The Rise of the Edgelords MT OOC Sign up

[Gerrst]

The Hard left Government of Gerrst is struggling to contain the reactionary movement known as the dark enlightenment. The movements vanguard, the so called Edgelords foiled every attempt from the government to suppress them. After gaining seats in the Parliament, through a satirical party, they formed coalition called the Patriarchal Union. Following the PU's leaders call for the abolition of women's rights. (He said it was a joke.) All the parties in the union were banned. This however triggered a resistance that has grown into a rebellion.

The government, led by PM June Kaefer has no opposition in the Parliament, but no longer commands the support of the majority. Furthermore, the Edgelords have taken arms, with success. The under funded Security Forces are not up to the task, and several towns have fallen into Edgelord control.

A state of emergency has been declared and the PM has appealed for outside help, especially as she suspects that the Edgelords are receiving foreign support.

OOC:

There are plenty of ways to be involved. One can support either side, and if one disagrees with both side's politics, one can always use the offer of support to influence them. One can also take a realist approach and support one side in order to weaken the other, as well as to fight a proxy war.

I am also looking for an experienced RPer to be Co-OP. To sign up, explain what role you wish to play. Also, ask questions.

[Port Ember]

Definitely interested in this. However I will need some more info if you do not mind.

1. So confirm, the ruling government is far left, so its a full on communist or socialist nation?

2. What is the ruling policy of the rebels? Do they have a policy which they believe in, or are they currently only focussed on not having their current government in power?

3. Whats the democratic history? When was the last elections and are they known to be fair?

4. A geography description would be extremely helpfull. (Size/borders/coast/population/ethnicity etc)

5. A breakdown of military power would be brilliant, of both sides.

6. Basic infratructure of the nation would be helpfull. (How developed is the nation?)

7. Lastly, what factors led the rebels to actually start a rebellion?

[Gerrst]

Definitely interested in this. However I will need some more info if you do not mind.

1. So confirm, the ruling government is far left, so its a full on communist or socialist nation?

2. What is the ruling policy of the rebels? Do they have a policy which they believe in, or are they currently only focussed on not having their current government in power?

3. Whats the democratic history? When was the last elections and are they known to be fair?

4. A geography description would be extremely helpfull. (Size/borders/coast/population/ethnicity etc)

5. A breakdown of military power would be brilliant, of both sides.

6. Basic infratructure of the nation would be helpfull. (How developed is the nation?)

7. Lastly, what factors led the rebels to actually start a rebellion?

1. The term Government is used here in the parliamentary since. It is the coalition of the post-Marxist Red Union and the slightly more centrist Green Socialists. The constitution is that of a democratic republic, so there is no official state ideology. The government is not Marxist, but inspired by Marx, among other thinkers.

2. The leading rebels are mostly reactionary, and want the opposite of what the Left wing wants. In this sense they are nihlists. They have claimed radical positions such as abolishing women's suffrage or implementing an oligarchy. However, how serious they are about these things is questionable. Many of their supporters however, are more conservative and would prefer a relatively normal liberal democracy.

3. The current coalition came into power in 2016, with the RU as the senior partner. This election was considered fair. After coming to power the Government prosecuted Opposition politicians using laws meant to prevent fascists from taking over. This hindered the Opposition, especially the center right Liberal party. In the next election (2018) the Edgelords entered parliament, running largely on a free speech platform. The votes weren't manipulated, but when some candidates were disqualified after the vote, their place went to Government candidates.

I will get to the rest later.

[Port Ember]

Definitely interested in this. However I will need some more info if you do not mind.

1. So confirm, the ruling government is far left, so its a full on communist or socialist nation?

2. What is the ruling policy of the rebels? Do they have a policy which they believe in, or are they currently only focussed on not having their current government in power?

3. Whats the democratic history? When was the last elections and are they known to be fair?

4. A geography description would be extremely helpfull. (Size/borders/coast/population/ethnicity etc)

5. A breakdown of military power would be brilliant, of both sides.

6. Basic infratructure of the nation would be helpfull. (How developed is the nation?)

7. Lastly, what factors led the rebels to actually start a rebellion?

1. The term Government is used here in the parliamentary since. It is the coalition of the post-Marxist Red Union and the slightly more centrist Green Socialists. The constitution is that of a democratic republic, so there is no official state ideology. The government is not Marxist, but inspired by Marx, among other thinkers.

2. The leading rebels are mostly reactionary, and want the opposite of what the Left wing wants. In this sense they are nihlists. They have claimed radical positions such as abolishing women's suffrage or implementing an oligarchy. However, how serious they are about these things is questionable. Many of their supporters however, are more conservative and would prefer a relatively normal liberal democracy.

3. The current coalition came into power in 2016, with the RU as the senior partner. This election was considered fair. After coming to power the Government prosecuted Opposition politicians using laws meant to prevent fascists from taking over. This hindered the Opposition, especially the center right Liberal party. In the next election (2018) the Edgelords entered parliament, running largely on a free speech platform. The votes weren't manipulated, but when some candidates were disqualified after the vote, their place went to Government candidates.

I will get to the rest later.

Okay cool - thanks for the info so far!

So based on the prelim info reveived, this is my application premise, subject to your approval offcourse:

The Republic of Port Ember is an extremely wealthy, democratic & capitalist nation, who is a region superpower and emerging world power. In order to further cement their power, they are looking for world wide allies and interesists. The current regime of your nation, with socialist views - is not such an element.

Therefore the current rebellion poses an oppertunity to install a more.. agreeable government with possible benefits in the future. Therefore, to seize the oppertunty, they would like to send a capable special forces team to train the rebellion and organise a shadow government of the Edgelords to eventually wrest control from the current regime.

[Excalbia]

Greetings. One of my puppets, the Dominion of Upper Virginia, transitioned from a military dictatorship to democracy less than 15 years ago. Its current government is a cohabitation arrangement between a center-right President (who controls the military and foreign policy) and a leftist government led by a reformed communist Prime Minister (who controls domestic affairs). Given its history and unique political arrangement, Upper Virginia would be willing to offer its services as an impartial mediator for negotiations between your government and the rebels, should you decide to RP in that direction. If you're interesting in Upper Virginia's participation, let me know. Cheers.

[Gerrst]

Okay cool - thanks for the info so far!

So based on the prelim info reveived, this is my application premise, subject to your approval offcourse:

The Republic of Port Ember is an extremely wealthy, democratic & capitalist nation, who is a region superpower and emerging world power. In order to further cement their power, they are looking for world wide allies and interesists. The current regime of your nation, with socialist views - is not such an element.

Therefore the current rebellion poses an oppertunity to install a more.. agreeable government with possible benefits in the future. Therefore, to seize the oppertunty, they would like to send a capable special forces team to train the rebellion and organise a shadow government of the Edgelords to eventually wrest control from the current regime.

That sounds like just the thing.

Greetings. One of my puppets, the Dominion of Upper Virginia, transitioned from a military dictatorship to democracy less than 15 years ago. Its current government is a cohabitation arrangement between a center-right President (who controls the military and foreign policy) and a leftist government led by a reformed communist Prime Minister (who controls domestic affairs). Given its history and unique political arrangement, Upper Virginia would be willing to offer its services as an impartial mediator for negotiations between your government and the rebels, should you decide to RP in that direction. If you're interesting in Upper Virginia's participation, let me know. Cheers.

Right now neither parties are interested in negotiations. Perhaps later.

[Port Ember]

Okay cool - thanks for the info so far!

So based on the prelim info reveived, this is my application premise, subject to your approval offcourse:

The Republic of Port Ember is an extremely wealthy, democratic & capitalist nation, who is a region superpower and emerging world power. In order to further cement their power, they are looking for world wide allies and interesists. The current regime of your nation, with socialist views - is not such an element.

Therefore the current rebellion poses an oppertunity to install a more.. agreeable government with possible benefits in the future. Therefore, to seize the oppertunty, they would like to send a capable special forces team to train the rebellion and organise a shadow government of the Edgelords to eventually wrest control from the current regime.

That sounds like just the thing.

Greetings. One of my puppets, the Dominion of Upper Virginia, transitioned from a military dictatorship to democracy less than 15 years ago. Its current government is a cohabitation arrangement between a center-right President (who controls the military and foreign policy) and a leftist government led by a reformed communist Prime Minister (who controls domestic affairs). Given its history and unique political arrangement, Upper Virginia would be willing to offer its services as an impartial mediator for negotiations between your government and the rebels, should you decide to RP in that direction. If you're interesting in Upper Virginia's participation, let me know. Cheers.

Right now neither parties are interested in negotiations. Perhaps later.

Excellent! Then in that case you have yourself a team of badasses ready to ship!

EDIT:

I added a quick Factbook on the team who is joining the RP, to provide you with a general idea what I am planning. It can be found here.

[Gerrst]

I have already started writing a first post and working on a character sheet.

[Gerrst]

viewtopic.phpf=4&t=467645

OP is up, sorry it took so long, I rewrote it a couple of times before deciding to go with what I had.

[UniversalCommons]

I am curious if this would be the classic situation where the government becomes so corrupt that it cannot function. The average citizen wants a functioning government without corruption that will represent them. They don't particularly care about political alignment because they are close to starving and the central bureaucracy which is run by corrupt older officials is taking everything. Is it a "competitive authoritarian regime" with oligarchs.

This is an ideal situation for the UniversalCommons to be very cynical and import your scientists and intellectuals, offering asylum to certain degree holders, intellectuals, scientists, and technicians. If there is a weapons program of interest, we would seek out those individuals who would want to flee the country. We might go so far as to extract some of them with mercenaries. Also, some of the "national treasures" might go with them.

[Port Ember]

Okay brother so my I intelligence director gave the green light for my in-country agent to find and meet the Edgelord Leader. He basically wants to sell the idea of bringing in Unit 16. Feel free to RP that event if you want to!

In that case my next post will bring the unit in.

[Gerrst]

I am curious if this would be the classic situation where the government becomes so corrupt that it cannot function. The average citizen wants a functioning government without corruption that will represent them. They don't particularly care about political alignment because they are close to starving and the central bureaucracy which is run by corrupt older officials is taking everything. Is it a "competitive authoritarian regime" with oligarchs.

This is an ideal situation for the UniversalCommons to be very cynical and import your scientists and intellectuals, offering asylum to certain degree holders, intellectuals, scientists, and technicians. If there is a weapons program of interest, we would seek out those individuals who would want to flee the country. We might go so far as to extract some of them with mercenaries. Also, some of the "national treasures" might go with them.

The hard left in Gerrst draws a lot of support from the young, and its most radical members are young. There is corruption, but it is very much tied to identity politics. For example, programs meant to help oppressed minorities usually end up benefiting individual minorities connected to the government.

My inspiration is contemporary politics. In many way the government of Gerrst has something similar to the German concept of streitbare Demokratie. This is the concept used to justify banning the Nazi Party and certain acts of censorship. RL Germany applies this very narrowly, so that neonazi parties are allowed to exist as long as they don't call themselves Nazis. In Gerrst, the government has taken similar laws, but applied them to the broadest extent. This is of course, inspired by the over broad usage of the label Nazi or racist in real life.

I am not sure what you mean by weapons program, if you mean WMD, again these are leftists and have no interest in such things. In fact, they are so dovish the military is weak because of it.

The academics are mostly supporters of the government. Sure, there are some dissenters, I don't really see the point in RPing a refugee professor.

[UniversalCommons]

I am curious if this would be the classic situation where the government becomes so corrupt that it cannot function. The average citizen wants a functioning government without corruption that will represent them. They don't particularly care about political alignment because they are close to starving and the central bureaucracy which is run by corrupt older officials is taking everything. Is it a "competitive authoritarian regime" with oligarchs.

This is an ideal situation for the UniversalCommons to be very cynical and import your scientists and intellectuals, offering asylum to certain degree holders, intellectuals, scientists, and technicians. If there is a weapons program of interest, we would seek out those individuals who would want to flee the country. We might go so far as to extract some of them with mercenaries. Also, some of the "national treasures" might go with them.

The hard left in Gerrst draws a lot of support from the young, and its most radical members are young. There is corruption, but it is very much tied to identity politics. For example, programs meant to help oppressed minorities usually end up benefiting individual minorities connected to the government.

My inspiration is contemporary politics. In many way the government of Gerrst has something similar to the German concept of streitbare Demokratie. This is the concept used to justify banning the Nazi Party and certain acts of censorship. RL Germany applies this very narrowly, so that neonazi parties are allowed to exist as long as they don't call themselves Nazis. In Gerrst, the government has taken similar laws, but applied them to the broadest extent. This is of course, inspired by the over broad usage of the label Nazi or racist in real life.

I am not sure what you mean by weapons program, if you mean WMD, again these are leftists and have no interest in such things. In fact, they are so dovish the military is weak because of it.

The academics are mostly supporters of the government. Sure, there are some dissenters, I don't really see the point in RPing a refugee professor.

I agree with you on this. We would have little desire to get people from a weak democracy which reminds me a bit of the old French Republic before it fell. This sounds like the academic left took over, not the trade unions who would probably want a decent military, or small business owners (cooperatives, etc.) on the left.

The idea would be to extract people during war, but with this group, it sounds like they would not be proactive enough to want to be pulled out of a war zone by small units of soldiers. In this situation I would imagine it would be hard to activate the more militant or patriotic portion of the left. I would have been creating a pipeline to bring the intelligentsia out and the professional organizers in. But, this is not a soviet situation or a Greek situation where the protesters would have enough force to act.

[Gerrst]

I am not sure what you are saying.