TENSEI

@Decamper,

Do all ideological mismatches affect cohesion equally? If IV trends towards militarism and futurism, do provinces with that dominant ideology reduce cohesion as much as provinces with pacifism or say, globalism?

Cheers,
I.
 
To: The Dominion of India, Cyprus, Federation of South India, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, USSR
From: The Islamic Caliphate of Afghanistan


We would like to enter a non-aggression agreement between us, as a gesture of good will and to prove our peaceful intentions.
 
To: The Dominion of India, Cyprus, Federation of South India, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, USSR
From: The Islamic Caliphate of Afghanistan


We would like to enter a non-aggression agreement between us, as a gesture of good will and to prove our peaceful intentions.

Cyprus wonders if you forgot sanctuary by accident.
 
Federation/Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to discuss trade and investment
Foreign Minister and corporate representatives to travel to Jeddah
21-AUG-2060

Minister of Foreign Affairs Sarvesh Ninad Gadhavi, along with representatives from several of the largest corporations will travel to the economic capital of Saudi Arabia, Jeddah to discuss increasing trade and investment between the two states. According to a statement from the Foreign Ministry, 'The links between the Middle East and South Asia have been used for hundreds of years with goods, capital, and people traveling far and wide and creating communities and cultures along with wealth.' With the restoration of communications and travel between the countries, businesses in the FSI have been asking for an official presence to be sent to the Kingdom. According to South Asian Business Council (SABC) spokesperson Emilia Kendrick: 'We in the business community look forward to investing in the Middle East and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It's commitment to the rule of law and democratic elections along with plans to promote development will provide a stable base for our businesses to grow.' While most international trade in the past was based on the Energy sector, the region has become a leader in the Biological and Medical Sciences along with Computer and Software. Historic goods such as silver, gold, textiles, and spices continue to also be in demand. Tourism is also expected to increase within the next five years.

The Minister's delegation is expected to tour the country for a week and meet with various business and governmental representatives of the Kingdom. Actual meeting dates and times have not been released due to security.
 
We forgot to mention the Sanctuary, and of course meant to have them added to the agreement as well.

Then Cyprus will sign the NAP with ISIS.

the Three Presidents has taken a temporary break from governing to attend Counseling Sessions.
 
@Decamper,

Do all ideological mismatches affect cohesion equally? If IV trends towards militarism and futurism, do provinces with that dominant ideology reduce cohesion as much as provinces with pacifism or say, globalism?

Cheers,
I.

Yes, all differing ideologies affect cohesion the same regardless of the dominant ideology.
 
Address by LR Terrinia in New Lisboa;

"...and it is our solemn duty to Gaia, laid low by the thunderings of man, to restore this tainted loam [tosses a handful of gravelly soil onto the front row] to its glorious reign, and to stand astride terra firma hand-in-hand with Nature herself. For we are sisters with the land, and we must guide her from this chaos with our fortitude and our minds.

"We act not of hubris, but of necessity. All that was, a world balanced on the head of a pin, destroyed by the recklessness and cruelty of the lessers, of capricious men. But behold, were we not given minds that we might imagine? Were we not given hands that we might heal? Were we not born to breathe the clean air that we might reclaim and rebuild these shattered remains? We must act. To not, would be to lose our very souls, and resign ourselves to destitution and the desecration by absent efforts of the body of Nature.

"And lo, would we be not children if we were to commit ourselves to Nature's rehabilitation in a manner as senseless and reckless as our forebearers? This, we know, is not our path. It must be with design, and deliberation, that we construct her life-giving systems. Whosoever walks blindly cannot follow the righteous path.

"And in walking forward thusly, walking the path of the Militus Maris, that such great progress has been made by our peoples. Take heart, thou children [points to young children straining to watch from the balcony above] that such a future can be yours. The way is not easy. The path shall dip, and swerve; many nights shall be spent in vigil, bodies prostrate in submission to her mysteries. Several seasons shall be spent in the navigation. But those who tread with careful step, who learn the ways of the path, shall be rewarded. One must first be broken, before one may claim dominion. Thou might drink from the Elixir of the Wild, and learn to follow her coy, intricate design. Thou might come to witness her Face, and be brought to the ecstacy of enlightenment. And yea, thou might meditate upon her deeper beauty, and be shown Revelation.

"Across many seas, we hear of men squabbling over scraps of land [scowls], who care only for the dirt, and not for those creature who might inhabit it. Trouble not your minds with this cacophany. It is on this land that we return Nature to her former stature, and make her once-more unassailable by the tools of men. Behold, our destiny lies as Stewards of this Earth, and it is ours to be patient - in time, all land, sea, and skies shall be reclaimed, and Pure Rapture shall be upon us."

"Colleagues, hear my words...."
 
New York Times

United Nations of Earth becomes the United Nations of North America

Secretary-General Diane Moore has fulfilled her election promise to rename the United Nations of Earth to the United Nations of North America. After getting a referendum on the necessary constitutional amendments approved by the United Nations Parliament and the United Nations General Assembly, the referendum was held and approved by the overwhelming majority of the people.

"In the days of Secretary-General Arnaude Labbé," Diane Moore explained in a press conference "It seemed like a real possibility that our ideals could cover the entire world. Back then the United Nations of Earth represented an ideal to live up to, an ambitious aspiration. However, that is not what has happened, the world has opted not to join the United Nations of Earth and instead form their own way of living. This is a good thing, we have come far from the anarchy of the earlier decades. However, in this new age the name United Nations of Earth seems inappropriate. It makes us seem like we have delusions of grandeur or that we do not respect our fellow nations. We do not want to give off this impression, which is why I campaigned so heavily for this change. I am glad that the people of North America agree with me and I am glad to put these changes to the constitution."
 
"In the days before the war, the world was a happy and shining place. People were kind to each other, food and water were plentiful, and nothing was scarce except for want. It's too bad that all had to come to an end for some reason, isn't it?" - Hieronymus Ischyros

EXPOSÉ: HIERONYMUS CAIAPHAS ISCHYROS, President and Chief Executive Officer of TransLuna Corporation

We here at Ad Astra had the privilege of sitting down with *the* one-and-only Hieronymus Ischryos: the man, the myth, the legend. Liberal commentators have called him a "wannabe Musk." Socialist commentators have called him an unprincipled bourgeois merchant. Conservative commentators have called him "soulless." However, for 20 years now, the 54-year old Ischryos has led TransLuna as CEO, and the Board of Directors have made no indication of desiring to replace him.

hieronymus_ischyros.jpg

Ischyros invited me on an orienteering trip with him to conduct our interview, at the end of which we'd be favored with lunch. "I love being out in nature," he told me. "It'll be fun. And then we'll have freshwater mussels. Have you ever had mussel?" He is pictured here with his vintage 'binoculars', contemplating the surrounding terrain.

We ventured out into the wilds of upper Tyrol, a place of otherworldly majesty, thronged with alpines, steep cliffs, hills, and peaks. Mighty rivers of crystal-clear water swirled down waterfalls of transcendent beauty to crash against white rocks and raise a surf in rivers further below, mists of steamy water lurking out into the valleys around. We began our trip by hiking up a short slope that quickly rises into a steep set of narrow stairs, bringing us to the edge of a cliff and a valley.

Hieronymus gets out his binoculars and points out at the forest, while his companion, Nadia Hesteria, unfolds her map and starts whistling to herself. "Look," says Hieronymus, guiding my vision to a distant peak. "Our destination is on the other side of that mountain. It'll be harder to see once we're down in the valley, but that's why we have this stuff." He holds up his binoculars and his vintage liquid-magnetic compass and flashes a grin.

"North and east, I think," says Nadia, looking up from the map and checking her own compass. "We should hit a creek and then we'll bear due west. Fatty Rock should be around there."

"Hup to it, then," Hieronymus declared cheerfully, and we were off again.

Most of Mr. Ischyros' most renowned ambitions involve nature: observing it, understanding it, and learning to live with it. On these points he could be confused for many an extremist-naturist, such as the kinds from Zion or the Verditas or the Estado Novo, but he firmly defines himself as a naturalist, not a naturist.

"Nature is fun to explore, to discover," he tells me, stepping over a gnarly root, "I call myself a philosopher of nature, a naturalist, for that reason."

"Not a naturist?" I asked him.

He laughed heartily. "Oh, heavens no. Naturists are putting the cart before the horse, if you ask me. A 'state of nature?' To which we must 'return?'" He laughed again and helped me over the root. "Humanity has defined itself by running away from nature, don't they realize that?"

"But look where that's gotten us," I challenged him, as I stepped next to him. "Would't you say that there's been a lot of suffering?"

His grin descends into a soft and almost neutral smirk. "Where has it gotten us?"

As I thought about my answer, and he waited, I realized he was talking about where we were standing, at that moment. "It got us to this... valley."

"Exactly," he said quietly. "Alive, well, and healthy. Orienteering in a valley where the air is fresh and the water is clean and the birds continue to chirp... a testament to nature, would you say -- or a testament to us?"

I hesitated for a moment, but nodded. "Yeah. A testament to nature."

Hieronymus chuckles and turns around, looking around the forest, at the nature, and breathing in the sight like a lion king might breath in the sight of the savannah. "Do you remember why you asked me for this interview?"

"Yes," I said, at once, though I was a little unsure what he was getting at. "Because of your comments about colonizing Mars at last weeks' press conference on the State of the Moon. You mentioned a new long-term objective for TransLuna: the colonization of Mars."

"Yes, a major aspect of which will be making Mars suitable for human life. Giving Mars nature, you might say, like we have here," he said.

As I thought about these words, something struck me suddenly. "Where are we?"

"Tyrol," he said.

"Yes, but which... I mean... where in Tyrol. What's the name of this valley?"

"Oh, it doesn't have a name yet," he said. "It's rather new."

"New?" I blinked. "But how can that be?"

He looked around the valley with a contented smile, and then back at me with a smirk. "Well, Christ, do I really have to say it?"
 
Frankfurt, the new capitol of germany and the only major city which had gone through the crisis years relativly unharmed. Hamburg had lost a million inhabitants, cologone almost 800 000 and Berlin and Munich were nothing but ruins. So much life had been lost, but strangely, Franfurt, the fifthe largest german city, had survived all of this rather well. Admitted, the city had lost about 100 000 inhabitatns during those years but still it had over 600 000 citiziens today, amkign it the economic and political centre of the new germany. The skyscapers of the skyline had not been destroyed, like so many others in the world and the city on the river Main was full of life and commotion. Hamburg may have a revival at the moment, with the raise in international trade, but Rotterdams position as the largest harbor massivly slows the citys recovery.
But Frankfurt stood tall and strong, abeacon of progress and civillisation. In the Paulskirche, where over 200 years ago the first german parliament had met, the current german parliament sat and debated the issues. The political landscape had changed, with the resent expansions and while the social-liberal coalition goverment still had a majority, it was far away from the almost two thirds majority they held ten years ago. Right and left-wing extremists had returned to the parliament floor, but thankfully the 5% clause prevented any dwarf party from blocking the system.
After the last election, there had been a change in the goverment. After Willy Eberts death, the interims chancellor had stepped back, and with the new elections, a new chancellor was taking his oath of duty.
" I swear, that I shall dedicate my strenght to the well beeing of the german people, increase its well beeing, protect it from damage, that I will protect the consitution and principles of the republic, fullfil my duties and act fair to every person."
" Mr Chancellor, you have hereby pledged the oath of duty, as described in the constitution and I wish you the best luck, for the office you have taken today." the room was filled with applause, as the man, relaivly young and in his late forties, shock the hand of the president of parliament and walked to the podium.
Arnold Schmidt was now the new chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, the fifth chancellor since the fall.
"Dear friends and colleagues, I am filled with pride and joy that you have put this much trust into me, I will do my best not to disappoint you. Today is a new, bright day. The nuclear winter had ended, our kids can finally feel again what summer is like. Our crops are growing and with filled bellys our people can find work in our growing economy. We have formed bonds with friends all around the globe, our ports are again busting with trade and commerce, brining wealth to out people. The brave men and women serviong the Bundeswehr protect our borders, keeping us save. Truly, we have a bright future ahead.
But, I must also remind you all, that we have to stay awake and aware of the world. In the south, the world was on the brink of another war, in the middle east those blinded by fundementalism arm themself and threaten those who wish to live in nothing but peace and in the north ? In the north a disgusting regime is reaching out with its tentacles, reaching for a people that has suffered so much throughout its history. We must stay vigillant, but all when the time is right.
Today, let us celebrate, let us celebrate the strenght and minds of our people, who have rebuild this nation to the shinning example of progress, liberty and freedom it is today. To the german people !"
 
27-3-59 (Part 3)

It has been a week since mom and I had our interview, I could see the mention of my father has upset her. She visited the temple by herself today and said she would talk about my father this evening.

'So we were married and Lochan and I were so happy. We had been married for two years and you were on the way. Thankfully I could work at home and could monitor my health, I was so worried about the pregnancy since my mother/your grandmother had problems with my pregnancy. God was good and the doctors gave me a clear bill of health. Your father was hired by a construction company to program and supervise the robots and heavy equipment. We had a small flat provided by the company and we were fine. I worked for a bank as an analyst so we also had health care and I was happy. I had no idea what would happen next.

The construction industry has always been a haven for 'black money' and organized crime who used it for money laundering. The government tried to restrict this but with the economy trying to recover many people turned a blind eye to bags of money. Also, the mafias sold drugs, ran protection rackets and told companies to buy or use certain suppliers for materials or hire certain workers/contractors. Your father was not above this and told me about it. Yes, he took money. If it was a matter of picking company A or company B and the material and quality was the same then he took the money. He drew the line however with the companies and mafias that sold adulterated materials or treated workers worse than animals. First, they came to your father with promises of money or a flat and he refused.

Then the threats began against me and him. He started to take different paths to work and to home. We moved in the middle of the night to another flat under another name. He bought a pistol on the black market and got a license to carry from a friend of his in the police. He also started to record everything at work and when people called us at home. He notated everything. When he researched and found out the similar issues with other companies and how they influenced the police and the government. When he had enough he released all the records to the media and the police and everyone. He did not want it to be suppressed or filed to be forgotten. It was a huge scandal and brought down the municipal and state government. The trials lasted for two years and your father was celebrated by the new government and police. He was awarded a medal.

One day he was driving home from work and he was hit several times by a truck. The police said it was an accident but I do not believe it. Your father knew he might be killed but he was not afraid. Your father was a hero. People may try to intimidate you or force you to bend but do not be afraid. Stand for truth and you shall be free.
 
When do orders lock?
 
Sorry, yesterday was busy. Orders are due in about 11 hours. As always, while order edits will not be accepted after lock, late orders will be accepted with the exception of automatically failing any contested claims.
 
Report from the Office of the Ambassador in Rome

This season saw great diplomatic traffic in the Italian capital. The ambassadorial suite offered to the Nordic staff was only established a few months ago, and as such is not as well-seated in the city as some of the more seasoned embassies. Nonetheless, it served perfectly sufficient as a listening post for this Spring's faux pas which local nationalist circles have taken to referring to as the Punic Spark. There was, before the incident began, no official Sahelian embassy in Rome, but one was quickly built only a few doors down from the Nordic embassy as soon as the delegation arrived at port.

It seems the root of the incident is in the recent Italian annexation of Tunisia, a territory of Northern Africa. Before the Troubles, Tunisia was one of the later North African states to become a battlefront for World War III, with outright conflict only beginning in early 2030. Since the 2040s, the region had been one of many on the Mediterranean coast that was patchily claimed by a hodgepodge of Islamist warlords, and the Italian military spent a harrowing campaign stabilizing Tunisia by defeating these dictators.

Naturally, no sooner had the last building been cleared than a horde of angry bureaucrats and liberals descended into Tunis to express "respectful grievances" with the imperialist ventures of this evil European nation. Within a month of the region's annexation, the American embassy and a new diplomatic coalition of Zionese and Sahelian ambassadors (set up in the aforementioned new office) were all abuzz with activity. Our office did what we could to support the maintenance of order and reason, but soon enough the Africans had managed to bully the Italian government into withdrawal in exchange for some sort of economic development treaty.

Ultimately the Punic Spark served little in the way of actual progress for the peoples of the Mediterranean, but it did one thing: it confirmed the popular political theory in the Empire's pubs and clubs that neoliberalism never truly died in the nuclear fires of the troubles, but rather that it was simply rushed behind a curtain by its hidden puppet masters.

The scent of war did yield some positive for the Imperial agenda. The naval interns that delivered last week's envelope stayed the night at the embassy, and I overheard them discussing the event as though once again the world's affairs had made their way onto the sympathetic ears of youthful Norsemen. The original High Command, though legendary by now, is aging and dying, and while the office of this ambassador may remember a time before the War, I feared that the generation now coming into the most important positions of government would be ignorant to the ever-present struggle for order worldwide. I may call it downright heartwarming to know that the youth are once again aware of the pitfalls of global geopolitics, and it seems-- based on the past few weeks' enlistment bump-- that events like this Tunisian Incident may solidify this securely.

Hail the Fatherland, Karl Visser
 
Orders are now due. Late order will be accepted as normal. Order edits will not be accepted.

This update may take longer than the others, as it will bridge between the intro turns and the regular turns. When its finished, it will be posted in a new IC thread, while this thread will become an OOC thread.
 
31-3-59

The interviews have been tough on mom but it has been therapeutic in a way. Her appearance has changed like a massive weight has been removed from her shoulders. I have been reading about my father and how he stood up to the corrupt even at the cost of his life. I never knew that my dad was a hero, not in the military sense, but a good man who did what was right.

'Tell me about what happened after dad died.'

'I lost my will to live after your father died. I had no one, no family, no friends or community. If I was not carrying you I would have killed myself, many people did. I started going to the Sai Baba temple every week. I was not religious in the past but losing everything makes you reevaluate life. Sometimes as a mother, you have to keep moving no matter what. Even if you do not want to live you must keep going. I had some savings from your father and me but no job and no place to live. So I went to a local NGO that found women jobs and a place to live. I thought that with my skills I could find something.

So I was the last appointment of that day to talk to the director of the NGO. You were about to be born so I could only travel very slowly. I was not going to beg or ask for charity, I just wanted a job.

So I walked in and met the woman who I met ten years ago. The woman who you called Grandmother. Amita Patil. I presented myself and told her I wanted work and knew computers and IT. She said she already knew my and your father's story and wanted to hire me today. I told her I did not want charity or pity. She said she was paying a salary and she was receiving work from me. A fair exchange. She asked where I was living and I told her a rented room. She asked me to move in with her and her husband Vijay, who was a retired police officer. I would pay rent and help with the household after you were born.

At first, I was suspicious but after you were born I became so busy taking care of you. Both of them so understanding and treated them with respect. I called them Saab (Sir) and Memsaab (Madam) out of respect. Vijay would die in 2050 after being ill for many years and Memsaab became your Nani. She always considered you as her granddaughter and no one could tell her any different.

If I want you to learn one thing it is that strength does not come from muscles or guns or wealth. It comes from determination and education and faith in God. Use your knowledge and learning to help your community and others and when you are called to be a hero or defend others do it without hesitation. Make us proud my girl.'
 
From: Dr. Elim Martel, Director of VascoTech
To: Secretary of Labour Gavin Ruiz

Good day, Mr. Ruiz. Allow me to be the first to congratulate your government on Gran Colombia's acquisition of the Galapagos Islands. As a man of science, it is good to hear that the birthplace of the theory of evolution will be looked after with care by our wise leaders.

More to the point, I was hoping we could personally meet to discuss the recent orders given to the tech firms in Panama by your government. While I do understand that you want us to move away from the creation of military hardware towards civilian technology, and we will certainly comply with those orders, these penalties would undermine our efforts at a critical point in our research. I don't wish to disclose too many details outside of secure channels, but I can tell you that, with no hyperbole whatsoever, if the Fritz Lang Initiative is a success, it's going to change the world, more so then a weapon or a solar panel ever could.

I await your response.
 
Frank Storm

VcGm5Wf.png


Frank Storm fielding questions from the press (2064).

The Troubles

From the first days on the primary playground until the Third World War, Frank Storm was in school. He wasn’t innately smart or talented, he got into one of the lesser English universities, and he only arrived at Oxford because of emergency measures relocating graduate students when the blasts first went off. It was at Oxford, after the worldwide collapse, that Storm finished his studies and became an advocate of “applied history” - in no small part because of the influence of the calculated social collapse algorithmically engineered by Oxford supercomputers.

Storm was 28 when the Troubles began. As a young man he was a half-hearted supporter of the Labour Party with an idea of what was wrong in society, but the war ended all of this. Not until the twilight of the Troubles would Storm become politically active again - his 30s and 40s were entirely occupied with education and eventually his own independent research. After becoming a professor, Storm’s bold political works received praise from the academic elite - he pioneered early substructuralist arguments such as quantitative historical analysis suggesting that political systems have predictable, centripetal forces, and qualitative accounts of the dynamics of historical international ideological competition.

In the brave new English technocracy the academics are also the politicians, and in 2051 they decided Storm's studies warranted annexation into the state. That year the population control system of the government offered Storm a job with unparalleled resources - his own computer laboratory, an experienced team, and extensive funding. So he left academia to lead the historical forecasting unit, garnering renown among reputable academic circles supportive of mass psychology modelling. Storm ended his time there in 2062 when favourable political whispers had made the Directorate aware of a distinguished social scientist working on practical models of international events with applications to foreign policy.

The Trials

The seven member Directorate was always more-or-less a miniaturized House of Commons in the early years of the technocratic government. Except instead of two parties, there were two university-based factions - the directors representing Oxford and the directors representing Cambridge. And they disagreed rather intractably. This adversarial norm lasted up until the late Troubles, when the reigning directors struck a secret deal to end the public rivalry and operate the Directorate as a collective - moreover they agreed to guarantee every new directorial appointment was someone without political experience who could be easily manipulated. Frank Storm was one of those harmless political nobodies absent any threatening political ambitions but with excellent credentials.

His rise to Director-General was therefore a shock to himself as well as the public. Whenever directors are added or removed from the team they are placed ordinally in a line of succession to resolve the question of who leads the executive in the event of the untimely death or legal removal of the Director-General. Frank Storm was not the next in line when the Director-General was arrested. Frank Storm was the next in line only after four of the seven directors were put on trial for various criminal acts as part of a conspiracy to entrench their rule beyond the legal terms of office and against the will of the presidents of Oxford and Cambridge.

The trials sparked a crisis of legitimacy for the country. The university elites scrambled to prove to the press that the system itself was not at fault, only malicious individuals, whom had been swiftly handled by the government’s internal procedures. See, all is well!

Storm was not the sort of person who ordinarily would become a powerful political figure, and by nature Storm wasn't much of a leader either - but something about this situation changed Storm. He was, for the first time, in the cockpit rather than the control room.

The Storm

Leading the husk that was the Directorate, then entirely made-up of the token apolitical appointees, Storm appeared before the press and declared his plans to reform the political system. He used his connections and personal reputation to put together a team of political scientists, sociologists, and population control experts whose credentials were impeccable. While they worked on a new system of government, Storm assumed all the roles of the Director-General, his transformation from intellectual and social scientist to politician nearly complete.

The presidents of Oxford and Cambridge, nervous about the dire risk assessments from the population control system, approved of the Storm reforms. A new body, the Congress of the Academies, would be appointed by academic institutions across England and Wales, each university being allotted delegates by an independent commission. This body, through negotiation and secret ballots, would then decide a team of directors as a whole, with a specific leader whom would be entrusted with the leading role within the state.

There were probably better candidates on objective merits - management skills, policy background, personal leadership attributes - but Storm’s rise also introduced the media to their own power within a technocracy. He won the position of Director-General at the first Congress under the unspoken threat of instability due to his newfound folk reputation. He brought along with his preferred team of sociologists, game theorists, historians, and the like - the first council of directors dominated by social scientists.

Storm isn't the loudest or most charismatic of politicians, but his years studying regimes of the past and years modelling the forces of the future make him unexpectedly agile: at every moment he more than anyone knows of and is consciously marshaling the forces that would otherwise destroy him.
 
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