[SUBMITTED] Pushing up the Poppies

by **Baggieland** » Thu Jan 26, 2023 3:07 am

It's been a while, but here's another one:

[TITLE] Pushing up the Poppies

[DESCRIPTION] It's a day of thankfulness and joy as the war against Ausonia* / North Palisade** is finally over, with @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@ all over the nation celebrating this momentous occasion. However, many citizens have mixed emotions; their loved ones still lie in fields all over @@REGION@@, some in unmarked graves, some in temporary graves, others just left where they fell.

[VALIDITY] possibly a follow on to 1328*, possibly a follow on to 1296**, possibly a stand alone issue

[OPTION] "The battlefield is a sacred place," declares Lance Corporal @@RANDOMLASTNAME@@, the only survivor of the massacre that befell @@HIS@@ platoon. "My comrades would wish to be buried at the place of their last stand, next to their mates who fell alongside them. Well, they probably would have wished not to die in the first place. Anyway, the government should set up a special committee that identifies all the dead and then honours them by maintaining well-kept cemeteries at the location of the battles."

[EFFECT] the afterlife resembles army barracks

[OPTION] "How am I supposed to get to this cemetery?" questions poverty-stricken @@RANDOMNAME@@, whose brother died in the war. "I live way up in the north of @@NAME@@, the distance and the cost of travel makes it impossible for me to visit the area where my sibling was killed. I will never be able to pay my respects to him. Bring home all the bodies and let their families decide where and how their funerals take place."

[EFFECT] it's a long way to the final resting place

[OPTION] "Dem bones be making good fertiliser," states local farmer @@RANDOMNAME@@, as @@HE@@ chews on a wheat stalk. "Leave everything where it be as those there dead bodies be increasing the phosphorous in soil and making strong root systems. On them major battlefields where there be thousands of bodies, let's be turning 'em into compost. After all, food production be the importantest thing after any war."

[EFFECT] the farmer's plough guarantees the dead are turning in their graves

[TITLE] Pushing up the Poppies

[DESCRIPTION] It's a day of thankfulness and joy as the attempted invasion by Prusa has been thwarted, with @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@ all over the nation celebrating this momentous achievement. However, many citizens have mixed emotions; their loved ones still lie in fields where the fighting took place, some in unmarked graves, some in temporary graves, others just left where they fell.

[VALIDITY] medium to large military

[OPTION] "The battlefield is a sacred place," declares Lance Corporal @@RANDOMLASTNAME@@, the only survivor of the massacre that befell @@HIS@@ platoon. "My comrades would wish to be buried at the place of their last stand, next to their mates who fell alongside them. Well, they probably would have wished not to die in the first place. Anyway, the government should set up a special committee that identifies all the dead and then honours them by maintaining well-kept cemeteries at the location of the battles."

[EFFECT] the afterlife resembles army barracks

[OPTION] "How am I supposed to get to this cemetery?" questions poverty-stricken @@RANDOMNAME@@, whose brother died in the war. "I live far up in the north of @@NAME@@, but all the fighting took place way down south. The distance and the cost of travel makes it impossible for me to visit the area where my sibling was killed. I will never be able to pay my respects to him. The government needs to repatriate all the dead to their home-towns and then let the families decide where and how their funerals take place."

[EFFECT] it's a long way to the final resting place

[OPTION] "Dem bones be making good fertiliser," states local farmer @@RANDOMNAME@@, as @@HE@@ chews on a wheat stalk. "Leave everything where it be as those there dead bodies be good for the soil – and on them major battlefields where there be thousands of bodies – let's be turning 'em into compost. After all, food production be the importantest thing after any war."

[EFFECT] the farmer's plough guarantees the dead are turning in their graves

by **Australian rePublic** » Thu Jan 26, 2023 4:30 pm

What has this gotta do with @@NAME@@?

by **Baggieland** » Fri Jan 27, 2023 1:36 am

Australian rePublic wrote:What has this gotta do with @@NAME@@?

Okay, this may have to do with the unusual way I presented the validity:

This issue could be a follow up to issue 1328, which is a war between @@NAME@@ and Ausonia.

Or it could be a follow up to issue 1296, which is a war between @@NAME@@ and North Palisade.

Or it could be a stand alone issue (in which case it would be framed as a war between @@NAME@@ and some new nation).

It has nothing to do with a war between Ausonia and North Palisade.

by **Millenhaal** » Fri Jan 27, 2023 5:37 am

I personally would go with the standalone issue. The Ausonian war was an option for more jingoistic nations iirc, and so the type of nations that choose to go to war with Ausonia would want complete control over their citizens’ corpses. It’s also a good issue for anyone to have. May I suggest something along the lines of a Germany, perhaps named something like Markstein or Rheinfuchs, or the Japan-type nation whose name escapes me.

by **Baggieland** » Sat Jan 28, 2023 2:58 am

Millenhaal wrote:I personally would go with the standalone issue. The Ausonian war was an option for more jingoistic nations iirc, and so the type of nations that choose to go to war with Ausonia would want complete control over their citizens’ corpses. It’s also a good issue for anyone to have. May I suggest something along the lines of a Germany, perhaps named something like Markstein or Rheinfuchs, or the Japan-type nation whose name escapes me.

Thanks for the input. Personally I think this would best fit as a follow on to the North Palisade issue, as this draft is based on what happened in Britain after WW1 and the North Palisade issue is also based on WW1. However, I strongly suspect that the editors will have the final say.

by **West Barack and East Obama** » Sat Jan 28, 2023 10:33 am

This is great, but I feel like Option 3 should do something more than 'leave everything be'. Maybe gather up all the corpses that are lying above ground and turn them into compost? Might be a bit too gruesome though.

by **Baggieland** » Sun Jan 29, 2023 6:34 pm

West Barack and East Obama wrote:but I feel like Option 3 should do something more than 'leave everything be'. Maybe gather up all the corpses that are lying above ground and turn them into compost?

Option 3 is more than just the dismiss button, though. There are at least compassion and agriculture stats that will be affected. However, I was contemplating 'compost' when I originally wrote it, so I'll add it to the option.

Also changed the title.

Second draft is up.

by **Baggieland** » Tue Jan 31, 2023 4:39 am

I've made a few tweaks to the draft, all edited into the second draft.

by **Therimenjas** » Fri Feb 03, 2023 6:32 pm

Retrieving the dead en masse to turn them into compost could increase environmental beauty as well as agriculture, but it wouldn't be free. All of these options would probably increase the size of government. The third option would be the most friendly to tax-cutting administrations, since it tries to create an economic resource where fainter hearts would shy from it.

If implemented into the game, this issue shouldn't arise for nations with negative military scores, since they wouldn't be out winning wars and such.

by **Baggieland** » Sun Feb 05, 2023 2:54 am

Thanks for your input...

Therimenjas wrote:Retrieving the dead en masse to turn them into compost could increase environmental beauty as well as agriculture, but it wouldn't be free. All of these options would probably increase the size of government. The third option would be the most friendly to tax-cutting administrations, since it tries to create an economic resource where fainter hearts would shy from it.

The editors always assign the stats to every issue, the reason I mentioned some stats earlier was to show how "leave everything where it is" was more than just the dismiss button (I've also since added composting to that as well).

Therimenjas wrote:If implemented into the game, this issue shouldn't arise for nations with negative military scores, since they wouldn't be out winning wars and such.

Again, the editors will probably have the last say on whether this works best as a follow up to one of the previous war issues or a stand alone issue. If the latter is chosen, then I'm sure nations with little to no military will be excluded.

by **Verdant Haven** » Thu Feb 09, 2023 7:26 am

- One way to open up the validity on this, and avoid any potential conflict states related to war issues, would be to have this be more generally written about the establishment of national cemeteries for veterans. With the exception of one throw-away effect line (which probably refers more to "cemeteries across the nation" rather than the usual meaning of "national cemeteries"), I don't believe we have anything touching on this subject yet!

- Returning the body to the family so they can provide burial might not really relieve much of the financial burden – as issue 779 brings up, funeral costs can be utterly exorbitant! This speaker might be a good one to bring up having national cemeteries at home, located around the country so families can visit, but with services (and maybe family transportation?) provided at government expense. Whether or not this only applies to those KIA or to all veterans at the end of their lives might be a variable, or an entirely new option.

- I think the main challenge for option 3 is the fact most of the bodies sound like they're scattered throughout the region, not just the home nation. This borders on creating policy for other nations, or at the very least, providing macabre "assistance" to your recent enemies, so I'm not sure if it works fully as is. We've got the turn-the-dead-to-phosphorus thing already brought up in the aforementioned issue 779, so as far as uncaring side comments about the use of the dead go, that strikes me as a bit rote. If we're dealing with domestic farmlands, I could see the farmer perhaps being uncaring about the bodies, but demanding that the money and effort be spent clearing up UXO instead. There are still farms in Europe that are unusable to this day due to the danger from ordinance remaining from World War 1! That would provide a "dead people are dead, you need to focus on food for the living!" sort of argument that might work with what it looks like you're aiming for.

by **Baggieland** » Sat Feb 11, 2023 9:45 pm

Verdant Haven wrote:- One way to open up the validity on this, and avoid any potential conflict states related to war issues, would be to have this be more generally written about the establishment of national cemeteries for veterans. With the exception of one throw-away effect line (which probably refers more to "cemeteries across the nation" rather than the usual meaning of "national cemeteries"), I don't believe we have anything touching on this subject yet!

Changed the validity.

Verdant Haven wrote:- Returning the body to the family so they can provide burial might not really relieve much of the financial burden – as issue 779 brings up, funeral costs can be utterly exorbitant! This speaker might be a good one to bring up having national cemeteries at home, located around the country so families can visit, but with services (and maybe family transportation?) provided at government expense. Whether or not this only applies to those KIA or to all veterans at the end of their lives might be a variable, or an entirely new option.

This was never about the cost of funerals, but about ease of access to war graves. Example, Aussies who had relatives in the ANZACS during WW1 have to travel all the way from Oz to Turkey.

Verdant Haven wrote:- I think the main challenge for option 3 is the fact most of the bodies sound like they're scattered throughout the region, not just the home nation. This borders on creating policy for other nations, or at the very least, providing macabre "assistance" to your recent enemies, so I'm not sure if it works fully as is. We've got the turn-the-dead-to-phosphorus thing already brought up in the aforementioned issue 779, so as far as uncaring side comments about the use of the dead go, that strikes me as a bit rote. If we're dealing with domestic farmlands, I could see the farmer perhaps being uncaring about the bodies, but demanding that the money and effort be spent clearing up UXO instead. There are still farms in Europe that are unusable to this day due to the danger from ordinance remaining from World War 1! That would provide a "dead people are dead, you need to focus on food for the living!" sort of argument that might work with what it looks like you're aiming for.

Yikes, I am rusty!

Made quite a few edits, hopefully better now, third draft is up.

by **Baggieland** » Sat Feb 18, 2023 3:01 am

Bump.

Any more comments on this one?

by **Baggieland** » Sat Feb 25, 2023 3:17 am

Submitted.

Thanks for everyone's help.

by **Australian rePublic** » Sat Feb 25, 2023 5:16 am

Good Luck!

by **Baggieland** » Sat Feb 25, 2023 5:50 am

Australian rePublic wrote:Good Luck!

Cheers mate!

[SUBMITTED] Pushing up the Poppies

[SUBMITTED] Pushing up the Poppies

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