Nothing

The Transitionary State of Nothingness, formerly and still commonly known as Nothing, was a fully-virtual community that eventually became integrated into USA territory; devastated and deleted with all residents shifted to mainland territory. Prior to its official deletion date, May 31st, the state was ruled by a committee, the Transistionary Council of the Sovereign States of Nothing, appointed by the South Pole Council. The state was originally formed in 2009 and was registered as a "free republic" of the USA, ruled by practically no one, making it an anarchy. The transition started from January 27th and ended on May 21st.

Background
The Land of Nothing was made when a successful game developer made a virtual reality game that he thought would be the best game ever. Millions of coins were poured into this project. In order to make it the best possible, they used special self-designing software. The only perimeters were 'the most interactive video-game experience ever!' So the software designed the most interactive game interface possible; you actually entered the game. When the first penguin donned the Virtual Reality Helmet, the server running the game crashed. Sadly, the world's greatest game-creation software had not been programmed to limit the hardware requirements. It was found that, whenever anyone entered the Virtual-Reality Interface, they would be converted into computer code and transported bodily into the game, wearing the VR headset. On pressing a button on the side, they would be converted back into living tissue and could leave. The entire game interface was intact, but the crash wiped the graphics, so it was a large white expanse of nothing. So that's why they called it Nothing. The re-installation of a 2D graphics card allowed houses to be built, and the city of Something was made. The city of Anything followed. States were designed and countries sprung up, filling the continent of Nothing.

Not long after Anything was built, a penguin accidentally knocked a glass of water over while he was cleaning his kitchen. The water fell to the ground, then started to spread. The computer had replicated the foreign element due to a virus planted in the system. The replication continued until technicians stalled the process, making it run ultimately slow. By that time, a vast ocean had been formed. The trickle of replicating water formed rain and snow, which falls every fortnight. The water is drinkable. A few weeks later, a new colonist brought a pot plant into Nothing. Unfortunately, he was tripped by a passing binary stream and the pot smashed on the ground. The replicating virus in the system somehow, impossibly, got through the firewalls set up by the technicians and replicated the soil and the plant. Tufts of grass sprung through the snow, and dirt formed under the ice of the continent of Nothing.

In late 2009, the Graphics system was updated, and the whole system was serviced. All inhabitants of Nothing were evacuated until the upgrade was finished. The computer became able to think for itself and solve problems, thanks to a mysterious program from another universe called "Serina_AI.exe". The computer created a continent out of RAM chips so that it would have more thinking space, two joined continents, and a frigid, icy continent. A small island containing a duplicate of the central computer was created in the middle of the continents, so that technicians did not have to go through a portal to the real world. Any changes made to the duplicate effect the original, and vice versa. The land of Nothing became an ideal residential area, now with realistic graphics and touchy-feely capabilities, which many strove to emigrate to.

Transition
Nothing has always been an anarchy since its founding and discovery till 2011. As Nothing was based in the USA, the South Pole Council was concerned about its sovereign status that has been largely debated over three years. Eventually, the SPC decided to appoint a committee, known as the Transition Council of the Sovereign States of Nothing, to reform and integrate the virtual community into mainstream border control. The USA decided to classify this as a "transition state", even though it was technically a Free Republic. The entire Nothing cyberspace would be destroyed as a result, and all citizens (and some artifacts) moved to mainland Antarctica.

On January 27th, houses around the continent of Nothing received a notice that the government was "integrating the community into society" and had to relocate those living in states other than the State of Idoreconise. The State of Idoreconise was renamed State of Nothinghill, after the capital of the same name. On January 28th, residents in the state of Here left their homes for Nothinghill. For the next week, more than 350,000 residents relocated their homes from various states across the continent to Nothinghill. An estimate of 15% of the residents in the continent had left their homes. The continents of Savannah and Egypt were also evacuated on the same day, with an estimate one million leaving their homes and sent through virtual transportation (e.g. teleportation, virtual aeronautics).

The deadline for all residents to leave was set for February 28th, 2011. By February 15th, more than 3 million residents, more than 100% based on the original estimate, were deported to Nothinghill. Meanwhile, all other continents were being evacuated, and more than six million were recorded to have left their homes. The total population of Nothinghill increased from a mere 35,000 to an astonishing thirty-five million. The council expects another six million to move before the February 28th. More than five million were recorded to have left after February 15th. All residents who had been deported had to register themselves as a "citizen of the transition state of Nothing". Although everyone were registered in one state or another in Antarctica, citizens who were permanent residents of the community had to be registered regardless of initial state of residence.

On February 28th, the Transitional Council officially merged all other continents and all states of the continent of Nothing except State of Nothinghill, into a new land known as "Nothingland". The term was said to be temporary for the council had to plan the "division of territory". On March the 1st, the Transitional Council started forming barriers to separate the two states. On March 3rd, rumors reported the cordoning-off of territory due to "infinite space leading to inability of law application and charge". The Council confirmed this only on the sixth, three days later, after two-thirds of the state border has been cordoned off.

On March the 7th, teams of demolishers were deployed to major ex-states to demolish buildings, and reuse the rubble as material for statues. The Portal State was the only "major" ex-state to not be affected. The portal from the Portal State was eventually shifted to Nothinghill on the eighth. Meanwhile, residents of Nothinghill were finally able to move in as permanent residents. Due to the excess space and binary codes recovered from the Book of Binary, more than sixteen million homes were built and nineteen million offices constructed within the span of only twenty-four houses.

March 10 marked an end to access of the Nothingland, and the last tapes cordoned off the southeastern most side of the State of Nothinghill. The next day, the State of Nothinghill was abolished - there was only the Transitionary State of Nothing. On March 11, a match was lit at the centre of the then-renamed "plain lands" and was set to destroy all remaining objects in the area. Steel walls were installed within the course of four days following the match's lighting.

The portal was eventually reinstalled and ready for use once again on March 16. Due to the confined space, many moved back to the USA. The rate of exit was one penguin per second, thus, 3600 former residents left Nothing every hour. 86400 residents left everyday. To speed up the rate of exit, eighteen-thousand (you heard it, eighteen-THOUSAND) portals were constructed and built. The rate of exit increased to 18000 residents leaving per second, or 466,560,000,000 lifeforms per day. The rate was astonishing and seventeen million had exited in only 15 minutes and 45 seconds, compared to a Six Puffles queue of seventeen million per 15 years, the trajectory commented.

On March 29, the fire was extinguished and a million hectares of land in Nothing were wiped out. The barriers were torn and a shocking picture of pure nothingness occupied what used to be forests, cities or other stuff at least occupying the space.

April the First marked the first, or April Fool's Day, marked the official closure of the portals. Only one remained for official use. On April the 2nd, the creator of the project and Dan Beronews, the former South Pole Council representative for the state, signed an agreement formally handing over the state to the USA. All laws of the USA were implemented, although literally no one was living there.

Checks were conducted from April 3 to April 29 for the remains of any lifeforms who did not escape the fire. Records of lifeforms who entered were checked for the first time, and it was revealed that all but one had left the area. The mayor of Here shifted to Nothinghill simply to take care of remaining errands before leaving the area. He officially left on April 17th, 2011, and resigned his post.

The following events occurred and will be displayed in the form of a text timeline:
 * January 7 - South Pole Council appoints committee, Transition Council of Sovereign States of Nothing, to relocate all citizens to USA, integrating them into society for mainstream border control.
 * January 27
 * Other states - Nothing citizens receive a notice that government was "integrating community into society". Relocation of those living in states (other than Idoreconise) begins.
 * State of Idoreconise - Renamed State of Nothinghill
 * January 28
 * Here - Residents in the state leave their homes for Nothinghill
 * Savannah and Egypt - Evacuated and left for Nothinghill
 * January 29 to February 3rd - All citizens evacuate. Approximate 1,350,000 move out in total.
 * February 15 - Three million residents deported to Nothinghill. Other continents also start evacuation. Total: Nine million.
 * Requirement to register as citizen of Transitionary State regardless of initial citizenship
 * February 28 - Deadline to evacuate. All other states renamed "Nothingland"
 * March 1 - Formation of barriers bordering Nothingland and State of Nothinghill
 * March 3 - Rumors report cordoning-off of territory due to "infinite space leading to inability of law application and charges"
 * March 6 - Rumors confirmed, two-third of state border already cordoned off.
 * March 7 - Teams of demolishers deployed to destroy remaining infrastructure in Nothingland. Portal State not affected.
 * March 10 - Access to Nothingland officially no more.
 * March 11 - Eradication of Nothingland begins; fire starts at center of Nothingland.
 * March 16 - Portals from Portal State installed in Nothinghill, ready for use. Thousands of portals built to accommodate population. Entire population leaves
 * March 29 - Fire extinguished
 * April 1 - Official closure of portals
 * April 2 - Formal agreement to annex Nothing into USA. Laws implemented.
 * April 3 to April 29 - Checking of remaining souls.
 * April 25 - Closure of Nothinghill
 * April 27 - Arsonists hired to burn the area.
 * May 2 - Blackhole implementation, or "embolishment", in the Savannah. Done by binarical robots.
 * May 6 - Opening of passport replacement services - from "Passport of Nothing" to that of USA.
 * May 12 - Opening of sole-purpose passport replacement services (SPPRS) counters in all major cities in Eastshield. SPPRS are counters designed to only serve citizens from Nothing.
 * May 16 - Opening of SPPRS in all major cities in Trans-Antarctica, Antarctic Peninsula and Sub-Antarctic Islands.
 * May 21 - Opening of SPPRS in all other major cities of the USA.
 * May 26 - Disclosure of reports - census counted approximately 100 million residents in Nothing prior to January 27th.
 * May 28 - 5 million residents registered as of date.
 * May 29 - 6.5 million residents registered as of date.
 * May 30 - Opening of entire SPPRS buildings catering solely to ex-Nothing citizens. 12 million residents registered as of date.
 * May 31 - Blackhole submerges all off cyberspace; universe deleted, closed and devastated. 17.5 million residents registered as of date.
 * June 1 - Opening of extra entire SPPRS buildings. 25 million residents registered as of date.
 * June 2 - 35 million residents registered as of date.
 * June 3 - Estimated 45 million residents to be registered as of June 3rd.
 * November 25 - Estimated entire Nothing population registered. More than 150 million applicants, estimates from earlier readings revoked.
 * December 31 - All SPPRSes are closed down.

Former states and continents
Prior to January 27th, the following states were

Nothing (continent)


The original continent, and the first colonized. Snow dominates the terrain, although some flora is present. The virtual world took its name from this continent.


 * The Portal State
 * Something
 * Anything
 * Everything
 * River City
 * The State of Idoreconise
 * Here
 * Now
 * Then
 * There
 * Before
 * After
 * Evergreen
 * Snowdania
 * Apache
 * Belaway Territories
 * Africa
 * Pellinorian Field
 * Europe

All states of this continent but Portal State and State of Idoreconise have been burned down during the Transition.

Savannah
Newly discovered, Savannah was not yet colonized prior to devastation. It was close to the "equator", and was a land filled with long grass, trees, fruit and volcanoes. The soil is fertile and things grow easily. A land bridge joins it with it's sister continent, Eqypt.

A massive fire was set to eradicate the area. Fruits and trees were collected to be placed in museums following its devastation.

Eqypt
A hot, sandy, desert type continent. Cacti and similar plants are scattered across the sand, and sandstorms blow through here regularly. Soil is unsuitable for farming and agriculture, so it is unlikely Egypt will be colonized. A land bridge connects it with Savannah.

Massive fire was set to eradicate area; cacti, plants and samples of sand collected to be preserved in museums. Most sand were blown to the continent of Nothing during the fire, where it was eventually sucked in by a blackhole.

Cybernetic
Needing more memory, Nothing's central computer created a continent entirely made out of electronic computer chips, processors and other cyber like stuff that gives the world more stability and thinking space. Plants are unable to grow here, and random computer terminals programmed in LOLCODE are scattered across the landscape. It rains liquid nitrogen here, so pools of it are scattered throughout the landscape. Cybernetic can be seen from Nothing, as it gives off a green glow at night.

The continent was the last to eliminated, only being destroyed by the fire sometime in late April. Nothing here was preserved.

Terminus
A small island that works as a console and holds a duplicate of the central computer. Nothing Technicians come here to perform terrain adjustments, weather changes and regular maintenance.

The central computer had the Nothing server deleted, thus, Terminus was instantly deleted as well.

New Snowzerland
To the Northeast of Terminus, a huge mountainous island roughly the same size of Australia is situated. Some claim that this is New Snowzerland, the hidden continent that is similar the the Original Snowzerland. Some think it is just empty. Nobody knows for sure, they can't see over the mountains and sharp rocks prevent ships from docking. Further research has revealed that this island is encased in a Temporal Pocket.

New Snowzerland was abandoned even before the transition began. Snowzerland's claim of the island was formally removed and was officially burned down during the transition.

Icehouse
Frigid and icy continent, similar to Antarctica, but the temperature drops 100 degrees below zero sometimes. It was surrounded by a permanent cluster of ice, the Great Ice Sheet.

Fire melted Icehouse and all water and precipitation drowned neighbouring continents; resulting in a double whammy.'

Architecture flaws
Although Nothing is stable, twitches in the old 2D graphics card have occurred. These cause everything in Nothing to fuzz once in a while. Funds have been collected for a 3D graphics card and will be bought soon.

In addition to the twitches, binary code lines have often shot through Nothing at high speed. If one hits you, it will stick to your body for a day before re-arranging itself and moving on. There' also hexadecimal streams, which are sticker and more data-filled than binary. Yalondo Yinchanva often comes here to collect binary to make green paint out of.

Also, hackers rarely enter here.

Resources
Nothing is a popular residential area and is a great holiday destination. Virtual Reality resorts in The State of Idoreconise and the Portal State can generate any scenario, from hiking to skydiving, and it's very cheap. Many come to Nothing in want of a new life and job, and that's just what they're given.

Now, Nothing has been eradicated. So truly, Nothing is found in Nothing.