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Part 10: The Collapse and its aftermath.
The seeds of what has become known as the Collapse were sown in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The unsound economic policies of many nations led to a series of small scale crises for a number of years (Japan 1986; U.S. 1987, 2001, 2008 & 2010; Finland 1991; Mexico 1994; UK 1997 & 2016; Thailand 1997; Russia 1998; Turkey 2000; Argentina 2001 & 2014; Greece 2010, 2013 & 2015; Spain 2013; China 2015, 2016 & 2020). Many of the "remedies" sought for these crises were mere stop-gap measures at best and did little to nothing to address the underlying causes. It was in 2022, however, that the world was forced to face up to what it had wrought. The austerity measures ("budget sequesters") pursued by the U.S. Government in its budgets for FY 2014 to 2022 did not address such issues as crumbling infrastructure and income inequality, nor did it address the practices of the financial community that had led to the previous crises. Instead, "blame" was laid at the feet of the poorer levels of society. Eliminate the dependency of "freeloaders", it was said, and prosperity would eventually come to all. This notion was shattered on “Black Monday”; July 11, 2022. Spurred by rumors of a default by the U.S. government on its foreign debt for the third time in little more than a decade combined with the nervousness already present due to several years of extreme volatility in Chinese markets, a panic in financial circles sent the Wall Street Exchange plummeting to unprecedented losses. The free fall continued for weeks, despite measures taken in the late 1980s to ensure that catastrophic one-day losses did not recur. By summer's end the Dow Jones Industrial Index (a grouping of supposedly "sound" companies used as the main economic barometer) had fallen 95%. The reverberations were immediate, and global. In quick succession, U.K., Japan, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, and then all other markets collapsed completely.
The crisis destroyed a European Union already weakened by the departure of the United Kingdom in the years preceding the Collapse (until its rebirth as a more straightforward governmental body two generations later), destroyed OPEC as member nations cut off the quickly dwindling supply of oil in a fit of protectionism ostensibly to minimize the impact of the Panic of '22, and sent nation after nation to the brink of civil war. Martial law was declared in the U.S. in late 2022 in response to food riots in several major cities, and many other nations followed suit. By the end of 2023, however, the U.S. government had ceased to function at all, as transportation, trade, and money flow either slowed or ceased completely. Most other countries faced similar dilemmas. The states were left to fill the void, and were to a one unprepared to do so. Mankind was on the verge of falling back to the tribal stage as local warlords sprang up in many areas, attempting to fill the power vacuum.
Society cannot not long last without some sort of centralized co-ordination, so eventually new countries were forged from the ashes of the old. The route taken toward this consolidation varied from region to region. In North America, the remnants of the governments of most of the eastern U.S. states and Canadian provinces began to coalesce in to a new centralized government based in what was once known as New York City beginning in 2070. Eventually, Greenland (left on its own after the Danish government collapsed) and the island nations of the Caribbean joined this new nation. The one small mercy of the Collapse had been that, due to the very fact that every nation on earth had been economically ravaged by the Collapse, no country had the infrastructure nor the economic means and were too filled with internal strife to attack its neighbors, so fears of a global nuclear exchange never came to fruition (except the Israeli-Iranian War of 2025 which tragically resulted in the destruction of both Jerusalem and Tehran). This fortunate circumstance meant that technology was still useful, once the local populace was stable enough to begin to rebuild. Computer networks could be rebuilt, as could more mundane things like roads and ports. Medical treatments would be once again possible, and the dramatic shortening of human life spans from otherwise preventable diseases that occurred during the Dark Years could begin to be reversed.
This new Eastern North American nation needed a name. Someone jokingly suggested an old derogatory name for citizens from the American state of Maine, and the name "Maineiacs" stuck (in much the same way that 18th century British soldiers referred to American rebels as "Yankee" or "Yankee Doodle" in derision, and the American Colonists took the name, adopted it as their own, and wore it as a badge of honor), while New York City was renamed Maineiacs City. The Constitution of Maineiacs, based partly on American and partly on Canadian law, took effect in 2076 (ironically the 300th anniversary of the formation of the U.S.), and the nation's first elections were held. There were many changes made in the way this new nation would conduct itself. Numerous restrictions on corporate greed were put in place. The once "dirty word" of Socialism now became the modus operandi of the new nation, and a mixed capitalist-socialist economy began to flourish. While some complained of high tax burdens, most saw this as the surest way to rebuild quickly; the Austrian school of economics having fallen decidedly out of favor and supplanted by a more Keynesian approach. The idea worked, and for FY 2105 Maineiacs boasted a per capita GDP of 20,197.95 Energy Credits ($35,340.97 US pre-Collapse); nearly the same level that New Zealand had held before the Collapse; so, although per capita production was not yet at The United States' pre-Collapse levels, average income was 134,434ECr ($235,232.61 US pre-Collapse) far higher than any pre-Collapse nation, with very little income disparity; meaning poverty was all but non-existent in a very short period of time following the nation's founding. The revenue intake has helped pay for a modernized infrastructure, technological breakthroughs in areas such as communications (holo-phones), medicine (AIDS vaccine, organ cloning), transport (improved fuel cell cars, hypersonic air travel), and computerization (research into virtual intelligence), and also an extensive social safety net, and has resulted in 20 straight years of budget surpluses. The government began a program of returning the surpluses to its citizens in the form of tax refunds beginning in 2101.
A discussion of how other regions handled rebuilding will be discussed in the following subsection, followed by a more in-depth look at the formation of the Maineiacs Government and its more recent move away from the isolationist policy it had pursued for the first 30 years of its existence...
This is the background for this RP. Players will be playing as one of 10 nations -- leaders, politicians both of and opposed to the ruling parties, scientists, celebrities, ordinary people -- anyone you need to tell your story. This is meant to be a diplomacy/ national events RP with perhaps a bit of cloak-and-dagger espionage. The two nations already involved in the RP will be reaching out into space exploration/ exploitation, and other nations are welcome to do so as well -- or not as suits them. I would like to de-emphasize military conflict in this RP. You may, of course, have any government type you wish, but would-be world conquerors should understand that they will likely be opposed by all other nations. This does not mean you all necessarily get along; just don't reach for your guns at the slightest provocation. War is supposed to be a last resort, not the first.
The RP opens in the year 2110. The tech level is Post-modern tech/ hard sci-fi, so no Star Trek/ Star Wars gizmos: no warp drive, replicators, teleporters, laser pistols, or other things that either lie far beyond modern times or break the laws of physics. Certain tech that RL doesn't possess are allowable, like research into sustainable nuclear fusion, e.g., and the beginnings of A.I. but you will need to RP the R&D with appropriate setbacks and mishaps. No one has a secret army of androids and/or clones, so don't build one. Also note that the things I've posted in the introduction are canon: The Collapse (please call it that in your posts) of 2022, the 50 or so years of chaos known as the Dark Years, and the 2025 Israeli/ Iranian nuclear exchange are integral parts of the plot. Feel free to put your own spin on them, but don't act like they never happened to your nation. My nation will be aiming to at long last reach Mars, as the Dark years halted any advance in science and technology. No one is on Mars yet due to the 50-year interruption: my astronauts are not going to land on Chryse Planitia only to find you've already got a casino or a shopping mall there.
Here is the map for the RP:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/124261445@N04/49543822962/in/dateposted/
Pick a color: that's your nation. Name it anything you want, but don't ask for any additional territory, this is all you're getting. And don't ask for a different color. I can clarify who controls any islands that were too small to be colored in on this map. Antarctica is not permanently inhabited, but players may have two research stations there. Maineiacs has Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station and McMurdo Base. Pick any one or two you wish. Players are not obligated to have any presence on Antarctica if they don't want to.
Here is a list of RL research stations in Antarctica. Feel free to rename them, but let me know which ones they are.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_ ... Antarctica
Bright red -- Maineiacs (me)
Indigo -- Pacifica (Wasted Genius)
Dark green --
Brown --
Brick (dark) red --
Lime green --
Violet --
Gold --
Yellow --
Orange --
Players will be expected to follow all the usual NS rules (PG-13 content, no godmodding, etc.) Wasted Genius and I will moderate this thread. Troublemakers will be asked once to cease, repeat offenders will be ejected. All mod decisions are final.
Play it straight, play it for laughs, whichever you want and have fun.
