1850: Alternative Divergence [AH][OOC-OPEN]

[New Papan]

We should definitely establish some exchange rates. I imagine that all of our currencies (in Europe, at least) are fixed to gold? Should make it easy enough to fix exchange rates between our currencies, then.

The skandinaviske kroner is fixed to gold at 0.30 troy ounce per. How much is the złoty worth, now?

Them feels when you have no grasp of the most basic economics and have no idea how currencies work
Suggestions on how to establish an exchange rate here? Happy to learn something.

[Shogunate of the Uzumaki Empire]

Why is Switzerland not claimed?

[The Ik Ka Ek Akai]

We should definitely establish some exchange rates. I imagine that all of our currencies (in Europe, at least) are fixed to gold? Should make it easy enough to fix exchange rates between our currencies, then.

The skandinaviske kroner is fixed to gold at 0.30 troy ounce per. How much is the złoty worth, now?

Them feels when you have no grasp of the most basic economics and have no idea how currencies work
Suggestions on how to establish an exchange rate here? Happy to learn something.

Well, gold/siver-backed currencies are defined by the purity of their content usually. The pound sterling got its name way back in the medieval era because it was a single pound's weight of sterling silver. Sterling silver actually derives its name from the currency, believe it or not. Because of its exceptionally high purity, it was a much stronger currency than some continental coins which were much less pure, such as in the later Komnenos Byzantium.

Essentially, currency strength with gold-backed coin is based on how much of the coin is actually gold. If one country mints coins with 100% gold purity, then it's worth two coins of a country that makes coins that are 50% gold and 50% zinc.

[Plzen]

Them feels when you have no grasp of the most basic economics and have no idea how currencies work
Suggestions on how to establish an exchange rate here? Happy to learn something.

In the 19th century, currencies were quite often backed by precious metals. The value of a currency was fixed to a certain quantity of gold. In Scandinavia, that rate is 3.0 troy ounce of gold per skandinavisk krone.

Which meant, in theory, you could take one currency, trade it for gold at some fixed rate, and trade the gold for another currency at a different fixed rate. When all currencies are backed by gold, exchange rates are constant.

So all you need to establish is determine how much gold one złoty is worth. Then you can calculate exchange rates to all other gold-backed currencies (like the skandinaviske kroner) based on that amount of gold.

[The Ik Ka Ek Akai]

Them feels when you have no grasp of the most basic economics and have no idea how currencies work
Suggestions on how to establish an exchange rate here? Happy to learn something.

In the 19th century, currencies were quite often backed by precious metals. The value of a currency was fixed to a certain quantity of gold. In Scandinavia, that rate is 0.30 troy ounce of gold per skandinavisk krone.

Which meant, in theory, you could take one currency, trade it for gold at some fixed rate, and trade the gold for another currency at a different fixed rate. When all currencies are backed by gold, exchange rates are constant.

So all you need to establish is determine how much gold one złoty is worth. Then you can calculate exchange rates to all other gold-backed currencies (like the skandinaviske kroner) based on that amount of gold.

Or go the Rinascimento way and just make them out of gold to begin with!

[Pentapolitan Kyrene]

As might be gathered from my name, I'm sorely tempted to produce an application for an Exarchate of Libya in what territory remains unclaimed between The Vandal Kingdom and the Eastern Roman Empire. Joined in with Heraclius' revolt, before being subjugated by the Arabs in the early invasions of North Africa, and freeing itself in the aftermath of the Vandal Kingdom's own victory against the Arabs. Allowed to survive as a convenient buffer state between the two much larger states, and taking the chance to participate in trade and colonization. Sort of like a Libyan Netherlands, based around national pride in the old Pentapolis and such, with a healthy influx of berbers and circumstance mandated opportunism.

I'm not sure if I've got the chops for it, but if that idea doesn't sound too offensive to anyone, I'd love to give it a go.

[New Papan]

You two have taught me a lot, thank you very much for that! I've researched the history of Polish currency and it's the same story as any other Polish historical period, everything goes up and down. What I've learn however is that the złoty wouldn't be worth all too much since it is in common circulation... I'm guessing it'd be fixed at a small fraction of gold per ounce of individual coins?

[The Ik Ka Ek Akai]

You two have taught me a lot, thank you very much for that! I've researched the history of Polish currency and it's the same story as any other Polish historical period, everything goes up and down. What I've learn however is that the złoty wouldn't be worth all too much since it is in common circulation... I'm guessing it'd be fixed at a small fraction of gold per ounce of individual coins?

At one point, it was fixed to Russian currency, where the Zloty was worth 15 Polish groszy (made of copper), while a grosz was worth 1/2 of a Russian silver kopeck. This means that 2 Zloty, or 30 groszy, would be worth 15 kopecks, or 15/100 of a ruble. This means that a Zloty is ultimately worth .075 rubles.

[The Ik Ka Ek Akai]

Oh also you mention dates like 1853 in your post but the current date is 1850

[The Frozen Forest]

Full Nation Name : Empire of the Inca

~Snip~

Thanks for reviewing my application so throughly. I can see how i should have elaborated on it a bit more. I'll start revising it now and i'll have it finished by tonight at the latest.

[Axis Asteroid]

As might be gathered from my name, I'm sorely tempted to produce an application for an Exarchate of Libya in what territory remains unclaimed between The Vandal Kingdom and the Eastern Roman Empire. Joined in with Heraclius' revolt, before being subjugated by the Arabs in the early invasions of North Africa, and freeing itself in the aftermath of the Vandal Kingdom's own victory against the Arabs. Allowed to survive as a convenient buffer state between the two much larger states, and taking the chance to participate in trade and colonization. Sort of like a Libyan Netherlands, based around national pride in the old Pentapolis and such, with a healthy influx of berbers and circumstance mandated opportunism.

I'm not sure if I've got the chops for it, but if that idea doesn't sound too offensive to anyone, I'd love to give it a go.

Interesting, because Trace and I were also thinking about having the area be a buffer zone between the two powers, except more along the lines of a "no man's land" where undesirables from either border have chosen to take refuge, and in some cases carved out their own polities in the desert, not unlike the Terminus Systems from Mass Effect.

But are you thinking more along the lines of a North African Switzerland? Like a neutral zone for the two powers to conduct diplomacy and general politicking?

[New Papan]

Oh also you mention dates like 1853 in your post but the current date is 1850

Even worse than that, I thought the current year was 1855! Will be fixed momentarily.

[Pentapolitan Kyrene]

-snip-

Interesting, because Trace and I were also thinking about having the area be a buffer zone between the two powers, except more along the lines of a "no man's land" where undesirables from either border have chosen to take refuge, and in some cases carved out their own polities in the desert, not unlike the Terminus Systems from Mass Effect.

But are you thinking more along the lines of a North African Switzerland? Like a neutral zone for the two powers to conduct diplomacy and general politicking?

A little bit of both. Retaining an affinity for the Romans as a result of their roots, religion and history, while remaining grateful and amiable towards the Vandals for having aided them in breaking the Arab yoke. With that baseline, a Cyrenaican state would likely set itself up as an intermediary between the two states, a stage for their politicking, and a marketplace for their goods. From there, the Cyrenaicans would take advantage of their intermediary status to broker trade between Anti-Vandal and Vandal powers, and filling a very Switerland-esque role in Mediterranean politics. Mercenaries, DIplomats and the like. I'd plan initial expansion into the Red Sea, possibly Socotra as a result of a thriving tradition of merchant adventuring, and a line of colonies blossoming from there.

Internally, they'd probably serve a similar role. Cyrenaican, Christian Berbers would be the majority, but Copts, Jews, Roman Africans or any other such minorities or wandering undesirables would be accepted, at least partly due to the under population of the region.

[The Ik Ka Ek Akai]

Interesting, because Trace and I were also thinking about having the area be a buffer zone between the two powers, except more along the lines of a "no man's land" where undesirables from either border have chosen to take refuge, and in some cases carved out their own polities in the desert, not unlike the Terminus Systems from Mass Effect.

But are you thinking more along the lines of a North African Switzerland? Like a neutral zone for the two powers to conduct diplomacy and general politicking?

A little bit of both. Retaining an affinity for the Romans as a result of their roots, religion and history, while remaining grateful and amiable towards the Vandals for having aided them in breaking the Arab yoke. With that baseline, a Cyrenaican state would likely set itself up as an intermediary between the two states, a stage for their politicking, and a marketplace for their goods. From there, the Cyrenaicans would take advantage of their intermediary status to broker trade between Anti-Vandal and Vandal powers, and filling a very Switerland-esque role in Mediterranean politics. Mercenaries, DIplomats and the like. I'd plan initial expansion into the Red Sea, possibly Socotra as a result of a thriving tradition of merchant adventuring, and a line of colonies blossoming from there.

Internally, they'd probably serve a similar role. Cyrenaican, Christian Berbers would be the majority, but Copts, Jews, Roman Africans or any other such minorities or wandering undesirables would be accepted, at least partly due to the under population of the region.

If you go with it, as a side note, the Roman Africans, or just "Africans", would speak African Romance- though it is extinct now, Berber writers contemporary with its existence stated that it was identical to Sardinian, going so far as to say "The people of Sardinia are Africans [and] speak like Africans."

[Axis Asteroid]

A little bit of both. Retaining an affinity for the Romans as a result of their roots, religion and history, while remaining grateful and amiable towards the Vandals for having aided them in breaking the Arab yoke. With that baseline, a Cyrenaican state would likely set itself up as an intermediary between the two states, a stage for their politicking, and a marketplace for their goods. From there, the Cyrenaicans would take advantage of their intermediary status to broker trade between Anti-Vandal and Vandal powers, and filling a very Switerland-esque role in Mediterranean politics. Mercenaries, DIplomats and the like. I'd plan initial expansion into the Red Sea, possibly Socotra as a result of a thriving tradition of merchant adventuring, and a line of colonies blossoming from there.

Internally, they'd probably serve a similar role. Cyrenaican, Christian Berbers would be the majority, but Copts, Jews, Roman Africans or any other such minorities or wandering undesirables would be accepted, at least partly due to the under population of the region.

Seems like you have an interesting idea in mind. I say make an app and go for it.

Keep in mind though that the Vandals very much identify as an African power at this point, and are the main facilitators of Pan-Africanism in their bid to unite the continent and resist colonial powers. Would there be an affinity among the Cyrenaicans because of that? Or would they largely identify more as Roman still?

[Shogunate of the Uzumaki Empire]

Reservation

Nation Name: Swiss Confederation
Territory: Switzerland
#AltDiv (do not delete this, it's for keeping track of the apps)
*Note: Reservations will last for 48 hours. The OP board reserves the right to be subjective in regards to accepting reservations.

[Tracian Empire]

Interesting, because Trace and I were also thinking about having the area be a buffer zone between the two powers, except more along the lines of a "no man's land" where undesirables from either border have chosen to take refuge, and in some cases carved out their own polities in the desert, not unlike the Terminus Systems from Mass Effect.

But are you thinking more along the lines of a North African Switzerland? Like a neutral zone for the two powers to conduct diplomacy and general politicking?

A little bit of both. Retaining an affinity for the Romans as a result of their roots, religion and history, while remaining grateful and amiable towards the Vandals for having aided them in breaking the Arab yoke. With that baseline, a Cyrenaican state would likely set itself up as an intermediary between the two states, a stage for their politicking, and a marketplace for their goods. From there, the Cyrenaicans would take advantage of their intermediary status to broker trade between Anti-Vandal and Vandal powers, and filling a very Switerland-esque role in Mediterranean politics. Mercenaries, DIplomats and the like. I'd plan initial expansion into the Red Sea, possibly Socotra as a result of a thriving tradition of merchant adventuring, and a line of colonies blossoming from there.

Internally, they'd probably serve a similar role. Cyrenaican, Christian Berbers would be the majority, but Copts, Jews, Roman Africans or any other such minorities or wandering undesirables would be accepted, at least partly due to the under population of the region.

I quite like the idea, yeah. It seems very interesting. We had thought from the very beginning to let that area in Libya free, as a buffer between the two states, and while your Libyan Exarchate isn't exactly what we were planning for that area, that being, a no man's land of sorts, the idea would still fit in pretty well. Go for it.

Though, I just want you to know that, well, for the time being, both the Vandals and the Romans seem to be alright with the status quo, but if it ever ends up with a war between the Romans and the Vandals, you will pretty much be caught in the middle.

If you're alright with it, I can't wait to see an app

[The Ik Ka Ek Akai]

So many Romans

[Tracian Empire]

So many Romans

Well, we technically have Italians, Dalmatians, Greeks, and possibly also Libyans claiming to be Romans, and Vandals which use Classical Latin and speak Romance but hate Romans.

[Axis Asteroid]

So many Romans

Well, just one technically right? Since the two Roman halves are considered one empire.

Vandals might be Romanized, but their dialect of Vulgar Latin (Wendish) has pretty much diverged considerably from what was spoken by their ancestors under Geiseric. Not unlike the Romance Languages such as French and Spanish, both of which are technically just the natural evolution of Vulgar Latin over time.

I assume the Cyrenaicans would have similar linguistic drift with African Romance.

[Axis Asteroid]

So many Romans

Well, we technically have Italians, Dalmatians, Greeks, and possibly also Libyans claiming to be Romans, and Vandals which use Classical Latin and speak Romance but hate Romans.

Pretty much this lol.

[The Traansval]

We should definitely establish some exchange rates. I imagine that all of our currencies (in Europe, at least) are fixed to gold? Should make it easy enough to fix exchange rates between our currencies, then.

The skandinaviske kroner is fixed to gold at 0.30 troy ounce per. How much is the złoty worth, now?

Oof, i'll have to see what the Guilder is equivalent to.

I feel that for simplistic reasons we should all, after listing the amount of money in our Currency, put in parenthesis the equivalent in the modern US Dollar. As it would probably help clear up confusion on the total amount.

Anyway, Currency around this time is quite... Complicated. Pretty much everyone is going to be on the Gold Standard, but keep in mind that Currency was never and is still not a 100% unified thing. Printed Money started out as receipts for individual banks, the idea being that a trader would hand over the receipt to a merchant, then the merchant would take the receipt and practically sell it to his local bank, and the bank would then get a rider to take all their receipts and go exchange them for gold at the bank of origin.

As we all know these Banknotes stopped being receipts for currency and became currency themselves, but the banknotes were still being printed by individual banks. As such you had the problem of every bank in every village printing their own, unique banknote. These would drop in value as you traveled further from the bank of origin, as exchange rates dropped due to the risk of bandits stealing the notes when the bank tried to exchange them. Another risk which dropped the value of notes was the risk that a bank could go bankrupt, thus making the bills worthless. This was eventually fixed by the Central Bank, or more specifically the Bank of England. Since the Bank of England was apart of the Government, then the Bank wouldn't go bust unless the Government itself did. As such, there was no risk in using Bank of England Notes. So, pretty much everyone started using Bank of England Notes, and everyone followed suit. However, there are still banks printing legal tender notes that are different from the national currency.

The last US Dollar to note be printed by the Federal Government wont be until 1935. The last British banknote to be printed by a local bank will be 1870 i believe, and IRL Ireland and Scotland both, to this day in 2018, still have banks printing non-national banknotes.

Anyway, i say we do research to see the value of our currency in 1850 (Inflation converters exist) and then convert that to modern USD for less confusion and put that as a sidenote next to our currencies value. Ex: 25 Guilder (340 USD)

Oh and Traa... for whatever reason your status on Aussieland is being drowned. My guess is that there is A LOT more important issues being handled. We had to go in and help Inca, deliberate on Center-status of Ireland, discuss why Germany application process need to be null and void and player completely rejected, and shortlisting and sending reminders to inactive RPers.

I will ask again when I finish making formal post on why German application is completely rejected. I think I will become more free afterwards.

Eh, take all the time you need. I'll hold off on any mention of it ICly until its resolved. I'd at the very least like a trading post/port city on the Continent if my claim to all of Western Australia is too much.

[Shogunate of the Uzumaki Empire]

Full Nation Name :

Swiss Confederation
Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft (German)
Confédération suisse (French)
Confederazione Svizzera (Italian)
Confederaziun svizra (Romansh)
Confoederatio Helvetica (Latin)

Majority/Official Culture : German
Territorial Core : Well you know.......Switzerland.
Territorial Claim : [[OPTIONAL]] [[region NOT your core where your nation’s ambition lies]]
Capital City : Bern, Switzerland
Population : 2,392,740

Government Type : Federal Republic
Government Ideology/Policies : Pacifist, Democratic
Government Focus : To become as Neutral as possible but use force if necessary.
Head of State : Stefano Franscini
Head of Government : Stefano Franscini
Government Description : The Federal Council is the seven-member executive council which constitutes the federal government of the Swiss Confederation and serves as the collective executive head of government and state of Switzerland.

Majority/State Religion : [[OPTIONAL]] [[It does not have to be IRL religion]]
Religious Description : [[OPTIONAL]]

Economic Ideologies : Capitalism
Major Production : Machinery, chemicals, textiles
Economic Description : Switzerland as a federal state was established in 1848. Before that time, the city-cantons of Zurich and Basel in particular began to develop economically based on industry and trade, while the rural regions of Switzerland remained poor and under-developed. While a workshop system had been in existence throughout the early modern period, the production of machines began in 1801 in St. Gallen, with the third generation of machines imported from Great Britain. But in Switzerland, hydraulic power was often used instead of steam-engines because of the country's topography while there are no significant deposits of coal. By 1814, hand weaving had been mostly replaced by the power loom. Both tourism and banking began to develop as an economic factor from about the same time.


Tech Group : European

Army Description : The land component of the Swiss Armed Forces originated from the cantonal troops of the Old Swiss Confederacy, called upon in cases of external threats by the Tagsatzung or by the canton in distress. In the federal treaty of 1815, the Tagsatzung prescribed cantonal troops to put a contingent of 2% of the population of each canton at the federation's disposition, amounting to a force of some 33,000 men. The cantonal armies were converted into the federal army (Bundesheer) with the constitution of 1848.
Army Weakness : The downside is that the Infantry troops are very weak towards Calvary which leads to a disadvantage of the Swiss Army.
Naval Description : N/A
Naval Weakness : N/A
Further Military Description : [[OPTIONAL]]

National Goals : To become Neutral as possible or perhaps spread Swiss Nationalism. Also, we might even supply France and Italy with weapons depending on the situation.
National Issues : I don't think Switzerland don't have any issues at all.......
National Figures of Interest : [[OPTIONAL]] [[Are there any Mother Teresas or Moses that we need to know about?]]
National Ambition/Aspirations : [[OPTIONAL]] [[Not really a set objective, but rather the big picture that your nation is drawing towards]]
Rival: None really to be honest.

History : Following a 27-day civil war in Switzerland, the Sonderbundskrieg, the Swiss Federal Constitution was passed on 12 September 1848. The constitution was heavily influenced by the US Constitution and the ideas of the French Revolution. The constitution establishes the Swiss Confederation, governed by a comparatively strong federal government, instead the model of a confederation of independent cantons bound by treaties.
RP Sample: I'm new to this one! ^>^

#AltDiv (do not delete this, it's for keeping track of the apps)

[Tracian Empire]

Reservation

Nation Name: Swiss Confederation
Territory: Switzerland
#AltDiv (do not delete this, it's for keeping track of the apps)
*Note: Reservations will last for 48 hours. The OP board reserves the right to be subjective in regards to accepting reservations.

Geneva and Vaud are claimed by the Franks. I'll check with the other OP's before accepting you, so you should probably wait for a response before working on an app.

[Tracian Empire]

Map and lists mostly updated. There are still a few apps that need to be reviewed, I'll do my best. Sorry for my relative inactivity today, there was a big religious celebration today here, and I spent most of my day either at church or with the family. Not very fun, but oh well.