Advice For A Dystopian Story

It is EXTREMELY isolationist, and spends a lot of time, energy, and propaganda keeping its subjects in and everyone else out. Traveling outside of your town or city is a privilege, not a right, and only a few people are allowed to do it.

It also has laws (or rather, "protocols") about Enforced Technology Levels, enforcing a Schizo Tech-y technology level that's mostly a mix of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s (mostly The '40s), but without cars, phones, or movies, and with only rudimentary literature (although literature isn't technically technology). Also, technology access varies from class to class, which brings us to the social classes.

The society of the dystopia has a semi-rigid class system, though not as rigid as most in fiction. The two lower classes are only slightly apart, their differences are mostly minor, and they often intermingle.

The Laborer class is the lowest class. They typically serve menial positions such as janitors, factory workers, and, you guessed it, farm laborers. They typically are somewhat uneducated, with their educations cut short or self-taught, though they are rarely completely uneducated. They are not permitted to travel except on very specific occasions (for example, when being transported to prison camps. As you can infer from this being the example, very few of these occasions are anything good). They almost always dress in browns and greys with some greyish-whites, with flashes of other colors, all rather dull, for contrast on relatively well-off laborers. The only weapons they are allowed to own are small bladed weapons (such as pocket or kitchen knives) and wooden bludgeoning weapons/improvisational-class weapons (basically things not intended to be used as weapons, but can be used as weapons in a pinch, and when they are used as weapons, are classified as improvisational-class weapons. Confusing, I know), but receive special permission to use additional weapons if these "weapons" are tools necessary for their job, such as hammers. They typically live in large but cramped communal buildings called crampacks (you can guess why), but many are homeless, and some of them (typically from mixed midder/laborer families) live in apartments with a family/friend/mixed both group, although none live alone in apartments.

The Midder class is the second-lowest class. They typically do better, more intellectual jobs such as teachers, minor executives, and, in the cases of the more well-off ones, doctors. They are typically better off than the laborers, but, again, the lines are rather blurry, and the laborer and midder classes often intermingle, more so than any other two classes. They typically have a high-school level education, with the better-off ones having received more in-depth and specialized education in their fields of profession. They are not permitted to travel on most occasions, but may apply for a temporary travel permit or may be assigned to travel for professional reasons, in addition to the less-pleasant occasions that apply to laborers as well. They typically dress in subdued blacks, whites, greys, and browns, with splashes of dull color being more common than in the laborer class. They are allowed to own pretty much any conventional non-firearm weapons (so, swords, bows & arrows, axes, etc are okay, but guns, bombs, and chemical weapons are a no-no), and may apply for a permit to own simple firearms such as 1890's-level revolvers, shotguns, and hunting rifles. They typically live in apartments with a family/friend/mixed both group, but some worse-off midders live in crampacks (albeit typically in the relatively-speaking "best" spots), and some better-off midders have their apartments to themselves.

The Military class is the second-highest class. They serve as law enforcement, border partol/military (though they haven't actually had to fight outsiders in a long time), and lower-level governmental administration positions. They typically have similar educations to most midders, but with an added dose of extreme athletic, military, and strategic training. They are allowed unrestricted travel so long as they stay within the border, though they are often assigned to places for duty reasons. They are pretty much required to dress in military uniforms most of the time (go figure), but these military uniforms are a subdued gray-green color, with only the occasional badge (all handed out sparingly) for contrast. When in non-uniform clothing, they typically wear similar clothing to that of the midders, albeit with slightly more color (although these colors are still subdued). They are allowed unrestricted access to all conventional weapons, including (In-Universe modern, in our universe they'd be futuristic) firearms. In addition, they may requisition more unconventional weapons (such as artillery, bombs, and chemical weapons) in times of emergency. Most of them live in bunkers apart from the other classes. These bunkers are more luxurious than most apartments, but have less privacy. The higher-ranking militaries live in their own houses, either alone or with their families.

The Administrator class is the highest class. They serve in almost all governmental administrative positions, in addition to some being scientists and others the creators (but not distributors) of propaganda and other such nastiness. They are always well-educated. They are allowed absolutely unrestricted travel, though they typically stay in their assigned area of administration and have never ventured beyond the border. They always dress in sharp, clean whites and blacks, with the occasional small splash of color, though never anything decadent outside of their own home (it's in the protocols). They are the only class allowed to own non-military (In-Universe) modern technology (with the exception of anything with internet access among other technology that could be used to communicate outside the border), though they aren't allowed to show it off to anyone except each other, high-ranking militaries, and sometimes some fortunate people in some very specific situations. All of them have their own houses (not mansions, just houses), although whether they live alone or with their families varies.

About 80% of the population is made up of midders and laborers, 15% militaries, and 5% administrators. As stated above, midders and laborers commonly intermingle, the lines between them are blurred, sometimes they even intermarry, and, although rare, sometimes a particularly competent laborer or incompetent midder is promoted to a midder or demoted to a laborer. Sometimes, a midder gets promoted to military, a military gets promoted to administrator, or administrator gets demoted to military, but these are much, much rarer. Children of midders and laborers are born classless, but are chosen to become midder or laborer depending on if they show promise or not, and particularly bright and trustworthy (for an evil dystopian government) children of midders and laborers can become militaries or even administrators, though they aren't allowed to interact with their families after that. Children of militaries are born militaries, though they are (very rarely) demoted or promoted if they show particular incompetence or intelligence, and children of administrators are born administrators, though they're sometimes demoted to militaries. They're rarely, if ever, demoted beyond military status. In adulthood, militaries and administrators never get demoted to midder or laborer because they know too much. If they prove untrustworthy or incompetent, they're simply executed. Despite this, administrators and militaries do not have a monopoly on smart people, they simply have more of them due to the childhood promotion/demotion process. Even laborers have plenty of smart (though usually uneducated) people to go around, including the protagonist, although he's a slow learner.

Transportation in the country is limited to walking or trains, with other forms of transportation limited to the militaries. Trains are extremely fast (they're "bullet trains"), and are only used for travel (as in the kinds that are restricted), and they don't have any windows except in the front, for the driver (typically a military, sometimes a down-on-their-luck administrator). Walking is used for travel inside city/town boundaries, or for rare illegal excursions by idiots, daredevils, and very determined people (or for administrators or militaries on patrol or on a long, relaxing hike). I lied when I said automobiles don't exist. They do, and are sometimes used by militaries, typically those going to a border patrol assignment (they don't want a confused midder with a travel pass accidentally getting off at the wrong train stop and seeing the border). Planes also exist, and are used only in emergencies and training exercises.

There is no freedom of speech, no freedom of the press, no freedom of expression, and no human right you do have that can't be violated by a pissed-off or determined enough administrator.

Propaganda is probably the feature of the setting, which sets of a thematic opposition to our hero, who rebels against the system he was previously complacent in by nonviolently spreading the truth. It is also very subtle. Laborers and midders are simply told that the system is the way it is because it is just the way of things, always has been this way, and always will be. Also, instead of being told of the horrors beyond the border, which would incite curiosity as well as fear and would cause brave midders to venture out to the border against orders to see for themselves, they're simply told that there's "really nothing interesting out there, maybe some wild animals" and that's it. Militaries and administrators, on the other hand, are pretty heavy-handedly and constantly told (or, should I say, indoctrinated) about the horrors of the world outside the border as part of their education. In addition to civil duties, it's supposed to be their job to keep these horrors out, although, in reality, the outside world long since mostly moved on without them. This education includes misinformation about what goverments exist outside the border (according to the educators, these include Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and the Romans, all of which are woefully mis-portrayed and demonized (yes, they did somehow make Those Wacky Nazis even worse than they were in real life), and to explain the gaps in technology levels in the pictures, they simply claim that that was the technology level when they were last encountered (although this is mixed with heavily photoshopped and doctored images)). They say that the nation's current state of things (and isolationism) was established a vague number of years ago because these enemy groups were becoming ever more powerful and dangeorous, and that utter isolation was the only option. The way things are is the only way, and it will be the only way until the end of time if their way of life is to survive. Although usually subtle, the propaganda is extremely huge, and pretty much everywhere. Even the clothing choices of the two highest classes were designed to make the class gap seem a lot smaller than it actually is. Propaganda is typically in the form of lessons at school and news, while Propaganda Pieces of things generally intended for entertainment, such as novels and songs, are very rare, and these novels and songs, though well-regulated, are usually escapist in nature. I could go on and on about the setting's propaganda, but I already have a Wall of Text.

Of course, one would expect foreign aid coming to help overthrow the regime, or at least planes and helicopters flying overhead. The thing is. Nobody comes in, and nobody goes out. Everyone inside is either too low-ranking, too indoctrinated, or both, to go out, and everybody outside just has no idea what's going on inside. It's considered sort of like a technologically-advanced North Sentinel Island. Nobody except for really fucking stupid people fly their airplanes over the nation anymore, because militaries, fearing nazi/commie/decadent psychopath invasion, shoots pretty much everything that comes through the border that isn't supposed to, and they don't stop to ask questions, they shoot to kill.

WARNING: HUGE SPOILERS AHEAD

The setting of the story is in the 2150s (although the year inside the nation is the totally random year 1307), in an Alternate History. Though The '90s were a rather unstable time period OTL, they were much, much worse (at least for the United States). The United States stayed intact, though, but when 9/11 happened (and in this timeline, all four planes hit their targets), it was viewed as the final failure of the U.S. Government, and, instead of causing The War On Terror, it caused the Second American Revolution. The entire United States collapseds, and in the chaos, a communist state (which is a Shout-Out to the Combined Syndicates of America in Kaiserreich: Legacy of the Weltkrieg, as it encompasses a lot of the same states, albeit with quite a bit of extra ones) somehow managed to take over in what used to be the Northeastern/Midwestern-ish United States^note  Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, some tiny northern parts of Deleware, Missouri, and West Virginia, and, eventually and very surprisingly, a small chunk of Canada right to the north of the Great Lakes.

Of course, this was met with a lot of resistance, and people of varying ideologies united to smash the now all-too-real red menace in their home turf. Unfortunately, due to being extremely vocal, the nutcases rose to the top of the hierarchy. It seemed like the world was going mad, and these people seemed to know what to do. The communist state was toppled in 2007, and the United Northeastern States were formed. Unfortunately, they were very unstable, due to radical elements in extremely high positions, and also increasingly authoritarian. Isolationist powers gained the majority. They saw only chaos outside, and believed the only option was to seal the chaotic world out. They abandoned all of their island territories (except for those on the Great lakes), and they began building a massive wall. In the meantime, the radical and chaotic government was stabilizing, sort of. They formed their own batshit insane ideology from a mixture of a whole bunch of strange and usually authoritarian ideologies, and began purging dissidents.

The wall was finished in 2013, and was completed surprisingly fast, due to the vast manpower devoted to it. Propaganda began. The government grew even more isolationist. The classes were formed. Propaganda was mastered, and though Oceana might consider it mediocre at best, but it was still ever-present, usually very subtle, and extremely effective. Smaller walls were built around cities and towns. Travel rights were restricted. Historical revisionism on a massive scale occurred as the youth of the laborers and midders were taught that the nation, now simply renamed the Northeastern State, though only on official documents nowadays, had always been the way it was, and militaries and administrators were taught ever-more crazy tales of the outside world and life before the nation. The outside world moved on, but still fearfully speculated about what lay beyond the massive wall that encompassed a huge swath of North America, and could be seen from space, although they learned to not investigate except with satellites.

The Northeastern State also utterly restructured every single town, city, and other human-made thing it could find. Most rural stuff was left to decay and crumble on its own, but the roads outside of the cities were deliberately destroyed, leaving only dirt tracks and gravely trails. Nature reclaimed everything except the cities, towns, train tracks, camps, and secret administrator/military bases that were deliberately maintained. Cities and towns, once utterly restructured on a fundamental level, were also renamed, historical names replaced with random and benign things. They also hunted down everyone outside of the towns and cities, which was extremely difficult, but successful. This work took decades, and what was left was unrecognizable. Once it was finished, the propaganda laid off a bit, but the utter restructuring was still "simply city maintenance" to even the highest-ranking administrators.

Now that the world was utterly unrecognizable, and pretty much everything was messed with by the government, things just sort of... went on. People were born and died, administrator scientists invented stuff, buildings that weren't maintained decayed, and nothing really interesting happened in the Northeastern State... until the plot kicked off.

The plot is less developed than the setting. The main character is a laborer born into a middler family with a father who is very sickly and a Missing Mom who was extremely competent and, when offered a choice of staying with her failure son and ailing husband or being promoted to a military and leaving their home city (someplace in Iowa) and her old live forever, chose the latter.

He is a rather bright boy, but is a slow learner (it was actually worse when he was a child than it is at the present of the story), which got him kicked out of school and made into a laborer. He's otherwise... rather ordinary. The only notable thing about him, oddly enough, is his missing eye, which he lost in a factory accident. Even this isn't particularly notable, because factory accidents are rather common.

Since he was kicked out of school and left a factory worker, his father taught him how to read and do maths and other stuff, but he is still rather ignorant, even by the standards of the Northeastern State, which is very important to the plot.

One day, a woman who seems to be desperate for some reason gives him some books. What is within them rocks his world to its foundations, and he eventually acts on his discovery, deciding to create some sort of publication (he eventually settles on a newspaper) in secret, under the alias The Eye Among the Blind (a Shout-Out to this song by The Raven Age). Of course, at first it's not really that good, but he eventually recruits help from some other laborers and middlers, all of which also begin reading the books, creating their own aliases (such as Reader, Green Eyes, Scum, She Who Listens Without Ears, and Stabbed (yes, Stabbed is a girl, and yes, her name is innuendo, because, in the nation, "stab" can sometimes be as a vulgar slang word roughly equivalent in meaning, but not severity, to "fuck")).

They find a gap in the electric fence around the city and then make a windfall by finding a town just outside the city. They successfully secretly start a newspaper, and begin distributing it. They also find the wall (which is surprisingly close to the town), reveal it, and even eventually start a radio station.

It turns out that indoctrinating even the highest members of society wasn't a very good idea since, once this new administrator generation discover the newspaper created by The Eye Among the Blind and his cohorts, they have no idea how to effectively counteract it. Sure, they can say it's all lies, mostly sort of ignore it, and other stuff, but considering how effective they are at creating propaganda, they are surprisingly ineffective at discrediting the truth.

Also, some more crazy stuff happens, including people finding out what's on the other side of the wall, but, well, I want to avoid too many spoilers.