Jon Medaris and the New World Maf Government (Full Detailed Account)
Type: Narrative — Canon History (Full Dictated Account) Status: Canon (confirmed by creator) — full text preserved per archival standard
See The Founding of MACOFS for what came after the NWMG, and DESCO for the corporation's existing shorter summary — this page significantly elaborates on it.
Medaris's Reinvention (1990-1995)
In 1990, Jon Medaris relinquished control of the Desert Empire and quietly relocated to Kila Vas — one day presiding in Maiha, the next simply gone. He hired two of Kila Vas's premier public relations firms to remake his image into that of a popular, romantic figure, sweeping his notorious wartime past under the rug. Perold Jonas, who had grown semi-retired through much of the 1990s, doubted the plan would work. It did: by 1995, Medaris was one of Kila Vas's most popular figures, his role in starting World War 3 seemingly all but forgotten.
Medaris spent his massive fortune (from his former control of the Desert Empire's natural resources) extravagantly — city-wide parties, construction and housing projects, huge malls, theaters, "pop-up" holidays, fashion and movie awards programs, a casino, and Tres Galactic Halls — a 5-mile-wide complex of 4 glass domes at the city's center (3 arranged in a triangle, the 4th suspended above them), devoted to entertainment, featuring a huge casino, a very large mall, and an entertainment complex. Its inauguration on January 1, 1996 drew the city's actors, celebrities, and elite; a party planned to last one day instead ran for over a week.
DESCO
Also in 1990, Medaris founded the Desert Empire Services Corporation (DESCO), which quickly became one of Kila Vas's largest companies — briefly second in revenue only to LMT. DESCO was responsible for most of Medaris's housing and real estate projects, including the Med See Strip, completed in 1994: sited a mile offshore of "old" downtown Kila Vas, over 10 miles long and a mile wide, with structures many stories high — an engineering feat and architectural marvel, quickly becoming one of Kila Vas's "in" spots, with thousands of offices, retail, and residential spaces. DESCO expanded into many business areas with mixed success — it lacked the skillful leadership or business acumen to sustain dominance in any one sector, but its sheer size and blunt-force approach kept it among Kila Vas's top 100 corporations throughout the 1990s.
In 1994, the Desert Empire elected its first democratically-elected leader: Andrew Johnson, Medaris's former aide and key advisor, as its first President. Since arriving in Kila Vas, Medaris had had little contact with the Desert Empire or his former colleagues — many refused to answer questions about him, and rumor held that several refused his own overtures. Meanwhile, Zarkof Androve (retired), Harold Bronson (retired, living in Kila Vas), and Gen. Andrew Johnson (no relation to President Andrew Johnson) had all become friends of Perold Jonas — their former top "enemy" during the war.
Jonas and Medaris: Enduring Enmity
Jonas and Medaris are not friends; Jonas expresses open disdain for Medaris. Jonas believes Medaris should still face prosecution for war crimes, despite having been pardoned — as Jonas himself was pardoned for his own controversial nuclear strike on Fainbrotair. Jonas characterizes Medaris as "just playing games" in pursuit of his own ego and ambition, someone "willing to do anything" to advance himself in his own eyes.
Curbing Medaris's Wealth
As Andrew Johnson (President) grew into his role, he and others felt Medaris's sole control over the Desert Empire's mineral wealth "needed to change." In 1996, Johnson signed a law reducing Medaris's authority to just 10% control over the mineral wealth and 1% of the dividends generated. Though this substantially deflated his income, Medaris's sole ownership of DESCO offset the losses — and in time, would more than make up for the lost revenue.
The 1999 Plebiscite and NWMG's Founding
The question of a new continental government was debated for years, with various structural proposals eventually coalescing. In November 1999, a plebiscite was held across much of the continent for the establishment of the New World Maf Government (NWMG), including selection of its first President. Among the candidates: former Emperor of the Desert Empire and instigator of World War 3, Jon Medaris, now a famous Kila Vas resident and "playboy."
Medaris had remained largely apolitical in Kila Vas until it became clear a new political organization was likely — at which point he began actively campaigning for the position of first President, staying deliberately clear of the behind-the-scenes structural negotiations and focusing entirely on his own candidacy. Riding on Tres Galactic Halls's success, he appeared publicly with the city's most famous and respected personalities, dating several famous actresses in succession. Jonas and others believed this was all calculated machinery designed to make the public forget he had started World War 3, engineering his path to the presidency of a new continent-spanning government.
Results, tabulated November 14th, 1999: effective noon, January 1, 2000, in Kila Vas, the NWMG was founded — comprising nearly 300 nations that had fought on both sides of WW3, including Jonesboro, Palas, the Empire, Peplle, Thasula, Zambetq, the Desert Empire, and Vladimery. Its first head of state: President Jon Medaris.
In response, Perold Jonas renounced his association with Kila Vas and the NWMG, initiating the purchase of a Masite spacecraft for his retirement and planned galactic travels. Zarkof Androve, Harold Bronson, and (Desert Empire President) Andrew Johnson also distanced themselves from the new government.
The NWMG's Early Growing Pains
The NWMG's legislature comprised thousands of representatives from hundreds of different nations; its overall governmental infrastructure was essentially Helvatica's own, simply scaled up (Helvatica having genuinely grown enough to make this feasible). At first, the legislature — with its thousands of disparate voices — seemed incapable of passing even a single piece of legislation. Over months, stability, structure, and order gradually emerged. By the end of the first year, the legislature ran smoothly, with further reforms removing lingering obstacles; by the end of the second year, it was hailed as a beacon of progress and a model of legislative function.
By the end of the third year, however, Medaris was signing into law increasingly controversial bills touching individual states' internal affairs — regulating how many people could ride in an elevator (elevators being nearly obsolete by this point, but still regulated), how many cows could graze in a field, and strict water control measures, seen as particularly outlandish in water-rich nations like the Empire, the NUN, and the EUN.
Behind the scenes, nations grew displeased with the legislature and with the enforcement regimen Medaris himself had crafted — penalties could be steep, and individuals were arrested and jailed in Kila Vas to be held and tried there, angering many member nations and sparking inter-national controversies.
Peacekeeper Overreach
Kila Vas Peacekeepers began making regular "visits" to would-be criminals in distant NWMG regions, far outside their actual Kila Vas jurisdiction — allegedly ordered directly by Medaris. Many member states viewed this as a near deal-breaking encroachment on their sovereignty. Various nations — the Empire, Helvatica, Peplle, Jonesboro, even the Desert Empire — began rapidly, quietly rebuilding their military forces. Additional strains appeared, and Jonas, not yet embarked on his retirement, felt "the drums of war were once again beginning to beat" — setting the stage directly for the secret 1994 meeting on the island in Thasula that would ultimately lead to MACOFS's founding.
Appearances
- Creator-provided detail (ChatGPT export, "Government to Commercial Shift")
Open Questions
- "Maiha," where Medaris had been presiding before his quiet departure, does not otherwise appear elsewhere in the archive
- Full list of controversial NWMG laws (beyond elevators, cattle grazing, and water control) not given