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well, Zook and Fin still need to decide which shape of their countries (Steve vs me) they want so that they can finish topographical details.

I put yours on, it's just that the rest of flipped and mirrored Russia is there. Surely we can fit a few NPCs there.

Is there still room for a new player? I've heard great things about these games.

We'll be happy to have ya! Give us some idea of what nation you'd like to run and pick a gray spot on the map you'd like to be in.

I'd need to see the map

However, the concept I'm looking at is a large-ish island nation, formed by a long-extinct large volcano. Here's the concept I've worked up:

The Kingdom of Orion:

Originally, the island of Orion (it's name according to the native islanders) was formed by a great volcano many years in the past. Because of the vast and continual eruptions, there are many deposites of otherwise-rare metals dredged up from the mantle. There were many small tribes living on Orion, occasionally fighting with each other but for the most part they lived together in peace.

Two hundred years ago, Orion was colonised by one of the great Empires of the era (exactly which Empire it was is unknown, many records of the time were lost in the upheavals to follow) and, surprisingly, the native tribes welcomed these colonists, seeing the advantages to be gained from new ideas, modern (for the time) weapons and technology. They were especially interested in helkp overcoming Orion's major drawback; a lack of abundant fresh water (being a large volcanic island there are no glaciers to melt and rainfall is sparse). With new ways of purifying seawater the population expanded.

For fifty years the colony expanded and prospered, becoming a fusion of imported colonists and native descendants who gradually merged together. This process brought problems for the distant Empire: those living here began to see themselves as Orions first, not citizens of the empire. Serious talk began of a secessionist movement, although events moved quicker than planned. Fortunately the island was out of the way, and at the time possessed few resources that were worth conquering.

The distant Empire became embroiled in a war, and the former Imperial governor announced independence as the Kingdom of Orion, with himself on the throne. This move was supported by a great majority of the population, but not by all. Ten years after independence, when it was realised that the Empire wasn't coming back and/or didn't care, this dissenting movement acted alone and staged a rebellion, lead by the new King's brother. The fighting was bitter, as the rebels spared no one and used unorthodox and suicidal tactics, such as loading a cart full of gunpowder and riding into a packed marketplace.

Eventually the civil war ended, but not before much damage had been done and many records lost. The Monarchy was re-established and life continued, but with a new twist. The new King had been a scientist before he ascended the throne, and he believed science and reason were the best way to develop his new nation. He founded a dynasty of science-Kings that continues to this day.

Science and reason became cultural institutions. Learning took on an almost religious fervor. The desire to know became paramount. Conversely however, they remained wary of outsiders, so they protect their knowledge fiercely. Many times in history this desire to know has driven them to infiltrate other nations, providing them key intelligence to prevent a war.

For most of their history, Orion was an isolated place, possessing few things worth taking and suffering chronic water shortages. However, when the industrial revolution occurred, the scientifically-minded population grabbed onto the new technology with both hands. Geologists realised that the volcanic rocks of their home contained great untapped deposits of valuable materials. Trade, once so tenuous, began to improve as other nations found Orion a convenient peaceful source of important elements.

Despite this growing international presence, today the Kingdom of Orion remains a fiercely independent nation. The long-standing cultural impetus towards science and reason and logic make political alliances considerably less likely to occur. Trade agreements are usually made for peaceful purposes.

The Orions do not neglect their military however. Scientists and philosophers they might be, they are quite willing to take arms to defend themselves if necessary. However, as they value life (and hence the mind and education of a person) drone technology and other unmanned vehicles are preferred where possible.

The Orion's true break, however, came with the discovery of nuclear fission. With their large reserves of Thorium they could be entirely self-sufficient for power, and a massive construction program of nuclear plants began. Scientists also realised that this new abundance of electrical power (which genuinely is "too cheap to meter") allowed them to solve the island's fresh water deficiency, with multiple industrial-scale desalinisation plants build in tandem with the power stations. With a new abdundance of power and water, the population boomed, and the fertile volcanic fields provided.

In the modern world, Orion is a largely self-sufficient nation, able to feed themselves several times over (providing large stockpiles in case of disaster or war is a national imperative) and with plenty of power. The island is well-populated but not overcrowded, as the population boom was predicted and planned for.

In foreign affairs, the Kingdom of Orion (for the scientist-Monarchy still persists) believes in freedom but will rarely get involved in other nation's disputes. They believe they have built Paradise whilst all tohers fail and see no reason to risk damaging it in a war. That being said, they are quite capable of throwing their weight around, as they are a major exporter of both food and rare-earth metals, and have some of the world's foremost scientific institutions. Economic wars and "cold wars" are common enough, whilst actual conflict has rarely been seen. Do not think they are weak.

The Kingdom of Orion

Geography: Large (France-sized) volcanic island, centered on a now-extinct central peak. Away fromt he foothills of the volcano here are great plains stretching to the coast. The island is on a latitude similar to southern Australia.
Climate: Temperate.
Population: ~40 million
Highest point: Mouth Erebus, ~3,000 metre
Lowest point: Port Rigel, seas level
Capital: Paradise City (built only recently, it houses the government offices, royal palace, military command and the newest and best scientific institutes. The old capital, Haephestus, remains the "unofficial" capital and contains most of the cultural centres)
Government: Constitutional Monarchy/Technocracy
General personality: Independent/isolationist, with elements of "we're the Best because we built Paradise" thrown in.
Military strength: Relatively strong, but with a great emphasis on high-tech weapons and drone systems.
Major resources: Thorium, Aluminium, Titanium, other rare-earth metals. Note: Very little coal or oil, hence reliance on nuclear power.

Phew, that should do for now.

You can look at the map here. Finding space for another big island may be difficult, especially considering we've got quite a few continents still left to fill, so perhaps retool your nation as a continental state.

I'd also encourage you to add more rough edges. A peaceful well-rounded reasonable scientifically minded mostly self sufficient island nation sounds like a nice place to live, but it doesn't offer many angles for getting involved with the greater world community. And since that is the point of the game you may be writing yourself into a corner. So what do they lack, what are their problems, what do they want? If they're isolationist and want to be left alone, how do you propose to interact with other players?

We have pseudo-Madagscar that could be reshaped to fit E_F's nation I think.

Oh there are plenty of rough edges, I just wanted to give a general outline.

For instance, the technocracy/monarchy is moving towards fascism, the mindset of "we've build paradise" is beginning to become "we've got the perfect model, everyone else should listen."

AS for location, the large-ish island to the south of the bottom-left continent would be great. You could make the large empty continent have had the Empire that colonised Orion and it's opponents, they've both been fighting each other for centuries so they are effectively neutralised on the world stage.

Hi, E_F, good to see you!

Hm. So, you have a hereditary monarchy? What's the take on individual rights? Do you lay claim to any territories a noticeable distance off your shores? How are checks and balances going for you? Any disenfranchised ethnic or religious minorities?

Also, are they at war with this hypothesized empire? If so, what is it like? What was it like then? It sounds like this period of imperial domination was pre-industrial, is that correct?

Steve wrote:Changed the north of the Omnia-Umeria continent, as requested.

Timothy, I moved Rogue a bit west to give you Fiji in about the same place, but Samoa is too small to really show, the same with Tahiti. Can you look over the map and add pixels for where they are, or just give coordinate numbers?

TRR, added the tropical islands for an NPC you requested.

Great. I'm not sure which islands they are though. I'm guessing they're the ones in the mid-Atlantic.

By the way, sorry if this was already mentioned, but have you decided on the position of my country? I'd like to know who Corona's neighbours are so I can work out its history.

Simon_Jester wrote:Hi, E_F, good to see you!

Hm. So, you have a hereditary monarchy? What's the take on individual rights? Do you lay claim to any territories a noticeable distance off your shores? How are checks and balances going for you? Any disenfranchised ethnic or religious minorities?

Also, are they at war with this hypothesized empire? If so, what is it like? What was it like then? It sounds like this period of imperial domination was pre-industrial, is that correct?

Yup, colonisation and abandonment were pre-industrial. We are in a state of "eternal war" against the former Empire that abandoned us. To be precise, we declared that nation to be eternal enemies and we seek to annihilate them completely (the reality of this depends on whether or not this nation is still extant). We claim their territories as the rightful successor state (whether these territories belong to that nation or are now owned by someone else is irrelevant).

Checks and balances were originally handled by an elected Parliarment. The balance of power was shifted over time, in recent years it has shifted considerably towards the Parliarment, although the new King intends to change this (he was the former King's younger brother and an Admiral, he was planning a coup until the old King died under mysterious circumstances).

Individual rights are enshrined in our Articles of Law, but have gradually eroded under the concept of "the greater good." The population as a whole is very much a united entity, the original natives having intermarried and effectively merged with the colonists, since the abandonment created a sense of "we're all in this together, one nation against the world."

They claim to be isolationist, but that's mainly because they think they have the perfect system (which is gradually being corrupted into a dictatorship) and everyone else is too dumb to come up with the same idea. It's almost a religious mindset, we've got the best system and everyone else is wrong.

Eternal_Freedom wrote:Yup, colonisation and abandonment were pre-industrial. We are in a state of "eternal war" against the former Empire that abandoned us. To be precise, we declared that nation to be eternal enemies and we seek to annihilate them completely (the reality of this depends on whether or not this nation is still extant). We claim their territories as the rightful successor state (whether these territories belong to that nation or are now owned by someone else is irrelevant).

Thaaaat's nice and rational. I almost want to be that empire, except that we'd have to synchronize our histories. Would you be game for that?

Hell yeah! It'll be BARIS with tanks...oh wait, you flew a tank....and we had rockets...and planes. Ummm...

At any rate, yeah that would be sweet.

EDIT: as far as syncing histories goes, it shouldn't be too bad. I have it figured that the old Empire abandoned us because it had something bigger to deal with and then couldn't be bothered re-taking their wayward colony (since untilt he modern era they had very little of value).

So the old Empire is fairly apathetic to us Orions. We, however, hate you.

Alternatively, if you do not want to be in a state of quasi-war with Simon you could always have that former empire be Britonia, which would mean you'd have a claim on part of Rheinland territory but little to no way to act upon it due to geography, which would probably mean a mutual "Let us not talk about it that much" mindset.

Thanas wrote:Alternatively, if you do not want to be in a state of quasi-war with Simon you could always have that former empire be Britonia, which would mean you'd have a claim on part of Rheinland territory but little to no way to act upon it due to geography, which would probably mean a mutual "Let us not talk about it that much" mindset.

Funnily enough that was an idea that occurred to me as well. Sounds good.

Of course, since most of Orion's records were lost in that insurrection we could have it that we consider both of you to be usurpers of our rightful territory.

EDIT: Siege, I'm also thinking that my Kingdom doesn't really like your corporate hellhole of San Dorado. Seems too...irrational for my science-fascist state to tolerate.

Eternal_Freedom, there are similarities between your nation and my nation. But Corona would be troubled by the direction your nation is going in.

Perhaps we'd be former allies who's relations have become strained?

Sounds workable to me. I've already agreed with Skywalker to have Arcadia be an old trading partner, but the idea of Corona and Orion once being friends but having drifted apart is interesting indeed.

Wow, it really is amazing how quickly the tangled webs form isn't it. I only proposed my nation a few hours ago and already I have one or possibly two nations I'm vehemently opposed to, a strong trading partner and a former ally who thinks I'm falling tot he dark side.

I knew this would be fun

I'm working on Corona's history. I'm thinking of having Corona be a province that seceded from its nation almost five hundred years ago. Given the similarities between Corona and Britain, Britonia comes to mind, but if that means that Orion would be claiming my territory...

Any suggestions?

And this is why having more countries on the map is good!

Eternal_Freedom wrote:

Thanas wrote:Alternatively, if you do not want to be in a state of quasi-war with Simon you could always have that former empire be Britonia, which would mean you'd have a claim on part of Rheinland territory but little to no way to act upon it due to geography, which would probably mean a mutual "Let us not talk about it that much" mindset.

Funnily enough that was an idea that occurred to me as well. Sounds good.

Of course, since most of Orion's records were lost in that insurrection we could have it that we consider both of you to be usurpers of our rightful territory.

Your call. Umeria is basically a somewhat reimagined version of China (about 40% the population, slightly higher per capita GDP, and what would have happened had the Communist Chinese instead been a bunch of scholar-bureaucrats led by a man with a healthy sense of his own limitations?)

So it's very plausible to put your country in the same position as Taiwan, an island once claimed by the core imperial state but which repeatedly broke away and/or was seized by foreigners, now occupied by a local government that claims to be the real government of the greater Umeria.

On the other hand, that puts you in a state of quasi-war with someone who may view angry rhetoric with bemused tolerance, but who will actually shoot back if provoked. Rather hard.

[Though I'd hope we can keep it friendly OOC. ]

If you ARE a Umerian breakaway province, we might want to move your island to, say, 400 miles or so off the Umerian coast. Close enough that fighter-bombers could fly from one country to the other, not so close that there isn't a broad band of international waters between the two.

To TRR:

You're another former colony, that gives us enough of a common ground that we will overlook your territorial claims, especially since you seceded long before we were colonised. Since we claim the Britonian's territory as it stood when we seceded...we have no quarrel with you.

Of course, if you continue to oppose us walking our path to glory, then we may have problems

OOC: God damn this is fun! And it hasn't even started yet

To Simon: Of course we can keep it friendly OOC, that's the fun On more important matters, hmm...
I do like the idea of having claims against both of you. Is it possible that Umeria was also originally a colony, but an older/more successful/less isolated one, perhaps the "jewel in the crown" a la India, that now sees itself as the regional successor to the original Empire?

Alright. I still haven't settled on Britonia, but that's good to know.

The Romulan Republic wrote:Alright. I still haven't settled on Britonia, but that's good to know.

I haven't settled on Britonia either, if I go with that it will bring me into conflict with Thanas, so I'm still not sure.

Arcadia should be happy it/its constituent parts never colonized much. Less angry people who hate their guts

Eternal_Freedom wrote:

The Romulan Republic wrote:Alright. I still haven't settled on Britonia, but that's good to know.

I haven't settled on Britonia either, if I go with that it will bring me into conflict with Thanas, so I'm still not sure.

well, Rheinland probably will not invade any nation unless attacked first. Oh, and we conquered Britonia, so I am not sure how huge the resentment would be (except for the claim on all of former Britonia. Rheinland likes Westrheinland, thank you).

Britonia it is then. We feel grateful that you conquered them, but we feel you also robbed us of our rightful revenge and you occupy territory we have claimed from our eternal enemy.

So there.