IN-CHARACTER FORUM | DISCORD | OFFSITE FORUM | THEME
COBALT NETWORK • COBALT SPONSORED ROLEPLAYS • COBALT NETWORK RECRUITMENT HUB
OP - Atrilan
CO-OP - Da Klan
CO-OP - Greater Redosia
"War does not determine who is right - only who is left."
- Bertrand Russel
Never has hunger been lower, never have standards of living been higher. Despite this, the world is marked by fear in rapid social, political, and technological change. The backlash of globalization is felt as parts of the Middle East and Africa collapse into states of hybrid warfare, as nations challenge eachother's access to vital resources, and as the political unity of the world comes to a grinding halt. The gravity of power in the world is evidently shifting towards East Asia, as India and China are projected to be the new superpowers of the 21st century, but these powers have yet to find a way to replace the Western order. The nations of the west fervently battle this shift of change in an effort to hold onto power for a while longer. The power struggle ignited by crisis and spread by political goals is felt globally. The world is not the same as it once was, and it will never return to it's current state. The tipping point begins in 2024.
Early in the morning on May 10, 2018, the worst terrorist attack in European history is carried out in the Swedish capital of Stockholm. On the island of Djurgården, six gunmen entered the Vasa Museum from multiple entrances and slaughtered their way inward. Meanwhile, across the city, two vans parked in the Drottingholm Palace, the residence of the King of Sweden. A total of twelve gunmen armed with assault rifles quickly stepped out of the van, overpowered the guards of the Palace with firepower, and worked their way towards the residential sect of the palace quickly. The senile King Carl XVI Gustav and Queen Silvia were both successfully murdered by the gunmen, while Prince Carl Philip was wounded. The palace was surrounded by RRTF forces within five minutes of the death of the King, and the gunmen were killed. A third attack, at the Stockholm City Hall, was thwarted by law enforcement immediately before the attack. In total, 412 deaths were recorded, making it the worst terrorist attack in European history and the fifth worst in world history. The attacks, which would be immediately named the "Crimson Dawn Attacks," were claimed to be the doing of the Islamic State, every member involved in the attack had migrated from the Middle East as refugees. This sparked intense debate within the European Union, with even the heavily pro-immigrant nation of Sweden pushing for halted migration in response to the death of their King. Eventually, the European Union reached an agreement, and migration between the Middle East and Europe was to be restricted.
In March of 2020, the Intelligence Bureau of the Republic of India had uncovered a conspiracy in Jammu and Kasmir. It was uncovered that the Pakistani government had been arming the rebel group Hizbul Mujahideen, which supports Pakistani control over the region, under knowledge of the Chinese government. The group had been responsible for multiple terrorist attacks in the city of Srinigar, the most prominent of which ended the lives of 52 Indian citizens. The outraged Indian government militarized their border as a show of power towards the Pakistani government, and soon departed the Shanghai Cooperation Organization on the grounds that it was "An organization which spoke against terrorism, but one which wasn't afraid to use it to their benefit."
The 2020 United States election was one of the most volatile in recent history. The large disparity between Republican candidate Dean Hampton and Democratic candidate Evan Stone. The election put many, especially those with foreign ties to the United States on edge. Hampton won the election by a single vote in the electoral college, realizing the nightmares of the United States' allies. Hampton was by-and-large highly anti-globalist, making numerous remarks in the past against NATO and NAFTA. The worries of the United States' allies in Europe culminated in what would be known as the "Virumaa Crisis." The Russian Federation, in response to the election of the anti-interventionist Dean Hampton, had begun to take multiple aggressive steps in securing their sphere of influence. On October 8th, 2022, Russian soldiers had begun to build up on their common border with Estonia. On October the 10th, Vladimir Putin made an announcement demanding the region of Ida-Virumaa from Estonia on the grounds of a 73% Russian majority in the region. Within the first day, most members of NATO had issued a response to these claims, with all save for Albania, Norway, and Iceland backing the Estonian claims. On October the 13th, a full three days after the start of the Virumaa Crisis, President Hampton announced his intentions to drop support from Estonia if the Russian Federation did not extend past areas with a Russian majority. Although most members continued to hold their support of Estonia, the infamous "Virumaa Address" was the final nail in the coffin for NATO. The President of the European Commission, Jan-Bart Arents, made a statement in response, claiming, "This would be the day that the United States resigned as the leader of the free world." Europe seemed to be on the precipice of war when the Russian Federation withdrew soldiers from the border on October 28th. Moscow was reluctant to challenge the nuclear arsenals of France and the United Kingdom, even though they were much smaller. Several weeks later, on November the 14th, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was officially disbanded. Directly following this, the Europeans began talks to replace the gap that NATO left. In December of 2022, the Common European Security and Defense Organization Treaty was signed in Brussels.
In the midst of the Virumaa Crisis in late 2022, the debated state of Kosovo, bogged down by a frozen economy and the inability to manage their nation, applied to join Albania as an autonomous region. This action enraged the Serbian administration, which sent soldiers into borderlands to secure its assets, sparking a humanitarian crisis in the Balkans. The Crisis has been at a standstill for over a year, with the Albanian government refusing to proceed with the integration until the status of Kosovo is resolved. The European Union has publicly denounced the actions of Serbia, viewing Kosovo as a sovereign state with the rights to their own legal status, but this has only delayed the process of Serbian integration into the European Union. At the same time, in the United Kingdom, the Scottish National Party demanded a referendum on independence, due to the fact that Scotland largely voted to remain in the union. The referendum was agreed to, but the British government continuously held off on releasing a date. After three years of gridlock on the topic, the SNP scheduled a referendum in 2022. The referendum succeeded by a margin of over 65%. The British government immediately recognized this referendum as illegitimate, sparking protests and other acts of defiance in the name of an independent Scotland.
Almost immediately after the Virumaa Crisis, tensions with Russia shifted eastward. The People's Republic of China, which had openly criticized the actions of the Russian State in Virumaa, had strained relations related to foreign goals. President Xi Jinping openly stating that "The actions of the Russian state have jeopardized the strategic goals of the People's Republic, China will not support any military action committed by Russia in the west." The Russian Federation departed from the Shanghai Cooperative Zone in following months in response to strained relations, and the alliance seeming to move towards mutual defense. In the Americas, the Rio Pact had begun to fall apart. The United States had left during the Virumaa Crisis, and instead signed the Toronto Pact with Canada. Argentina, one of the largest members of the Pact, departed due to political tension between themselves and Brazil.
Wars in the Middle East continued to rage on well into the 2020s. In 2019, the Islamic State was finally forced to surrender to advancing forces from all sides. Several months after this, the Kurdish Rebels in Northern Syria and Iraq declared their independence from the failing nations facing little resistance from Syria. A weakened Iraq lead the "Zab Offensive" into Kurdish territories, but the exhausted Iraqi Military made little progress. While Iraq refused to recognize the Kurdish state, they maintain no control over the area. At the beginning of 2022, The Russian Federation increased the flow of supplies into Syria. Against the fractured forces of the Free Syrian Army and the various minor terrorist organizations which dotted the nation, Assad and his armies won Syria back after a brutal 11 year Civil War. Meanwhile, the Yemen Civil War has continued to rage throughout the fractured nation, with Saudi-backed forces making significant gains in recent months. After decades of unrest and years of conflict, the many sides of the Libyan Civil war have agreed to come to the negotiation table. They hold negotiations in The Hague, Netherlands, with the oversight of UN officials, and they draft a treaty known as the Declaration of Tripoli. The treaty states the separation of Libya into three seperate entities; Fezzan, headed by Nawaar El-Suleiman who will serve as the first president of the fledgeling Islamic Republic, with autonomy given to the Tuareg controlled regions of the new nation. Cyrenaica, headed by General Jaasim Al-Mahdavi, under a military controlled government. and Tripolitania under a presidential democracy, headed the the notable authoritarian, Raashid Al-Rahimi.
In the African nation of Cameroon, the long standing dictator of Paul Biya died at the age of 89 in February, 2022. The death was unexpected, and doctors account it to a series of unsuspected strokes while he was out of the country in France. The almost oligarch-like government of Cameroon scrambled to stabilise the nation, and put forth the Vice-President, Philémon Yang, to be sworn in at the nearest opportunity. This started what was later known as the March Undoing, in which Cameroon fell into complete disarray. It turned out that President Yang was completely incompetent to hold the country together, and as a response to lowering economic output, he started to print more money without the permission of the other nation that share Cameroon’s currency of the Central African Franc. This led to a political crisis in Central Africa, which eventually led the the prohibition of Cameroon from using the CAF legally. This destroyed the Cameroonian economy in a matter of days, and only worsened the extreme political unrest. By the time the March Undoing had concluded, three definitive sides had formed. In the heavily Muslim north of Cameroon, a political movement for secession headed by Albert Riqueti, had gained significant concrete support. The movement was known as the Coalition de Libération Isamique does Puel, or CLIP for short. It was founded around the ideal of a Fulani nation, which was a minority group across West and Central Africa, Cameroon included, around an Islamic Democracy. Within months they became strong and organised, and held a lot of control in the North, while also possessing a well trained militia force, but they were not yet activity in conflict. That only occurred after a second movement, known as the Egalité pour le Mouvement Camerounais, or EMC, which was a democratic movement, started actively fighting against the government forces in the South. In this moment CLIP stated actively fighting and seizing control in Northern Cameroon, which only complicated the conflict. CLIP is yet to hold any fundamentalist or radical ideals, but their are worries that this may change by the late parts of 2024. With Cameroon only falling into further disarray, the world has started to take note, and intervention seems likely.
- No unjustified war, this means that you must state your wargoal as well as having a reason in your declaration of war. It can be full annexation, unless it is players which you will run off of the warscore system - Higher infamy
- No Out Of Character in the In Character forum. You will clog up the other forum and this is a big pain in the ass for me, who has to ask, and the mods, who have to find and remove your post. - Warning, Ban
- Keep use of Weapons of Mass Destruction to an extreme minimum. You should rarely use them against a player. This game is for fun, nuclear war may be likely in real life if a war broke out but dammit keep your weapons down for the most part. However, they should be treated as WMDs by other nations, and nations should be reluctant to declare war on a nuclear power - Warning, Ban
- No godmoding. Do I even need to explain this one? Don't act like you can take over the world and get salty when your ass gets kicked. This was a big pain in the ass in the second reset, Modern War. This doesn't happen too much in this one, due to Pacificora, but still. - Ban
- Stay in the realm of realism, Canada can’t just send a division down to burn Washington without the American’s interfering - Warning
- Message must at least contain five paragraphs. This is actually too little, but the bare minimum. - Warning, Ban
- Don't do messages for one thing. By this, I mean don't just write a paragraph for responding to an email or something. Do multiple sections each with a different purpose. For instance, addressing a war, another section making laws, another section about a space program, and so on. - Warning, Ban
- Act like the party in power, the American Republican Party isn't going to pass full abortion laws, the German SPD isn't going to approve of nuclear powerplant development, the French LREM isn't going to go against the European Union, the United Russia isn't going to become allies with the EU, etc.
- Jarring improper grammar is unacceptable, including applications. If you can't write English properly, you will be removed. Improper English is a good excuse to deny an application - Warning, Ban
- No stealing another nation's technology without you occupying them or without going through the espionage system, which will generally come up fruitless for technology stealing. - Warning, Ban
- Let war build up before it breaks out. This applies to players mostly. When some guy puts a toe onto your land, don't declare. Wait until tensions rise to a reasonable level to declare. - Warning
- No using multiple accounts. No need to explain, don't try to help yourself by controlling half of the nations in the game by puppetting. - Ban
- No acting on another players behalf without their permission, even if you think you know what their actions will be you’re only inc control of your own country - Warning, Ban
- If you are quoting someone, only quote the part that you are commenting on. No penalty for this one, it just makes it a lot less cluttered and more obvious to what you're responding to. - None
- Don't be a piece of shit. Seriously, if you're acting toxic then get the hell out, I don't want you here and neither does anyone else. - Ban
- Word of OP and IE is law, unless there is good reason to debate in a civil manner. Don't bitch and moan when you get something you don't like unless you are willing to back it up. - Warning
- Word of the Co-OPs could be seriously considered, refusing to follow their suggestions just makes you a prick - Warning
- Do not personally insult other players, this should be obvious - Warning, Ban
- Think in the long term, don't declare war because you want a bit of land, think of the long-term effect of your actions and if it will be a burden on you in the future - None
- Do not post just about war, you have nation to run. Calm your erection for war and do other things as well. This is a primarily political roleplay, with some war thrown in to make things more exciting - Warning, Ban
- You will be kicked if you are not active in the IC at least once between IE posts, no questions asked. - None
- If you're sending a letter, you need to write it out, not say something like "My minister sent the Kingdom of Jelly a letter to join the Peanut Butter Alliance." Nothing will happen, but you'll be ignored - None.
- Consider actual geography and logistics, you can’t send 60,000 tanks over a mountain range or through a desert all willy nilly - None
- Have fun, this one sounds stupid as a legitimate rule but hear me out. If you're not having fun, why are you here? You're occupying space that another person could use and have fun as. This game is meant for fun, if you're not having it then there is no shame in leaving. We'll all understand. - None
- Anything not explicitly stated in your posts, but something you intend nonetheless, HAS to be telegrammed or DM'ed to Pacificora, or it will be ignored - Warning.
- All other common sense rules. - Diverse Punishment
The International Entity controls everything out of the control of your government, for most intense and purposes. The outcomes of elections, the opinions of your populace, when terror attacks happen, how war progresses, random events around the world, etc. Unless you have fair reason to civilly dispute an outcome, the International Entity is the final say on game progression and events.
NATIONAL UNITY - National Unity is based off of how united your country is, or how the government is looked at from the eyes of the people. This value can be effected by many things, for instance, national unrest. If your nation is in rebellion, then quite obviously your national unity would be radically lowered. If your government has been found to have been doing things your citizenry does not approve of, such as scandals or subverting democratic processes in a democratic nation, your national unity will also lower. While there is no strict numerical value for national unity, keeping it high is important in order to maintain stability.
INFAMY - While National Unity deals with the internal stability of your nation, Infamy deals with the external reputation of your nation. When you invade another nation, subvert democracy, act volatile, or things of that sort, your infamy will rise. This will cause your neighbors to generally distrust you, making them have a negative disposition to doing things like opening up trade, while they may also militarize the border to protect themselves. Like National Unity, this is not a number, but a general value which should be kept low in order to keep your nation alive.
DIPLOMACY - Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Meeting with a leader from one country can lower the opinion of your nation in another. If you're casting agreements left and right with the Chinese government, the Indians won't be too pleased. Diplomacy is the heart of this roleplay, not warfare. Warfare exists, but most of the roleplay should be occupied by involving yourself with other nations in agreements, civil wars, etc. Using your information about the global situation and your wit and using it to turn the situation to your advantage is imperative, rather than going in "guns blazing." The International Entity [Pacificora] must be made aware of any shady business you’re doing. If the IE is not aware, you will face harsh consequences, such as getting the event automatically exposed to the public. Any actions, diplomatic or otherwise, have to be telegrammed or DM'ed to Pacificora/Antonio, or it will be ignored completely. It is important to note that a military pact may not always guarantee you allies in the event of war. Failure to maintain your loyalties towards a military pact can result in serious loss of face in the international stage. Military alliances must be agreed upon by all states, a country can not be forced into an alliance without you invading them first.
WARFARE - National Unity plays a role in warfare by supporting a war effort in resource scarce situations and supporting supply lines when relevant, increasing troop effectiveness and range. National Unity can be promoted pre-war by riling up your populace before casting a declaration of war, it is beneficial because it bolsters wartime national unity and causes your population to support the war. If your population doesn't support an offensive war, then you will be hampered. War should be declared before any invasions can begin. Any invasion of a country without a declaration of war will tarnish your international image and increase your infamy. During the war, use of natural geography and logistics should be used. Work to keep your front at an ideal size while not overextending yourself: An invasion into Siberia, the Himalayas, or the Amazon is a guaranteed way to overextend your supply chains. Military operations should be noted in detail or assumptions will be made and military progress will be hampered. How much detail you want to go into is up to you, but the more detailed the better. Your troops will not do exactly what you say 100% of the time. There will be miscommunications, there will be deserters, and there will be incompetency. While this will doubtfully cripple your war effort, it should be something to keep in the back of your mind. The likelihood of this occurring does somewhat rely on your national unity and nations involved in the conflict. After wars, a truce may be signed saying the 2+ countries will not go to war again for a set period of time, breaking this truce heightens national infamy.
ESPIONAGE - Espionage is a system which details things like spies or hacking into another nation. This is a tool of "violent diplomacy," but it can also benefit you in a war. War plans are subject to espionage, corrupt politicians, and hacking and may give a glimpse into the military movements of the power being spied on, allowing the spying nation to more effectively repel and counterattack. Military technology can also be learned about, allowing you to know more about the capabilities of the enemy, allowing you to plan more efficiently. This does not mean that you can replicate the technology. When it comes to diplomatic espionage, politicians can be corrupted, and election results and campaigns meddled with, affecting the democratic processes of a nation. The more naturally corrupt the state, the better corruption works but if the state is more transparent, hacking is generally better. If your spy is caught, the nation which caught them will lose opinion of your nation. Depending on the situation, it could even speed up the process for war justification.
TECHNOLOGY - Technology is an essential part of espionage, warfare, standards of living, etc. Countries that pour more money into technology development, or nations which subsidize tech development companies, will grow their technology much quicker. Nations can also enter into joint research agreements, speeding up the process of development, or outsourcing it to other areas with more efficient development. New military tech takes time to implement into your armed forces, depending on the scale of the upgrade. Less technologically advanced nations gradually glean technology off of more advanced allies. Basic statistics for new technology should be put in, but if you're novice you could always work towards real-life technology or discuss it with Welfresio or Nations United for Conquest, both of which are sort of "military experts" for the Cobalt Network.
ECONOMICS - Every nation has a unique approach regarding their economic development, especially in regards to rising powers and semi-planned economies. Jumping from different economic stances can hamper growth if not done gradually. Radical interventionist or Laissez Faire economic policies will in most situations lead to an economic downturn. Failure to implement economic policies or policies which end up having negative effects on the nation will result in low national unity and the rise of reactionary elements within your nation. Most countries with resource-dependent economies are unstable in nature and are highly likely to suffer from the negative effects discussed in the next two sections. Diversifying into different sectors can help escape this, however it can anger the corporate/political elites of your nation.
SCANDALS - Scandals happen whenever a nation, specifically a democratic nation, subverts standard democratic processes, which would negatively affect national unity. Smaller scandals may put a few government members in hot water, but it's nothing which can't be resolved while large scandals may give the nation in question the “Government Resentment” modifier. Immensely large, decade-long scandals, on the other hand, may expose widespread corruption, and have a chance to cause a complete collapse of the government in question, removing the player from the game and forcing them to reapply.
INTERNAL POLITICS - Elections, for both the executives and legislature, are decided by the International Entity [Pacificora] in democratic nations. Same thing for referendums, recall votes, etc. One party countries or dominant party countries are more likely to undergo violent political shakeup and even coups if national unity reaches low levels. Military coups are possibility when the government is completely split, and a chunk of the military sides with rebellious forces. Large-scale political unrest can occur if either your leader has maintained a grip on high amounts of power, major policies that contradicts with your nation's religious and cultural values, and if resources necessary for the economy and every day survival are horribly distributed and maintained. Policies which advocate for huge connection to the globalizing economy will make your country more open for foreign communications and liberalism in your nation will become larger with reactionary politics rising as a legitimate alternative over the course of years. Authoritarian nations require a satisfied aristocracy, if not achieved, a coup or civil war is likely.
People's Republic of China - Atrilan
Kingdom of Morocco - Greater Redosia
Federal Republic of the Philippines - Zhukovian
Republic of Latvia - Latvijas Otra Republika
Russian Federation - Imperialism
United Mexican States - Pimps Inc
United States of America - Da Klan
Ukraine - Alaroma
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea - Nasaira
Republic of Nigeria - Duestchstien
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan - Lan Khao Xang Hom Krung Tai
Islamic Republic of Iran - Memefactoria
Republic of Iraq - Fascist Republic of Bermuda
Romania - Romanussia
State of Israel - The Surge Empire
Republic of Indonesia - Sovereign-Systems
Sabah Rebellion - Wysten
State of Japan - Rygondria
NATION MAP
NOTE: ROSTER MORE UPDATED THAN MAP
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ALLIANCE MAP
NOTE: ROSTER MORE UPDATED THAN MAP
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ALLIANCE MAP
