Rebuild of Revolution [Yet Another World-building Thread]

[Tani Coyote]

I think it's that the people working on collectivist theory are kinda dead at game start due to cosmic shotgun.

Indeed. As for any survivors of the apocalypse: it becomes a lot harder to think of alternative systems when your sole concern is survival. A stable society is much better for the development of revolutionary ideals than an unstable one, I'd think.

 

[Bair_the_Normal]

IMO an unstable society is a perfect breeding ground for revolutionary zerg-rushed ideals.

 

[arya126]

Indeed. As for any survivors of the apocalypse: it becomes a lot harder to think of alternative systems when your sole concern is survival. A stable society is much better for the development of revolutionary ideals than an unstable one, I'd think.

IMO an unstable society is a perfect breeding ground for revolutionary zerg-rushed ideals.

Wrong tani. Bair has the right of it. Revolutionary ideals are always triggered by some sort of issue; historically that issue was the terrible living state of the lower class, blah blah blah. TTL the issue is that the earth was devastated and starvation is the newest fashion, and when desperate times come, desperate measures are introduced. If anything, a potential communal state would be more likely in this timeline because of the larger and more immediate problem that affects everybody in TTL that can trigger it rather than the issue historically that would only effect the lower class.

I would say that the development of society and technology are both accelerated dramatically in times of crisis and/or need. This development is not necessarily positive as is the case with the occurrence of communal governments, however both good and bad ideas are created and instituted by humans.

 

[Tani Coyote]

When I mean unstable versus stable, I mean as in a guy who can go home and sit in his house for a few hours and think things should be different because he has the time to do so, having been fed, clothed and housed (a stable society) versus the guy whose primary concern is acquiring food for himself and preventing his neighbor from shanking him for his possessions while he's asleep (unstable). Revolutionary thought is a luxury of the relatively well-to-do (as in, residents of a stable society), I think; you're able to argue that wages should be higher, food better quality, healthcare free, etc. primarily because your thoughts and labor don't have to focus purely on survival.

Idle hands and such. Keeping people busy (as an apocalyptic scenario most certainly would) is a good way to hamper their thinking outside the box.

Anyway...

Reign of Antonio II (r. 1883-1889)

Spoiler :

Antonio Orsini had been appointed as Domenico I’s successor, even though it became clear this was merely a ploy by Domenico to create the illusion that he had any intent to honor the Council of Seven’s power. Domenico’s corpse was not even cold when Orsini had the crown placed upon his head, giving a brief farewell to his predecessor before sitting upon the throne and proceeding with a reform program of his own. One of his first measures, in fact, was to remove the Coopers from the Council to prevent revolutionary thought on their part, while also using legal trickery to confiscate many of their assets and send the most vocal Coopers into exile. Down the line, it would become apparent this was a terrible mistake.

Antonio’s reign saw the legal discrimination against Protestants intensified, first seen in the Cohesion Proclamation of 1883, an imperial decree that was rubber stamped by the Imperial Council that barred non-Catholics from holding the throne. It also created (via an amendment no Emperor could overturn) an Inquisitorial Court that could be convened on occasion to review the Emperor’s Catholic stature (his Church attendance, his compliance with doctrine, etc.), granting the Court the power to remove him with the approval of the Imperial Council should he fail the test. The Court was, conveniently enough, closely linked with the Council of Seven and so seldom went against their opinions on the Emperor. Later on, the Inquisitorial Court would be expanded to cover other positions in the government and become a standing body rather than an irregularly-meeting one. “As our government serves the people’s interests, it stands to reason that it should be of similar religious, as well as political, leaning as the majority of its subjects,” the document decreed, protecting itself with a façade of representative ideals while actually serving the authoritarianism of the Council of Seven and its cronies in the Church.

Antonio went a step further by imposing fines religious preaching (the meaning of this would, like “schools,” be stretched by many courts) in public that did not have prior scheduling and the permission of the state (conveniently, Protestant events found themselves rejected far more than their Catholic counterparts). The government’s logic was that religion was a personal matter and should be confined to churches and the home; if a person desired religious salvation, they would find it on their own time and not in public squares. The penalties for teaching creationism in an educational setting were raised, as were the costs of opening up a new church. The government increasingly refused to give license to textbook manufacturers who did not refer to Luther and other Protestant leaders in a negative light, however subtle it may have been; those with malicious portrayals of Protestants often received licenses at much lower cost.

Antonio eventually threw out any pretense of secularity when he finally declared all faiths besides that of the Roman Catholic Church’s official ideas to be illegal in Brazil. With only a small percentage of people fitting the bill, it was no difficulty at all to repress the small minority. Antonio’s policies did strain relations with the Protestant-influenced regime of the Two Americas, but naturally the latter’s primarily-Catholic population wasn’t exactly eager for any sort of government policies to help heretics in neighboring Brazil.

Beyond repression coming to a head in Antonio’s reign, there were also his colonial ambitions. He was the first Emperor to begin an aggressive drive towards the occupation of Western Europe, his predecessors having been content to have let the colonies grow naturally. When Antonio took power, the various European and African colonies numbered only about 1,500 people; they numbered 18,000 when he abdicated. Antonio secured peace with Morocco by abandoning the Iberian colonies (a small outpost was maintained in Galicia, with the proviso it was disbanded as soon as Morocco settled in the area and that it not perform any economic functions besides refueling ships and keeping trade contacts with the inland communities) and shifting Riccese claims on the Baleares eastward. With the closest possible threat to the colonies neutralized, Antonio aggressively expanded across Europe, paying for people to immigrate to Europe by the thousands, while he also had hundreds of settlers travel down the length of the Congo River.

Antonio’s popularity was also buoyed by military conquests. He conquered the weak states of Sardinia (1884), Corisca and Malta (1885) and even began the process of returning to Italy by seizing control of all of Sicily and the southern tip of the Italian peninsula (1887). Antonio rode the tide of nationalist fervor to gloss over his persecution of Protestants, who increasingly had made their home in the colonies, desiring to remain within the Riccese Empire but not content with the persecution one faced in Brazil. Antonio seemed to care about his Protestant subjects (who often were considerably wealthy), however, when he occupied Copenhagen and the surrounding island of Zealand. Besides controlling the entrance to the Baltic and the trade routes that would surely grow with the power of nation-states along it, Antonio envisioned his new Danish possession as part of something greater: a colony meant for Protestants. Just as the English had gotten rid of their religious minorities in an economically-useful way by sending them to the Colonies, Riccio would do the same. All Protestants who were outside the country were even offered subsidies to move to Denmark (and later, Germany).

Having overseen the beginnings of a Riccese Empire in Europe, Antonio abdicated on New Years’ Eve of 1889, as was tradition, the Council (still rather paranoid after Domenico’s intrigue) somewhat fearful he might be able to consolidate power due to his popularity.

Reign of Agostino I (r. 1890-1893)

Spoiler :

Agostino Savoia was of the historically-powerful House of Savoy. Savoy had been poised to become a great power prior to the Revolutions of 1800, and even in its aftermath had been a key backer of the Riccese state. It should come as no surprise that Agostino, between his royal lineage and the political importance of his motherland, was rather confident of his abilities as Emperor.

He was so confident, in fact, that he proposed a constitutional referendum to make the monarchy a lifetime position immune from popular recall, making use of strong speeches, his predecessor’s popularity, his upbringing as royalty, and an appeal to the strengths of a long-time leader as a source of stability and continuity within a state. His referenda (both of them) failed, most likely due to Council interference. The Council knew that the death of Domenico had never gone over well with the masses, who felt it an obvious betrayal of democratic principles, and so they arranged simply for Agostino to be removed. On the night of January 5, 1893, the Emperor was arrested by pro-Council forces after a short skirmish with the Palace Guard, and he was dethroned for his role in a supposed coup d’état. The strength of the Savoia family was given the “Cooper Treatment,” albeit not as severely, for Agostino’s attempts to consolidate power.

Reign of Frederico II (r. 1893-1902)

Spoiler :

After Agostino’s hasty removal, Frederico of the Morosini family inherited the throne, the Council having finally completed its rotation of the Sovereign office among its constituent families with his accession. Unlike Agostino or the Emperor whose name he bore, Frederico was not at all ambitious, content to serve as a simple figurehead. This was the design of the Council, who once more made a point of choosing a dull and lethargic (if adequate for state functions) monarch. Frederico never once argued with the Council according to his memoirs, being perhaps the weakest of the monarchs of Riccio since its inception.

While the Council had staved off an enemy from within, it had now set the stage for the acquisition of one without. Unlike many monarchies’ citizens, the Riccese were accustomed to a monarch who actually had a hand in the affairs of the state, co-ruling with Parliament and ensuring that the judges who dispended justice were above politics. With Frederico II’s lack of drive to govern in any shape or form, the Riccese had lost their distinctiveness, becoming much like the constitutional monarchies of other countries and also opening the justice system to the nepotism and corruption of the Council of Six (the Savoia had maintained their seat, unlike the Coopers). It is no surprise there was already some discontent among the ranks of the common man, his nationalism having been whipped into shape by the actions of Antonio II.

The Council, now ruling the country more than other, naturally had more issues governing than a unified executive did. While the Rothschilds and Borgias proudly sponsored the idea of further expansion into their motherlands, the Orsini and Medici were more caring about state finances, wishing to expand the Riccese National Bank to a position that could lend money the world over and not just to its citizens, thus allowing Riccio to gain power through other countries’ debt. While compromises were often reached, Council meetings could be quite chaotic without any direction, the lack of a presiding officer quite damning to the oligarchy, with even makeshift presiding officers often having their authority questioned.

The placid period of Frederico’s reign came to an end with the recession of 1895, at the time one of the most severe in Riccese history. Crop failures mixed with corrupt economic planning on the part of the Council to lead to high amounts of unemployment, and while the government’s food program did help alleviate discontent, it could do little to make Frederico seem less competent than Marie Antoinette with the people’s concerns.

It is unlikely the recession would have amounted to much, however, without the arrival of Marcos Ricciano (or Riccese) on the scene in Sao Paulo in 1896. The 33-year old Marcos was the grandson of Francesco II, his father having been just a boy when the Monarch was deposed in 1849. Bred from birth to feel himself a rightful claimant of the throne, Marcos was still not one to let his anger cloud his judgment and was notable for his intellect. He had spent his life in exile in various countries (his grandfather not trusting of the Council to leave the family alone), and word of rising discontent in his mother country had prompted his return. Maintaining a low profile under a pseudonym, Marcos stoked the coals of rebellion through a series of patrons, quickly attracting people with his friendly personality. He fostered alliances with the humiliated Cooper family and with Protestants, and using his and his allies’ wealth, laid the foundations for an army. When food riots broke out in the north in late 1898 and distracted the government from southerly Sao Paulo, Marcos made his move, proclaiming that he was the son of the deposed Franciscan dynasty, and he would be honored to serve as Emperor if the People were only willing to let him. Unsurprisingly, many people of all stripes did rally to his aid, taking up arms for his cause for varying reasons, whether his promises of religious toleration, of more effective government (something partially supported by his great success in administering several companies), or restoration of the Imperial Council’s power.

Marcos quickly divided his enemies, with Protestant supporters swift to take command of several of the colonies, cutting off valuable revenue to the government. His promise of more humane working conditions (something the elites who ruled the government weren’t particularly fond of) appealed to those who toiled in dark, suffocating factories and helped him gain more support in the cities. He vowed to reform and simplify the tax code to make it more fair for the common man, as well as to return Riccio to its position of glorious prosperity through ambitious undertakings overseas. The “idle ineffectiveness” of the Council of Six, Marcos decreed, was over.

In March 1902, Marcos’ forces triumphantly captured Frederico II in the field, having already taken the capital months prior. Marcos coerced the Monarch to abdicate in his favor, only to reject the Crown; Marcos proceeded to snatch it from Frederico’s hands, declaring that this new monarchy’s legitimacy was bestowed by the Riccese people, not the corrupt elites who had ruled it since his grandfather’s deposition. Placing the crown on his head, Marcos declared himself to be Marcos II of Riccio, ending over half a century of rule by the Council of Six.

 

[Sonereal]

The only reason I'm not allowing early game Communist or Fascist states is because, in my experience, this just leads to a small group of players deviating in either direction and turning everything into black and white instead of shades of gray.

 

[Civ'ed]

No Communist or Fascist governments allowed at start.

No one specified it still exists.
Then again, I won't.

 

[christos200]

Turkey is a Republic. The head of state is the President and the head of government the Prime Minister.

 

[arya126]

Tani your entirely missing the point. BECAUSE of the desperation of an apocalyptic scenario the people still alive would have an increased incentive for coming up with revolutionary ideals that could help them/their families/their communities survive or fare better than otherwise. It would be easier for such ideas to gain traction (not to mention that the ideas were likely already forming by that time, meaning they would only need to be implemented and somewhat developed).

 

[Tani Coyote]

Crashing through the thread
Comes a name you dread!
Ree-chee-oh! (Ree-chee-ohhh!)
Ree-chee-oh! (Ree-cheeeee-ohhhh!)

Reign of Marcos II (r. 1902-1931)

Spoiler :

Marcos spent his first year dealing with the leftovers of his rebellion, crushing loyalists and redistributing the property of all who rose up in revolt. He arrested the bulk of the Council members and their families, appropriating most of their wealth and granting it to his supporters. While some Council members were executed, most were simply placed under house arrest (the young Emperor more than savvy enough to not allow any ambitious individuals take root overseas as he had). He began a systematic purge of the Council Era from Riccese history – books describing them were burned, their statues were smashed in well-publicized ceremonies, and all records stripped them of their regal titles, with Marcos’ father being declared Marcos I and having ruled from Francesco II’s abdication to Marcos II’s ascension. Between his cultural and economic measures, Marcos virtually erased the Council of Seven from existence; later history books restored the Council monarchs to their titles, but they continued to refer to Marcos as Marcos II despite his father never having actually reigned.

With great popularity and political capital, Marcos instituted his own reforms and promulgated a new Constitution. The Constitution restored the Imperial Council, which had its name changed to the Diet so as to remove the word “Council” and all its connotations from politics, to actual power. Marcos abolished the Monarchy’s term of ten years with renewals in favor of a life term; to satisfy democrats, the Monarch’s heir apparent was instead up for approval every ten years. While the new Constitution kept the status of Riccio as a Roman Catholic state, it forbade cohabitation of a church and political office and stated that no religious belief (barring those detrimental to public order) would be subject to more or less privilege than others.

Marcos II enforced his constitution with a variety of laws, formally dismantling the obstacle course prior monarchs had built to limit the power of non-Catholic organizations. He curbed the power of local elites in the Diet’s elections by instead replacing campaign finance with public funding. Just as he promised, the tangled mess of tax laws (having been constructed to protect the supporters of the Council of Seven) was declared void and swiftly replaced with a much simpler system of income taxation that had several various exemptions and deductions codified by statute. While suffrage was initially only available to men of sufficient property, he began the road to womens’ suffrage by allowing women to register to vote with the permission of their husbands, and he pleased his supporters among the poor by abolishing property requirements in favor of a minimum voting age.

Marcos’ reign was not entirely altruistic. Besides the brutal persecution of those who had supported the Council, he was quick to begin undermining the democracy he had recently established. His elimination of private funding for campaigns made it easier for him to connect with (and control) members of the Diet, as now they only had to work with the Emperor and their constituents rather than financial backers. His creation of proportional representation seemed positive on its surface, but his choice of the party-list variety made it easier for him to craft a personal connection with those most likely to carry elections (those who gained the most votes within each party were most guaranteed to take seats) and keep them under his influence; the fact no politician had a geographic constituency also reduced the number of people they were responsible towards. While Marcos had eliminated lobbyists supposedly to reduce corruption, in fact it seemed to more accurately be so that he had no contenders for the hearts, minds and votes of representatives.

Marcos also oversaw the creation of the Expediency Committee, a tool he would use to govern with minimal opposition. The Committee was composed of a handful of members (selected by, but not always from, the Diet) of varying size, usually five, and was supposed to meet to alleviate gridlock in the Diet. As time went on, the Committee became more or less a permanent part of the government, being much easier for Marcos to work with than the 100-member Diet. The Committee also had a bizarre procedural element: it was against the rules for more than half of its members to speak the same language. This measure was decided upon so as to ensure that the interests of cultural minorities in the melting pot of Brazil were represented, but in reality it served a more sinister purpose: many members had to make use of interpreters that the Emperor personally selected. He greatly hampered communication (that wasn’t under his watchful eye, anyway) through this measure, showing simultaneously the dangers of both a multilingual and monolingual policy. With the Committee in his legislative hand, the Cabinet in his executive hand, and all judges kneeling at his feet, Marcos II had set himself up to become one of the most powerful monarchs in Riccese history.

With the Diet’s actual power reduced (albeit not to the extent of the Council era; Marcos did sometimes fail to pass measures, though it is speculated some of these flops were staged specifically to create an illusion of democratic procedure), Marcos was able to focus on his pet programs. The masses still viewed him as a liberator and restorer of rights the Council had suspended, and having both immense power and popularity, Marcos was in the perfect position to do as he wished.

Eager to shore up his credentials as royalty, Marcos approached the British rulers of the Two Americas in 1905, requesting that his son Marcos be given the Duchess Natassia’s hand in marriage. The usefulness of a royal marriage to secure peace between the powers was not turned down; in but a few months the two were wed. Given the different styles of monarchy between the two countries, however, the Treaty of Bogota stipulated that in the event of a descendant of this union qualifying for both the Riccese and British thrones, they would have to renounce one or the other. This would help preserve the political and cultural independence of the two countries despite the interlinking of their dynasties.

Marcos had always clung to the idea of a monarchy as a connection to the past, and he had been sure to drum up this idea with his citizens. He genuinely believed the idea himself, and that took the form his imperialist ambitions: Riccio had once been the most powerful, most influential country on the planet, and he was eager to restore that position. Rather than waste men on pointless ego trips such as a reconquest of North Africa, Korea or India, however, Marcos was more pragmatic, feeling Riccese destiny lay in its mother continent of Europe. Raising massive citizen armies to have both manpower and to curb unemployment, he built up Riccio’s fleet to a more respectable level and began to funnel troops into Europe.

While Riccio had seen some modest expansion since Antonio II’s reign (pre-Marcos territories in blue), his policies took expansionism to new heights (new territories in red). In France, he saw success at La Rochelle (1907), Rouen (1908), and after a long campaign, Paris itself (1915). With keen studies of the Italian countryside and fair communication with the locals (who still maintained some semblance of Italian), he rolled up the Italian boot, taking Naples (1911), Rome (1913), and Florence (1917). The seizure of Protestant Germany and Denmark had slowed after the relaxation of anti-Protestant laws, but Marcos was sure to reinvigorate those efforts with the seizure of Schleswig (1915) and Mecklenberg (1921). With his troops and treasury expended, Marcos eventually was forced to consolidate his gains, though he made great use of force and finance to secure considerable influence over the many petty states that bordered his new possessions (green).

As time would go on and the exact extent of polities shifted, four primary colonies gained prominence in Europe: France, Italy, the Rhineland, and Germany. Each colony had a great deal of autonomy in its affairs, with the Empire observing a federal structure that made them subordinate to decrees from Rio De Janeiro and observance of Riccese foreign policy, but otherwise allowing home rule for most issues of local concern. The Riccese monarch created Kingships to rule over each of the colonies, though each was largely symbolic and popularly-elected. Many of the colonial positions’ inaugural holders were friends or family of those who had supported the Revolution of 1902; the Cooper family became very prominent in France, while the Savoia regained their ancestral homelands in Italy, to give two examples. The colony of the Congo would not gain self-rule for many years, the general racism of the time not escaping the Riccese government, who questioned the ability of Africans to govern themselves.

One of the most striking qualities of Marcos’ governing style was his rejection of male primogeniture. Despite his arrangement of a marriage between his first-born son and the Duchess Natassia of the Two Americas, he named his son-in-law (the King of France and one of the Coopers, who had been made nobles as well as reinvested with their wealth with Marcos’ ascension as thanks for supporting his revolution) his successor instead in 1918. One would have expected him to name his daughter the heir if not his son, but while had espoused women’s’ suffrage, Marcos believed (supported by opinion polls) that the time was not right for an Empress regnant. Marcos had extensively conditioned his family to believe that the imperial seat was a position to be earned by merit and not just by birth, hoping to avoid succession conflicts that often plagued powerful monarchies.

The latter half of Marcos’ reign saw no great overtures or military conquests. The Emperor sat on his throne and governed by reaction, simply responding to situations as they came up. He oversaw the gradual expansion of the colonies and standard development of infrastructure, but he was content to simply keep control of all he had gained over the course of his life. He dined frequently with his in-laws in Britain and the colonial estates, working to keep politics and diplomacy personal so as to ensure the empire’s integrity. Public opinion held more sway than ever before as he allowed the Diet more freedom, though he made sure to let them all know he knew where they slept at night in case they became too ambitious. As Marcos grew old and gray, he rejoiced at his nation’s continuing industrial growth, feeling that Riccio had finally managed to get back on the road it had departed during the Fall as advancements in communications and automation began to take hold.

When Marcos II abdicated in 1931 (now in his sixties and with growing health issues, he felt himself no longer able to effectively able to govern the country, which was showing signs of economic fragility), Thaddeus I of France ascended the throne of Riccio with minimal issues; Marcos’ people were just as convinced as he was of ability and popularity as being the primary distinctions of a monarch, giving Riccio a bizarre (for a monarchy) aversion to dynastic rule. While the greater family unit composed of marriages and common ancestry remained important in determining the monarch, being the first-born child of the reigning monarch was no guarantee that one would become the heir. Marcos would eventually be titled “The Great” for his radical reforms and expansion of Riccese power.

 

[Sonereal]

Spoiler :

This is a somewhat updated map using maps and settlement orders I have received already, ignoring bits I'm still trying to work out. Most of it should be self-explanatory except for Vietnam, which is a conflict area due to competing Chinese and FRCN settlers.

 

[WhiteRobber]

well, I'm not on the map... so I'm out of the game then.

 

[Sonereal]

well, I'm not on the map... so I'm out of the game then.

You need to post a map with your claims, because I can't remember Wallachia's start claims.

 

[Tani Coyote]

That's a wrap, folks. 14,000 words... I think I covered all the important stuff.

Reign of Francesco III (r. 1931-1952)

Spoiler :

Despite the trumping of meritocracy and nobless oblige, however, Thaddeus did not keep his name upon rising to power. Abdicating his throne in France in favor of his cousin Connor, Thaddeus took the name Francesco III upon coronation in Rio de Janeiro, hoping to draw connections to the glory of the Franciscan era of the early 1800s. In retrospect, the name choice was actually somewhat justified, as Francesco’s reign was perhaps the closest Riccio had come to its old character in terms of diplomacy and economics, if not territory.

For several of his early years, Francesco received advice from his predecessor on how to administer the vast political monstrosity he had inherited (this was a major advantage of the abdication custom the Riccese had developed). He managed to keep the tight grip on all three branches of government that Marcos had built up.

He also maintained the respect the state had for the Roman Catholic Church, though he used the fact Roman Catholicism had remained the official religion as justification for vetting of local clerical appointments; Francesco decreed that there was an inherent public interest in the lowest ranks of the clergy, as they could interact with people and greatly influence their opinion. Francesco had essentially confessed the exact reason the Riccese state had always wanted to ensure it kept a strong grasp on the Holy See’s policies, though his people seemed none the wiser. In compensation, he reaffirmed the desire to keep the church and state separated from each other as institutions, paying lip service to the idea their extensive mingling would taint the other’s functions, and he also committed more funds to the restoration of the Vatican, desiring to return the Papacy to its ancient seat after so many decades of absence.

Like most members of the Cooper family, Francesco was a fond advocate of the people and their rights. The political repression that could be common during Marcos’ tenure was lessened, with moderate amounts of criticism being allowed in the media and halls of government, marking the most liberal period for the press since the Franciscan Era. Francesco reasoned that if a man was blind in one eye and thus limited in his perception, it was best to get the second opinion of a man with two, rather than poke them both out. By opening the gates of criticism, Francesco was able to reform the various organs of the state, hearing the people’s complaints and adjusting the bureaucracy’s functions accordingly. Inefficiency in the dispensing of free food, for example, led to his disbanding of the food program that had persisted for so many generations in favor of cash payments that one could redeem for food at local markets.

With his constitutionally-protected right to oversee the judicial branch and his control over the passage and enforcement of laws, Francesco also went to work reforming the justice system. Francesco responded to new evidence that showed several victims of execution to have been innocent by abolishing the death penalty except in cases where the accused gave a confession. While torture had been uncommon in most monarchs’ reigns due to custom, he formally forbade the practice by amendment. He finally improved due process to a point where one no longer had to fear the state’s power in the courtroom, with many people who would have been imprisoned under Marcos or the Council of Seven walking free or never facing charges at all. Whether out of altruism or seeking to make his liberal freedoms a new form of bread and circuses, Francesco III gained a reputation as an enlightened absolutist.

Where Francesco stood out most was his foreign policy initiatives. While Marcos had created an empire, it had fallen to Francesco to actually make sure it lasted. One of his first gestures was symbolic: he renamed the state to the Riccese Empire of Brazil to reflect the importance of Brazil in the nation’s politics. He proceeded to tackle the economics of geopolitics. As the colonies continued to grow (sometimes economically, sometimes territorially), it became ever more important to secure markets for Riccese goods. The vast lands attained in Europe were very productive once they were placed in the hands of the more advanced Riccese businessmen (prior to the Riccese arrival, most of Europe was in a state of small, agricultural city-states with little in the way of post-Medieval technologies), and with increased production came an increased need for foreign markets. While gunboat tactics were good at forcing open the depths of Europe and the Congo, these regions were too primitive socially, economically, and politically to be of much use as trading partners; Francesco naturally turned outward to the regional powers that had begun to form in the last century. Almost all barriers to the free flow of goods were removed with the Empire of the Pacific (Treaty of Honolulu, 1937), the Two Americas (Treaty of Quito, 1939), the United Islands of the Caribbean (Treaty of Havana, 1940) and Turkey (Treaty of Istanbul, 1940), while trade restrictions were relaxed with various other countries; for extra security, he had also ensured that each of these treaties included a non-aggression proviso to be held in perpetuity, where relevant. Free trade created the occasional economic ripple, but the sheer amount of opportunities it provided Riccese capitalists with were simply unprecedented, with the costs to mine raw materials in one country, manufacture an item with them in a second, and then sell the item in a third plummeting and allowing for greatly increased profit margins.

With greater connection also came greater risk, however. Francesco had worked to abolish trade restrictions with such fervor that many countries (Riccio included) lost their ability to dampen the flames of any economic blazes that might be sparked. The huge increase in Riccese agricultural goods from the subjugation of much of Western Europe (as well as agricultural products from other vastly-colonized territories), as it turned out, would be just one of those sparks, so many foodstuffs flowing into global markets that prices became non-profitable for most farmers. While the food glut came to a head in 1951, it would be up to Francesco’s successor to manage the crisis, as Francesco passed away in 1952.

Reign of Marcos III (r. 1952-1971)

Spoiler :

Marcos III inherited an enormous mess when he took the throne. The grandson of Marcos II, he had demonstrated keen financial wit during his years as the head of the National Bank (which had been greatly augmented by the confiscated resources of the Medici and Rothschild families), and it is no surprise Francesco had felt he would make a good successor to ensure the state kept a responsible economic focus after his reign.

Emperor Marcos did just that, with some sources reporting that he had gleefully stated how much he looked forward to the challenge of managing an economic depression. Practically ignoring issues of civil rights and social justice, he instead focused on cold, hard statistics as the basis of his policy, seeking to fix the broken machinery that was the Riccese (and world) economy.

When he wasn’t encouraging other nations to avoid strangling trade with protective tariffs, he was aggressively restructuring the Riccese economy. Within three months of his coronation, he had passed the “Financial Consolidation Bill.” The National Bank had always functioned in competition with various other banks, others simply having too great a grip on certain regions to force out; the Bill repossessed the assets of all banking institutions, put them underneath the National Bank’s jurisdiction, and compensated the owners for their lost property. The net result of the act was the closing of many banks and the rebranding of others, but the more important effect was that the government now had full control of all credit within Riccio. He rejected the arguments propagated in the Wealth of Nations and other liberal economic texts, stating that a competitive industry was justified solely when it produced quality and price that the state itself could not; banking, argued Marcos, was not one of these industries, as there was no way to increase or decrease the quality of lending, and price was not an issue that would be of concern as “a state made by its people will ultimately not exploit its people.” Indeed, interest rates plummeted around the country as a result of the reconsolidation, the National Bank and all its branches charging minimal interest solely to cover operating costs and to fight inflation. He soon passed a policy of deposit insurance up to a value of 100,000 ducatos, preventing runs on the bank and bringing a sense of stability to the economy; as the national bank and government were virtually one in the same, this was primarily a symbolic measure (as the only real way for the Bank to default would be for the government to), but it was appreciated by the masses.

Feeling the economic woes of the world had begun in the fields, he next passed an Agricultural Reform Bill. The bill paid farmers not to till the fields or purchased their lands so they could be sold at a small profit to larger landholders. The yeoman, Marcos felt, was an enemy of economic efficiency, providing food for himself and his family when the same could be done with less labor by a larger, wealthier enterprise. More bizarre was the bill offering subsidies to families that had children within the year; the logic was that more people would increase demand for food and thus stabilize prices. Marcos’ agrarian reforms racked up debt (offset by the sale of farmlands to corporations), but they also spurred urbanization as they forced farmers off their lands; in 1952, 30% of the nation’s people worked in agriculture, but in 1977 only 10% did.

Having driven people from the fields, Marcos had a massive urban poor issue to deal with, something he was all too eager to do. For people to have employment their employers had to have profits; Marcos injected tens of billions of dollars into various businesses, but especially those in the field of retail. The retailers, their bottom line no longer a concern, could use the capital they had acquired to purchase goods from manufacturers, who could then purchase goods from primary producers. All these businesses, kept afloat, could likewise afford the cost of keeping people in work. The policy had varying success in ending unemployment, but it certainly did stave off the vicious cycle that comes with a depressed economy.

Diversification was a final point in Marcos’ economic reforms. The dependence on agriculture, he reasoned, was quite toxic to Riccese vitality; he recalled the days where Riccio had produced all sorts of goods within its empire, with crops being only a small portion. While the state had always given small grants to research, Marcos formalized the process by creating a formal fund that innovators could petition for subsidies. Billions of ducats were invested into new technologies that he felt would increase economic activity; he took great interest in more efficient automobiles, for example, believing that cheaper, faster vehicles would increase leisure time and allow businesses related to such activities to flourish. A similar fund had been established for businesses in general, and mining companies caught his eye when they suggested that a wealth of materials could be found in parts of Riccio, if only they had the funds to take advantage of new technologies. The gamble paid off, as mining activity soon picked up and Riccio found itself producing increasingly more rare earth materials as food production (as a percentage of GDP) began a slow, steady decline.

As signs of recovery finally started to become apparent by 1960, Marcos naturally had to begin the process of slowly rolling back the spending he had championed for his first years in office. Needless to say, such cuts, as gradual as they were, did not come easily. As he cut the subsidies to businesses, workers were whipped into hysteria and made an unholy alliance with their employers to protest state actions. Marcos responded by ordering military troops to carry out many of the tasks, before then cutting deals with the employers to assist in the crushing of unions. Unions had sprouted up in the latter half of Marcos II’s reign as a way for the government to infiltrate the workplace, and Francesco III had seen the unions grow out of government hands and become increasingly vocal sources of opposition to both the operations of the market and the state. Just as the government kept close ties with the Church, Marcos III oversaw the establishment of ties with business, first placing all major unions under government control in 1962 and then abolishing that requirement in 1966 in favor of requiring all unions large and small to obtain government licenses to legally operate. In the early years after the Fall, the government had dueled with the Catholic Church and democratic thought for dominance, but now the focus had shifted to one of keeping the three-way rivalry between business, government and the working class from boiling over into violence. Marcos III stopped just short of banning unions entirely (he felt unions artificially increased the cost of business and felt government regulations were a more efficient way of improving worker welfare) because he did not wish to feed the fires of rebellion any further after he oversaw the arrest of several union leaders for sedition. While he considered a citizen’s dividend more efficient than a minimum wage in alleviating the needs of the working poor, he nonetheless passed a minimum wage law to curb discontent and to appease his new friends in the upper classes, who desired it to help squeeze smaller competitors.

Marcos III abdicated in 1971 with a mixed reputation. While he had gained great credibility for having kept free trade alive and remedying the underlying issues of the Riccese economy, he also had become known as a tyrant among many intellectuals and workers for his role in crushing the cause of workers’ emancipation in favor of an alliance with wealthier interests.

Domenico II (r. 1971-)

[Incumbent ruler]

 

[Sonereal]

With ATF and [ATEN] in the pipeline, winter finals coming, and me actually wanting to play an IOT for a bit, I'm going to delay this game until early-December, because running this monster at the same time would've been a losing proposition for me. I will have the ruleset up this Wednesday, so there is that.