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This is the Guardian's guide to Scottish independence.
For the non-Brits.

It’s a long and complex story but let's
begin by answering the most fundamental question.

Where is Scotland anyway?

The country of Scotland is right here, at
the top of the island of Great Britain, the

crazy hat worn by the bearded troll who appears
to be looking west, toward Ireland and laughing.

On Thursday the 18th of September, the people
of Scotland will vote to decide whether or

not it will become a country in its own right.
But wait, I hear you ask. Didn’t you just

call Scotland a country? Isn’t Scotland
already a country?

The definitive answer to that question is:
sort of.

Technically Scotland is a country within a
country known as the United Kingdom. Scotland

may have its own church, its own legal system,
its own professional soccer league and its

own dietary idiosyncrasies, but it’s still
part of the UK, which also includes the countries

of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scottish
people have British passports.

Scotland did used to be a separate country,
with its own king, James VI. Then in 1603

Queen Elizabeth - not that one, this one - died
without leaving an heir, and the nearest relative

they could find turned out to be her cousin
James. He became James I of England, while

still keeping his job as James VI of Scotland.
If you think that’s confusing, you ain’t

heard nothing yet.

England and Scotland maintained a monarch-sharing
arrangement for over a century before the

Acts of Union in 1707 made the two nations
a single entity, with one parliament, located

in London. Scotland went along with this largely
because it was almost bankrupt, thanks to

something called the Darien Disaster, which
happened way over here and is, frankly, another

story for another time.

Let’s have a stirring musical interludel
before we skip ahead, Way ahead.

Duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh (etc)

In the 1970s speculation about devolution,
the notion of returning a measure of power

to the Scottish government gave rise to what
used to be known as the West Lothian question.

For most people in the UK today the real West
Lothian question is: ‘What is the West Lothian

question?’

The West Lothian question named after the
Scottish constituency of the MP who first

asked it. To paraphrase, he basically posited
a world where Scotland had its own regional

parliament, but also continued to send representatives
to the British parliament in London. How could

it be, he asked, that Scottish MPs could vote
on laws that affected only England, and yet

had no vote on matters that affected Scotland?
That would be totally crazy! You weren’t

really meant to answer the West Lothian question;
it was just there to demonstrate that a Scottish

parliament couldn’t logically exist, and
that if you tried to set one up the universe

would disappear, or something.

But then in 1998, after a referendum on devolution,
they did set up a Scottish Parliament, with

its very own brand new building. I know, but
it’s meant to be really nice on the inside.

Devolution is not the same as being a separate
country. The British parliament merely devolved

certain powers to Scotland, rather than transferring
them, and it reserved to the right to overturn

any law made in the Scottish legislature.

In 2011 the Scottish National Party - a party
that campaigned on a pledge to hold an independence

referendum - won a landslide in the Scottish
parliament. The SNP leader - this man, Alex

Salmond (you don’t pronounce the L, like
with the fish) - became Scotland’s First

Minister, and promised a referendum within
the election cycle. In 2012 British Prime

Minister David Cameron finally agreed to a
legally-binding referendum, saying: “This

United Kingdom can never hold a country within
it without its consent.” What he meant was:

“I’m allowing this because it’s certain
to fail”. Polls consistently showed that

only a minority of Scots would vote for actual
independence.

A Yes Campaign was set up, and also a No campaign,
which isn’t called the No Campaign, because

that would sound a bit negative. Instead it’s
called Better Together, which is arguably

worse.

Those is Yes camp include Alex Salmond and
the SNP, and also the Scottish Green Party,

the Scottish Socialist Party, possibly Rupert
Murdoch, Sir Sean Connery and both of the

Proclaimers.

The No camp includes all three main political
parties, Harry Potter author JK Rowling, Susan

Boyle, one of the Dr Whos, and a majority
of the people in the rest of the UK, who don’t

get a vote.

Those conspicuously offering no opinion include
Andy Murray, Billy Connelly and the Queen.

Recently the no camp's comfortable lead has
eroded and a lot of questions that nobody

had ever answered satisfactorily have suddenly
become interesting to people.

Questions like: if it were independent, what
would Scotland use for money? What about Scottish

passports? Would Scotland be able to join
the EU? Or NATO? And what will they call the

rest of the UK if Scotland leaves? At the
moment they’re are literally calling it

“the rest of the UK” or rUK for short,
which gives you an idea how much thought has

gone into the whole business.

The real question is: will Scotland be better
off as an independent country, or would it

be an economic disaster. And the real answer
is nobody knows... because it’s the future.