United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. It spans an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land border with another sovereign state, sharing it with the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, and the Irish Sea.

Since the revelation of SLC-Expressive humans in 2007, the UK has gradually slid down a slope leading to fascism and totalitarianism. The UK openly aided the Mitchell Administration during the Second American Civil War, a choice that has had dire political and social consequences for the nation. The UK's hard-line support of Mitchell and his extremist tactics drew significant fire from the United Nations, and in the aftermath of the war with Mitchell's surrender and the start of the Albany Trials, the UK was quick to disavow the "unthinkable" acts and swiftly maneuvered itself to a more neutral stance with regards to the US. But the United Nations is currently undertaking an investigation of British forces in the US openly participating in war crimes against SLC-Expressive humans on US soil. Since the war's end, relationships between the US and UK have significantly soured.

Registration of SLC-Expressive individuals is mandatory in the UK. As a European Union member nation they are beholden to the EUSR (European Union SLC Registry). Many who register in the UK under the EUSR are forcibly detained and relocated in resettlement areas, much as what happened in the United States prior to the civil war. Anti-registration activists and rebels emboldened by the US' successful overthrow of a fascistic regime have begin growing in support, leading many to fear that the UK may be the next nation to face a civilian uprising.

Government

As of 2018 the current Prime Minister of the UK is Benedict Hawthorne — successor of Augustine Sinclair — a Labour party member and staunch defender of the EUSR and the UK's "Sectioning" of SLC-Expressive citizens. Prime Minister Hawthorne is a pragmatic and callous man who lost his family in an SLC-E led chemical attack organized by the terrorist organization Mazdak in 2010. Hawthorne has vocally supported and pushed draconian legislation and is the face of the "New Britain" movement, a political alliance of proponents of tougher controls on SLC-Expressive individuals.

Economy

Due to the economic tailspin of the United States following the Second American Civil War, the UK is likewise in economic dire straights. A grossly over budget military coupled with expenses for creation and maintenance of Sectioned settlements has hammered the UKs economy. The weak American economic state has only exacerbated the UK's financial problems, however. The effects of this reached the populace as fincial reforms and austerity measures led to impoverishment and loss of income and property, as well as a small-scale humanitarian crisis.

This led to a crisis of confidence, indicated by a widening of bond yield spreads and rising cost of risk insurance on credit default swaps compared to the other Eurozone countries, particularly Germany. The government enacted 12 rounds of tax increases, spending cuts, and reforms from 2013 to 2017, which at times triggered local riots and nationwide protests. Despite these efforts, the country required bailout loans in 2013, 2015, and 2017 from the International Monetary Fund, Eurogroup, and European Central Bank, and negotiated a 30% reduction on debt owed to private banks in 2015. After a popular referendum which rejected further austerity measures required for the third bailout, and after closure of banks across the country (which lasted for several weeks), on July 8th 2017, the UK became the first developed country to fail to make an IMF loan repayment. At that time, debt levels had reached €357bn.

Rights of SLC-Expressive

SLC-Expressive citizens have few rights in the United Kingdom. Any SLC-Expressive human waives any and all reproductive rights without express written permission from the Torchlight Initiative. Any crime committed by an SLC-Expressive individual is considered a Summary offense by UK law and defendants convicted of Summary crime are immediately Sectioned.

Sectioned SLC-E citizens have further restricted rights as follows:

• Section 1: Mandatory indefinite relocation to SRC and forfeiture of all personal property. Section 1 citizens may not vote.
• Section 2: Mandatory chemical negation of ability.
• Section 3: Indefinite solitary incarceration.

Registration (EUSR and DEH)

Following the revelation of the Evolved in 2007, the United Kingdom was swift to join the United States in the formation of a comprehensive Registration system designed to allow for public safety and consider the privacy of its citizens that it is affecting. Developed on wholly different paths and instated in December of 2007, the UK's "Database of Evolved-Humans" (DEH) began as an opt-in system with large success. The nation has, per-capita, less native Evolved than the United States, largely due to its smaller land mass. Foreign Evolved traveling into the UK were not eligible to Register under UK laws.

Turmoil across the ocean and in Europe over the presence of the Evolved, along with hard-line support in Parliament regarding the Evolved as potential "personal weaponry" and a public safety hazard found a reform of the Registry through 2008, with political battles fought against what may saw as a slip towards "totalitarian" methodology. The level of danger represented by the Evolved was made personal to UK citizens in the fall of 2008 when British Labour Party member Johann Newton manifested violently on the floor of Parliament during a heated debate over the issue of Registration. Newton's manifestation left seven members of Parliament hospitalized from Co2 inhalation due to what was believed to be some sort of molecular transmutation that turned the air around Newton into carbon dioxide, effectively suffocating his peers.

Newton's accidental harm to members of Parliament was seen as final justification to fence-sitters, and an amendment to the DEH was finalized in March of 2009. By the writing of the DEH's amendment, any Evolved who presents an ability that could by defined as a lethal weapon by British law is eligible for "Sectioning" in secluded remote communes in remote reaches of the country. From 2009 to present day, SLC-Expressive humans were classified as Registered or Sectioned. Which each Section was granted a level between 1 and 3, representing the level of detention security a Sectioned individual experienced.

Public and visible, the UK's Sectional Relocation Centers (SRCs) are towns in their own right where Sectioned Evolved were relocated to "live without fear of causing undue harm to ordinary humans" according to the UK's DEH website. Four Sectional Relocation Centers exist as of 2018, the first being "Cedar Hollow" (founded in 2008) located north of the village of Muir in the Cairgorms National Park with a population of 2,775 Sectioned Evolved. "Fitchburg Mill" (founded in 2010) is located outside of the town of Exford near the Exmoor National Park, and boasts a population of 2,200 Sectioned Evolved. The settlement of "Whitehearth" (also founded in 2010) is located 2 kilometers south of Kirkwall past Borrowstone Hill and has 6,512 detainees. While the most recent Sectional Relocation Center, "Oxbow" (founded in 2011) is located just outside of the Otterburn Camp in the Northumberland National Park and has a population of 3,457 residents.

Each Sectional Relocation Center is staffed by roughly 100 government employees divided among the EUSR Enforcement Agency and the UKs Torchlight Initiative, and are secured by military assets. These settlements were originally sold to the public as though they were designed to protect the Sectioned from both themselves should their abilities go out of control, and the rising tide of anti-Evolved sentiment growing in the UK despite strict anti-hate laws. However, it has become increasingly clear that these relocation facilities

Public reaction to the SRCs have been mixed with praise gone to the level of attention to families and Evolved-Education on-site at these facilities, but public protest and decrying of the isolation of the Sectioned from ordinary civilization. By UK law, Sectioned Evolved are not allowed to leave their "habitats" save for on special dispensation from the government. Attendance at an SRC is mandatory for any Evolved who evaluates at a "Sectioned" level of ability.

Controversy arose in early 2010 when a Non-Sectioned Evolved — Joshua Worth — lost control of an ability to project his voice into the minds of others caused a traffic collision in downtown London, killing 2 and injuring 16. Following a public trial that became media circus, Worth was punished to Sectioning in Whitehearth until such a time as he could gain control of his ability reliably. On seeing Sectioning being used as a punishment in legal proceedings, public opinion towards these facilities began to decline, and continues to. Illegal protests and rallies against the SRCs are held with growing regularity.

In early 2011 the UK joined the remainder of the European Union in adopting the EUSR (European Union SLC Registry), further expanding the web of the UK's registry to encompass all EU nations.

Registration takes place at publicly available "EUSR Registration Centers" across the country where a mandatory blood test is performed for proof of the Suresh-Linkage Complex, followed by a two-hour long screening process where the registering Evolved demonstrate and explain their ability to the best of their knowledge, under sworn oath. As of 2012 blood tests are performed at birth and Non-SLC citizens are required to undergo annual blood screening to weed out false positives whenever they renew government-issued identification.

In some centers where available, Evolved with Power Detection, Lie Detection and Telepathy are employed to test the veracity of claims made during demonstrations. Lying during the Registration process leads to immediate classification as a "Section 2" Evolved.

If an Evolved demonstrates an ability that the overseeing governmental body does not classify as a weapon or weapon-like threat (and there is rife corruption and double-standards in this process) the Evolved is classified as "Registered" and are logged in a publicly available EUSR database. DNA records of the Registered are kept on file indefinitely.

If an Evolved classifies with a "weapon" or "weapon-like" ability, they are categorized as "Section 1" Evolved and are given 5 days in which to set their affairs in order before being transported to one of the UK's Sectional Relocation Centers across the country (described above). Minors in the care of the Sectioned Evolved are allowed to be resident at the SRC provided that no other immediate family members are available to care for the child. If the minors in question are not SLC-Expressive, they are removed from the custody of their parents and relinquished to extended family. If no family is present these children become wards of the state.

SLC-Expressive spouses are given special dispensation to travel with the Sectioned Evolved, if desired, which could lead to their children also being brought along. Non-SLC spouses are not permitted to relocate with their families.

Anyone found violating the EUSR by means of circumventing the Registration process or attempting to evade 'Sectioning' face stiff penalties and jail time.

Surveillance State

Below the surface of what appears to be a very visible and accountable system, the United Kingdom keeps strict watch over all Registered Evolved. Up until August of 2010, a branch of The Company coordinated with the government in order to perform surveillance on all Registered Evolved and foreign evolved traveling in the UK.

Starting at the end of 2007, while the UK was promoting the open "Sectioning" system for Evolved, a project spearheaded by the Company codenamed "Searchlight" was intended to expand the UK's knowledge of the Evolved as well as detain individuals believed to be too dangerous even for the Sectioning process.

A facility owned by the Company in the city of Durrington was established to house High-Sectioned Evolved with abilities that could cause wide-spread destruction or harm if left to their own devices. Inhumane experiments were carried out in Durrington under the watchful eye of Director Terrence Renford, a British liaison to the Company. The Company itself had minimal oversight into the goings-on in Durrington and Renford kept quiet much of the controversial work done there.

In August of 2010 as word of the Company became public in the United States, the UK sought to sever all ties with the organization. Renford was painted as a Company operative and subversive element within the government. Durrington's supporters and staff were painted in the media to be inhumane monsters that secretly carried out experiments at the Company's request. Research obtained at Durrington was retained by the British government, while Renford was quietly silenced. Public reports account for Renford's suicide during an attempt to capture him, only the operatives of MI5 know the truth.

Durrington became a convenient excuse, blamed on the globally reviled Company and Renford's true allegiances never saw the light of day. The four prisoners held at Durrington were released to their families, though with the caveat that they be placed in Sectioned care. None of them ever knew the wiser about the true goings-on at Durrington or who was pulling the strings.

Their eventual suicides were a national tragedy, blamed on the psychological distress they suffered during their time at the Durrington facility.

Following the public revelation of the Company in 2010 the British government quickly severed all ties with the organization and disavowed any knowledge of collusion with the group. Many key members of the Company were silenced by elements of the British intelligence agency MI5 in order to keep knowledge of this collusion under wraps.

In response to the Company's fall, top British Company liaison to MI5, Terrence Renford, was painted as a scapegoat and the Company facility under his command was spun as a secret and illegal project spearheaded by Renford. The UK's alternative to the Company (which co-opted much of the research made public by the Company during their cooperation) became known as the Torchlight Initiative, which investigate Evolved-related incidents across the UK.

Further shadows at play in the UK come from Torchlight carrying the proverbial "torch" of the Company on into a new generation. Domestic spying on all Evolved is now carried out by Torchlight operatives, which includes wiretapping and other surveillance measures designed to keep tabs on the UK's Evolved population and foreign visitors, as Registered Evolved from other countries passing into the UK are also monitored by Torchlight, and their activities closely scrutinized.

Travel

When the United States enacted the Chesterfield Act in 2014 following the end of the Second American Civil War, an immediate travel ban was issued in the European Union against all US passports. US travelers currently in the EU were permitted to stay until the end of their visa, but were then summarily ejected from the country. Americans working abroad in the EU were systematically deported from EU nations. By 2017 the EU began to relax these travel bans, and SLC-Expressive Registered under the Chesterfield Act are permitted to enter the EU under strict scrutiny at customs, including a mandatory demonstration of their ability and at times exposure to extended interrogation. Registered SLC-Expressive US citizens with "dangerous" abilities, which are often arbitrarily designated by foreign customs, are denied entry and sometimes detained indefinitely under the auspices of "suspected terrorism". Foreign SLC-E travelers who commit crimes are prosecuted under the EUSR and may be deported or indefinitely detained.