[DRAFT] Red Revolutionaries Request Incorporation

[RedBrickLand]

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[TITLE] Red Revolutionaries Request Incorporation

[VALIDITY] must be socialist

[DESC] The small neighboring nation of Szocalistian, recently under control of the Red Brotherhood, a group of socialist militants, after a brutal revolution, seeks @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ incorporation.

[OPTION 1] "Our people view @@NAME@@ as a socialist utopia," says Red Brotherhood leader @@RANDOMNAME@@. "And they seek incorporation, bringing them the economic stability and opportunities they have been longing for and have yet to experience, along with unity with fellow comrades through the @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ socialist system. With integration, we would be an autonomous region but still under your direct control. For you, @@LEADER@@, this would bring you greater power, a larger territory, and the expansion of socialism."

[RESULT] foreign socialists rejoice when their country is annexed by @@NAME@@

[OPTION 2] "Would the capitalist pigs we call neighbors allow the rapid expansion of the ideology they vow to annihilate? Probably not," questions your geopolitical analyst @@RANDOMNAME@@. "They'd literally crap their pants and rush to declare war against us. Instead, we should provide Szocalistian with economic and humanitarian aid, providing us an ally and substantial influence over the nation while reducing the risk of a regional ruckus. But if a conflict were to arise, it would likely only be a proxy war and not directly involve us."

[RESULT] foreign aid is seen as a way to pull strings in other nations

[OPTION 3] "This Red Brotherhood is not a group of brave comrades but terrorists!" says @@RANDOMNAME@@, your Minister of Socialist Affairs. "Many of their so-called 'revolutionary acts' have killed many and tarnished the good name of socialism. We must install a new regime of true socialism, one that respects the people's will, not the bullet. However, in order to accomplish this, it is necessary to dissuade capitalist intervention and ensure international recognition as liberators, not invaders, so we must expose the Red Brotherhood's brutality and have Szocalistianians call for our help, giving us moral justification."

[RESULT] protecting socialism involves ousting socialist regimes

[TITLE] Red Revolutionaries Request Incorporation

[VALIDITY] must be socialist

[DESC] The small neighboring nation of Szocalistian, recently under control of the Red Brotherhood, a group of socialist militants, seeks @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ incorporation.

[OPTION 1] "Our people view @@NAME@@ as a socialist utopia," says Red Brotherhood leader @@RANDOMNAME@@. "And they seek incorporation, bringing them economic benefits and unity with fellow comrades through the @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ socialist system. With integration, we would be an autonomous region but still under @@NAME@@'s direct control. For you, @@LEADER@@, this would bring you greater power, a larger territory, and the expansion of socialism."

[RESULT] foreign socialists rejoice when their country is annexed by @@NAME@@

[OPTION 2] "Would the capitalist pigs we call neighbors allow the rapid expansion of the ideology they vow to annihilate? Probably not," questions your geopolitical analyst @@RANDOMNAME@@. "They'd literally crap their pants and rush to declare war. Instead, we should provide economic and humanitarian aid, giving us a valuable socialist ally and significant influence over the country without risking a regional ruckus."

[RESULT] foreign aid is seen as a way to pull strings in other nations

[OPTION 3] "This Red Brotherhood is not a group of brave comrades but terrorists!" says @@RANDOMNAME@@, your Minister of Socialist Affairs. "So-called 'revolutionary acts' have killed many and tarnished the good name of socialism. We must install a new regime of true socialism, one that respects the people's will, not the bullet. However, in order to accomplish this, it is necessary to dissuade capitalist intervention and ensure international recognition as liberators, not invaders, so we must expose the Red Brotherhood's brutality and have Szocalistianians call for our help, giving us moral justification."

[RESULT] protecting socialism involves ousting socialist regimes

[TITLE] Red Revolutionaries Request Incorporation

[VALIDITY] must be socialist

[DESC] Szocalistian, recently under control of the Red Brigade, a group of socialist militants, seeks @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ incorporation.

[OPTION 1] "Our people view @@NAME@@ as socialist utopia," says Red Brigade leader @@RANDOMNAME@@, wearing his signature fur hat with the hammer and sickle emblem. "And they hope to be incorporated into your great nation. They desire the economic benefits from the @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ socialist system and unity with fellow comrades. @@LEADER@@, we hope you welcome us as fellow comrades, and together we will thrive and expand socialism in the region."

[RESULT] the government swears it annexed a nation with "100% consent"

[OPTION 2] "The question is: would the capitalist pigs we call neighbors allow the rapid expansion of the ideology they vow to annihilate? Probably not," questions your geopolitical analyst @@RANDOMNAME@@. "A @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ annexation of Szocalistian, even if requested, would have them literally crapping their pants and rushing to declare war, which would be best to avoid. Instead, we secretly aid the Red Brigade and similar left-wing groups with a whole lot of guns, giving us significant influence over them."

[RESULT] socialist rebels regularly locate thousands of "lost" @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ guns

[OPTION 3] "This Red Brigade is not a group of brave comrades but terrorists!" says @@RANDOMNAME@@, your Security Minister. "Many so-called "revolutionary acts" have killed innocent civilians and turned many against socialism. To protect citizens and the good name of socialism, an invasion of Szocalistian is necessary. A new, equally socialist regime, not seen as destructive terrorists but as serving the proletariat must be installed."

[RESULT] a foreign socialist regime was ousted to protect socialism

[TITLE] Comrades Request Socialist Incorporation

[DESC] Chungus Khan, the leader of the neighboring nation of Tsenkher Tenger, a socialist nation with a vast barren landscape full of herd animals, has requested that they be incorporated into @@NAME@@.

[VALIDITY] has socialism

[OPTION 1] "I have always thought of @@DENONYMPLURAL@@ and Tengerians as brothers, socialist brothers," says Tsenkher Tenger leader Chungus Khan, who has somehow fit his horse through your door. "@@LEADER@@, I come to you requesting that our two great nations be united under the banner of socialism. With our incorporation, @@NAME@@ will have access to our natural resources, workforce, and, greatest of all, thousands of horses! We also request that we maintain some autonomy after integration. I truly believe this would greatly benefit both of our nations and, most importantly, our socialist peoples."

[RESULT] it is often said among socialist countries that "When there's trouble you know who to call, @@NAME@@!"

[OPTION 2] "Don't be so hasty to accept, @@LEADER@@." says @@RANDOMNAME@@, your Minister of Political Affairs. "While it is true that there are advantages to Tsenkher Tenger's incorporation, we also risk war with Dàguó, who has shown interest in invading the country in the past. In addition, it is still to be seen if Tengerians would actually support incorporation, like their leader says. I think it's just too much risk, and for what? A bunch of horses and sheep?"

[RESULT] gifts from foreign leaders to @@LEADER@@ are never offered free in fear of not being accepted

[OPTION 3] "What if we got everything we wanted out of incorporation without the possible disadvantages?" asks @@RANDOMNAME@@, your cunning Minister of Foreign Affairs. "What if we controlled Tsenkher Tenger without actually controlling it? I suggest that we establish a puppet state in Tsenkher Tenger by making sure Chungus Khan has his pockets full. We'd still have control over their economy, access to their natural resources, and a supportive voice on the international stage. Only instead, Dàguó wouldn't be angry, and they wouldn't even suspect anything happened!"

[RESULT] neighboring socialist leaders seem to always support @@NAME@@

[OPTION 4] "Don't trust Chungus; it's a capitalist trap!" says @@RANDOMNAME@@, your Minister of Socialist Affairs. "He is clearly a stinkin bourgeoisie pig under the disguise of a seemingly great socialist leader. If we incorporate his nation, then he will try to undermine @@DENONYM@@ socialism. That's why we must overthrow him and his government in a glorious socialist revolution. We need to support true Tengerian socialists in their uprising, then they will be incorporated into our glorious nation."

[RESULT] @@LEADER@@ has been seen playing "Whack A Capitalist Pig"

[Australian rePublic]

There needs to be a cpaitalist version

[RedBrickLand]

There needs to be a cpaitalist version

I did not really think of it but there could totally be a capitalist version of this.
If I make this capitalist version, do I make it two separate forum topics or just in one thread?
But I'll work on it some other time since I wanna focus on the issue contest but thanks for the idea!

[Verdant Haven]

It strikes me as incongruous that Genghis Khan, one of the most in/famous of conquerors, and an unforgiving destroyer of all who even hesitate before subjugating themselves to him, is presented here as coming begging to be absorbed by the player's nation. Very little is explained about why the great Khan is asking for this – he seems to be giving you everything, and getting nothing in return besides demurely requesting "some autonomy" after the fact.

Option 2 is just saying "no" to the whole thing. What does this option do?

What is the actual difference in outcome between options 1 and 4? From a gameplay/statistical perspective, it seems like they both just annex this new territory. One does so peacefully, the other does so after killing a dude, but as we've no reason to believe the target nation is resisting in any way, it seems like it isn't really... different.

[RedBrickLand]

Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated!
Though as I said before I'll work on it some other time because of the issues contest.

[RedBrickLand]

I kind of forgot this existed. 2nd Draft is up!

[Verdant Haven]

- What is “Szocalistian?” Is it an organization? A town? A break-away republic? The “Red Brigades” was a real world far-left militant terrorist group that kidnapped and murdered the prime minister of Italy. Might want to avoid using that name as a potential partner here. At any rate, this group of militants… whose organization/town/territory is it, exactly, that they have recently taken control of? Would be a pretty big issue if they seized part of the UF and were trying to offer it to you, for example. If a territory, is it a geographic neighbor, or are we talking about a remote place?

- Option 1: Watch that repeated use of “fellow comrades.” It would be good to suggest something here about what the player nation stands to gain, beyond just expanding socialism. Mostly this text seems to be buttering up leader by repeating things about how great their nation is, without any details about what unification would actually entail.

- Option 2: The caution related to how capitalist neighbors react is thoroughly valid, for the particular brand of assumptions we frequently make about what socialism means in NS. What’s less clear continues to be who or what Szocalistian and the Red Brigade really are. Suggesting military aid… this implies that they are in a violent conflict? Are they trying to violently seize new areas? None of that has been explained or introduced as yet, so it’s not clear to me why guns would be more important than, say, food. If there’s already a war going on, are the capitalist neighbors going to be any more tolerant of this new place being socialist independently than they would be of it being socialist as part of the player nation? How does this option prevent that same anger?

- Option 3: A very interesting approach – internecine conflict to keep socialism from getting a bad name. Creative. This does still end up with the same rapid expansion of socialism as above, and the same question of “why would this prevent capitalist neighbors from freaking out” going unanswered. It’s a clever angle to take and I like it – I think it just needs more attention paid to explaining the international diplomacy side of affairs that it is clearly built to consider. There is a second side to this, which is that the outcome ends up being a lot like the first one – the expansion of the nation to include this new area, that very likely belongs to somebody else. It may be worth considering having this maintain the “No, this is a bad version of socialism” approach, and going farther to helping restore the original control of the thing in question. Something about “Revolution must be by peaceful means, and all true socialists must respect the will of the people, not the bullet” or something like that. Just a thought – play with it or ignore it as you will!

[RedBrickLand]

3rd Draft is up. Thank you for the feedback! I would love to hear some more about my changes.


In regards to VH's Feedback:
Option 1: I made it so unification would put Szocalistian as an autonomous region.

Option 2: I decided that in order to prevent the same anger from the capitalist neighbors, economic and humanitarian aid would be better.

Option 3: For this option, I decided that if the narrative of the international community was "The people of Szocalistian asked @@NAME@@ for help from a violent regime and they helped their people out of good will and comradery and they have come to liberate them from the brutality of the Red Brotherhood", then I think capitalist intervention would be dissuaded, especially because of the international community's support and @@NAME@@ having the moral highground. If there would be capitalist intervention, I think they would likely be seen as the "bad guys" both by the international community and the people of Szocalistian, meaning they'd face lots of resistance.

[Tinhampton]

Why does the Red Brotherhood want to come under your wing? Plenty of socialist regimes IRL have held similar opinions to each other but none have sought merger by any means.

What makes Speaker 2 think that a merger - i.e. one socialist state - would result in full-throttled conflict in a manner that his proposal suggestion - i.e. two socialist states with close ties - would not?
Likewise, what makes Speaker 3 think that the Brotherhood are the real bad guys? (Although I'm aware I'm asking an obvious question given @@HIS@@ status as a minister.)

[Khardsland]

For some more alliterative fun, how about a title like 'Red Revolutionaries Request Radical Rule'?

[RedBrickLand]

Thank you so much for the feedback! 4th Draft is up!


Response to Tinhampton's feedback:
Why does the Red Brotherhood want to come under your wing?
I decided that an economically struggling populace would be the best motive for the Red Brotherhood to want incorporation.

Feedback on Speaker 2: I think simply two socialist states with close ties would not result in a full-scale war. But if there were, it would likely be a proxy war and not against @@NAME@@.

Feedback on Speaker 3: Brutal 'revolutionary' acts is what made speaker think they were the real bad guys.

For some more alliterative fun, how about a title like 'Red Revolutionaries Request Radical Rule'?

Thanks for the suggestion! I think it's great though I have some concern over the phrase 'Radical Rule' since from the way I see it, it kind of implies that socialism is radical, which doesn't mix well with the fact that @@NAME@@ is socialist. I'll think about it though.

[RedBrickLand]

/bump

[Verdant Haven]

Lots of improvements there - good progress.

- I enjoy the titular irony of "red revolutionaries" requesting "incorporation" :-D Fun with double-meanings.

- The description currently doesn't feel like it's reading as a sentence (it feels more like a bullet point). The comma-clauses also make it difficult to parse! I think it could be rearranged to use half the number of commas without losing any info. A possibility: "A group of socialist militants called the Red Brotherhood has seized control of a small portion of a neighboring nation. Calling their breakaway state Szocalistian, they are seeking @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ incorporation."

- Most of the options feel pretty reasonable – I would focus on optimizing the grammar and readability to ensure smooth flow of the language.

- Effect lines 1 and 2 feel a bit dry. If there is a way to make them funnier or snappier, it would be beneficial.

[RedBrickLand]

<snip>

Thanks for the feedback. I'll implement it whenever I have the time since I've been quite busy irl. Thank you so much!