IOT Developmental Thread

Signup idea as promised in my discord post:



Country Name: United Humanitarians of West America


Government/State Ideology: One party authoritarian state of mostly populist/socialist appeal. Founding constitutional documents set out the goals of the UHWA as ending global suffering, by any means deemed necessary. A permanent end to issues like housing, food, and health of the population are the forefront of action. Issues often put on the backburner (if not outright denied as problems) by the acting party members often include racial integration, education, and freedom of expression. Most likely pink?


Country Description: Founded from the collapse of Apartheid America, recent predecessors of what is now the UHWA rose to local power initially through leveraging the resent towards widespread foreclosures and poverty in city council elections. When the banks took real estate and evicted homeowners from their residences, who else would have saved Western America were it not for the Humanitarians? Who would have feed the hungry as prices skyrocketed from unrestrained inflation? Who would tend the wounded as riots and crackdowns swept the shores? Not the failed experiment, that much was quickly proven quickly. When Melaton Bupro was elected Governor of California by running on UHWA campaign slogans and support, Oregon and Washington quickly followed with UHWA candidates of their own. When capitalists ad landowners grew more and more frightened by the changing political climate of the 3rd millennium and tried to sell as many assets as they could as quickly as they could, it was the UHWA that bought the land, that purchased the tools, the seeds, the materials. When the country split into dozens of fractured states with the 2k Secessions, it was the UHWA alone that could bring order to the masses through public support and the combined arms of three former states.


Claims: California, Oregon, Washington, large contiguous sections of other West Coast states on a county by county basis. Stretch claims include all of the West Coast including western Canada and Baja California.


State Proficiencies: TODO


Capability Descriptions: TODO


Sources of Stress: 1. Racial divides from Apartheid America cause havoc within the voting base, as claims about unequal treatment and extreme domestic suffering is brought up whenever the Eastern Wars and other expansionary policies are brought up. This has grown to such a degree that even with the extremely tight grasp on media made in West America many homemade documentaries and pamphlets are disseminated through the public by myriad agitators, no single crackdown and arrest of non state ordained media publications is enough to quell the growing unrest. The decentralized and populist appeal of potential rival parties has lead to rumors that the UHWA’s time of abundance will soon draw to a close. 2. The beleaguered national guard has fought many a battle against rival secessionist states and without the federal government’s access to naval, missile, and air supremacy, the territories able to be actively provisioned for by the UHWA is diminishing. Combined with armed insurgencies of more racially unified parties within the state the ground forces of the state are being spread thin. With more and more tales of defectors within the troops and grumbling from higher ups, the bureaucracy of West America is at threat of a military coup.


Neighbouring NPCs: TODO
 
@J.K. Stockholme Will you be doing dibs or will you be screening applications? I assume the latter considering the limited signup slots.
 
I've been looking at the Autumn of Nations rules too, and I'm interested as well :)
 
I am interested too. Either something in Europe (Sort of democratic European Federation, with the larger nations like Poland or Germany shattered into smaller sub states) or maybe a BIG Egyptian Kingdom that survived thanks to rallying anti-communists around the king (as a sort of regressed constitutional monarchy with a influential military). A South-South American Union (most likely a military junta controlling CHile, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay)
 
Great. Happy to hear there's lots of interest.

As an FYI I've made a number of edits to the rules based on feedback and discussion of player signup ideas. I've highlighted the changes in yellow. Still tinkering around with it.
 
Screen me up, Scotty.
 
Because the first phase of Pale Blue Dot went so great, why not an entire game like that?

The Heart of Darkness

In the Heart of Darkness, players take control of a major world power during the 19th century, guiding it through alternating periods of long-term development and short crises. They will guide their nation through a century of immense change: industrialization, war, and revolution at home, and conquest and exploitation abroad.

Time advances in turns, with players submitting orders for each turn and the moderator processing the orders and drafting an update on the results.

After the initial start, there will be two types of turns:

  • Development Turns represent multi-year turns in which long-term investments are made in your nation and society. Players receive action points to influence their development during this period. Action Points are assigned based on the relative strength of the nation at the start of the turn.
  • Crises are short, immediate conflicts between two or more Great Powers. Players receive Diplomatic Weight in this crisis and line up on one side or the other: the side with the greater Diplomatic Weight will win. Diplomatic Weight is assigned based on the capacity of different nations to intervene and influence the outcome.

For Turn Zero, I’m looking for 5-8 Great Powers. There will be several rounds of development, beginning with initial pitches and then more detailed descriptions of the nations, shared lore, and initial spending.

Spoiler Initial Pitch :

Polity Name:
Color:
Territorial Claims:
Summary:


In your initial pitch, you are asked to target a date of approximately 1820, with no major historical divergences before 1750.

Because of the time period, there will be a strong bias towards certain concepts.
  • Great Powers are expected to emerge from certain regions.
    • It’s almost certain that Great Powers will emerge from Britain, France, and Russia.
    • Other European powers, such as Spain, Italy, Germany, or the Balkans, will have a strong preference.
      • There can be multiple German or Italian powers due to historical disunity.
    • There is potential for non-European powers in East Asia, India, or the Americas.
    • It would be a hard sell for an African power.
  • Great Powers will have a clear line of descent from the pre-existing political structure and be able to justify any changes.
    • Major changes will require commitments to make commensurate investments in Revolution and Reform, below.
For the first round, players should keep the following questions in mind, in order of priority:
  • Plausibility, does this nation fit well within the confines of the game and setting?
  • Capacity, does this nation have the sufficient resources and political structure to act as a Great Power?
  • Quality, is this Great Power well-written and interesting?
  • Integration, can this nation easily interact with the other Great Powers?
  • Mutual Exclusivity, does it overlap with another Great Power that fits my requirements better?
After the initial pitch, players will be selected to populate the world and asked to reconcile their histories into a common setting. They will also receive initial spending, between 4 and 9 points, which they will use to provide some hard statistics for their nation. These hard statistics are expected to align with your initial pitch: a maritime power without colonialism would be a difficult sell.

Spoiler Starting Spending Options :

  • Expansionism
    • Expansionism affects the starting size of your nation’s core territory in the game. It’s not just physical conquest, but political integration. A larger metropole is a powerful reserve of strength that is difficult for other players to materially damage.
  • Colonialism
    • Colonialism represents existing imperial adventures outside your core territory at the start of the game. While poorly integrated, they are a valuable source of raw resources and influence.
  • Spheres of Influence
    • Spheres of influence represent political control over nominally independent states, providing diplomatic capital and security for your nation. Spheres of influence will require maintenance, but will provide more influence over foreign affairs.
  • Revolution and Reform
    • Revolution and Reform represents efforts to sweep away the old order: aristocracy, guilds, and other feudal structures and create a more powerful and dynamic society by focusing on internal improvement. Successful reform at home can mitigate strain from other factors like industrialization and militarization.
 
Last edited:
Same
 
Top Bottom