the morality laws. Non-religious artwork is notoriously undervalued in the NLC and any painting, sculpture or sketch that is considered in any way beyond the constrains of good taste can be deemed illegal very quickly. Many galleries and private venues have shows for material that is labeled "immoral" and limit access either to private members or to clients of a certain age. Even i n these conditions legal limits apply, however, and local law enforcement in many city-states is highly unforgiving in these areas. Mainstream fine arts tend to be less representational for this reason, with strong impressionist and abstract schools of art. Likewise, performance arts, such as theater and singing, are intricate but tend to be highly restrained affairs. A large part of the Norlight repertoire i s based on Revisionist stories, many of which are very beautiful and moving

Music

The suffocating effect of morality Legislation has had its effect on the Norlight music scene as well. Foreigners find mainstream music bland, but in fact it is simply different. Instrumental classical music and primal dream are the most popular forms, and there are twenty major symphony orchestras in the league. Harsher music also has its place, but is thought of as the music of the young. Moral judgment is often passed on provocative lyrics, most particularly those that that are explicitly sexual or critical of the church. Rage and shock music are the most vibrant styles in the underground scenes and have inspired whole cultural movements.

Shock Culture

The raw power and complex lyrics and melodies of shock music have electrified whole sectors of the Norlight population, bringing together diverse counter-cultural elements. Although Fort William is the greatest center of the shock movement in the northern hemisphere, the Norlight branch of this anti-establishment social phenomenon is the most savvy in its use of the media. Western shock culture focuses above all on a pro-peace platform: its Norlight cousin is much more concerned with breaking social taboos than laying down arms. According the shock "purists," if such a thing is possible, Norlight shock is much closer to rage than to primal dream (the two forerunners of the style). The deafening cries of Norlight shock call for the destruction of the "pretentious chains" of Norlight morality. Although music remains at the center of the shock culture, fashion, lifestyle and other media are also very important. "Shockers" tend toward clothes and accessories that challenge established conventions, including facial tattoos and revealing clothes. Shock culture has also produced a large number of "guerrilla trideo" cinematographers. independent producers with trideo cameras who produces short films that are illegal under morality laws. These feature graphic or implied violence and sex, often in staccato high-speed images that are chaotic and nonsensical to those not familiar with the genre.

Shock music, shock films and shock life are put on display in a growing network of underground shock clubs that can be found in every city-state's urban inner city. These clubs range from the relatively sedate legal variety - that features music not heard on radio, but few truly extreme displays -to the illegal clubs that include shock fashion shows, viewing of shock film, live music performances and sex shows. Shutting down these clubs is a priority in several of the more religious city-states, but the clubs change locals from night to night, making them very difficult to track down. A few communities are receptive to the shock clubs and allow them to remain open in the same location to become truly outrageous affiirs. The largest and best known is the Black Box in Sesshu's Dispensation District, a four story club gaining a reputation across the globe. The Black Box is run by a celebrity: Alia "Shock Queen" Tessier, a singer and songwriter famous among Shock fans from pole to pole.

The Shock Queen is, as one would expect, an extreme example of the values of shock culture. Multiple tattoos and piercings adorn her body, her hair changes color and style every few nights (and on some occasions, every few hours) and her choice of clothes is always revealing. She also has a taste for body painting. For all her external quirks, however, Tessier is a savvy businesswoman who knows her clientele and can cater to the specific needs of the shock community. As she gets older, she spends an increasing amount of time on the business side of things, however, and her singing career has suffered from it somewhat. In the meantime, she supplies songs to other known shock figures as a creative outlet.

Sport

The most popular type of sport in the NLC is undoubtedly motor-sports. From impromptu jeep races over the Northern Plain to the intense competition of the Death Track 1000, Norlights are rabid fans of any sport that includes a combustion engine. Every city-state has at least one speedway and Gear dueling team, but the two major sport centers are Innsbruck and Kenema. Innsbruck hosts the yearly Death Track 1000 Gear race, the most prestigious race on the professional Gear racing circuit. The circuit includes fifteen other races, including the Port Aurora Aurora Classic and the Kenema 1500, each of which has their own fan base and special features. The Death Track comes at the end of the season and is the world championship of Gear racing, attracting racers from across the hemisphere and even some from the south. Kenema, the motor-city of the league, is home to the Kenema Grand Prix, the league's largest high perFormance automobile race. Grand Prix class automobiles are manufactured by a small number of companies (including Shaian Mechanics and Northco), and are the fastest ground vehicles on Terra Nova. Sleek to the extreme, Grand Prix racers have inspired the most luxurious commercial sports cars, including the Kenema Axion, made famous in the highly popular trideo series Axion Knights. Gear dueling is centered in Valeria, where the Northern Dueling League holds its championship and has three separate teams.

Personal sports are also very popular, with soccer as the most widely played sport in the league. Children, adolescents and adults kicking around soccer balls in the morning sun is a common feature of travel brochures. Most middle schools, professional colleges and universities have their own soccer teams and every city state has a professional team as well. These professional teams compete on a hemispheric, rather than national, scale, with the Gaylor Cup awarded to the champion. The championship match is played every two cycles in the Spring and changes locales every time. The TN 1932 cup was played in Swanscombe in the United Mercantile Federation and the next cup will be played for in Kossuth