States on Rukast

=Major States=

These three states are the major players in the power struggles on Rukast. There is something like a three-way Cold War among them, though the Americans and Russians are agreed at least in principle of the alienness of the Chinese presence. In reality, however, there is a constant political ebb and flow, and all three powers are very wary of each other, funding a series of proxy wars with lesser states.

United Rukast American States
The dominant group here is colonists from USA. Smaller groups are Canadians (excluding some French-Canadians who joined the Quebecois upon their landing), those from the West Indies and Caribbean, Cubans and Mexicans. All those who settled initially were made American citizens, and former national groups are generally mixed in together. The URAS is generally pluralistic, with strong patriotism. Their government is based upon the original United States Constitution. The official language is English.

Pan-Slavic Federation
Russians heavily dominate this group, though other Slavic peoples such as Belorussians, Poles as well as southern Slavs such as Serbians, Croatians and Bosnians are also represented. Some non-Slavic groups such as Baltic peoples (Lithuanians, Latvians) are also represented here, as well as Siberian, Mongolic and Caucasian peoples, such as Georgians and Armenians. The PSF tends to be highly nationalistic. Internally, the government suffers from rampant graft and corruption. The official language is Russian.

Democratic People's Republic of Rukast
This is the Chinese-centric colony in the arctic region of Rukast. The full spectrum of Chinese ethnicities are present here, though the Han dominate. People of Mongolian descent are also present, as well as those from Southeast Asia such as Vietnamese, Cambodian, Indonesian, Thai, Malaysian and Burmese. Generally considered by most on Rukast to be an imperialist entity dispatched by Earth to reign in the colonies, Chinese authorities have made no effort to dispel this myth. The official government language is Mandarin Chinese.

=Minor States=

These minor states landed at least 50,000 people each upon colonization (which has obviously grown quite a bit), and are actually fairly important players in the myriad dealings on Rukast. Their smaller size, however, enables them to be far more ideological than the practical political dealings of their larger neighbors.

Quebec
This state was formed by those who lived in Canada's Quebec province on Earth and desired separation from the broad North American culture, and joined by those of French Canadian descent in the URAS who were disaffected upon landing. While multiethnic like America, it is strictly unicultural and only one language is tolerated officially, both in business and government: French. They have positive relations with the European Union and the LatAm Coalition, but there is a broad streak of anti-Americanism running through many here.

LatAm Coalition
The LatAm Coalition is a coalition of Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking states, encompassing all those states that made up Latin America but Mexico and Cuba. Generally neutral, their major political partner is Quebec. There is a significant cultural trend towards anti-Americanism, but this does not result in bias in favor of the Russians or China. Spanish serves as the official language.

New London
The British Colony, founded from their respective populations in the United Kingdom, is a staunch ally of the Americans and participate in almost all projects with them. They do, however, retain completely separate institutions. English is the official language.

European Union
The European Union is composed of an enormous amount of European populations, each state with its own colony. They have a united defense force and foreign policy, but most other matters are devolved to and handled in their respective local areas. While they are American allies, they are generally more amenable to making compromise with other powers. When push comes to shove, however, their alliance tends to stand firm. There are several languages spoken, but the main ones of federal governing and the military are German and French.

Japan (US)
On Rukast, Japan has been able to take up a significantly higher amount of living space than it did on Earth, and the Japanese have thrived. As before, their alliance with the United States is strong, generally to balance their proximity and revulsion of the Russian state and its policies. They are an almost totally homogeneous population, with a very small number of Koreans living there. The language of choice is Japanese.

Australia
The Australian colony is very close geographically to the British Colony, and therefore shares much with it besides culture. They are very oriented towards their alliance with the Americans and although they have a relatively small population, contribute greatly especially in military support. English is the official language.

Ukraine
Ukrainians purposely landed quite close to the Russian colony and have existed in a very tight alliance with them ever since. Despite this, they prefer to remain outside the confines of the Pan-Slavic Federation and decide (at least nominally) their own affairs. In effect, however, they are almost a protectorate of the PSF. The two primary languages are Ukrainian and Russian.

Republic of Iran
Iran, the dominant power in the Middle East when the colony ship was launched, sent a significant delegation aboard. Being that it was the only state in the Middle East to do this, many people from other countries tagged along. There is a bare majority of people with Persian background, but there are significant minorities of Arabs, Afghanis, Pakistanis, Azeris, Kurds and Armenians. To go along with this polyglot of people there is a similar number of languages, none of them official. Most are Muslim but other religions are encouraged to remain. They are strong Russian allies in world politics. There is no official language, but the main one used for government is Farsi.

India
A strong nationalistic Indian state arose almost immediately upon touching down on the planet. While they are mostly armed and advised by the Russians and follow them in most foreign affairs, they trade significantly with their neighbors as well as the Americans. The official language is Hindi, but many others are spoken.

South Africa
After a drastic disagreement with the American and allied contingents shortly after their landing, South Africa attached itself as a satellite state of the Russians almost immediately after landfall. They are quite pluralistic in origin and culture. Zulu, Xhosa and Afrikaans are the official languages of government - however, English is almost universally understood, and this allows the Russians to frequently use South African diplomats as representatives of their allied front to the Anglo world.

=Other States=

In addition to those listed, there are a myriad of much smaller entities which exist on the world. Due to the large amounts of non-inhabited space, disaffected groups have sometimes split off and moved into these areas to form their own communities. Their beliefs, demographics, languages and political systems vary wildly, as do their allegiances (or lack thereof).