Creation of Centuries: A civilization RP. (Chronic backstabbing disorder prevalent)
855 replies, posted
[t]http://imgur.com/TonP5Yn.jpg[/t]
Turn deadline is Friday :v:
So when can we expect the turn?
[QUOTE=Satansick;43503262]So when can we expect the turn?[/QUOTE]
Idk, 3 turns left to finish.
Turn is delayed due to an error Mack had when writing up his turn, resulting in a lot of peoples turns getting miswritten.
[editline]12th January 2014[/editline]
Also after this turn I am banning any turns with more than 20 lines.
I [b]will[/b] delete every single turn with more than 20 lines that comes in. I will not send it back to you or save it.
Links to maps do not count in this. Maps can be labelled but not excessively so.
What was the error?
I've noticed there isn't a comprehensive list of all the RPs that have happened. I decided to take it upon myself to make one.
[URL="http://imgur.com/a/1As4j#0"]Here is one I just made.[/URL]
It has a total of 29 RP threads in it, by order of when they came out. If you think the description of the RP isn't good or I missed an RP, feel free to contact me.
7 out of 27 rps lasted more than 5 turns.
3 of them lasted more than 20.
I love GMing RP's. Real life stuff always seems to get in the way though. I just need to sit down and make one I know I can stick with.
If I didn't have a a job or school, then I'd happily GM a game or two. I really want to start a Sci-Fi one and a Metro one I've planned for a year now.
READ ME, SEND IN TURNS AS TURN 21.
[i]Good medicine tastes bitter.[/i]
[img_thumb]http://i.cubeupload.com/lBcgmS.png[/img_thumb]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryy2LzZgXpw[/media]
Events of the years 1040 to 1060:
Europe:
-Until now, many farmers in Europe were quite safe due to the logistical problems of transporting bulk food long distances. The merchants of the recently formed Confederation in Hanajia have avoided this problem in two ways. Firstly, they bought many aging European clippers and retrofitted them to carry bulk agricultural goods. Secondly, by packing ice into them they can preserve even fresh meat, and given economies of scale, this leads to the situation where it is now profitable to rear cattle on one side of the Atlantic and sell them on the other. The impact on European agriculture is devastating, and in turn causes many dire social problems. Farmers find it uneconomic to farm any longer, and switch increasingly to pasture or selling off their land. Any who survived the lord switching to intensive agriculture now has a second problem that their lord shares. They cannot compete. Many aristocrats use their existing capital to invest into growing industries, and gradually convert their lands to pleasure or specialist uses (such as forestry for hunting pheasant). The farmers are left out of luck, and are forced to move out of the increasingly deserted countryside to the already overcrowded cities (which at the very least are starting to try and tackle the worst social ills). Policing forces, public gas lighting, public education, sanitation, plus the gradual empowerment of councils to utilize and manage urban areas are all common trends throughout this era.
-Another great problem is the collapse of religious belief, often those that states attempt to prop up. Until recently, most rural villages would pay to support their local priest (or religious leader in the case of non-Abrahamic religions) and maintain the church. With the collapse of agriculture and movement to the cities, most of these churches have been abandoned and have fallen into disrepair. While there is limited success among some reformers in the cities, the vast majority of new urban dwellers have not a clue of religion, gradually becoming more disinterested in it. The eroding influence of secular thought and science has contributed further to this trend, giving increasing strength to the socialist and liberal philosophers and politicians. The European states that rely on religion to help maintain control are being increasingly undermined, especially as the religions start to fracture once more due to their inability to adapt to the modern world.
-Steam powered printing presses are coming into widespread usage (initially in Europe). This, in combination with rapidly improving literacy, has contributed to the explosive popularity of printed media on all sorts of subjects from normal to taboo and bizarre. Cheap horror stories, newspapers with obvious political biases, pamphlets of the various political parties, posters of the movements to repeal or pass certain laws, bibles and qurans, advertisements, public notices, and a plethora of much more is printed and disseminated throughout the cities (and soon the countryside). Standardized languages are gradually coming to the fore, strengthening nationalist movements. Intellectuals are creating new alphabets, trying to reinvent old languages and encourage the use of the mother tongue in a particular area. The idea of being a Frenchmen, a German, a Swede or a Greek as a person separate from others based on language and common heritage (and increasingly by some strange biologists as being inheritable traits, based on bone structure, skin colour, or temperament) is strong enough to even spill over into violence and revolution.
-Deep frying, as a culinary art, becomes popular around this time. By taking a fish, covering it in batter, deep frying it, and serving with boiled or fried potatoes (no chips yet), a cheap and popular dish (that is also nutritious) is thus created. It makes good use of the expanding cod fisheries in the Atlantic (and the switch to many root crops like potatoes by many farmers as grain becomes uneconomical) and use of animals fats (as gas and oil lighting replaces them) for cooking becomes more widespread. It goes down well with mushy peas as well, or so claim people from Leeds.
-Drugs and food are not the only things becoming cheap, for now with heavy investment into cash crops Europe (and slowly Asia) are becoming awash with cheap cotton and other textiles (such as jute). Sugar, chocolate, vanilla, spices, and other flavourings are also rapidly collapsing in price and becoming widely available (the chocolate bar is introduced and rapidly gains popularity) along with many other sweet foods. Of course this has caused domestic hemp, flax, and wool industries to suffer as cotton (being a light and cheap breathable fabric) production is industrialized. By 1060, there are 80,000 looms in Phoenicia alone, and in order to keep the looms running 24/7, gas lighting is introduced. Eventually it becomes common in every major city. This gradually gives rise to shift work (many industries are adopting shifts of 12 hours in length). The growing middle class (and semi-skilled or skilled workers) are buying massive numbers of imported goods that a century ago were considered luxuries. Tea and coffee is drunk by every member of society (people are cutting back on the sugar now that it’s cheap and makes food taste terrible if you apply too much). The age of plenty is here, but as always, there is a loud scream for more.
-A scientist begins to postulate on the activities of humans having an effect on the climate. While solar activity is on an increase (and will do so for the next two centuries); the exponential growth of industry, population, and the clearing of forest (to be replaced with agriculture, industry, infrastructure, and housing), producing blackened and smoggy skies along with acid rain and the leaching of chemicals into rivers and lakes, is a more obvious reminder of the human impact on the world. A railroad financier (James “Snake” Fisk, responsible for the Weissen national railway network), sums it up when he speaks to his son (who later was responsible for the 1058 panic). He took a model train and showed it to him, saying “This machine, more than any other, has changed the face of the world, taking power and amplifying it to make Emperors and kings look petty and insignificant. We are using this power to shape the world. And now, I am giving you this power”. The mileage of railway lines quadrupled worldwide during these 20 years.
-In 1858, faced by the collapse of agriculture, many investors poured money into the “new” railways so widely promoted by the great tycoons. Many lines began to be built in increasingly irrational places; many politicians began to see them as key political assets, with metal and coal industries expanding to meet demand. Unfortunately, the growth was too much in too short a time. Many farmers hopelessly in debt move to the colonies as a means of escape, and the inability to recoup these losses leads to further problems. Banks and other various institutions are gaining increasing control of land, yet have no income to show for it. Credit shortages are felt, interest rates rise. Prices drop and the land is often sold to the railway companies or rented out at near rock bottom prices to anybody wishing to use it. Many villages become derelict and overgrown, causing many railway stations (once built in economically vibrant and logical areas) to have practically no traffic left at all. Revenues plunge and massive losses are reported, leading to reduced confidence. Eventually, the announcement of the Eastern Empires decision to raise taxes on agriculture and industry seals the deal. The markets tumble and a huge sell off of crap land and bankrupt railways occurs, with a great many industries collapsing overnight and unemployment skyrocketing. Faced with few prospects and reduced flow of income, the workers turn back to cheap gin or crack cocaine, emigrate, or simply steal what they need. The growing illegality and stigma of the drugs trade is a source for less than legal employment as well.
-The Weissens find sneaky ways around this. Through protectionism and agricultural subsidies, they maintain the support of many farmers throughout these difficult times. The expansion of the customs unions powers to subsidize farmers throughout all of Germany further contributes to this process, and many farmers become open supporters of a unified German state under Weissen. Industry is still hit pretty hard however (no markets), leading to a huge depression. In 1059, all of Germany breaks down in a series of rebellions, riots, and even attempted revolution. Many kings are forced to create constitutions that at the very least, acknowledge symbolic checks on their power. The middle classes view Weissen as a strong state able to carry them out of difficult times and protect the Germans from foreign influences (such as the Bohemians and French). Anti-drug campaigns are rife with racist imagery showing foreign merchants as drug peddlers undermining society. Many offices are burned and ransacked, with the German flag flown from buildings. While the revolutionaries are crushed, there is agreement that a stronger Germany is needed. Weissen gradually expands her power over all German states (including bullying Lugii), and in 1060 announces that she supported the people of Lugii who demanded German unification. The French are hostile to any Weissen attempts for unification, and support the independence of the German states of the Rhine.
-Archaeologists begin to start digging around in a vaguely systematic way now. With a lot of money spare and travel much easier than before, many gentlemen can travel around and look in ruins or abandoned areas searching for treasure. One chap heads to the heart of the Bohemian Empire with a research time, intent on just that. He goes to a farm where a peasant found a broken bronze seal, and starts to dig. They find the remains of a large Bronze Age farming community, complete with an odd pit located underneath the flagstones of a medieval cottage. These flagstones immediately conceal later remains of the old Mrvian pantheon in the form of small bone and bronze statues. Apparently these were hidden there after the country had converted to Christianity. Digging deeper, the archaeologists discover what appeared to be a sacrificial pit, and find many bones and pieces of pottery inscribed with an undeciphered language. They found a horse skeleton and an ox skeleton, with malformed bones that healed several times. Both skeletons appear to have signs of extreme wear on the lower leg joints and other injuries. Unaware of how to map out what happened, the archaeologists conclude that the horse and the ox were beaten up in a religious ritual and then left to recover. After some time it was thought they were eventually sacrificed (shown by damage to the skull) and thrown into the pit, with the pottery writing meant to be charms of some kind. They are all taken to a museum in the capital, where the remains are proudly put on display with other findings as evidence of the forwards and civilized status of the ancestors of the great Bohemian Empire. “The pottery we have found here constitutes the oldest evidence we have of writing in Europe”. Theories are subsequently revised, the latest being that around 3000 bce, the people who had lived in the area invented agriculture, having sailed there from Egypt and bringing the invention of writing and metalwork with them. They then created the ancestor of the Bohemian state, and many historians are keen to stress the ties between Egypt and Bohemia, with Bohemia being a direct descendent of such a great civilization.
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[b]Damian0358 – Kingdom of Bohemia
Capital: Praha
Culture: Bohemian (Slavic)
State Religion: Christianity (Aquinism) [/b]
-In Bohemia, the potential of electricity receives a further boost when somebody discovers a way of transforming alternating current into direct current reliably using “transformers”. Given that AC works well over long distances (power loss is very low) this opens up a whole range of possibilities to the Bohemians when it comes to producing electricity and distributing it overland throughout cities and the countryside. The first such power plant is established nearby ancient Velehrad, where it begins operations (using the same steam engines currently employed in ships and railways) producing electricity which can be distributed to nearby businesses and even homes. The lightbulb gradually comes into being, and takes up much of the demand for electricity, although many mines and industries use electricity to also power electrical motors. The advantages are truly immense, allowing businesses to move power generation off of their facilities and towards specialists that benefit from economies of scale. A second industrial revolution seems to be starting, and the Empire formally adopts the metric system to assist modernization.
-To thank the Eastern Empire for assisting the Bohemian Empire in its war against the Golden Horde, the Bohemians join the Greeks in their 20 day bombardment campaign of the Khoffler Republic. They continue with several diplomatic meetings and more treaties. The brand new ships of the Eastern Empire are bought by the Bohemians, while the Eastern Empire acquires telegraph equipment and money. Crews are also trained in the new ships, and bring them to Bohemian ports. While there, they noticed the Greek sport of Baseball in action, and bring it home with them. It becomes exceedingly popular, and a baseball league (called the České baseballová asociace, BBA for short) is introduced, with each state getting its own baseball team. The Bohemians also buy heavy artillery pieces and manufacturing methods for the shells. New “bolt-action” rifles are also bought from the Greeks, which become the new standard rifle of choice.
-In early December 1051, a PE instructor at the University of Prague was trying to keep his gym class active on a rainy day. He sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied and at proper levels of fitness during the winter. After rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums, he wrote the basic rules of a new sport and nailed a peach basket with its bottom removed onto a 3.05 m elevated track. This sport would evolve to become Basketball. It becomes popular throughout the Empire like baseball has, and is elevated to become a national sport, with a basketball league (called the Národní Basketbalová Liga, NBL for short) created and each state getting its own basketball team.
-The Bohemians also do a trading deal with the Phoenicians, swapping recent inventions and breakthroughs for the mutual benefit of all. Giving the Phoenicians alternating current as a technology (and in turn allowing them to start moving towards using electricity grids to power lighting in cities), the Bohemians in return receive the steam turbine and machine tools. This invention and equipment is a critical breakthrough. Using the steam turbine to generate electricity, the Bohemians have found one of the most efficient ways to produce electricity from heat energy, and subsequently are able to massively cut down on fuel costs. The number of power plants begins to steadily grow after the development of the turbine, and by 1060 most major cities in Bohemia now have a power plant of some kind built or being planned.
-With the Eastern Empire heavily indebted from the war against the Mongols, they sought to sell their holdings in the northern Black Sea. Co-operatively, the Bohemian Empire and the kingdom of Kiev purchase the land, giving most of the new land to Kiev (giving them sea access), while the rest is used to create a new Kievan and Bohemian vassal and buffer state named Georgia. Dobruja undergoes some teething problems at the same time as the Bohemians assert control over it. With the Greeks cracking down, many Lendinites fleeing from the Eastern Empire begin to settle in Dobruja, establishing a power base in the region. This catches the eyes of Vlček Toman, the party leader of the Tomanist Party. And after a census revealed that around 75% of the population in Dobruja is Lendinite, a campaign is done by the Tomanists to make the Lendinites in Dobruja to become Tomanists. This seemed like an unfeasibly high number (and later it did turn out that 75% of the population was not Lendinite, but the figure was closer to around 4%).
-The Bohemian authorities begin to clamp down, the result being the Tomis massacre, where in the city of Constanța (historically known as Tomis) a massive shootout happened between the Lendinites of Dobruja who attempting a revolution in the area (hoping on the success of the unemployed and indebted), and the Tomanists. In the end the Tomanists (with police and army support) win against the Lendinites, forcing them underground while the Tomanists begin taking control of the politics of Dobruja. The media reported on this event the day after the shooting, although with some cameras they are able to take pictures of the action themselves and publish them in all of the gory detail in the newspapers.
-The Empire, hoping to get into the colonial game, sends a flotilla of ships to the island of New Guinea, and establishes a colony on the western tip of it, mainly as a naval base from which to project their admittedly weak naval power. Competition from Wapan and especially Phoenicia makes this task near impossible, leaving the colony itself to be the focus rather than the navy. It gradually expands and sets up plantations and mines, along with discovering a highland people who grow food and have thousands of languages. The Bohemians then discover that the Wapanese have set up a colony on the eastern end of the island, and so to avoid a possible future territorial dispute, the leaders of the Bohemian Empire and the Weeaboo meet and draw up a deal, splitting the island of New Guinea in half, with the Bohemian Empire gaining the Western part, and the Weaboo Empire gaining the Eastern.
-Elsewhere, the African colonies expand and see construction of a new generation of heavy forts, as does the Brazillian colony. There are even attempts made to establish a colony in Texas, which Bohemia successfully manages. The colonies in general are starting to grow more rapidly, as resupplying areas becomes less difficult, railways become more common and cheaper to build, plus new treatments for exotic diseases are introduced (such as quinine for Malaria).
-The panic of 1058 hits Bohemia very hard. Despite their own industrial revolution, the vast mass of people in the homeland were little prepared. Many farms go out of business, banks are closed, businesses shut down, and economic activity generally slows. Many farms are liquidated and many country clergymen are forced into poverty. Their churches show signs of decay and abandonment, and the church as a whole is weakened. People move to wherever there is employment or better opportunity. The colonies are one such destination, to which an increasing share of investment is going towards. Eventually, Brazil and the Kongo start up eat up a lot of spare capital, leading to a stagnation of industry back home (although electrical power generation is picking off and doing well). Unfortunately, the Brazillian colony undergoes many calamities. Native attacks increase, water drainage works are sabotaged, plantations and houses burned, while the economic depression and collapse of prices compounds problems. The Bohemians respond with even more violence. They employ a general who advocated something he calls “total war”. The Bohemians bring a large force of soldiers that travel around the colony, pulling down villages, destroying food reserves, and executing or imprisoning suspects. Railways are being gradually built, and with the telegraph, they help to bring in needed reinforcements. While the natives for some reason seem to have bolt action rifles as well, sheer numbers and total war does them in. After several years, most of the native uprisings are crushed, and the plantations begin to slowly recover as Bohemian investment flows into them.
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[b]Mackalda2k6 – The Eastern Empire
Capital: Byzantium
Culture: Greek (Hellenic)
State Religion: Christianity (Aquinism) [/b]
-Steel manufacture is always looking to be improved, for steel beats normal iron in most aspects of construction. The Bessemer process was the first to make steel manufacture inexpensive and easy to do in bulk, but the true breakthrough comes with the open hearth furnace. The furnace is first filled with light scrap, such as sheet metal, shredded former manufactured goods or waste metal. Once it has melted, heavy scrap, such as building, construction or steel milling scrap is added, together with pig iron from blast furnaces. Once all steel has melted, slag forming agents, such as limestone, are added. The oxygen in iron oxide and other impurities decarburize the pig iron by burning the carbon away, forming steel. To increase the oxygen contents of the heat, iron ore can be added to the heat. The process is far slower than that of Bessemer converter and thus easier to control and take samples for quality control. Preparing a heat usually takes 8 h to 8 h 30 min to complete into steel. As the process is slow, it is not necessary to burn all the carbon away as in Bessemer process, but the process can be terminated at given point when desired carbon contents has been achieved. The gain in steel output is impressive, and improvements in efficiency mean that massive amounts of fuel are saved. This allows for the number of steel mills to proliferate and costs to come down, making the use of steel in all applications economical. Cast and wrought iron give way to steel, with the Greeks being responsible for building the world’s first steel-hulled ships, steel bridges, steel artillery, firearms, rail tracks (allowing for heavier locomotives to run upon them), and a whole host of other uses.
-To save money on the budget, the Greeks scale down their armed forces and abolish the expeditionary corps as a way of controlling the debt. Instead, the armaments industry is now at the forefront of investment. Building brand new factories and shipyards, the Greeks also obtain machine tools, steam turbines, and telegraph equipment from Phoenicia and Bohemia (along with money from them, Spain, and Xerxes among others) with which to further improve their facilities. The bolt-action rifle is bought from the Baltic Entente, the metric system is adopted and standardized machine tools are adopted to push the move towards standardization of all weaponry and ships produced in the Empire. Mass producing cheap and strong steel in bulk, steel is shipped to these new factories, where it is cast into the new rifled breech-loading steel artillery pieces, steel hulled ships are built, bolt-action rifles mass produced, and even introduction of semi-automated machinery. Warfare is industrializing.
-The Majestic class battleships are introduced by the Greek Empire. Constituting solid steel hulls, with huge guns and reinforced steel hulls, and the triple expansion engines, they are a powerful (if slow moving) class of vessel. Many ships are built and sent overseas, not only throughout Europe but quite a few ends up in Xerxes and the Konfederaation. Drug money and agricultural profits seemingly paid for them. Bolt-action rifles are also being mass produced. There are two models introduced by the Greeks, with them becoming standard worldwide. The first is the 98k short carbine (cavalry carbines are slowly being adopted by infantry), and the second is the 98k long rifle (modelled on the older muskets and rifles used by older line infantry). Both are extremely successful and reliable weapons, contributing further to their success. To deter spies from copying the rifle-making machines, they are covered in sheet metal (although this becomes a problem when one of them breaks down and a repairman finds it difficult to locate the source of the fault).
-The army sees adoption of much of this new equipment (despite budget cuts and reduced size) they phase out massed volley in favour of more flexible structures using 6-10 man squads working together to accomplish goals. The navy sees such improvements as well, including the introduction of the steam turbine, giving their ships the edge when it comes to speed. A new generation of ships gradually comes into existence to replace the ironclad, being generally named “post-ironclads”. They are characterized by standardized designs with common features, steel hulls with heavy steel armour, increasingly heavier and longer ranged guns, triple expansion engines and several types of heavy artillery. They become standard worldwide, but only Phoenicia is able to build ships of comparable status and field them. All other countries tend to either buy their ships or tend to be outclassed.
-On hearing news of the Khoffler Republic funding the Lendinites, the Greeks decide to kill two birds with one stone by using their navy to showcase their naval power, and to convince those German weirdoes how unwise such a decision was. The Greeks form a task force with the Phoenicians and Bohemians, bombarding the Khoffler republic for a 20 day campaign, using Bermuda as a base of operations. They target ports, naval infrastructure, rail lines, and the gun tower fortifications, although they avoid civilian districts and attack after the workday so as to minimize casualties. The campaign goes well, although the gun towers were badly damaged, their buried gun bunkers were largely untouched. It seemed as though the people on the island were also partly warned by this news, taking the time to move possessions and other valuable goods out of the coastal areas and take it by train inland temporarily for safety. The bombing campaign is otherwise a success, destroying many homes and the older coastal forts, not to mention sinking a lot of unarmed fishing vessels.
-A private company, in collaboration with the devolved Egyptian government, establishes the Suez Canal project. Digging a vast and deep trench from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, ports are built on either end and after a decade of construction the Suez Canal is finally completed. It is leased to the company for 99 years, after which the Egyptian government will take ownership of the canal (or may lease it out again). Unfortunately, global trade and shipping has yet to take full advantage, for construction was hampered by the 1058 panic and subsequent depression. Even when it opens, business confidence is initially low, and the canal only manages to service their debts by charging the Greek navy a lot of money to use it. It is otherwise very helpful at allowing the Greeks to access their ports in the Indian Ocean much more easily, and reducing travel times to the rest of Africa and Asia significantly it also helps to cut down on shipping costs and assists with the general shrinking of the world. Ferry services have begun to stretch from Greece to India and further afield. This projection of naval power also allows them to finally wipe out the pirates who plagued the Indian Ocean, many of them operating from bases in Somalia and India.
-To improve bureaucratic efficiency, administrative institutions, tax collection, and other general affairs of the Empire, a series of reforms are introduced. Entrance examinations and decentralization has led to a gradual development of meritocratic bureaucracies filled with increasingly ethnically diverse peoples. Putting Arabs into government not only buys the loyalty of their intellectual class, but serves to help legitimize rule to the peasants, who see the presence of their own kind in the government as crucial in this process. A census is regularly held, although processing and storing the data is becoming increasingly difficult. After the Lendinites fall apart with the death of their leader and the gradual loss of support among the workers, the Greek Empire formalizes the split by allowing a legal communist party to exist (able to take part in elections and their member’s eligible for office). It is exceedingly successful, splitting the power base of the far left and removing their threat at a stroke. Now only the conservative groups remain as a threat, and unfortunately, they are more numerous, better organized, and more powerful.
-Hoping to boost economic development, taxes throughout the Empire are slashed in tandem with tariffs on industry and agriculture (the logic being that richer subjects can contribute more in taxes, leading to an increase of revenue for the state). The income tax is gradually introduced as a means of tackling wealth inequality (and probably to siphon money off the large industrial magnates growing in power), although for the time being it remains low and heavily unpopular among the conservatives and the new rich. The Greeks in turn use this spare money to buy the loyalty of urban workers, introducing a 60 hour working week with Sundays spare along with Saturday afternoons. With rising wages, reduced food prices, more spare time, and the general standard of living on a steady rise, many workers are starting to find extra uses for this spare time. This ranges from drugs, alcohol, self-education (the number of newspapers, libraries, public reading rooms, etc explode), plus various sports. The Greek state, in seeking to curtail drug abuse and to encourage a clean and moral activity, promotes instead the sport of baseball.
-Inventing the game of Baseball during this time, the Greeks form two major leagues, basing major league teams in state capitals and minor league teams throughout the countryside. Games are held on Sunday (although many ad hoc ones are popular on Saturday afternoons after a busy day of work), with the newspapers publishing scores the next day throughout the Empire. Ticket prices are subsidized and encouraged by the state to be kept low, leading to a long term trend where stadiums proliferate in size so as to take advantage of the economies of scale from ticket sales. Many of these early stadiums often fall down and are crude, but they hold excited crowds of workers eager to watch this sport. Eventually, the use of opium and cocaine is banned outright in the Empire (several riots take place as a result), with consumption generally declining to a degree, although smuggling and secret opium dens are still big business. The police forces make themselves busy busting these dens of vice and degeneracy.
-One of the few tariffs on industry is retained, that on unprocessed steel. In fact this tariff rapidly rises during this time, discouraging the export of steel and iron products overseas. Businesses respond by expanding domestic production, and with the Greeks recent innovations into steel manufacture, their businessmen have ready access to cheap steel protected from foreign competition. The money raised is often given to the individual states of the Empire in the form of “grants”, normally in return for a promise (or already fulfilled obligation) to develop some infrastructure or education. Given how lucrative the steel industry is and the benefits of having access to a lot of extra funds, many states jostle for the grants, using them to set up telegraph networks and public schooling systems. Each state largely manages internal education, with separate ministers in each state. They gradually formalize and integrate most schools together into a single system with a single syllabus (every child shall be taught the same thing at the same time). The effect in the non-Greek parts is extraordinary, with regional and national languages starting to recover or come back into fashion. Old Egyptian or Turkish names are adopted when families abandon their Hellenic names, and literature is also published to cater to these booming national markets.
-The Greeks sell Ruthenia to the Bohemians and Kiev, pulling out of the area and ending their occupation within a few short years. However, there has been expansion overseas as well. The Andaman and Nicobar islands have been claimed and subsequently colonized by the Greeks, while with the expansion of naval, and trade power (made easier by the Suez Canal) the Greeks can finally sell a lot of manufactured goods to India, China, and Indochina. China seems to be undergoing a sort of interesting renaissance, where the expansion of industry has finally taken off in the northeast. Iron production has begun to grow exponentially, and fuelled by the Greeks willingness to invest both capital and machinery into the country, the Chinese state has found the benefits of industrialization impossible to ignore. By 1060, they have begun to apply their methods to processed goods and have started to build their own crude steam engines and railways in limited numbers. Glass factories, silk and cotton mills, iron foundries, intensive farming estates, not to mention a great deal of other industries are also rapidly expanding during this time and have begun to heavily undercut manufacturers in Indochina. The sale of arms proliferates, and the Greeks happily sell bolt-action rifles in bulk to the Weissens, Indians, Chinese, and those of Khmer and Dai Viet.
-Despite the impressive gains in industry and economic growth, the Empire severely suffers from the 1058 panic. While Egypt remained a massive and profitable agricultural exporter, the Greek homeland did less than well. Growing imports of food (with refrigeration and ice ships starting to become common) undercuts Greek farmers. The removal of agricultural tariffs and barriers to trade along with railway construction finally dooms them. Faced with heavy competition from Egypt (and to a degree from the Konfederaation), the Greek and Turkish farmers become heavily indebted. They switch towards pastoral agriculture or forestry, selling off heavy equipment and other machinery. Unlike in other countries, where isolation from markets or old laws mitigated the worst of the damage, the economic reforms of recent years utterly destroyed domestic agriculture. The 1058 panic begins with a massive bubble in railways bursting and many banks losing out. When they try to repossess the farms, they find they have control of a lot of useless land nobody wants to buy. Left with a lot of poor assets and little liquidity, many of these banks shut down as a result and the Greek economy goes into depression. Only the armaments industry does well with any degree of success, and the businessmen who survived are reluctant to invest at home, instead preferring investment into Egypt or overseas colonies recently acquired by European powers. For the Greeks it tends to be investment into China and India, with relatively little being reinvested back home.
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[b]StaleRye – The Baltic Entente
Capital: Riga
Culture: Livonian (Baltic)
State Religion: Deism[/b]
-In a culmination of technological breakthroughs in firearms technology, the Entente (having used earlier airgun technology and recent advances in rifling, breechloading, etc) have introduced the bolt-action rifle. A fine machine that simplifies the act of reloading and priming a gun, it immensely reduces reloading time. However, it has an immensely huge advantage not immediately recognizable. Reloading no longer requires the user to stand, allowing them to lay down on the ground and fire from there, reducing their visibility and chances of being hit. They also tend to be more accurate and thus are perfect for use by skirmishing troops and light infantry doctrine in general. For the Entente soldiers already well acquainted with the air rifle, it is a massive step forwards. An air rifle variant is developed to cycle in new rounds, although the actual air still needs to be pumped in (or use pre-made cylinders of compressed gas. Carbon Dioxide cylinders have been developed). Their usage is slowly becoming unpopular due to their complexity, but they are still often in training.
-To protect the Norwegians from the Scots and also themselves, the Entente decides to invade and annex them. Cunningly, they embark on an ambitious campaign against Greenland where they land north of the settlements and move overland to avoid the coastal guns. When the soldiers arrive bearing bolt action rifles and making extensive use of the terrain, the defenders panic after being unable to hit these semi-hidden targets at ranges beyond which their muskets and rifles can comfortable go. The Entente captures all of the settlements. They then good use of their new guns, sailing small boats up the fjords and having soldiers move quickly to attack fortified positions from all sides. Outranged and outgunned, defenders are quickly forced off the walls by the new rifles and by land based mortars. Coastal guns are captured and turned on inland defences, while ironclads steam up the fjords to shell the cities. The Norwegians are ruined despite their frequent attempts to modernize their military, and eventually they sign a treaty that formalizes the annexation of the country by the Entente. Sweden assists in the war, but is granted no new territories. The Swedish respond by claiming the strip of land between Norway and Finland, establishing an arctic port.
-Scientists travel to Wapan and back, bringing back new chemistry knowledge, and while existing explosives are gradually refined, the Wapanese seem reluctant to give away guncotton and dynamite so soon. Meanwhile, the old orange uniform so beloved in the Entente is abandoned in favour of a drab grey and green one (and white ones for snowy climates such as in the north or Greenland).
-The Entente turns their focus onto railway infrastructure. The number of miles of track rapidly grows, with railways now crossing the length and span of the major parts of the Entente and allowing for the quick movement of freight and express. The postal service has especially benefitted, with many post offices and telegraph offices being located in the same buildings. One can send telegrams and letters to any part of the world for a fair price, although many writers bemoan that people no longer put any thought or consideration into what they send to others. They claim that messages are simpler and no longer emotive, now that they cost a few pence and are read within hours as opposed to months.
-The Entente also experiments with electricity. Noticing the Bohemians forays into that field, they build windmills with dynamos in them, which produce electricity whenever the wind happens to be running. As windmills are quickly replaced by steam power, it’s a good use for the old buildings instead of knocking them down. They charge lead-acid batteries (another recent invention) stored in the base of the building, which are then used for various motors or for heating elements. They are still pretty weak and inefficient, making them unpopular and often uneconomical. Other sources of power are looked into, and one that does become successful is coal. Burning coal and using it to power steam engines, power is produced that can be sent along cables into nearby businesses. The advantages of a decentralized power generation system are obvious, and small businesses are the first to take advantage. Electrical sewing machines, lathes, washing machines, punches, presses, and many others start to be rapidly introduced and then bought in increasing numbers during this time.
-The refrigeration method, once unfeasible due to the requirement of a motor to pump a coolant constantly, is now available to certain industries now that electrical motors can be adapted. Their first use is in medical establishments and the navy, although operation costs are quite high. Pasteurization is also introduced during this time in natural response to the needs behind preserving dairy products. By heating up milk quickly and then rapidly cooling it, this kills most of the microbes inside that would otherwise cause it to go bad. The shelf life of milk practically doubles, and for the first time many people in urban areas are starting to consume large quantities of fresh dairy products. Bones strengthen and the average height of Entente citizens starts to steadily grow as childhood nutrition improves.
-The Entente agrees to a deal with the Greeks, in which they will export their bolt action rifles and the ability to manufacture them, in return for their steel manufacturing processes and heavy machinery required to drive them (such as their compound engines). Inspired by the Greeks baseball game, the Entente emulates it by setting up baseball at home and making it the national pastime, forming a league for international events. There are talks of a worldwide event for national baseball teams to compete in, to be hosted in Greece and as a means of fostering unity and sense of being in a community, even if only through a game.
-Exploration in Greenland expands now that they hold the various port towns there, allowing explorers to resupply and have a base to fall back to. They explore Greenland and the arctic, namely Lappland, and promote exploration by paying people who choose to settle in these regions with some tools and supplies to help them get settled there. The harsh climate is a disincentive to most settlers, and the Swedish and Finnish manage to claim the last of the north in the process, but the attempts are mildly successful at putting a degree of human presence up here. Fishing ports, hunting lodges, reindeer ranching, and some mining are introduced or expanded up here.
-The 1058 panic comes and hits agriculture especially hard, along with foreign trade and banking. The Entente largely coasts through the crisis due to their control of Baltic trade and relative lack of dependence on intensive agriculture, although the rural population is ruined by the depression that follows afterwards. Many pack up and move to the cities, but again in the cities, prospects are little better.
[img]http://imageshack.us/a/img832/6236/ko5b.png[/img]
[b]Mallow234 – Phoenician Federation
Capital: Malta
Culture: Phoenician (Semitic)
State Religion: Canaanite[/b]
-With further improvements to the steam engine, adoption of foreign technology, and now the demand for coal ever rising and causing problems for fuel consumption, the last in a long line of machines is introduced. By taking the propeller and putting it inside a cylinder and pumping steam through it, one can make an incredibly efficient means of converting heat into mechanical motion. Unfortunately, while it is good for uses where the machine is being constantly used for long periods of time (ships, long distance railways, 24/7 factories), it is not very flexible. A solution is found in that by attaching a dynamo to it, one can convert the surplus into electrical energy (that can be used for lighting or used to power a motor).
-These machines are put into the latest and most advanced steamships, with impressive results. With such powerful engines, the number of coaling stations, and their efficiency, it is now feasibly to move without using sails at all. All ships laid down with turbines (minus the first prototype) no longer use sails, are highly manoeuvrable, and have cut journey times from weeks to days. Merchants are all too aware of the bonuses of such machines, and one is even put on a purpose built ship (at great cost to the merchant). He then uses a dynamo onboard to power a refrigeration unit as well, and to further show everybody how great he is, he sails to Xerxes, buys a lot of fresh fruit, sails back home, and then sells it for shitloads of money.
-While the example of the fruit was interesting, it disguises truly monumental gains in the naval strength and technology of the Phoenicians. Taking in technological advances from overseas (the air rifle of the Balts, the Greeks artillery and ship designs, explosive shells, etc), the Phoenicians gradually develop heavier and heavier artillery pieces, taking advantage of steel in manufacture and explosive shells. Unfortunately, artillery still produces a lot of smoke, and the recently invented dynamite of the Wapanese is not well suited to that purpose. They have guncotton as well, but the Wapanese again have only just recently invented it. These developments all come together to assist in the Phoenicians new classes of naval ships:
A class - Motor torpedo boats tasked with delivering torpedos into the enemy fleet at high speeds. Lightly armed and often travelling with tenders.
- B class - Destroyers tasked with destroying enemy motor torpedo boats and submarines. They are well-armed and often travelling with tenders. They have provisions for mounting torpedoes.
- C class - Cruisers tasked with bombarding hostile ships from afar with long-ranged naval guns, and also providing naval gunfire support to troops landing on enemy shores.
- S class - Tenders tasked with sustaining fleets on overseas voyages.
-The Phoenicians also import the new bolt action rifle from Greece, and modify them to create a carbine version issued to cavalrymen and the marines. However, as improvements in range and accuracy (not to mention reload speed) come about, many soldiers are experimenting with using carbines on the field for it is less bulky and cumbersome. Smoke created by these weapons is still problematic with concealing oneself however. Artillery also undergoes major improvement. Most heavy guns have hardly changed since their first appearance, but now the Phoenicians are keen on ending that. Breech-loading designs are introduced (with help from the navy), steel is adopted in their construction, large shields are put on the front of the guns to protect the users, and a new carriage is adopted with solid steel wheels. 60mm mortars are introduced that are highly portable (nicknamed mountain guns), and there are even experiments with an artillery fire control system. However, due to the painfully slow and often unreliable telegraph system being unable to manage this, most messages are still sent by letter or coded flag.
-In return for these innovations bought from the Greeks, the Phoenicians give their steam turbines and new machine tool parts to them. They also assist the Greeks in a campaign against the Khoffler republic, where they shell the island republic for its willingness to fund Communist revolutionaries in the Greek Empire. In return for advances in electrical technology (which have yet to be fully exploited) from Bohemia, the Phoenicians send them the steam turbine and machine tools as well. With the Zulu Empire, they send them their old military hardware and innovations (although telegraph equipment is a notable exception) in return for fleet basing rights (not to mention that the Zulu have a lot of coal). This allows the Phoenicians to project their naval power overseas and throughout the Indian Ocean as well, although communications there are somewhat lacking, and there is still a lack of coaling stations between there and Singapore.
-The Phoenicians copy the Baltic Ententes military reforms, (minus a modern force structure) complete with additional mortar support (these are mass produced along with shells and distributed to many soldiers), camouflaged uniforms, and steel helmets. Phoenician soldiers look quite disturbingly different to how all soldiers appeared forty years prior, and they seem increasingly concerned with the safety of soldiers as well, given by the re-introduction of helmets into armies.
-The Phoenicians continue with their imperial intentions, moving further into West Africa and conquering kingdoms and empires that until now enjoyed a rather comfortable position exploiting their peasants, engaging in brutal warfare, and torturing enemies of the state. Now that the Phoenicians are here, they have dismantled all of the old oppressions and miseries, and introduce new ones to take their place. The vastness of the Phoenician Empire is a source of pride for many, with a lot of Phoenician businessmen gradually investing into their colonies on an increasing scale (agriculture, infrastructure, and education especially), not to mention that a new idea is coming about. The Phoenicians have realized that they happen to own a lot of people and feel somewhat responsible for them, with many colonial administrators insisting they are there for the benefit of the local population. Setting up schools and trying to teach the people here the benefits of civilization, they also tend to shoot people who disagree with them. The newspapers lament this news, speaking of the “Semites burden” at lifting the people of Africa towards civilization.
-The new steam turbine ships are shrinking the world, but a new policy has represented a further push towards that. Taking massive spools of wire, one of them sets sail from the coast of Tunisia, sailing to Malta to integrate the island into the national telegraph network. The underwater cable laying experiment is deemed successful and further projects go underway to connect Sicily, Sardinia, and Libyan Phoenicia (the enclave next to the Greek Empire). A more ambitious project seeks to connect the Bahamas to Malta, and through intermediate steps (connecting to the Canaries, then to Bermuda, and finally from there to the Bahamas) the Phoenicians finally manage to bind their empire together with wire. The navy can issue orders from the capital to the Bahamas at the speed of light, and with the use of the turbine, can send ships in days and weeks as opposed to weeks and months. With all of this additional power in mind, the Phoenicians are able to increasingly control the very lucrative trade of the Atlantic (and most of the Mediterranean trade as well). With growing power (and the holding of both Singapore and the Bahamas), people are starting to say that the sun doesn’t seem to set on the Phoenician empire. The downside is that around Singapore the Phoenicians seem to hold very little power, given by the fact they must sail around the whole of Africa to reach it, have no telegraph link, or any coaling stations between Africa and Singapore.
-The Phoenicians commission a vast geographical and geological survey into the potential that their African Empire possesses. There is some coal, but not exactly the massive and economic reserves they were hoping for (while still useful, it’s often cheaper and easier to get coal from Germany or Misiryaban). They still do find significant quantities of other minerals however, such as iron, tin, gold, cobalt, phosphates, diamonds, manganese, and copper, that are incredibly useful (especially copper, used in the growing field of electronics, and gold, which people value for some reason). Companies set to work extracting these resources, and are enforced by the state to pay high wages and implement good safety standards. Despite these drawbacks, they are still immensely profitable and the workers in them spend a great deal of money on educating their children and trying to attain middle class status. With the Phoenicians gradually moving towards investment in their colonies (perhaps at the expense of home industry), there is a significant increase in the number of miles of railways, telegraph cable, wells, water piping and sanitation, and general improvement of roads, ports, and canals for areas where railways are not the best option. There are attempts to encourage national feeling and identification with the homeland here among the ambitious and aspirant here, but these go nowhere. Only in Sicily does the state have a victory, where in a referendum the people choose to remain Phoenician.
-The coastguard services expand, with them now being responsible for the saving of lives at sea. Using lighthouses, telegraph networks, emergency lifeboats, and other recent innovations, the coastguard can be quickly aware of when and where a ship is sinking, and move quickly to save passengers on-board.
-The Phoenicians withdraw from Marseilles, giving the city back to the French (which seems to be embroiled in continuing dissent and internal civil unrest), seeing that holding onto it is too much trouble. Instead, colonial efforts will take forefront with the colonization of Tristan de Cunha, South Georgia, the Marshall Islands, Wake Island, Midway, the Marianas, Kerguelen, Bali, and Leyte. Unfortunately, the attempts at colonization in the Pacific isles go poorly due to lack of supplies and readily available coal, while Bali suffers from frequent raids on the naval base there and high rates of disease weaken the garrison. Kerguelen and the Atlantic isles eventually manage to build up sufficient coal reserves, allowing Phoenicia to project their power across the Atlantic and parts of the Indian, although their power there is still wanting. Their main competition comes from the Greeks, who also have ambitions in the area. Ships try to also sail to Wapanese Carufonia, and chart the coasts. Unfortunately, the Wapanese government refuses to resupply ships that intend to claim land or establish bases in Carufonia, eventually leading to these vessels being forced to turn back.
-Montevido is ceded to La Plata, with the town there being taken under the administration of the nearby La Plata fort and eventually being renamed Raymundo Valdez. The Phoenicians, seeking to take advantage of this, export manufactured goods to the Konfederaation and Zulu in bulk. When the 1058 panic hits, although Phoenician agriculture and finances is badly hit, overall industrial output isn’t badly affected (save for prices, which fall). Exports increase, with the periphery non-industrial countries starting to increasingly import manufactured goods. The merchants of the Konfederaation come here to do financial services, but they are informed that their holdings back home must be used as collateral. The merchants then go to the private sector instead to seek funds.
-The Phoenicians are rumoured to be behind the capture of Lendin (by now an old man), and his subsequent removal to the Greeks. They put him in prison along with other party members, and along with on-going socioeconomic change in the Eastern Empire, the party slowly descends into obscurity. They have a new government agency, named Mossad who is seen as responsible.
[img]http://facepunch.com/image.php?u=432426&dateline=1372642293[/img][img]http://i.cubeupload.com/2CF6QP.png[/img]
[b]MrFace – Iberian Kingdom
Capital: Madrid
Culture: Spanish (Latin)
State Religion: Christianity (Aquinist)[/b]
-The Kingdom, in seeking to constantly improve their ability to project naval power overseas, develops the triple expansion engine. A powerful and terrifyingly massive monster that converts coal into motion as efficiently as possible; they are quickly adopted into the navy. These machines also begin to be gradually adopted by the private sector for use in industry. Textile mills are using them to run the many looms and spinning machines there, while foundries use such machine to power cranes and giant presses or hammers. The gains in production capabilities are most impressive, and start to push industrialization along in Iberia.
-With the expansion of industry, quite a few trade unions (legally or illegally) are formed. Most are built around the idea of improving working conditions and pay by using a monopoly on labour to force the price of labour up and putting manufacturers under pressure (either to raise wages or adopt new techniques). The more radical workers tend to congregate into Communist organizations, where they advocate getting rid of the factory owner himself and running the place themselves. At several protests they are quickly broken up by the police under allegations that several in the ground threw bombs and bricks at the police. Newspapers complain bitterly about the violent communists, and police informers also start to ask for different jobs when in these parties, they are forced to read dreadful literature.
-The Spanish sign several treaties with Phoenicia and the Greeks. They agree to form a mutual defensive pact with Phoenicia, agreeing to join one another in the case of a war against either party. As for the Greeks, they spend large amounts of money buying their fancy new steamships and bolt action rifles. Shipyards and armaments factories begin to be rebuilt to allow for the production of these new innovations independently. When the Konfederaation sends diplomats over, the Spanish agree to lend them money in return for their land as collateral. Amusingly, the diplomats however say that they do not wish to actually borrow money, and they vanish into the private sector with friendly merchants. Apparently, dealing with private merchants who offer better terms is easier.
-In another bizarre religious policy change, the Spanish switch to promoting Aquinism. Most of the new industrial workers don’t really care for this, but the middle classes and the rural farmers are very much angered by this (religion is still a big thing to them). The Spanish respond by declaring the Lisbon papacy illegal, with the result that the Portuguese clergy and Portuguese nobility ally in parliament to block further legislation aimed at economic integration between the two countries. Problems are exacerbated further when the Spanish introduce a constitution explicitly separating the papacy and the state. The Portuguese block further attempts at reform, and then they mobilize to pass their own constitution which puts power into the hands of the clergy and aristocrats.
-The Portuguese follow up by putting high tariffs on trade and preserving the power of the church and the landed aristocracy. They also work on reducing the influence of drugs by retaining them as legal, but using strong social pressures and the church to discourage people from abusing drugs and working towards removal of economic incentives for them. The Portuguese end the period by slowly banning foreign merchants from selling drugs and restricting their integration into the global economy. Agriculture still remains strong and the 1058 panic passes them by, although overall economic growth and improvements in living standard also pass them by. The Spanish clergy meanwhile are in rebellion, frequently refusing to read the new prayer book and encouraging the farmers and labourers to hold protests and riots. Despite this, they do take up the new sports which have become popular in the cities. Futbol is established and a Spanish league named La Liga de Futbol is made. Parilla is also established and a league named Liga Nacional de Parrilla is also created. These have the effect of keeping urban workers out of trouble, but it simply isn’t enough in the rebellious countryside.
-In the panic of 1058, long contractive trends in agriculture finally reach a peak. Most nobles gradually moved to the cities, acting as absentee landlords and gradually reducing their dependency on the land. Rents remained high however, and slowly the smaller farmers lost their land to the gradual encroachments of “improvers” who bought up land from heavily indebted farmers. Reduced profits make the trend worse, and when the panic finally hits, it results in a whole host of problems. 80% of farmers become effectively bankrupt, and a lot of land is left fallow due to the lack of demand for their crops. When the land captains come, many villages rally together and chase them away, spurred on by the clergy. They take control of the land themselves and steal machinery and animals from the absentee landlords’ barns, beating up any police officers who object. Telegraph offices are ransacked and the police are chased back to the cities or loyalist areas. After a few months, large areas of the countryside are effectively left ruling and running themselves, where they reintroduce Iberian Christianity as well. These areas eventually formalize into self-run communities, where the local church may be a centre of organization. The army itself suffers from desertion, save for urban soldiers. The parliament angrily calls on the army to restore control to the countryside.
-Industry is badly hit by the economic crisis as well, not so much by actual losses, but by the fact the Phoenicians are remaining ahead of Iberia. With extensive markets and control of the seas, the Spanish are being squeezed out of places where they can sell their manufactured goods to easily. Some of these have led to the Phoenicians even trying to sell manufactured goods in Spain itself, and there is a general widespread malaise of economic activity. Sales are poor, investment is low, and the foreigners seem all too keen to sell their goods here. Iberian Misiryaban is still a source of wealth to a degree, but only really in their industrial exports. Misiryabani agriculture itself collapses during these years, and soon that country faces riots and attacks on absentee landlords. The cities do not fare much better, with Misiryabani people calling for independence and being generally hostile towards the Christian occupiers.
[img]http://facepunch.com/image.php?u=456754&dateline=1384286651[/img][img]http://gyazo.com/60bb7e190195bbb027e380e13c35c51d.png[/img]
[b]Griffster26 – Scotland
Capital: Dùn Èideann
Culture: Scottish (Celtic)
State Religion: Christian (Iberian)[/b]
-The Scottish invents a special type of rifle. Called “bolt-action” rifles, they can be reloaded quickly by a trained infantryman, and have the advantage of being just as accurate and long ranged as other firearms. The ability to reload quickly has gradually brought about a new tactic called “suppression fire”, where the handlers of the guns fire not to kill the opposing side, but to deny them the ability to actually move out of a sheltered position. By pinning them there, one can take advantage of their immobility.
[img]http://facepunch.com/image.php?u=378618&dateline=1380741138[/img][img]http://puu.sh/5mqHr.png[/img]
[b]CapLaPorte – The Kingdom of Romania
Capital: Salona
Culture: Romanian (Latin)
State Religion: Christianity (Aquinism)[/b]
-Not much happens to the Kingdom this turn, but the 1058 panic hits the agricultural and financial sectors pretty harshly here. Unemployment rises dramatically and bread riots are especially common for the next few years.
[img]http://facepunch.com/image.php?u=54632&dateline=1380996961[/img][img]http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b136/Yawmwen/rsz_russian-revolution-october-1917-vladimir-ilyich-lenin-ulyanov-1870-1924-russian-revolutionary-anonymous_zps8a866223.jpg[/img]
[b]Yawmwen – Lendinites
Headquarters: Byzantium
Ethnicity of party leaders: Greek (Hellenic)
Party line on religion: Atheist [/b]
-The Phoenicians are rumoured to be behind the capture of Lendin (by now an old man), and his subsequent removal to the Greeks. They put him in prison along with other party members, and along with on-going socioeconomic change in the Eastern Empire, the party slowly descends into obscurity.
[b]Afro-Asia:[/b]
[img]http://facepunch.com/image.php?u=130431&dateline=1377374436[/img][img]http://i.cubeupload.com/n7ubaD.png[/img]
[b]YogiTheWise - The Weeaboo Empire
Capital: Akihabara
Culture: Wapanese (Japonic)
State Religion: Waifuism (Classical)[/b]
-The Wapanese are further pushing ahead into chemistry. By treating glycerol with nitric acid, one creates an interesting compound called 1,2,3-trinitroxypropane. It is notoriously unstable, but explosive, and much more powerful than gunpowder. Numerous accidents, premature explosions, and the volatility of it mean it is unfeasible in most applications. The solution comes in the form of using a material such as sawdust or chalk dust to absorb the liquid. This creates a much more stable form that can be used (although time will cause it to degrade). Being much more powerful, the military applications are immediately spotted, and a military reform gets underway to replace gunpowder with dynamite. The guy who invented the stuff however, after becoming immensely rich from the profits, feels quite guilty for inventing something used to take lives. Instead of setting up a charity where he donates a lot of money to humanitarian causes, he simply hangs himself and conveniently allows the Wapanese state to take control of the dynamite monopoly. Another explosive is also invented, mainly for the purpose of being a propellent as opposed to an explosive. Called Nitrocellulose, it has the alternate name of guncotton.
-The advent of dynamite has assisted with Wapanese arms in general as well. Now as production moves into factories a
Dreyse rifles fuck yeah.
Polandball about how trains ruined everything incoming.
[img]http://ts3.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4521437895328858&w=237&h=173&c=7&rs=1&pid=1.7[/img]
assimilate peoples $$ get minerals
World Series taking place in Eastern Empire next turn. Get a team and lets do it.
Here are the brand new infoboxes!
[t]http://i.imgur.com/mZAss5q.png[/t]
[t]http://i.imgur.com/zOAJhBq.png[/t]
[t]http://i.imgur.com/bFLvtVY.png[/t]
[URL]http://gyazo.com/c6f5e2b4e6305d5ae3187b44849c36a5[/URL]
Slowly is a word. Fuck this.
Well since I've been well and thoroughly fucked over I see no purpose in even attempting to fix this. I'm leaving. I have an actual career to attend to anyway.
[QUOTE=Mr. Face;43537765][URL]http://gyazo.com/c6f5e2b4e6305d5ae3187b44849c36a5[/URL]
Slowly is a word. Fuck this.
Well since I've been well and thoroughly fucked over I see no purpose in even attempting to fix this. I'm leaving. I have an actual career to attend to anyway.[/QUOTE]
[img]http://gyazo.com/0be50249586780ed0b011002c127099c.png[/img]
It's more the first part.
[QUOTE=Sobotnik;43537838][IMG]http://gyazo.com/0be50249586780ed0b011002c127099c.png[/IMG]
It's more the first part.[/QUOTE]
Probably something to do with promoting shit they shouldn't be promoting.
Funny how you made sure a communist pope came into power. Almost like you [I]WANTED[/I] to create a problem where there shouldn't be. Because you [I]definitely[/I] have [I]never[/I] done that in one of these games.
Anyway, like I said. I have a career to attend to. I don't have the time to come up with scenarios as to fix this problem nor do I even want to attempt it because it'll all get undone in two turns anyway. It always does.
[QUOTE=Mr. Face;43537863]Probably something to do with promoting shit they shouldn't be promoting.
Funny how you made sure a communist pope came into power. Almost like you WANTED to create a problem where there shouldn't be. Because you [i]definitely[/i] have [i]never[/i] done that in one of these games.[/QUOTE]
I made sure one came to power? Lol no somebody had a network of spies in your country that fucked with the election.
start sending in turns pls
I will once Vosk puts an African king in the page king.
Sorta struggled with this one, but I'm happy with it now I think.
[quote]
It has been seventy-one years since Emperor Jabir has been deposed of. His allies, the Anticoziots, are now nothing more but a shell of it's former self. During his reign, they culminated remarkable power that rivalled even the Emperor himself, but Jabir's sudden overthrow effectively marked the end of all that. The Anticoziots were eager to reclaim what was rightfully theirs and planned to topple the regime in order to install him once more. During the Eight Years' War, they initiated a insurgency deep within the heart of Pro-Federalist Zaudibaum, tying up desperately needed forces and generally putting a strain on the Federalist military. Though upon hearing the ill news that Valicoll fortress fell to Federalist forces in 989, the great majority of Anticoziots ended up surrendering unconditionally. In the ensuing years, many members faced prosecution and dozens more fled to other countries as émigrés. Those that remained beyond resigned to their fate in defeat, albeit in disgrace. The Anticoziots still in Zaudibaum were unable to coherently rebuild their numbers, and the émigrés elsewhere could not gather foreign support to restore imperial rule. Despite the hardships the Anticoziots were still fervent in their goal; the restoration of the Imperial monarchy.
In 1032, Jabir I of House Kunkel, Emperor of Witzerbien and all of Africa, dies in his Spanish home at the age of ninety-six. His death is mourned by many Tozholleronesi, friend and foe alike. The final burial site for his remains remained a conversational issue for five years. Seeing that back in the mid-late 1020s', Spanish-Zaudibaum relations soured in the aftermath of an incident involving the accidental sinking of a Spanish freighter, and Zaudibaum's refusal to pay full compensation for the lost profit. The Spanish government saw Jabir's death as a way to acquire his estate to cover the losses for the freighter incident. When Zaudibaum ambassadors demanded the recovery of Jabir's body, Spain refused to do so. After numerous summit meetings between the two countries, Spain finally agreed to give up his remains on the condition that they nationalize his assets in exchange, which Zaudibaum reluctantly agreed to. A state funeral was declared when Jabir's remains reached Bertuliai and made it's day long procession to Socipaleo. The journey, with the number of accompanying observers estimated to be anywhere from 450,000 to a million, was described as being a very emotionally patriotic one. Upon reaching Socipaleo, his body was finally laid to rest in an elaborately beautiful tomb designed specifically for him.
For quite some time, the question to Jabir's successor to the Imperial throne remained disputed among the various Anticoziots factions. The eldest in line of succession was Jabir's third surviving son, Saturnino, who was in his late fifties at the time of his father's death. Having said that, a multitude of Anticoziots did not support him. Saturnino had an arbitrary sense of administrating in comparison to his relatives, moreover he lead a very carefree life much to the monarchists' chagrin. Additionally, due to living in Arhonia, he expressed no desire to pay respects to his deceased father, further tarnishing his standing with the Anticoziots. Saturnino did not sir any legitimate children, yet he did have a bastard child by the name of Helmuth. Helmuth, if he were not an bastard, would've made for a perfect claimant. He was a charming lad with a charismatic voice, and was only in his mid twenties. He, unlike his father, also had the skills to be a excellent administrator.
In 1055, shortly before retiring to a local monastery, Saturnino renounced his succession rights to Witzerbien's defunct throne. Thus leaving the second in line, a seven year old Frankish Marcelline, to be recognized as the Crown-Princess of Witzerbien. News of Saturnino's resignation was positivity well received by the Anticoziot community, in like manner they were truly enticed by the young Marcelline. Whereas she was but a lass still, her abilities continued to burgeon, and many held high hopes for her future.
Near the end of 1058, Marcelline's family made their way back to Zaudibaum, where they settled down in Senarpont.
[/quote]
Send in your turns pls.
[img]http://gyazo.com/e54fb792e67cc068f924f54cfe457817.png[/img]
yey
I've been thinking about a new rp potentially (maybe after this has run its course).
The idea is a Pacific island in which there are a bunch of chiefdoms vying for control in the 1880s. Several Western powers have established consulates there and are trying to bring the island under their influence, with the eventual goal of one European power establishing a protectorate. As for the varied tribes and chiefdoms, the goal for one of them is to unite the island and rule by themselves before the Western powers take over. This of course may require modernization or calling upon the support of reactionaries. The Europeans of course have to be sly and can't go full out because several great powers have vested interests there.
People could play either as representatives of various countries (USA, Britain, France) or as the native Chiefs. The goal is for one player to (eventually) crush all of their rivals and establish control over the island. The Westerner who succeeds gets an award from his government and governorship of the island. The native who succeeds manages to unify his homeland and declare himself king.
How does this sound? I am slowly becoming more interested in the idea as this rp inevitably comes towards the modern day. I can't see myself GM'ing after the mid 20th century level of technology, and certainly not after the 21st century began.
I don't know how much fun that rp would be, so I can't really say if I'd join it or not.
I'd rather have an E&W reboot if you were going to do another one. This seems interesting but I like games on large scales and if its all taking place on one island I feel like it'd just get stale.
[QUOTE=Mackalda2k6;43597292]I'd rather have an E&W reboot if you were going to do another one. This seems interesting but I like games on large scales and if its all taking place on one island I feel like it'd just get stale.[/QUOTE]
That's the point.
The game would be intended to last no more than about 10 to 20 turns at most. The goal would be for a single player to unify the whole place as quickly as possible.
just make the fucking turn sobotnik.
People need to hand them in first.
Myself, for one.
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