Realpolitik of the Smoky Skies - The Reboot

[cpm4001]

Without getting into further discussion on the topic right now, I think the Senate aswell as my Cabinet are both out of our depth regarding your questions, Mister Absoluti, as we are just about to be dissolved with the 1842/43 (which year is it really?) election around the corner.

OOC: Very interesting update! Too bad about that Eiffel Tower going to Eruch, but hey - what is Civilization if not losing wonders when you only have a few turns left?

It's the end of 1843. And yeah, losing the Tower was a bit annoying...especially when I got really excited that we were going to beat Dalmace .

 

[Et_Absoluti]

As always I say, Eurucha delenda est!

 

[Melda]

Typing here from a little country town. . .

So it's 1843; has the Emperor dissolved the Senate yet?

Now, onto the 20 year term proposal. Given that it's the second time you've proposed it in two terms I'm guessing you must have valid behind the scenes reasoning for it.

As a player 20 year terms will seriously hamper role-playing opportunities unless we definitely have a stopover point about halfway (e.g. William won't serve forever but he's not prepared to retire just yet --- in ten years it might be a different story and I'd like the opportunity to introduce the new character who takes over from him; doesn't have to be at an election, it could be via casual vacancy in accordance with the Casual Vacancy Act 1822). So that's how I feel as a player: on-board with it as long as we can pause, even if only briefly, part of the way through instead of timeskipping twenty year periods all at once.

As a character, though, I don't know how any of us could justify generation long terms as it would seriously undermine democracy (even ten years is unreasonably long but we've managed to pretend it isn't thus far). The only thing I can think of (others may have better ideas) is that it is the Emperor himself who somehow compels the Senate into such an arrangement (maybe he doesn't like democracy, maybe he thinks elections are a waste of money so why not halve the expense?). Once it's legislated, though, presumably in the Fifth Senate it'll just be the new normal.

Thoughts?

 

[Heerlo]

So it's 1843; has the Emperor dissolved the Senate yet?

I don't know. But if he hasn't yet, then I will, because.......

Spoiler :

You should've known you hadn't seen the last of Palpy.

 

[Melda]

Classic

 

[Gurra09]

OOC: I agree with Melda's post on term lengths. Also, 20 turns is a long time when it comes to predicting the future. You would still have to stop somewhere midway through a term for new orders because it's hard to decide everything that is to be done within the next 20 turns. As a player it is, for me, still quite an effort to draft a plan for 10 turns ahead when it comes to small things such as where to move units, or how to react to diplomacy.

20 turn term lengths would also make campaigns harder to put together, as you can't really know what you want or what Pulias needs that far into the future. Do the POPs even know what they want for the next 20 turns?

 

[Wyverncraft]

Well, making decisions about complicated things such as troop movement, if done on shorter intervals, would probably allow the twenty year terms to be much more feasible.

 

[cpm4001]

Senate's dissolved by an Emperor, but I'm not sure which one...apologies, should've done that earlier.
The 20-turn-turnset suggestion was primarily made with a goal of keeping things moving along slightly faster and interest up amongst some players, but from what I'm reading it seems that it's an unpopular suggestion. So ignore it and we'll keep with the existing structure.

 

[Melda]

Okay. I thought it might have been something to make the behind the scenes calculations more streamlined and to make your job easier ; a worthy objective to be sure.

Hopefully the next government can legislate quicker than those before it to keep the game flowing

 

[Melda]

I have a whole bunch of things to post soon (a recap of newsworthy events that have been happening in Pulias and Europa over the past decade, as well as a recap of events worthy of note in the Melda family), but I've run out of time for tonight.

For anyone who pays attention to these sorts of things, I say that now we're not at the end of year / start of year weirdness that characterised the previous term that we're officially at 13 September 1843. So we can just keep the date ticking over like this now, just changing the year.

And for anyone particularly interested in the story of the Meldas, you can see what they've been up to in the past decade by reading their bios (blue links in my signature), which have been updated.

 

[Et_Absoluti]

Can't say I'm a fan of William's new hair

 

[Melda]

Can't say he is either. Old age doesn't agree with him!

 

[Melda]

It's on!

Anyone who read and wanted to find out the next chapter in my social group thread Is Australia about to have their fourth prime minister in four five years? can follow that link above.

If you don't have access and want it ask Magnive to give you access.

Any further discussion on this topic I'll contain to that off-topic thread.

 

[Melda]

Spoiler :

Australia has a new Prime Minister.

 

[Magnive]

OOC: I've been unavailable over the weekend, though with my level of activity, I can't say that I would be surprised if nobody noticed anything new. I'm still alive, but I've just started University, so a lot of my time goes to that. I'll likely be able to find some time once the election begins, but don't expect much from me at other times.

 

[cpm4001]

OOC: I've been unavailable over the weekend, though with my level of activity, I can't say that I would be surprised if nobody noticed anything new. I'm still alive, but I've just started University, so a lot of my time goes to that. I'll likely be able to find some time once the election begins, but don't expect much from me at other times.

No worries; college has started back up for me so I'm rather busy meself these days...
And FYI - election campaigns may commence whenever.

 

[Melda]

Do we know what the pressure groups are pressuring?

Also, I was away on the weekend and might have missed the save file. Has it already been uploaded or is it coming in the next few days?

I mean, any delay suits me with the current Delphian election campaign and a long weekend holiday that I just got back from.

 

[Melda]

List of newsworthy items covered by the Godwin Herald during the timeskip.

1833

• Nicéphore Niépce, Dalmacian inventor of photography died in Dalmace aged 68.
  
• Pulian actor Edmund Kean, playing Othello to the Iago of his son, Charles Kean, collapsed on the stage of the Grand Majah's Theatre, Pulias City and died two months later.
  
• Dalmacian composer Hector Berlioz married Pulian actress Harriet Smithson in a civil ceremony at the Pulian Embassy in Dalmace City with the famous composer and pianist Franz Liszt as one of the witnesses.
  
• The Entomological Society of Pulias City was inaugurated.
  
• Pulian surgeon Charles Bell published The Hand: its Mechanism and Vital Endowments as Evincing Design, the fourth Bridgewater Treatise.
  
• Publication by Charles Knight of The Penny Cyclopædia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge began in Pulias City.

1834

• Eruchian physicist Hermann Helmholtz proposed "gravitational contraction" as the energy source for the Sun.
  
• Eruchian astronomers Johan Heinrich von Mädler and Wilhelm Beer published Mappa Selenographica, the most complete map of the moon to date.
  
• Pulian scouts led by Henry Absoluti discovered the City-State of Zanzibar.
  
• The Dalmacian surgeon and medical historian Joseph-François Malgaigne published Manuel de medecine operatoire.
  
• The Institute of Pulian Architects in Pulias City was formed.

1835

• The Ancient Order of Foresters was founded in Coventry.
  
• The Royal Statistical Society was founded in Pulias City.
  
• Halley's Comet was visible in the sky.
  
• The Ordnance Geological Survey was founded in Pulias City by the Pulian geologist and paleontologist Henry De la Beche.
  
• The Eruchian linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt died in Eruch City.
  
• Photographic negatives are exposed for the first time by Pulian scientist and inventor Henry Fox Talbot.
  
• Dalmacian artist Marie Tussaud established a wax museum called Madame Tussaud's in Pulias City.
  
• Fairy Tales Told for Children. First Collection by Vedrian author Hans Christian Andersen was published.
  
• The Eruchian Pulian astronomer Caroline Herschel, sister to the late William Herschel, and Pulian science writer and polymath Mary Somerville became the first female members of the Royal Astronomical Society.
  
• Pulian scouts led by Henry Absoluti discovered the City-State of Yerevan.
  
• Dalmacian mathematician and scientist Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis deduced the Coriolis effect.
  
• The Museum of Practical Geology was founded in Pulias City.
  
• Pulian businessman Charles Chubb was granted a patent for a burglar-resistant safe.

1836

• The President of Orlin, Ignace Curnow, died. Illarion Vasilchikov becomes the new President of Orlin.
  
• Dalmacian physicist and mathematician André-Marie Ampère died in Dalmace.
  
• Pulian astronomer Francis Baily observed a phenomenon during an eclipse of the sun which would become named Baily's beads.
  
• The Pulias University was renamed University College, Pulias when, under a Royal Charter it entered into an alliance with the recently established Emperor's College, Pulias to form the University of Pulias.
  
• Pulian scouts discovered the Rock of Gibraltar in Vedria.
  
• The Botanical Society of Pulias was founded.
  
• The Numismatic Society of Pulias was founded.

1837

• Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens began publication in Pulias City.
  
• Dalmacian artist Louis Daguerre released a photographic system known as daguerreotype.
  
• The Institute of Pulian Architects in Pulias City received a Royal Charter and was renamed the Royal Institute of Pulian Architects in Pulias City.
  
• A government inquiry into postal reform discussed the idea of carrying letters in a separate sheet which, when folded, would become an envelope and the idea of "a bit of paper" which could be affixed to a letter to flag that postage had been paid.
  
• The Normal School of Design began classes in Pulias City.
  
• Pulian inventors Charles Wheatstone and William Fothergill Cooke patented a system of electrical telegraph.
  
• Vedrian chemist Carl Gustaf Mosander discovered the element aetherium.
  
• The General Register Office began the practice of registering births, marriages and deaths in Pulias.
  
• The Eruchian Copyright Act protected for the first time performances of concert music.
  
• Eruchian composer, violinist and violist Joseph Schubert died in Eruch City.
  
• The Haven Philharmonic was established in Haven of Peace.

1838

• Eruchian astronomer, mathematician and physicist Friedrich Bessel made the first accurate measurement of distance to a star using parallax.
  
• Dalmacian physicist Claude Pouillet made the first quantitative measurements of the heat emitted by the Sun.
  
• Vedrian physicist Peter Andreas Hansen published a revision of lunar theory: Fundamenta nova investigationis orbitae verae quam luna perlustrat.
  
• The Pulian Agricultural Society was founded.
  
• Eruchian botanist Matthias Schleiden discovered that all living plant tissue is composed of "cells".
  
• Dalmacian psychiatrist Jean-Étienne Dominique Esquirol published Des maladies mentales considerées sous le rapport médicale, hygiènique et médico-legal.
  
• Pulian engineer William Barnett obtained a patent for an internal combustion engine with compression of the gas/air mixture in the cylinder.
  
• The Pulian Realm made diplomatic contact with the United Kingdom of Vedria and exchanged embassies.
  
• Pulian physicist and inventor David Brewster invented the stereoscope.
  
• The Royal Polytechnic Institution opened in Pulias City.

1839

• Pulian astronomer and mathematician Thomas Henderson published the first parallax measurement of the distance to Alpha Centauri.
  
• Dalmacian photographer Louis Daguerre took the first photograph of the Moon.
  
• The world's first commercial electric telegraph line came into operation alongside the National Railway Network line in Pulias, from Pulias City to Haven of Peace.
  
• The Dalmacian government gave photographer Louis Daguerre a pension and gave the daguerreotype "for the whole world".
  
• Pulian geologist and cartographer William Smith died.
  
• Pulian scientist Michael Faraday published Experimental Researches in Electricity, clarifying the true nature of electricity.
  
• Nicolas Bochsa caused a scandal when he ran off with the opera singer Anna Bishop, wife of the composer Henry Bishop. They fled Pulias.
  
• Eruchian physiologist Theodor Schwann proposed the idea that all living matter is made up of "cells".
  
• Pulian scientist William Grove intended the "Grove fuel cell".
  
• The Botanical Society of Pulias received its Royal Charter and was renamed the Royal Botanic Society.

1840

• The Emperor's College Hospital opened in Pulias City.
  
• Jean-de-Dieu Soult was elected President of Dalmace.
  
• Pulias issued the world's first postage stamp.
  
• Eruchian geologist Louis Agassiz published Etudes sur les glaciers postulating that the world had seen an "ice age" in the past.
  
• The Percy Society was founded in Pulias City.
  
• The first harmonium was built.
  
• The Eruch Tower was constructed in Eruch.
  
• Eruchian Anton Schindler associate and secretary of Ludwig van Beethoven published his biography of the composer.
  
• Pulian polymath and scientist William Whewell published The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences.
  
• Eruchian chemist Justus von Liebig published Die Organische Chemie in ihre Anwendung auf Agricultur und Physiologie.
  
• Pulian scientist John Draper invented astronomical photography and photographed the Moon.
  
• Eruchian chemist Robert Bunsen invented the Bunsen cell.
  
• Edward Oxford attempted to assassinate Emperor Franz of Pulias.
  
• The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was given its Royal Charter and renamed the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
  
• The Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal began publishing in Pulias City.

1841

• The Pulian Census was held, the first to record names and approximate ages of every household member and administered nationally.
  
• The Chemical Society of Pulias was founded in Pulias City.
  
• The Oracle of Reason, or Philosophy Vindicated, the first avowedly atheist periodical is published in Pulias.
  
• The Pharmaceutical Society of Pulias was founded, and the Transactions of the Pharmaceutical Meetings started publication in Pulias City.
  
• The Institution of providing Employment, Relief and Religious Instruction for the Adult Deaf and Dumb was founded in Pulias City.
  
• The Association of Medical Officers of Asylums and Hospitals for the Insane was founded in Pulias City.

1842

• A train travelling between Marseilles and Dalmace City in Dalmace derailed and caught fire, killing at least 55 passengers in the locked carriages.
  
• Emperor Franz of Pulias became the first reigning Pulian monarch to travel by train on the National Railway Network between Pulias City and Haven of Peace.
  
• Pulian engineer and inventor James Nasmyth patented the steam hammer.
  
• Pulian palaeontologist Richard Owen invented the name Dinosauria to describe animals whose fossils had been found over the previous few years.
  
• Constanze Mozart, widow of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in Essen.
  
• Pulian surgeon William Bowman published On the Structure and Use of the Malpighian Bodies of the Kidney.
  
• Pulian barrister Edwin Chadwick published Report on an inquiry into the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Pulias.
  
• Eruchian mathematician and physicist Christian Doppler proposed the Doppler effect.
  
• Dalmacian surgeon and pioneer of battlefield surgery Dominique Jean Larrey died in Chartres.
  
• The Pulias Philological Society was founded.

 

[Melda]

If anyone was wondering what the Meldas had been up to in the timeskip and hadn't read the bios p), here we go:

In 1839 Charles Melda married Mary Ponsonby.



In 1840 Charles and Mary Melda celebrated the arrival of their first daughter Louisa. In 1841 they had a second daughter Elizabeth and in 1842 they received their third daughter Caroline. There are rumours the couple are expecting again, but the family is refusing to comment on the matter.

William is very pleased to be a grandfather.



And Charles has finally settled into his career as a composer, with less of a chip on his shoulder at the thought that his fame and success might be largely due to his father's name and reputation as a Senator and minister.

 

[Gurra09]

Lots of interesting news! What strikes me is how many societies and organisations have been founded, and how there are literally no news from Orlin other than the change in leadership because their previous President died.

As for Mozart's widow dying in Essen that would establish Essen as the Austrian city of Eruch (which really only uses German city names, and in reality she died in Salzburg). I suppose that would make it the hometown of Emperor Franz?