NSG Senate General Discussion Thread

[Maklohi Vai]

Folks, I think we've got enough steam to set a date:

First draft of proposals are due in this thread no later than Friday, June 10, at 10pm Pacific time (1 am Saturday June 11 East Coast US, early morning Saturday June 11 Europe).

Proposals must include the following: a location, an idea for a name, demographics such as religion and ethnicity, history, and a basic economic layout/summary.

Proposals may include: expansions on any of the above, arguments for the proposal, rebuttals to counterarguments against the proposal, anything you think may help.

Both proposals so far meet each of the first four requirements. Costa's is complete. Ikania needs a tad more economic detail.

Once again, the due date is Friday, June 10, at 10pm Pacific time

[Kamchastkia]

What are all of the proposals?

Costa's.
Ikania's.

Dunno if there are more, but I'm working on one right now. Hoping to be done by the start of June.

Why aren't you linking mine to restore Aurentina!?!

[Costa Fierro]

What are all of the proposals?

Costa's.
Ikania's.

Dunno if there are more, but I'm working on one right now. Hoping to be done by the start of June.

That's not my proposal. It's unofficial and I don't think I'll be using it given that people here can't seem to figure it out/are unwilling to read the history.

[The Liberated Territories]

What is Aurentina? Is it like Argenitina, but gold?

It was the setting of the first iteration of the NSG Senate, a Germanic archipelago north of Corsica (that still doesn't make any sense, but whatever).

It was originally in the North Sea iirc, but was changed for some random reason. The NSG has the ability to righten it, but meh. Arab Republic seems to be the next iteration, of which I won't join.

[Kamchastkia]

It was the setting of the first iteration of the NSG Senate, a Germanic archipelago north of Corsica (that still doesn't make any sense, but whatever).

It was originally in the North Sea iirc, but was changed for some random reason. The NSG has the ability to righten it, but meh. Arab Republic seems to be the next iteration, of which I won't join.

Like seriously, why do we want to be terrorists?

[Kamchastkia]

Folks, I think we've got enough steam to set a date:

First draft of proposals are due in this thread no later than Friday, June 10, at 10pm Pacific time (1 am Saturday June 11 East Coast US, early morning Saturday June 11 Europe).

Proposals must include the following: a location, an idea for a name, demographics such as religion and ethnicity, history, and a basic economic layout/summary.

Proposals may include: expansions on any of the above, arguments for the proposal, rebuttals to counterarguments against the proposal, anything you think may help.

Both proposals so far meet each of the first four requirements. Costa's is complete. Ikania needs a tad more economic detail.

Once again, the due date is Friday, June 10, at 10pm Pacific time

That's a long damn time.

[The Liberated Territories]

It was originally in the North Sea iirc, but was changed for some random reason. The NSG has the ability to righten it, but meh. Arab Republic seems to be the next iteration, of which I won't join.

Like seriously, why do we want to be terrorists?

no idea

I'm creating a draft for Aurentina 2.0. I'll be on the NSG irc if you want to help out

[Kamchastkia]

Like seriously, why do we want to be terrorists?

no idea

I'm creating a draft for Aurentina 2.0. I'll be on the NSG irc if you want to help out

HURRAH. EIN VOLK, EIN REICH, EIN AURENTINA!

[The Sarian]

Costa's.
Ikania's.

Dunno if there are more, but I'm working on one right now. Hoping to be done by the start of June. :)

That's not my proposal. It's unofficial and I don't think I'll be using it given that people here can't seem to figure it out/are unwilling to read the history.

I read your history, it on a fantastic Wikipedia page called 'History of Oman'.

[Eol Sha]

Costa's.
Ikania's.

Dunno if there are more, but I'm working on one right now. Hoping to be done by the start of June.

That's not my proposal. It's unofficial and I don't think I'll be using it given that people here can't seem to figure it out/are unwilling to read the history.

Oh. Too bad. I liked it.

[Eol Sha]

Costa's.
Ikania's.

Dunno if there are more, but I'm working on one right now. Hoping to be done by the start of June.

Why aren't you linking mine to restore Aurentina!?!

It wasn't written as a proposal?

[Costa Fierro]

That's not my proposal. It's unofficial and I don't think I'll be using it given that people here can't seem to figure it out/are unwilling to read the history.

I read your history, it on a fantastic Wikipedia page called 'History of Oman'.

Using history particular to that region is now copying Wikipedia.

Seems legit.

[The Sarian]

I read your history, it on a fantastic Wikipedia page called 'History of Oman'.

Using history particular to that region is now copying Wikipedia.

Seems legit.

All I'm saying is, it wouldn't pass a plagerism test - you even copied some sentences word for word, not to mention you basically just created an AH for an Omani region, rather than created an actual nation. Also, you got your bloody capital name from Disney.

View my full critique here.

[United Great Britian]

Using history particular to that region is now copying Wikipedia.

Seems legit.

All I'm saying is, it wouldn't pass a plagerism test - you even copied some sentences word for word, not to mention you basically just created an AH for an Omani region, rather than created an actual nation. Also, you got your bloody capital name from Disney.

View my full critique here.

I ran it through multiple plagiarism detectors and weirdly they all said it had no plagiarism.

[MERIZoC]

Folks, I think we've got enough steam to set a date:

First draft of proposals are due in this thread no later than Friday, June 10, at 10pm Pacific time (1 am Saturday June 11 East Coast US, early morning Saturday June 11 Europe).

Proposals must include the following: a location, an idea for a name, demographics such as religion and ethnicity, history, and a basic economic layout/summary.

Proposals may include: expansions on any of the above, arguments for the proposal, rebuttals to counterarguments against the proposal, anything you think may help.

Both proposals so far meet each of the first four requirements. Costa's is complete. Ikania needs a tad more economic detail.

Once again, the due date is Friday, June 10, at 10pm Pacific time

gonna just tag this

[Stormaen]

Folks, I think we've got enough steam to set a date:

First draft of proposals are due in this thread no later than Friday, June 10, at 10pm Pacific time (1 am Saturday June 11 East Coast US, early morning Saturday June 11 Europe).

Proposals must include the following: a location, an idea for a name, demographics such as religion and ethnicity, history, and a basic economic layout/summary.

Proposals may include: expansions on any of the above, arguments for the proposal, rebuttals to counterarguments against the proposal, anything you think may help.

Both proposals so far meet each of the first four requirements. Costa's is complete. Ikania needs a tad more economic detail.

Once again, the due date is Friday, June 10, at 10pm Pacific time

gonna just tag this

Likewise. Considering coming up with a SEA proposal. Maybe. If I can find the time/energy.

[Ikania]

Here's a revamped version. I filled in the rest of the history, giving us a good reason to establish a new government. I also expanded the economics section, and corrected the map link so you can see what I have in mind.

The red dot represents the capital.
Here's a general idea of the location. Right between Crete and Cyprus, above Egypt.

History

The two islands of Ephiris and Modos, collectively known as Ephiria, located in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, have been inhabited since the Mycenaeans arrived circa 1100 B.C. For most of its history, the Ephirians operated as an independent people, until they were conquered by the Romans after their takeover of Greece.

Ephiria became part of the province of Lycia under the Romans, and was put into the Eastern Roman Empire when it split in half. Many forts were built in Ephiria, and the islands were used as a springboard for the Crusades. In 1205, Ephiria was taken by the Venetians after their sack of Constantinople, and organized into Venice as a part of the Kingdom of Candia.

In 1302, Ephiria was returned to the Byzantine Romans after their latest war, though Crete itself was kept. Emperor Andronikos II made Ephiria a Despotate, assigning the noble Christos Septalis as its despot, as well as his family to succeed him.

After Constantinople fell to the Ottomans, the Despotate of Ephiria survived for another ten years, finally falling in 1461, just before Trebizond was conquered. Under Ottoman rule, the people of the island were mostly neglected and ignored, though expressly forbidden from displaying any revolutionary tendencies.

During the Greek War of independence, the Ephirian people rose up as well, and the islands were liberated in 1825 after a long struggle. General Ioannes Alitheios was proclaimed King of Ephiria by the revolutionary forces. However, Ephiria was separated from the rest of Greece by the Dodecanese Islands, which the Ottomans kept. The independent Kingdom of Greece did not claim Ephiria in 1832, and the island’s sovereignty was taken when the Ottomans reconquered the islands in 1834.

Ottoman attempts to colonize the islands had varying degrees of success, but overall, Turks never became anything more than a minority. Ownership of Ephiria changed again in 1878, after the Ottomans lost a war against Russia. Great Britain seized Cyprus and Ephiria at the Congress of Berlin, and made them protectorates under the British crown.

The British local government mostly got along with the Ephirian people, but did nothing to quell tensions between the Greek Ephirian majority and the Turkish population. This came to a head in 1915, when the Ottomans reconquered the islands during the First World War. The occupation was brief, and was repelled only a month later. However, a number of Greeks in the island were angry with the Turkish minority and the Ottoman Empire.

In late 1915, large riots occurred, where Turkish shopowners and minority citizens were targeted in violent attacks. The riots lasted into early 1916, and thousands of innocent Turks were killed. There was resistance, however, and sectarian fighting nearly got the best of the islands, until the British sent a large reinforcement to quell the uprisings.
During the Second World War, Ephiria was surrounded by enemies in Italian North Africa and the Italian-occupied Balkans, including Greece. However, the Axis could never wrest control from the British, and Ephiria remained under Allied control until 1945.

In 1951, Ephiria gained its independence after Britain decided to let go of it, in their post-colonial spree of freeing countries. In the Anglo-Ephirian treaty, they were granted complete sovereignty over their affairs, and joined the Commonwealth.

The next ten years saw an economic golden age, as western culture thrived in the nation, while many neighbors were embroiled in conflict and dictatorship. A Constitutional Republic, with the bicameral Vouli as its legislature, the young nation was still damaged by instability, particularly with Turkish minority tension and religious conflict. This came to a head in 1963, when the rise of Turkish autonomy groups in some areas and discontent by many conservatives with the relatively liberal tone of the government, led to much political turmoil. Furthermore, the presence of Communists was growing in the nation, which frightened many ordinary Ephirians. A group of military hardliners, dissatisfied with the status quo and perceived government inaction, took advantage of an unpopular administration and declared martial law with the help of the army. The constitution was suspended, the Vouli dissolved, and General Ioannes Stavropoulos was declared President of Ephiria. The members of the Vouli (Μέλος του Βουλί, MV) who were friendly to the regime were the ones that stayed. The Vouli was reformed to be unicameral, and became more or less a puppet of Stavropoulos, who was also declared President when the Constitution of 1964 was drawn.

The coup drew little resistance from the West, given that it was much better than the alternative (Communism) for them, and the Soviet Union had little power in the region to stop it either. President Stavropoulos was a reform-minded dictator, who implemented some of the policies that couldn’t get through the Republic’s Vouli. Infrastructure improvement, quality of life increase, et cetera. However, he was incredibly brutal to the Turkish minority. He implemented what could be described as segregationist laws, making it so that Greeks were practically the only people who could ever make it in the government. They were given legal precedent, and systemic bias against Turks in the economy and police force made life hard for them.

Riots were quelled with crushing firepower. Stavropoulos ripped Ephiria out of the Commonwealth and diplomatically isolated the nation, preferring a ‘non-aligned’ approach. Elections were rigged, the Communist Party was banned, and significant restrictions on free speech were enacted.

Throughout all of this, the Orthodox Church of Ephiria stood silent as Muslims were oppressed by the regime, which brewed bitterness between the two groups for years to come. A small contingent of Christians, called the Brothers of the Book, paid host to oppressed Muslims, and fought for their rights against Stavropoulos.

Ioannes Stavropoulos died in 1981, and was replaced by a weaker successor, Giorgios Kafaris, who proved unable to hold the regime together. He was deposed in 1985 and replaced by Eleftherios Kostantinopoulos.

In the 90s, when the Soviet Union collapsed, Kostantinopoulos enacted a more neoliberal program, privatizing industries that had been nationalized by Stavropoulos in fear of foreign influence. The economy began a very slow recovery, all the way into 1999. Ephiria isolated itself in the early 2000s while the Middle East set itself on fire. Though, it reached out to its neighbors in the European Union and North Africa, getting some economic aid, which made life somewhat better in this new era.

In 2008, the economy completely collapsed, as Greece sank into debt and the recession affected the world. To try and win popular support, Kostantinopoulos held a "People's Referendum", where, according to the government, 77% of Ephirians approved of his rule and wished to see it continue. The OSCE called out the dictatorship, and the West began to pull support.

In 2012, inspired by the Arab Spring, a student movement at a university in the capital grew to flood the streets of cities across the nation, with young revolutionaries demanding an end to military rule. The government was hesitant to use force to dissolve the protesters. The crisis worsened near the end of the year, when the General of the Army was captured and beaten by a group of communists, who threatened further attacks. Turkish revolutionaries in a northern Modos town seized a portion of land, proclaiming a new Ephirian Republic. Incensed by this heroism, and sponsored by both Turkey and Greece, more rebels and dissidents joined the Republican cause. Huge portions of the Ephirian military defected, resulting in the collapse of the regime in 2014, when the country was on the brink of civil war. This didn't spell the end, however. The provisional government could barely handle the wave of sectarian unrest caused by the collapse of a central authority. The creation of a new constitution was delayed constantly due to disagreement. Now we skip to 2016, in fair Ephiria, where we lay our scene. The unity government has re-established the Vouli, and elections for the local MVs are just around the corner. However, the provisional constitution only details the composure of the unicameral Vouli, and the powers of the President, who is currently Kostantinos (Kosta) Grammatikakis. After the election, a new constitution will be drafted by the elected MVs and put to the people for referendum.

A quick note: There are emergency services. There is still government funding to essential programs. While technically they operate independently, they still exist, and most serve the government. What isn't funded is infrastructure and welfare, which the local municipalities pay for mostly, until they receive funding.

Current issues facing the nation is rebuilding after years of military rule, creating infrastructure that was lacking under the old regime, which wasn't big on roads, bridges and hospitals. The economy itself, at the present moment, is struggling. I'm counting on an economic expert to tell me exactly why, someone please create a reason for the economy to be on the verge of collapse.

Demographics

The population of 991,867 (barely scraping a million) is majority Greek, at 66%. Second are the Turkish implants from the Ottoman days, making up 24%. The warm weather and stuff also attracted British (mostly English) and other Commonwealth settlers, who snatch 4%. Around 3% goes to other western immigrant populations like Italians and Spaniards as well as 1% for non-Turkic Muslims like Arabs, particularly Syrians and Lebanese.

Religion is much the same. Orthodox Christianity dominates with 68%, while Sunni Islam scrapes a large 21% minority. Another 2% goes to the Shi’ite Muslims. Protestants take 3%, tieing with the Catholics. The remaining 1% goes to non-Chalcedonian Christians, particularly Copts, and some other immigrants.

In terms of language, 70% of Ephirians speak Greek as their native tongue. 22% (not quite all of the Turks) speak Turkish. 3% English, 2% Italian, 1% Spanish, 1% Arabic and 1% “other”. Out of these all, 81% of Ephirians can speak Greek at all, while 43% speak Turkish.

Economics

Ephiria uses the Ephirian Pound, having adopted it under British rule. Euros and Lire also count as legal tender.

Ephiria's GDP is around 15 billion. It's like a less developed, less prosperous neighbor to Cyprus. The economy is mostly based on service, agriculture, tourism and shipping. Ephiria has been a tourist draw for the last fifty years, though the industry has withered somewhat under the rule of a military dictatorship. Shipping also plays a large part in the economy, with a strong merchant marine that has struggled under government control, but is bustling into the world trade scene again now that the country is free.

Agriculture is another large part of the economy. Crops, animals and vineyards are a way of life for the Ephirian people. Farms provide for the many towns that have been abandoned by the government during instability. Farmers make up a huge bloc of the voting population, keep in mind.

Big business was only let into Ephiria in the 90s, and they haven't quite gained the most solid foothold, by which I mean this country has very little investors and lots of opportunity for capitalism in this new Republic.

[Skappola]

gonna just tag this

Likewise. Considering coming up with a SEA proposal. Maybe. If I can find the time/energy.

Please do. I think Southeast Asia would be an interesting spot to RP.

[Costa Fierro]

View my full critique here.

I read your "critique". It's full of shit, which isn't surprising.

[Eol Sha]

View my full critique here.

I read your "critique". It's full of shit, which isn't surprising.

Would you mind answering my questions?

[Costa Fierro]

I read your "critique". It's full of shit, which isn't surprising.

Would you mind answering my questions?

No.

[United Great Britian]

Would you mind answering my questions?

No.

Then answer them.

[Costa Fierro]

No.

Then answer them.

No, I mean no as in "I'm no answering them." Sorry for the confusion.

[Skappola]

Then answer them.

No, I mean no as in "I'm no answering them." Sorry for the confusion.

Why do you bother making proposals if you're unwilling to accept criticism?

[Ikania]

No, I mean no as in "I'm no answering them." Sorry for the confusion.

Why do you bother making proposals if you're unwilling to accept criticism?

No, no, see, he's not proposing it. It's an attitude of "I don't like you guys so here's what you're missing out on, someone PLEASE copy this and propose it on your own so I don't have to do it myself and undermine the point".