Quebec et Nouvelle-Angleterre wrote:APPLICATION
NS Name: Quebec et Nouvelle-Angleterre
RP Name: Mataram republic
ACCEPTED
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by Sao Nova Europa » Sun Oct 09, 2022 7:24 am
Quebec et Nouvelle-Angleterre wrote:APPLICATION
NS Name: Quebec et Nouvelle-Angleterre
RP Name: Mataram republic
by Dragos Bee » Sun Oct 09, 2022 7:35 am
by Sao Nova Europa » Sun Oct 09, 2022 8:00 am
Socialist Oceania wrote:You guys should make a map. Makes it hard to find who owns what.RESERVATION
NS Name: Socialist Oceania
RP Name: Federation of Australia
Territory: Australia, obviously.
Do not remove - 2022RP
American Pere Housh wrote:RESERVATION
NS Name: APH
RP Name: The Kingdom of Mali
Territory: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo
Do not remove - 2022RP
by Doje Islands » Sun Oct 09, 2022 11:27 am
by Ard alAkhua » Sun Oct 09, 2022 11:30 am
by Sonakion » Sun Oct 09, 2022 11:34 am
Sao Nova Europa wrote:Ireland and Scottland have been removed from the reservation list as the player failed to post an app, renew their reservation or even simply respond. Now they are free to be claimed.
Sonakion wrote:Don't think I have the time for this rp unfortunately so I'll have to withdraw my application.
by Doje Islands » Sun Oct 09, 2022 4:30 pm
APPLICATION
NS Name: Doje Islands
RP Name: Kingdom of Portugal
Flag: https://www.google.com/search?q=kingdom ... 7giGW7QXHM
Capital: Lisbon
Territory: OTL Portugal
Population: ~10,300,000
Official Language(s): Portuguese
Recognized Language(s): Mirandese, Portuguese Sign Language
Ethnic Breakdown: 88.5% Portuguese, 11.5% others
Religious Breakdown: 81.0% Roman Catholic, 3.2% Other Christian, 6.8% No religion, 0.6% Others, 8.3% Undeclared
Type of Government: Parliamentary constitutional monarchy
Head of State: King Duarte I
Head of Government: Luís Montenegro
Legislature (the name of your national legislature): National Assembly of Portugal
Legislative Houses (if your legislature is bicameral):
Party in Power: Partido Social Democrata (Social Democratic Party)
National Issues: Economic stagnation: The 2008 financial crisis hit Portugal hard, especially its up-and-coming high-tech sector (its industrial sector was injured as well). Although the economy has recovered to an extent, Portugal has yet to see economic growth as it saw during the '90s and early 2000s.
Communist influence: Relating to the economy, the 2008 financial crisis has led to a growth in the popularity of socialist/communist parties, such as the Partido Trabalhista-Ecologista (Labor-Ecologist Party) and the Partido Comunista Popular (People's Communist Party). They threaten the Social Democratic Party's longstanding hold on power and may transition Portugal towards the communist bloc if they win power.
Power politics: Although a member of the Pacific Treaty Alliance, the Kingdom of Portugal has never been a major player in Europe. Some believe that the time is nigh for Portugal to take her rightful place on the world stage and defend capitalism and freedom from those who would seek to destroy it.
Public Goals: Help prevent the expansion of the communist bloc, and kickstart the economy.
Private Goals: Military buildup.
GDP (nominal): 200 billion
Currency: Escudo
Economic System: Free-market economy with government ownership of utilities.
Major Trade Partners: Italy, Byzantium, England, Arabia, Commonwealth of Three Nations, Egypt, Afrique
Major Exports: Cars, refined petroleum, leather shoes, olive oil, lithium, computer chips
Major Imports: Oil, electrical machinery, plastics, iron/steel, Byzantine clothes (very fashionable), Byzantine weaponry.
Defense Budget (USD): 2 billion USD
Alliance(s): Pacific Treaty Alliance
Military Branches (names of official Armed Forces Branches): The Portuguese Armed Forces consist of the Portuguese Army, the Royal Portuguese Navy, and the Royal Portuguese Air Force
Active Duty: ~20,000
Reserve Duty: ~10,000
Total Manpower: ~30,000
Land Forces: ~10,000 (including special forces)
20 tanks, 100 armored vehicles, 5 self-propelled artillery, 10 towed artillery, 4 rocket artillery
Naval Forces: ~6,000
3 frigates, 1 corvette, 2 submarines, 18 patrol vessels, 4 research vessels, 41 auxiliary vessels, and 5 helicopters.
Air Forces: ~4,000
60 fighters/interceptors, 10 helicopters
Other Military Information: Portugal hasn't been in an actual war since the loss of its colonies in the '70s, and that was before the reorganization of the military.
History: Right, so the history of Portugal basically follows OTL. Alongside England, Portugal loses in WW1, further compounding problems with the nascent Portuguese Republic. The Estado Novo forms in 1933 and stays neutral through WW2. The Portuguese Colonial War begins in the early '60s, continuing until April 1974, when Portugal withdrew from Angola, Rhodesia, Mozambique, and Guinea (which were all of its remaining colonies). Thanks to worsening economic conditions, as well as an influx of disaffected soldiers and Portuguese refugees from the colonies, a revolution happened (the Carnation Revolution). Led by a bunch of left-wing military officers, the Carnation Revolution began a transitional period to democracy. Then in the summer of 1975, some forces connected to the far left launched a coup, which was immediately met with a counter-coup by the Group of Nine (a group of nine moderate military officers). Portugal continued to be a military junta until 1976 when the constitution was signed and the first democratic elections held. Notably, the authors of the constitution provided for the return of the monarchy, seeing it as an instrument of stability.
Since 1976, Portugal has been run by the Partido Social Democrata (PSD). There was some pretty sweet economic growth in the '90s and early 2000s (probably related to the internet). The 2008 financial crisis has caused the perpetual opposition parties (the Partido Trabalhista-Ecologista and the Partido Comunista Popular) to grow in popularity, which could potentially lead to the destabilization of Portugal. So, yeah, fun times.
RP Example(s):
John walked up to the counter. "One cup of coffee, black," he said. The cashier put his order into the register and a worker behind him went to get a cup.
"You're from Columbia, right?" the cashier asked.
"Yeah, how could you tell?" John replied.
"Your Portuguese is pretty good, but you still have a bit of an accent," the cashier said.
"Oh. Thanks for making me feel inadequate."
"No problem. I have a question if you don't mind."
"Ask away."
"Columbia has had a very peaceful history. How did you do it?" the cashier asked as he handed John his coffee.
John thought about the question for a second. "I guess we just got lucky," he answered.
"It must be nice to be lucky," the cashier said as John walked away.
Do not remove - 2022RP
by Doje Islands » Sun Oct 09, 2022 4:58 pm
Sao Nova Europa wrote:ACCEPTED
by Doje Islands » Sun Oct 09, 2022 6:48 pm
by American Pere Housh » Sun Oct 09, 2022 7:02 pm
RESERVATION
NS Name: APH
RP Name: The Republic of Korea
Territory: North and South Korea
Do not remove - 2022RP
by American Pere Housh » Sun Oct 09, 2022 7:10 pm
by Sao Nova Europa » Mon Oct 10, 2022 12:57 pm
by Doje Islands » Mon Oct 10, 2022 4:48 pm
by Kenobot » Tue Oct 11, 2022 4:29 am
by Reverend Norv » Tue Oct 11, 2022 9:40 am
APPLICATION
NS Name: Norv
RP Name: The Republic of Jerusalem (Franseys / Outremer French: Reyspublique de Jherusalem; Salemite Arabic: Jumhurriyah al-Quds). By way of distinguishing the country from the city, Jerusalem is often called by its traditional name of Outremer, or it is simply referred to as "the Republic": distinction enough, in a region of caliphs and emperors. A person or thing from Jerusalem is a Jerusalemite, though this is shortened in all but the most formal circumstances to "Salemite."
Capital: Jerusalem: the holiest city in the world. The whole Old City has been preserved with religious reverence for centuries, and much of it has changed hardly at all since the days of the Crusades. Every Salemite citizen must swear an oath to defend, upon peril of his life, the Wall and the Mosque and the Sepulcher.
Territory: Real-world Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, and western Jordan. Outremer shares a narrow border with the Byzantine Empire in the north, just south of Aleppo; it has a border with Egypt in Sinai. Everywhere else, Jerusalem borders its ancient and inveterate enemy: the Caliphate of Arabia.
Population: 26.05 million (real-world Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, and the city of Amman).
Official Language(s): The language of government, law, and media in Jerusalem is Franseys, also called Outremer French. This language is a direct descendent of the medieval French dialects spoken by most Crusaders. In the succeeding centuries, it has absorbed thousands of loan words from Arabic and Greek, and while it remains recognizably a French language, it is barely mutually comprehensible with the standard French of Paris: it sounds simultaneously archaic and exotic. Salemite Arabic is the Republic’s other official language, and while it is rarely used in law courts or newspapers, it is the actual common tongue of the Outremer street; it is a fairly ordinary dialect with close ties to Syrian Arabic, though it has also absorbed many borrow words from Franseys and Greek. In general, Arabic functions in the way that ammiyah does in other Arabic-speaking countries, while Franseys functions the way that Fusha would. Virtually all Salemites speak both, and switch back and forth between them depending on context or mood.
Recognized Language(s): Jerusalem also recognizes Greek as a national (though not official) language, and it is taught as standard in schools. For Jerusalem's Greek population - roughly one in every five citizens - it is the language of family and religious and cultural life, and there are some neighborhoods where Greek is the only language to be heard on the street. Most xenoi (non-Greek) Salemites speak it at least a little, but do not consider it a mother tongue in the same way as Arabic or Franseys. Greek's status is comparable to that of Spanish in the real-world American Southwest. Finally, Jerusalem recognized Hebrew as a national language in 1947, after the arrival of millions of mostly Yiddish-speaking Holocaust survivors raised tensions with the preexisting, mostly Arabic-speaking Jewish community. The recognition of Hebrew - a language that neither group of Jews actually spoke - allowed the Republic to assert the equal status of all its Jewish citizens without picking sides in an intra-communal dispute. To this day, nobody in Jerusalem speaks Hebrew as his native tongue, and the language's recognized status remains a symbolic gesture.
Ethnic Breakdown: Traditionally, Jerusalem is described as "the common homeland of four great peoples": the Franks, the Greeks, the Arabs, and the Jews. These categories are complex and overlapping: for example, many "ethnically Arab" Christians consider themselves both Arab and Greek, because they belong to Greek Orthodox churches. Moreover, most Salemites are of ethnically mixed descent; they may identify mostly with one group, but they have cultural and genealogical ties to several others. Thirty percent of Salemite couples are mixed-ethnicity. As a result, the average Salemite will describe himself as Frank or Greek, Arab or Jewish - but also as croisey (Franseys: crossed-over, hybridized; literally and historically: Crusader). The word expresses both the permeability of Outremer's ethnic categories, and the dry irony with which Salemites treat their complex and bloody history.
- About 30 percent of Salemites identify primarily as Franks. They are the descendants of medieval European Crusaders and colonists, and formed a de jure ruling class until the Outremer Revolution of 1795. Today, they mostly comprise Jerusalem's professional class: both Greeks and Jews have higher average incomes than the Franks, but the Franks retain disproportionate political and economic influence, and very few Franks are actually poor. They are associated with the military, the diplomatic corps, the judiciary, and the media; they tend to be Old Catholic or Roman Catholic; and they trend toward the political center. Few Franks feel any remaining connection to Europe; after nine centuries, they consider themselves a Middle Eastern people of distant European origin.
- About 40 percent of Salemites identify primarily as Arabs. They are the descendants of the Muslim and Christian Arabs who lived in the Holy Land before the Crusades. They have the lowest average incomes and education levels in Jerusalem, but there is enormous variation between different Arab communities: the Arabs of Beirut and Jaffa tend to be quite prosperous and sophisticated, and they look down their noses at the Bedouin of Transjordan and the fellahin of the Galilee. Arabs are primarily Muslim, evenly divided between Shi'ites and Sunnis, but the category includes a substantial Druze community as well. Arabic-speaking Jews typically identify primarily as Jews, and Arabic-speaking Greek Orthodox Christians often identify primarily as Greek - but Syriac Orthodox Christians overwhelmingly consider themselves Arab. Arabs are associated with agriculture, small business, industrial labor, and the arts; with the exception of some religiously conservative Sunnis, they trend toward the political left.
- About 20 percent of Salemites identify primarily as Greeks. In the strict sense, they are the descendants of the Greek-speaking, Orthodox Christians who remained in Palestine after the 7th-century Arab conquest; but many Arab-speaking Christians also consider themselves partially "Greek" because they belong to the same Orthodox tradition. The Greeks have the highest average level of education in Jerusalem, and - along with the Jews - the highest average incomes. They are associated with academics, the sciences, the bureaucracy, and medicine; they are overwhelmingly Greek Orthodox Christians; and they trend toward the political right. The Greek community's close cultural and historical ties to the Byzantine Empire are a topic of old but ongoing controversy in Jerusalem's politics.
- About 10 percent of Salemites identify primarily as Jews. The community is sharply divided between the Old Yishuv - mostly Arabic-speaking Jews whose ancestors have lived in Jerusalem since before the Crusades - and the Sh'erit ha-Pletah (Hebrew: Surviving Remnant): the mostly Yiddish-speaking descendants of European Jews who fled the Holocaust to Jerusalem after the Sanctuary Act 1942. Jews have (along with the Greeks) the highest average incomes in Jerusalem, and (along with the Franks) the second-highest average level of education. The Old Yishuv is associated with finance and business; the Sh'erit ha-Pletah is associated with high technology and informatics. The two groups have distinct religious rites: the Old Yishuv are Ma'aravim, while the Sh'erit ha-Pletah are mostly Ashkenazim. Both groups tend to be socially liberal but economically conservative.
Religious Breakdown: Unsurprisingly for the Holy Land, the Republic of Jerusalem's religious makeup is complicated and contentious. Unlike its ethnic categories, Jerusalem's religious categories allow very little overlap with each other; confusingly, however, religious identity often functions as a primary determinant of ethnic identity. The Republic is generally felt to have five major religious traditions: Western Christian, Eastern Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Druze. Notably, hardly anyone in Jerusalem is irreligious.
- About 30 percent of Salemites - almost all of them Frankish - belong to Western Christian churches. The largest of these is the Old Catholic Church, which accounts for twenty percent of Salemites. It is a quasi-Protestant denomination established in 1570 when the Catholic bishops of Jerusalem rejected the Council of Trent, and instead determined to preserve their own tradition of religious tolerance and conciliar church government. It was the established church of Jerusalem from 1570 until 1795, and remains the majority faith of the Franks. Another seven percent of Salemites are Roman Catholics, descendants of those Franks who accepted the Council of Trent and joined the Counter-Reformation. The remaining three percent of Western Christians mostly belong to various Protestant churches with longstanding missionary presence in the Republic.
- Another 25 percent of Salemites belong to Eastern Christian churches. The largest of these is the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which accounts for twenty percent of Salemites (including almost all ethnic Greeks). Since the Byzantine Wars of the 17th century, the Patriarchate has been formally autocephalous, owing no further allegiance or loyalty to Constantinople or to the Byzantine Emperor; however, ties between the patriarchs of Jerusalem and Constantinople remain strong. Another five percent of Salemites belong to the Syriac Orthodox Church: these are primarily Arab Christians, and they are concentrated in the area below Mount Lebanon, where they have longstanding partnerships with the Druze.
- About 10 percent of Salemites are Jewish. Four percent belong to the so-called Old Yishuv: Arabic speakers following the Ma'aravi rite, whose ancestors have inhabited the Holy Land for millennia. The remaining six percent are mostly Ashkenazim of Central European or Eastern European origin, who fled their homes during and after the Holocaust. There are significant cultural tensions between the two groups, but neither considers the other to be in religious error.
- 30 percent of Salemites are Muslim, almost all of them Arab. The Muslim community is almost exactly half Sunni and half Shi'a. The 15 percent of Salemites who follow Sunni Islam remain substantially the poorest people in the country; their communities are often overpoliced and crime-ridden, and many other Salemites suspect them of hidden loyalties to the Caliphate. Shi'a Salemites, by contrast, are well-integrated and well-respected: Twelver Shi'ites are the backbone of the Republic's labor movement, for example. And Ismailis - who account for more than five percent of all Salemites - have been essential to Jerusalem's security apparatus for centuries; the Assassins (officially known today as the Republic Clandestine Service) remain a disproportionately Ismaili organization.
- The last 5 percent of Salemites are Druze, almost all of them Arab. They are adherents of an esoteric faith that emerged around the time of the Crusades, and they live primarily in the mountains of northern Outremer, close to the heartland of the Syriac Orthodox community. Dwelling close to the threat of the Caliphate, which considers them apostates, the Druze have long been overrepresented in the Host of the Republic - especially as scouts and pathfinders. Otherwise, they interact little with the rest of Outremer, and their leaders have been designated autonomous "Vassals of the Republic."
Type of Government:Jerusalem is a unitary parliamentary constitutional republic. It has one of the oldest continuous republican constitutions in the world: its original charter of rights - the Pax Aurea, including the world's first guarantee of freedom of conscience - dates to 1360, and Jerusalem's basic plan of government dates to 1795 (though it has since been heavily amended). The overarching imperative of Jerusalem's political system is to share, among four peoples, a land that all of them consider sacred. For this reason, Jerusalem's constitution combines democratic elements (like individual rights and popular sovereignty) with solidarist elements, in which ethnoreligious communities and not voters are directly represented. Beyond this, Outremer constitutionalism reflects a home-grown republican tradition distinct from the rest of Western liberalism. That tradition's core values are shared participation and shared sacrifice, not individual self-realization; it embraces a vision of citizenship in which rights and duties are always in equipoise; its fundamental maxim is: "From those to whom much is given, much will be required." It is from their shared commitment to these values, and not from shared faith or language, that the Republic’s citizens derive their sense of nationhood.
Jerusalem's legislature, the Assembly of the Republic, is bicameral. The lower house is (confusingly for foreign observers) usually simply called the Parlement. Its members are elected by party-list proportional representation from five large electoral districts, corresponding to the medieval duchies of Jerusalem, Ascalon, Galilee, Oultrejordain, and Tripoli. Elections are held every five years, and a party must reach eight percent of the vote in at least one of these districts in order to be seated in Parlement. The Parlement has sole authority to originate all legislation, remove the government by a vote of no confidence, and dissolve itself to trigger new elections. In practice, much of the Parlement's power is exercised through the government: a majority of the members must vote to appoint a Prime Minister, who then names his Cabinet. There are 28 cabinet ministries, and for the most part, the Cabinet and Prime Minister oversee the day-to-day government of the country without recourse to formal votes in the Parlement. Unusually, Jerusalem has an automatic state-of-emergency system: for the first three months after any hostile action that kills at least one thousand citizens, the Prime Minister cannot be removed by a vote of no confidence, any scheduled elections are postponed, and the government can order military mobilization, requisition property and labor, and organize war production - all without the consent of the Parlement.
The upper house of the Assembly is called the Grandcour, and it is solidarist rather than democratic: it represents communities, not individuals. Jerusalem recognizes eight ethnoreligious community councils, or consaills: Franks, Greeks, Sunnis, Shi'ites, Ismailis, Arab Christians, Jews, and Druze. (These categories are centuries old, but remain controversial: Ashkenazi and Ma'aravi Jews are lumped together in one consaill, for example, while Ismailis are separated from other Shi'ites.) Each community organizes its own consaill, and consaills need not be democratic; the Ismaili and Druze consaills are composed of hereditary sheikhs, while the Greeks have a committee of clergy, professors, and business leaders. Each consaill then appoints five members of the Grandcour; the huge Sunni community and the small Druze community have the same voice in the upper house. The Grandcour cannot originate legislation, but its consent is required for all legislation passed by the Parlement (except during states of emergency), and it appoints all judges. The Grandcour also appoints the Warden of the Republic, who serves mostly as a ceremonial head of state. But the office is not entirely powerless: the Warden can (and sometimes does) reject the Parlement's choice of Prime Minister, forcing Parlement to negotiate a different coalition or even to call new elections. The Grandcour, in short, is deliberately countermajoritarian: it gives smaller communities disproportionate power to block Parlement and the government. But its power is only negative; it can veto Parlement, but it cannot affirmatively act without Parlement.
In general, Jerusalem is a unitary state. However, the Constitution does allow Parlement, with the consent of the Grandcour, to designate certain local leaders as "Vassals of the Republic." Such leaders administer their lands with little interference - or support - from the central government. Within their designated territories, Vassals of the Republic can raise taxes, maintain police forces, set educational policy, and generally take any other action consistent with the Constitution. At the moment, there are only two Vassals of the Republic: the Druze sheikhs of the Lebanon, and the Bedouin leaders of the Transjordan desert. In the rest of Outremer, local government falls to the elected reeves of 31 conteys, or counties. Reeves administer local primary schools, byways, rural capital improvements, zoning, drinking water, emergency services, and other strictly local matters; but they have no power to levy taxes, and so they are entirely reliant upon funds and personnel disbursed by the central government. For this reason, the Interior Ministry appoints a prefect for each contey, who has final say in the use of government funds and can overrule the reeve (though this is fairly rare). Universities, police, hospitals, highways, development projects, and the like are administered directly by the central government.
Because of Jerusalem's unique history, much of the government administration originated as various religious orders, which gradually assumed state functions. The Republic Clandestine Service, for example, is a direct descendent of the Ismaili order of Assassins, and is still often called by that name; the Republic's national healthcare system is run by the Order of the Hospital, a descendant of the Knights Hospitaller; Jerusalem's central bank is the Templar Reserve, and was originally organized by the bankers of the Knights Templar. These organizations are no longer expressly religious, and citizens of all faiths can join the Assassins or work for the Templar Reserve. But these government agencies retain many traditions from their pasts, ranging from the superficial (like formal vestments and forms of address) to the significant (like idiosyncratic organizational structures). And it is usually considered good manners for Parlement to name an Ismaili as Director of Clandestine Operations, or an Old Catholic as Grand Master of the Hospital. Likewise, titles of nobility survived Jerusalem's transition to a republican form of government; knighthoods are now usually granted by the Warden as recognition for meritorious public service or personal achievement.
Jerusalem is a civil-law system, and its law code is derived ultimately from the famous medieval Assizes of Jerusalem. Judges are considered career civil servants, and are mostly appointed by the Grandcour right after finishing law school; usually, the top five percent of law students are automatically offered judicial positions. Once appointed, a judge cannot be removed without the consent of both the Minister of Justice and the Grandcour. The judiciary itself selects who will sit on the higher courts (including the Courts of Appeal, the Court of Cassation, and the Constitutional Court): judges vote to name other judges to these higher positions. Matters of family and personal law are handled in the first instance by religious courts, which each ethnoreligious consaill is responsible for organizing on its own; however, if the litigants belong to different groups and cannot agree on where the case should be heard, then the ordinary civil courts have "reserve jurisdiction." The decision of a religious court acting within its jurisdiction can be reversed on appeal only if it violates the Constitution. This sometimes happens, because the Republic has a robust tradition of judicial review and individual rights. But its Constitution reflects an unusual theory of rights: Jerusalem protects the right to participate politically, but not the right to withhold participation. Therefore, there is an absolute right to run for office, even if you are an Islamist who thinks the Republic should be destroyed; but there is no right conscientiously to object to military service. There are strong protections for political speech, but there is little protection for privacy. The system does have an internal logic of its own, but it is very different from the ordinary logic of liberal individualism.
Head of State: Sir Baldwin Guinard, Warden of the Republic of Jerusalem and Defender of its Constitution, Custodian of the al-Aqsa Mosque, Guardian of the Wall, Protector of the Sepulcher.
Head of Government: Prime Minister Gila Amsalem (PR, Galilee)
Legislature (the name of your national legislature): The Assembly of the Republic (Franseys: Assembley del Reyspublique).
Legislative Houses (if your legislature is bicameral): The Parlement is the lower (and more powerful) house, elected by the people; the Grandcour is the upper house, chosen by the consaills of the Republic's ethnoreligious communities.
Party in Power: Jerusalem is a multiparty democracy with a relatively low level of partisan polarization. Because of its electoral system, there is rarely a majority in the Parlement, and the Prime Minister must usually govern with the support of a coalition of several parties. One of the Warden's important roles is to facilitate these coalition negotiations. The two largest parties share a high degree of consensus about fundamental values: Jerusalem's focus on national defense against the Caliphate, its religiously pluralist and inclusive cultural identity, and its commitment to social democracy. They disagree primarily about how to balance and implement those values. Smaller parties represent more radical departures from the mainstream, but they can access power only as coalition partners of more centrist parties. At the moment, Jerusalem is governed by a center-right coalition of the Republican, Liberal, and Mountain parties.National Issues:
- The Republican Party (Franseys: Parti Reyspubliqain, abbreviated P.R.) is Jerusalem’s center-right party. It is one of the Republic’s two large, mainstream parties, and it traces its origins to the Outremer Revolution of 1795. It is often considered the “Frankish party,” and it draws most of its support from the Frankish community, though many Greeks and Jews – and some Sunnis – also vote Republican. It supports a strategically defensive military policy, grounded in conventional and nuclear deterrence rather than in special and covert operations. It sees Jerusalem as a multifaith but inherently religious nation, and it promotes the role of all four of Outremer’s faiths in public life. It supports the maintenance of Jerusalem’s welfare state, but not the expansion of that system, and it generally supports privatization of remaining state-owned industries. It broadly supports closer ties with Gum Shan and other capitalist nations. At the moment, it governs in coalition with the Liberal and Mountain parties, but in wartime it often forms a government of national unity with the Labor Party.
- The Labor Party (Franseys: Parti Travailur, abbreviated P.Tr.) is Jerusalem’s main center-left party. It is one of the Republic’s two large, mainstream parties, and it traces its origins to Jerusalem’s nineteenth-century labor movement and to Outremer’s tradition of “Shi’a Loyalism.” It is often considered the “Shi’a party,” and it draws most of its support from the Shi’a community - though many Ashkenazi Jews, some Sunnis, and the Frankish left wing also tend to be Laborists. The party supports a strategically aggressive military policy, based on using covert and special operations to undermine and destabilize the Republic’s enemies. It believes that a secular public life is essential to Jerusalem’s stability, and takes a neutral stance not only as between Jerusalem’s faiths, but also toward the idea of religion in general. It supports the expansion of Jerusalem’s welfare state, often through cooperation with the Republic’s labor unions, and it generally supports maintaining (but not expanding) state ownership of strategic industries. It broadly supports closer ties with Germany, and cautious engagement with France and the USSR. At the moment, it forms the official opposition in the Parlement, but in wartime it often forms a government of national unity with the Republican Party.
- The Liberal Party (Franseys: Parti Liberalle, abbreviated P.L.) is one of Jerusalem’s two “ideologically revisionist” parties: like the Communists, the Liberals do not represent a specific ethnoreligious community, but they do reject the Republican/Laborist consensus. In the case of the Liberals, this is because they want Jerusalem to be a “normal” capitalist country: one in which public life is defined not by ethnoreligious collaboration and republican idealism, but by free-market competition of ideas and interest groups. They support the privatization of public industries, the dismantling of most of Jerusalem’s welfare state, reduced spending on the armed forces, and an official alliance with Byzantium and the rest of the capitalist world. Its base of support is the Greek community, and it is often considered the “Greek party,” and a possible fifth column for Byzantine interests. At the moment, it is a part of the Republican Party’s governing coalition, but its relationship with the Republican leadership is tense.
- The Communist Party (Franseys: Parti del Commune, abbreviated P.Co.) is one of Jerusalem’s two “ideologically revisionist” parties: like the Liberals, the Communists do not represent a particular ethnoreligious community, but they do reject the Republican/Laborist consensus. In the case of the Communists, this is because they want Jerusalem to be a “normal” Communist country – though whether that means following the example of France, Germany, or the RSFSR remains contested within the party. The Communist Party originated with Ashkenazi Jews who fled or survived the Holocaust, and many Salemites feel that communism is a European ideology alien to the culture of Outremer; nevertheless, the party today has many Shi’a and Frankish members as well. In principle, it calls for a constitutional convention to replace the Republic with a socialist state; in practice, it mostly serves to pull the Labor Party toward the left. At the moment, it is out of government.
- The Party of the Tradition (Arabic: Hizb as-Sunnah, abbreviated H.S.) is one of Jerusalem’s two explicitly ethnoreligious parties. It claims to represent the country’s Sunnis, who are typically poorer than other Salemites and alienated from the government of the Republic. The Traditionalists are an Islamist party that calls for greater Sunni self-determination, with the ultimate goal of establishing a Sunni autonomous region in eastern Outremer where Caliphate-style sharia can be fully implemented. Many Salemites see the party as a fifth column for the Caliphate, and there is an unofficial agreement among the other parties to exclude the Traditionalists from all coalitions. Nevertheless, the Traditionalists sometimes trade their votes on must-pass bills in exchange for limited concessions, like increased public spending in Transjordan. Their base of support is limited to the Sunni community - and even then, many Sunnis vote Republican instead. At the moment – as always – the party is out of government.
- The Mountain Party (Arabic: Hizb al-Jabal, abbreviated H.Ja.) is the second of Jerusalem’s two explicitly ethnoreligious parties. It evolved out of the close, collaborative relationship between the Druze community and the Syriac Christian community, both of which are concentrated in the mountains of the Lebanon. Today, the Mountain Party represents the regional interests and largely shared worldview of these two communities, both of which want greater local autonomy and less interference by the rest of Outremer; the party generally advocates for greater government investment in the Lebanon, decentralization of education and other public functions, and an isolationist and transactional foreign policy. It is a strongly status-quo party – the Druze and Syriac Christians have drastically disproportionate representation in the Grandcour, and are generally satisfied with their position in society – and it has entered coalitions both with the Republican Party and with the Labor Party. At present, it forms part of the Republicans’ governing coalition.
- Fortress Outremer: Jerusalem’s strategic position remains perilous, just as it has been since the First Crusade. One of its neighbors, the Caliphate, has been sworn to the Republic’s destruction for more than seven centuries. Nobody seriously believes that the Caliph has changed his mind, and the next war (against a power that outnumbers Outremer by almsot ten to one) is only ever a single provocation away. The second of Jerusalem’s neighbors, Egypt, is scarcely less hostile and nearly as large. The third, the Byzantine Empire, is an “executive monarchy” with pretensions to regional leadership – an affront to Jerusalem’s republican principles, and a potential danger to its sovereignty. As a result, military preparedness remains the overriding priority of the Republic, and a matter of bipartisan agreement. But it is also a commitment that warps Jerusalem's society (all Salemites spend ages 18, 19, and 20 in military service, regardless of gender, with ongoing reserve duty until age 51); its economy (one in every twenty bezants created in the country is immediately reinvested in the armed forces, and key defense-related industries remain state-owned); its geography (the Republic’s borders are a continuous line of bunkers, tunnels, and minefields); and its culture (while the Republic protects freedom of speech, citizens who too strenuously criticize the armed forces or the military-industrial complex tend to be driven from the public square – “cancelled”). Jerusalem remains, in other words, more a giant armed camp than a “normal country." It is yet to be seen whether Outremer's economy and society can be demilitarized without sacrificing the Republic’s security.
- A Higher Calling: Jerusalem has, in its region, many enemies; outside the Middle East, it has a number of collaborators and trade partners, but few true friends or allies. This is because Outremer is that rarest of things: a true neutral party to the Cold War. Although it is mostly a capitalist social democracy, it is not an ally of Gum Shan or Byzantium; although it is a fierce defender of religious and human rights, it remains in diplomatic contact with France and the RSFSR. Jerusalem’s foreign policy is shaped by an older – and, most Salemites feel, a higher – duty than the ideological squabbling of the superpowers: the Republic is the custodian of the Holy Land, and its calling is to preserve the sacred heritage of three great faiths. That means that Jerusalem can be an invaluable intermediary between the capitalist and communist blocs. But it also means that Jerusalem has no bloc of its own, no friends to protect it. It must rely for its safety and influence entirely upon its own strength. For a small country – even one as disproportionately powerful and influential as the Republic – that is a serious challenge.
- The Unaccommodated Sunnah: Over the centuries of its existence, Jerusalem managed to accommodate almost all of its peoples to the project of peaceful coexistence and shared sovereignty. The Franks turned from zealous crusaders to Arabized aristocrats; the Shi’ites found common cause with the Republic against the Caliphate; the Greeks gradually shifted their loyalties from Constantinople to Jerusalem; the Jews and Druze and Syriac Christians welcomed protection as religious minorities. Only Jerusalem’s Sunnis remained unaccommodated, as they do to this day: many still consider the Caliph in Medina their true sovereign, and they reject Jerusalem’s religious pluralism in the hope someday of rejoining the true dar al-Islam. Home-grown jihadists – armed and funded by the Caliphate – kill several dozen Salemites per year. This violence creates a vicious cycle: the Republic’s constant fear of Islamist terrorists has left Sunni communities (with the exception of the autonomous Bedouin) largely over-policed and under-supported by the government, and that situation breeds more Sunni extremism in its turn. For as long as the ancient enmity of the Republic and the Caliphate endures, the situation of Jerusalem’s Sunnis will likely remain a festering problem.
Public Goals: Above all, survival: the preservation in the Holy Land of a religiously pluralist republic that can safeguard the sacred heritage of three great faiths. The greatest threat to this goal is the Caliphate, which has always sought to retake the Levant, and so Jerusalem publicly acknowledges that containing the Caliphate is one of its core foreign policy goals. Secondarily, the Republic takes great pride in being one of the world’s oldest and most consistent champions of human rights; it makes no secret of its desire to promote these rights abroad, and it seeks a leading role in international human rights campaigns and organizations. Finally, Jerusalem is quite open about its desire to act as a Cold War intermediary. Its ideology of religious pluralism and republican virtue does not align it with either the capitalist bloc or the communist bloc, and so Jerusalem hopes to continue its role as a fair and neutral liaison between the world’s great powers - and thus to keep global tensions from boiling over.
Private Goals: Among the world’s diplomats and intelligence officers, it is an open secret that Jerusalem attempts to undermine the Caliphate at every turn. Its essential objective is to leave the Caliphate too isolated, internally divided, impoverished, and chaotic to threaten Jerusalem. Thus, Jerusalem arms and trains insurgents within the Caliphate - just as the Caliphate supports Sunni jihadists in Jerusalem. But the Republic also seeks to undermine the Caliphate’s alliances by spreading damaging rumors. It exploits social media in order to exacerbate social divisions. It inflames political controversy over the Caliphate’s recent reforms by supporting both progressive and reactionary extremists. It hacks Caliphate companies and government servers and steals personal information. It conducts industrial espionage and sabotage in order to subvert the Caliphate’s trade. And on, and on, and on. Jerusalem’s leaders consider this shadow war – increasingly global in scale – to be a crucial precaution: it is what keeps the Caliphate too weak and distracted to invade again.
Do not remove - 2022RP
by Reverend Norv » Tue Oct 11, 2022 9:41 am
GDP (nominal): $1.136 trillion (Israel's GDP per capita multiplied by Jerusalem's larger population)
Currency: The Jerusalem bezant, which usually trades with the Gum Shan yuan at a rate of about two bezants to one yuan. The bezant is notable for its pronounced stability, a result of the Templar Reserve’s monetary conservatism and centuries of banking experience. Bezant banknotes are also prized by collectors for their great beauty: they are decorated with esoteric, neo-medievalist Templar iconography.
Economic System:Like its republican political system, Outremer’s economic system is subtly distinct from the broader trends of western liberalism. Jerusalem’s economy is organized to serve the twin goals of national survival and national harmony. It does not necessarily achieve the greatest possible rate of economic growth or wealth maximization. But it ensures modest, broadly shared prosperity through a social market model; and it protects Jerusalem’s strategic industries and military-industrial complex through state ownership and economic planning.
Since the Council of Cafarlet in 1907, trade unions have held a central role in Jerusalem’s political economy. Almost all Salemite workers are unionized, including professionals like lawyers and doctors; trade union density is 58.8%, and collective bargaining coverage is 88.8%. The unions serve as the administrative apparatus for Jerusalem’s welfare state. Among the benefits of a union contract are unemployment insurance and job retraining (which gives Jerusalem’s workers a high degree of flexibility), health insurance, and a guaranteed-outlay retirement pension. All of these are paid for by a combination of union dues, employer contributions, and taxes; but they are run by the unions and attach only to jobs covered by a collective bargaining agreement. Similarly, Jerusalem does not have a minimum wage; instead, wage and safety standards are fixed by government-mediated bargaining between the unions and their employers (or, for unionized professionals, by sectoral agreements). The only truly universal welfare program in Jerusalem is the guarantee of free higher education, which every Salemite receives upon finishing the required three years of military service.
The resulting welfare system operates as a kind of economic risk-sharing: while it is easy for Jerusalem’s employers to fire workers, the public shoulders the burden of helping those workers to retrain and relocate. This system involves a fairly low tax burden (because much of the cost is born by unions and employers), but it delivers most of the benefits of a conventional social safety net. But because that safety net is administered by unions, access to it is contingent either upon union membership or upon collective bargaining coverage. Upon the headquarters of the Naqaba, Jerusalem’s labor union federation, are carved the words: “He that will not work, neither shall he eat.”
More broadly, Jerusalem remains essentially a dirigiste capitalist system. It has some truly free-market aspects: there is little product market regulation, property rights are strongly protected by law, and independent courts reliably enforce contracts. Taxes are high, but compliance is simple and consistent from year to year. It is, on the whole, a very stable and predictable place to do business. But Jerusalem’s economy is also highly planned; this is necessary in order to ration scarce natural resources and fresh water, and to ensure that the Republic produces enough military material for its own defense. Every five years, the government produces an economic plan that allocates public loans, fresh water, government research support, trade subsidies, and other public resources among the various sectors of the economy. Particular firms are never singled out for special treatment – Jerusalem has no “national champions” – but particular industries are. The goal is to ensure that market forces do not squander Jerusalem’s few natural resources, or undermine industries that are necessary for the country’s long-term survival.
Beyond this, about thirty percent of Jerusalem’s economy is publicly owned. Jerusalem’s mail company, utility companies, and electrical power companies are all owned and operated by the state; the Republic is also the largest shareholder in the country’s rail and airline companies. Much of Jerusalem’s military-industrial complex remains publicly owned and operated, including the flagship companies of Zion Military Industries and Ascalon Aeronautics. This is important, because Jerusalem’s military-industrial complex is not always profitable, and it might go bankrupt if it were left to the whims of the market; public ownership ensures that Jerusalem remains able to arm its troops without depending on foreign weapons. Finally, the government is a major shareholder in all kinds of industries in Jerusalem; indeed, the Ministry of National Development functions largely as an equity firm that manages the government’s domestic investments. This allows the government to influence Jerusalem’s corporate community through shareholder pressure, not just through official regulation.
As a result of these systems, Jerusalem’s economy is not as innovative as it might be. Because government planning, more than market pressure, determines resource allocation, Jerusalem’s growth rate and dynamism are limited. On the other hand, Jerusalem can sustain strategic industries that might fail in a more open market, and it effectively channels economic activity toward the public good. Such an economy produces modest but resilient and equitably shared growth; it ensures most Salemites a middle-class standard of living; and it protects the military-industrial complex required to defend the Republic. When all is said and done, Jerusalem’s economy is fit for purpose.
Major Trade Partners: Italy, the RSFSR, England, South Africa, France, the Commonwealth of Three Nations, Gum Shan, Germany, Maha Bodhi, Afrique.
Major Exports: Agricultural: dates, olives, chicken, citrus. Industrial: advanced agricultural technology (esp. high-efficiency irrigation systems), solar panels, solar water heaters, desalinization machinery, polished diamonds, potash, industrial robots. Biomedical: pharmaceuticals, medical devices, digital health services, genetic therapies. Information technology: semiconductors, chip design services, cybersecurity hardware and software. Military materiel: unmanned aerial vehicles, submarines, small arms, optics, light armored vehicles, avionics, active protection systems. Of these, Jerusalem is the world’s leading exporter of citrus, desalinization equipment, cybersecurity/cyberweapon technology, and military active protection systems. It is also, as the Holy Land of more than four billion people, one of the world’s leading tourist destinations.
Major Imports: Gasoline, diesel, natural gas, raw diamonds, wheat, automobiles, raw materials.
Defense Budget (USD): $64.75 billion (5.7 percent of GDP, comparable to real-world Israel and Saudi Arabia).
Alliance(s): None; Jerusalem is not associated either with international capitalism or with international communism, and the Republic prizes its Cold War neutrality. Its relationships with its neighbors range from tense suspicion to outright hostility. It has friendlier ties with Germany and Ariana, though neither is a formal ally. The Republic’s security is guaranteed solely by its own strength, and so its society and economy and politics all are organized around military readiness.
Military Branches (names of official Armed Forces Branches): The military establishment of Jerusalem as a whole is called the Host of the Republic, and it includes land, sea, air, and cyber forces. The land forces are the Republican Legions; most of the legions are made up of enlisted personnel serving conscript duty, who are led and supported by professional officers and specialists. Several legions, however, are specialized forces with fewer conscripts and more professionals. The air forces include both volunteer professionals and conscripts, and they are called the Republican Air Legions. The much smaller navy is all-volunteer, and is called the Jerusalem Navy. Unusually, the Host of the Republic includes the Republican Cyber Legion, a dedicated cyberwarfare force. And while it is not a formal part of the Host of the Republic, Jerusalem boasts the world’s oldest and most effective intelligence agency: the Republic Clandestine Service, better known by its historical name - the Assassins.
Active Duty: 651,250, of whom some 475,000 are conscripts in the land, air, and cyber legions. At any given moment, approximately one in every forty citizens of Jerusalem is on active duty, mostly because the Republic conscripts both men and women for three years. Roughly another 12,000 Salemites work for the National Clandestine Service.
Reserve Duty: In principle, all able-bodied Salemite citizens – both men and women – automatically enter the Reserve Legions upon finishing their conscript service. However, if a reservist is enrolled at a university, or is the primary caretaker for children, or works in a strategic industry – then he or she is moved to the inactive reserves and is exempt from wartime duty. The active reserves, who remain eligible for wartime service, number 2,430,423.
Total Manpower: 9,001,568 men and women, ages 17-49, able-bodied and fit for active duty. Jerusalem does not distinguish men and women in its conscription policy. Of these, a total of 3,081,673 serve on either active or “active reserve” duty.
Land Forces:The Republican Legions are Jerusalem’s land force. They are the largest of Outremer’s military branches by manpower, and one of the two largest (along with the Air Legions) by funding. The Legions are an internationally respected force with a remarkable military record: for eight centuries, they have successfully defended Jerusalem against its larger and more populous neighbors. Multiple recent wars have given the Legions an unusual depth of modern combat experience.
Today, the Legions are a “people’s army” based on the extensive use of conscript and reserve forces. Of the twenty active-duty legions, sixteen are led by volunteer professional officers and specialists, but rely on an enlisted force of conscripts. All able-bodied citizens of Jerusalem serve three years’ conscript duty, mostly in these sixteen Legions. This extended period of service prevents many of the downsides of a conscript army: it allows for a full year of training, plus enough time in service for conscripts to acquire specialized skills and job experience. Third-year conscripts often serve as junior noncommissioned officers. Conscript service also broadens the horizons of young Salemites: each active-duty legion draws conscripts from all of Jerusalem’s regions and ethnoreligious communities, and turns them into members of a single team. The legions, in this sense, are crucibles of republican civic identity.
The ninety reserve legions, by contrast, are local formations in which both officers and enlisted personnel are part-time citizen soldiers. Upon finishing conscript duty, most Salemites return to civilian life and are immediately enrolled in the reserve force. Citizens who are not attending university, caring for children, or working in strategic industries are required to remain in the active reserves until they turn fifty. All the active reservists in a local military district constitute one reserve legion. Therefore, each reserve legion is made up of neighbors who already know each other well, and who report together when mobilized; a reserve legion represents a local community in arms. In peacetime, active reservists are required to train one weekend a month. They also report for two weeks of large-scale exercises in the winter, and they perform two weeks of labor – usually construction work on the Iron Shield – in the summer. In wartime, Jerusalem can mobilize 1.5 million reservists within 48 hours.
Each active-duty legion is a combined-arms force of 20,000 legionnaires, capable of prolonged independent operations. A legion includes logistical, administrative, and engineering elements; motorized infantry, mechanized infantry, and armor; artillery and air defense elements; transport, utility, and attack helicopters; and unmanned ground and aerial vehicles. It is an army unto itself. Reserve legions have fewer aircraft and tanks, but more infantry and artillery; they are intended primarily to defend Jerusalem’s fortified border, while the active-duty legions strike deep into the enemy’s heartland. The knightly shield-and-sword combination remains Jerusalem’s essential strategic paradigm. The shield – a million reservists motivated to defend their homes, dug into carefully prepared fortifications – stalemates any invasion; then the sword - fast-moving combined-arms legions, which can operate independently and adapt to battlefield conditions – launches a devastating counterattack.
Jerusalem produces almost all of its military materiel itself, to its own specifications. A premium is placed on affordability for mass production, on reliability (especially in dusty desert conditions), and on versatility: the Legions would rather have one vehicle that can do six jobs well, than six vehicles each of which does one job superbly. Thus, the standard C87 Ibelin main battle tank can also transport a fireteam of infantry, bulldoze barricades, and tow a disabled vehicle; the Goshawk utility helicopter can transport a full rifle squad, carry the squad’s tactical vehicle in a sling, and support them with a chain gun and anti-armor missiles. Outremer vehicles and equipment are notable for their plain, practical appearance; the Republic does not use camouflage, and its tanks and helicopters and combat uniforms are all the same simple olive-drab color. But this simplicity conceals some high technological sophistication: Jerusalem is the world’s leader in active protection systems, for example, and all of its armored vehicles are equipped with softkill/hardkill protection suites that provide great protection from enemy missiles.
Finally, four of the active-duty legions are specialized, dedicated forces rather than independent miniature armies. Two of these specialized legions are raised by the Vassals of the Republic. The Bedouin of the Transjordan do their conscript service in the Desert Legion: an all-Bedouin force with great expertise in desert and irregular warfare. Likewise, the Druze of Mount Lebanon do their conscript service in the all-Druze Mountain Legion, which has advanced skills in mountain warfare, infiltration, and reconnaissance. The Jerusalem Foreign Legion is different again: it has no conscripts at all, and instead its enlisted ranks are filled by foreign volunteers who serve under Salemite officers. It rarely has trouble finding volunteers; the idea of protecting Jerusalem’s fragile, inclusive democracy has deep appeal in many countries around the world. And the Kerak Legion – named after the fortress of Kerak where four Caliphate invasions were stopped – comprises Jerusalem’s special forces command. Its secretive task forces – usually identified only by a number – are legendary, and range from crack helicopter pilots to naval commandos to plainclothes kill teams. These task forces have extensive experience both in training Jerusalem’s allies around the world (including rebel armies in hostile nations), and in conducting deniable raids deep behind enemy lines. The Kerak Legion and the Republic Clandestine Service have cooperated closely for more than a century.
Naval Forces: The Jerusalem Navy is by far the smallest, least prestigious, and least well-funded branch of the Republic’s military; not only is it smaller than the land or air legions, it lacks even the prestige and budget of the Republic Clandestine Service. Uniquely in the Host of the Republic, the Navy is an all-professional force with no conscript or reservist component. It has two primary roles. First, it maintains peacetime control of the Republic’s coast: intercepting foreign infiltrators, smugglers, and terrorists. For this purpose, it sails three destroyers, five corvettes, and a dozen patrol boats. This surface fleet is neither intended to fight a true naval battle, nor is it capable of doing so; in wartime the coastal squadron retreats behind the minefields of the Iron Shield, and Jerusalem relies upon the Air Legions to destroy any enemy fleet that nears its shores. The Navy’s second purpose is to conduct covert insertion and extraction of Assassins and Kerak Legion special operators. Here it excels: the Navy uses about two dozen purpose-built submarines with state-of-the-art air-independent power, water-jet propulsion, and anechoic protection. These are lightly-armed, but almost impossible to detect with conventional sonar. The attack submarines carry stealthy midget submersibles and swimmer delivery vehicles, which can transport special operations teams a hundred kilometers to and from the insertion point. The Jerusalem Navy, if nothing else, ensures that no shore on Earth is entirely beyond the Assassins’ reach.
Air Forces:The Republican Air Legions, pound for pound, are one of the finest air forces in the world. They are half the size of the ground Legions by manpower, but they boast nearly as large a budget – Jerusalem spends more on its air force as a proportion of total military spending than almost any other nation. The Air Legions are internationally regarded as one of the world’s finest pure air superiority forces.
The Air Legions follow the same “people’s army” model as the other legions. Most ground crew, logistical personnel, and administrative personnel are young conscripts. Like the other legions, the Air Legions are ethnoreligiously integrated, and serve an important role in giving conscripts a shared civic identity. All conscripts receive a full year of training, and the most talented can be selected for another year of flight school; these chosen few get to spend their third year in the air. Otherwise, all pilots and air controllers and operational commanders are volunteer professionals who have made the Air Legions their career. While most Air Legions are active-duty, there are reserve Air Legions, in which all personnel – pilots, commanders, and ground crew alike – are part-time citizen-soldiers. Like other active reservists, Air Legion reservists must train one weekend per month, and they have four weeks of large-scale exercises per year: two weeks in summer, and two weeks in winter. Reserve Air Legions mostly fly cargo planes or operate unmanned aerial vehicles; fighter aircraft are the preserve of the active-duty Air Legions, and their professional pilots.
Jerusalem has no need for strategic logistics or strategic bombing; it does not have to wage war half a world away. Therefore, the Air Legions are a specialized force: they focus entirely on air superiority, close air support, tactical airstrikes, and suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD). Air Legion doctrine emphasizes speed and overwhelming force, especially in the first 72 hours of a conflict; the objective is to break through enemy air defenses and destroy most of the enemy’s warplanes before they get into the air. This requires a versatile, reliable airfleet crewed by skilled pilots who are willing to accept casualties. It also requires both machines and men to be highly adaptable: a pilot must be able to fly a SEAD mission, return to base, replace his antiradiation missiles with guided bombs, and then immediately fly a strike mission back into the same airspace.
As a result, a single aircraft comprises most of the Air Legions’ combat airfleet: the Longsword strike fighter, a multirole two-seat 4.5-generation aircraft. The Longsword is built around a powerful AESA radar and an integrated electronic-warfare suite; it can use synthetic aperture radar mapping to identify ground targets, and it can use focused emissions to jam enemy radars (or to burn through such jamming itself). This focus on electronic warfare is typical of the Air Legions, which regard radar jamming as both cheaper and more reliable than full stealth. Still, the Longsword does have a reduced radar cross-section: it uses highly swept wings, conformal weapons bays and fuel tanks, and S-shaped intake ducts to appear smaller than it is, and on radar it is easily mistaken for a drone rather than a warplane. The Longsword has no built-in weapons, and can be quickly rearmed - depending on the mission, it can destroy enemy radars from standoff range with anti-radiation missiles, or strike ground targets with guided bombs, or dogfight with short-range air-to-air missiles.
While the Longsword is the backbone of the Air Legions, the Air Legions also operate a number of cargo planes (which are often used for humanitarian relief abroad), and they make extensive use of both armed and unarmed unmanned aerial vehicles. These include the infamous Masyaf stealth drone: a very expensive, nearly radar-invisible unmanned aircraft that is used to help the Assassins to strike targets deep inside denied airspace. Finally, the Air Legions are responsible for Jerusalem’s nuclear weapons; while the Republic neither confirms nor denies the existence of its nuclear program, it is widely believed to possess between 50 and 100 nuclear warheads. Experts suspect that these warheads are mounted on air-launched cruise missiles, which can be fired at standoff range by ordinary Longsword fighters. So long as one Longsword remains operational, therefore, It is impossible for an enemy to be certain that Jerusalem’s nuclear weapons have been destroyed.
Other Military Information:
- In addition to the Republican Legions, the Republican Air Legions, and the Jerusalem Navy, there also exists a fourth branch of the Host of the Republic: the Republican Cyber Legion. This is a small, highly trained force dedicated to strategic cyberwarfare: while cyberwarfare units in the other Legions attack enemy battlespace networks or military computers, the Cyber Legion attacks the enemy’s online infrastructure, and shuts down the supply of electricity or running water to entire cities. It can inflict, in the estimation of military experts, the same kind of destruction as hundreds of strategic bombers. The Cyber Legion includes many conscripts, though it is highly selective: only Jerusalem’s most promising young programmers are offered the chance to serve their three years of conscript duty in the Cyber Legion. In recent years, therefore, the Cyber Legion has functioned as an incubator of talent for future leaders in Jerusalem’s flourishing information technology sector.
- All four branches of the Host of the Republic are coordinated by the Jerusalem General Staff. This is not simply a council of the Republic’s highest-ranking officers; rather, it is an academic institution for the study of war. Every spring, all professional officers in the Host of the Republic take a rigorous written examination, testing their knowledge of history, geography, strategy, tactics, logistics, applied mathematics, and republican political theory. Those who score above the ninety-fifth percentile are invited to attend the Arsuf War College, where they receive six years of exhaustive training in all areas of war: from grand strategy to public relations to the technical details of an Ibelin tank or a Coureur antiradiation missile. Upon graduation, these men and women no longer belong to any branch of the military: they are pure staff officers, capable of overseeing any kind of operation on land, at sea, in the air, or in cyberspace. Staff officers develop the overall war plans and mobilization schedules that organize Jerusalem’s complex war machine. They are also assigned to every legion, where they ensure that every unit understands its part in the larger plan, and can therefore improvise in the field to advance that plan. The General Staff is why the Host of the Republic functions not as four distinct branches, but as a single integrated warfighting force.
- The Iron Shield is the General Staff’s greatest achievement. It is an integrated system of defensive plans, strategies, technologies, and infrastructure that turns the entire Republic of Jerusalem into a fortress. The country’s land borders are protected by a continuous line of bunkers, artillery emplacements, reconnaissance posts, and radar stations – all sited in blast-resistant bunkers and linked by underground tunnels, and guarded behind a kilometer-wide belt of minefields and tank traps. Mobilization schedules allow reserve legions to fully man the entire line of fortifications in less than twenty-four hours. The Republic’s coastline is likewise shrouded behind a continuous band of remotely-activated, seafloor-anchored naval mines. In peacetime, the mines are deactivated and lowered toward the seafloor. In wartime, they are armed and unspooled toward the surface, where only preapproved shipping can find the narrow paths between the minefields. Air defense elements directly under the command of the General Staff maintain a dense network of short-range and long-range radars covering the entire country, each of which is wirelessly linked to all the other radars and to dozens of interceptor missile batteries. The result is a comprehensively networked air, rocket, and missile shield over the entire Republic: the “Iron Dome” component of the Iron Shield. Finally, Jerusalem’s internet is protected behind the “Iron Firewall”: while in peacetime this system is inactive, in wartime it completely severs the Republic’s internet from the outside world, cutting off all remote cyberattacks. Taken as a whole, in the words of one Soviet expert, the Iron Shield “makes the Maginot Line look like a child’s pillow fort.”
- Jerusalem’s greatest national security asset is not part of the Host of the Republic at all. This is, of course, the Republic Clandestine Service – better known as the Assassins. Directly descended from the Nizari Ismaili order of the same name, which formed an early alliance of convenience with the Crusaders and quickly became integral to Outremer’s security, the Assassins today are the world’s oldest, most respected, and most successful intelligence agency. While they recruit widely, a disproportionate number of Assassins remain Ismailis, and many of these come from families that have served the Clandestine Service for generations; for many Assassins, espionage is a family business, and they learn techniques of disguise and encryption and countersurveillance from early childhood. Whereas most intelligence officers rely on diplomatic cover and work out of embassies, the Assassins often use illegal cover: posing as citizens of the host nation, vanishing into the crowd for years on end, and gradually working their way into a position to access crucial information or to strike a designated target. Despite its human rights advocacy, the Republic has refused to set any hard limit on the tactics that the Assassins can employ; seduction, torture, sabotage, propaganda, and political assassination are all standard tools of their trade. They are likely the most effective guarantors of Jerusalem’s peace, because no government on Earth can know for sure how far the Assassins have infiltrated it – and no leader on Earth can be quite completely certain that the bodyguard standing next to him is not an Assassin who has been quietly working for decades toward this precise moment.
Do not remove - 2022RP
by Reverend Norv » Tue Oct 11, 2022 9:42 am
History:RP Example(s): I think you know me.
- 1099 A.D.: Crusaders from Western Europe capture Jerusalem. They massacre thousands of Muslims and Jews; chroniclers assert that their warhorses wade through streets flooded knee-deep in blood. This becomes one of the formative images of Jerusalem’s historical myth, the origin of the Republic’s narrative of national redemption. The arc of Jerusalem’s history begins in the horrific slaughter of one religious group by another, and it will bend over the centuries toward peaceful coexistence and republican solidarity.
- 1100 – 1129 A.D.: Consolidation of the Crusader States. The newly-founded Kingdom of Jerusalem conquers the Lebanon, Transjordan, Acre, and Ascalon. Jerusalem wages mostly constant war with the Fatimid Caliphate and the Seljuk Empire, and achieves great success against both. The Knights Hospitaller and Knights Templar assume important roles in the kingdom’s administration and defense.
- 1129 – 1147 A.D.: Taj al-Muluk Buri, Atabeg of Damascus, launches a purge against the Ismaili Shia order of Assassins. The Assassins form an alliance with King Baldwin II of Jerusalem, and together the allies defeat Taj al-Muluk. Origin of Crusader-Assassin cooperation. The first generation of Jerusalem Franks grows up in the Levant.
- 1147 – 1169 A.D.: The great Seljuk leader Nur ad-Din unites Muslim lands in Syria and wages fierce war against the Crusaders; this period becomes known as the Second Crusade. After two generations, the Franks begin to indigenize: most speak Arabic, and many have never been to Europe. By the Privilegia Balduini, King Baldwin II officially grant Jews, Greeks, and Muslims the right to make pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Mosques and Orthodox monasteries are rebuilt.
- 1169 – 1187 A.D.: The great Muslim leader Saladin ends the Fatimid Caliphate, becoming leader of Egypt; he then overthrows Nur ad-Din’s son, becoming ruler of Syria and surrounding Jerusalem. Outraged by the usurpation of the Ismaili Fatimids by the Sunni Saladin, the Assassins formalize their alliance with the Crusaders, and are permitted to establish a new headquarters in the Lebanon. Baldwin IV, the “Leper King” of Jerusalem, defeats Saladin at Montsigard and earns a national legend that endures to this day. He dies soon thereafter, and is succeeded by Baldwin V. Baldwin V takes the throne at the age of 12 and becomes one of Jerusalem’s greatest leaders.
- 1187 - 1189 A.D.: Saladin declares a jihad for Jerusalem and invades. Jerusalem urgently seeks aid from Constantinople, and is rebuffed: a betrayal that Outremer will never forget or forgive. Alone, Baldwin declines to offer battle at the Horns of Hattin, and instead adopts a defensive position on the well-supplied road to Nazareth - near the village of Deir Hanna. Here, although outnumbered two-to-one, the Crusaders defeat Saladin’s army and force him to withdraw. This is where the history of Jerusalem decisively diverges from our timeline.
- 1189 A.D.: The Assassins kill Saladin in his camp, and his empire collapses into infighting among his sons. Jerusalem celebrates its deliverance; forever after, the Assassins – and Ismaili Shi’ites more generally – are considered an essential part of Outremer’s society.
- 1189 – 1248 A.D.: Baldwin V reigns for 63 years, a period that becomes known as the Pax Balduini. There is very little actual peace; the Kingdom rapidly expands, conquering much of Syria and even Damascus, and repeatedly invading Egypt. Enormous amounts of plunder are carried back from Cairo, and fund the establishment of universities at Caesarea and Nablus. Arts and literature flourish; the great Jewish author Dero’it bat Noach becomes the court poet, setting a precedent both for religious tolerance and for women’s role in society. The Franseys language absorbs enough Greek and Arabic words to lose full mutual comprehensibility with European French.
- 1248 – 1250 A.D.: Qatadah ibn Idris establishes the Caliphate of Arabia. Islamic rebels in Damascus drive the Crusaders mostly out of Syria. Tribal infighting in Arabia, as well as complacency and old age, mean that Baldwin underestimates the threat that the Caliphate poses. He dies in 1248 and is succeeded by his son, Raymond I, known to history as Raymond Flamberge: Raymond Longsword.
- 1250 – 1254 A.D.: Caliph Marwan ibn Hussein al-Hashimi declares a jihad for Jerusalem. Though he initially makes significant progress, the fortress of Kerak resists his advance, stalemating the main invasion force in Transjordan. Louis IX of France leads the Seventh Crusade to Jerusalem’s aid – the last time a European army will crusade for the Levant. Inexplicably, Louis invades neutral Ayyubid Egypt, and is captured along with his entire army before he can render any aid to Jerusalem. After a three-year siege of Kerak, Raymond Longsword arrives with a relief column. Despite being outnumbered three-to-one, he routs the Caliphate army at the First Battle of Kerak. The Caliphate retreats and signs a peace deal on Easter Day in 1254. As a result, Easter begins to serve both as a religious holiday and as Jerusalem’s independence day, and it is still celebrated in the latter sense by Salemites of all faiths.
- 1254 - 1275 A.D.: Raymond Longsword wages almost continuous war with Jerusalem’s neighbors: sacking Cairo and Alexandria, exploiting the Mongol invasion of the Caliphate to reconquer much of Syria (which is then lost again after the Caliphate defeats the Mongols at the Battle of Damascus in 1271), and even joining the Eighth Crusade and waging war against the Almohads. He dies in the deserts of North Africa, leaving no direct heir.
- 1275 - 1290 A.D.: The Knights’ War. Raymond’s nephew Amalric and younger brother Fulk wage a bitter civil war for the throne. This saps the kingdom’s strength and prevents Jerusalem from exploiting the Caliphate’s ongoing struggle against the Mongols. It also exhausts the Frankish nobility, shifting considerable influence to Greek and Shi’ite merchants and landowners. Ultimately, the growing threat of Mamluk Egypt spurs the Assassins to intervene: they kill Fulk and place Amalric on the throne. In return, Amalric accepts certain limits on his power: henceforth, the king will be unable to raise taxes without the consent of the Grand Court, or “Grandcour.” And the Grandcour will include representatives of the Shi’a, Greek, and Jewish communities – not just the Frankish elite.
- 1290 – 1320 A.D.: The “Amalrician Revolution” fundamentally reshapes Jerusalem’s government. King Amalric forms a close and collaborative relationship with the Grandcour, and together they draft an extensive legal code: the Assizes of Jerusalem. This synthesizes Roman law, Frankish tradition, and sharia to create one of the world’s most influential legal landmarks. It is the first law that applies without exception to all the people of Jerusalem, regardless of religion or social rank. Many scholars believe that core liberal ideas like the rule of law and parliamentary sovereignty first emerged from the Amalrician Revolution.
- 1322 – 1329 A.D.: Four years after finally defeating the Mongol Empire, Caliph Umar ibn Mutada al-Qatada invades Jerusalem at the head of an unprecedentedly enormous army. Amalric is defeated and slain at Tibneh, and the city of Jerusalem is besieged. A few months later, however, Persia invades the Caliphate. Amalric’s son, King Roger II, lifts the siege of Jerusalem and wages an indecisive campaign for the next five years. The war ends in a status quo peace.
- 1329 – 1347 A.D.: Roger I dies unexpectedly in 1336 and is succeeded by his younger brother, Baldwin VI. Under the influence of Guy of Limbourg – a European monk whom most Frankish nobles regard as a dangerous fanatic – Baldwin VI attempts to revoke the 200-year-old Privilegia Balduini of Baldwin II. This would strip Muslims of the right to make pilgrimage to the al-Aqsa Mosque. The Grandcour resists, and a prolonged power struggle results.
- 1347 – 1380 A.D.: In two years, the Black Death kills more than a third of the population of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Baldwin VI falls ill and appoints Guy of Limbourg as regent. Guy declares that the Plague is God’s judgment on Outremer for its toleration of heathens, and unilaterally revokes the Privilegia Balduini. Muslim peasants rebel and march on Jerusalem; the barons of the kingdom do not intervene. Guy is killed by the rebels, and Baldwin VI supposedly succumbs to the Plague; most historians believe that he was quietly murdered by the Assassins. Baldwin’s son assumes the throne as Godfrey II, and signs the Pax Aurea. This compact increases the power of the Grandcour, and gives the Grandcour the right to appoint regents for underage or incapacitated monarchs. The Pax Aurea also includes an “absolute and irrevocable” guarantee of freedom of conscience, worship, and pilgrimage for all the people of Jerusalem. Many scholars concur that the Pax Aurea originated the modern concept of individual religious liberty.
- 1380 – 1386 A.D.: The Caliphate once again invades. Despite the lingering effects of the Black Death, Jerusalem rallies behind Godfrey II. Nikephoros Cydones, a great Greek general, becomes the first non-Frankish war hero of Outremer. In the end, the Caliphate is driven back beyond Jerusalem’s border.
- 1386 – 1411 A.D.: Godfrey II is succeeded by his son, Amalric III. Amalric establishes new universities at Toron and Bethsan, and for the first time permits Jews to teach at Outremer universities. For this, he is excommunicated by Pope Boniface IX. Jerusalem’s bishops convene at the Synod of Hebron, and shift their loyalty to the Pope in Avignon, Benedict XIII. In so doing, they declare that the pope’s authority over the church in Jerusalem extends no further than Jerusalem’s own bishops allow, and that religious toleration is a fundamental priority for the Catholic Church in Outremer.
- 1411 – 1413 A.D.: The First Deliverance Crusade (Jihad al-Inqadh). Following the Caliphate’s persecution of Shi’ites in Syria, and its unsuccessful invasion of Shia Egypt, Amalric III invades Syria with the stated goal of protecting Syrian Shi’ites from Sunni persecution. It is the first time in European history that a nation has waged a war to protect an ethnic or religious group other than its own. Many historians regard the First Deliverance Crusade as the first war justified on the grounds of humanitarian intervention. The war is inconclusive, but less than a decade after its end, the Caliphate adopts the religious-tolerance measures that Jerusalem fought to impose on it.
- 1413 – 1451 A.D.: The “Court of the Lotus-Eaters” governs Jerusalem. Under Amalric III and his son Amalric IV, Jerusalem experiences a flowering of arts, literature, philosophy, and science. Religious toleration becomes deeply entrenched in Jerusalem’s society; Greeks and Jews and Shi’ites assume significant roles at the universities, in business, and in the national administration. The first signs of the Jerusalem Renaissance become visible, as interest in classical learning grows and philosophers suggest innovative new theories. But tax revenues decline; provincial nobles grow powerful; and the army is weakened by favoritism and corruption.
- 1451 - 1455 A.D.: The Cataclysm. In 1451, the Caliphate invades. For the first time in either Europe or the Middle East, siege artillery is brought to bear in large numbers. The castle of Kerak is leveled. The Host of the Kingdom is dealt a devastating defeat at Jericho, and Amalric IV is captured. In exchange for his release, Jerusalem is forced to cede Transjordan and Lebanon. Thousands of captured soldiers of Outremer are enslaved; hundreds of thousands of Greek and Latin Christians flee Transjordan and Lebanon, pouring into the remaining Crusader lands.
- 1455 – 1481 A.D.: The Years of Gall. Under pressure from the Grandcour, Amalric IV abdicates soon after his release from Caliphate captivity. He is replaced by his young nephew, Godfrey III; the Grandcour appoints Baron Henry of Ibelin as regent. For decades, even after Godfrey comes of age, the two men continue to rule as partners. They check the power of the nobility, raise taxes, fortify the frontier, build up a domestic artillery industry, and appoint thousands of competent common-born officers. The Oath of Kerak is instituted, by which the King of Jerusalem must swear every year never to rest until all the lands ruled by Baldwin V are united and free. To this day, the Warden of the Republic still swears the same oath.
- 1481 – 1484 A.D.: The Last Crusade. In July 1481, Godfrey III leads an army into Lebanon; simultaneously, Henry of Ibelin and another army cross the Jordan. Godfrey defeats the main Caliphate army at Maron, and then corners it in the Beqaa Valley. There, he reverses one of the most fundamental rules of medieval warfare: instead of ransoming its nobles and killing the common soldiers, Godfrey lets the common soldiers go free and systematically executes every Saracen nobleman. The message is clear: Jerusalem’s war with the Caliphate is henceforth not a normal rivalry, but a struggle to the death. On Easter Day 1484 – exactly 240 years after the defeat of the original Caliphate invasion – the Caliphate surrenders Lebanon and Transjordan to Jerusalem, and returns all the surviving slaves who were captured in 1455.
- 1484 – 1517 A.D.: First phase of the Jerusalem Renaissance. Under Godfrey III and his heir, Henry I, Jerusalem experiences a remarkable flowering of learning and innovation. Its position between the Eastern and Western worlds, together with its religiously tolerant and culturally curious society, produces a synthesis of Greek, Latin, Jewish, and Islamic learning that rivals any of the Italian city-states. Important works of sculpture, painting, engineering, literature, and political theory proliferate – including the Divine Commonwealth of Marcel d’Eras, who argues that a single law could make brothers of diverse peoples. He remains to this day the fountainhead of Outremer’s republican tradition. Salemite Arabic develops most of its modern features, becoming unmistakably distinguishable from Syrian Arabic; Arabic poetry and literature flourishes. Ascalon, Tripoli, and the recovered fortress of Kerak are all completely rebuilt according to mathematical principles, with cannon sited in bulwarks to create overlapping fields of fire.
- 1517 – 1535 A.D.: The Reformation arrives in Jerusalem, bringing controversy with it: while many of Jerusalem’s bishops agree with Luther’s critique of the Church’s corruption and superstition, they are appalled by his apparent fanaticism. Nevertheless, when several Protestant theologians flee to Jerusalem, the Kingdom’s bishops refuse to hand them over to papal inquisitors. The status of the Catholic Church in Jerusalem suddenly seems insecure; Latin churches are the scene of constant theological debate and disagreement, and several notable Frankish aristocrats actually convert to Orthodoxy. Meanwhile, persecution of non-Sunnis in the Caliphate sends almost 100,000 Jews, Christians, and Shi’ites fleeing to Jerusalem for refuge.
- 1535 – 1542 A.D.: The Second Deliverance Crusade (Jihad al-Inqadh). Seeking to quiet the religious controversy within his own country – and to stop the flood of refugees - Henry I invades Syria in support of Shi’ite rebels within the Caliphate. He withdraws after a long campaign, having successfully created a Shi’ite client state on Jerusalem’s Syrian frontier. This area is reconquered by the Caliphate less than a year after the Host of the Kingdom leaves Syria. The crusade nevertheless restores a modicum of religious stability to Jerusalem, mostly by refocusing pro-Reformation Franks and anti-Reformation Franks on their common enemy rather than each other.
- 1542 - 1570 A.D.: Tensions fester between the Papacy and the Catholic bishops in Jerusalem. At the Council of Trent, the Outremer bishops consistently advocate for reform of the Church, but also for reconciliation – or, at a minimum, peaceful coexistence – with Protestants. The Council ignores them, and Jerusalem’s efforts to facilitate dialogue between Germany’s Catholic and Protestant princes likewise come to naught. Frankish opinion in Jerusalem, while not exactly pro-Protestant, becomes increasingly hostile to the Pope.
- 1570 A.D.: Four years after the Council of Trent concludes, Jerusalem’s bishops convene at the Synod of Nazareth. They repudiate the Council of Trent and reject the Counter-Reformation as a perversion of the tradition of religious coexistence of the Catholic Church in Jerusalem. Citing the Synod of Hebron, the bishops claim that if they could shift their loyalty from one pope to another, then they can also abandon their loyalty to Rome altogether. They declare that, by the Council of Trent, the rest of the Catholic Church has abandoned the historic Catholic faith. The bishops’ break from Rome creates a new, quasi-Protestant denomination: the Old Catholic Church of Jerusalem.
- 1570 – 1590 A.D.: Jerusalem experiences considerable religious turmoil. The Shi’ites, Jews, and Orthodox Christians mostly support the establishment of the Old Catholic Church, which represents Jerusalem’s tradition of tolerance for other faiths. A substantial minority of Franks reject the new church, and remain loyal to the Pope. Many of these leave Jerusalem, mostly for the Kingdom of Afrique, and King Baldwin VII replaces them with loyally Old Catholic vassals; this has the incidental effect of significantly reducing the power of the traditional Frankish nobility, and centralizing power in the king and Grandcour. Jerusalem plays an important role in mediating the conflict between Afrique and Byzantium, culminating in the Peace of Acre.
- 1590 – 1621 A.D.: Second phase of the Jerusalem Renaissance. As religious harmony mostly returns to the country, and the Caliphate undergoes a period of peaceful reform, the kingdom’s central government uses its new power and wealth to invest in arts and letters. The Grand Library of Jerusalem dates from this period, and begins assembling what will become the world’s largest collection of ancient Greek and Hebrew manuscripts from the early years of Judaism and Christianity. Printing presses proliferate, and the Account of the Deeds and Times of the Port of Acre becomes the world’s first modern newspaper.
- 1621 – 1627 A.D.: The interference of Byzantium in the European Wars of Religion disturbs Jerusalem’s fragile religious equilibrium. Because the Byzantines explicitly connect the Orthodox faith with the political authority of Constantinople, many Salemites fear that Outremer’s Orthodox community might be more loyal to the Emperor in Constantinople than it is to the King and Grandcour of Jerusalem. This leads to the First Byzantine War, by which Outremer attempts to force the Emperor (and the Patriarch of Constantinople) to accept the total political and theological independence of the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem. After initial successes, Jerusalem’s army is defeated near Castabala. A Byzantine counterattack, however, fails to take Tripoli after eighteen months of siege. The two countries ultimately agree a status quo peace, leaving the status of the Patriarch of Jerusalem unresolved.
- 1627 – 1650 A.D.: The great poet and dramatist Adel al-Khatib writes twelve plays and more than five hundred poems, which form the foundation of Jerusalem’s modern literary corpus. Al-Khatib, an Arab of the Greek Orthodox faith, writes in Franseys: a sign of the growing acceptance of Franseys as the literary language of all Salemites. Under the weak King Tancred I, the Grandcour waxes exceedingly powerful, and merchants from Venice and Genoa and Afrique exercise a growing influence on government policy.
- 1650 – 1659 A.D.: The Caliphate invades Byzantium, joined by much of the Muslim world. Jerusalem exploits the Byzantine Empire’s “Time of Troubles,” and launches its own invasion. The objective is finally to force Constantinople to recognize the total political and theological independence of the Patriarch of Jerusalem. This time, Jerusalem succeeds: occupying Antioch and Tarsus, and threatening the whole of southern Anatolia. At the Treaty of Aleppo, Jerusalem returns Antioch and Tarsus, and in return the Byzantine Empire recognizes the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem as fully autocephalous and independent, owing no allegiance to the Patriarch of Constantinople. While the Byzantine ties of Outremer’s Greeks will remain controversial for centuries to come, it will be clear henceforth that their final loyalty is to Jerusalem.
- 1659 – 1685 A.D.: The “Emporocracy.” Merchants from Italy and Afrique firmly establish themselves in Outremer’s coastal trading ports and amass immense wealth and influence; it is widely believed that King Tancred is powerless, and the Grandcour is hopelessly corrupted by foreign coin. Religious revivalist movements take root in rural Outremer, especially among Sunni Muslims and Jews, and unrest spreads. The government attempts to invest in Anglo-French colonial companies, and in the process takes on an unprecedented level of peacetime debt.
- 1685 – 1689 A.D.: The Mediterranean Crusade. After forty-five wholly ineffectual years on the throne, Tancred I dies and is succeeded by his energetic son, Raymond II. Raymond proceeds to whip into a frenzy the Jewish revivalists (known as “Zealots”) who oppose the influence of Latin merchants over the Grandcour. The Zealots massacre the merchant colonies of Afrique and Venice; when the Grandcour demands an end to the violence, Raymond turns the Zealots on the Grandcour as well. War with the Kingdom of Afrique follows, which ends with a decisive Afrique naval victory that cuts off Outremer from much foreign trade. Raymond consolidates his power and, in violation of the Pax Aurea, dismisses the Grandcour. Absolute rule begins in Jerusalem.
- 1689 – 1781 A.D.: The Century of Darkness. Jerusalem’s history in the eighteenth century is a paradox. It is the longest period of uninterrupted peace in Outremer’s history. It also produces the Jerusalem Enlightenment: two generations of brilliant philosophy and scholarship, especially in the natural sciences. But the country languishes under the rule of a series of “enlightened despots” like the “Philosopher-King” Henry III: men who indulge the Enlightenment philosophers and take a personal interest in science, but who also resolutely oppose Jerusalem’s long tradition of parliamentary government. The absolute rule of Frankish kings shifts wealth and power toward the Frankish aristocracy, stifling Greek and Jewish merchants and gradually impoverishing the realm. The resulting tensions are unsustainable: an increasingly free-thinking and innovative middle class, trapped in an increasingly absolutist and impoverished backwater.
- 1781 – 1791 A.D.: The Ethiopian Crusade. After a century of peace, King Raymond IV – a young man with a thirst for military glory – adopts an unwise alliance with Christian Ethiopia, aimed at preventing Somaliland from joining the Caliphate. For the first time since the reign of Raymond Longsword, Outremer troops are sent overseas – in this case, to the Horn of Africa. The consequences are disastrous: the Crusader army in Africa is all but destroyed, and while Jerusalem tries to rebuild its forces, the Caliphate invades. The war is enormously unpopular, and a widespread grassroots movement begins to demand the return of the Grandcour and compliance with the Pax Aurea – if not the establishment of a democratic republic, like the new Columbian Confederation. Rather than fight on and risk destruction, Raymond signs the Peace of Ramla in 1791 – promising to pay the Caliphate more than a million pounds of silver.
- 1791 – 1795 A.D.: The Kingdom of Jerusalem does not have a million pounds of silver, and Raymond’s attempts to squeeze it out of his subjects are unavailing. He takes a radical step: for the first time in 102 years, he convenes the Grandcour. The leaders of the Greek and Shi’a communities unanimously refuse to support higher taxes unless Raymond accepts constitutional reforms to radically reduce royal power, disestablish the Old Catholic Church, and end special treatment for the Frankish nobility. Many Frankish aristocrats, influenced by the Jerusalem Enlightenment, side with the reformers: as Baron Hugh of Ibelin puts it, “better to be a citizen in Heaven than a duke in Hell.”
- 1795 A.D.: The Outremer Revolution. After three years of political deadlock, an absolute majority of the Grandcour presents King Raymond with a new constitution: a ceremonial monarchy in which the country is jointly run by the Grandcour and by a popularly elected Parlement. Noble titles will persist, but the Old Catholic Church will be disestablished, marking the end of Jerusalem as an officially Christian realm. Raymond refuses. In response, the Grandcour calls an election itself, seating a Parlement chosen by the people. This Parlement drafts an even more radical constitution: the monarchy will be abolished and replaced by a ceremonial “Warden of the Republic,” chosen by the Grandcour; Parlement alone will be able to make laws, though the Grandcour will have veto power; titles of nobility will no longer be hereditary, meaning that all men will be born as equal citizens and will earn title only by their deeds. Raymond refuses to accept this constitution either, and tries to order his royal guards to arrest the Parlement. The guards refuse; Raymond, out of options, finally abdicates.
- 1795 – 1798 A.D.: The Grandcour and the Parlement proclaim the Republic of Jerusalem, and immediately form an alliance with revolutionary France. Some highly reactionary, Roman Catholic Frankish aristocrats flee the country, mostly to Afrique. But on the whole, the Republic is very popular. Most Salemites see it not as a radical break with the past, but rather as a return to the Pax Aurea and to Jerusalem’s ancient traditions of limited government and power-sharing. The Grandcour confirms this view by naming the former King Raymond IV as the first ceremonial Warden of the Republic: an obvious sign of continuity. Revolutionary violence, unlike in France, is mostly avoided: there are no guillotines on the Temple Mount. In the crucial Expropriation Cases, the new republican courts declare that Parlement’s attempt to seize the wealth of former royal cronies is unconstitutional. Parlement accepts their decision, and the rule of law begins to sink its roots into Jerusalem’s political culture.
- 1798 – 1805 A.D.: The Mamluk Crusade. Revolutionary France sends an army to invade Egypt, led by Napoleon Bonaparte. Honoring its alliance, Jerusalem declares war on Egypt as well. Following the example of France, the Republic organizes its first levee en masse, conscripting all able-bodied men of military age, and requiring all older men to register for reserve service. The same basic system will remain in place until the present day. The newly-named Republican Legions march into Egypt, and with the help of Napoleon’s army, they swiftly and bloodily crush Mamluk resistance. When Napoleon departs Egypt in 1799, the Republican Legions remain and occupy Egypt for six more years. They are finally ousted by Muhammad Ali’s rise to power, but only after looting a fantastic quantity of Egyptian wealth. This plunder will ultimately finance Jerusalem’s early industrialization.
- 1805 – 1820 A.D.: While Jerusalem remains formally allied to revolutionary France, it does not send any troops to fight in Europe during the wars of the various coalitions; indeed, France’s Jacobinism provokes a growing caution in Jerusalem’s more moderate Parlement. At the Treaty of Paris in 1820, Jerusalem neither gains nor loses territory, but the Republic’s sovereignty is officially recognized by Europe’s monarchies. At home, the Republic’s first party system evolves, with the pro-French Republican Party opposing the pro-neutrality Independence Party. Jerusalem experiences its first peaceful transition of power as a republic.
- 1820 – 1848 A.D.: Funded by the plundered wealth of Egypt, the Republic invests massively into modern industrialization and infrastructure. Textile mills, sawmills, canals, railroads, and highways proliferate; a whole generation of rural Shi’a fellahin flocks to the cities to work in the new factories, frequently under abysmal conditions. The Republic’s constitutional system experiences significant strain, as rural legislative districts are left with fewer people than urban ones. The Druze of Mount Lebanon, who had largely been ignored by Jerusalem’s kings, threaten to rebel when the Republic tries to conscript them into the Republican Legions; in response, the Jerusalem Constitution is amended to create autonomous regions called Vassals of the Republic. The Druze become the first of these vassals. The Order of Assassins, the Knights Templar, and the Knights Hospitaller are incorporated into Jerusalem’s government by the Secularization Act 1837 as the Republic Clandestine Service, Templar Reserve, and Order of the Hospital. The Republic Clandestine Service becomes one of the world’s first modern intelligence agencies, and the Order of the Hospital becomes one of the world’s first public health systems.
- 1848 – 1865 A.D.: In 1848, urban workers – mostly Shi’ites, but including many Sunnis and Syriac Christians – stage enormous protests over their underrepresentation in Parlement. The government yields to public pressure and amends the Jerusalem Constitution, creating the world’s first proportional-representation system. The Independence Party collapses into newly-viable smaller parties, including the Liberal Party; the Mountain Party is founded to represent Druze and Maronite interests. Industrialization continues; due to its lack of coal, Jerusalem becomes an early pioneer of industrial water power, and constructs several dams on the Jordan River. Outremer is an important source of investment and engineering support for the construction of the Suez Canal, and until 2011 the Republic asserts a part-ownership interest in the Canal. (Egypt has always rejected this claim.) The foundation of Jerusalem’s military-industrial complex is laid with the establishment in 1852 of Zion Military Industries, which produces the world’s first breechloading field guns. The Acre Stock Exchange is established. The Republic begins universal and mandatory public schooling.
- 1865 – 1872 A.D.: The Third Deliverance Crusade / Damascus Intervention. The bourgeoisie of Damascus revolt against the Caliphate’s strong central government, high taxes, and strict regulations. The Republic, still chasing Jerusalem’s old dream of a safe buffer state on its Syrian border, recognizes the new “Arab Republic of Damascus” and sends its army into Syria to support the rebels. The modernized Republican Legions annihilate a Caliphate army at the Battle of Adra, in 1868, and manage to prop up the Damascus Republic until 1872; then, as in 1542, Jerusalem’s army withdraws and the Caliphate immediately reconquers southwestern Syria.
- 1872 – 1907 A.D.: Jerusalem’s industrialization accelerates. Devoid of coal, it becomes increasingly reliant on energy imports from Byzantium, leading to a gradual thaw in Byzantine-Salemite relations. The military-industrial complex assumes its modern role as the foundation of Jerusalem’s industrial economy. Persistent unrest among the Sunni Bedouin of Transjordan ultimately leads to their designation as Vassals of the Republic – a grant of limited autonomy. The movement for women’s suffrage gains strength, especially in the Frankish and Jewish communities. Women win the right to vote for members of the Parlement in 1901, but members of the Grandcour remain chosen by the traditional (and overwhelmingly male) leaders of each ethnoreligious community. Economic inequality widens between the mostly Shi’ite industrial working class, and the mostly Frankish and Greek managerial class. Led by great labor organizers like Omar Hamoud, Jerusalem’s workers create powerful industrial unions. The Labor Party forms to represent this laborist tradition of “Shi’a loyalism,” which claims that the highest form of loyalty to the Republic is to demand that Jerusalem live up to its ideals of equality and brotherhood. Strikes become increasingly widespread and disruptive.
- 1907 A.D.: The Council of Cafarlet. After the Labor Party unexpectedly wins elections for the Parlement in 1906 – thanks largely to newly enfranchised working-class women – Prime Minister Reynald Baizelat calls representatives of Jerusalem’s labor unions and major industrial companies to meet at Cafarlet. There, under government mediation, they negotiate a settlement of Jerusalem’s labor unrest: a new social safety net will be jointly funded by business contributions and union dues and taxes, and it will be administered by the labor unions. All unions will have the right to bargain collectively. In return, they will have to exhaust government mediation before striking, and they will be responsible for retraining workers to ensure that Jerusalem’s workforce remains internationally competitive. This basic economic model survives in Jerusalem until the present day.
- 1907 – 1910 A.D.: The Medina Conspiracy. The Republic Clandestine Service organizes a coup attempt by Arab nationalists in Medina, who come close to overthrowing the Caliphate. Most of the conspirators are executed; the few survivors flee to Jerusalem, which refuses to extradite them. Both sides mobilize, and war is only narrowly avoided by Egyptian mediation.
- 1910 – 1916 A.D.: The First World War. While most of the region remains neutral, Jerusalem is an ally of the French Republic and joins the Entente – albeit two years late, delayed by the Medina Conspiracy. The “Jerusalem Legion” – really just elements of the I Republican Legion and VIII Republican Legion – serves on the Western Front as an expeditionary force. These “crusader stormtroopers” become famous for their discipline and aggression, and spearhead the final offensive into London. Jerusalem receives a share of English and German reparations, and Salemite scholars play an influential role in designing England’s new republican constitution.
- 1916 – 1929 A.D.: The first Civil Rights Movement (Franseys: Marsc dez dreitts). For more than a century, the Jerusalem Constitution has granted authority over family and personal law to each ethnoreligious community’s religious courts. Now, liberal Franks, Jews, and Shi’ites protest against these courts, which are much more conservative than the overall Frankish, Jewish, and Shi’ite communities. Specifically, young people seek a relaxation of religious rules about dress, alcohol consumption, and romantic relations. While an attempt to amend the Constitution and abolish the religious courts fails, the Constitutional Court of Jerusalem finds that the Constitution already forbids government interference with many rights of personal expression and lifestyle. This curtails the religious courts’ jurisdiction over most matters not directly related to marriage and divorce. Meanwhile, Outremer hosts the Jerusalem Conference of 1921, which results in the Jerusalem Conventions: the foundation of the international law of armed conflicts (equivalent to our timeline’s Geneva Conventions).
- 1929 – 1939 A.D.: The crash of the Gum Shan stock markets does serious damage to the economy of Jerusalem. Amid the resulting depression, the Communist Party of Jerusalem is founded and achieves considerable influence, raising fears of revolution. Instead, the Communists enter a coalition government with the Labor Party. After using the last of Outremer’s English reparation payments to bail out the Templar Reserve, the Labor-Communist coalition launches Jerusalem’s first five-year plan: identifying key strategic industries that can lead the Republic out of the Great Depression, and targeting government loans and resources to those sectors of the economy with the greatest potential for growth. After two five-year plans, Jerusalem is restored to modest but stable economic growth – though the state-owned armaments industry assumes an even larger place in the economy than before the Depression.
- 1939 – 1945 A.D.: The Second World War (and the First Suez Crusade). Once again, Jerusalem is called to war by its old ally, the French Republic. But France falls in 1940, leaving an expeditionary force of almost 20,000 Jerusalem troops trapped in Europe; they will become a crucial element of the French Resistance. Panicked, Jerusalem invades neutral Egypt and seizes the Suez Canal, thereby closing it to Axis shipping: an important strategic advantage for the Allies, but one that mires the Republican Legions in a four-year sideshow of a war with Egypt. Jerusalem ultimately withdraws in late 1944 and returns control of the Canal to Egypt. Meanwhile, another Jerusalem expeditionary force deploys to the Kingdom of Afrique, where it provides a critical mass of crack armored brigades to help defeat the English invasion; the Jerusalem-Afrique relationship improves accordingly. And the Assassins play an important role in arming and training the French Resistance, parachuting into occupied Europe with crates of supplies. But the Assassins ultimately lose control of the Resistance’s leadership, and thousands of Salemite legionaries, stranded in France in 1940, find themselves purged by their erstwhile French allies in 1945 as “class-alien elements.” This complex and painful wartime history strains Jerusalem-French relations for years afterwards. Finally, after substantial evidence of the Holocaust escapes Nazi Europe, the Republic passes the Sanctuary Act 1942: automatically granting refugee status to any European Jew who reaches Jerusalem, and lifting all caps on European Jewish immigration. The Act remains in place until 1947, and more than four million European Jews ultimately flee to Outremer – forever reshaping the demographics of Jerusalem’s Jewish minority.
- 1945 - 1958 A.D.: Postwar Jerusalem is a changed society. The government declares that higher education will henceforth be taxpayer-funded for all citizens upon completion of their three years of conscript duty: an investment in Outremer’s future after a draining war. Intracommunal tensions between European and Levantine Jews cause political and social problems; the Holocaust survivors are much more suspicious of their Muslim and Christian neighbors than the native-born Jews are. Economic planning shifts to emphasize affordable housing and hydropower, as Jerusalem’s lack of fossil fuels once more threatens economic growth. Discontent grows among Jerusalem’s Sunnis, who receive a disproportionately small share of the country’s already modest postwar prosperity. In a landmark case, the Constitutional Court requires the government to recognize the Party of the Tradition, which for the first time represents the Sunni demand for an Islamic state governed according to sharia. In secret, Jerusalem invests heavily in developing a nuclear weapon, and constructs its first (and only) nuclear reactor at Caesarea.
- 1958 - 1964 A.D.: Operation Bedfellows. The Assassins secretly cooperate with the NKVD and other Communist powers to foment Arab nationalist insurgencies in Yemen, Iraq, and Syria; these conflicts leave thousands dead, and paralyze the Caliphate for eight crucial years, while Jerusalem continues to rearm and recover after the Second World War. When the insurgencies are finally crushed, the Caliphate blames the communists; Jerusalem’s involvement is only declassified fifty years later, in 2014.
- 1964 - 1974 A.D.: The Lean Years. Excessive (and short-sighted) economic planning slows Jerusalem’s economy to a standstill for eight years. Ultimately, as the government calls for patriotic citizens to tighten their belts, even basic goods are rationed; eggplant becomes ironically known as “Republican chicken.” In 1972, the Republican Party regains control of the Parlement for the first time since 1932, led by Alexandros Petraliphas: the first non-Frankish leader in Jerusalem’s history. The extent of economic planning is relaxed, and businesses are invited to contribute competitively to the planning process. The result is a gradual resumption of economic growth, and the birth of what becomes Jerusalem’s powerhouse information-technology sector.
- 1974 - 1978 A.D.: The Oil Crusade. Prime Minister Petraliphas is assassinated by Sunni extremists; the Assassins link the terrorist cell to the Caliphate. Jerusalem fully mobilizes in less than a week and goes to war, unleashing the largest conflict since World War Two. The war is fought primarily on Caliphate soil, mostly amid the oilfields of Syria and western Iraq, and results in massive disruptions to the global oil supply – causing the worldwide oil crisis of the 1970s. Though Jerusalem is mostly successful on the battlefield, it cannot find a way to stabilize oil production, and overwhelming diplomatic pressure from Gum Shan forces it to withdraw in 1978. Importantly, no final peace accord is ever signed – meaning that while there is an armistice between them, Jerusalem and the Caliphate have remained technically at war ever since.
- 1978 - 2008 A.D.: Between 1989 and 1997, Sunni terrorists armed and trained by the Caliphate cause the first sustained period of civil unrest in Jerusalem since the Bedouin rebellions of the 1880s; almost three thousand people are killed during the Sunni Intifada, and the city of Nablus remains under martial law until 2002. Nevertheless, Jerusalem experiences steady and continuous economic growth, thanks mostly to the explosive success of its information technology industry. Influenced by Germany (and by its own lack of fossil fuels), the Republic’s economic planning strongly emphasizes solar power, desalinization plants, and tidal power plants. The second Civil Rights Movement (Franseys: Marsc dez dreitts) expands individual rights. Once again, liberal young people protest the religious courts’ prohibition of abortion, same-sex marriage, and atheism; once again, the Constitutional Court finds that every citizen has a right to reproductive choice and to marriage equality, constricting yet further the jurisdiction of the religious authorities.
- 2008 – 2011 A.D.: The Second Suez Crusade. The global economic downturn caused by the collapse of the Yasuda Zaibatsu hits Jerusalem unexpectedly hard; many of the profits of its information technology sector have been invested in Japan, and they are abruptly wiped out. In response, the Republic – which is a major shareholder in many key information technology companies – attempts to call in its shares in the Suez Canal, asserting an ownership interest that dates back to 1859. Egypt refuses to pay; Jerusalem mobilizes the reserve legions; and almost two years of war follow: the largest war of the twenty-first century. Though both participants are nuclear powers, neither is prepared to risk nuclear escalation. Jerusalem maintains air superiority throughout the war, seizes the Suez Canal in January 2008, and threatens Cairo in the summer of 2009; thereafter it is gradually forced back by the numerically superior Royal Egyptian Army, and the Republican Legions withdraw from the Canal in late 2010. Byzantium mediates a peace agreement in early 2011, and Jerusalem agrees to pay Egypt limited reparations for the war.
- 2011 - 2022 A.D.: Jerusalem gradually recovers from the Second Suez Crusade. Its economic fundamentals – a union-driven welfare state, limited but effective economic planning, a strong information technology sector, and a powerful military-industrial complex – remain sound. In an increasingly interconnected world, its position of neutrality between the capitalist and communist blocs becomes both unprecedentedly difficult and unprecedentedly valuable: very few countries can claim to be as honest an arbiter as Jerusalem, and the Republic’s diplomats are in high demand internationally. But the fundamental challenge of Jerusalem’s position also remains unchanged: the Caliphate waits for its chance to strike; Egypt has new and unresolved grievances; and Jerusalem’s neutrality, while valuable diplomatically, will leave it friendless in wartime. The ninth century of the Crusader State seems little different from its first: nothing is more important than being ready for the next war.
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by Orostan » Tue Oct 11, 2022 12:15 pm
RESERVATION
NS Name: Orostan
RP Name: Federation of Carpathia
Territory: Slovakia, Hungary, Romania
Do not remove - 2022RP
“It is difficult for me to imagine what “personal liberty” is enjoyed by an unemployed hungry person. True freedom can only be where there is no exploitation and oppression of one person by another; where there is not unemployment, and where a person is not living in fear of losing his job, his home and his bread. Only in such a society personal and any other freedom can exist for real and not on paper.” -J. V. STALIN
by American Pere Housh » Tue Oct 11, 2022 5:14 pm
APPLICATION
NS Name: APH
RP Name: The Republic of Korea
Flag: Same as SK's flag
Capital: Soeul
Territory: North and South Korea
Population:80 million
Official Language(s): English, Korean
Recognized Language(s): English, Korean
Ethnic Breakdown: mostly Korean
Religious Breakdown: 30% Christian, 30% Atheist/Agnostic, 40% Buddhist
Type of Government: Constitutional Republic
Head of State: President Yoon Suk-yeol
Head of Government: President Yoon Suk-yeol
Legislature (the name of your national legislature): The National Assembly
Legislative Houses (if your legislature is bicameral):
Party in Power: People Power Party
National Issues: Climate change, Bureaucratic red tape and some corruption
Public Goals: Make Korea stronger in all ways, curb Japanese influence in Asia and the World and Stop Communism in all forms
Private Goals: Pacific Treaty Alliance
GDP (nominal): 4 trillion USD
Currency: Korean Won
Economic System: Free Market Capitalism
Major Trade Partners: Portugal, Gum Shan Republic, Kingdom of Italy, Byzantine Empire, United Kingdom of Vinland
Major Exports: Electrical and electronic equipment, machinery, nuclear reactors, boilers, vehicles other than railway, tramway, plastics, Mineral fuels, oils, distillation products and optical, photo, technical, medical apparatus, Electrical Insulators, Electric Batteries, Electricity, Ferroalloys, and Video Displays
Major Imports: Crude Petroleum, Integrated Circuits, Petroleum Gas, Refined Petroleum, Cars, coking coal, machinery and equipment, textiles, grain
Defense Budget (USD): 180 billion
Alliance(s): none yet
Military Branches (names of official Armed Forces Branches): Korean Air Force, Korean Army, Korean Navy and Korean Marine Corp.
Active Duty: 800,000
Reserve Duty: 1 million
Total Manpower: 34 million
Land Forces:
Tanks: 5500
Armored Vehicles: 16,000
SPA: 3800
TA: 4100
Rocket Projectors: 750
Naval Forces:
Aircraft Carrier: 1 (Carrier is the same size as the Queen Elizabeth class carrier)
Helicopter Carrier: 3
Destroyers: 18
Frigates: 26
Corvettes: 16
Subs: 31
Patrol Vessels: 160
Mine Warfare: 18
Air Forces:
Fighters: 500
Attack: 120
Transport: 85
Trainers: 350
Special Mission: 45
Tanker: 10
Helicopters: 1100
Attack Helicopters: 225
Other Military Information: All military equipment is either Western or Korean in origin.
History: All history is same as OTL until 1636 when Korea was able to repel Chinese attempts to conquer them. Over the next few centuries, Joseon as it was known then maintained friendly relations with its neighbors but kept out of any war that popped up. In 1821, Joseon became the Kingdom of Korea and started its own Industrial Revolution with assistance from countries like England. With the start of the Korean Industrial Revolution, the Korean government initiated a modernization program for the Korean military. This continued for the next century making Korea powerful both militarily and economically. On May 15th, 1948, the monarchy was abolished and the Republic of Korea was proclaimed. The new government was anti-Japanese and anti-Communist which led to Korea being friendly with countries that were anti-Communist. Over the next few decades, Korea was able to compete with Japan both militarily and economically. By 2022, Korea had grown into a military and economic powerhouse able to defend itself from any threat.
RP Example(s): RP Sample
Do not remove - 2022RP
by Khasinkonia » Wed Oct 12, 2022 5:18 pm
APPLICATION
NS Name: Khasinkonia
RP Name: La République Populaire Démocratique Française (The French Democratic People’s Republic), also known in other languages as the Democratic People’s Republic of France, or France for short
Flag:
Capital: Paris
Territory: Metropolitan France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Francophone Switzerland, most of the Rhineland, and part of Dutch Limbourg. See here for all claims except Francophone Switzerland.
Population: 90,35 million
Official Language(s): French
Recognized Language(s): French, Flemish(in Flandre), Breton(in Bretagne), Luxembourgish(in Luxembourg & Rhénanie)
Ethnic Breakdown: 74,75(French), 6,7(Flemish), 4,7(Breton), 0,8(Luxembourger), 4,2(German)
Religious Breakdown: 62% None/Irreligious, 29% Christian(Majority Catholic), ~5% Muslim, ~1% Jewish, ~3% Other/Undeclared
Type of Government: Unitary one-party socialist republic
Head of State: The National Council(Conseil National), headed by Chairwoman(Présidente du Conseil) Juliette Cloutier. By precedent, Chairfolk serve in terms of ten years, with no limit on terms. After Tillon, his successor served for another twenty years, and then the third chairman served only ten. Chairwoman Juliette, having only served since 2020, has not indicated whether she intends to hold power for more than ten years. Given that Chairfolk only change via resignation or popular vote to oust them, the choice remains hers for now.
Head of Government: Premier Thierry Lachance
Legislature: The National Assembly(Assemblée Nationale)
Legislative Houses: The National Assembly(Assemblée Nationale)
Party in Power: Workers’ Party of France(Parti du Travail de la France) - Centre
National Issues:
The French Thaw: Many of the regime’s harshest policies were supported, or at least tolerated, by older generations who remembered the World Wars. With those conflicts growing ever more distant, and Germany remaining more docile than many French politicians are even willing to admit, younger French believe the time has come for France to return to the world stage in good faith and to consider reconciling with those who the regime had previously been strongly opposed to.
An End to Austerity?: Under the leadership of Généralissime Tillon, the French state was transformed into its current autarkic conditions under the pretense of “The enduring war on fascism.” Despite Tillon’s retirement in the 70’s, subsequent administrations retained this set of policies. With his death in 1993 and the fascists in Germany having long since collapsed, maintaining this stringent adherence to self-sufficiency and wartime austerity has become more and more difficult to justify. The youth of France cast envious glances towards the glimpses of “foreign decadence” that they’ve seen, and wish to partake in them.
The Victor of the War on Drugs: In order to help fund the excesses of previous military budgets, the French regime has actively and eagerly participated in the production and sale of illicit substances using its extensive pharmaceutical industry. While this has been highly profitable, such a large operation is impossible to keep secret, and so the international community can only attempt to stem the flow of drugs on the domestic demand side, for supply seems to never run out.
Public Goals: National Defense, economic self-sufficiency, and limited rapprochement with other members of the global community, particularly fellow communists
Private Goals: The Conservatives aim to maintain the status quo and ensure the regime remains stable. The Centrists to soften the international reputation of the French regime without sacrificing authority or loosening the grip too far. The Liberals intend to genuinely reform the French regime, liberalizing the regime in terms of political rights. Some even go as far as suggesting experimentations with market socialism or eco-socialism, though the former group rarely publicly expresses such an opinion. Many Liberals believe it is time to put the past behind them, and properly integrate into the global community as well.
GDP (nominal): $4,57 Trillion
Currency: Franc (F/Fr)
Economic System: Autarkic authoritarian socialism
Major Trade Partners: Egypt, Columbia, the Soviet Union, and Italy
Major Exports: Pharmaceuticals, electronic components, luxury food products
Major Imports: Fuel, foodstuffs, organic chemicals
Defense Budget (USD): $274 Billion (6% of GDP)
Alliance(s): None
Military Branches: The French Armed Forces(Forces armées françaises) is composed of the Land Army(Armée de terre), National Navy(Marine nationale), Air and Space Army(Armée de l’air et de l’espace), and the National Gendarmerie(Gendarmerie nationale)
Active Duty: 1.000.000
Reserve Duty: 24.000.000
Total Manpower: Approximately 40.000.000, with 29.000.000 fit for service
Land Forces: The French land forces consist of the French Armed Forces and the National Gendarmerie. While the Armed Forces are the “army” in a traditional sense, the National Gendarmerie exists somewhere between a national guard and a military police. All French men and women have mandatory active military service and training, and remain in the reserve. For the French Armed Forces and National Gendarmerie alike, asymmetric warfare is the primary doctrine followed, though the French Armed Forces also feature more standard training, while the Gendarmerie focuses on peacetime operations.
Naval Forces: While significantly less important to the government when compared to the land and air forces, the French navy is still a formidable entity in its own right, boasting 190 ships of various different types as well as 200 naval-focused aircraft and employing approximately 50.000 people in its maintenance. While possessing blue-water capabilities, the primary focus of most naval developments is enabling force projection locally, within la Manche, the North Sea, and the Mediterranean.
Air Forces: The Air and Space Army was once subordinate to the Land Army, but has since evolved into a capable and independent force. French air designs suffer from a lack of foreign cooperation and some resource shortages, but attempts compensate for this in pilot training with analogue equipment and sheer numbers. French spacecraft share similar issues, though with less need for quantity when it comes to satellites, resource shortages are less difficult to manage.
Other Military Information: France possesses one of the largest nuclear arsenals in the world, and further boasts perhaps the world’s most militarized border in the form of the Rhineland DMZ, which has destroyed many former towns and cities and has left a 4 kilometre strip of uninhabited land where a great deal of nature has been able to recover, inadvertently creating a massive, if narrow, nature reserve.
History: Drawing inspiration from the Columbian Revolution, the people of France rose against their English oppressors in 1789, declaring a new republic soon after. This first republic was plagued with instability, culminating in the Reign of Terror and the French Revolutionary Wars. First under the Republic, then the Directory, and later Napoleon, these wars ravaged Europe and laid the foundation for the new climate of the 19th century. It is this brave heritage of France against the world, coming close to triumph against all odds, that the French Democratic People’s Republic claims.
The history of France extends to long before the Columbian Revolution, and long before the FDPR, but the history of this iteration of France does not begin until the Second Great War. The Third Republic, though triumphant over the Germans and English in the First Great War, had lost its teeth, falling victim to complacence, internal strife, and myriad other issues which the FDPR claims made its fall to the Germans inevitable. The Fall of France, in many ways, shattered the Allied cause. With no foothold left on the mainland, the leaders of France became split. Under the leadership of Marshall Pétain, the Vichy Regime rose as a successor to the Third Republic. The decision for surrender was not made lightly, but the shocking fall of Paris broke the resolve of many within the upper echelons of the French government. Away from Vichy, de Gaulle led a rival government that refused peace and fought on in the colonial possessions of the slain Republic. The two men slandered one another on the airwaves, with fierce fighting in those colonies that the Nazi grasp could reach. Caught between these two figures was the common man—the French citizen bearing the Reich’s yoke.
Though many, including many communists, in the years between the Fall of France and the invasion of the Soviet Union, began to lose hope, some of those who remained in France carried on the battle. The Résistance worked hard in the shadows to fight the occupiers and the traitors at every turn. During these chaotic years, the Résistance was a fundamentally multipolar entity. No one man could claim to hold the reins. The FDPR itself maintains that the only leader during this time was the indomitable French spirit. As the Résistance grew in scope and complexity, however, there came to be several key figures. Among the French figures, Charles Tillon, a communist, rose to prominence for his advocacy of action against the Germans specifically, as many other members of the Résistance had previously been focused on the destruction of the Vichy Regime.
This state of affairs remained constant for several years, until the Valkyrie coup in Germany. With the increasing instability of the Nazi regime, the French resistance, of which the Tillon-lead FTPF came to grow in strength and unity as they began to work more openly. The 1945 peace with the USSR served as the final spark. Taking this as the sign that the German war machine had finally faltered beyond repair, Charles Tillon beat de Gaulle to a fatal blow. Calling across the radio for a General Uprising, referring to it as the Second Revolution, partisans across the nation moved swiftly to snap the German occupation forces. With a speed that surprised the partisans themselves, France found herself liberated.
The unexpectedly swift Liberation of France created an opportunity for Tillon. His faction of the partisans was more organized than most, and with his calls on the airwaves having been among the instigators of the general uprising, he was able to consolidate the diverse parties present in the Résistance under his temporary leadership. Harkening back to the First Révolution, Tillon championed the idea of France’s natural borders—a concept which served two purposes. First, it would punish the Germans, finally fulfilling the goals of Versailles to the satisfaction of France. Second, and more importantly for Tillon, it kept the partisan forces focused on an enemy long enough to achieve a more lofty goal. During this invasion, Tillon moved against numerous potential rivals, solidifying his control over the infant regime.
De Gaulle decried Tillon’s actions as reminiscent of Marshall Pétain’s, and held control over the Free French territories abroad. The Tillon regime, thus, was doomed to seem illegitimate in the eyes of the international community. The route forward was clear. France could only focus inwards. As Himmler’s regime crumbled around him, the Rhineland was pillaged for all it was worth. The Germans who lived there were made to work across France for little in order to “Make up for all the damage they’ve done.” Just as the Fall of France came at the hands of the Germans, so too did the reconstruction of France. The blood, sweat, tears, and bones of the Rhineland went into the renewal of France—an action which has left scars on the land and in the hearts and minds of the Rhine that can still be seen today.
During the 1950’s, the France that exists today had finally begun to take shape from the chaos that was the partisan movement. The Workers’ Party of France was officially founded as a merger of the various leftist movements within France, but it ultimately served as an extension of Tillon’s power by moving past the old structures present in previous parties. Many policies that exist today were born in these initial uncertain years, where war seemed to still loom close by. Over the next few decades, even after Tillon’s formal resignation from duties following the death of De Gaulle and with France’s international recognition growing, the course of France still remained constant. Always pushing for more independence, always on the knife’s edge with resources. Tillon was clear: France could not afford to become complacent in her freedom.
Then, in 1993, Comrade Tillon departed from this Earth. The course charted out for the future, as it seemed to the new generation that had not known the horrors of the occupation, was too harsh. So began the roots of the French Thaw. It has taken years, with some steps forward and others back, but the relatively new Chairwoman Juliette, only thirty seven years of age, has expressed an openness to the idea of continuing the small steps towards detente made by her predecessor Chairman Lemoine.
RP Example(s): [Redacted by order of the Workers’ Party of France]
Do not remove - 2022RP
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