Neocolonialism [OOC]

[Plzen]

Neocolonialism


Based on the video game of the same name

Introduction ...to your most glorious new job!

Welcome to your new job, Chief Executive Officer! Congratulations on your appointment. Needless to say, our stockholders are very much looking forwards to seeing your accomplishments, here at the top of our old and established corporation. Old and established, yes, but not yet very extensive. It will be your job to change that. Our wonderful globalised economy offers our corporation so many new ways of expansion and brings us so many new opportunities to profit, and money will be your tool to reshape the world in our vision. Play your cards right, and the stockholders will happily send you descending down on a golden parachute to retirement on your fifteenth yacht, and your legacy of impoverished, flooded, and/or war-torn cities will hopefully never be discovered.

This guide will inform you of all you need to know to become the new emperor of the postcolonial era, and keep the dividends flowing our way.

---

The Mechanics ...of international trade regulation!

The timeline is divided into turns, each of which represent two years in-character. Each turn consists of two phases: investment and action. The investment phase will last for at least 36 hours, while the action phase will last for at least three and a half days. Each turn, therefore, will take at least five days. In the investment phase, player factions, or corporations, will invest or divest from regional economies. All other actions happen in the action phase. In each phase, to order certain actions, simply detail the actions that are being ordered in a spoiler at the bottom of your in-character post.

If your corporation is entitled to act in that phase, but you do not order any action, our staffers and lower-level employees will make the decision themselves based on what little they know about the subtleties of the international market. The stockholders will be most displeased.

Revenue: Making Money
The world is divided into ten regions (more may be added if there are many players) representing rough geopolitical zones, each of which contains ten shares, representing corporations' stakes or lack of stakes in that region's economy. At the beginning of the investment phase, corporations receive revenue based on the number of owned shares, which is added to their current balance of cash. Each share in a region contributes a revenue equal to one-third its value, rounded down to the nearest integer. However, if a region does not have a corporate-friendly Prime Minister, it will contribute zero revenue. How the value of a region is calculated will be explained later.

Investments and Divestments
In the investment phase, corporations may use its store of cash to buy shares in regions, or sell existing shares in regions. The price of each share is equal to the value of the region to which it belongs. Naturally, shares cannot be bought if all ten shares in a region are already owned by corporations. Multiple orders may be given in the investment phase. For example, a corporation can buy a share and then sell it later in the same turn. Orders will continue to be accepted as long as the investment phase is not over.

International Market
The global capitalist order functions on the basis of free trade between all of its participants, and as such during the investment phase you may trade money, shares, the IMF Presidency, and strings over Prime Ministers with other players. To trade these assets, an exchange will have to be proposed in the in-character post of one corporation and accepted in a subsequent post by a different corporation.

Resolution
Orders in any given phase will be resolved on a rotating basis, one order per corporation at a time, by order of posting date of last in-character post in that phase. For example, if corporation A posts two orders and corporation B posts three orders, and corporation B's post came last, corporation A's first order will resolve, B's first order will resolve, A's second order will resolve, then B's second and third orders will resolve. Orders made invalid by previous orders are discarded, and will be ignored. This prevents situations where multiple corporations buy the same last share of a region.

In this wonderful capitalist of world of ours, corporations such as ours can use legalised bribery... err... I mean, lobbying, to exert disproportionate influence on regional governments and, more importantly, their economic policies. Each share that a corporation possesses in a region gives that corporation a vote in that region's government. To effectively use this power, first a corporate-friendly administration must be installed.

Electing a Prime Minister
If a region does not have a Prime Minister, in the action phase corporations may cast its shares to support a corporation's candidate for Prime Minister. To do so, simply declare electoral support and specify the corporation whose candidate you are supporting. For any corporate-friendly candidate to be elected Prime Minister of a region, two condition needs to be met. First, at least three shares needs to be cast in the election. Second, a candidate must receive the absolute majority of all shares eligible. Although you may be tempted to stubbornly support only your candidate, it may be worthwhile to agree to pool your votes towards another corporation's candidate to ensure that a Prime Minister does in fact get elected. Socialist governments never helped anyone, after all, and you need a corporate-friendly Prime Minister to earn revenue in that region. Prime Ministers, once elected, serve a term of three turns. So for example, if a Prime Minister is elected on turn 4, that Prime Minister will serve for turns 5, 6, and 7 and there will be another election on turn 7.

Removing Prime Ministers
Prime Ministers may be prematurely removed by the corporations themselves in one of three ways. First, if a corporation whose candidate is Prime Minister sells all of its shares in that region during the investment phase, the Prime Minister is immediately removed and a new election is held.

Second, if you feel that your corporation's interests are being undermined by a Prime Minister, supported by a different corporation, in a region that has one, you may use your shares to vote in favour of impeaching the current corporate-friendly Prime Minister during any action phase. If an absolute majority of shares in a region votes for it, the current Prime Minister's term immediately ends and an incompetent interim government enters office. A new election will be held in the next turn.

Third, there is corruption. In the action phase, the corporation controlling the Prime Minister may instigate corruption. The Prime Minister is immediately removed, and all of that corporation's shares in that region will be immediately sold. However, the money from this sale will not be returned as cash, but be accumulated as the shareholder's Swiss bank account. Furthermore, in the region thus abandoned, a random mine will be destroyed, a random factory downgraded, or a random free trade agreement severed.

Once a corporate-friendly administration controls a region's government, policies may be proposed and ratified. The corporation whose candidate is Prime Minister in a region may draft a policy in the action phase, then propose that policy in the action phase of a subsequent turn. However, a Prime Minister may only do one of drafting a policy, proposing a policy, or instigating corruption in any one turn.

A policy, once proposed, can then be voted on by every corporation that has shares in that region in that action phase. An absolute majority of all votes eligible is necessary to approve of and ratify the policy, at which point it goes into effect. Note that each economic policy thus requires at least two turns to come into existence; one to draft the policy, and another to propose and ratify the policy.

What then, are policies? An excellent question! I'm glad you asked.

Building Economic Infrastructure
First, there are mines and factories. Mines represent resource extraction, agriculture, basic manufacturing, and other such sectors. Factories represent high-end manufacturing, services, commerce, and similar sectors. Each region has a set number of building slots, which is the total number of mines and factories that can exist in that region. A policy may build a new mine or factory, if there is a free building slot for one, upgrade a mine to a factory, or downgrade a factory to a mine. Each mine and factory contributes §3 to the value of the region, which is the price a corporation pays to buy a share and the payment a corporation receives for selling a share in that region. There is a base value of §3 to every region, so even regions with no mines or factories will be worth something.

International Debt
Second, there is debt. A region may, through policy, agree to provide a loan to a different region that has less than half the number of factories of the region providing the loan. If this policy is enacted, the target region gains a mine or, if there are no more free building slots in the target region, upgrades a mine to a factory. In either case the target region accrues §30 in debt. A region that has debt may pass a policy to service debt. If this policy is enacted, the debt is lowered by §20. Debt reduces the value of that region by one-tenth the quantity of that debt. Regardless of how large the debt is, however, the total value of a region may not be below §3.

Free Trade Agreements
Third, there are free trade agreements. To understand free trade agreements, it is necessary to first discuss the co-operative nature of mines and factories. Each mine associated with a region adds §3 to the region's value, up to §9 per factory in that region (thus, regions with no factories do not benefit from this co-operation). A mine is associated with the region in which it exists, but if a free trade agreement connects it to another region then it is also considered associated to the region thus connected. A free trade agreement between two regions can be proposed at either end, but must be ratified at both ends to be valid. Each region may also only have two free trade agreements plus one more per factory in the region, and if the number of free trade agreements a region is in exceeds this number, then the oldest agreement is discarded.

At the beginning of the action phase, one or more crisis or crises occur, each of which will affect a region for a certain number of turns.

The IMF
To deal with the inherent volatilities in the international market created by these crises and to ensure that the world's population have steady economic prosperity, the international community has created this lovely organisation called the International Monetary Fund. We will, of course, usurp this organisation and revise its useless purpose to aid in our control of the world.

Presidency of the IMF
One region is randomly chosen to preside over the IMF. To be a valid region to be chosen, the region must have a corporate-friendly Prime Minister, who has been nominated by a corporation other than the one that controlled the IMF presidency last turn. The corporation that nominated the Prime Minister of the chosen region controls the presidency of the IMF, and may choose a response in each region in which there was a crisis this turn.

Responding to Crises
The valid responses are to build, upgrade, downgrade, creating or severing a free trade agreement, or nonintervention (that is to say, do nothing). The IMF response works much like a policy, except that it is immediately adopted in that turn without further discussion. An exception is creating a free trade agreement, which must still be proposed and ratified at the other end.

Types of Crises
Crises are normally random events. However, some conditions guarantee a crisis will happen: a region that has accumulated §80 or more in debt will immediately enter crisis. Regardless of what the IMF response is, a region that experienced a crisis caused by debt will have half of its debt removed, rounded down to the nearest §10. In a debt crisis, the IMF may also choose to destroy a mine or factory in exchange for a §30 debt reduction.

A region in which there is a corporate Prime Minister but only one corporation has shares, furthermore, is considered to be a dictatorship. Dictatorships are vulnerable to a coup d'état, and when a coup happens all the purchased shares in that region is lost! Dictatorships have its uses, but be very, very careful staking your money into one. In a coup, the IMF may choose to embargo the region in crisis, severing all of its free trade agreements.

Furthermore, each mine in the world generates one pollution per turn, which accumulate globally. Pollution may cause the most interesting crises to happen.

---

Retirement ...from a world you just ruined!

The world is destined to fall apart. It's true. All this poverty, this environmental destruction, this political instability... and it's too expensive to fix it.

The stockholders will reward you with the most amazing retirement if your corporation has paid out more... incentives... than any other by the time the world falls apart. It is that simple. Just make sure it happens, and you will be well rewarded.

---

Notes ...of advice for the aspiring tycoon!

Negotiate! Sure, your new "friend" might backstab you the next turn and devalue your investments, but you are not going to be dominating global finance alone anytime soon. This is especially true for elections. Remember that unless somebody gets elected Prime Minister, nobody gets paid in that region.

If anything in the mechanics or my reports confuse you, ask. You shouldn't have to suffer confusion when the purpose of having an OP is to run things and make sure all the players are comfortable.

---

Application ...for your pre-approved position!

As is usual for these applications, delete all information in parenthesis. Each corporation will begin with §15 in cash. One §, International Developmental Credit, is enough money for one thousand people to live like royalty for a lifetime.

Code: Select all

[b]JURISTIC PERSON INFORMATION[/b]
[b]Corporation Name (legal and common):[/b]
[b]Corporation Logo: (if it's larger than 300 pixels wide, use a spoiler)[/b]
[b]Stock Symbol: (up to 4 capital letters)[/b]
[b]Headquarter Region (a list of regions is below):[/b]
[b]Primary Industry: (what does your corporation sell?)[/b]

[b]CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER INFORMATION[/b]
[b]Name:[/b]
[b]Demographic Information: (age, gender, that sort of thing)[/b]
[b]Evil Laughter:[/b] (a sound file or video would be best, but description is acceptable)
[b]Biography:[/b]

[b]PLEDGE[/b]
By joining this role-play and submitting this application, I declare that I am reasonably confident that I will be able to remain active in the out-of-character thread and produce at least one short in-character post every two days for most of the next two months, agree to immediately inform the original poster, Plzen, by telegram should I be unable to keep up for some unforeseen reason, further declare that I understand that the lack of specific rules in this role-play does not permit me to act as I please, and I agree to act in accordance with common sense and the established customs of NationStates Portal to the Multiverse, and finally declare that I have read and understood the contents of this thread's original post.

I have read and agree to the above pledge. [ ] (insert your NationStates ID)

---

Appendix ...but not the kind that you remove via surgery!

Australia - 2 building slots

Uncontrolled Shares: 10
Value: §6

China - 4 building slots

Uncontrolled Shares: 10
Value: §12

Europe - 3 building slots

Uncontrolled Shares: 10
Value: §9

India - 4 building slots

Uncontrolled Shares: 10
Value: §9

Latin America - 3 building slots

Uncontrolled Shares: 10
Value: §6

Middle East - 3 building slots

Uncontrolled Shares: 10
Value: §6

North America - 3 building slots

Uncontrolled Shares: 10
Value: §12

Russia - 2 building slots

Uncontrolled Shares: 10
Value: §6

Southeast Asia - 3 building slots

Uncontrolled Shares: 10
Value: §6

Sub-Saharan Africa - 4 building slots

Uncontrolled Shares: 10
Value: §6

---

Endnotes ...because being sued is expensive!

Political cartoon drawn by Polyp, <http://www.polyp.org.uk/>
Factory and mine icons made by Vectors Market and trade agreement icon made by Smashicons, both from www.flaticon.com, is licensed by CC 3.0 BY

Factory:
Mine:
Free Slot:
FTA:

[Plzen]

Rival Corporations ...which you must absolutely crush!

Bowman-Archer Research and Development [BARD], CEO Eros Toxotis.
Liquid Assets: §15; Corporate Revenue: §0
Net Market Value: §15; Swiss Bank Account: §0 (rank: N/A)

NorthStar Technologies [STAR], CEO Midnight.
Liquid Assets: §15; Corporate Revenue: §0
Net Market Value: §15; Swiss Bank Account: §0 (rank: N/A)

Ocampo Cattle [OCCT], CEO Aarón Briones.
Liquid Assets: §15; Corporate Revenue: §0
Net Market Value: §15; Swiss Bank Account: §0 (rank: N/A)

[Zjaum]

A very interesting idea. Tagged. A couple of questions for this RP:

• How much dice-rolling is there? Will this be largely based on economic trends and statistics, or will it be based on a random number generator, or a combination of both?
• This seems board gamey/video gamey. How much allotment will there be for roleplay, and will that be factored in to the outcomes each turn?
• Can I assume that, as in real life, there are "winners" and "losers" but no singular "winner"?

[Lord Dominator]

Looks pretty fun, so have a tag

Few questions:
1) Does the primary industry on the app actually affect anything?
2) What does an HQ region indicate for the relevant corporation?

[Ralnis]

Tag

[Zjaum]

Dominator brought up good points. Also, what happens if the headquarter region of a corporation has or later receives an unfriendly prime minister?

[G-Tech Corporation]

We will watch your career with great interest.

[Plzen]

A very interesting idea. Tagged. A couple of questions for this RP:

• How much dice-rolling is there? Will this be largely based on economic trends and statistics, or will it be based on a random number generator, or a combination of both?
• This seems board gamey/video gamey. How much allotment will there be for roleplay, and will that be factored in to the outcomes each turn?
• Can I assume that, as in real life, there are "winners" and "losers" but no singular "winner"?

Random events will be generated through a random number generator. The roleplay will not reflect economic trends and statistics - you will be creating those trends. Other than those random events and except where stated otherwise, the mechanics are otherwise completely deterministic.

You will be expected to write IC posts to correspond to events that happen within the roleplaying mechanics. That is, indeed, what the roleplaying mechanics are for - to regulate what you can and cannot achieve IC.

...losers? What are losers? You get a yacht, you get a yacht, you get a yacht, everyone gets (fifty) yachts!

Also, what happens if the headquarter region of a corporation has or later receives an unfriendly prime minister?

Nothing I'm going to talk about now.

---

Looks pretty fun, so have a tag

Few questions:
1) Does the primary industry on the app actually affect anything?
2) What does an HQ region indicate for the relevant corporation?

1. no, and 2. it's just for RP fluff.

I don't really feel like forcing applicants to write a corporate biography (I want your application to focus more on your character, the CEO), so those two questions just serve the function of forcing you to think about the kind of corporation you will be roleplaying as. They have no mechanical effect.

---

We will watch your career with great interest.

Sinister laughter intensifies.

[Plzen]

we have no shame bump

[Zjaum]

JURISTIC PERSON INFORMATION
Corporation Name (legal and common): Bowman-Archer Research and Development
Corporation Logo:
Stock Symbol: BARD
Headquarter Region: Latin America (Chile, to be precise)
Primary Industry: Chemicals, microscopic organisms, and other feats of biochemical engineering that the black market would kill for that help power our world into the next Golden Age of ideological dominance.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER INFORMATION
Name: Eros Toxotis
Demographic Information: Bearded short middle-aged Caucasian male
Evil Laughter: https://youtu.be/8ux3oiWELIQ?t=11
Biography: In public, Toxotis is a straight shooter. He aims to please, and his demeanor is all smiles. In private, though, he takes no chances; he shoots to kill.

His grandparents were Mussolini sympathizers who just barely managed to get on a boat to Argentina as everything fell apart. Fortunately, they took their entire village's gold supply, giving Eros all the resources he needed to get a sound education. He double-dabbled in Chemistry and Microbiology, his favorite subjects, and eventually got a Master's in Business Administration. Oddly enough, however, his ethics didn't mix well with his compatriots. Maybe it had something to do with him siding with his parents on... ah, it doesn't matter anymore. The main thing was that he wasn't allowed to put his "científico loco" theories to the test. Fortunately, Chile was far more lax in its legal system. So, when Tracey Bowman announced that she and her partner were going to step down from their leadership roles, Eros was her ideal candidate, the apple of her eye. He was recruited and quickly ascended the ranks. What his potential is from there, only time Will Tell.

PLEDGE
By joining this role-play and submitting this application, I declare that I am reasonably confident that I will be able to remain active in the out-of-character thread and produce at least one short in-character post every two days for most of the next two months, agree to immediately inform the original poster, Plzen, by telegram should I be unable to keep up for some unforeseen reason, further declare that I understand that the lack of specific rules in this role-play does not permit me to act as I please, and I agree to act in accordance with common sense and the established customs of NationStates Portal to the Multiverse, and finally declare that I have read and understood the contents of this thread's original post.

Addendum: I will not write in the IC if there are posts from less than four (4) unique posters between my second-to-most-recent entry in the IC forum, where applicable, as to traditional Zjaumit posting procedures. If one of the couple days is exhausted by the point this requirement is fulfilled, I will add an extra day to the time limit.

I have read and agree to the above pledge. [Holy cow, though. I'm good for that, but good luck with everyone else.]

[Plzen]

Bowman-Archer Research and Development

Eros Toxotis

Adequate. Accepted.

Welcome to the international market!

[Zjaum]

Bowman-Archer Research and Development

Eros Toxotis

Adequate. Accepted.

Welcome to the international market!

Adequate?! Did all my efforts just fly over your head?

While I quiver with disbelief, I guess I’ll let it fly.

[Lord Dominator]

JURISTIC PERSON INFORMATION
Corporation Name: NorthStar Technologies
Corporation Logo: I'll just link, if that's alight with you.
Stock Symbol: STAR
Headquarter Region: China
Primary Industry: Technology. All kinds, but especially the high-tech computers. In public, NorthStar is most known for its wide variety of life-easing devices, while those in governments the world over are more familiar with their ever-creative war machines.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER INFORMATION
Name: Midnight [last name unknown]
Demographic Information: Caucasian female about five feet in height, with an estimated age of about 30. Further information has been found to have been expunged from all known records, possibly by Midnight herself. She is rumoured to be something of a cyborg, though NorthStar denies such claims and Midnight herself doesn't respond to such questions.
Evil Laughter: Shame? What's that?
Biography: While the exact details of her life are unknown (assumed to be a victim of her wiping the records), Midnight is known to have been an orphan through circumstances unknown, living somewhere in North America. She is known to have been an exceptional academic career (suspected genius intelligence, though never known to have been tested), having been top of her class all through school and college. Somewhere along the line she is assumed to have had a mentor or three who both inspired her love of science and technology, while simultaneously instilling in Midnight a certain disregard for those around her and the consequences of what she created. Following college graduation (with several PhDs in the sciences and engineering) Midnight was straight-out recruited by NorthStar as a research scientist. Rapidly ascending the company ranks through a combination of genius innovation, suspected blackmail, and being in the right place at the right time. Recently ascended to the throne being CEO of NorthStar, one of her first moves was to move the company HQ to China in order to take advantage of the rather lax ethical laws symbolize a new era of NorthStar.

PLEDGE
By joining this role-play and submitting this application, I declare that I am reasonably confident that I will be able to remain active in the out-of-character thread and produce at least one short in-character post every two days for most of the next two months, agree to immediately inform the original poster, Plzen, by telegram should I be unable to keep up for some unforeseen reason, further declare that I understand that the lack of specific rules in this role-play does not permit me to act as I please, and I agree to act in accordance with common sense and the established customs of NationStates Portal to the Multiverse, and finally declare that I have read and understood the contents of this thread's original post.

I have read and agree to the above pledge. [Lord Dominator]

[Vienna Eliot]

I'm interested. The video game is fun, and I've translated it with friends into a board game. So I'm sure this will be interesting as well.

[Zjaum]

I had to watch far too much MLP to get to the laughter. You could have posted the link with a time stamp. Now a part of my soul is gone. Shame on you.

[Lord Dominator]

I had to watch far too much MLP to get to the laughter. You could have posted the link with a time stamp. Now a part of my soul is gone. Shame on you.

I did though, evil laugh 1 second after the timestamp I gave. But shame taken I guess, though I explicitly said I don't understand the concept of shame

[Zjaum]

I had to watch far too much MLP to get to the laughter. You could have posted the link with a time stamp. Now a part of my soul is gone. Shame on you.

I did though, evil laugh 1 second after the timestamp I gave. But shame taken I guess, though I explicitly said I don't understand the concept of shame

Giving it out for free! Take as much as you want, Undyne!

[Lord Dominator]

I did though, evil laugh 1 second after the timestamp I gave. But shame taken I guess, though I explicitly said I don't understand the concept of shame

Giving it out for free! Take as much as you want, Undyne!

Shame is probably edible, right?

[Zjaum]

Giving it out for free! Take as much as you want, Undyne!

Shame is probably edible, right?

Well, yes, it's called "eating crow," isn't it?

[Plzen]

Corporation Name: NorthStar Technologies
Name: Midnight [last name unknown]

Accepted!

[Lord Dominator]

Woo!

I believe that the record now stands at one fascist/possible nazi with a chemical company, and one probably-mad scientist with a tech company.
I like our odds

[Plzen]

Not giving up without at least one bump!

[Zjaum]

Not giving up without at least one bump!

Ooo, that was so close to rhyming, but it didn’t... That’s the worst kind of rhyme.

[Lord Dominator]

Not giving up without at least one bump!

Ooo, that was so close to rhyming, but it didn’t... That’s the worst kind of rhyme.

Indeed, quite shameful

[Avidius Legion]

JURISTIC PERSON INFORMATION
Corporation Name: Ocampo Cattle
Corporation Logo:

Stock Symbol: (up to 4 capital letters) OCCT
Headquarter Region: North America
Primary Industry: Food Processing

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER INFORMATION
Name: Aarón Briones
Demographic Information: 40-year-old Caucasian male standing around 5'9" in height.
Evil Laughter: this
Biography:
Aarón may be the most boring world corporate dictator to be in history. He has no interesting family link, no interesting childhood stories, and like a Hoi polloi he rises up to his rank today through hard work and sheer luck. He graduated from Department of Economics of Harvard in 2000 and joined his father's butchering company, Ocampa Cattle, soon after. At first, the business was slow at best, but over time and with him finally overtaking his father position the company turned successful. Now Ocampa Cattle expanded to almost all section of the food processing industry and has expressed its intention to expand more overseas.

PLEDGE
By joining this role-play and submitting this application, I declare that I am reasonably confident that I will be able to remain active in the out-of-character thread and produce at least one short in-character post every two days for most of the next two months, agree to immediately inform the original poster, Plzen, by telegram should I be unable to keep up for some unforeseen reason, further declare that I understand that the lack of specific rules in this role-play does not permit me to act as I please, and I agree to act in accordance with common sense and the established customs of NationStates Portal to the Multiverse, and finally declare that I have read and understood the contents of this thread's original post.

I have read and agree to the above pledge. [ Avidius Legion]