December World - game thread

[Sniiperman456]

Hungary proposes a defensive alliance to the Sublime Porte.

 

[Decamper]

The Sublime Porte confirms its defensive alliance with Hungary.

 

[justokre]

To the Taiping Invaders
From Emperor Guangtian of Da Qing

Your aggression is unwarranted. Remove your forces from my domain and cease bloodshed.

 

[Nuka-sama]

The Empress is presented

The Empress was presented, and her dress
And mien excited general admiration;
I don't know which was more admir'd or less:
One monstrous diamond drew much observation,
Which the King made sure she would possess
(In love or brandy's fervent fermentation)
Bestowed upon her, as the public learned;
And, to say truth, it had been fairly earned.

By Heinrich Zweilling

The Empress Ascendant

The woman under the tree
Empress, with three crowns of gold
She outsmarted cousins who could not see
How their princess could be so bold
Many had hoped to take her hand
Even more wished to control the royal seal
Now she was mistress of this land
And now to her they must kneel

By James Evans
​

The Empress Isabel, while a girl of only nineteen, had already been the subject of a dozen paintings and countless stanzas and poems, often depicting her beauty and more recently her wit. The Empress purportedly had an intense beauty regimen so that she might stave off any effects of father time, and encouraged dressmakers fleeing Europe to come to Rio so that they might ply their craft. It is hoped by many that poems of the Empress' beauty will soon be outnumbered though by poems of her victories for the realms of the Braganza.


OOC: The first poem is adapted from Lord Byron's Don Juan. The second is my own work.

 

[Nuka-sama]

The Treaty of Manila

1. The Empire of Portugal-Brazil and the Tokugawa Shogunate agree to enter into a treaty of trade for their mutual benefit
2. the Empire of Portugal-Brazil will be ceded certain trade rights in the Tokugawa South Pacific Islands (Australia-Oceania), details to be determined 3. The Tokugawa Shogunate will be ceded certain trade rights in Portugal-Brazil South East Asian Archipelago (South Pacific Islands), details to be determined
4. This agreement can only be cancelled or renegotiated by the mutual agreement of both parties

Signed Isabel I, Empress of Portugal, Brazil and Algarve

The Treaty of Porto

1. The Royal Commonwealth of Great Britain agrees to sell the colony of Patagonia to the Empire of Portugal-Brazil, for an amount to be named later
2. The Royal Commonwealth of Great Britain agrees to ensure the timely and orderly hand-off of the colony to Porto-Brazilian authorities
3. The Empire of Portugal-Brazil guarantees the rights of British citizens will be respected and their property protected from unlawful seizure.
4. Disputes regarding the treaty may be either settled by mutual assent of both parties, or can be arbitrated by a neutral third party agreed to by both sides.

Signed Isabel I, Empress of Portugal, Brazil and Algarve

 

[Ophorian]

The Treaty of Porto

1. The Royal Commonwealth of Great Britain agrees to sell the colony of Patagonia to the Empire of Portugal-Brazil, for an amount to be named later
2. The Royal Commonwealth of Great Britain agrees to ensure the timely and orderly hand-off of the colony to Porto-Brazilian authorities
3. The Empire of Portugal-Brazil guarantees the right of British citizens will be respected and their property protected from unlawful seizure.
4. Disputes regarding the treaty may be either settled by mutual assent of both parties, or can be arbitrated by a neutral third party agreed to by both sides.

Signed Isabella I, Empress of Portugal, Brazil and Algarve

The Lord Protector of the British Commonwealth assents to the Treaty of Porto.

 

[Ahigin]

FAQ - Part 4

• Can I come up with a new policy? Yes, absolutely. Describe it to me and explain why it could be a permanent policy, not just a temporary quest. Feel free to let me know what bonuses it should be giving. If I accept it, you can include in your orders that # number of units will be working on shaping a new policy. I'll then create a Regional Quest for you. Once you (and other nations) complete that quest, a new policy would appear, and anyone would be able to reform to it. (Yes, you'd still have to pay for the reform, even if you originally created it.)
• Can I come up with a new technology? Yes. Same as with a policy, describe it to me. Don't go too granular ("Mosin-Nagant 1891 rifle with a hunting scope") or too vague ("I want better guns!"). If I like your idea, I will let you research it. But remember that you first have to either activate or discard another tech research from that group in order to open the way to the new tech. After that, it's just like any other research.
• How many resources can I spend/trade on the same turn, not counting losses? Up to the amount listed in the Leftover columns (which are the very right) of the National Stats tab (December World Stats workbook).
• If I purchase resources from one nation, can I sell what I purchased on the same turn? No, you can't. Trade only up to your Leftover values.

 

[Shadowbound]

• How many resources can I spend/trade on the same turn, not counting losses? Up to the amount listed in the Leftover columns (which are the very right) of the National Stats tab (December World Stats workbook).
• If I purchase resources from one nation, can I sell what I purchased on the same turn? No, you can't. Trade only up to your Leftover values.

aka the Pacific Directory rule.

From Russia
To Hungary
If these officers truly acted without direction we trust Hungarian justice to be unerring and decisive. Else we Europeans are little better than Boers or Asiatics.

To France
We see you are having difficulties retaining the technical expertise to upgrade your calculating engine. Russia is the world's foremost authority on the subject and we would be willing to assist.

To Finland
We are excited to move forward with closer ties and diplomatic relations.

To Ukraine
Russia would like to cooperate with the Ukrainian government in tracking down members of this human trafficking ring that we believe operates in Ukrainian territory as well as Russian.

 

[Kyzarc Fotjage]

aka the Pacific Directory rule.

Whistles awkwardly
I can hardly help it if demand for Highest Quality Whale Oil and the fine men and women of the North Pacific who harvest it so far outstrips the supply. But don't worry, we're working on fixing that just as soon as we make sure the scruffy soon-to-be-Russians can't vote.

 

[Crezth]

The Free Boer Republik has an ANNOUNCEMENT to make regarding its present and future status as treaty partners with the Empire of Portugal-Brazil, which RECENT EVENTS have conspired to render ABSOLUTELY and COMPLETELY USELESS.

We have been informed by the ambassador from Portugal, and via sources in the Boer Republican embassy in the Portuguese capitol-complex, that the interests of the Empire of Portugal-Brazil, far from sponsoring the peace, exist in the same straits of imperialistic aggression as their apparent newfound allies in the so-called Royal Commonwealth of Great Britain. What we actually know to be the insidious British Empire, responsible for countless years of oppression against the free peoples of Boerika, and which we have had cause to believe has been responsible for countless operations of sabotage and civil disorder in the Kaaplaand region, encouraging their fifth column of displaced and disaffected to maintain their eternal loyalty to the shackelrous rule of Absolute Monarchs.

To wit, the ambassador from Portugal has declared to us, in no uncertain terms, that the British interest of despoiling and destroying the Free Boer Republik is shared by Portugal - that, unless we agree to capitulate to these interests and more, they will be forced to wage offensive war against us, attacking our ports and sailors, occupying our cities, and threatening to restore Imperial rule over the Kaaplaand and throughout Boerika.

My friends, we have all known that the terrorism of Britishness hangs over us like a cancer, and the thorough disobedience of the English fifth column in the Kaaplaand is evidence of that in and of itself. Now it is clear to us that the Portuguese have no intention of fulfilling the obligations of the now laughably titled "Boer-Braganza Accord" which they signed with us no less than one year ago. Such blatant disrespect for our nation's sovereignty cannot go unanswered. Therefore, as a response to the Treaty of Porto and the Portuguese diplomatic insult, we are recalling our special mission to Brazil, and suspending the special privileges extended to citizens and traders of the Portuguese empire. Let it be known henceforth that the military alliance and non-aggression pact of the Boer-Braganza Accord is recognized by the Free Boer Republik to be held in contempt of the Portuguese government and therefore is null and void UNLESS the Empress of Portugal-Brazil herself issues an IMMEDIATE apology to the Boer ambassadors and publicly pledges that Portuguese neutrality in any and all disputes between the Boer nation and the hated, evil, criminal, Satanic empire of Great Britain.

This declaration has been issued and ratified by the Boer Kongres, the highest legal authority in Boerika.

CITED: Der verdrag von Porto, 1891

The Treaty of Porto

1. The Royal Commonwealth of Great Britain agrees to sell the colony of Patagonia to the Empire of Portugal-Brazil, for an amount to be named later
2. The Royal Commonwealth of Great Britain agrees to ensure the timely and orderly hand-off of the colony to Porto-Brazilian authorities
3. The Empire of Portugal-Brazil guarantees the rights of British citizens will be respected and their property protected from unlawful seizure.
4. Disputes regarding the treaty may be either settled by mutual assent of both parties, or can be arbitrated by a neutral third party agreed to by both sides.

Signed Isabel I, Empress of Portugal, Brazil and Algarve

CITED: Die Boer-Braganza Ooreenkoms, 1890

The Boer-Braganza Accord

1. A mutual military alliance will be agreed upon between the Free Boer Republic (FBR) and Portugal-Brazil (PB). Either party can terminate with a one year notice to the other party
2. A non-aggression pact shall be agreed upon for the duration of the alliance.
3. A mutual agreement to settle conflicting colonial claims peacefully
4. A mutual agreement to lower trade barriers and investment for one another

Signed Empress Isabel I of Portugal-Brazil

 

[Ahigin]

I have updated the second post with a list of updates and maps.

From Finland
To Directorial Russia
We are equally happy about establishing closer ties with you.

From Ukrainian Hetmanate
To Directorial Russia
As of now, it seems like the human traffickers are lying low across our nation, perhaps scared away by your brilliant investigation effort. We do not oppose your investigative efforts on your own territory, and we will make sure to cooperate with the Russian police if we make any local findings.

 

[Nuka-sama]

It seems there has been some misunderstanding. The Imperial ambassador has clearly committed a faux-pas and did not accurately represent Her Majesty's wishes. He has been reassigned, and our new ambassador is committed to reassuring the Boer government of our committment to the Boer-Braganza Accord.

 

[Crezth]

The Boer Kongres has reviewed the matter and reappointed the commission to Braganza. The Empress' reassurance against British mischief alleviates our concerns and we trust there shall be no further disputes regarding the English situation. We thank the Empress for her discretion and wisdom in overseeing this matter.

 

[Immaculate]

The Treaty of Manila

1. The Empire of Portugal-Brazil and the Tokugawa Shogunate agree to enter into a treaty of trade for their mutual benefit
2. the Empire of Portugal-Brazil will be ceded certain trade rights in the Tokugawa South Pacific Islands (Australia-Oceania), details to be determined
3. The Tokugawa Shogunate will be ceded certain trade rights in Portugal-Brazil South East Asian Archipelago (South Pacific Islands), details to be determined
4. This agreement can only be cancelled or renegotiated by the mutual agreement of both parties

Signed Isabel I, Empress of Portugal, Brazil and Algarve

​

Signed,
Bugyō Ōta Ieyasu,
Director of Foreign Affairs,
Shogunate of Japan

 

[Seon]

Gott Mit Uns!

-An excerpt from a seminar and lecture among the military academician of the Bundeswehr

Gott Mit Uns! This battle cry used to be the battle cry of the Royal Prussian Army during the days when the Konig still ruled over the German Federation. Unofficially, this battle cry and motto is still popular within many of the units within the reorganized Bundeswehr. But is God truly with us? That is to say, is God truly with the German Federation? The Royal Prussian army who cried this motto could not save the Konig from being ousted from power, so what guarantees that the socialists or worse, reactionaries, will not topple the Council of Savants much the same way as they did the Old Order? God certainly appears to have favored the Council of Savants when they succeeded in overthrowing the Kaiser and introducing our current Federal constitution. God certainly seems to have favored the Lord Protector and the House of Hannover too, for avoiding the same fate as our own Konig suffered when he was overthrown. He appears to have favored the Communards too, when they overthrew Emperor Napoleon, but also appear to have favored the Ottoman Sultan and the Shogunate in Nippon. How does our Lord Almighty favor so many disparate peoples and interests who are all opposed to each other, and what does it mean for the phrase, Gott Mit Uns?

Answer is quite simple--God is with the strong, not the just nor the fair nor even the good, and he is most certainly never on the side of the poor and the weak. If there is a man with money and a man with no money, God will favor the wealthy. If there is a man with guns and a man without, God will favor the armed. If there is only one man on one side, and a thousand in the other, God will favor the thousand over the individual. The disparity of the ideologies and causes of the powerful in the world thus points to a simple truth: it is power that supports a cause, and cause is incapable of generating power. The Communards came to power within France not because of inherent superiority in their ideology, but because the power of the people of France, tired of war and imperialistic ambitions, overpowered those of their Emperor. Lord Protector was able to save the monarchy not because of some inherent superiority in a monarchic way of governance, but rather the power of his military overpowered those of the people of London. As the man who controls the present controls the past, these usurpers of power are then considered good and just, and will have always been good and just, their ascent to power inevitable just as the decline of those who they overthrew were.

But how does this relate to the mission of the Bundeswehr? Let us begin such discussion with another question: does the North German Federation exist?

The physical entity of the North German Federation certainly does, stretching across the Baltic coastline and Hannover like a particularly long and fat snake. But what does the North German Federation mean? We have no King to grant us meaning through mere existence. The Council of Savants maintain that we are a secular federation free from religious politics (although political theorists would disagree). Science and technology worshiped by so many intellectuals within our Federation cannot imbue meaning to anything, only explain material phenomenons. Is it a Federation that represents the German People? If so, how does one explain the so many French, Dutch, Czech, Jews, and Polish who are accepted within our Federation as citizens like you and I? Do not look to me for the answers: I cannot provide the answer to this question because I do not know your answer.

I personally know why I fight for the Federation. I fight for it because I believe it to be an idea: an idea for the people of Northern Europe united in Peace and Progress for All. This may not be the answer for some among you, and that is completely fine. I am only human, no different from another. The fact that there are no kings nor state religion in the Federation means that there is no power in the Federation that can tell you why you must fight and die. This meaning, you must determine for yourself. Once you have determined this answer for yourself, either through discussion or deep seated beliefs, you will have no choice but to become cunning and strong, as only by becoming so will you be able to protect the meaning that you have come to.The Bundeswehr will demand more from you than any other military in the world--it will demand that you decide for yourself why you fight and for you yourself to protect that meaning with your might. It will demand that you do more than simply follow orders: remember that orders come from people just like you and me, and that they can be just as fallible as any other human being. Just as you have determined for yourself what the Mission of the North German Federation is, you must determine for yourself what the Mission of the orders you have received are. If the details of the order contradict the Mission, then it is your responsibility to find the superior path that will lead towards the success of the Mission.

So determine for yourself: What is the mission of the North German Federation? How can you best serve the mission, and if the details of the North German Federation contradict its mission, how can you serve to correct it? Only once you are able to answer these questions in reasonable ways, will you be able to move on to the next part of the lectures: dissection of military structure, chain of command, and the nature of orders from a superior officer.

 

[Crezth]

Editorial to Die Politieke, a centrist publication based out of Pretoria. year of publication: 1891.

The Troubles of the English Problem and the BRP
by Marc Sangnier
Marc Sangnier is a French expatriate who fled the communard révolution to Algeria, where he studied with other expatriates and Maghrebi political thinkers at Tlemcen Université. He now lives in Pretoria as a tenured professor of political science and history at the University of Pretoria, and oversees the Boer literary society he founded named La Societé Républicaine. His seminal work, titled in Afrikaans* The Second French Revolution, describes the rise of communard political thought in France, and the resultant consequences for republicanism and Catholicism in the French nation.
*die Tweede Franse Revolusie

BY all accounts the most crucial issue affecting Boer society today is the issue concerning the English in the Kaaplaands. It has dominated the politics of the Kongres to the exclusion of every other major concern - the deep-sea fishing rights of the communities of Durban and the petitions of the agricultural workers of Kimberlei have hardly registered by comparison. No doubt this has been due to the recent supremacy in the Kongres of the Boer Republican Party (Boere Republikeinse Party, BRP) who unseated the United Democratic Alliance in 1889 on their platform of pro-Portuguese, anti-British posturing. Although the United Democrats have now dissolved and other parties have been petitioning new signatures (again I point to Kimberlei, where the newly popular Worker's and Farmer's Party {Party van Werkers en Boere} has framed its petitions in the form of a party constitution distinctly in the style of the French Communards, a matter I have desperately tried to make my colleagues more aware of even while they continue to bang on about the English); the BRP has directed the policy of the Republik since then and remains popular enough to control a majority of the Kongres by itself, despite infighting that has only grown in severity.

I reported in 1889 in my letters to Doktor Waldemar** that the BRP's campaign was predicated on the growing resentment separating the societies of the English and the Boers in the Kaaplaands, and that the United Democrat strategy of "mutual reparation" had only succeeded in facilitating capital flight from those same regions. The growing sentiment, therefore, was that the English settlers who remained were alienated from the Boers; and the English businessmen had no interest in pursuing good common to their Boer neighbors. The BRP capitalized on these sentiments by stoking the latent fear that the British crown had an active hand in these English businesses, who remained loyal to the Lord Protector and the crown he protected, and that the British had therefore not "given up" on the Kaaplaands as the United Democrats insisted they had.

What has come to pass since then is moreorless the logical realization of this policy, which is the fomenting of civil disorder in the region. English gangs, in many cases forced into smuggling activities below the law on account of their passports being confiscated and their businesses forcibly seized, reacted in-kind to the expansion of Republican Guard units to these cities, especially in Kaapstaad where we have heard many stories of Guardswatch aggressively, and in some cases overzealously, clamping down on these smugglers. The situation is far from tolerable, which Boers and English alike living in fear of one another and of the next gang or liberally-overseen guard unit breaking down their doors. The city of Port Elizabeth has not issued a new customs license in over 8 months as a result of the shipyards being forced to close, and the city of East London, as a result of the rioting, is heavily ruined; reports indicate that as many as 50% to 80% of the city's population has been forcibly displaced. Governor-General Saaft has, in light of these facts, declared the operation a terrific success.

The past year has seen an enormous demographic shift we will not be made fully aware of for years to come, it seems. Many English have been deported and British sailors no longer frequent these waters. As I maintain now, as then, that this was indeed the entire purpose of the BRP's policy, then it can indeed be called a "success" on its own merits; but not, I would argue, in the merits of Boer Republicanism (something Doktor Waldemar admitted in a letter to me posted this past month). It is hoped that normal order can be restored to the Kaaplaands within the next year, but what shall be the essence of this "normal?" It will be a normal without English; English who, for many years, lived and worked alongside Boers. Whether or not the police action was justified is immaterial to the fact that the situation has changed in the Kaaplaand, and that formerly prosperous cities now lay in ruin.

However, of additional interest to me is the role of the Commonwealth of Great Britain in this regard, as well as the BRP's darling alliance in the Empire of Portugal and Brazil. Far from responding to the BRP's rhetoric, the Commonwealth has seen fit to ignore it completely; a fact that quite evidently bristles the important ego of the BRP. While I wouldn't argue the Commonwealth can be friends, as certainly their rhetoric in the past has suggested we cannot, it is not entirely clear that they are the enemy which is facing the Free Boer Republik right now. This is the tension which currently erodes the BRP's popularity in the cities.

The darling alliance with Portugal was jeopardized by exactly this tension which "snapped" amidst a perceived threat to Boer independence against a British conspiracy. The threat was entirely phantasmal, but the idea of it was very real, and this motivated the BRP to pass an emergency resolution condemning Braganza, which has since been withdrawn by a supermajority coalition including one-half defecting BRP members, disappointed with their fellows. While forming a coalition outside of the party is not unusual, splitting from the party to form that coalition is generally reckoned a death knell for the party if the issue cannot be repaired.

Verteenwoordiger (Representative) Gerbrant van die Berge, who spoke for the dissenting BRP, claimed that the Treaty of Porto between Portugal and Britain in and of itself constituted a breach of trust with the Portuguese that demanded them to sever ties, regardless of the Empress' reassurance. Therefore they constituted their dissent on a notion of extreme anti-British sentiment which demanded an "embargo den embargo", or an embargo of Britain reinforced by an embargo of British trading partners. That being the dissenting remark, the Kongres adjourned for the season.

So, then, what is the future of the BRP? It cannot be said for certain. However, rumors of a schism are circulating, and it's expected that a large part of the BRP's base will liquidate accordingly, though how much cannot be said for sure. However, if at least a large part remains - say, 30% - then they will continue to be influential in Boer politics and the Kongres for the immediately foreseeable future, and they will be remembered and characterized by their extreme Anglophobia, and schizophrenic Portophilia.

**Doktor Heinrich Wulfrich Beuregard Waldemar III is the chairman of the Free Republican Party, which split from the coalition with the United Democrats to support the agenda of the BRP, losing a third of the FRP's seats in the process to the BRP. He is a third-generation Boer of property and class, lettered in natural and political philosophy, who advocates "noblesse oblige et réponibilite personale."

 

[Seon]

Imagine London, once an unassuming merchant village under the Roman Empire, now the beating heart of the British Empire. Rails stretch out from this immense city to every other city and town of importance within the British Isles, draining them of resources, people, and dreams in order to sustain its own cancerous growth. The city now crawls upon at an ever increasing pace along the River Thames, rendering forests uninhabitable, water undrinkable, and air filled with smoke. This process of urban crawl and rendering of most of their country into a periphery fills the British with much pride, and they constantly boast of their glorious jewel of a city at the heart of their Empire, even as the city grows bloated and fat like a particularly virulent tick.

Imagine Paris, once the hall of kings at some semi-important city in Gaul, and now the soul of all Frenchman in this world. The city crawls and grows along the River Seine much as London does, with rails stretching to every other communes and townships within the French nation. Culture, once so different between the Brittanians, Normans, and Occitans, have mostly been unified through connection with Paris, city whose ideas and ideals now spread among all French communists like a particularly virulent disease, the process of which fills the French with unspeakable amount of pride when they boast of the City of Lights as being the heart and soul of culture in Europe.

To those who harbor sympathies for these cities, I ask you this question: Can the British Empire exist without London? Can Communard France exist without Paris? Both of these cities are so important, so valuable, and so integrated with both the leadership of the nation and its industry and culture that it is unimaginable for the very idea of these nations to exist without these cities. This is not strength--it is a vulnerability. What happens if a disease, disaster, or financial collapse ruin these keystone cities? All of the nation must suffer, as no other city is capable of supporting such a behemoth. In essence, Londoners and Parisians have each become more English and French then the English and French can ever hope to be.

Imagine Berlin, once the heart of the Prussian Kingdom, and now the heart of the North German Federation. It is not as large as London and Paris, and the King who used to rule the city now live as a simple duke somewhere in Prussia. Industry is not concentrated in this city, and its culture does not dominate that of the rest of the Federation. It must not be allowed to become as large as London and Paris to the North German Federation.

We must accept this simple truth in order to avoid the French and British mistake: the state is far more than a city. It is a people, of different creeds and nationalities united under the same laws. The people in the villages of Hannover and Prussia are just as German as a Berliner or Frankfurter, and their interests must also be served by the State. These people must be able to participate in our markets, our institutions, and our culture just as the people in cities such as Berlin, Frankfurt, and Prague may. We cannot concentrate wealth into the cities, as it would isolate these people away from our markets and make their participation into the Federation negligible. We cannot concentrate culture into the cities, as it would make the people of the villages and farmsteads question their own relevancy. Federation must follow the path of decentralization of economic and cultural relevancy, rather than its centralization.

After all, the cities will always remain relevant, but the fates of small towns and villages are questioned almost every day. We reject the idea that centralization is simply the natural course of national development simply because the French and the British say so--the German Federation must blaze its own path in history rather than follow any examples set by bygone foreigners.

 

[Ophorian]

On behalf of the Protectorate Ward of the Royal Commonwealth of Great Britain, the British embassy in Sardinia-Piedmont announces the following:

The Pact of Turin

1. The Royal Commonwealth of Great Britain and Piedmont-Sardinia hereby announce entry into a defensive military alliance.

 

[Brougal]

Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont confirms this.

 

[tobiisagoodboy]

The Italian goverment drinks Espressos and eats some fine Italian pastries