Capto Iugulum

[EQandcivfanatic]

Emperor Harold II of Scandinavia and Kongo refuses to recognize the rule of the proletarist rabble currently frolicking in Stockholm. However, we are not willing to pursue our claims through military means, until we see that they are truly not dedicated to democratic rule. If full and free elections are not held in Scandinavia, with the option of our return to Stockholm on the ballot, we will consider the government illegitimate and take military action to restore true government to Scandinavia. At this time we view all of our alliances as politically binding, including the League of the Three Emperors and our treaty with the Franco-Burgundian Confederation, and we know our allies will stand by us in this dark time. Similarly, the Kongo Colonial Society will continue to manage and rule the empire, as we WILL retain order and defend our colonies against those who would seize them.

@Lord Iggy: Originally I was planning on doing a separate article for the evacuation efforts both by you and the League. I chose for editorial reasons to reduce it to a mention in a larger article. The problem wasn't so much that the effort was failure, in the grand scheme of things, it was actually fairly successful. The problem was that a large number of Prussians chose to stay and fight for their ancestoral homeland, hence the number of deaths there.

 

[spryllino]

To Occitania and the Pope
From the Confederation

We thank you for your condolences about the Paris floods this year.

To Emperor Harold II of Scandinavia
From the Confederation

We believe that your proposition is extremely reasonable and laud your commitment to compromise in the matter. We hope that a peaceful settlement of the issue can be found.

To Russia
From the Confederation

Your slaughter of women and children in Prussia is too barbaric for words, as well as being utterly unnecessary. While we can see the necessity of fighting rebels, we cannot help condemning your brutality in doing so. It is an indictment of nationalism, blind imperialism, and of unconstitutional rule, and we hope that this horror will stand as a momument and a warning to future generations, that all conflict should be resolved in peace and compromise, that all animosity should have a limit, and that men the world over should restrain themselves from acting through spiteful and irrational Nationalism.

May no such slaughter ever happen again at the hands of anyone.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

To: Workers Commonwealth of Scandinavia
From: Vinland

We too endorse a democratic resolution to this impasse. Vinland offers itself, as a neutral state and cultural sibling of Scandinavia, to serve as overseers of a general and fully-enfranchised election to determine the future of your nation.

 

[Quisani]

TO: Emperor Harold II
FROM: The Empire of Japan

Word has reached the Imperial Court of our dishonorable deposal. We offer our sympathies, since your ancestor Empress Christina II rendered the Japanese people a great service long ago. To show our sincerity, we are willing to restore the economic rights that your nation held before The Great War.

TO: The United States of America
FROM: The Empire of Japan

This situation is regrettable. We have no quarrel with your nation, as we have held your people in high esteem for many years. While these events should reflect on the honor of your nation, we do not hold the rest of your nation accountable for the actions of a few. However, if these attacks continue, we will be forced to hunt down these aggressors and wipe them out, regardless of whose land they stand on and which country they belong to.

 

[Crezth]

OOC: Can't wait to see how many foreign interventions try and fail to restore order to the cold wastes of Scandinavia.

 

[Nailix]

To: Pope Paul VI
From: Italy

We are deeply saddened by the passing of Pope Leo, but would like to wish you the best luck during your time as head of the Church. Also we would like to offer you a defensive pact to help secure your position in the world and not allow you to be threatened as easily.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

So a few more questions for EQ:

Roughly how many Prussians, Poles and possibly Russians immigrated to Vinland this turn? Could I get a breakdown of the numbers and proportions? How are they integrating and where are they living now? Have there been any notable difficulties? When the genocide began in Prussia, where were my fleet and the 20 EP of transports that I had gathered, and what did they do?

Historically, Vinland has hosted a lot of foreign businesses operated out of Scandinavia, due to its history as a resource colony. Given the Accidental Revolution, what has become of these businesses and business owners? Have their managers retreated to Kongo in Harald's initial flight, did they flee to Vinland, did they go to some other nation or are they now under the control of the interrim Proletarist government?

 

[Lord of Elves]

From: Workers Commonwealth of Scandinavia
To: Royals
CC: International Community
"His Majesty's" proposal that a plebiscite be held to determine whether or not capitalist oppression be returned to the Scandinavian people and nation is laughable. Yet, we are willing to accept it, as there is no man, woman or child in Scandinavia who having tasted the freedom that the Revolution of the Proletariat offers will throw it away for crowns, even for empire. The legitimacy of the Workers Commonwealth is plain to all those who value the democratic principle of self-determination. The people of Scandinavia have chosen proletarism, not all the people, but the majority. Those who so cowardly fled to our colonies, in the attempt to hold them illegitimately and deprive the proletariat of those rightful territories, represent a powerful and corrupt minority. The Revolution of the Proletariat is eternal, it will go on and on, its sons and daughters marching forth into the future uninterrupted by all this capitalistic squabbling. If we must hold this "plebiscite" to prove this, then so be it.

From: Workers Commonwealth of Scandinavia
To: Vinland
The true democracy of Vinland has always been an example to the proletarists of Scandinavia. We value, just as much (if not more) as our former capitalist oppressors did, our friendship and cultural bonds with the people of Vinland, despite the fact that Vinland apparently finds it necessary to smother its democracy with the presence of a monarch. We suppose that if the world believes a plebiscite must be held to prove the sincerity of the Revolution, we would want Vinland to arbitrate it. Someday we hope you will join the Revolution, brothers.

From: Workers Commonwealth of Scandinavia
To: Concerned Parties
We will hold your plebiscite. But we demand that if the plebiscite proves the just validity of the Glorious Peoples Revolution of the Scandinavian Proletariat, that the Emperor and his Kongo Society lackeys be made to turn over the rightful colonial territory of the Workers Commonwealth immediately. We are very busy men, as you can imagine, and the Revolution of the Proletariat is our concern. With the capitalists in control of, let us say it again, the rightful territory of the sovereign Scandinavian state (us), we cannot bring proletarism or indeed even stability to our colonies.

From: Workers Commonwealth of Scandinavia
To: Netherlands
This disappoints us greatly. The Scandinavian proletariat had admired the people of the Netherlands, our brothers in spirit (so we thought), thrusting off the chains of capitalist oppression and adopting the series of reforms that has brought such prosperity and health to the workers of your nation. We see that you are little more than liars, pretending to support the Revolution for your own purposes. Someday the people of your otherwise great nation will join the Revolution, like all mankind, and that day we will welcome you back into the fold of proletarian brotherhood.

@Lord Iggy, the royal family of Scandinavia probably has to be House Holstein-Gottorp, given that Bernadotte was inserted to appease the French, and we haven't really had that problem.
EDIT: I really have no idea. There are good reasons why Holstein-Gottorp couldn't be it, either.

 

[m.t.cicero]

To: the Franco-Burgundian Confederation
From: Flanders

You have our condolences for the floods in Paris.


To: Pope Paul VI
CC: the League of Continental Nations
From: King Leopold IV of Flanders

We applaud your election to the Papacy, and believe that the Curia has chosen most wisely. We also would like to extend to you an invitation to give the Second Annual Continental Address. After the success of King Ingvar of Vinland's address to the League of Continental Nations General Assembly, we are starting a tradition in the League of giving leaders whose ideas we believe are leading the world in the right direction the honor of giving a full formal address to the League. We hope that you accept our invitation.


To: Occitania
From: Flanders

You are of course, as a member of the league, invited to join the Continental Balompie Cup. We welcome Occitania's newfound sense of community with the rest of Europe.


To: Russia
From: Flanders

We are gravely disappointed by your barbaric actions in Prussia. The wholesale slaughter reported by League observers there horrifies us, and know that you have eliminated any goodwill and trust that has existed between our nations. Your actions in Poland were not regarded as completely proper by Flanders, but we were willing to look past that, as Russia is a cornerstone of the League of Continental Nations. The tragedy that has taken place in Prussia cannot be overlooked however.


To: Scandinavian factions
From: Flanders

We heartily endorse the Emperor's proposal, but if the proletarist government does win the referendum, we are willing to acknowledge them as Scandinavia's legitimate government. We also categorically reject military intervention as a means to solving this internal political crisis, which is so different in nature from the continuing crisis in the Roman Empire. We do hope that the current de facto rulers of Scandinavia proper will continue to deal with Europe and the League in a most friendly manner as they have in the past, once this is all over. And we hope that the proletarists in Stockholm will not attempt to ally with nations outside of the League of Continental Nations, inviting intervention on the European continent from outside nations, particularly Great Britain and Brazil. Though we cannot dictate Stockholm's foreign policy, we are willing to deal cordially with both factions so long as nations from outside of the League are not invited to intervene.

OOC: Three King Leopolds, hopefully this doesn't become confusing EQ, was that the RNG or your own personal preference?

 

[EQandcivfanatic]

AN IMPORTANT NOTE ON MODERATOR AVAILABILITY: I will be out of town this upcoming weekend. If you have questions for me, make sure you ask them before Friday afternoon, if you want a response before the update.

@Lord Iggy: I'll be distributing new manpower and immigration with the next update, as it's going to be my habit to do it on the "0"s. That'll give you the actual practical amount of refugees. As stated in the update, most ultimately went to Brandenburg from Prussia, so I'd estimate probably between 40-50k Germans migrated to Vinland on your fleet. As for the genocide, how it happened is explained in depth, and most of the Germans chose to stay and fight for their land and homes, and quite a few DID make it to your ships and across the border, both before and after the slaughter began. As for difficulties of integration, I'll point out that Vinland is an immigrant nation home to numerous minorities over the course of Swedish rule and after. Assume no news on that is good news. As for the Scandinavian business, yes, the owners who had property in Vinland likely fled to Vinland, those with property in the empire AND Vinland are more likely in Kongo at the moment.

@m.t. cicero: strangely, that's just how it worked out. Didn't realize we'd be getting two Leopolds in one turn.

 

[Muurya]

To the Chair of the League-Flanders, from Occitania:
Thank you. We will attend.
Regarding the situation in Scandinavia, which is of some concern to us as we are just now embarking on the writing of a constitution... we hope that you will add to the requirements that elections must continue to be held no more than 10 years apart. It will not do for the traditional proletarists to ride to electoral victory on a wave of delusions that legitimizes generations of dictatorship following on its heels.

 

[TheLastJacobite]

To World
From Russia
Re: Scandinavia

We continue to stand by Emperor Harold, the true ruler of Scandinavia. We consider any attack upon his holdings to be an attack upon Russia. We will aid him by whatever means necessary in dealing with the usurper Proletarist government however he so chooses.

To Bulgaria, Pontic Republic
From Russia

We urge you to accept the terms offered by the Roman Empire and finally end the bloodshed

To Kingdom of Italy
From Russia

We welcome you at last to the world stage. We are proud to have been able to aid you in your long struggle for unification. We look forward to a long and prosperous relationship between our two nations.

To Japan
From Russia

As we previously discussed, we wish to arrange a summit for our two nations to discuss possible increases in trade and technological cooperation.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

From: Workers Commonwealth of Scandinavia
To: Vinland
The true democracy of Vinland has always been an example to the proletarists of Scandinavia. We value, just as much (if not more) as our former capitalist oppressors did, our friendship and cultural bonds with the people of Vinland, despite the fact that Vinland apparently finds it necessary to smother its democracy with the presence of a monarch. We suppose that if the world believes a plebiscite must be held to prove the sincerity of the Revolution, we would want Vinland to arbitrate it. Someday we hope you will join the Revolution, brothers.

@Lord Iggy, the royal family of Scandinavia probably has to be House Holstein-Gottorp, given that Bernadotte was inserted to appease the French, and we haven't really had that problem.

To: Workers Commonwealth of Scandinavia
From: Vinland

Our Monarchy has served a valuable role in the past, as mediators of our democracy and sources of stability in turbulent times. No formal legislative power resides in the hands of the King, so we have few concerns that our proud democracy is in any way limited.

Vinland will begin preparations, alongside Flanders, to host an election in Scandinavia. Our current draft suggests the presence of two votes: one to be held between the various parties to determine the new head of government, and another to be a negative or affirmative vote on whether or not the Monarchy of Scandinavia shall be maintained. Alternatively, we could simply hold one vote, and then the newly-formed government could hold a vote amongst elected members of the Riksdag to modify the Scandinavian constitution to remove the Monarch as the nation's head of state.

And regarding a global revolution, it has generally been the view of Vinland's Socialists, such as Opposition Leader Grim Magnusson, that the ideals of the working population are best achieved by working within the system, rather than by forcibly overturning the government as it stands. Your willingness to demonstrate your legitimacy through this democratic process bodes well, should you wish to demonstrate that your government is capable of bearing itself in a legal manner.

OOC: I wish we knew a bit more about the point of divergence of this timeline, so that I could start to flesh out a more thorough version of Vinland's history. I've also decided that, regardless of what their previous name was, upon becoming the sole Monarchy of Vinland, my royals changed the name of their House to von Gyllensvärd, adopting a Vinlandic symbol (our main symbols being the Golden Sword and Triple Crown/Gyllensvärd and Tre Konor) as their own.

 

[Crezth]

To: Russia
From: The United Kingdom

We will not tolerate the devolution in Scandinavia as a pretense for Russia to add yet another nation into her deathly grip.

 

[Circuit]

To: Russia
From: The United Kingdom

We will not tolerate the devolution in Scandinavia as a pretense for Russia to add yet another nation into her deathly grip.

To: Russia
From: United States of America

We support the British in this regard.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

To: Russia
From: Vinland

The world has seen what comes of your interventionism. Allow elections to proceed uninhibited, so that a government may be established by the will of the Scandinavian people, and not by the Butcher of Konigsburg.

 

[Luckymoose]

TO: Russia
FROM: Brazil

We will do everything in our power, short of fighting a land war in Asia, to bring justice to your government.

 

[TheLastJacobite]

To UK, US, Brazil, Vinland
From Russia

We support Emperor Harold fully. If he chooses to resolve the matter peacefully, we honor that decision. If, on the other hand, he asks for our aid in reclaiming the throne his family has held for decades, we will gladly come to his aid. In that regard, we care little what the world thinks. He and his family are our oldest allies and we will help them in whatever way they need it, always and without question. Should that be the case, any nation supporting the Proletarist scum or hindering the Emperor returning to his homeland will be in a state of war with Russia

OOC: Anyone doubting the sheer joy I would take from that war need only look at the two words right below my user name

 

[Crezth]

To: Russia
From: The United Kingdom

We reiterate that military action taken against the Scandinavian people will be met with harsh resistance by the United Kingdom. We will not tolerate Russian expansionism.

 

[TheLastJacobite]

To: Russia
From: The United Kingdom

We reiterate that military action taken against the Scandinavian people will be met with harsh resistance by the United Kingdom. We will not tolerate Russian expansionism.

To United Kingdom
From Russia

And we reiterate that our alliance with the Emperor of Scandinavia necessitates we support him fully in this matter, in whatever manner he requires.