New Civilizations (2nd Era, OOC, Always Open )

[Plzen]

You mean the Commonwealth’s colonies weren’t supported militarily or politically by the central government at all?

I’m cool with that, if you want that to have been the case.

If, by “colonies”, you mean our client states, that would have been the case in the first few months of the war. On one side, the Commonwealth doesn’t really have the diplomatic clout to unilaterally call its allies into war, and on the other side, the war is a more pressing demand on our military than peacekeeping/stabilisation operations in our allies. So there wouldn’t have been a lot of military assistance going in either direction.

Once the Imperium threw a couple armies in that general direction, though, our client states would then have become cobelligerents against a common enemy, with close military cooperation aimed at winning the war.

[G-Tech Corporation]

You mean the Commonwealth’s colonies weren’t supported militarily or politically by the central government at all?

I’m cool with that, if you want that to have been the case.

If, by “colonies”, you mean our client states, that would have been the case in the first few months of the war. On one side, the Commonwealth doesn’t really have the diplomatic clout to unilaterally call its allies into war, and on the other side, the war is a more pressing demand on our military than peacekeeping/stabilisation operations in our allies. So there wouldn’t have been a lot of military assistance going in either direction.

Once the Imperium threw a couple armies in that general direction, though, our client states would then have become cobelligerents against a common enemy, with close military cooperation aimed at winning the war.

Ohoho, no you don't. You've been very clear in the past that the Commonwealth is not integrating existing polities, save by convenience, but rather overtly colonizing the Balkans with Norse settlers after depopulating the region via raiding.

A competitor arises? Which republics remain available?

Finland and the Baltic States are administered as colonial regions now, but I intend to turn them into full-fledged Republics very soon, creating two new spots for authors, so if you want to land in one of these and guide the newly-minted Republic into the future, we’ll be glad to have you.

The Baltic Republic would actually be a fascinating place, when we get around to creating it, with its politics teetering on the knife’s edge between the Finno-Ugric settlements and the Baltic settlements, with Germanic Norse colonists thrust straight in the middle there...

Olivia, won't you come up north, and take on the challenge of forging a coherent multicultural Republic out of the harsh divides that separate the Norse colonists from the Finnish natives?

Colonists shoved into territory diminished local tribes used to occupy are a fracture point. They require military support, centralized aid, and political will to sustain on foreign soil, until that foreign soil becomes local soil. If the Commonwealth didn't provide them with military support, they would have no doubt been already massacred by the tribes they displaced and thrown back into the sea. Since they haven't been, the Commonwealth has forces tied up ensuring Norse supremacy in the region - and that reality makes the Baltic States a pressure point that can be exploited to bring the Commonwealth to terms.

The Imperium has only to align with the forces that already hate the Commonwealth (read, everyone displaced by their colonization or resentful of their power), stiffen their backbones with military might, and those colonists are in a real pickle. Especially given their military support would have been, undoubtedly, withdrawn to defend the motherland. These 'client states', if such are how you want to spin the Norse colonies, are in for a world of hurt.

[Plzen]

-snip-

Oh, you mean that region. I was under the impression you were talking about our Baltic client states. If you were talking about the Commonwealth’s own Baltic territories, that does change things.

With regards to the regions mentioned, the Republic of Finland fundamentally, doesn’t have enough in the way of native population to be a serious threat to the colonists in that region. There was little raiding in this region to generate bad will, because nomadic populations don’t tend to have any great material culture to loot from, and there is no meaningful incentive for the native tribes to hand together on any kind of anti-Norse crusade - commerce is fairly lucrative for both sides here.

South of the Gulf of Finland, in the Republic of Austurland, the situation is rather more tense. Norse-Balt relations are certainly on the hostile side, the Finnic nomads of the region are denser and more organised, and with the military support from the Scandinavian mainland being abruptly removed there probably is some degree of sporadic violence. Given the material and technological advantages enjoyed by the Scandinavians, however, I’m disinclined to believe that the region will slip from our control just because we don’t have an army sitting on it for a few years.

I’m also strongly disinclined to believe that the Imperium can meaningfully meddle in this situation. Sending troops into the Commonwealth’s eastern territories will require you to transport and supply said troops over the Baltic Sea - a dangerous proposition - or through the territories of our allied client states - an even more dangerous proposition.

EDIT:

You seem to be under the mistaken impression that the Commonwealth maintains the same policy throughout that portion of the Baltic Coast it influences. This is decidedly not the case. If you look at the map I’ve supplied, you will notice that the blue shading of the Commonwealth’s territories ends at the Daugava River - south of that river lies several independent Republics - aligned to the Commonwealth, certainly, but not a part of it, and receiving very little in the way of Scandinavian colonists other than a few commercial settlements.

I suppose this is my fault, since I’ve been calling the Commonwealth’s territories between the Daugava and the Gulf the Baltic Republic, and our allied client states the Baltic republics, which in retrospect was a terrible idea that breeds confusion. In the future I’ll try to call the former Austurland or the Republic of Austurland even when I’m discussing in OOC.

[Hanafuridake]

By the way Hana, if and when you respond to Marcio and his crew, I would prefer to rp meeting the greeting parties and all that. Orostan might like how his greeting went but I'd rather there be some rping going on before Marcio and his entire group get whisked away to the Imperial capital. You know, like, talking to the first people his group encounters, going through customs and that type of stuff?

That would obviously be different because Marcio is an Author and not a NPC.

Also, Marcio's tribe really isn't that special to warrant special treatment such as being taken to the capital.

[Plzen]

IC post up - the Baltic region is at a stalemate, as adjudicated.

[Plzen]

I half-translated, half-rewrote the lyrics to yet another fighting song... pull to the forest!

...the Commonwealth is so going to be known for its propaganda output in the years to come. Since the original song doesn't have a strict rhyme scheme, I didn't use one either.

When the dying lights of night show pathways through our woods,
There you might see camping out our peoples' hardened youth.
Join our boys and girls in leather downing fish and beer,
And ask them once you're settled in: "say, why are you all here?"

== refrain ==
We're the hopes of our northern nation,
We're the dreams of summers past:
Armed with unbroken determination
Of the north's unchallenged best!
Hedgehogs in iron armour,
Mara's royal throne,
Here before them stands our freemen's honour
It will one day see them gone!

When the struggle's past and to our village we return,
When the wartime strategists do finally adjourn,
Northern people and their freedom we'll then see endure,
For children of these forests have a right to strive for more!

== refrain ==
We're the hopes of our northern nation...

== repeat 1st verse and refrain after bridge ==
If by the dying lights of night you travel through our woods...

In the unlikely chance that someone is interested, anyone want to try actually singing one of the Commonwealth's propaganda texts? :p

[Hanafuridake]

Post should be done tomorrow.

Have to finish some stuff for Grace.

[Kelmet]

I want to be able to say I mean it this time when I say I am back.

But till this world settles down a little, I can make no gaurentee about my activity.

But I will try.

[G-Tech Corporation]

I want to be able to say I mean it this time when I say I am back.

But till this world settles down a little, I can make no gaurentee about my activity.

But I will try.

Glad to see you back Kelm. Feel free to TG me for any details you might want to know.

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

What just happened... Did we just die?

[Orostan]

What just happened... Did we just die?

Hana is supposed to post soon.

[Saxony-Brandenburg]

What just happened... Did we just die?

Hana is supposed to post soon.

Im still posting on the reg. Idk about yall

[Orostan]

Hana is supposed to post soon.

Im still posting on the reg. Idk about yall

I have a billion things I want to do, but Hana has to post first.

[G-Tech Corporation]

What just happened... Did we just die?

Nah. More returning to our old punctuated equilibrium from a period of uncharacteristically frenetic activity.

[UniversalCommons]

I am reading about the history of glass making and what makes clear glass is saltwort or kelp for salsola soda allowing for very clear glass. The objective would be get clearer glass in mass production for producing more greenhouses. We already have been using kelp, it could happen because of a modification in how the soda ash is purified. Better purification methods as the result of Scholar Tuvarek's obsessive behavior.

[Hanafuridake]

Sorry, I'm going to have to drop out. I know I've done this before, but this time, there's actually a good reason. Thank you for your time and I hope this RP continues to be one of the best on P2TM.

[Orostan]

Sorry, I'm going to have to drop out. I know I've done this before, but this time, there's actually a good reason. Thank you for your time and I hope this RP continues to be one of the best on P2TM.

That’s sad to hear, but I wish you the best.

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

Sorry, I'm going to have to drop out. I know I've done this before, but this time, there's actually a good reason. Thank you for your time and I hope this RP continues to be one of the best on P2TM.

So... What's the criteria for rping with NPCs again I'd like to give the rp a spark but don't want to take control of an npc and be called cheater or whatever. Would Gtech or somebody play them then...

[G-Tech Corporation]

Sorry, I'm going to have to drop out. I know I've done this before, but this time, there's actually a good reason. Thank you for your time and I hope this RP continues to be one of the best on P2TM.

So... What's the criteria for rping with NPCs again I'd like to give the rp a spark but don't want to take control of an npc and be called cheater or whatever. Would Gtech or somebody play them then...

Normally we allow you to RP NPCs, but, since we're talking about a player civilization at present, I will indeed handle that detail.

[New Arcadius]

Activity is dying down.

And people are roleplaying Egyptians as if they know of the Pyramids and such when they weren't built yet.

Remember, we are in the era of Mastabas and small scale tombs. Pyramids didn't yet existed until the reign of Djoser's time with his Stepped Pyramid in 2670–2650BC blueprinted by Imhotep at Saqqara.

I should probably also roleplay with some Egyptians... I need to start the process of trying to incite some trouble there. But I'm a little scared of some people because if I send Gaukhar to the Egyptians, the other nations like Universium's Filipino guy or even G-Tech might discover her and... instantly report back and then begin war halfway across the known world with super advanced steam powered ships...

But I really don't know, I'm getting kinda worried about the state of technology advancing way too fast in this roleplay. Should I also strive to make Steel or something? Because I am a desert oasis hopping empire, with a very spread out population. I think I'm probably playing very hard mode, while the rest are playing easy or beginner mode.

Maybe it's just me over exaggerating things and just not paying attention to the roleplay, and just in general, confused about the state of the roleplay, and my involvement. Because I am actually going to send out some merchants to Arabia in a bit actually, and Axum, but I am not sure Axum is even active right now.

I could also go as far as Sumeria and Assyria (if they're still active). I think it's time for my Author to finally reveal herself.

[Orostan]

So... What's the criteria for rping with NPCs again I'd like to give the rp a spark but don't want to take control of an npc and be called cheater or whatever. Would Gtech or somebody play them then...

Normally we allow you to RP NPCs, but, since we're talking about a player civilization at present, I will indeed handle that detail.

Should I just have my guys go back to China and not encounter the missing fisherman or Hana’s empire?

[Khasinkonia]

Just posting as a little "I'm still alive and intent on continuing writing" notice, don't mind me. End of term's been a bit brutal so I may abstain from posting for another week or so.

[New Arcadius]

Okay Olivia, you now have Gaukhar in Arabia. Interact with her. Let us make history and have the second author to author meet.

[Cainesland]

I’m still here as well

[G-Tech Corporation]

Harrum. What's this about steel in North Africa?