[DRAFT] God of the Poor Man

[Zwangzug]

So I've been procrastinating on this for a while. There are a lot of complaints about religious characters being disproportionately stock-conservatives and, truth be told, that's a gripe I've had myself with the game, so I thought I'd write an issue where the religious option was over-the-top left-wing. This being NS I found a lifted-from-history incident that reads a little stranger than fiction...

--

It has come time to draft the latest cards for @@NAME@@'s military, but the filing cabinets in question seems to be full of ashes and illegible gibberish. Meanwhile, a few activist leaders of @@FAITH@@ are fleeing the scene with annoyed military guards in hot pursuit. Concerned pundits suggest that it might be time to rethink @@NAME@@'s mandatory draft policy.

validity: nation has a draft, religion allowed

1. "For too long @@NAME@@ has been forcing its youth to fight and die in thankless wars," says Sibling @@RANDOMNAME@@, who appears to be using incense to ignite high-security documents. "Repent and heed the way of freedom; end the draft, and verily, we will be blessed once more."
[effect] the only draft in @@CAPITAL@@ is the one keeping @@LEADER@@'s office cold
[stats] religiousness up, happiness up, military down, death rate down, lifespan up, pacifism up


2. "This is an embarrassment that should never have happened in the first place," says General @@RANDOMNAME@@, who is not having much luck stamping out fires with a fancy hat. "We need to have tighter security around our draft boards, so that we can crack down on the rest of these 'dissidents'. Of course, that's going to require even more recruits, but these things happen."
[effect] cadets are drafted to stand guard over draft cards
[stats] military up, religiousness down

3. "This certainly should never have happened in the first place!" pipes up the Exalted Technician of the Order of Violet. "Why is @@NAME@@ even carrying around those antiquated paper cards anyway? Invoke the Will of the Glorious Server, and our esteemed acolytes will upgrade your system into a digital one. Then you can randomize your names without any interference!"
[effect] @@NAME@@'s draft system is completely unworkable in a lightning storm
[stats] alternative spirituality up (versus traditional?), primitiveness down

--
Title is from this song about this guy, who would later go on to similarly break into nuclear weapons plants (which could be an alternative if I scrap this). Let me know if you have better ideas, there's a lot of things that almost sound right but nothing quite fits.

This overlaps a little with 313, but the protest here is against the entire system, not just opting out. I'm not crazy about lumping two different ideas (upgrading technology/alternative religion) into option 3, but I think they're a little too weak to stand alone.

[Trotterdam]

Title is from this song

Whatever it's from, it doesn't seem very relevant given this issue has nothing to do with wealth gaps or class struggle. If I have to click a link for the reference to make sense, it's probably not a good reference.

about this guy, who would later go on to similarly break into nuclear weapons plants (which could be an alternative if I scrap this).

Huh, I read about some nuns doing that a while back. It seems to be a popular activity.

This overlaps a little with 313, but the protest here is against the entire system, not just opting out.

Yeah, although the text is framed very differently, the subject is still ultimately very similar.

Also, very many nations don't have a draft, and so wouldn't benefit from this issue.

I'm not crazy about lumping two different ideas (upgrading technology/alternative religion) into option 3, but I think they're a little too weak to stand alone.

I was amused by the allusion to the real-life [violet], who is in fact in the business of upgrading servers (even though it has little to do with the established character of in-game Violetism so far - though I'd have to do some searching to find if Violetism ever supported an anti-technology stance).

[Frieden-und Freudenland]

Hmm. So what we have here is a group of religious activists who are actually anti-war. This is an interesting happenstance, because usually religiousness (or bigotry) and ''hawkishness'' seem to go together IRL. So I like these peaceful religious fellows!

I think the issue is pretty good, though I could suggest that you add a 'crazy compromise' option which is typical of many NS issues. It is not necessary of course, but it would spice up the issue. For example how about an army officer saying that mandatory conscription should continue, but the soldiers should be given the right to avoid being deployed in military operations? So the idea is that they will be in the military, but they will fulfill non-military duties, like peeling potatoes in the kitchen. I think this is what many soldiers do in the army anyway. I Googled it, it is supposed to be called KP duty

[Trotterdam]

'crazy compromise' option

I think this is what many soldiers do in the army anyway.

This is insufficiently crazy.

It would also heighten the similarities with #313, so not a move in the right direction.

[Zwangzug]

'crazy compromise' option

I think this is what many soldiers do in the army anyway.

This is insufficiently crazy.

It would also heighten the similarities with #313, so not a move in the right direction.

I agree with this. If I go with option 3 as it is, I think that's enough of a "weird compromise" because on the one hand, it's sort of agreeing with the government's rhetoric, but on the other hand, it's still supporting religion, albeit alternative rather than traditional...

Trotterdam, thanks for your input. I'll keep mulling it over. A quick control-f doesn't make me think there are any obvious contradictions between Violetism and this take (some Violetists cruise around on motorcycles in fancy hats, for instance), but if anything turns up maybe I can find something more obscure.

[Trotterdam]

Yup, I did a search. Violetists aren't against technology, they just like to murder people.

[Australian rePublic]

1. @@NAME@@ not NATION@@
2. Religious nations would tend to follow @@FAITH@@
3. If you're sending conscripts into war, it means that you need them now, no questions asked

[Trotterdam]

Not all nations with conscription are at war. There are nations with permanent conscripted defense forces during peacetime, such as Switzerland. Certainly, war can motivate a temporary emergency draft in a nation that doesn't normally have one, but it isn't a prerequisite.

[Australian rePublic]

Not all nations with conscription are at war. There are nations with permanent conscripted defense forces during peacetime, such as Switzerland. Certainly, war can motivate a temporary emergency draft in a nation that doesn't normally have one, but it isn't a prerequisite.

Even if a nation did conscript at war time, they wouldn't necasserily send conscripts into war if they are one of those permanent conscriptors

[Zwangzug]

To be clear, this isn't intended only for nations that have named a major religion or officially give one state backing, but also ones where any "major religion" would be widespread enough to be legal.

[Trotterdam]

"@@FAITH@@" defaults to "a major religion" for nations without the field.

[Zwangzug]

"@@FAITH@@" defaults to "a major religion" for nations without the field.

Right, that's what I want. (In response to AR's second point.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

It has come time to draft the latest cards for @@NAME@@'s military, but the filing cabinets in question seems to be full of ashes and illegible gibberish. Meanwhile, a few activist leaders of @@FAITH@@ are fleeing the scene with annoyed military guards in hot pursuit. Concerned pundits suggest that it might be time to rethink @@NAME@@'s mandatory draft policy.

Let's start here, as the description is where we establish an issue's overall coherency.

Draft cards are a very specific thing from a specific period of one nation's history, likewise draft card burning as a protest. There's also some confusion with tenses here, which is hurting readability. Can you rewrite this?

[Zwangzug]

I'll probably work on a completely different issue idea before circling back to this one and leave this on the back burner, but that's okay, it's been simmering for a while.