iamthey
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Posts posted by iamthey
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I spy with my little eye
And update.
Thanks the color is perfect. -
"The Principality is most delighted to see a new state rise so swiftly from the remains of the fallen United States, and wish you only the best for the future. Welcome to the Americas.
All peacekeeping forces left in New England will be withdrawn over the course of one year, to ensure that this newly created state has time to establish an army to defend itself."
"We thank the Principality for its patronage of the American people. We owe a great debt to Tikal for the shelter of its preserving aegis during our time of need, and for its continued investment and protection. You have our gratitude." - Michael Rockefeller
The Italians and Americans have long saw their fates binded. We look forward to working with the new American administration.
"The Italian people are a fine and jovial vine cultivated amidst a rich soil. Your tastes are our own, and we are enriched by the fruits of your civilization. We appreciate your warm greeting, and hope that our shared future will be an amicable and productive one." - Michael Rockefeller
"The Imperium of Japan welcomes a restored American nation, and looks forward to returning to the warm relations we once shared."
"Of all the cultures that evoke admiration few can surpass that of Japan. The delicate harmony that persists among the Japanese, aligning ancient to modern, man to community, and capital to labor should number among the great paradigms of our age. We had much to learn from from you three centuries ago, and such it remains so today. Thank you for your kind words of welcome." - Michael Rockefeller -
My DoE is modified to reflect these changes. Thanks. :)
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The mechanical click of cameras and shuffling pressmen could be heard just beyond the veil, behind which stood the imposing figure of a man with commanding presence, both awaiting the moment of their reunion. Fiddling with his cufflink the aged Michael Rockefeller waited as the last touches of his public visage were assembled. Feeling the loop of a fine black bowtie tighten about his collar, he nodded to indicate satisfaction with his appearance, and the valet withdrew. Holding only a single envelop he tucked it into his breast pocket, its contents were irrelevant.
Confidently he stepped out onto the podium, warmly smiling to the crowd, he embodied all that a man could exalt. His was the the union of a life well lived, the presence of undoubtable physical prowess, and the keen intuition of a sharp intellect. He was the man every man wished to be, active in leisure as well as in craft - life was his to make or perhaps even to unmake. Having reached the lectern he removed a pair of dark horn rimmed glasses as well as the envelope; unfolding it he permitted that it rest on the surface before him. Running his finger along the thick parchment as he waited for the rancor of the audience to die out, he found that it was characteristic to expensive stationary. Amused he inwardly smirked thinking of the girl who must have selected it. The waste of such fine things for trifles such as this, amusements and spectacle, gay extravagance as it were, must be among the American Enterprise's greatest sins: nevertheless, every culture has its props and these were no exception. Lifting his chin at exactly the right moment the packed press room fell silent.
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the press," He began, his crisp mid atlantic accent punctuating and caressing each word with delicate precision. "tonight I wish to open the discussion of nationhood for each and every free man. We are a distinguished people of unique character, our beginnings humble, but our destiny great. We once participated collectively in an experiment of untold magnitude, the first of its kind, and unrivaled in its results - it is this memory which I wish to invoke in illuminating a vision for our children. Three hundred years ago our forefathers carried rational enlightenment from the European continent to the soil beneath us and for the first time in history they put its precepts into practical application. The due admiration to such enterprising entrepreneurs of state cannot be denied. The decades that follow tell the story of lofty and great aspirations giving way to still grander ones. Such upward orientation of spirit speaks well to the vitality of a people: even if formed on a lie, it was a noble one." He paused.
"It was not their fault, nor was it ours that the sapling they cultivated while prodigiously fruitful, carried with it a latent poison, toxic to our souls. The time was right for its blossoming, its success was providential, but that we mistook it as a persistent end, the culmination of history itself, in this error and the resultant which followed in all of its consequences, are we solemnly responsible."
"Enlightenment rendered us affluent, liberty unshackled us from pretended betters, equality from one another, but it was our folly to assume exception from nature entirely. The boldness of Enlightenment social engineering could not foreshadow a more tragic end. They placed man on a pedestal, they hedged powerfully on his fears rather than his virtues, but they misdiagnosed his motive. In man they only saw the Cartesian thinker, the sensible individual who feared death and pain. What they chose not to see, was the artist, the zealot, the soldier, the philosopher, and the aristocrat. Men possessed by higher objects than their own, men willing to sacrifice life where necessary to advance the aesthetic end of the eternal. The fact of these exceptions could go ignored for only so long, and it was the overwhelming tidal forces of late twentieth century thought, which tore asunder the intellectual fabric of our society leaving us discordant and incapable to realize all but the most base of our communal tendencies. We stand now a more mature people, the youth of our civilization has passed, but that need not mark the end of our virility and vitality as a still vibrant body politic."
"To this end I wish to announce publicly an initiative to reclaim that which was lost. Together I and many like me with the help of our fellow citizens will strive for the restoration of our proper place in the world. Once again we shall be a beautiful nation of brilliant marvels, new industry and ingenious people. The night is darkest just before the dawn, and when that time comes to pass it will be the light of our bright new commonwealth in which we and the world alongside us shall bask."
Areas Claimed: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Delaware, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississipi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan (not the northern peninsula (ask pd)). -
I would like to form "New England" on the eastern seaboard of the present day united states. The unmarked territory I wish to claim for this endeavour is all the whitespace east of the plains federation. With the great lakes and Atlantic Federation as my northern border. Assuming this is not currently a protectorate (it is not marked), DoE will follow.
Please give it the same color as alaska. Or a similarly tasteful shade of dark blue. Alternatively if that doesn't look aesthetically pleasing, feel free to use an appealing shade of dark red. -
MostGloriousLeader I think where the difference lies between the complexity of one and the other is that deep military knowledge is esoteric and more difficult to come by while an understanding of broad economic concepts could be googled and obtained rather quickly. A closer analogue to the military status quo (in terms of obscurity and difficulty) would be if we started rping the outcomes of exotic derivatives trading and the details of specific financial instruments (something I doubt anyone here is interested in or qualified to do). Another reason why I think this wouldn't significantly alter the balance of play is simply that economic consequences are more ambiguous and leave the implementation of their impacts to imagination. If players could engage in a trade war rather than an actual war I think there would be greater room for give and take (that it would be more cooperative) rather than the unquestioned outcome of missile strikes or bombings.
Say if you were embargoed and the embargoing nation was a major supplier of rare resources for particular industries- how you RP the consequences really remains up to you. You could ration the remaining supply to industries you felt were important, or try to find substitutes. Your situation would also provide opportunities to other suppliers who might rush in to take your business (which might in turn aggravate your economic adversary). In either case I think an economic angle would give greater content to our diplomacy as it could be an alternative rationale for alignments that aren't purely hard power balancing. Again I don't think this requires or needs a rule change, more just a consciousness of the possibility and active players interested in laying the IC groundwork while writing with that in mind.
I find RP war pretty boring myself so personally the idea of a deeper economic metagame is both enticing and something I would be interested in exploring further. I've always wanted the RP to be more than just RISK, and I think a crucial component to realizing that is sublimating conflicts between players into more diverse theatres of action (than just outright military confrontation). -
Jiang smiled, his face placid as he inwardly celebrated another triumph over his colleague. Pavan shook his head, sighing as he accepted his loss, fixated he stared at the board and contemplated, knight e6 and mate they both thought. "I think that's about it for today friend." The Han said to his vedic friend.
"What can I say Anshun- I think I'm the only one here that will still play with you." Jiang laughed, it was true- while not a professional by any means he was probably better at the game than any of his peers: another blessing of his ruthless upbringing he would admit.
"You are getting better- I think by the time of our decent you'll have bested me at least once." The indian rolled his eyes and checked his watch.
"We have a meeting."
"Right." Jiang assented as they both stood to conclude their lunch. The two of them were section chiefs on the elite course through their respective ministries, that of International Trade and Industry and Finance respectively. Jiang himself had ambitions to eventually become the Vice-Secretary of MITI while Pavan's hopes were less grand. Ever optimistic though, Jiang felt like it was realizable- his entering class was favored for the position, he had been recognized repeatedly by his seniors, and his own entering class promoted him as their own star candidate. However unlikely Austria had become a far more open place for the scions of immigrants under Schröder, and it was hardly a secret that he looked to the bureaucracy and not the public to safeguard the nation's future. A Tianaxian's child could command the inner life of a ministry he thought.
Both top graduates of Vienna's School of Public Law, the two of them had grown up under the discriminatory system of nordic rule and despite this had flourishing careers in the civil service. Vienna Law as it was referred to, was the most sought after education in the country, not only because its graduates maintained the highest pass rate of Austria's extremely rigorous tier I civil service exam (7%) (and the nordic variant before it), but because of the network you obtain through it.
Among its graduates were not just the many among the bureaucratic elite, but also the occupants of top industrial posts across the national economy. The fact that even the worst among them were deeply networked with the best, ensured all were eminently hireable. That being said, neither worked for their ministries directly, perfect examples of an unrare complexity of Austrian bureaucratic life both served as attache officers on the state facilities development board, a non cabinet level agency that executes build orders for new state construction requirements. It was not a particularly glamorous post, but the task Jiang had been selected for (one he had pushed for) was proving quite opportune. Today he would be presenting on behalf of his project team, he being its lead, new design plans for a corporate campus just outside of Vienna. When finished it would serve as MITI's, and those ministries it serviced as clients, new operational and strategic headquarters.
Briskly walking, the two of them turned a corner as they navigated the rats maze of corridors that intersected and weaved throughout the largely functional multipurpose flex offices occupied by the SFDB. Passing through row upon row of occupied cubicles, the open floor of this particular hub was abustle with similarly deployed staffers from a variety of oldline ministries (along with greater numbers of pures - those actually hired by the SFDB). As with other states, the premier core of bureaucratic entities in Austria (those with cabinet level secretaries) dominated their non-privileged counterparts: to this end it was often the case that when a new agency was erected, the existing players scrambled for control of its outlined administrative territory, filling out strategic posts with members of their own cadres effectively colonizing and appropriating its function, policy tools and resources for itself. In this way the expansion of rival ministries might be checked and their own roles may be protected or even enlarged. Strategic concerns aside, controlling greater and growing numbers of positions within other ministries/bureaus also eased the demand for bureaucratic posts within their own ranks helping to maintain internal harmony. The SFDB along with the Economic Planning Agency, the State Environmental Preservation Office, Foreign Investment Oversight Commission, Securities and Exchange Committee, the State Investment Assets Management Corporation, and numerous other regulatory and developmental instruments were closely guarded outposts of MITI personnel; together they enriched the potency of MITI's Industrial Policy making power and gave meaningful and important positions to its staffers.
Finally arriving at their destination, a conference room, the two entered. Pavan and Jiang warmly smiled and greeted their colleagues before taking their seats. Exchanging small talk and stories they were used to retelling, the meeting began at a meandering pace trudging along for a time before Jiang felt comfortable standing to signal the transition to topical discussion. This wasn't their usual meeting, it was MITI's last informal design review before ground was scheduled to be broken, and more pressing still finance was sitting in. As it was likely an inter ministry loan was presently being brokered to finance the project (likely in anticipation of official appropriations), the confidence of both parties was imperative. "So to the matter at hand: MITI's long awaited home in the capital." Jiang was not a particularly gifted speaker, he was naturally an introvert, but he had learned by experience to power his way through these gatherings - a necessary evil when living amongst men. "Most of you are familiar with the work we are doing, but as I see a few new faces I will begin by covering the broad strokes. The MITI campus project began when the size of our organization doubled nearly three years ago, it has since increased by eight fold growing from a thousand employees to nearly eight. Such rapid expansion has shown trends of tapering off sometime in the next decade, but the fact remains that for now it is positive and will remain positive for for sometime to come." Jiang prompted a slide change to reveal the various statistical trends in hiring and the current size of MITI's workforce.
"It goes without saying that this growth has substantial merit, with visari germania splintering, Vienna has mandated that we assume the responsibilities of a national development agency and so here we are. To this point MITI has managed this expansion well, opening up and growing into new spaces across city, spaces much like this one. This is of course only a short term solution however." A map of Vienna was displayed showing a cluster of red dots enveloping the city. "We need consolidation, not only for its longterm efficiency, but also for the synergies we can harness by consolidating our various teams into a single location. Which brings us to the project."
"To be developed on a two million square meters section of undeveloped suburban Vienna, the MITI campus hopes to create a talent hub of collaborative excellence. Composed of nearly thirty lowrise buildings, all to be enviornmentally certified by the end of construction, the campus will be as aesthetically beautiful, as it is functional. The highest scrutiny has been paid to environmental efficiencies, and a dizzying number of technologies have been deployed to minimize the footprint of the new facility. From water reclamation, to superior insulation, to high efficiency use of natural and artificial lighting, the new campus will pave the way for similar efforts and set a high standard that peer groups can aspire to meet. Most importantly though it will be accomplished in a cost effective way, and will save the state valuable resources in the long run. Along with the campus itself, much of the surrounding area will remain uncleared forest. Parking and transportation for the some 12000 future occupants of the facility will be accomplished through a large connected subterranean parking garage which can house vehicles on three levels. Furthermore the campus will be integrated into vienna's mass transit network and a secure subway stop will be constructed beneath the garage. All of which will serve to preserve the area's natural beauty and leave its ecosystems intact." Renderings of the subway station, the campus concepts, and the garage levels flashed over the screen.
"Structurally the campus will be a single connected unit composed of thirty separate low rise buildings, no building being greater than five floors. Beneath the various offices there will exist an interconnected network of service routes through which employees, equipment, and service personnel may pass. Campus amenities, the main data center, its replicas, as well as hubs for other shared infrastructure will be housed in or beneath centrally located buildings." A map was displayed to the audience.
"To ensure 'always on' capabilities, three separate power substations will be built and connected to distinct grids, additionally generators housed beneath the service level will provide backup power in the event of complete external failure while redundant gas lines should ensure indefinite electrical supply. However, in the event of fuel supply failure, Liquid methane reserves will be retained to ensure continued operations for up to one hundred twenty hours. Finally in terms of internet infrastructure, two separate fiber lines will link the internal network to the outside world."
"Regarding security, the campus will be enclosed by a perimeter fence penetrated by four entrance points. The outer fence while designed to only discourage casual interlopers, will be outfitted with motion detection with two successive sister rings of sensors that will be laid across the campus. Exterior cameras will provide three-sixty coverage of the building's exterior and full coverage of the service level and garages. Data security will be centrally managed and both incoming trunklines will be monitored continuously for attacks. In accordance with our current conventions, Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (Ministry for State Security) personnel and technicians will guarantee the physical integrity of the facility." The room nodded, though unease at the Ministry's mention could be felt as they did."
"Aesthetically architectural specifications have already been developed and the design auditing team we've put together have reviewed and confirmed their acceptability. Interior designers have recommended a package of collaborative and open office furniture solutions which management studies suggest will foster creativity, and improve productivity. It is our hope that the world class office environment we're striving to create will not only extend the capacities of our existing staff, but also draw in both young talent and seasoned professionals to fill out our ranks for years to come."
"Ultimately the facility will house MITI's entire core staff onsite as well as those and organs we collaborate most closely with." Jiang paused to take a sip from his water bottle. "I think we should break for a few minutes before we delve any deeper into the details of execution, but if any of you have questions I'd be happy to answer them in the hall or when we return."
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This honestly just weakens everyone but tricent though basically.
How? Triyun and centurius having the two largest GDP's is hardly shocking, they occupy massive land masses, and have huge populations relative to me or most others in the rp. This is already a widely assumed fact. They also already reap the single greatest benefit (strategically speaking) from this, their unrivaled militaries. A subset of players voluntarily collaborating to flesh out the architecture of international commerce only really serves to add depth to the RP, it hardly compromises anyone else or disrupts the power balance further. At the end of the day if you want to be a self sufficient island, or close trade to just you and a few others, you can clearly still do that, but why shouldn't others want to expand avenues of player collaboration?
Overall it seems like one of the greatest issues with cnrp is that 90% of the joint RP is either adversarial and zero sum where someone wins and others lose (war), or boring and canned (treaties). The UN was a huge leap forward in terms of advancing our diplomacy beyond just the aggregation of treaties, but I think we can do more. We need more areas of play that bring people into greater interaction. With such alternatives there could be yet unseen ways to approach the game (than the expansionist militarist powers, hapless victims, and isolationist neutrals we've all seemed to embody thus far) bringing some much needed diversity to play.
In short opening up other areas where players can collaborate (even if they aren't economic in nature) can hardly be seen as a bad thing. -
the problem is nobody is going to RP it out unfavorably to themselves.
There are generally benefits and drawbacks to both sides of any imbalance. Take something like the balance of accounts between two nations. If one is a net importer while the other is a net exporter- the importer is gaining value in the way of goods/services (it's also borrowing whatever currency is used to denominate trade in order to pay for those goods) while the other is accruing foreign reserves. Those reserves give it leverage as it could marginally devalue the other currency at will, but it also serves as a risk as getting anything tangible out of that trade relationship depends upon being able to actually redeem other goods with those reserves (now or in the future).
If that currency were to say crash, then they would have effectively just given away their country's production for nothing. My point being there isn't necessarily a favorable or unfavorable role to be in- ultimately that depends on the context. Furthermore there's the fact that you don't really need to have a winner or a loser, ideally if you have a growing global economy everyone's experience will be at least in some form favorable- or they would simply opt out (baring coercion that might otherwise prevent them form doing so). In either case I wouldn't have a problem RPing an unfavorable outcome against my nation, interesting fiction aside, if only for the fact that it can motivate changes in internal politics, or even justify international action (which might itself be favorable to me).
As far as complexity goes, personally I think the level of depth and technical sophistication to be found in the rp military techs far outstrips anything we could approach in terms of rping global trade or infrastructure.
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surely making the game more complicated will lead to a rise in players.
What I'm suggesting is more the rise of new IC institutions, not the creation of rules. Opt-in opportunities to deepen player interaction, rather than protocols to constrain it. -
So perhaps it is simply that I haven't been active enough to really read between the lines (in so many different news / update threads), but more likely is it that a lot of the structure of international interaction is left unspecified if only because consensus might otherwise be impossible. Everyone has their own idea of how their nation fits within the rest of the framework (often incompatibly with others)- I'm sure Triyun feels the Bancor in fact operates as our reserve currency, while Centurius concurrently denominates all trade in Drachmas. At the same time I'm also sure 90% of us assume we're net exporters and creditors to the world while no one has a single import on their balance sheet. This ambiguity while it lets everyone be whatever they please (while also insulating us from inevitable ooc fights over things like global interest rates and currency manipulation), seems stifling overall as it does eliminate a host of cooperative rp opportunities.
I think we've done an excellent job creating interesting interstate politics through the UN/NPT, but I'm curious what you all think could be done to set up a globalized economic environment in the same stripe. Where is our IMF, world bank, Special Drawing Rights, bretton woods, or USD equivalent? How do so many burgeoning modern paradises even function when most of us seem to be a mix of neo-mercanilist, and walled off third way economies? Global finance is not only important, it drives a lot of our politics in significant ways - laying the groundwork for others to opt-into and participate within a financial game seems like something worthwhile to consider. I'm not suggesting we settle this issue here and now, but perhaps its worth discussing how we currently see ourselves and our peers (in a realistic and semi objective way).
Another consideration would be how current information networks are actually laid out at present? IRL what you see is essentially a series of global trunklines linking into regional hubs. Who controls these hubs in our RP, do we have a central DNS or are we operating under some other architecture? And finally what part does national specialization play in dominating certain industries? We can't all be top producers of precision machinery, semi-condutors, strategic resources, weapons, energy, in vogue software, ect? Specifying such things could actually lead to interesting RP. -
"We would hope in this matter that cooler heads prevail, if nuclear weapons are not in play then regional turmoil is needless. While that is presently uncertain, a prompt inspection of suspected sites and Tianaxia's renown detection systems should have no trouble dispelling concern. In either case the proliferation of nuclear weapons must be opposed." - Velimir of Metternich, Austrian Foreign Secretary
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I support this, good proposal.
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To: Athenian Federation Ministry of Foreign Affairs
From: The Austrian Foreign Office
Esteemed allies, we wish to arrange a meeting regarding the future of Bohemia, the unsightly appearance of the map, and the acquisition of a mediterranean port. Its location, either in Austria or Athens is immaterial to us. Should you desire to come here, logistics for a full state visit will be prepared. -
ALL HAIL KAISER AUCTOR ALL HAIL KAISER AUCTOR ALL HAIL KAISER AUCTOR
ALL HAIL HARTFW ALL HAIL HARTFW ALL HAIL HARTFW
ALL HAIL TGE ALL HAIL TGE ALL HAIL TGE -
If hes tsar, can I be czar?
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ALL HAIL HARTFW, ALL HAIL HARTFW, ALL HAIL HARTFW
ALL HAIL TFE ALL HAIL TFE ALL HAIL TFE -
go lavendar town
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specifying other
specifying other
specifying other
I hope that wasn't too confusing. -
This hardly has anything to do with ponies. Equestria refers to the horsemen/khanates of the steppe. I'm entirely serious.
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I'd like to form equestria in belarus/poland.
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I'd like to form equestria in belarus/poland.
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Austria will monitor this unfolding situation with interest.
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TEPD's approach is honestly the only sensible one. It doesn't matter if your member was an unsanctioned or sanctioned rogue, to any external party they must be dealt with the same (provided the means are present).
The New York Times: News of New England
in Fantasy RP (IC)
Posted · Edited by iamthey
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