Voices of a New Age IC-Open

[The Industrial States of Columbia]

1892 AH RP
Links: OOC | Map |
Lesser Links: Factbook | Maps Thread | Theme

OP Board:
- OP - The Industrial States of Columbia
- Co-OP's - Alleniana, The Ik Ka Ek Akai

OP Directives:

Rise, glorious scions of madness and chaos.

RP Description:
The world stands on the precipice of a new age. Factories fill the skies with smoke, while steel ships cut through waves that would sunder the tall ships of old. Industry and innovation promise wealth and prosperity beyond what has ever been achieved, fueled by riches plundered from distant colonies and territories. While some enjoy the fruits of mechanized production, the downtrodden and disillusioned turn instead to cries of liberation and equality, the sparks of revolution in their hearts fanned by hunger and the neglect of their countrymen.

As nations vie for wealth and power, the seeds for global conflict are sewn. Vast armies equipped with great and terrible weapons are fielded, as machinery joins other arms in preparation for a war to end all wars. Spiders steadily weave webs of alliances and obligations across the world, ensnaring millions in a web of shadows.

Now, the burden of rule falls on you, great leader. Will you bring prosperity to your nation, ushering in an era of progress and glory? Will you lead the unfortunate in a grand struggle for national liberation? Or will you crush all adversaries, without and withing, with blood and iron. The choice great leader, is yours.

IC Posting Guidelines and Rules
1.Have a decent length post. One liners shall be warned once.
2.Make sure to address a variety of issues that your nation may face; you are telling a story, the smallest person in your nation can change everything.
3.Make sure to address a reserved post within a few days of reserving, I have been guilty of this in the past, so I know it is best to move forward with your post to ensure flow of rp.
4.Your post should not be a bullet list of what your nation does, that is an outline. The post should be more elaborate, feeding us details in a story fashion.
5.Do not quote other posts in the IC, it is tacky and ruins the sense of immersion that page is supposed to give.
6.Please Date your posts.
7.Every two pages of IC is one year, a seperate war IC shall be set up for battles if needed.

[Alleniana]

Lemòtges City Hall, City of Lemòtges, Kingdom of Narbona
22nd December 1891 A.D.

An increasingly loud crowd milled on the cobbles outside the hall, trampling the dusty frost from the night before out of existence. In the distance, a whistle sounded and a train could be heard, haltingly gripping the rails; a few minutes after, from that direction, more wandered in to join the crowd. Most were dressed in the puffy winter uniforms of soldiers, in the tawny colour familiar to Narbonese troops, but there were some others too, industrial workers, farmers, students, even merchants, probably.

The mood was not quiet, though it was not exactly rowdy either; insofar as one may pretend to know these things, it seemed perhaps expectant, pregnant somehow, like dinner guests looking about for their host as a party was about to start.

That was, in a manner of speaking, the case.

"Friends, brothers! Good morning, welcome!"

A man in a typical martial coat stood on top of a crate he appeared to have procured; he banged a pot with a wooden spoon a few times to draw attention and then put them aside.

"Members of the Frontline Soldiers' Communes! The conference is this way, inside, please come."

He stepped down and the crowd began pouring into the hall; a sallow-faced old caretaker pulled open the doors then stood aside, jangling the keys. He pointed one fellow out,
"Hey you, wipe your boots on the mat, please."
The sergeant turned People's Captain looked at him quizzically, then stood aside and did as he was told.

Within, the leaders of the movement congregated at the front; they had met each other before, in rail carriages and in cafes and in bunkers, spoken and telegraphed and written letters. This was the first time they had all been physically present though, and they shook hands. Here, the man whom the lionés had chosen to represent them, there the man from the front near Riom, this man Peire-Claudi Pingu, co-leader of the Narbonese Communist Party, a Colonel Vinhala who was the highest ranking officer who had defected and who was incidentally quite competent, representative of the nurses Maria Nanino, and so forth, all were assembled. The man who had let them in was in fact a certain Mr. Jorda, a recognised and pardoned veteran of the Aragon Uprising, a land reform dispute some years ago, and he was only 37.

He stepped up again, this time up to an actual lectern, dusty and unused since the last town hall had been torn down and this one built, but serviceable nonetheless;

"Welcome! Thank you for coming. This is of course the First Special Congress of the Frontline Soldiers' Communes... on our agenda is how we plan to respond to the government, what terms we bargain for, what we hope to achieve with the radical popular power we find ourselves surrounded by from recent circumstances."

He referred, of course, to what had become known as the Vichèi Incident, or to some the Vichèi Atrocity. The official line was that disorder and unrest in the lines near the aforementioned town had opened the way to Anglais attack, a devastating blow that had helped cost the war. Yet, barring the way that this seemed to blame it on the soldiers, which obviously the soldiers didn't appreciate, there were far more sinister conceptions of the idea floating about. The most common one was that the authorities, confronted with popular action, had decided it would be less trouble to deal with their demands than to simply cut off supplies and reinforcements, and allow the Anglais to wipe them out, which they did. Some even accused the government of attacking those who tried to retreat from mutineering units once the onslaught had begun, or provoking the strike in order to purge units. In reality, it was an unclear mixture of both malice and negligence that had resulted in the disaster, but either way it had turned public opinion decisively against the royalist regime, and word spread like wildfire as much of the rest of the frontline refused to budge (though holding their positions in defence as the original mutineers had), pickets began in the industrial cities, and the populace marched in the streets. The speedy and surprisingly lenient peace deal concluded immediately after was realistically the best option, but scarcely assured the public of the government's confidence, and to some confirmed its solidarity with Angleterre, even collusion against its own increasingly radical people. The front line mutineers had refused to disband, and the government had left them alone to disperse on their own, though it left them defenceless.

That was about a month ago. They hadn't dispersed, but had instead formed communes among their units, whose leaders and influences now met at this city not far behind the lines, with the might of an army behind them. In that time, they had radicalised.

"So, if I may so indulge myself... though I favour that pressure to be applied which will finally bring us a democratic republic, the importance of unity must be stressed I feel. In the incident itself, we remember what occurred..."

At least at this point, in the hall under the white sky of the before noon, the speaking was orderly, and Jorda gave his speech without interruption. Yet, he had not captured the mood, and debate would go on for hours more, with an intermission for lunch; only nightfall would see the railway workers, dispersed to bars or leaning on benches, return to the locomotives to send the delegates to their units. By then, it was heard and understood, that rather Pingu's plan had been adopted by consensus. Not for just a republic would they aim, but for the social and democratic republic, and not by pressure, but by force; they would not rely on this unreliable state but would themselves do it. Their communes were right, the country in need of renewal, and that would entail the sweeping away of the vestiges of the feudal system. Revolutionary violence was perhaps not necessary yet, and might never be necessary if unanimous and popular uprising could be coordinated, and the unpopularity of the king's government was clear. There was not exactly clarity on post-revolutionary policy, but the meeting agreed: decapitate this rotten, corrupt government, and then hold free and fair elections on what next to do. That was the conclusion.

The soldiers would march on Toulouse for Christmas.

Tolosa Central Railway Station, City of Tolosa, Kingdom of Narbona
5th January 1892 A.D.

The twelfth day of the year,
What will you give me, my love?
A popular revolution!

The people of the capital city woke on the last day of Christmas to something quite different; as they prepared to take down their red and green decorations, they caught sight of soldiers, in columns marching down the street. This, having just experienced years of war, was not so unusual, but certainly there was oddity about them; for a start, they called themselves not Narbonese, but proclaimed a commune, the ideals of revolution, though dressed in Narbonese uniform. The royal insignia were gone, and so too was their presence; the garrison of the city had defected or fled in the night, without a shot.

The trains continued to pull up, pouring soldiers from the front out into the city. Many mutineers had decided that they weren't radicals, and had either stayed put, keeping watch at the Anglais border's former battlefields, or had dispersed back home. Still others had stayed patriotically, reasoning the border still needed gurading, and others had actually begun returning home to other parts of the country, spreading news and bringing their radicalism. The Council had let them do this, especially not wanting to contend with men who just wanted to be home for Christmas, but had a healthy many who who had decided to go along, or who simply lived in Tolosa. Spreading out, they occupied the military bases in and around the city, which had been hurriedly vacated (along with most government buildings) when the largely unionised railway workers had decided not to close down the lines leading from the north. However, the national reserve remained untouched, though bank employees insisted on not giving access, which at least for the time being wasn't an urgent issue, and violence was to be avoided.

On the citizens' part, they received the soldiers well; of course the upper class shuttered up their apartment windows and kept at home, and some soldiers scattered into their homes in the city, but the largely working class population of Tolosa embraced the working class soldiers as heroes, who had first defended the country despite treachery from on high and now who came to fix that too. It was rather foreign, of course, having the army march in and declare a commune for you, but nonetheless it was the representative government hoped for for so long, and people took advantage of the absence of the police for once to walk the streets.

There was of course a sense of nervousness; people knew of the Aragon Uprising, in late 1869 and early 1870, and its aftermath; regionalist agrarian communes had been brutally smashed, their leaders not executed on the spot but transported to various overseas colonies and then slowly killed off. This had proved an excellent strategy for the Narbonese government until the press had got a hold of it, whereupon there was distinct outrage and concern that had resulted in some concessionary pardons. Nonetheless, the fact that the regime could and would put down uprisings with military force was of concern to inhabitants, even as a rather more sympathetic system was installed.

Peire-Claudi Pingu, who had set up a base of operations in the previously empty Red Exhibition Building, knew this too; Michel Jorda, survivor of that same campaign, was helping him draw up plans for the city's defence with the perhaps 30,000 reliable troops they had. The word was that the government and its loyalists had fled to Narbona, to the east, the traditional namesake of the country, where the King Ramon XIX was staying also. On paper, it was understood they still had around 60,000 excluding urban garrisons around the country, but the hope was that popular support around the country would arrive, and those units would defect or disband. If that did not materialise, however, of course a military backup plan would be good...

On that same subject, the current project was to establish not only this commune, but to encourage uprisings across the country. It was unlikely there would be any goading other than this first movement for the famously discontent canuts of Lion, the silkworkers who had declared a commune three times this century already while Tolosa only just now saw its first; the rest of the country, judging by public attitudes towards Vichèi, it was hoped would follow, but it could not be sure. While Pingu sketched on maps taken from the city's civil service, Domenge-August Blanc rushed about between presses and telegraph lines, speeding the news along and encouraging communes and resistance in the other cities around the country. Now or never, was the message.

At around midday, Pingu put down his pencil; another message that had been relayed around the city was a proclamation to come. Now that it had been secured, it was time to make it. The Provisional Chairman made his way to that reliable pedestal, the milk crate, here stacked four-high for a crowd of several thousand, who had turned out in the adjacent grassy field.

"This country of Narbona, until now, was oppressed by its king and his ministers. Today, they have been made to flee, and the people have risen up; the Tolosa Commune is established. We call upon the government at Narbona to step down and recognise the self-determination the people have secured, as do we request of all the other countries of the world. The alternative is to be destroyed by the popular will. As for our other countrymen, rise up and establish your own communes; free yourselves, the tyrant is powerless.

Our goal is to encourage and establish communes across this country, for elections to be held in each, and then for these legitimately established entities to join in the United Communes.

Elections will be held for the Council of the Tolosa Commune in ten days, given that we hold the city securely enough to be able to hold them.

Thank you."

[The Knockout Gun Gals]

Tokugawa Shogunate, January 1892

Over the past years, the Boshin War tore apart Japan to two sides, the Imperial and the Shogunate. Although Imperial gained bigger supports in form of friendly approach of their clans towards modernization and the supports of British, but in the end the Prussia and Shogunate prevailed and able to kicked the British out and even forced the Imperial to abdicated for Tokugawa Shogunate to placed Tokugawa Yoshinobu himself as both Shogun and Emperor, established the Emperor Tokugawa and Shogun Tokugawa at the same time.

However, he didn't shied away from the modern states and its reforms, so he placed reformations of its own. First, all samurai are to be placed in government, military, law enforcement, education and economic positions with rolling basis of taxes as a means to reform the nation slowly but sure. Second, Tokugawa placed a higher importance on the modernization of the entire military and to formed the national military based on the roots and structure of the Prussian military and draw the manpower from conscription draft, a mass draft of able-bodied men from a selection of young ages. Third, to allow only the highest-rankings officials that placed by samurai-class to hold swords publicly, and abolished the right of holding sword at public for those who are not in the highest-rankings. This had prompted several sparks and eventual small-scale rebellions, to which Tokugawa ordered the newly-formed Shogunate Japanese Military to put down to prove their experiences. So far so good.

Economic reforms to invite foreign investments, establishing industries, and modernizing infrastructures are in progress. Railways had been laid down in the foundation, but more is needed as well. Luckily, Japan doesn't really need much but foreign assistance in modernization and reformation of the nation. At the same time, foreign military equipment is to be the military's standard rifle, pistol, gatling guns, artillery, ships.

[Conwy-Shire]

Narikala Fortress, Tbilisi, Empire of Colchis,
5th Jan. 1892

---

Tbilisi's twelfth day of Christmas had gone by in a flash, the revelries of its Orthodox majority winding down amidst the snow-sprinkled streets as the festive season came to a close. From high up on the parapets of Narikala, the rock of Tbilisi around which all of the empire revolved, Solomon the Third swept his gaze across the skyline. At this time of day the sun's path was marked by little more than a bruise across the sky, a smear which stretched all the way behind the Trans-Caucasian Range in the west. Standing by the crenels of the parapet with his Seventeen-year-old son and Co-King, Erekle, the both of them wrapped up in thick fur-trimmed capes, it was easy to notice the contented expression on the King's face. Though Erekle had been declared Co-King at birth, an ancient Georgian practice aimed at improving the stability and calibre of rule a future King could provide, he was yet to come into manhood.

This was the first instance the two had spent together alone in years, for Erekle's education had taken him across Europe in the search of what the Westerners called a 'Liberal Arts Education'. The young Co-King had returned scant days before the Christmas, and ever since had been swamped by his doting mother, and the courtiers who flocked around him like carrion. Elsewise the pair had only been together on official duty, celebrating mass in the Gelati Monastery alongside Catholicos-Patriarch Callistratus, and his subsidiaries within the Eparchy of Colchis.

Though Erekle had been in Tbilisi for less than three weeks, his presence had already been felt around the country. Through the intercession of his mother, Solomon's wife and queen, a system of private property rights had been established in the cities of the Empire, and that was only the point of the liberal wedge Erekle was trying to drive into the fabric of Georgia's conservative society. Solomon took it in good humour however, it was good that his heir had some knowledge of political maneuvering at his disposal, and there was an easy way to slow down any liberalisation of the Empire, a path which had already been started down by the ageing king.

Erekle, having only recently returned home after his 6-year tour of Europe, was to be sent to Trebizond to replace the Kouropalates there. Though it was the Empire's frontier with the accursed Byzantine rulers, Trebizond had fallen into complacency under the stewardship of its' old and aristocratic governor - or Kouropalates - in recent years. Even whilst the territory was an integral linchpin in the protection of the Empire, with detachments from the Western and Northern Army groups stationed within it, and the sluggish civil administration was becoming outdated even by Eastern standards.

Erekle would change that, Solomon knew, and if there was to be a period of liberalisation after he passed, the ageing King wanted to witness it in a controlled environment before letting it spread like wildfire. The move would also reinforce the inviolable claim Georgia held over the oft-contested frontiers in the West, another gesture amidst the centuries of conflict between the Byzantine and Georgian Empires, though not as inflammatory as previous rulers on both sides had acted. If Manuel Palaiologos, the Byzantine ruler, had any sense about him he would trade the insult with interest, an exchange much more favourable to either party than military conflict.

It was time for Erekle to take his leave now however, and even as Solomon tried to draw the moment out, he knew it was time to let his son go forth once more, a true representative of the Empire. The young Co-King turned to face his father, a look of tired sadness creasing his face.
"Mepetmepe, may I have your blessing?" He asked, reverting to the formality of their rank across the cold silence of the evening.
"You may, my son. Go forth with my blessing and prayers, and may the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit guide your path." Erekle bent his head as his father spoke, uprighting himself as the hand of blessing was removed and the intonation ended.
"Thank you... father." He finally said after a terse pause, and left.

The clacking of his boots on the stone parapet drifted towards the for some minutes after the young man had taken his leave, reverberating from the nearby tower as the Co-King made his descent to his packed luggage in the main quarters of Narikala. Solomon remained for a time, waiting for the purple bruise of evening to grow into the black of night. As he was about to turn away from the battlement a bright spark arose from the depths of Tbilisi below, arcing up and into the sky before exploding with a fiery *Bang*, its unexpected explosion throwing the King off balance. As the coloured ashes lit up the night sly for a brief moment and began to drift back down towards the earth, Solomon was left to shake his head at the confounded fireworks, their recent popularity amongst Tbilisi's burgeoning Middle Class yet another sign of the changing times.

[Intermountain States]

Seoul, Kingdom of Joseon
1892

Minister of Rites Kwon Muhyeol walked into the house of the Chief State Councillor Shim Sun-taek. A servant came out to greet him. "Tell the Chief State Councillor that the Rites Minister has arrived." He told the servant, who nodded and went inside. After a few minutes, Shim Sun-taek came out in his Yangban garbs.

"Kwon Muhyeol," Shim Sun-taek began. "What brings you to my humble residence?"

"You were one of the few officials in the Royal Court who refused to support the King's plan to recognize the Republic of China as the true government in China," Muhyeol said. "Now you're the Chief State Councillor of the Court, your opposition practically carries weight in the government and the King wants an unanimous support for the recognition."

"So you want an explanation to why I would continue supporting the Uyghur barbarians holding out in the North rather than the revolutionaries in the south?" Sun-taek asked. "Follow me then." The two men entered the house and went to a room where Muhyeol believed to be an office. The office has a map of the world on the table, listing the various countries in the world with pins and writing all over the map, specifically in China, Joseon, and Japan. The map wasn't unusual, they can be purchased from vendors selling foreign goods in any coastal market.

Sun-taek turned to him and begins to talk. "I have my personel reasons for opposing recognizing a republican movement in Southern Zhongguo rather than the tried and true monarchial system in place by the Qiangs. For being Islamic Ugyhur barbarians, they respected much of the tradition of Zhongguo. The southerners are revolutionaries, their ideas could shake the foundation of the thousands of year old system that was in place in this continent."

"But," Sun-taek added. "That isn't the major reason why I oppose recognizing the republic in the south as the legitimate government of China. Supporting the Qiangs is necessary for maintaining Joseon's security and independence."

"Are you suggesting that Joseon's power rely on two Chinas?" Muhyeol asked.

"It's simple really," Sun-taek said. "When China is divided into warring states with neither side gaining an upper hand, Joseon is the nation who benefits from the conflict. That was true during Gojoseon and Goguryeo. These two empires were powers when China was divided. Tell me, name the Chinese dynasties that lead to Gojoseon and Goguryeo's downfall."

"The Hans and the Tangs," Muhyeol answered. Sun-taek smiled.

"And what did the Hans and the Tangs had in common?" Sun-taek asked.

"They unified the country before expanding to Gojoseon and Goguryeo," Muhyeol said. "But, the Suis unified China and they were defeated by Goguryeo and the fall of Goguryeo was through the efforts of both Silla and the Tangs. The Khitan Laos definitely didn't control all of China yet they destroyed Balhae. Silla and Goryeo were undone by civil wars established by their own generals."

"Perhaps," Sun-taek said. "But Silla was a tributary state to the Tangs and controlled territories south of the Taedong River and was weakened over the years. Goryeo expanded into the Amnok River, even having claims to the Yodong peninsula and was a power by her own right before being severly weakened by the Mongols that took over all of China."

"Even sitll," Muhyeol added. "What are you going with this?"

"The Republic of China is getting foreign backers from Western powers and they're industrializing," Sun-taek said. "Soon, they'll be more powerful than the Qiangs and it won't be long until they'll try to bring their shakey ideals to this nation. A strong Qiang would provide a check to the revolutionaries until we gain strength to provide a resistance ourselves."

"We're already backed by the Anglos," Muhyeol said. "We've modernized our nation with their and the German's guidance. Us supporting the Republic won't weaken us in any way."

"And how reliable would they be if Japan or Revolutionary China decides to expand their influence to us?" Sun-taek responded. "In this age, there is nothing but uncertainty for this nation. I hope that I am wrong but with the revolutionaries having a stranglehold in the south, I have a pessimistic view of this. I will not change my position."

[The Knockout Gun Gals]

Shogun realized that extending influence to China while neutrally attempted to do it peacefully is the best way for now. China has Western nations aiding them, so that's not the best idea.

To : Kingdom of Joseon
From : Tokugawa Shogunate

Greetings, fellow neighbor of the East. I believe that a diplomatic relationship between both of our nations is an important partnership, considering how the world shaped by the movements of the West, and not through the movements of the East anymore. We would like to officially form a diplomatic relationship.

Sincerely yours,
Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu

[Intermountain States]

Seoul, Kingdom of Joseon
1892

"Telegram from Japan, your Majesty," Foreign Minister Oh Myung-hoon announced to the Royal Court.

"From Japan, please explain the content of the telegram," the King said. Minister Myung-hoon nodded.

"It reads that their leader wishes to officially create diplomatic relations between the two countries in regards to movement from Europe." The Foreign Minister said.

"It seems quite appropriate, really," Chief State Councillor Shim Sun-taek said. "There's no harm in two nations that were once tributary states of the Middle Kingdom. We should exchange envoys to re-open diplomatic relations between the two nations of the Orients."

"We should proceed with caution," Defense Minister Wang Jun-min suggested. "Japan recently came from a civil war and even if it's been decades, there is still a threat a of violence, not to mention the last time Joseon suffered when Japan came from a civil war."

"Now the Tokugawa family has been quite friendly to Joseon ever since they took power," Justice Minister Choe Kyung-Soo said. "It's also been centuries since the Seven Years War that nearly destroyed Joseon, not to mention that we're backed by Germany and the Anglos, two powerful nations in the West. We should send two envoys to establish diplomatic relations between the new kingdoms."

"Very well," the King said. "If the Court agrees to this, then we should respond to their Shogun to announce a sending of envoys. Defense Minister Wang Jun-min and Rites Minister Kwon Muhyeol, I want you to lead the envoys and to report back anything that could be seen as hostile to the country."

"We will do our best, your Majesty," Both Jun-min and Muhyeol said, bowing to the King.

To Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu of the Tokugawa Shogunate

The Kingdom of Joseon would not be opposed to re-establishing diplomatic relations between the two neighbors of the East. Unless there is any objection, we would like to bring envoys to your capital to discuss diplomatic efforts to celebrate the peace brought between King Seongjo of Joseon and Tokugawa Ieyasu of Japan.

From the Phoenix Throne of Joseon.