The Masquerade Ball (OOC/Sign-Up)

[Brettenwald]

Now that Cassadia's out, who's our new bête noire? Exilvania or Nachfolgia? (Nothing personal, of course, it just seems like we've got an abnormal amount of dictatorships here.)

Faris and Erenback. Both of them are nice people, if the situation calls for it, but I would still keep an eye on them both, when it comes to business. Nolly... well, don't let her innocent looks fool you, but she is not on Faris' level yet.
Of the politicians I send, I would keep an eye on Fara and on Alrich.
EDIT: Though, one should add, that this goes more about not exactly nice business practices and politics, not to the level of a slaver state. Even Faris does not stoop that low.

I'm not intentionally trying to start beef IC with anyone, it just seems like we've got an interesting assortment of characters going on here, if you know what I mean.

I do not speak french.

But Nachfolgia is, I believe, much more open about their oppressive policies while I have a questionable history (and technically doing plenty oppressive things with the current regime but we do try to keep that under lock and key and try to build positive PR).

Neither do I, but the term means 'black beast', used in the sense of 'arch-enemy'.

This being said, Lillorainen isn't exactly a liberal democracy, either (scoring 5/10, thus referred to as 'Open Anocracy', on this index), and is fairly tolerant on countries with less democratic systems of government as a result, but it's still not anywhere near authoritarian enough to serve as a black beast - which I'm actually thankful for, although playing the bad guy might be fun, too. :D

Brettenwald is a center-right-at-best semiabsolute monarchy with a dash of pagan theocracy and neoliberalism just to keep things interesting, so I can relate to that.

[Shwe Tu Colony]

Dew it. Non MT characters tend to interest me.

Not sure how much interest you'll get out of me, as World Machine/Shwe Tu Colony residents are generally pretty secretive about their, ah, unorthodox origins in wholly MT settings, but we'll see what I'll write, I'm sure—

[Polish Prussian Commonwealth]

[...]
And to the rest which is asking when the IC is; Indeed, it will be January 16th.

[...]

Muchas gracias. That's what I wanted to know. ^^

I do not speak french.

But Nachfolgia is, I believe, much more open about their oppressive policies while I have a questionable history (and technically doing plenty oppressive things with the current regime but we do try to keep that under lock and key and try to build positive PR).

Neither do I, but the term means 'black beast', used in the sense of 'arch-enemy'.

This being said, Lillorainen isn't exactly a liberal democracy, either (scoring 5/10, thus referred to as 'Open Anocracy', on this index), and is fairly tolerant on countries with less democratic systems of government as a result, but it's still not anywhere near authoritarian enough to serve as a black beast - which I'm actually thankful for, although playing the bad guy might be fun, too.

imagine not being a stratocratic republic with a monarchist larp

[Lillorainen]

Brettenwald is a center-right-at-best semiabsolute monarchy with a dash of pagan theocracy and neoliberalism just to keep things interesting, so I can relate to that.

Federative National Meritocracy here. Or much rather, a one-party republic where elected representatives are a thing, but functionally limited to, indeed, representing, while the true decisionmakers select each other based on an examination not to different from the civil service exams in Imperial China.

imagine not being a stratocratic republic with a monarchist larp

Imagine not being a rebranded technocracy ...

[Brettenwald]

Brettenwald is a center-right-at-best semiabsolute monarchy with a dash of pagan theocracy and neoliberalism just to keep things interesting, so I can relate to that.

Federative National Meritocracy here. Or much rather, a one-party republic where elected representatives are a thing, but functionally limited to, indeed, representing, while the true decisionmakers select each other based on an examination not to different from the civil service exams in Imperial China.

Seems legit.

[Remnants of Exilvania]

Federal Absolutistic Monarchy here. Yeah, I think that describes it well.

Technically all the monarchs have preciously little to say right now but that fits it well.

[The Selkie]

Brettenwald is a center-right-at-best semiabsolute monarchy with a dash of pagan theocracy and neoliberalism just to keep things interesting, so I can relate to that.

Federative National Meritocracy here. Or much rather, a one-party republic where elected representatives are a thing, but functionally limited to, indeed, representing, while the true decisionmakers select each other based on an examination not to different from the civil service exams in Imperial China.

imagine not being a stratocratic republic with a monarchist larp

Imagine not being a rebranded technocracy ...

Meritocratic Tribal Democracy. ; )
Kyrenaia and Teressien are absolute monarchies, though. Kyrenaia has a bit of an electoral monarchy and Teressien has... it is a very good question as to what Teressien has as a political system. It's absolute and its a monarchy, that's certain, though.
Okunaratsuru's a democratic theocracy, though.

I assume the Vampire Supertwins count as "non-human humanoids?"

I'll need the Epiphany Water for this, won't I?

I'd imagine, that Elin counts as a NHH as well - though you won't need holy water with her. ; )

[Seleucid Pergamon]

Mine's a Christian democratic constitutional monarchy.

[Mervay]

It is but aight. Thanks.

Indeed, it might be a ceremonial weapon. Let me think about it for a while before I give you a final veredict.

And @Amenria: Thanks for showing interest in this RP and everything seems clear, so before I can accept your apps. What kind of vampires (Or how much) they are and what do you mean with them being superheroes??

[Mervay]

Semi-Constitutional, Parliamentary Monarchy Here. Which means it's democratic but depending on the monarch it has the right to keep it's power and influence, albeit limited as it will have to work alongside the Parliamentary Government or has the option of be an parliamentary monarch (Like the British Ones) during his or her reign. Also it seems we all have our shady deals I guess??

*Hides Mervayan Shady Deals*

[Brettenwald]

Semi-Constitutional, Parliamentary Monarchy Here. Which means it's democratic but depending on the monarch it has the right to keep it's power and influence, albeit limited as it will have to work alongside the Parliamentary Government or has the option of be an parliamentary monarch (Like the British Ones) during his or her reign. Also it seems we all have our shady deals I guess??

*Hides Mervayan Shady Deals*

*shoves locked filing cabinets out of window, grins sheepishly* Incest in the royal family? Small-scale eugenics by a few of the noble houses? Genocide? Blatant human rights abuses? No, I don't know what you're talking about at all. Are you sure you're feeling all right?

[Seleucid Pergamon]

Semi-Constitutional, Parliamentary Monarchy Here. Which means it's democratic but depending on the monarch it has the right to keep it's power and influence, albeit limited as it will have to work alongside the Parliamentary Government or has the option of be an parliamentary monarch (Like the British Ones) during his or her reign. Also it seems we all have our shady deals I guess??

*Hides Mervayan Shady Deals*

We could work out financial deals...in secret, you know.

[Mervay]

*shoves locked filing cabinets out of window, grins sheepishly* Incest in the royal family? Small-scale eugenics by a few of the noble houses? Genocide? Blatant human rights abuses? No, I don't know what you're talking about at all. Are you sure you're feeling all right?

Well all of these we had never done, plus incest is badly seen here and even in Royalty since ancient times to begin with...

We could work out financial deals...in secret, you know.

Perhaps, but let me think about it.

[Brettenwald]

*shoves locked filing cabinets out of window, grins sheepishly* Incest in the royal family? Small-scale eugenics by a few of the noble houses? Genocide? Blatant human rights abuses? No, I don't know what you're talking about at all. Are you sure you're feeling all right?

Well all of these we had never done, plus incest is badly seen here and even in Royalty since ancient times to begin with...

Was referring to myself...

[Shwe Tu Colony]

Parfuhmerie is ostensibly a republic but it's clearly run by Sekka Verndara: it's a bread and circuses relationship, with Sekka providing the bread and the republican side of things more or less being a glorified contest. Very few leaders have dared to rise up against Sekka because he's utterly adored by Parfuhmerie and many other civs, owing to his famed altruism that's further supported and developed by a talented PR office. Adding to that is the Assassin's Guild, of whom many Rank 4/5 Assassins — like D'aillisioux — are undyingly devoted to Sekka because for many of them his Guild is the reason behind why they kept living, and kept aspiring; Selkie, for one, has probably seen some of these implications, and PPC perhaps another side to it. Inasmuch as the Assassin's Guild is a choice, it's often seen as the last choice, and many of the high-ranked Assassins will always be repenting. Adding to that, many of the Gangs are also connected to him in some way, especially Enigma Gang, which has ended up in control of or with spies in most Parfuhmerian media matters. Economically, the Two Seas Trading Company is basically Amazon but with an even greater monopoly, except Sekka isn't really beholden to shareholders and for the most part can cut into his profits if it means keeping the workers happy and developing other locations to make it, ah, less tempting to rise up on him. And like the Assassin's Guild, a lot of the Invictuses that manage the Two Seas Trading Company's Regional branches were in some way saved or educated by Sekka. He does allow criticisms, but each time he usually makes an effort to rectify it or otherwise disprove it, and considering that he basically has cultural, social, political, and economic branches indebted to him it's seriously hard to challenge him.

But basically nobody ever would. In sharp contrast to his behavior, he struggles a lot with reconciling his altruism with his personality, since as a war machine, he doesn't have much in the way of emotional capacity and bonds. All of his charitable deeds and care, therefore, comes back to him, because it's the only way he understands how to care about other people, and it's an ideology that's become dominant in Parfuhmerie. It's commonplace for Parfuhmerians to try to be helpful or generous, out of a belief that a better world overall saves their reputation since they're called Demons and also grants a chance for new markets through Two Seas Trading Company. It's not illegal to try to found your own similar company, but there's no real reason to, and many would probably just deal with Sekka's company long before an upstart delivery company could do anything impactful. Oh, and Parfuhmerie is vaguely a part of the much wider Demon Empire, but they have substantial autonomy because that Demon Sovereign knows better than to press too hard on Sekka for his own goals. I was considering having Sekka show up, but he'd have been a barrier to D'aillisioux's interactions.

Ezharan government is still largely underdeveloped, but based on what I have now, there's a Mascot, a council, and a governor. The Mascot is the "cultural" leader of the city, and can range anywhere from a sculptor, to a writer, to a musician, to a scientist; Gisara is the third. If a Mascot has a matching typing with a Talent, a Talent can end up as Talent-protégé whose passion will be directly developed and worked with, and usually this Talent will end up as the next Mascot. Otherwise, Mascots are usually responsible for choosing their successor and getting it approved by their council to reduce the chance for nepotism, and in the event of emergency, a city/council can forcibly remove a Mascot or choose another one. However, as many Mascots are busy with their own careers, it is usually up to the council and governor to manage day-to-day rulership, though some Mascots may have greater interest in politics.

As for forbidden affairs, there was briefly a conspiracy in Ezhara to make a democratic government, but this eventually fell away when another Etharian nation, Kanadorika, successfully transitioned to a democratic system. With Ezhara's well-funded education, it seemed just about ready to make a similar transition, so for the most part that threat has been disbanded, though, there was a time when there was supposed to be a tragic civil war. In recent times, I may have gotten too attached to let that happen, and besides, Kanadorika's transition just makes it look even more ridiculous. Still, the Four Prophets remain active, especially through their children, who are fated to endure plenty and have to see if they'd like to contribute to Ezhara's rise and fall. Eiko happens to be one of them, and the other three have yet to appear on NationStates, although there was one Talent who had a horror movie with one of the Prophets. Aside from that, there's also some inter-Talent conflicts, namely the fracturing of the Argonautai that left Caleo with only one Talent for a time; Eiko's entire story; Kaz's vanity; AARU's past and eccentricities; and a romantic drama in Byarova.

Parfuhmerie strongly avoids war crimes because "muh reputation," but it's pretty easy to do when nobody really wars with Parfuhmerie. For one, the city is mainly underground and the terrain is a slog to get through, and even if you disabled the portals, the city is connected with various Dark Elf and Dwarf cities underground. Offensively, they mostly offer the Assassins since they're much more disciplined and less likely to succumb to, ah, demonic impulses. Now, if someone really, really pressed, Parfuhmerie would call the Demon Empire and that'd be a disaster for everyone involved, since the Empire is far more governed by its impulses. Plus, there's the fact that toxic weaponry is standard and that there's an intense difference of what makes a war crime in World Machine, since importing the Geneva Conventions would probably end up excluding whole sectors of magic. Given the chance, Parfuhmerie usually doesn't invade beyond sending out Assassins, though, in part since Sekka has an unofficial deal with the Demon Empire to avoid trouble wherein Parfuhmerie lacks an official, large military and mainly "purchases" military service from the Empire, in part since the population of Parfuhmerie is tiny anyway.

Not sure why I felt like typing out this essay on Parfuhmerie and Ezhara... of which I just realized there's three other civilizations to go over. Quickly summarizing them, Norni Nacre comes from Renstar, a Thallian colony still ruled by a governor appointed by Valikoto; Giucà lives in Valikoto, a city whose royal family was bought out by the merchant class; and Luò is from Huang-Penglai, which is a megacity that's governed by a thriving bureaucracy plus The Silent Monarchs: a prince, a monarch, and an emperor.

[Lillorainen]

Federative National Meritocracy here. Or much rather, a one-party republic where elected representatives are a thing, but functionally limited to, indeed, representing, while the true decisionmakers select each other based on an examination not to different from the civil service exams in Imperial China.

Seems legit.

That it is. It's what comes out when you create a nation on NS that isn't your generic Western democracy or constitutional monarchy, examples of which exist several thousands of times in NS - thus were, in my opinion, not based enough. ^^

Oh, and as for my other nation in this thread - Hrimfaroth itself isn't sure as to what it actually is ... one could argue, that it is a kind of confederation of 'states' (called 'Commonwealth Domains') which have very different systems - some, like the Kingdom of Isfeldas, are monarchies, others, like Saexney, are ruled by a Clan Council, and yet others, like Cheshire or the League of Thornhampton, have a republican-style elected legislature. They all are culturally similar enough for them to reasonably want to join each other, though. It's possible for Hrimfarothians to move around within their country depending on what style of government they like most. Not as based as FedNatMer, but still not something you see a lot on NS (unless someone proves me wrong).

Oh, and if there aren't enough absolute monarchies around in your opinion, I can still bring Shikonjima.

(Did someone say shady deals ...? I would never involve myself into that, especially not Lillorainen ... hm ... would I? Nah ...)

[Remnants of Exilvania]

And @Amenria: Thanks for showing interest in this RP and everything seems clear, so before I can accept your apps. What kind of vampires (Or how much) they are and what do you mean with them being superheroes??

Hey there, considering it's coming up now but didn't before, I assume the status of my characters as Exilvanians has been overlooked.

They ain't exactly human.

[Polish Prussian Commonwealth]

Semi-Constitutional, Parliamentary Monarchy Here. Which means it's democratic but depending on the monarch it has the right to keep it's power and influence, albeit limited as it will have to work alongside the Parliamentary Government or has the option of be an parliamentary monarch (Like the British Ones) during his or her reign. Also it seems we all have our shady deals I guess??

*Hides Mervayan Shady Deals*

*shoves locked filing cabinets out of window, grins sheepishly* Incest in the royal family? Small-scale eugenics by a few of the noble houses? Genocide? Blatant human rights abuses? No, I don't know what you're talking about at all. Are you sure you're feeling all right?

imagine having nobility at all
see if you don't have any nobility this stuff can't happen
just uh, ignore the mass graves please, we never massacred any absolutists or communists at all. also ignore the smoking crater in Gdansk, please, that was an accident and gas leak, no sirree, we totally aren't dropping bomb on our own cities to root out criminals, that would be silly

[Polish Prussian Commonwealth]

snip

oh god.

[Brettenwald]

*shoves locked filing cabinets out of window, grins sheepishly* Incest in the royal family? Small-scale eugenics by a few of the noble houses? Genocide? Blatant human rights abuses? No, I don't know what you're talking about at all. Are you sure you're feeling all right?

imagine having nobility at all
see if you don't have any nobility this stuff can't happen
just uh, ignore the mass graves please, we never massacred any absolutists or communists at all. also ignore the smoking crater in Gdansk, please, that was an accident and gas leak, no sirree, we totally aren't dropping bomb on our own cities to root out criminals, that would be silly

Eh, we've all got our IC skeletons to hide.

[Mervay]

Hey there, considering it's coming up now but didn't before, I assume the status of my characters as Exilvanians has been overlooked.

They ain't exactly human.

Don't worry I noticed that they were elf's, there's no need to worry about it mate.

Was referring to myself...

Ohh... Whoops! My bad!

[Brettenwald]

Was referring to myself...

Ohh... Whoops! My bad!

No worries!

[Polish Prussian Commonwealth]

imagine having nobility at all
see if you don't have any nobility this stuff can't happen
just uh, ignore the mass graves please, we never massacred any absolutists or communists at all. also ignore the smoking crater in Gdansk, please, that was an accident and gas leak, no sirree, we totally aren't dropping bomb on our own cities to root out criminals, that would be silly

Eh, we've all got our IC skeletons to hide.

Eh, I like to think that Prussia-Poland's IC skeletons are slightly less egregious than other's.

[New Visayan Islands]

Semi-directorial republic; President shares executive power with the Federal Council. Federal Council holds veto power, and is composed of 7 members, all of whom have equal standing with the President in their particular sphere.

[Seleucid Pergamon]

Actually, a Christian democratic semi-executive constitutional monarchy Pergamon is.