A Futile Gesture

@Lord of Elves muahaha. Do you mind if I cook up some NPC ideas and toss em at you? I was gonna propose a few things in Arabia and Siberia just to fill out the area.
 
I'd like to point out that Holy Columbia is EXTREMELY big, especially compared to its neighbors (ie me). Perhaps make it more decentralized or in the middle of a bit of turmoil or something, but it should not be able to throw its full weight around.

I'll be making npcs soon enough.

Oh, also, could you please switch my map color to either teal or brown? Green doesn't really fit the Republic imo.
 
Last edited:
Danwar said:
I'd like to point out that Holy Columbia is EXTREMELY big, especially compared to its neighbors (ie me). Perhaps make it more decentralized or in the middle of a bit of turmoil or something, but it should not be able to throw its full weight around.

I'll be making npcs soon enough.

Oh, also, could you please switch my map color to either teal or brown? Green doesn't really fit the Republic imo.
Click to expand...

Spoiler :


Yeah this is a fair complaint, actually. Holy Columbia is the size that it is because it seems logical to me that anyone who was able to hold onto the Pentagon and the D.C. area would ultimately dictate realpolitik on the east coast, but I have added regional borders to emphasize that Holy Columbia is decentralized in a similar manner to the Eu. Like all other regional borders their actual significance in the game is up to the player, though my thinking is that there is a disconnected, more or less self-governing Appalachia that is of little strategic use to the metropole and is allowed to do mostly what it wants (which is just sit there and chill), a New Orleans-centered Louisianan city-state, a Floridian principality of some kind and Miami-based city-state, the metropole itself and environs, a New Jersey-centered principality of some kind, a city-state of New York including Long Island, some kind of fief or principality in upstate New York, Toronto and its environs as a city-state, Montreal and its environs as a city-state and New England/Newfoundland which is left to its own devices somewhat like Appalachia but is more heavily populated as a result of global warming. Maybe the New England-Newfoundland bloc is actually pretty powerful. Who knows. Also for the sake of my sanity we will say that if floodwaters destroyed large parts of these cities in the 21st century, measures were implemented to defend the cities from rising sea levels and ultimately the land was reclaimed since the BT.

I'd also say that depending on whether or not I get any more applications in North America your borders could grow.
 
Double A said:
Mitchigan or bust tbh
Click to expand...

Debating putting Michigan in the Kingdom of Chicago. Also may add a separate city-state region for Detroit. Out of respect, you know?
 
How do y'all feel about this?

Added are the Republic of Deseret, the Free State of Sonora (comprised of an indigenous confederation that long ago drove out settler populations and has reestablished traditional lifestyles), the Republic of Mexico - ruled tenuously from Mexico City but very decentralized and surrounded by indigenous states that resent it as a Christian polity - and the Community of Coyatocmoc, another pagan, indigenous polity that has reasserted itself since the collapse and is ruled from Tuxtla Gutiérrez. Coyatocmoc is a descendant of the Zapatista movement and deeply hostile to the Mexican state, which it has fought a number of wars with over access to resources and the border between the two.

Spoiler :
 
NPC suggestion:
A small but technologically advanced city-state built around one of the antarctic research stations. Isolation protected them from the fall of civilisation, global warming opened up space for agriculture and the high education level of the researchers made it easier to maintain and rebuild technology.
 
NPC Ideas: Pacific Far East​

The following are potential for NPCs

Spoiler map :
NPC ideas.png


The NPCs will work from south by west to east then northwards.

Light orange: Enlightened Kingdom of Myanmar: Theravada Buddhist Theocratic Monarchy, governed jointly by the Ashin Dynasty and senior Buddhist priests the kingdom has had successive conquests. Currently ruled by Queen Inzali.

Green: Generous Republic of Cambodia: noble republic, governed by a council of nobles and chaired by a Lord Minister. The electorate consists of the nobility and senior Theravada Buddhist priesthood. Annexed south Vietnam when the Xinyue Dynasty of China invaded the north. Is in tension with both Myanmar and China, as well as from Vietnamese secessionists. The current Lord Minister is Sao Saphal.

Cyan: Pearl Republic of Manila: Mercantile City State Republic: governed by a sect of merchant families, who elect a senior member from one of the families to serve as the Pearl Prince. The Dominion hosts its own papal sect of San Fernadon Catholicism, though the papal seat is shared by a triad of three senior cardinals only as the Vicars of the Trilogy. The papacy has great influence over the merchant families, though the spread of Sino Catholicism from trade with China may cause a little stir, as would the potential revival of Roman Catholicism in Manila. The current Pearl Prince is Mario Jones Mañalac, while the current popes are Jhaeri III, Raphael Toledo II and Saber II.

Dark Blue: Commonwealth of Taiwan: Oligarchical Mercantile Confederation: having split from China during the collapse of the Xinyue Dynasty the Commonwealth has maintained its sovereignty through alliances with Manila & Cambodia. Enjoying a synthetic religious diversity, mainly of Taoists & Buddhists, the country is governed by a Executive elected from a oligarchy of merchant families, the electorate consisting of the merchants, local nobles, priests of the faiths, leaders in the military and senior scholars. The current executive is Hsü Zhi.

Dark Red: Principality of Sakhalin: Dynastic Noble Autocracy: governed by the Maximoff Dynasty this ethnic Russian dominated power has founds its Russian Orthodoxy shared with Taoism after exiles from the brutal last period of the Xinyue Dynasty of China and (recently) both Sino Catholics & San Fernadon Catholicism from a mission set out by the Rizhaon and San Fernadon Popes respectfully. The current Prince is Rodion III.

Dark Cyan: Combined Clans of Kamchatka Krai: Tribal Confederation: ruled by several clans that follow shamanism inspired by both indigenous Slavic faiths and Russian Orthodoxy, the clans are bounded by a agreement of joint martial defence. In times of the need for unity the shamans choose among the warriors the War Chief to guide the clans. The most favoured figure currently to be a War Chief is the chieftess Misha of the clan known as Krasnyy Medved. Diplomacy tends to fall to the shamans and the most prominent of the shamans, the Grand Elder, is the face; the current Grand Elder is Vaska of the Treity clan.

 
Spoiler :


So I am going to take some of @Ailedhoo's ideas, but this is my take on Japan right now.

Honshu Conservancy(Tokyo) - Something very strange. The Conservancy is cut off from the world and very depopulated compared to its neighbors. They say that people made out of iron rule this land, and humans made out meat and bone bow down to them and their god, the machine emperor. The machine emperor long ago closed the Conservancy's borders to protect its inhabitants from the cataclysm gripping the outside world, and ceded northern lands to the Ainu to secure its borders. This is the only place in the world where machine-learning was allowed to reach the conclusion many feared: the usurpation of human self-determination by computers.

Glorious Restored Ainu Dominion(Sapporo) - After Honshu's seizure by artificial intelligence, the Ainu people gladly received the cession granted them by the southerners' machine god, and have mostly looked the other way, designating the rest of the island chain as damned and ruled by blasphemers, a literal hell on Earth. They have colonized Siberia and become a very populous and powerful nation with very limited, semi-secret trade with the Conservancy making them the second-most technologically advanced power in the region.

Too wild?
 
resineighbours.png


From north to south

The Kingdom of Cuyo (Rea de Cuni) is controlled by a king who claims to be descendant from the gods. The mountainous territory is dotted with fortifications and castles. Before the apocalypse, this used to be a lowly-populated and underdeveloped region of the world, so plenty of old technology (particularly in agriculture) is still in use, but the court of the Divine King heavily regulates usage of other ancient technologies.

The Mapuche Confederacy is a loose confederacy of various Mapuche tribes. Again, as a result of a few eastern areas being isolated from the rest of the world, old technologies survive to some extent, but some tribes have liberal policies in regards to their usage, making the confederacy the most advanced nation in comparison to its neighbours.

The Pategani Kingdom is a state mostly made up of nomadic tribes. The king only takes over at periods of war but he only has nominal control over the tribes in periods of peace.

filli_noctus said:
NPC suggestion:
A small but technologically advanced city-state built around one of the antarctic research stations. Isolation protected them from the fall of civilisation, global warming opened up space for agriculture and the high education level of the researchers made it easier to maintain and rebuild technology.
Click to expand...

I know I am not the GM, but I approve of this idea. May I suggest doing something similar on the Falklands Islands? The islanders would have nominal allegiance to the Pategani Kingdom but the population would also be made up of scientists trying to keep old technologies and occasionally trading with their nominal overlords (and smuggling bits and pieces of technology to the other nations in the region).
 
NPC Suggestion: A xenophobic isolationist Quebec that has a state religion built around the "Divine Language" (French) and kills anyone who tries to enter their lands that cannot speak it.
 
npc suggestion: roaming nanobot horde that lives in the ocean and plays Enya to entrance and devour humans
 
Spoiler :


Okay, so. First off, the Honshu Conservancy and Ainu Dominion have, thanks to Crezth, been given more appropriate names, Hozensei and Aynu Mosir respectively. I've also added @Ailedhoo's NPCs minus Taiwan because the last time I was on the Discord people were planning to do something specific with it, and also something on Luzon because I think we're liable to have still more NPCs and I might just give the island to whatever ends up happening in present-day Taiwan. Secondly, I've added @TheGryphonPrince's NPCs though I would appreciate getting some capital cities from him because he almost certainly knows more about the area than I do, based off what he's written so far.

EDIT: @TheGryphonPrince I realized I somehow combined the Mapuche Confederacy and the Kingdom of Pategani. I'll fix that in the next map smdh

Thirdly, and most importantly, I have decided to drop the new African NPCs here for your approval with minimal background, names and capitals, with the hope that y'all will weigh in on what you want them to be like. In purple, the United States of Africa, in dark green the Sultanate of the Hausa and Fulani, in olive the Second Empire of Mali and in teal the Republic of Nigeria.

At the moment I picture the United States of Africa as being the descendant of a state that resembled the United States of America but today is actually a loose confederation of republics and kingdoms and nomadic peoples that have pledged their loyalty to the state. It is very large and diverse and powerful economically but weak militarily.

The Second Empire of Mali is its counterpart as the primary power in West Africa, a secular state but predominantly Muslim, ruled by an imperial house and highly centralized except for autonomous kingdoms in Guinea, what is now Liberia, Guinea, Ghana, the Ivory Coast and Togo. These regions are loyal to Mali but could, conceivably, rebel.

The Sultanate of the Hausa and Fulani is basically Mali's nasty henchman, a country that would not exist if it wasn't propped up by Mali. The Sultan is a warlord by any other name and delegates authority only to his drinking partners and trained decapitator; though heavily armed, without the diplomatic sanction and economic support of Mali, the Sultan's "government" would quickly crumble. In addition to his own forces, the Sultan maintains an alliance with nomadic tribes whose livestock graze within the Sultanate's territory, and in exchange for the recognition of the Sultan, these tribes often raid along the borders of Nigeria. Hausa and Fulani is foaming-at-the-mouth, as-seen-on-FOX-News, fanatically Muslim, and is something of an embarrassment for its secular Mali allies, but it is just too convenient to use to check Nigeria's potential influence, and were the people under the Sultan's rule left to their own devices they might quickly become a threat to the order the Empire of Mali has established.

Finally, the Republic of Nigeria claims direct descendance from the present-day Republic of Nigeria but was actually founded much later to protect Igbo, Yoruban and Biafran city-states' trade and their independence from the Hausa and Fulani who encourage nomads and paramilitary fanatics to periodically raid their borders, as they are infidels.
 
Last edited:
resineighbours.png


(note that I'm absolutely braindead as to the correct city placement of their proper OTL counterparts, but I tried to place them close enough to their original location)

Roseri is the capital of the Resi de Arrinea (yep, new name for the Resi de Panta), Vanpadren is the de-facto capital of the Mapuche Confederacy and Tuchina is the capital of the Kingdom of Cuni

The Pategani Kingdom doesn't have a stable capital because of chronic civil wars resulting in the dominating tribe changing hands every time they have an opportunity. Nonetheless, the tribe of Ravin is the most dominant tribe at the current moment, and Ravin is actually one of the very few agricultural communities in a Kingdom otherwise dominated by nomadic horsemen.

Bagidra (south), Assone (north) and Porse Arigla (east) are tribes that are nominally under Arrinese control. In fact, Bagidra normally swears allegiance to the Pategani king, but thanks to a recent civil war, the chieftain of Bagidra switched sides to Arrinea.
 
Wow cool NPC idea just copy-pasting what I wrote up in discord don't mind for now. Also fix hozensei capital pls.


Taymaru-kuku(edited)

With its capital at Nishataygasuku(edited)

A Ruuchuuan-Taiwanese Aboriginal state

Grew relatively wealthy off of transinsular trade, particularly with Hozensei, China, and Lion League. Still plagued with corruption and instability in its extremities: particularly Takauu (Kaohsiung), Uchina (Okinawa Island), and Anmi (Amami Islands)

(Nishataygasuku is literally the fortress/palatial complex from which Taymui is ruled; its surrounded by a chaotic, quickly growing 'urban' area—Nishataya; think the ger districts of Ulaanbaatar; Nishataya is in the province of Taymui)
 
siberiankingdoms.png

The five kingdoms of Siberia

Nation of Saggaria
Saggar-el
(Orange, located Yakutia)
Capital: Ozen Muna

Saggaria is located in the land that used to be the Sakha Republic, or Yakutia, in ancient times. Once a subject of the great Russian Empire, Saggaria has transformed into a fertile territory with lush grasslands supplied by the flowing Ölüöne river (Lena river). The people who live in Saggaria, called Saggars, largely live as freeholder peasants who pay tax to the city lords, who occupy cities that line the Oluone and extend their influence over the countryside. These cities are perfectly capable of raising armies to contend with external threats, and the capital city, called Ozen Muna, is seat to the doma which is composed of the wealthy representatives of each great city. Together, Saggaria comprises a confederation of merchant republics. There is no organized religion, however citizens follow traditions passed down by orthodox Christianity with some nascent shamanistic and animist proclivities. They speak a language much-descended from Sakha and Turkic, called Saggar.

Kingdom of Ormanel
Ormanxaliq Patshaligi (Орманхалық Патшалығы)
(Green, located northern Siberia)
Capital: Jerqabir

Ormanel is the land of the Ormans, who live in the north of what used to be Russian Siberia. A land of lush, vast forests, Ormans call themselves forest-people, or Ormanxaliq, in their native tongue of Ormanar - a Tatar language with significant Kazakh and Turkic influences. Ormans are hunters and loggers, and in the great walled city of Jerqabir, the Patsha (King) of the Ormans holds court. In Jerqabir, great ships are constructed from the endless timber of Ormanel and although the Ormans are not wealthy in other goods, their craftsmen and sailors are among the finest in the world, and the sheer size of their domain and the bitter cold temperatures of the wintertime make Ormanel a formidable kingdom.

Realm of Buryats
Boriaad Gazaar
(Cyan, located Irkutsk)
Capital: Barguzin

The descendants of the Buryats call themselves Boriaad, but they are actually hardly one-fifth Buryat by lineage. The Boriaad are descended from the Evenki people of the Baikal area, Mongol migrants, and Russian settler-folk who lived in Irkutsk, dwelling, fishing, and hunting in the forests and hills around Baikal for hundreds of years after the fall, largely insulated from the chaos of warmer climes. As the climate improved, Baikal gradually turned into a verdant paradise, and the inhabitants multiplied and began to build great cities. Literature and art flourished in the land and communication with southerners became more pronounced. The introduction of poetry from the Great Xun placed the Baikalans into contact with the great libraries, from which they learned more details about their mythologized ancient states of "Buryats" and "Russia." Wishing to give his people glory, Gan Mon Chazal, King or "Gan" of the Baikalans, wrote an epic poem relating his people to the world as "the Boriaads" and claiming his capital city to be the ancient city of Barguzin (actually located closer to what was in ancient times Irkutsk, and nowhere near Barguzin). The Boriaads' other name for themselves is Baikalad, as the name for Baikal has survived the test of time. The Boriaads speak a soi-distant Mongolic language form with significant Slavic influences that has lost almost all intelligibility with other Mongolic languages.

Krasnaya State
Krasnaya Meml
(Light yellow, located around Omsk)
Capital: Krasnayakrad

The Krasnaya Meml, or State of the Krasnaya, is a nomadic nation located in the lesser part of the Siberian steppe, straddling the Kazakh steppe alongside the Great Xun, which it frequently spars with and has paid tribute to for the better part of the last century. The history of the Krasnaya Meml is sparse, right down to their name, but it is possible they named themselves after the historic Russian city of Krasnayagrad. Krasnayans are egalitarian, warm, and humble, and are said to eat horses and dogs. Occasionally they will raid the Boriaads, the Ormans, and even the Xun for resources and largely live a steppe lifestyle. Krasnayans believe themselves to be descended from the great steppe empires and view the Great Xun, its much larger and domineering neighbor, alternatingly as a parental entity and as a nemesis that must be resisted, according to the needs of the times. They speak a language that is Kazakhi in grammar with many Slavic loanwords, and of all the Turkic languages in Siberia, probably speaks a form of Kazakh most unchanged from ancient times.

Belushya Kingdom
Belushya Ostrana
(Purple, located Novaya Zemlya/Arctic Ocean)
Capital: Belushya

Belushya is an enigmatic kingdom in the Arctic Ocean, located on an island that was, in ancient times, called Novaya Zemlya and a part of the Russian Empire. Of all the Siberian kingdoms, Belushya is perhaps the most Slavic. The Belushyans are descended from Russian settlers who lived on the island as officers of the Russian Empire, and thus also sometimes refer to themselves as the surviving nobility from the times of Great Russia. Of all the Siberian kingdoms, Belushya, too, most heavily romanticizes the Russian era and has heavily mythologized it. Belushyans are so-named as land of the white wales, and their standard has the visage of a white whale upon it. They view themselves masters of sailing and the Arctic Ocean, and their cold homeland can sustain some agriculture but largely they live off of the sea. Belushyans are mistrustful of foreigners, but are eagerly exploring the cold islands to the north of them, as they believe there is gold to be found there and because very large crabs exist there that can be fished for meat.
 
Spoiler :


Alright, here's where we're at right now. I am calling the state on the west coast the Federation and you can think of it as a very large merchant republic based out of Washington State/British Columbia that has an agricultural and urban heartland there that is able to project power south into what was once California, now almost entirely desert and beholden to its northern neighbors. Apologies to @TheGryphonPrince because I eyeballed the borders instead of copying his onto the map. Gonna get around to moving Hozensei's capital soon. Open to changes and suggestions with the Federation.

EDIT: Ugh I overlooked Belushya I'ma fix that
 
OOC: This contradicts a lot of things said in my OP. I’m having a better idea of how I want my nation to be run now. Stuff that’s here trumps the older stuff.

Political Hierarchy in Holy Columbia

The President is the most important role in Holy Columbia, however there are a few small but significant checks on their power that prevents them from being a truly absolute monarch. The first being the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court consists of Supreme Court Justices, the highest position in the bureaucracy of the Columbian Church. The Supreme Court may rule certain actions by the President as “Unconstitutional”, against the divine will of Congress. Supreme Court Justices are appointed directly by the President and confirmed by the Selectorial College. As the Harwey Family dominates the most important political institutions, the Supreme Court gives a large amount of leeway to the President. Only blatant attempts to change or circumvent the system would be enough to provoke the Supreme Court into declaring something unconstitutional. Despite their loyalty to the Harweys, all Supreme Justices are foremost loyal to the doctrine of Columbian Christianity and will stop any attempts to undermine it. The Supreme Court, after consulting with Divine Congress, may approve an attempt by the Selectorial College to override a Presidential Veto.

The President could not dream to rule over the vast lands of the East Coast himself. The lands of Holy Columbia are split into thirteen subregions known as States. Each State is ruled over by a Governor, except for the capital which is directly ruled over by the President. Governors are appointed by the President and rule for life. Generally the President respects the requests of the Governors when it comes to succession, assuming said Governor was loyal during his or her lifetime. Governors have a great deal of political autonomy due to the vast distances involved in the management of the East Coast.

Each Governor appoints two Selectors to serve in the Capital as part of the Selectorial College, as there are currently 14 States in the Union there are 28 Selectors. Being a Selector is a position of great prestige, despite many of its limitations. The main function of the Selectorial College is to determine the next President upon succession. The President has a line of succession based on our modern ages’ Presidential line of succession, however when the President dies those on the line of succession can only serve as Acting President until the Selectorial College confirms them. Any person nominated by a Selector is eligible to become President if they can trace their lineage back to the Founding Fathers. As the world lacks modern medicine, these claims are usually accepted at face value. The Harweys, who have dominated Columbian politics for generations, and the other major houses of Columbia are universally accepted as having divine blood. If is some doubt about the candidate’s divine ancestry, the Supreme Court is entitled to consult with Divine Congress to determine if the candidate does indeed have divine ancestry. An absolute majority (currently a minimum of 15) Selectors must vote for a candidate for them to ascend to the Presidency. If none of the Presidential candidates get absolute majority Selectorial votes, the selectors are forced to choose from the top three candidates. The Selectors are not allowed to leave the Selectorial Chambers until one candidate receives an absolute majority, which is a major incentive for Selectors to get on with their jobs as quickly as possible.

The Selectorial College can also pass laws and compel the President into action. However, the Selectorial College is effectively powerless outside of its role in determining succession. The President can veto any action taken by the Selectorial College (apart from its role in electing Presidents) unless 2/3rds (currently 19) Selectors vote to overturn the veto and the overturning of the veto is approved by a majority of the Supreme Court after consulting with Divine Congress. As one can imagine this very rarely happens, especially with the Harwey’s domination over Columbian politics. Selectors are often used as a means of communication between Governors and the President, with Selectors serving as representatives of the Governors in Holy Columbia.

When Presidents are elected, they are expected to change their last name. This is believed to be a tradition carried down from Presidents of the past. Usually the family name becomes the middle name of the President, having a middle name is seen as Presidential. For example, when the current President who was formerly known as Leonardo Harwey was Selected, he changed his name to President Leonardo Harwey Roosevelt.

The Harweys are to Holy Columbia what the Hapsburgs were to Austria and the Holy Roman Empire. They dominate the Capital’s politics and exert influence over the Governors to ensure the continued importance of their house. Few are completely pleased with their dominance, but fewer are incensed about it. Most consider it just a fact of life that the Harweys dominate. While a rogue branch of the Harweys, an ambitious noble family or a rebellious governor could use the mechanisms of the Columbian government to exert change, they would be facing an uphill battle.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Caesar of Bread
Idea for a game, is it good?
Replies
4
Views
582
Caesar of Bread
Caesar of Bread
Caesar of Bread
Ragnarok
2 3
Replies
52
Views
4K
Caesar of Bread
Caesar of Bread
Tee Kay
IOT Classic
Replies
18
Views
1K
Aiken_Drumn
Aiken_Drumn
Shadowbound
The United Divided 2
2 3 4
Replies
66
Views
6K
Caesar of Bread
Caesar of Bread
K
Two questions about two images.
Replies
11
Views
286
AcaMetis
AcaMetis
Top Bottom