2055: Ain't What it Used to Be[IC/REBOOT/MANY NATIONS OPEN]

[New Rnclave]

Ain't What it Used to Be: 2055

"The future ain't what it used to be." - Yogi Berra

OOC!!!

OP: Myself
Co-OPs: TBD

Welcome to the Ain't What it Used to Be: 2055 Nation RP

[align=center]

Welcome to the year 2055. The past forty years have been eventful, to say the least. The darker days of the 21st century are behind the world, and it seems that the new order that arose out of the ashes of the old has stabilized enough. Who knows how long this will last? Who knows when the next crisis will strike?

The crisis of the early 21st century began with the Great Recession of 2008. The Recession weakened the entire global economy, but just as it seemed to be sputtering back to life in the late 2010s, another crisis hit. The "petrodollar" system, negotiated by the United States and the various OPEC currencies, was destroyed when OPEC declared a second oil embargo against the United States and the rest of the West in 2017. This was done as a result of the United States being less dependent on OPEC oil thanks to an increase in domestic production, resulting in the US becoming a direct competitor to OPEC and the American government gradually supporting Israel more in the various conflicts against the chaos that has engulfed its neighbors (including Egypt). The United States dollar spiraled into massive inflation, destroying the American economy overnight.

It was not long before unrest began. Riots by the desperate and hungry spread throughout the country. Politicians seemed incapable of doing anything, as both Democratic and Republican parties pandered to the more extreme wings of their parties. As government, on the local, state and federal level, cracked down on the unrest, the people cried tyranny and demanded a rollback on the "police state." By 2020, after President Biden refused to run for office, and the Republican Party was too splintered to successfully rally around a candidate. In the end, it didn't matter, because the presidential election would be canceled due to the Texas Crisis. Tensions between Texas and the United States had been brewing since the late 2000s, but the final nail in the coffin was when Texas National Guard refused to allow American military into the state as part of a training exercise. When the National Guard attempted to arrest American soldiers crossing over the border, fighting broke out between the two groups. When the governor of Texas refused to order the National Guard to stop, and an attempt was made by FBI to arrest him, Texas declared itself independent from the Union, on the grounds that the federal government had violated Texas' constitutional rights.


The fall of the American hegemony had interesting effects on the rest of the world. NATO, the old one, was powerless, and soon Europe found itself fighting against a very bold, very old, Vladimir Putin. Fighting was limited to the Baltics, Belarus and Ukraine, and never went nuclear. While the Russians ultimately lost the Eurasian War[3], it was no walk in the park for the European governments either - the collapse of the US hurt the Euro, and the massive war expenditures killed it. The Euro, and then the European Union itself, broke up, with the various European powers creating regional blocs. In the meanwhile, Greece fell to a communist revolution. Go figure.

In China, tensions between the People's Republic and its neighbors reached a boiling point. Once the dollar collapsed, the CCP knew its days were numbered. In a fit of desperation, they decided that the best way to motivate the people (and keep their large male population distracted) was a short, clean war in the South China Sea. The Sino-Asian War did not turn out well for the Chinese. After a failed invasion into Vietnam[4] and the destruction of the Chinese navy at the hands of Japan and South Korea, the People's Republic eventually fell to internal unrest. The war had cut China off from all imports, destroying its economy and causing more problems than it hoped to solve with a short war. A second Republic of China was declared by defecting PLAN revolutionaries in Beijing in 2028, and by 2032, they had the entire country under their control.

The Middle East powder keg exploded, and after the dust settled, Israel was the big winner. The Saudi-Iranian "cold war" became hot, after the Saudi royal family was overthrown by an Islamist revolt, supported by the Islamic State, which the Iranians sought to stop. Israel joined the fray after the Islamic State attacked it in retaliation for giving covert support to the Iranians (the lesser of two evils, in Tel Aviv's eyes), and the Israelis showed the Islamic State exactly why the older Arab governments did not want to mess with them. While the Islamic State did succeed in destroying the Islamic Republic of Iran, they merely paved the way for Israeli dominance of the region.

Here's a brief outline of what is below:
-1- A description of the RP
-2- A map of the RP
-3- IC, UNGA, UNSC, Alliance threads, meetings/conferences, etc
-4- A list of countries and their players(Roster)
-5- Applications for Key Powers( Ex. US, Germany and France, England and Russia )
-6- Applications for regular nations
-7- The Rule of the RP
-8- Announcements

The 2055 Nation RP: Ain't What it Used to Be

WiP

Below is the official map of this RP. It shows major powers (with or without players) and nations belonging to players. This map will be updated as often as possible.

* Autonomous States like Alaska, Texas, Utah, Etc. Can be Rp'd

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Links:
OOC Thread:
UN thread: Coming Soon
Asia Summit Thread: Here

Roster:
Here's a list of the nations and their players. This is not a list of the only countries allowed to be played.

Accepted Nations:

Second American Republic New Rnclave

Primorsky Republic of Russia Sanabel

United States of Holland The Greater Dutch Republic

Republic of Kurdistan [nation] The People's East Africa[/nation]

German Republic Zelent

Califronia Republic Reatra

Confederation of Nordic States Plzen

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Reserved:

Califronia Republic Reatra

Terrorist/Rebel/Insurgent Groups


Corporations

Applications:
Several powers are essential to the playing of this RP. See instructions for application farther down. Please consider playing a power if any are available. If you are playing one of these powers, I except you to do some more research so that you know your nation inside and out.

Applications for nations:

Code: Select all

 [box][size=150][b]Generic Info[/b][/size]
[b]Nation Name: [/b]
[b]Symbols: [/b] (ex. Flag, Coat of Arms, National Anthem, personifications, etc.)
[b]Homeland Population: [/b] (population of everyone considered a citizen)
[b]Imperial Population:[/b] (include population of colonies)
[b]Location/Claims: [/b] (include number)
[b]Capital City: [/b]

[size=150][b]Government Info[/b][/size]
[b]Government Type:[/b] (ex. The USA is a [i]Presidential Constitutional Federal Republic[/i])
[b]Brief Explanation of Government:[/b] (explain all the complex/unique stuff that can't be described in the type section)
[b]Ideology:[/b]  (Refer to [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_ideologies]this[/url])
[b]Leader/s:[/b]  (Head of State, Head of Government, etc.)

[size=150][b]Population Info[/b][/size]
[b]Brief Description of your people:[/b]
[b]Religion:[/b]
[b]Ethnicity:[/b]
[b]Main/Accepted Culture(s):[/b] (ex. IRL-UK would be English, Scottish; only cultures that are dominant and the gov't favors)
[b]Other Cultures:[/b] (ex. IRL-UK would have been Irish, Welsh, etc ; cultures that aren't accepted by the gov't/people)

[b][size=150]Economy[/size][/b]
[b]GDP Expectation as of 2055:[/b]
[b]Main Exports: /b]
[b]Main Imports: [/b]
[b]Other information: [/b]

[size=150][b]Military Info[/b][/size]
[b]Army: [/b] (branches, number of troops, quality of army, etc,)
[b]Navy: [/b] (branches, number of troops, quality of navy, etc,)

[size=150]Other Info[/size]
[b]Brief Description of your Economy:[/b]
[b]Goals: [/b]
[b]History: [/b] ( Must include how the nation fared during the collapse )
[b]Special Factors: [/b]
[b]Code Word:[/b]
[b]RP Sample:[/b] (required)
429 - Do not remove. This is for tracking purposes.[/box]
 

Application for Rebel Groups:

Code: Select all

[box]
 Name of your Rebel Group:
 Country that you are rebelling in:
 Base of Operations:
 Number of Followers/Members:
 Why you are rebelling:
 Popular support:
 Quality of Weapons, from 1 to 10:
 Suppliers:
 429 (It helps to find apps)[/box]

I will be background checking all of your application for accuracy. You will not be accepted until your application is as accurate as can be. Don't worry, I will help you out if you don't know any information.
Last but certainly not least, there are a few rules to go over:

Rules:

Timescale:
In this RP, I will be generally directing the timescale, although you are welcome to help out with that in the game. Because of the nature of the way RPs like this work, a single day can elapse over countless posts, or a single post can advance the timeline by a month. All that is asked is that no-one advance the timeline unreasonably. By this I mean that if two nations are at a conference and are engaging in discussions, some other player can't make a post that takes place a week in the future. That being said, try to keep such conferences to a minimum in order to keep the timeline moving. And be aware of the limitations that exist in communication technologies at this time.

Waging War:
Any conflict that is started must be waged reasonably and realistically. This is still the Twenty First Century people! Troops are constantly hampered by the technological limitations of the day, which I will go into more detail about below:

Technology:
Understanding the limitations of your nation's technology is important. Make sure that you play according to that technology.

Know How to Lose:
This is the biggest problem I see in RPs, and I have no doubt that some dummy will cause this issue at some point. In every battle, at every second, every side tries to describe some heroic definitive victory move, a "checkmate" if you will, that causes their army to emerge victorious. This results in an incredibly childish back-and-forth and makes the game un-enjoyable. if you are losing due to decisions made earlier on, then for god's sake lose! Don't try to make up some bullcrap about a single unit of soldiers that manages to survive and win the day, that's not how real war works. Now, I'm not saying that occasionally, in certain circumstances, definitive heroics aren't allowed. If I catch anyone breaking this simple rule of integrity in a major way, there will be one warning, followed by out-the-door.


Meta-Gaming:
This is the last point I need to make. What is meta-gaming? Well, when the British start thinking about negotiating a takeover of Mexico, and suddenly Mexico boosts it's military numbers way up and is put on high alert, that's meta-gaming: because Mexico couldn't possibly know exactly what the British were thinking. This is unacceptable. Also, you must declare espionage before you commit it, (either on the OOC or IC) you can't just say that you committed espionage and knew the enemy's plans after you had decimated their entire army.

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Announcements:
IC thread is up!
CUBA IS AWESOME!!

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That is all

[Protector Galactics]

Anchorage, Alaska
The City was an anarchic hell hole. Police were trying to keep control of the city but the their was a situation in every corner of the city. 200 Republican Soldiers were stationed in Anchorage, joining the police forces in maintaining control of the city. Captain Zeier of the 22nd Republican Brigade was in the city. He and his men were moving through the streets securing every corner while keeping a keen eyesight. Papers from the office buildings above filled the streets, while cars were attacked in an intersection by angry anarchist's. Captain Zeier and his men fired a few rounds towards the group making them scramble for cover. "Oi Charles, Edward, Cover our backs while we secure that intersection. The rest of you, on me." The group of 5 slowly approached the intersection securing the buildings along side it. Gun fire erupted on the men. A group of Rebellious Teens began charging at the soldiers. The troops fired off rounds of rubber bullets at the teens, dropping them to the ground. Zeier hand cuffed the group and waited for the police trucks to arrive.

Anchorage City Hall
Meanwhile, Vice President Michael Rosewood was about to step up to a press conference in Anchorage city hall. Michael just suffered a divorce and the lose of 2 Children. He suffered more depression by the pressure of being Vice President. He already decided to take his own life during his speech. He hid a 22. Caliber Revolver in a yellow envelope bag and printed a few suicide letters for advisers. Then he went into the press hall relaxed. "Good Afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen of the new Republic. I would like to tell you a little story of my life. I was born in Santa Monica, California in 2000. I grew up with a very wealthy family, I very appreciated every opportunity I had with them. Then we suffered dramatically in 2008. We were ranked down as middle class citizens. We lost a good amount of money from the recession. I later went on to Law School, Graduated and joined the government in 2028. I married a very lovely woman and 10 years later we had kids. I watch them grow with their dad miles away serving Alaska. Then in 2049 I lost my kids to a shoot out in a restaurant." He paused to wipe off his tears. "They were killed very young. I blame the Liberal government in California for their deaths. If there was concealed carry, non of this would of happened. A few years later I also lost my wife to a divorce. To this day I love her to the bottom of my heart and I want to let her know if she is watching this, that I love her. Now, I would like for my adviser to come up." He soon put the yellow bag near him as he passed out his letters to his advisers. (Warning Graphic)
Michael's suicide shocked millions of viewers watching the news.

Juneau, Alaska
President Meyer stormed off to his room after watching the news in disbelief. He was a friend of Michael, and wouldn't imagine he would do such a thing. The Alaskan Secretary of State was in the next room being sworn in as Vice President. "Do you solemnly swear you will rule The Republic of Alaska with Justice, faith, and trust? If so say I do." "I do." "Congratulation's Mr. Vice President." Taylor Burlington was a well known politician through out Alaska, before and after it's Independence. Although, he was just 28 years old, he was known for whipping the votes in the House. He too was also a good friend with Michael. He knew Taylor would be a good successor to the Vice Presidency. President Meyer soon recovered and came out of his room cursing out loud. He immediately gave orders to Taylor. "Please, I need you to go and transfer Michael's files to my office." The day was Chaotic for the new Republic. But it was yet to go through another stage of change.

[Alouite]

Annapolis, Maryland

Inside of the Indigo Corporation HQ, the company President, Johnathon V. Autumn stood at the end of a table with the General of Nigerian Operations, North African Special Operations, Middle Eastern Special Operations, Russian Special Operations, and the Office of Special Affairs division which is the name of Indigo Black Ops. The men sat at the table and a bottle of champagne was poured at each man's position by waiters who immediately left the room after they were done. Four guards stood at each corner of the room with sound proof earbuds in, they were truly a formality as there was no chance anyone would attack Indigo's HQ since they have never done all that much to make themselves a known enemy of any entity, and of course the fact that their most advanced weaponry and some of the best soldiers were always on duty in the building. Johnathon V. Autumn, president of the corporation is referred to by the Generals as the Superior Command General of Global Operations to help formalize his position and give a more military styled name to him to make it feel more like a military branch, which in the way they were, for short he was referred to as Superior General Autumn and often called 'Sir'. Johnathon waited for all of the generals to sit before seating himself. He then casually swiped the table and a holographic map of the world appeared in the center. A special Indigo Encryption Secured Indigo Glass Tablet held by each of the Generals and an even more secure one held by Mr. Autumn. He placed his tablet against the map and it glowed light blue. He swiped the tablet and it shifted over to Nigeria slowly zooming in. Johnathon started speaking, "General Davis, how are operations in Nigeria? Specifically our infrastructure and anti-Boko Haram operations" General Davis replied "Supreme General Autumn, our infrastructure investments are holding up and we have completed the high tech hospital and police station in Ibadan, and our new national HQ in Port Harcourt has been prepped for construction. In addition we set up a small command center for military operations ten kilometers north of Benin City. We will have an airfield by the end of the week." Mr. Autumn replied "Very well. It's good to know that's on track, and the procurement of Nigerian reactionary rebel uniforms?" General Davis replied "Sir, We have a supplier, he knows us as the Anti-Boko Haram Front, other than that we've made it almost untraceable to the corporation, once we get the reactionary uniforms we can start wiping out the rebels and begin a massive infrastructure repair campaign that will surely rise the condition of life in Nigeria, when that's done it may well make that country rise to the level of modernization of South Africa, it'll be almost as good as our projects in Morocco were." Mr. Autumn smiled and said "I'm glad to here you are confident in this operation, that always makes things better for us, well done General, we'll transfer 1,000 extra PMC operators to that front and I'll send out the word to Chrysler, DMC and Kolemans that they should begin preparing to expand into Nigeria after our sweep up campaign, in a year or two we'll be done and we can move on to securing the Nigerian Border and perhaps to Egypt, if we play are cards right, we can stabilize that nation for a fee and get more secular and democratic politicians elected while ones with terrorist links and more fundamentalist views will be taken out. We play our cards right there, and we might have Cairo and Alexandria resembling a free and opene Abu Dhabi. Of course that'd be almost a decade away at full pace, which I intend to move at. Perhaps Colonel Thompson under the North African Operations front could center his focus on Egypt and even be promoted in a similar fashion to General Farris. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Actually, General Wellington, how is the North African Special Operations holding up?" General Wellington replied "Sir, it's holding up just fine, we're beginning risk assessment for the several rebellious factions in Libya, we're considering you're suggestion to divide the country in to three nations based on ethnicity since it worked in Yugoslavia when NATO did that and we already are planning to do that to Syria when Office of Special Affairs begins it's operations." Supreme General Autumn replied "Very well, good job General, and the Polisario Front?" General Wellington replied "They're still pushed to the brink while not entirely destroyed, of course, we need them to exist for future infrastructural damages to rogue nations." Mr. Autumn smiled a little and said "That's good, but they aren't bothering any locals in Morocco?" General Wellington replied "That's our first priority as always sir." Mr Autumn replied "That's even better." Johnathon turned to the next General and it zoomed in on Iraq and the Levant along with the surrounding area. "Sir, we've made contact with Peshmerga and Kurdish command and will be donating some ordinance along with sending support troops to help wipe out the areas controlled by the extremists, we're requesting you lobby the American President and Congress to help make Kurdistan a country in the near future, give them full support on the issue of independence and even support them being protected by NATO. In addition we will soon begin supporting regional secession groups in Syria including the Assyrians, Aleppo, Armenians, Levantines, Alawites, Arabs and Circassians" Mr. Autumn replied "That sounds reasonable to me. I'll get on that first part when we finish our meeting, the others will take time and require the groups cooperation." Mr. Autumn swiped one more time and it shifted to General Lansing of the OSA. Mr. Autumn began "Ah, so here we go, with all the information we now have here are you're orders. Maintain your forces in southern Algeria and Morocco for now, keep them discreet as always, but begin monitoring the situation in Libya closely. In Nigeria, you are to begin setting up bunker's in the north to position strike teams and when the airfield is finished we can get some vehicles on the ground, as soon as the rebel uniforms are procured, we can begin our advance. Finally, as to the situation in Syria, get some men in revolutionary uniforms with our reinforced Kevlar along with some of our modified M107 "Patton's Return" 'Sand Striker' models out there, oh, and some of our small drones we based off of US and Israeli tech. We should use those too, both spider drones for stealthy low lying attacks and the small low lying flying variant, specifically model 'UAVFA-52'." General Lansing replied "Yes sir. I'll make it happen. In addition, I would like to report in that we have begun production of Iranian Military Uniforms from a factory in the Taghit, Algeria facility. We purchased it anonymously and have made sure that it is up to their current code. Soon we can add false IR tags to them that will seem foreign enough to be assumed as Iranian Special Forces uniforms. We can begin Operation Golden Dome, we're already able to contact outside members of the ILF, once that is done we can begin to plan out the tactics for the operation." Mr. Autumn replied "The utmost safety must be approached when doing this, Iran will be tricky if this goes too far wrong, we don't want what the US did to Iraq and Syria to happen to Iran, that's the worst case scenario, but at least then they'd be more decentralized. This operation goes ahead along with the secret operation in Pakistan. Understood." General Lansing replied "Yes sir." General Autumn finished his champagne and turned off the hologram being projected by the table. He stood up along with the generals and saluted them saying "Carry on good generals, I'll speak to the president, but continue all operations in full force." The Generals said "Yes sir." and walked out to go to the airfield just out of town so they could get to their Operation Command Centers.

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Later that day...

Mr. Autumn sent in a request to the American president for the support of Kurdistan becoming a nation. As a defense contractor with America, such requests weren't too uncommon and communications between the President of America and President of the Indigo Corporation were fairly common as well since he handles all military actions. Mr. Autumn sent a message on the secured server between the US and his company that had been created after signing a defense agreement. The Indigo Corporation had maintained that agreement since 2016 when it assisted in the War on Terror and many covert opeations. The message read:

From: President Johnathon V. Autumn of the Indigo Corporation
To: The Honorable James P. Ryan, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Second American Republic's Armed Forces

Good evening Mr. President, The Indigo Corporation has begun an overseas operation with the Peshmerga Kurdish government that have intensely assisted in the fight against radical Islamic extremists. We will be providing support, ordinance and supplies to the two groups and supporting both their operations and their causes from now onward. Their positive influence has time and time again throughout history been positive in the Middle East and so I would personally on behalf of my corporation and it's interests in the Second American Republic and continued security of homeland and overseas assets the Second American Republic maintains, like to suggest that a Democratic Kurdish Republic be supported in Eastern Syria and Northern Iraq. For many generations the Kurds have had no homeland and been repeatedly exiled from society and executed by violent regimes in the middle east, indeed even the Ronald Reagan administration helped weaken the Kurdish cause by promising support in a revolution before pulling out at the last moment to force Iraq and Iran to co-operate so that we could stabilize relations between them which subsequently also led to a massacre that put down the revolt we encouraged. Such vile examples of foreign and even American negative forces on their culture and ethnicity have time and again become dangerously close to a near annihilation of their ethnic group, but they have again risen from little to what they are now with a positive, non-extremist and relatively non-aggressive view on the world around it. Such an astounding resilience and ability to maintain such a civil attitude in the wake of ethnic cleansing is more than exemplary, it is the epitome of positive progressive thinking. That is why, Mr. President, I would like to formally address congress to recognize the Kurds right to independence and freedoms in the middle east, let them set an example for future democratic movements in the region. Our Corporation also has reason to believe that Kurdish independence could lead to a massive economic boost in our economy as we could begin exporting American cars to Kurdistan and begin a second expansion into the Middle Eastern Automotive Sales Area, perhaps even capable of fully revitalizing the American Automotive Industry to a degree not seen worldwide since the 1950's. Indeed such a boost in our economic capabilities could even be enough to begin fueling a second American Era of Prosperity. So with a military, economic, political, and humanitarian obligation our company has to the region, I recommend a full recognition and protection of the region. Thank you for hearing out my request.

Signed,

President Johnathon V. Autumn of the Indigo Corporation

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Al-Qamishli

Colonel Fulton who was already in Kurdish Controlled al-Qamishli approached the local commanding officer upon an update from General Lansing and informed him that they'd be donating ten M107 "Patton's Return" 'Sand Strikers', 5,000 Modified Swedish AK-15 rifles and around 600,000 rounds of 5.56×45mm ammunition, the Mod. 1 AK-5 is the official service rifle of the Indigo Corporation, so they had enough to supply the front line troops in Syria, currently this was an investment, but if a free, oil rich and infrastructural deficient Kurdistan were to arise, the Indigo Corporation could far more than make back the cost in investments and security contracts. He went on to request they make an airfield a few miles out of town to allow Indigo Corporation forces to begin operations in the region and assist in combating radical Islam through various means.

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Erbil

Colonel Yussef received the message shortly before his chopper landed at a helipad at the city airport. He had taken the chopper from Corfu Greece and had to land briefly in Batman, Turkey on his way through. Colonel Yussef was there to meet with KurdishPeshmerga official and former Prime Minister Kosrat Rasul Ali. Yussef introduced himself and informed the Peshmerga official that the Indigo Corporation was hoping to open a base in Erbil and begin investments in infrastructure and modernization along with setting up a small facility to provide security where additional forces are needed in Kurdish Iraq. Colonel Yussef also informed them that four militarized Mk. V Eurocopters that the Indigo Corporation had produced based on the original model with several improvements for combat purposes would be given to the Kurds for defensive purposes regardless of how the deal went.

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Libyan Airspace

Five Lockheed F-117 Nighthawks began routine runs over Libyan airspace protected by smaller fighter planes. Thanks to the Indigo Corporation's alliance with Lockheed-Martin, they had the right to produce Lockheed products for use under their agreement with Lockheed and the Second American Republic so long as they weren't used against NATO members or civilian populations. Of course the documents on the subject had far more conditions but in Libya's case these two requirements were all that truly applied. During their flight it was fairly evident that the nation was already divided into three ethnic regions, Berber majority Tripolitania, Arab majority Cyrenaica and Tuareg and Toubou Majority Fezzan which had more or less united under a single banner. The reports were sent back to base to be considered for when the corporation begins it's Libya Crisis recovery program.

[Plzen]

Kvitøya, Svalbard, Kingdom of Norway, Confederation of Nordic States,
Site of the Forskningsstasjon Svalbard, a secret facility of the Nordic Council,
17:30 local time, 16 January 2055.

Although the last floors of this brand-new base was still being built, the top floors - the ones above the snow - were already being used by the research crew. What they were up to, nobody knew. Not even Sigrid - the overseer of this entire project - have been told exactly what this base was for, and why it was placed so far north in the bitter cold surrounded by kilometers and kilometers of nothingness.

Perhaps it was to keep the secret tight, she thought. Out here, surrounded by a monotonous snow-covered landscape, a foreign spy won't be able to stumble upon the base even if the spy knew exactly where it was. This island - with all the cold and snow - was very difficult to navigate in. It would make sense for the odd location, she thought. The level of secrecy surrounding this base - she wasn't even allowed to leave the island - was more than paranoid.

Sigrid was growing more and more curious. What were they actually doing in the base? The answer she got, "some research," was just so thoroughly unsatisfactory.

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Stockholm, Kingdom of Sweden, Nordic Confederation
The Seat of the Nordic Council
09:00 local time, 18 January 2055

"Then we are agreed," noted Johan Svensson. "My fellow statesmen of the Nordic Council, a toast to our future - never mind we're only having water!"

After clearing his throat, he raised his half-liter bottle in celebration.

"To a beautiful future! Skål!"

A few dozen representatives also raised their bottles.

The subject of their celebration was quite obvious. It was the fact that the six nations of the Nordic Council finally, finally agreed on certain matters. The result of that agreement could be found on Johan's desk at this moment.

The 4th Nordic Five Year Economic Plan: 2056~2061, the document read. It was the result of nearly a year of negotiations between the six nations.

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Åland Islands, Republic of Finland, Nordic Confederation
Site of the Tutkimusasema Ahvenanmaa, a not-so-secret facility of the Nordic Council
18:30 local time, 19 January 2055

"Hmm, how interesting," observed Hannu Järvinen, a senior researcher of this secluded base. "That was not the expected result, was it?"

"Definitely not," replied his aide.

Their experiments - the experiments they have been working on for many, many years - were finally a success! A prototype of the resulting discovery stood on a counter of their third floor offices.

It was the most uninteresting object that you could think of. Yet, it was a representation of one of the most important scientific discoveries made by the Nordic States in the past decade.

It was... a rechargeable battery.

What made this one so special was that it could hold more electricity than a roomful of batteries made with previous technology. It was now possible - well, as soon as they could get this thing mass-produced - to transport substantial quantities of electricity by ship.

"Send the blueprints to our production facilities," ordered Hannu. "The faster we can get this thing on the market, the better off we'll be."

[The Greater Dutch Republic]

United States of Holland:

Her Royal Majesty, Queen Catharina-Amalia Beatrix Carmen Victoria, and Madam President Eva Maarschalkerweer, walked side by side down the hallway, towards a meeting room. When they opened the doors, all inside bowed to the Queen, and then saluted the President, as was customary in Holland nowadays. Her Majesty took it in stride, smiling and waving back, greeting dignitaries, and the like. The President, never one to slack off, went immediately to her chair. Once the Queen was done, she too took a seat. The meeting began. The President was the first to speak. "Well, people, it's 2055, and that means it's time to decide what we are going to do for the next five years. Again. Well, there's the issue with the Amsterdam". Immediately, the Queen shot up out of her seat. "Project Starlight was scrapped, because we don't have enough resources or time to waste on this, this... Space battleship!". The President calmly took out a list. "Well, we certainly have enough resources. New Flanders certainly has that wrapped up. Our economy is one of the biggest in the world, so that's not a problem. And our population can sustain enough workers to build it. We'd only need about 300. And time? Well, what else are we doing right now, exactly? Besides mining the moon for all it's worth". The Queen sat down, obviously miffed. The Governor of the state of Antwerp stood up, and started going on about Project Starlight, about why it was shut down in the first place, and why it shouldn't be re-continued. It was then that Queen Catharina-Amalia store up again, and silenced the room. "Project Starlight has the green light. But make it quite. I don't need Germany or America banging down our doors because we are building a starship made quite specifically for war. But you all will handle this. I only gave it the green light. I don't want to hear a thing about Project Starlight until its done, or you've failed. Understood?". The entire room was an ocean of nodding heads. The Queen sighed, then her head popped up again. "Wait. What if we bring in another nation? Two starships, two nations, with our combined resources and research?". The Governor of South Holland stood up. "I believe that Germany is a good choice. They are close to establishing a colony on the moon, and might be willing to help us". A Senator from Friesland stood up. "Absolutely not. The Germans would not so much as think of working with us. The Nordic Confederation seems to be a much more suitable candidate to me". The Governor of Brussels, who's power was equal to a Vice Presidents(Holland had no actual Vice President), stood up. "I agree with my friend here. The Nordic Confederation would be far more willing to help, that along with the fact that they have more resources than Germany". The Queen smiled. "Very well. The Nordic Confederation it is. I will get right on that. Meeting adjourned". As the people funneled out, the President, the Queen, and the Governor of Brussels stayed behind. The Governor voiced his concern. "If Project Starlight is discovered, we will have a lot of very angry countries to deal with. And if the NC doesn't accept our proposal, that would set the finish date for the Amsterdam back for quite some time". The Queen shushed him, much to his chagrin. "Project Starlight will have to work. Otherwise everything we have done and will do has been for nothing". The President also spoke up. "And the NC has no reason to not join us. We won't tell them about Project Starlight until after they accept. Hopefully they won't be miffed about it". The Governor nodded. "Very well. I suppose you two have things to be doing right now?". His counterparts nodded. "I will take my leave back to Brussels, then".

To the Government of the Nordic Confederation,
It is no secret that Holland has succeeded greatly on the subject of things beyond earth. But the Nordic Confederation has been at the head of many leaps and bounds in technology on Earth. I believe that forming a combined science division would not only help the Nordic Confederation leap into the stars, but help Holland with it's more earthly requirements. We have focused too hard on space, but you have focused to much on the ground. We can benefit from each other, and this is why this message is sent to you, a proposal for the establishment of a joint research division. I await your response.
Signed on this day, of the year of the Common Era 2055, by Her Royal Majesty, Queen Catharina-Amalia Beatrix Carmen Victoria of the United States of Holland.

[Plzen]

Stockholm, Kingdom of Sweden, Nordic Confederation
Seat of the Nordic Council
06:30 local time, 20 January 2055

A certain diplomatic message came to the attention of the Nordic Council one particularly warm morning in Stockholm.

To the Government of the Nordic Confederation,
It is no secret that Holland has succeeded greatly on the subject of things beyond earth. But the Nordic Confederation has been at the head of many leaps and bounds in technology on Earth. I believe that forming a combined science division would not only help the Nordic Confederation leap into the stars, but help Holland with it's more earthly requirements. We have focused too hard on space, but you have focused to much on the ground. We can benefit from each other, and this is why this message is sent to you, a proposal for the establishment of a joint research division. I await your response.
Signed on this day, of the year of the Common Era 2055, by Her Royal Majesty, Queen Catharina-Amalia Beatrix Carmen Victoria of the United States of Holland.

"This is certainly an interesting proposition," said the Secretary General, "and it is far above the scope of my power to decide on such important matters. I therefore wish to put the matter of our response to a discussion and vote in the Council."

About five minutes passed, during which members of the Council discussed with their peers and each nation solidified its opinion.

Iceland came out strongly opposed.

"We currently hold the advantage of advanced industrial technology," argued Councilman Árnason, President of the Republic of Iceland, "which currently is a key to our current economic survival and prosperity. The Netherlands, while currently a much smaller economy than ours, can easily be a viable competitor if we share our industrial secrets. Surely it is advantageous to retain our monopoly of certain technologies, especially the recently discovered Järvinen electric cell, which are, after all, one of the reasons why we are rich?"

After the translators finished their work, a strong debate started again. It was a good five minute before the right to speak was finally passed to the next person.

Norway was strongly in favor.

"Nobody here has said anything about sharing vital technologies as Councilman Árnason implied," responded Councilman Anderson, Mayor of Bergen since 2039. "All that is being proposed is that the Nordic Confederation develop a joint research program with the Netherlands. All that we are being asked to provide is resources, funding, and our scientific expertise. Besides, we stand to gain greatly also. The Netherlands are offering to provide their aerospace expertise, which we can certainly use to develop our own space program."

Noting the quiet murmurs, he said one last sentence before ending his speech.

"Should this Council approve of this joint effort with the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Norway is willing to provide some of our oil surpluses to the proposed programme."

The Swedish representatives declined to comment. They were still arguing between themselves. The Secretary General was asking his fellow Swedes to vote for the proposal, but was unable to convince many.

Denmark was slightly reserved. The Representative of Sjælland gave a lengthy speech. Very little is known about the Dutch space program, she argued. It was possible that the Netherlands did not actually have the expertise that they claimed to have, and was merely seeking to exploit Nordic scientific expertise. However, she admitted, if the Netherlands was being honest in their letter, then this was, in her and her colleagues' considered opinion, an opportunity that they should not miss.

Finland was strongly in favor. Time was running out, the Prime Minister argued. The Nordics have grown rich exploiting the resources under their land, but if they wanted to stay rich, it was time to start finding resources among the stars. Estonia heavily supported this opinion also.

After a slight change to the proposal, as requested by the Danish representatives, the vote was held.

The resolution passed. Nearly 70% of the members approved of this proposal.

To Her Royal Majesty Queen Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands,

Greetings,

After careful consideration, the Nordic Council has decided to accept your offer to create a joint scientific research program in order to foster technological development in our two countries. The Nordic Council is willing to provide funding, engineering expertise, and certain resources, most notably energy and rare materials, to the project, and will expect the Netherlands to provide the aerospace and chemical technologies and expertise required to make this project a success.

Any technologies and discoveries made by this joint program will naturally be shared between and only between the governments of our two countries and any other entities with whom we see fit to provide these technologies and discoveries.

The Nordic Council, and by extension the Nordic Confederation, is hopeful for a new age of scientific cooperation between our great countries.

Regards,

Johan Svensson,
Secretary General of the Nordic Council, and

Árni Reynirson,
President of the Nordic Council,

On this day the 20th of January of the Year of Our Lord 2055.

[Reatra]

"So far it's gotten eighty three thousand miles down. We've got a carbon nanotube cable dangling in the upper atmosphere. But laying has stalled due to lack of carbon shipments. The satellite itself, though, is completely ready. As is the laser array on the platform. The platform is almost seventy five percent done, and once it is it'll be released from the legs." Dario reported.
"Great, Dar, great. How about the Ecuadorians? There are still some on the island, how do they feel about being Californian?" Riley asked.
"I'm not the best person to ask, Ry, but only about thirteen percent have moved back to Ecuador. We've given them free transport to the mainland, and also offered free carrying of their possessions too, so it seems many of them like being Californian, or at least don't want to leave their home." Dario said.
"Good, good. Any word from any other countries asking about our intentions?"
"No, but I am sure the Americans are freaking out right now. Since they stopped exports of Helium 3 everyone has begun to send rockets up. Therefore our "decoy" of the machines going to dig up the regolith haven't caught any eyes. It was pretty stupid of them, the Americans. But once we get the base up and the line down all the way, well, we'll be the ones with a monopoly."
"It'll be great, Dario."
"It sure will."

---

"The next rocket up is going to be a monster..." Danny said. "But if you really insist we get the first dozen up there before the cable comes down that's fine with me. It'll just be a bitch to finance. The first satellite will be mostly over Brazil. Geosynchronous so that it can call in a strike at any time, and will hopefully stop any American aggression… Or that of any nation…”
"Hey, it's worthwhile. The Americans are getting Jingoistic... or nationalist... Or whatever the term is. We can't have that. Especially since we used to be part of them." Riley said.
"Alright, I guess, I still think it's cheaper to wait."
"Well once they go up we can say that we can erase Chicago, New York, and DC off of the map."
"That'll be fun."

[Zelent]

Wolken über Wien:Part One
Henri "Alp" Schmidt sat in a tiny little coffee shop perched out on one of the busiest streets of the Government area in Vienna, his eyes occasionally looking up from his SAP AG Laptop occasionally, focusing in on the parking structure across the street. His watch buzzed for a second, getting his attention as he opened up the message. It was from Vogel, what a cheesy call sign,
In structure, the Vogel is in the structure. He became unnoticeable amount more alert, peeking through the corner of his eyes towards the two story structure that many government employees came to every morning on their way to work, soon, the bored and uninterested Valet seemed to have jumped to alertness, looking behind him towards a row of cars before walking out of sight. About 8 nervous minutes later, a new face walked into sight as Vogel having dawned the Valet's uniform came into view. It wouldn't be long before the Minister of Defense of Austria would arrive, Thomas Ahlers was a known Socialist, also the reason why this group of spies happened to be deployed to Vienna. 4 minutes later, at exactly 8.36 the brand new BMW belonging to the MoD drove up to the booth that Vogel had positioned himself in. Doing the regular transactions, the Ahlers handed his keys to Vogel, who promptly took the drivers seat, as Ahlers got out and began his routine walk to the coffee shop. Alp sat in his chair, focused on the laptop while Vogel was busy with a primary aspect to the coming weeks of secrecy and worryingly well thought out plots.

He parked the car near the rear of the parking structure, but before getting out hid a tracking device underneath the drivers seat, where Ahlers would never suspect, and after some electrical know how a bug was even set up inside one of the AC fans. Deciding he had taken to much time as it was, Vogel got out and briskly walked to his post, where he would have a very busy morning parking cars, trying to make everything look normal.

MoD waltzed his way into the coffee shop, without a bit of abnormality he ordered a latte, with Alp closely paying attention on everything he said, how he liked his coffee made even. At this point, Alp started to pack up, knowing that doing so after Ahlers left would only draw attention to himself. MoD was out of the shop just at the same time Alp was, Alp even holding the door for him. Turning the opposite direction, he sent a prepaired text to "Alice" as she sat at a park bench just down the street.
MoD coming your way.
Alice began the pursuit as Ahlers passed by and went another 20 feet or so before Alice began non-chalantly walking after him, she texted to the groups Austrian accomplices, both members of the Far Right unifcation party who worked as security guards at the Ministry Of Defense.
To Be Continued


=======================

Space
Mondraumstation
The Lunar Orbital Station was busier then usual, in addition to its permanent team of four astronauts, they had been joined by Raumgleiter's Dresden and Hamburg both carrying four astronauts each and loads to enter into Lunar orbit. Onboard Dresden was the Lunar Construction Robot and on board Hamburg the Lunar Living Modual. As the large craft made up docked together spacecraft came to the drop point, the robotic arms on both Gleiters lifted the crafts out, Dresden set its package fully extended outwards before releasing, the Hamburg doing the same. The two craft would land about 30 minutes later with the help of on board RCS modules gliding to land just 300 meters away from each other. Once the LCR unfolded its self, it would begin a slow drive to the LLM, where it would pave out the area around it with large mechanical brushes and then begin work to set up the Module for inheritance. Gleiter Königsberg would be the one to carry three astronauts who would begin life in the LLM, and prepare the area for an even large colony to be established in 2056.

[Protector Galactics]

The Alaskan Government started to level off after day's of elections. New Representatives were placed in the provinces, giving the people say in the government, Governors were also put in Position, giving Alaska stabilization. The President announced his State of the Union address earlier in the evening thousands tuned in to their television sets to watch the president's speech ."Good Night citizens of the newly born Republic. If you haven't noticed, their was a slight increase in our economy. This whole entire week we rose 5 Billion Dollars from oil. All this is thanked to our international sell of oil. Even the S.A.R is still dependent to our oil. In fact 25% of their oil is dependent on us. We hope we will continue to grow our relations for the future. But I have to admit, We are also still dependent on S.A.R's defense force while we grow the Republican Army and Navy. Now, I want to move on to our next topic. The infrastructure. Today I placed an order for the construction of a Nuclear Plant in the center of Alaska, Fairbanks, where the Energy can be easily distributed through out Alaska, leaving more crude oil open to the world market. "This will benefit Alaska in major quantities. If you haven't looked at our GDP, we seriously need the money to help out the military and border control to deal with the rising threats from our neighbors in the West. With this being said. I also passed a legislation to Congress to cut down on the amount of Welfare checks, by checking everyone getting one, history. We plan that this will save millions of dollars in budget. The money will be used for education and infrastructure, Which will grow international tourism and grow the number of Foreign Exchange Students. Which both will produce more money to our staggering economy. Now, aside of this, we also need to let our enemies know, that we are fully aware of them. But to them I say this. We are willing to bring on a fight. We will fight for our independence, for our freedom, for our liberty..... We won't go silent into the night. We won't despair without a public might. We won't vanish with out a fight. But we will fight for the right's of every single Alaskan standing on this soil today. Soldiers, if we ever do get into a war which god forbid that ever happens, you will be fighting for everyone's public right. For everyone's right to live or to exist. You will be the hero's for the future generations of what people consider "The Last True Capitalist Country" You will set a role model for our younger Generations. You will keep the pursuit of happiness alive in this nation. Without you, we are doomed to becoming only a legend. Look at everyone around us. Every country has a form of corruption. Every single being out there lives in a strictly regulated world. We are here to set a difference to the world. We are here to show the world, that their is still such thing as Capitalism. We will show everyone, that we are last beacon of hope. And to all of does that are hearing this internationally, if you truly believe in Capitalism, I want you to go up to your local authority and say this "I am mad. I am mad Goddammit and I want my freedom at this very instant!" And I want you to fight for that freedom you believe in. Because that's what every tyrant wants. They want to make peoples lives miserable just so they can pleasure themselves. Now I want to finish this speech with a message. The price of freedom will cost. And people will die because of it. I want you to get that freedom, because that will only create a true Capitalist world. Now, I want you to decide what you really want to fight for...." President Meyer sat back down on his chair as every single hand in the building applauded. Thousands of people watching the broadcast was left with a feeling of freedom. The number of Positive views soared across computers from the feedback after the speech.

Back at Anchorage, The city was becoming more stable since last week. Military presence was still in the area watching for anything to slip up. The number of military personal rose up by 160 more troops. The night in Anchorage was calm and peaceful as everyone headed home to relax.

[Zelent]

Wolken Uber Wien:Part Two
"Hansel" was the first to spot the MoD walk through the automatic doors of the Ministry, he knew the face well from two years working as a security guard there. He caught "Gretels" attention, making a loud cough that no one would have thought anything of, but Gretel, who was part of the team of eight people on duty at the scanners that day. She plunged her hand into her pocket, preparing the detonator that would play a major role in the plot to kill Ahlers. Timing it accurately enough, as Ahlers was preforming the routine turn around, himself behaving quite normally the scanner made a very loud and audible repetitive beeps, people cast their eyes over immediately. Amusing they must of thought, the Minister being suspected as a terrorist in his own Ministry. Some took pictures while others hushedly giggled, in fear perhaps of loosing their jobs. Ahlers looked embarrassed and frustrated at the same time,
"Please step over to secondary sir." Commanded Hansel awkwardly, not used to the authority.
"What! I am the Minister of this nations Defense! You will loose your job when I am through with you!"
"Sorry sir, I am required to do this by federal law." looking for approval from his manager, who was replying with a very amused look by the situation.
"Uhh, consider yourself dead." Said Ahlers. Very ironic.
MoD was taken into a side door, where he would be patted down in one room by Hansel and his briefcase searched by Gretel in another room. She acted quickly, she took out a matching briefcase from the file cabinet that had been whisked away by her at the end of her shift yesterday. This briefcase was special in that it was the exact same case, except it was planted with tiny microphone and a tracking device. Shuffling the important documents quickly into the replicate case, organizing them the same way they were, the incident was over rather quickly, with Ahlers handed the micro chipped bag. He wouldn't notice the difference.

[The Peoples East Africa]

Throughout the land of Kurdistan, railways shook as trains travelled westwards. The city of Al-Qamishli was their destination. Their cargo was the brave men of Peshmerga. 30,000 men in total, as well as 50 artillery pieces were being moved. Operation Syrian Freedom was being undertaken by them. Its mission was to push out the hostile Islamists once and for all. Though the Islamic State was defeated long ago by the combined forces of Israel and Kurdistan, some isolated groups still survived on. Central Syria was their biggest stronghold.

8,000 troops were on the front line, holding back any major assaults. After months of serving in the desert heat, they were fatigued and running low on supplies. Ammo and weapon quality were the biggest issues. A lack of international recognition, despite all the Kurds have done in fighting extremists, was a major problem and gave a limited number of countries to import from. So when the Indigo Corporation arrived with a very generous donation, there were celebrations among all the men. AK-15 rifles, 5,000 of them, were far better than the AR-15's and M4A1s which were standard among their forces. 600,000 rounds would definitely stop ammo supply problems for a while.

The commanding officer of the city, Agrin Talabani, was sitting in his office making some final adjustments to the invasion plan when a knock came on his door. Colonel Fulton was the man who gave this blessing to the Kurdish people. Agrin shook his hand for at least a minute while thanking him.

''This donation will truly be invaluable to our cause. The Islamists shall stand a chance when our equipment has gone far beyond what they expect. I must ask though, why have you chosen to give us this? What reward do you seek?''


Erbil
In the capital city of Kurdistan, Kosrat Rasul Ali, a veteran and former Prime Minister of Peshmerga was meeting Colonel Yussef, an official from the Indigo Corporation. They met in a secure office building which was guarded by two soldiers outside the door. Everything that the Colonel offered sounded fantastic! Investments in the nation would never be declined, and a facility to help the Iraqi forces would help lead to the final defeat of the Islamists. Kosrat thought over it while sipping at a glass of water.

''Looking at your offer from every angle, I must say that they're all fantastic ones! On behalf of Kurdistan and Peshmerga, I accept all offers of the Indigo Corporation.

[Protector Galactics]

-Delete-

[Empire of Gibraltar]

Presidents Palace, Madrid

President Mikhael Leone held a conference in his Palace War Room. "After our long militarization, it's time to take back what's ours. Who agrees with me?" Mikhael asked, even though if they said no he would veto them anyway.
Everyone in the room agreed, as this was a major goal of the revolution.
And so Mikhael wrote an Ultimatum to the leaders of Basque and Catalonia,

Dear the Leaders of Former Spanish States,
I have an ultimatum for you, whether you give up independence and become a puppet of Spain, which will allow you to still be a figurehead for the nation. Or I will invade with the full force of my army. I think it's an easy descision, don't you?
~Mikhael Leone, President of Iberia

The Presidental Cabinet was dismissed, and Mikhael went out to his balcony where a large amount of the population of Madrid sat there waiting for a speech from Mikhael.
"I have sent an ultimatum to the rebellious Catalonians, and Basques." Mikhael told his subjects proudly, "They can either join us voluntarily or involuntarily, it is there choice."
The watching crowd went wild, saluting to the "President".
"We shall see how long they will last against the armies of mighty Spain!" Mikhael rallied the people's cheers, "I know you will not let it stand."
Again the crowd cheered, but there was one person in the crowd not cheering, he pulled out a pistol and emptied a clip in the direction. Most missed by a large amount, but one hit Mikhael in the shoulder. It wouldn't be a fatal blow, but it enraged the President. The Presidents Guards caught the attempted assassin, along with the help of the crowd, who made sure he didn't go anywhere.
The President, brought him into the torture room personally, a resident of Madrid said they could here the screams half a mile away. The President learned that it was a Basque assassin, this only enraged him. He wouldn't follow through on his side of the ultimatum when it comes to Basque. He would kill their President and threw the rest of the ministers in a prison.

[The Greater Dutch Republic]

-Post Deleted By Order Of OP-

[Plzen]

Stockholm, Kingdom of Sweden, Nordic Confederation
Emergency Session of the Nordic Council
09:00 local time, 2 February 2055

"Order, order!"

Árni Reynirson was trying - in vain - to restore some sense of civility to the feuding council. Almost every representative in the Council was trying to talk over everyone else, often screaming in the process.

The biggest voice from the left side of the chamber belonged to Sigrid Berg, Mayor of Bergen.

"What the opposition is proposing is absolutely absurd," she said. "Since when did we interfere so much in foreign affairs? What happens in poor Southern European countries have nothing to do with us! Have we already grown so complacent, so soon after the Copenhagen Riots? We must focus our efforts on domestic affairs that actually benefit our people. There is no reason to believe that Spain will be a threat."

Aksel Nordahl, Minister of Internal Affairs in the Kingdom of Denmark, possessed the loudest opinion of the opposition.

"Mrs. Berg is being ridiculous! Of course we need to concern ourselves with matters of Southern Europe! Spain is threatening - no, blackmailing - its neighbours, and as the second largest economy on the European continent, it is our duty to maintain peace and stability in Europe. Failure to do so will seriously jeopardise the territorial integrity of the Nordic Confederation. We cannot allow this instability to continue."

Johan Svensson was groaning in frustration, face soundly planted in his very expansive, very expensive desk. Why oh why, he thought, did every session of the Nordic Council devolve into chaotic fighting?

And so the task of restoring order came down to Árni Reynirson, President of the Council.

"All of you! Shut up!"

As the President, Reynirson had one of the loudest microphone in the chamber. He was quite effective in restoring quiet. The chamber was silent in half a minute.

"The topic of this discussion, let me remind you, is whether or not the Nordic Confederation should guarantee the borders of Catalonia and Basque, and what other diplomatic actions, if any, we should take."

He let those words sink in.

"Any sort of direct military action is, at this point in time, woefully premature. Such will not even be considered until a full war starts."

Johan Svensson finally managed to squeeze a sentence in.

"Mrs. Berg, you may speak first."

---

Six hours later...

Resolution #006-2055 of the Nordic Council
Concerning the Situation in Spain and Neighbouring Countries

Concerned at the current level of diplomatic and military tension between Spain and her independent neighbours,

Noting the threat that this crisis poses to European peace and security and to economic and political interests of the Nordic States in the Iberian region,

Certain that a mutually acceptable solution to this crisis can be reached through negotiations in due course,

Realising the absolute necessity to prevent the crisis from triggering military aggression before such solutions can be reached,

The Nordic Council, authorised by relevant authorities from the six nations represented, hereby

1. Pledges to promote peace and stability within the regions affected by the current crisis through various means, including but not limited to,

a. Guarantee of the independence and territorial sovereignty of the three states involved in this crisis, namely Spain, Catalonia, and Basque,

b. Preparations for a general embargo and full cessation of trade with the aggressor should this crisis trigger military aggression, and

c. Deployment of journalists and official investigators to the regions affected, in order to inform the Nordic Confederation and the international community about the

true state of affairs in the affected regions and any later developments in a timely manner,

2. Recommends other states of international influence to promote peace in this region through actions including but not limited to,

a. The facilitation of negotiations between the states involved in this crisis and

b. Negotiation for the deployment of peacekeepers in the affected regions with the relevant states involved, and

3. Announces that it will remain actively interested in the current crisis.

Signed and Approved,

Johan Svensson,
Secretary General of the Nordic Council, and

Árni Reynirson,
President of the Nordic Council,

On this day the 2nd of February of 2055 Common Era.

[Zelent]

Wolken Uber Wien: Part 3

Roseinheim Kaserne
Theodor winded back on the pulley system as he was preparing the drone for launch from the catapult.
"Why do we have to drill this goddam early, and its just us, the UAV team that gets assigned to it." he sighed, thinking a drill in which they wouldnt even be flying after the first five kilometers was absolutely pointless. Erich, sitting at the UAV station table along with other members of the six man squad playing blackjack laughed off the junior drone mans complaining off.
"Munichs orders." he said.
"Why?" replied the young and inexperienced Theodor.
"Berlins orders." he said.
"Bullshit." gave up the private at last. Finally, as the sun peaked over the horizon they were ready to launch the drone off from the catapult.
"All systems are go for launch, fire on my mark." ordered their Captain, Robert
Erich was prepared, moving the cursor over the LAUNCH button, with a click a loud twanging noise was heard as the small bird sized craft launched out of its carrying system. One second into flight, the motors engaged sending it off into the sky as Erich continued guiding it with the laptop. After reaching the intended waypoint, 1000 meters over Traunreut, a lil village bordering Austria he received a notice on the DroneNET, Airstation Munich requesting control permissions. Granting the request as was the original plan, he lost visual feed.

A couple hours later
The small unmanned vehicle peaked through the clouds over Vienna and descended, not to close to draw attention from the sounds of its motors but close enough that it could be made out only if you were looking for it, its underside painted in a gray-bluish color to blend in. Moving quickly towards the central district of Vienna.

Meanwhile, at the small control base at the Munich offices of the secret services the small team of four officers were now using the bugs and tracking devices planted by Henris team in Vienna. They traced the car of MoD Ahlers, just two blocks from his daily parking structure. The drone, passing around that area at silent cruising speed used the location of the car to triangulate him, zooming in they confirmed it as Ahlers BMW with him at the wheel. Transferring the tracking data over to the UAV, it was able to keep a constant trace on the vehicle. They would have to make four more passes before the final stage was ready.

Minutes later, the drone brake and slowed down at an altitude of 400 meters. Once Ahlers left his daily coffee shop stop, the drone set in on a final swoop of the street he was walking down. Tracing with the UAV's thermal cam, keeping a clear line of sight on Ahlers, waiting for a perfect moment, once nobody was within five meters of him, they released the payload. Shooting out of the UAV was a single motor bumblebee size micro drone, much more silent and better for extremly low altituteds, it could even navigate around buildings. The micro drone flew down to just 30 meters, before releasing with a constant track on the minister. The final payload fired, a single honeybees thorn sized dart came gliding out, and with a computerized lead on the target, Ahlers neck, it struck dead center, he snapped his neck instintivley, brushing it off as a mosquito or fly or something, no big deal what so ever. Little did he know, 1.8 milligrams of Ricin were now traveling through his blood system. Ahlers, Minister of Defense of Austria would be dead in just 48 hours.

[Zelent]

Wogel Uber Wien: Part 4
4 days after the death of Ahlers, there were now noticable problems going on in Austria. The Socialist Party and Greens in Congress had now formed a bloc to stop the Zentrum and right from putting in their favored replacement, Johan Fischer being advocated for by the Presidents Zentrum party and fervently so by the Far-right unifcationists. Zentrum liked him because he was efficent and more loyal then Ahlers ever was to the center party while the VPO (Volks Partei Osterreich) had ties to him, as he was a high ranking party official and a proud supporter of unifcation. It all depended on this point where the independents would vote. After a heated debate, Fischer was selected by just a one vote majority in the National Council. As things looked more likely that Fischer would be put in, there was a huge debate in the Federal Council, with the Left walking out in protest allowing Fischer to go through the final nomination procedures with ease. Fischer was naturally popular amongst the right wing millitary, who were very quickly supportive of Fischers next steps.

One day after his emergency placement ad MoD,given the nature with which he came to power (Austria still believed Ahlers died of a heart attack) he was into office very quickly, and within three hours of his time as Minister, a press conference was held in which he unexpectedly went off on a pro-unification,anti government rant about how the very richest part of the population was pushing the poor down, popular sentiment among soldiers who hailed largely from working class families. He also lashed out against the governments inability to provide so much as a stable living for its citizens after decades of poverty. He ended the address by saying that unification with Germany thus was the only solution to Austrias chronic pains. The Zentrum Party was confused by this, and the VPO remained unresponsive when asked what their puppet was trying to do. Late in the evening, tanks from the 2nd Panzer 'Wien' Brigade advanced into the city, securing strategic positions and surrounding the government district. Police were on seen, but they were too under-armed to do anything other then try static negotiations with the Army units. By morning, the situation became obvious to all as schools were canceled in most places and gunfire was reported in some suburbs between a SPO (Socialist Party Osterreich) millita and infantry patrols. Later that morning, several high ranking officials were arrested on their way to work. By noon, the entire city would be embroiled in conflict, with Army units loyal to the government coming in with orders to fight off units loyal to the VPO. That's where we start the story back from.

*RATATATTAT* Bursted from the sound of an H&K Sub machine gun from the rear right side of the BMW as it raced down the Vienna street towards a government checkpoint, Alice finished off her burst before ducking back into the car as Henri braked rapidly, automatically atracting more returning gunfire as he threw the car into reverse and once at a fast enough backwards speed turned on the steering wheel, rapidly changing directions and taking a different route. The four accomplices listened to the Livefeed of various TV stations from Austria and Germany. Everything went hush when a live feed of the German official presidential spokesman. They gathered that Germany would not officially support either side in the conflict. In reality, the group of spys already knew that assistance of weaponry and ammunition drops had already been delivered to the VPO and it was merely a matter of time before a German "peacekeeping force" would arrive.
"We must get back to the embassy" stated Henri out loud to Vogel and Alice

[The Greater Dutch Republic]

United States Of Holland:

Queen Catherina and her panel of advisers, including President Eva Maarschalkerweer, sat at a curved table that formed a half-circle. In front of said table sat a rather large TV. It was 4 o' clock in the morning, so basically everyone there was dead beat except for the Queen. She had bought them all coffee and bluntly told them to "Suck it up", stating that this was important. She flicked on the TV, and played a recording of the local news station. The reporter started talking. "Shootings today in Vienna have caused multiple casualties as the country is embroiled in what seems like a civil war, stemming from the death of Austria's Late Minister of Defense, Minister Ahlers. Germany has stated that it will take no official side in the conflict, although satellite images show that German planes are being loaded with supplies, possibly to be given to the rebels. However, this is all speculation, as Germany may be giving those supplies to the Austrian government, or they may intend to use those supplies for something else. The Dutch Government has yet to make an official statement on the issue, although Queen Catherina-Amalia has said she will hold a meeting with her top advisers and the President to make a statement. Well, unfortunately, that's all I've got on this issue, because the German and Austrian governments are doing a really good job of keeping most of this under wraps. We'll go back to you, Claudi, in the office". By know, everyone was completely awake, and talking amongst themselves. One governor even suggested that Germany had incited the war, and that they were trying to make Großdeutschland. Eventually, the President stood up. "If the Germans are attempting their own Großdeutschland, then we are in trouble. Several of our border provinces with Germany have a good sized chunk of German-speakers, and I fear they may try to take us next. I believe that they will also strike at the Nordic Union, and Schleswig also has a large German population. We must form an alliance with the Nordic Union."

To Árni Reynirson, President of the Council of the Nordic Union,
The United States of Holland already has a research pact with your nation, however a new event has come to light. Germany, we believe, engineered the civil war in Austria, so that they may annex it. We believe that they may attempt to create Großdeutschland, and if so, they pose a threat to both of our nations. I propose a defensive pact, that states that if either one of us is attacked by Germany, we will muster the full force of our nation upon them. I await your response.
Signed on this day, of the year 2055, by Her Majesty Queen Catharina-Amalia Beatrix Carmen Victoria of the United States of Holland.

[Plzen]

Stockholm, Kingdom of Sweden, Nordic Confederation
Office of the Secretary General
13:30 local time, 7 February 2055

Silence reigned in the office. Nobody was particularly pleased at the latest news. Eventually, of course, Svensson became the first to speak.

"Well? Any thoughts?"

The ministers were thinking, of course, but... what could be done? The Nordic Confederation could not plausibly do anything to affect the Austrian disturbances.

"I doubt we can actually do anything, Johan," responded President Reynirson. "Austria now has a quasi-fascist government and there is literally nothing to be done about it."

"..."

Silence reigned in the office, again.

"There is, I think, something we can do," murmured Aksel Nordahl.

Reynirson caught that murmur.

"Huh? Please repeat that for me," he responded. Unlike the Secretary General, President Reynirson was Icelandic. His grasp of Danish was tenuous at best.

"I said," repeated Nordahl, in Swedish this time, "that there is something that we can do."

"Elaborate," inquired Árni Reynirson.

Aksel cleared his throat.

"An axiom that we often use in the police is, if there are seditious activities, investigate who benefits from it. There, you will be able to find the person responsible. In this case, we have a sudden rise of right-wing radicals. A rise that is too sudden to be explained by the natural turbulence of Austria. So, I ask you, who benefits from it?"

Svensson was sitting up, alert now.

"For one, the Austrian nationalists. All this chaos is making it very perilous to do business in Austria as a foreigner. Anybody with local financial interests stand to gain. Then there is obviously Germany. They'll certainly welcome another right-wing government, and an annexation isn't out of the question either. There is also the Polish nationalists. Chaos in Austria is certainly going to drag neighboring countries into it, especially Germany and Italy, and the Poles want those two countries to be weak."

"That is indeed my point, Secretary-General. Whoever it is that has been causing all these disturbances, it will be one of those three. As of tomorrow morning, Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste will begin investigations in all three. Sooner or later we'll figure out who it is."

"I might mention something as well," began President Reynirson. "I have received this letter from Holland this morning."

To Árni Reynirson, President of the Council of the Nordic Union,
The United States of Holland already has a research pact with your nation, however a new event has come to light. Germany, we believe, engineered the civil war in Austria, so that they may annex it. We believe that they may attempt to create Großdeutschland, and if so, they pose a threat to both of our nations. I propose a defensive pact, that states that if either one of us is attacked by Germany, we will muster the full force of our nation upon them. I await your response.
Signed on this day, of the year 2055, by Her Majesty Queen Catharina-Amalia Beatrix Carmen Victoria of the United States of Holland.

"So the Hollanders seem to believe that Germany is behind this fiasco," concluded Reynirson.

"Unfortunately, we can't rely on that too much," argued the Secretary General. "It could be a Dutch effort to press us into action before we're ready."

"What? And why would the Hollanders do that? What does the Netherlands get out of that?"

"A weaker Germany," replied Secretary General Svensson and Minister Nordahl, together.

"Therefore..."

Reynirson interrupted.

"If it's Austrian nationalists, we freeze their assets within the Nordic Confederation. If it's the German government, as the Netherlands seems to suspect it is, we institute a general embargo and deploy observers to Austria. If it's Polish nationalists... well... we'll think of that later."

"Nothing to do until then?"

"Nothing."

"Well, then, Secretary General, Minister of Internal Affairs, we are decided. The Danes will put their best minds to it, and we'll all have to just wait until they figure out something."

"Sounds like the wisest course of action," Svensson agreed. "Press all our spies into action."

[Zelent]

Wolken Uber Wien: Part Five
Vienna was only getting worse, more and more units from both sides of the military break up were arriving to fight eachother. The President was arrested when he took a turn, only to be met by a recently established VPO checkpoint,then arrested, to be seen hours later on national TV, being indicted on corruption and mismanagement charges. The National and Federal councils were heated, with the VPO and Zentrum party representatives almost breaking out in a fist fight, at a time when machine gun fire was emitting just a couple blocks from the council building. Things appeared calm all across the countryside and in other cities like Klagenfurt,Salzburg and Graz experiencing little to no fighting, it seemed to be limited to Vienna at the moment.


German Embassy in Vienna
Henri,Vogel and Alice had just arrived, and were now speaking with their commander, Captain Schnoker and ambassador Guntwald.

Schnoker: "We are glad you three are back here in moderate safety, you have done good work for your nation and possibly saved the people of Osterreich."
Henri: "Just fallowing orders."
Vogel: "It was FUN." he said in his normal retarded, uneducated Holsteiner accent.
Alice: "Vogel, shut the fuck up." Alice said giggling.
Guntwald: "In any case, it puts on in a good position at the moment. We got in contact with the medical examiner last night, he had already written heart attack as the cause of death and any Ricin left in Ahlers dead blood stream should have dissipated by now. The body has thus been turned over to the family and we have no more work left to do with it. Rather, we should at this point be focused on ensuring a rebel victory, without being seen to ensure a rebel victory."
Schnocker;"He's correct, I got en e-mail from Berlin, we can move onto the next stage of the operation. Cargo planes will be delivering supplies and soldiers into Vienna to initate the peacekeeping mission later today. You three, stay here and be embassy staff. We might need you later."
Henri,Vogle,Alice: "Ja Herr."



Vienna International Airport
The Airport seemed empty, with only occasional flights, but it was about to be awoken with the sounds of a dozen giant cargo planes, flying about a kilometer apart and landing in a straight line formation along the runway. As all the planes taxied off the runway, they began unloading cargo. Ten were filled completely with pallets full of food,water and medical supplies while two contained about 200 soldiers total. These 200 soldiers immediately embarked, securing the most empty airport and creating a static defense around it. The supplies were then loaded onto vans and transported out to be delivered to people around the city. The vans are markerd with Red crosses, and both sides in the conflict have been warned that anything done to stop the supplies from being given out to the people would result in Germany taking fighting steps against them. Also, a ceasefire was immediatley demanded by the Germans. The planes continued making regular flights from Munich to Vienna, carrying in supplies to be distributed out at public places.

German-Austro border
The 1st Panzer Brigade and 6th Gebrigs brigade began there side of the peacekeeping mission. the 1st Panzers reconnaissance elements rapidly began a charge through Klagenfurt and Salzburg moving along the Danube river toward Vienna, with mechanize infantry pulling up the rear and handing out supplies to civilians. Once they arrive in Vienna, the brigade will regroup before entering the city while threatening any side that doesn't observe a ceasefire, that severe action would be taken.

[New Rnclave]

Chapter One: Let the Jealing Begin

Life in the Second American Republic continued as always. After the revolution had ended in a conservative victory, and the establishment of a moderate centrist government, the Second Republic had begun the path of rebuilding. Economic recovery had continued as usual, and under the new government, a new law had been passed. The National Business Bureau, a area of the government dedicated to helping fledgling businesses get on their feet and become valuable additions to the economy. This was just another trade off the fledgling nation and to make. The conservative elements got a law through, but only after liberal elements could get their own agendas done.

If there was something the Second Republic did right, it was reducing the animosity between the parties. It had begun slowly, especially after the Civil War, but it was happening. Slowly but surely, people were beginning to out their trust in the government, and both conservative and liberal factions and silently agreed to let the old things go, and begin to get things done. With the NBB being passed, the Democratic Party had to accomplish a similar goal, creating jobs within the Republic.

Since the war had ended, Industrial power had returned with a vengeance to America. Fledgling business men moving to the former rust belt and Midwest had begun a long road to rebuildign the economies. The absence of a strong industrial base in California was the first thing they fixed. Indsutry moving back the Mainland were met with a bigger problem then they though. Almost 56 million jobless Americans. That was discounting the flood of refugees from war torn Europe and Asia. Almost 30 million people had fled from the wars raging in other parts of the world, and had only been met sight he same strife they'd tried to escape. Industrialists accomplished a miracle in the first decade post civil war. Massive industrial sites opened in Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico. As the native Americans found jobs in the new industrial sites, refugees starved in the streets, leading to the next phase of rebuilding, settling in states that truly needed it. Governemnt mandates passed in 2041 set up refugee centers in Arizona, New Mexico and the American South. Many saw the diluting of Southern purity as a true offense, but in the end, the effect on racial strife needed up helping the new Republic much more then many thought. With a mixture of Asiantic people, Hispanics and Europeans moving to the Secn Republic, newly formed cultural centers reduce racism and bring the people together, even if racism was still a prevalent problem. But the prosperity of Americas growing industrial sector would no last. Mechanization came in like a wrecking ball, sweeping across the Republic and while it increased production and quality, it left almost 5% of Americans jobless. So now liberal elements have passed what is seen as what may be best for the Republic, the Colonal Administration Union and the American Revitalization Bearau. The former is a NASA project, looking to gather some of the brightest minds from age 21-42, for colonization of an Amerian moon colony, once it is completed. The latter is a labor union, hiring millions of day labors to help revitalize and repair the American infastructure.

But as the old world tears itself apart, the Second Repubic has traded it's first non economic concerning words with Europe. It has stated official neutrality, while at the same time, praising Germn peacekeepers for stopping strife within the nation.

[Protector Galactics]

Middle of the Bering Strait:
The Alaskan Naval Ship, The Catalina was sailing near Siberian Waters in the middle of the night. Inside its cargo hold is a small submersible fitting only 2 people beside it, 2 spies are putting on their heavy jackets and pocket warmers. Once the clock reach 3:00 AM, the ships trap doors opened up and the Sub throttled at full gear and headed to its landing spot. On board the spies started to chat.
"We are reaching the radio silence area, prepare to turn off communications with the Catalina."
"Roger.... Catalina we are approaching the silence zone this will be our final message. Over."
"Roger X, Good luck and take care. Over."
X finally turned off the radio and laid back and watched the pitch black ocean.
"Do you think we will come back alive? After all, we are risking our lives."
"Hopefully we will come back in one piece. It's not very guaranteed."
"How do you imagine Siberia will look like?"
"Like Alaska, but just that they speak Russian rather than English."
"Well take a rest, you will need it."
3 Hours later the submersible crashed into a small reef just 10 feet below the water near Vladivostok. The spies used the fog and the darkness as their cover while swimming to the shore. Once they reached the beach they immediately took off their west suits and put them in bags while putting on casual clothing. They hailed a Taxi and went to a hotel not too far away.

Back in Anchorage, a University Professor was going about to make a video for an experiment to see how high he can get the adrenaline level up to. He was going to post a video a week slowly rising the threat level.

"Good day's ladies and Gentlemen. I am Professor Sinclair. I am here to announce the new rising threats in our nation. Most of what I'm going to tell you is top secret. But I'm still here risking my life for the truth. I am currently working on a Nuclear Warheads for the Alaskan Government. We have 2 in finished products and another 3 currently in development. The 2 Warheads are now in position aimed at Siberia. The other 3 we plan to place in our southern waters, aimed directly at California. Once all missiles are complete, their will be a full scale bombing raids on both Siberia and California. The count down to "dreading day" will start now. All of the mention nations will have till next month to prepare." The broadcast stopped and spread through Youtube like a wildfire. Millions of people from all over the world watched the video over and over again. The president immediately launched a response to the video denying all allegations. But his sickness made it seem like as he was lying.

"People of the Republic. I am sure you have watched the video that was posted by Professor Sinclair. But we deny all allegations made by him. We don't have the funds to support a nuclear project. Even if we do we wouldn't launch missiles to our enemies. This is is..." He paused as a small migraine affected him. " Anyway, this is a dangerous act that Alaska will never do. We know right from wrong. Good deeds from bad deeds. We wouldn't dare harm our enemies in such a scale......" The Migraine got stronger to the point where Meyer ordered his cameraman to stop filming.The Presidential statement was seen through out the world. President Meyer went to take a rest ignoring all his phone calls.