Ikaros Application Thread [PMT]

[Ikaros Corporation]

The Old World is drowned and burnt. The New World is bright and bleak.
You'd really think we'd have learned our lesson by now, huh?

A Post-Climate Change World of Radicalism, Technology, and Survival

Regional Application Thread

---

Huge chunks of this thread lovingly stolen and modified from Aeia. <3 Check them out if you want a more realistic MT experience!

---

DISCORD | INFO | MAP | IIWIKI

---

Ikaros is a roleplaying-worldbuilding region founded by several veteran NSers in Summer 2019. It's small and fledgling, but has a solid concept: a PMT, post-apocalyptic world ravaged by climate change and Kessler Syndrome. Most of the world has been consumed by scorching mega-deserts, and entire continents have had chunks submerged by a nearly 60 meter rise in sea level; Greenland and Antarctica, having lost their ice sheets in their entirety, are the centers of a new world order centering around the North and South Poles; meanwhile, the sheer amount of detritus in Earth's orbit prevents even minor objects from remining in orbit for long, preventing escape and restricting some ubiquitous modern technologies.

If you are interested in joining our regional RP, consider filling out an application form below and posting it within this thread.

Before you consider starting an application, please 1) join our Discord, and 2) read through the entirety of the Regional Information Kiosk.

Also note that, while we draw significant inspiration from other post-apocalyptic settings such as Fallout, After The End, By the Waters of Babylon, and The Postman, we're attempting to create our own setting, and as such expies, u/dystopias, and certain tropes played too straight are frowned upon and will likely be rejected or face significant requests for amendment.

Once submitted, the Overseers of Ikaros will examine applications and may request modifications either in telegrams, this thread, or Discord. The approval of at least 2 Overseers' is required.

Vetting Panel: Lanura, Hellas and Imathia, Volga-Dnieper, Cascadia

(Please note that the Ikaros Corporation account is a puppet, and thus not checked regularly for telegrams.)

---

Maps - read all captions.
Nationbuilding Guide
Lore Primer

Misc. Notes:

• The upper limit on population is 100 million. This does not mean you should attempt to reach as close to this number as possible. Any application approaching and exceeding this limit must have very good IC historical-geographic reasoning as well as OOC thematic reasoning. Ask on the Discord before going through with it.
  
• Countries with a population over 20 million should not have a GDP per capita (PPP above $50,000. This does not mean you should attempt to reach as close to this number as possible. Some exceptions may be made for particularly oil-rich nations, but you should discuss this on the Discord first.
  
• Real life languages and cultures are the basis for IC languages and cultures, but players are encouraged to create fusions or derivatives of these cultures as well (given the demographic chaos preceding Ikaros' setting).

Application

Code: Select all

[b]IC nation name:[/b]
[b]Capital:[/b]

[b]Map claim (Imgur):[/b] [url]link[/url] [include a dot where your capital is]

[b]Government type:[/b]
[b]Brief description of how government works:[/b] [spoiler]Write here.[/spoiler]

[b]RP population:[/b]
[b]Language(s):[/b]
[b]GDP per capita (PPP) (USD):[/b]
[b]IHDI:[/b]
[b]Ethnic Group(s):[/b]

[b]Background of nation:[/b] [spoiler]Write here.[/spoiler]

[b]Description of your nation's economy:[/b] [spoiler]Write here.[/spoiler]
      
[b]How will your nation fit within the existing regional power structure?:[/b]       
[b]If asked to reduce the strength of your nation, how would you do so?:[/b]

[b]How did you hear about Ikaros?[/b]

[b]Roleplay sample (Optional, though required for claiming a more powerful role):[/b]
[spoiler][Either text or a link.][/spoiler]

[b]Any other info you wish to add (Optional):[/b]


---

[Costa Hermosa]

This ought to be interesting...

[Lanura]

IC nation name: Lanura, Democratic Federation of
Capital: Fort Union

Government type: Libertarian socialist federal semi-direct democracy
Brief description of how government works:

The basic unit of organization is the commune, which is a close-knit assembly encompassing upwards of 250 families across varying geographic areas. These communes form various local rotating committees (often including but not limited to defense, health, peace, economics, education, and women's and minority rights committees) to address the needs and goals of the commune, emphasizing dissemination of knowledge and training in fields such as self-defense, mediation, and health.

Communes send anywhere from 1-3 representatives, depending on population, to a regional council, which works to facilitate coordination and mediation for communes across a given area (called a district), as well as monitoring justice and security matters. These regional councils elect committees to address specific fields and an executive board responsible for coordinating them.

Districts in turn make up commonwealths, which are overseen by assemblies made up of 100 people elected from the communes, which legislate, monitor, and shape general policy, and function in much the same way as the district councils, forming committees and electing an executive board. Typically, all legislation passed by the districts and commonwealths must then pass via a public referendum in the areas it effects.

Finally, there is the Federal Congress which consists of 500 delegates elected based on population from each of the commonwealths, which, again, elect committees and a rotating executive board and function in a highly similar manner. All legislation passed by the congreess must be approved by the commonwealth assemblies, who may in turn hold a referendum to determine their decision if they wish.

RP population: 18,931,200
Language(s): English, Spanish, Lakota, Navajo, Shoshone, German, various creoles and minor languages; English is the unofficial lingua franca of government and trade.
GDP per capita (PPP) (USD): $31,600
IHDI: .765
Ethnic Group(s): Adleraner, Ahorner, Sureño, Hutterite, Mormon, Lakota, Shoshone, Navajo

Brief background of nation:

Following the initial stages of the Collapse, the region was hit by several waves of migrants and refugees from the southwest; while most eventually moved on to Canada, a significant population of Latinos (primarily of Mexican descent) remained, the group now called "Sureños". When the American and Canadian governments finally collapsed, the large Native American populations in the region - primarily the Lakota Sioux and Eastern Shoshone - were able to organize despite the chaos and eventually began to expand out from their reservations. The American Anglo population faced troubles organizing as their crops failed and they competed with resources from other groups. The local Hutterite communes, now facing frequent raids from multiple groups for food and supplies, abandoned their pacifisit ways and became a prominent force on the plains.

By 2100, the demographic landcape of the region had changed completely, with significant Native populations spread out over the eastern and western frontiers, a large Spanish-speaking region to the south, and the northwest hosting Hutterite German-speakers; in addition, breakaway groups of Navajo and Mormon refugees had arrived at an earlier point as well, establishing themselves in the southwest hills. Many groups had begun to blend together in certain regions, creating new cultural and linguistic traditions. Americans and Canadians began to identify with Hutterite exonyms "Adleraner" and "Ahorner", referring to their fondness for the anachronistic eagle and leaf symbols of their ancestors, respectively. By now, the plains had become arid and hot, creating a new desert which was typically simply as the Heat or Tetacama, and the entire region as Lanura, from the Spanish word for flatlands.

The region had came to be dominated by planter-rancher-barons of all different groups. These barons often united to fend off outside incursions, but frequently fought bloody wars amongst themselves over water, oil, and grazing land. As time went on, however, agitation among the workers and farmers began to increase, finding direction under Chaska Mandel, a mixed Lakota-Hutterite intellectual who found great inspiration in the communal nature of Old Hutterites, the apparent egalitarian and communal culture of his Native ancestors, and the great socialist movements that had once permeated the nations of North America. Mandel was the first to reintroduce the concept of labor unions to the region, inspired by the old International Workers of the World which had once been so influential in the area; eventually, Mandel and other intellectuals' vision crystalized in 2117 in the city of Winnipeg, as several major unions across a major northern barony united under the Revolutionary Workers of Lanura, seeking to unite all workers of the region under one banner to push back against the status quo. By 2129, the RWL had became widlly influential and called its third general strike - the General Strike, in effect toppling the regimes of several major baronies at once and leading to a war of containment by the others. By 2136, all of Lanura had been united under the RWL's General Administration, which had chosen to take various centralizing measures as a form of "war-syndicalism" in order to increase efficency and win the conflict. However, the leadership was split between those who thought the RWL should once again decentralize - the Anarchists, and those who thought it should crystalize into a quasi-state, the Syndicalists, who broke off into the United Workers of Lanura, UWL. This led to yet another conflict between 2138-44, the Union War, which ended in yet another mass uprising, this time against the UWL.

Some time after, during the 2150s, a new group, the Abellánistas, inspired by the idea of Alana Abellán, who was in turn inspired by the rediscovery of the Cheyenne ICBM fields in the Great American Desert, adapted the ideas of Juan R. Posadas, an Old World Argentinean Leftist theorist, stating that the Blackout had, despite being the ultimate failure of capitalism, failed to destroy capitalism, and that it was the duty of the workers of the world to first organize and then utilize nuclear weaponry to fully obliterate capitalism once and for all. Although it has never been official policy of the federation, Abellánismo has a widespread following in some regions.

All history between then and present is flexible.

Map claim (Imgur): link

Brief description of your nation's economy:

Workers own and control all workplaces and enterprises, and the communes, councils, and commonwealths engage in a form of informal decentralized planning, but the economy retains a type of market socialism in which currency is still used. "Social enterprises" are state-owned enterprises which are nominally ran by the federal government for a specific purpose - the oil and uranium industries are where social enterprises are most often found, as well as in locales where natural resources have not yet been fully socialized or there is a deficit in certain vital humanitarian sectors. Market socialism is seen as an intermediary step necessary which will transition to "proper" socialism after the global revolution is triumphant.

Mining and agriculture constitute the vast majority of the economy, which is primarily a Refining/Manufacturing Economy. Extraction of coal, oil, uranium, and precious metals, as well as various minor minerals such as talc, vermiculite, and potash is highly important. Manufacturing, oil refining, and solar energy are also major industries. Agriculture primarily revolves around cattle, wheat, and beans, and in some areas citrus and cotton; various lines of refining and manufacturing related to these agricultural products are also highly important.

How will your nation fit within the existing regional power structure?:

Its main foreign policy goals include securing some sort of access to the sea (either diplomatically or militarily) and the continual spreading of socialist revolution to all countries. Secondary goals include locating bunkers and ruins in the Great American Desert, especially nuclear and rocket-related technology; and helping fellow Leftist countries develop by offering comprehensive aid and encouraging continual reform and popular engagement among more authoritarian socialist states.

Its decentralized nature and the fierce independent streak of the commonwealths means that, while it is difficult to truly subdue the federation, it is also difficult for it to take quick and decisive action coordinated with national-level resources, often relying on the initiative and ingenuity of locals first over comprehensive state action. Likewise, although the rugged, hot desert still offers mineral wealth and even abundant agriculture in some areas, it is poorly suited to habitation in most cases.

Given its economic structure, Lanura may face disadvantages in trade - for example, despite worker-owned businesses being typically more efficient and productive, the lower, decentralized population of Lanura may have trouble competing directly with nations with large industrial cities when it comes to several important industries, and the quirks of the decentralized cooperative planning that many of the communes engage in may sometimes lead to detrimental fluctuations. Additionally, foreign investment is so restricted as to be non-existent, besides aid from other socialist countries.

Furthermore, the fact that libertarian socialism may present a risk to the stability of some regimes and the looming threat of possible nuclear annihilation should the Abellánistas ever rise to power will likely harm Lanura's ability to engage diplomatically with many states unless it is willing to, at least temporarily, compromise some tenets of its revolution.

Overall, Lanura will likely remain a regional power restricted to North America for the foreseeable future, and is dependent on its ability to maintain a single popular vision, either befriend or coerce its neighbors, and obtain the support of suitably industrialized socialist countries abroad in order to survive and thrive.

If asked to reduce the strength of your nation, how would you do so?: Reduce population, reduce the general agricultural capacity of the region (due to drought or sheer heat or something), make the commonwealths more violently fractious instead of simply argumentative.

How did you hear about Ikaros? Founded it. <3

[Volga-Dnieper]

IC nation name: Lanura, Democratic Federation of...

Here are some questions:

1. Could you elaborate more on Abellánistas? How influential are they? What is their stance on other "real socialist" nations?
2. Does the country possess any sufficiently advanced rocket technology, at least for transporting and maintaining anything they happen to find in that desert?
3. While it is clear that the economy is decentralized, weren't there any centralizing tendencies at least on a regional level?

[Lanura]

Here are some questions:

1. Could you elaborate more on Abellánistas? How influential are they? What is their stance on other "real socialist" nations?
2. Does the country possess any sufficiently advanced rocket technology, at least for transporting and maintaining anything they happen to find in that desert?
3. While it is clear that the economy is decentralized, weren't there any centralizing tendencies at least on a regional level?

1. The Abellánistas primarily have a following among parts of the southern Sureno (that is, Latino) population, with some minor pockets elsewhere, especially in the Lakota populations; influence varies from district to district, but their most powerful position is a minority in a southern Spanish-speaking commonwealth's assembly. Their everyday policy doesn't vary much from the mainstream except in that they are considerably more bellicose than most of their peers, wanting to intervene abroad both directly and by weaponizing aid, as well as wanting to explicitly divert funding from some areas into nuclear research and the recovery of Old World weapons and technology. As for other socialist nations - they don't care much about them; as long as the working class is "organized" in some way, they don't especially care about specifics.

2. I believe the Lanurans probably lack access to the sophisticated electronics and components, without outside assistance, required for any rockets with a range longer than a few hundred miles. There's also the question of how to guide those rockets without satellites and related infrastructure. I'm also not sure the population would condone sinking so many resources into creating and maintaining weapons of mass destruction, so unless the Abellánistas became massively popular nation-wide, they'd probably risk open rebellion before they could create or restore anything capable of posing an existential threat. A more likely solution for the Abellánistas would probably involve the use of nuclear weapons in attempted terrorist attacks on cities/industrial sectors and as tactical weapons fired from vehicles and planes.

3. Some commonwealths have more traditionally centralized tendencies, primarily in some of the more urbanized northern regions (which used to be union strongholds) and in some regions where the workforce is primarily employed by federal state-owned-enterprises (especially in the oil industry).

[Volga-Dnieper]

* Q&A *

Good enough, app approved.

[Hellas and Imathia]

Good enough, app approved.

All things considered, I agree as well. Application approved!