Tibby's Graphics and Grab-Bag Thread.

[Turquoise Blue]

"Gang Aft Agley"

Prime Ministers of Scotland (2021-2024)
Nicola Sturgeon (SNP majority) 2021-2022
Damn Cherry. Damn everyone who won't damn Cherry. That woman managed to bind the SNP to unilateral independence in their November conference and then rushed the Parliament to vote for it. By a narrow one-seat margin, Scotland declared independence. Sturgeon was now the first head of government of an independent Scotland in centuries. But what should have been a triumphant declaration was now some rushed and probably illegal thing. And now Boris declared that he wouldn't stand for it and was now putting what remained of Britain's clout on isolating its unwelcome neighbour.

Any poll that would have been held about independence would have seen YES fall back below 50% after that. The gradualists lost the fight so comprehensively and Sturgeon herself lost control of the party. The leadership challenge was almost an afterthought.

Joanna Cherry (SNP majority) 2022-2024
The triumph of the fundamentalists in March 2022 came with more and more blows. An application to even consider joining the EU was rejected frostily, and President Biden refused to even meet the Scottish ambassador. Sure, there was some 'informal' acceptance here and there, including China. But none of it helped the Scottish economy, which was now collapsing like there was no tomorrow. Many economists attributed it to its historic dependence on the south, and the most charitable would say that this was a 'rough transitionary period'.

But for the average Scot, it was a nightmare as more and more jobs fled southwards. Boris, now successfully covering himself as 'defender of the Union' with his tough diplomatic talk, declared that there was 'no compromise on the Union', and even though Starmer adopted a more conciliatory tone, he was still firm that UDI was illegal and opposed by Labour. The diplomatic isolation was without end in sight. And out of a desperate move, Cherry signed more and more deals with China, giving them overt influence over the country. This did get Scotland more diplomatic recognition, but only outside the West.

As jobs vanished and poverty rose, including Covid-22 tearing apart the country in sickness worse than the UK in 2023, the people of Scotland turned angrier and against the SNP which promised such a rosy vision of independence and yet gave Scotland hell. In 2024, this would come to a boil.

Colin Fox (Scottish Socialist leading Revolutionary Government) 2024
They said it couldn't be done, that workers' revolutions didn't happen in this day and age. But Red Clydeside was back once more. With the SNP and Scottish Parliament successfully marginalised by a workers' uprising, Colin Fox declared the formation of the Republic of Scotland.

Prime Ministers of the Republic of Scotland (2024-????)
Colin Fox (Scottish Socialist leading Revolutionary Coalition) 2024-2026
2024: def. Ruth Davidson (Progressive Unionist), Nicola Sturgeon (SNP), Alex Salmond [in exile] ("Provisional" SNP), Patrick Harvie (Green)
Despite a stronger Unionist support than expected [one easily dealt with by a bill passed the first day expelling all members not supporting Scottish "national integrity"], Fox got his majority in the new People's Convention, and immediately moved with his policies. While many of them would see leftists down south start to agitate more for recognition of Scottish independence and saying that some of his stuff could be learnt from, it would cause their increasing marginalisation in British politics between a seemingly-dominant Conservative Party and a Labour Party anxious to not be associated with Scots.

Left unsaid was that Fox was in an unenviable position. The economy was still collapsing with no end in sight, and the only way he could solve it was by opening up further and further to China and other countries. Which would reduce Scotland to a mere economic puppet. In the end, he chose to put Scottish workers first and move away from those, instead prioritising a state-ran economy. This would see quite a bit of success at first.

But China, scorned by this move against any foreign economic influence, deemed that it was not worth the effort and declared that it 'respects the territorial integrity of the United Kingdom, as we hope the United Kingdom returns in turn'. The Chinese money left, leading to a panic and thousands of jobs lost in the blink of an eye. Christmas 2025 was the most miserable yet. Fox held firm and declared that "Scottish Socialism" would get the country out of the mess. But then he was thrown out by his own Convention in favour of a name that people thought was over.

Tommy Sheridan (Solidarity leading Revolutionary Coalition) 2026-????
2029: unopposed [SNP, Provisional SNP denied the ballot, Unionists forced to go underground]
A key element of the second rise of Tommy Sheridan was that he was part of a much more cynical streak emerging in Scottish radical left circles. One that believed that the world was against Scotland and that only Scotland could look after Scotland. A much more isolationist, insular viewpoint, but one much more open to autarkic ideas. But above all, the thing that defined Sheridan's government was its unrepentant hostility to criticism.

The press were heavily curtailed and opposition parties were consistently portrayed as suspiciously disloyal to Scotland by the Prime Minister. The main target of his attacks were the broad-tent Progressive Unionists. Being the child of the merger of the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties and representing a broad "rejoin" attitude, it represented everything wrong with Scottish politics in his eyes. So to see that they were denied the ballot was unsurprising, especially as Sheridan centralised that to under his government's control.

But what was more surprising was that the two halves of the SNP, the official and provisional elements, were also denied it. The 2029 election returned a bunch of yes-men and yes-women [no yes-enbies though] and his control over Scotland cemented itself. Helping this was that finally the broken Scotland economy could start to rebuild itself. All jobs that could be lost were now lost, and Sheridan could continue Fox's project of "Scottish Socialist" state-controlled autarky. An uniquely-Scottish attempt at a command economy was now in full steam.

Meanwhile, Scotland's diplomatic isolation continued as Boris Johnson was followed by Priti Patel who promised to be every bit as tough - "if not more" - on the Scottish Question. By the time Sheridan drove opposition out of the convention, only the far-left in the UK backed Scotland. Labour was now fully committed to what was then a growing sense of British nationalism, built out of an instinctive reaction to what Scotland was. Everything Scotland was, Britain was the opposite. If Scotland is insular and closed, Britain is open to the world. If Scotland is state-controlled, Britain is for the free market. If Scotland is anti-European, well, let just say that Britain is now in the EEC again, but it says it's not. It's merely the UK-EU Coordinated Trade Market, which is totally not the EEC believe us.

The year is 2031 and the red sun rises above the grim brilliance of Tommy Sheridan's Socialist Republic. He is still in full grip of Scotland, but he is fully expected to hand over to his deputy Pat Lee in the coming year, yet still be greatly influential. Alex Salmond is still banned from returning to Scotland and is seen most of the time in Moscow. Joanna Cherry is still unrepentant about her pushing for unilateral independence, but is otherwise shunned by most people, even middle-class TERFs in the UK. And Nicola Sturgeon haven't been sighted for three years.

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Decided to do this piss-take going off the idea of "The British has a socialist revolution, but it ends up like the first republic".

Note: I have no clue how left-wing factionalism worked in the 30s, so apologies for any horrendous mistakes there.

"So This Is How The Revolution Dies, With Thunderous Applause"

Monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1910-1931)
George V (Saxe-Coburg-Gotha/Windsor) 1910-1931

Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1921-1931)
Arthur Bonar Law (Conservative majority) 1921-1923
1922: def. J. R. Clynes (Labour), David Lloyd George (National Liberal), H. H. Asquith (Liberal)
Stanley Baldwin (Conservative majority) 1923-1926
Philip Snowden (Labour-Liberal coalition) 1926-1929
1926: def. Stanley Baldwin (Conservative), David Lloyd George (National), H. H. Asquith (Liberal)
Winston Churchill (National-Conservative coalition) 1929-1931
1929: def. Philip Snowden (Labour), Stanley Baldwin (Conservative), R. Palme Dutt (Communist)

Convenors of the People's Commonwealth of Britain (1931-1938)
Bertrand Russell (Independent) 1931-1933
1931 (supported by Fabian Society): def. Fenner Brockway (Independent Labour), R. Palme Dutt (Communist)
1932 (supported by Fabian Society): def. Fenner Brockway (Independent Labour), R. Palme Dutt (Communist)
Fenner Brockway (Independent Labour) 1933-1937
1933: def. R. Palme Dutt (Communist), A. V. Alexander (Co-operative & Fabian Society)
1934: unopposed
1935: def. Albert Inkpin (Communist), A. V. Alexander (Co-operative & Fabian Society)
1936: unopposed
Albert Inkpin (Communist) 1937-1938**
1937: def. Fenner Brockway (Independent Labour), Tom Mann (Independent Communist), A. V. Alexander (Co-operative), Beatrice Webb (Fabian Society)

Chairmen of the Provisional Committee of the People's Commonwealth of Britain (1938-1949)
Oswald Mosley (Independent Labour) 1938-1940
Stafford Cripps (Independent Labour) 1940-1948*
Harold Nicolson (Independent Labour) 1948-1949

Monarchs of the Popular Kingdom of Great Britain (1949-present)
George VI (Windsor) 1949-1952
Elizabeth II (Windsor) 1952-present

Prime Ministers of the Popular Kingdom of Great Britain (1949-present)
Harold Nicolson (Labour majority) 1949-present
1949: def. A. V. Alexander (Co-operative), John Loverseed (Radical-Democratic), Evelyn Waugh (People's)

The announcement by the Provisional Committee, which replaced the Trades Unions Congress in 1938 in an upheaval of centralisation and rejection of what was perceived as "Russian influence", that an invitation would be sent to the King in Canada was an unexpected one to many as it closed the page on Britain's second experiment at republicanism and a much more radical one than the first.

But as the King was crowned in Revolut- Westminster Abbey and the restored Family moved back in Buckingham Palace [please excuse the burnt bits], they're acutely aware that the Britain they return to is a radically different one. While Parliament is once again back, the upper-chamber is more or less the old TUC rebranded as the "House of Trades", the political parties dominating the conversation [apart from that weird Mr. Waugh's People's Party] are solidly left-wing only in different forms, and the economy is firmly not capitalist, being primarily an uncomfortable mixture of various socialist policies, with some mutualised cooperatives, some state-controlled enterprises and some suspiciously "market" socialist experiments here and there. The days when Britain was the land of nobles is firmly over, and all power belongs to the workers.

And yet somehow they're fine with a crowned head. Both Stalin and Barkley could agree on one thing - they didn't know how to respond. Nevertheless, the Popular Kingdom of Great Britain now exists, a huge "up yours" to people who think countries have to make sense ideologically.

 

[Turquoise Blue]

"It is the year 2021. The world and the stars are divided in two bitter competing forces, both advocating completely different ideologies. One bases its legitimacy off hereditary authority in a crowned head theoretically bound by traditional liberties and constitutionalism, the other derives its legitimacy from the workers enabling an authoritarian party-state furthering the revolution. The gap between the two couldn’t be starker.

But the one thing that unites them is that they have in theory transcended the old petty ideas of nationalism. Why be a Russian or an Englishman when you can be a Soviet or an Imperial? The fall of nationalistic forces have led many to foolishly declare that “the Springtime of Nations is at an end”, and therefore we are in the “Winter”, the nadir. The days when people defined their identity off ‘nations’ is at an end. The Soviets say that the struggle against the Imperials is the “final struggle” against capitalism in its death-knell, while the Imperials declare that “reckoning” for the “red tyrants” is coming.

But even as they posture on how their form of post-nationalism is the one that will lead the world, they internally compromise with nationalist forces. The Imperials’ confusing multi-level authorities that are supposed to give ‘more local accountability’ and is ostensibly covered with peerages is all but giving the internal identities their power in exchange for loyalty while we all know the Soviet Union’s ‘national republics’ such as the Korean or Manchu SSRs are touted as “Soviet national liberation”.

Ultimately, even though the cold war is helmed by men and women sitting in Moscow and London, it is one determined by the old relationship between their largest nationalities – China and India. China, or the Chinese Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, eclipsed Russia in the 60s in power, and determines its future direction without equal. Meanwhile its rival, the Union of India, has a much more tenuous relationship within the Imperial Federation due to being first incorporated via colonialism, but as political necessities empowered it, it has rapidly took control much to some Englishmen’s dismay.

Do not be deceived. This may be seen as a cold war between such post-national concepts of Soviets and Imperials, but at heart it is the thousands-years-old rivalry between the great nations of Asia – China and India."


UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS ('SOVIET UNION')

Vanguard of the Revolution
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Still the only legal party, although by now it's essentially factionalised to fuck. The labels below are made by Kremlinologists for informal caucuses.

- "Chinese Faction": Not really all of the Chinese members of the Party Committee, but it's dominated by them, it's the one that talks of "market socialism" and "socialism with patriotic characteristics" whatever that even means. All I know is that it has worked gang-busters in bringing China up to wealthy status [as their former Chairman reportedly said "to get rich is glorious"]. Been the dominant faction since the 90s, the latest Himalayan Crisis has however been egg on their face as Kremlinologists in London predict Xi Jinping's end as Chairman. Still, that has been said a lot...

- "Russian Faction": The "orthodox socialists", they tend to want the old command economy back and idolises those days. Democratic centralism means they don't often say such in public, but it's known that Russia has generally benefited way less from perestroika than China has, and resents it. Also the faction that is way more into the idea of "Soviet patriotism", contrasting it with the "feudal identity" of the Imperials.

- "European Faction": The more 'liberal' of the factions regarding stuff such as gay rights [although neither superpower has covered themselves in glory here, to be honest], it's dominated by the western republics such as Germany, Sweden and Yugoslavia, they tend to be the most independent-minded of the republics and massively advocate decentralisation of the Soviet Union to empower the republics, even if still following the party line when forced to. Murmurs that they're secret collaborationists with the Imperials are rife. Also has the Koreans, which are massively different from the rest.

- "Agrarian Faction": One of the few major factions that aren't based in a region or nationality, they're generally representing the people disaffected by the mad rush to industrialisation, and call for a restoration of the level of agrarian subsidies that were cut in the 90s in the "Third Industrial Revolution". Mostly excluded those days from power, their strongest base is Mongolia and Central Asia, but even that's being squeezed.

- "Religious Faction": Aligned with the Russians since the 2000 conference, they've been considerably more powerful in the past than they are now, with China's more secular leadership dragging the Soviet Union away from mealy-mouthed compromises with the Orthodox Church. Their sympathisers in the West routinely decry a "second Kulturkrieg" with the Soviet Union now officially increasing control over religious authorities.

- "International Faction": Aka the ones that the Imperials' John Birch Society [a 'non-political' organisation named after an Imperial missionary killed by Soviet forces in the 40s] thinks are the dominant faction, they're reportedly seen by the others as dangerously close to Trotskyism in advocating an active expansion of the global revolution up to the point of risking nuclear war with the Imperials. Thankfully they're safely irrelevant.

- "Space Faction": Mostly a vague faction that every other faction is sort of aligned to, this is the one that aggressively promotes space exploration and settlement [never colonisation, that's a dirty word for what the Imperials do], and their symbolic leader is the first taikonaut on Pluto.


UNITED FEDERATION OF IMPERIAL DOMINIONS ('IMPERIAL FEDERATION')
Unlike the Soviets, the Imperials pride themselves on "public politics", although it is known that there does exist some "Palaceologists" in Moscow, because while the Soviets seemingly have a lack of public information on their political dealings, the Imperials have too much. Their political parties are so fractious and based in local politics more often than not, that Moscow regularly consult their experts to comprehend what their rival has just done.

Hence we are going to rely on the Palaceologists' analysis of the various party factions here, all under their "official" Imperial party brandings.

Her Imperial Majesty's Government
Conservative Party ("Tories")
The party on the "right" of the Imperial spectrum, it is a ridiculously broad-tent party [tbf like all else] based around three things above all - Anti-communism, pro-tradition and pro-business. But the last two can really vary, while the first is something all (legal) parties in the UFID can agree on...

- "Populars": Mostly dominated by Indian and African MPs, this faction has either sent the Tory leaders or played kingmaker in the various leadership struggles. The current Prime Minister, former First Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi himself is of this faction. He's a curiosity as a relative unknown compared to the dominating political dynasties often seen in Indian politics. The Popular Society tends to be the most flexible on economics (although under Modi has been quite firm on pushing free-market reforms, a notable shift) while firm on social conservatism, and opposes any centralisation to Westminster, preferring to emphasise the Federation aspect of the Imperial demos. Known as the Progressives in North America.

- "One Nation": Notably different from the Populars in how they prefer to centralise power to Westminster, and tends to be more flexible on social issues as well as fiscal, they tend to be more concentrated in Britain and Canada than elsewhere. Apart from that, there's not much to say, really, apart from their being the loudest on environmental issues, to the point of being called the "turquoise tendency".

- "Unionists": Economically, they tend to be basically the Liberals' Marketeer faction, calling for less state intervention, but combining that with a social conservatism to match the Populars, they tend to be the dominating faction in the American Dominions and hence have enough clout to at times block the Populars' more statist tendencies. Historically they used to be the Liberal Unionists, a splitter Liberal branch, before merging in the 1920s. Those days they and the Populars tend to vote more or often in-sync, leading some palaceologists to wonder if the two have merged in all but name.

- "Nationals": The faction most on the outs those days, it combines social conservatism with a firm economic-interventionist policy, seeing the Populars as traditionally too fickle to implement anything properly interventionist [and under Modi they seem to have been proven correct].

Her Imperial Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition
Liberal Party
The party ostensibly on the "left" of the Imperial spectrum, it is too a ridiculously broad-tent party that defines itself rather succinctly, as the party of Liberty above all. To the Soviets of course, this party is nothing but just the peak of bourgeois capitalism with some sops here and there to the workers.

- "Marketeers": The more free-market sort has really rose to prominence in the last few decades, bolstered by both a shift in the Indian liberals away from their traditional New-Liberal alignment and the success of the Chinese Faction in creating wealth in the Soviet Union, leading the Marketeers to call for the Imperials to out-compete the Soviets in the free market. Had quite a few successful PMs since, but since 2015 is now in opposition.

- "New Liberals": The "new" is a holdover from the early 1900s when they were the bright young things on the political stage advocating a radical shift in the United Kingdom and its Empire [as the Imperials were known then], they are famously the faction of Jawaharlal Nehru, one of the greatest Imperial Prime Ministers, but has certainly fallen far since, with their 'social-market' regulations now perceived as stifling the Federation in the 80s.

- "Fabians": Also known as "Liberal-Labour", they're perhaps the most left-wing yet mainstream faction and the only ones who dare to mention the word "socialism". A key part of Liberal internal party coalition in where New-Liberals used them to successfully marginalised the old Gladstonians in the 'interests of progress', their presence has notably increased the last decade as Marketeer dominance squeezes New-Liberals in more developed areas. They only had one Prime Minister, the ill-fated Harry Lee who oversaw the economic crisis of the mid-70s.

- "Greens": A relative new-comer, this is a faction mostly based in younger faces especially in the "Anglo" Dominions but increasingly in urban areas in India, and often call for anti-corruption measures, environmentalist policies and all those radical-liberal policies that are increasingly popular with young people. They and the One Nation sort have a curious synergy despite their massive policy differences.

Other Parties
The Imperial Parliament is noted for its rowdy nature, something it has inherited from the old British Parliament, and hence this is something that the Soviets often make fun of, contrasting their orderly conferences with the cheers and jeers and sometimes brawls in the Parliament. The plethora of parties does not help with that, and it would take thousands of words to describe all of them. Just think the most variety possible, and you're close.

[Citation: The flag for the Soviets was created by redrich on DeviantArt here, and the one for the Imperials was created by SunnyCant on Reddit here]

 

[Turquoise Blue]

2020 Illinois parliamentary election

• Boldly Onwards! - 31 seats, 16.95% [Barack Obama's vaguely liberal, mostly personalist, movement, sells himself as a "new change"]
• Downstate First - 20 seats, 10.97% [Formerly fringe right-wing party railing against "Chicago dominance", benefited off corruption scandals]
• Solidarity - 15 seats, 8.70% [Traditionalist-left Polish and wider Slavic interests, got votes from religious trade unions abandoning Labor or CPP]
• Labor - 15 seats, 8.48% [The normal "big left" party, it has increasingly split and split before the recent corruption brought it down]
• Libertarian - 11 seats, 6.44% [Got a surge as big donors decided to leave a GOP seemingly tied to nativist populism, not knowing they're nuts]
• Anti-Madigan Labor - 8 seats, 4.81% [Mostly just "Labor, but fuck Michael Madigan", so emphasises anti-corruption measures]
• Republican - 8 seats, 4.58% [Tried to skew more nativist to take away votes from the right-wing, only managed to fuck up stuff]
• Protestant - 8 seats, 4.39% [De facto the party of Southern Baptists due to the Methodists voting for other parties, so very right-wing]
• Catholic People's - 7 seats, 4.05% [Once was a strong force, but since the scandals, have been hit hard, especially to parties like Solidarity]
• All-American - 6 seats, 3.76% [Very much clear what it wants, no more immigrants, build a wall. Also white-supremacist of course]
• Sinn Féin - 5 seats, 3.14% [The party of the Irish in Illinois that vote on the basis of ethnicity, they've made some gains]
• Social Democratic - 5 seats, 2.91% [Formerly the German Social Democrats, they're trying to appeal to Scandinavians now]
• Liberal - 4 seats, 2.68% [The traditional party of the middle-class who generally aren't hot on the Republicans, but tainted due to Lab-Lib pact]
• National Association - 4 seats, 2.49% [Once the party of African-Americans, this election Obama all but took most of their votes]
• Democratic Labor - 3 seats, 1.91% [The traditional-leftist, anti-Labor party that didn't like the idea of supporting a Slavic party]
• Jewish Labor Bund - 3 seats, 1.90% [Those days it's a generally social-democratic-ish and pro-Jewish minority rights party. Mostly the later.]
• Green - 3 seats, 1.90% [A trendy eco-socialist party popular with young people who want a proper left-wing, non-ethnic and not-corrupt party]
• Christian Democratic - 3 seats, 1.69% [Once a heady attempt at creating a pan-Christian party, it's now just the mushy Christian centrists]
• Black Panther - 3 seats, 1.67% [Normally never was anywhere even 2 seats, the fact it got this high shows this election is quite unique]
• German Conservative - 2 seats, 1.10% [There has been some murmurs of copying the DSP and going for a multi-ethnic approach.]
• Indian National Congress - 1 seat, 0.96% [The biggest Asian minority in Illinois is the Indians, but the INC struggles to unite them.]
• Pride - 1 seat, 0.87% [LGBT rights, and seen by many younger LGBT people as just that, with it eagerly supporting neoliberal centrists in deals]
• Green-Progress - 1 seat, 0.85% [Only different from the Greens because of a procedural dispute in the early 2000s that never was resolved.]
• Kuomintang - 1 seat, 0.85% [Chinese interests. Currently floating the idea of a pan-Asian "Asian Alliance" with INC and smaller parties]
• Socialist - 1 seat, 0.66% [Democratic socialism, but currently much ignored.]

Parties that failed to get enough votes for a seat

• Forgottonia! - 0 seats, 0.52% [Fell below the threshold after a few decade hovering above it, this party is a regional one just shaking its fist]
• Farmer-Labor - 0 seats, 0.46% [A merger of Grange and a Labor splitter in 1919, this party has been safely irrelevant for the most part]
• Grange - 0 seats, 0.31% [In the 70s, there was a dispute between the left and right, and the right refounded the Grange as a party.]

Resulting Government
- Dan Lipinski (Solidarity, with Anti-Madigan Labor, Catholic People's, Sinn Féin, Social Democrats, Democratic Labor, Christian Democrats, German Conservatives, Indian National Congress and Kuomintang, with Downstate First and Labor supply and confidence)
Majority - 1 (85/169)

 

[Turquoise Blue]

2020 Massachusetts parliamentary election

• Sinn Féin - 29 seats, 14.01% [The Irish party of MA since the collapse of the IPP in the 1930s. Politically left-of-centre]
• Catholic People's - 25 seats, 11.98% [Primarily the Italian and Polish party, but not completely. Politically centrist, big on distributism.]
• Conservative - 22 seats, 10.69% [Long since rebranded from just the 'German' party, the most mainstream centre-right party]
• Liberal - 22 seats, 10.66% [Once the dominant party, now greatly tumbled down from their prime. Centrist, soc-lib and fiscal-liberal]
• All-American - 15 seats, 7.34% [Profiting off stealing RSF's rhetoric and selling it to non-Irish people. Keep Boston... American!]
• Social Democratic Labor - 14 seats, 7.04% [A merger of Labor and SPD after a collapse in both in the 1980s]
• National Association - 10 seats, 4.72% [African-American minority rights. One of their better results.]
• Republican Sinn Féin - 7 seats, 3.75% [A SF splitter led by the more right-wing Irish. Campaigns on "Keep Boston Irish!"]
• Orange - 7 seats, 3.75% [No there's no Orange Order here, they just chose the name because they're basically just 'anti-Irish']
• Country - 7 seats, 3.59% [Basically just a party for "everywhere not Boston" in theory. Mostly get votes from the west]
• Solidarity - 7 seats, 3.39% [With most Polish Bay Staters voting Catholic, they're mostly the trade unionists at this point]
• Communist - 6 seats, 3.13% [A very successful Communist party. That campaigns primarily on Italian-American issues.]
• Socialist - 6 seats, 3.06% [A genuinely non-ethnic-based left-wing party? That should be illegal.]
• Green - 5 seats, 2.70% [A primarily centrist mushy green party. Mostly just goes "no, green in our case isn't meaning Irish..."]
• Pride - 5 seats, 2.70% [Primarily ran by a centrist gay billionaire those days, he gets a lot of tax cuts.]
• Independent - 3 seats, 1.73% ["The party of grumpy old men who want to shout at other people."]
• Swedish People's - 3 seats, 1.52% [Swedish minority interests. Considering the Swedes are 1.55% of the state, this is impressive.]
• Protestant - 2 seats, 1.40% [Completely out-competed by the Orangemen, now just the evangelicals that like to be non-sectarian.]
• Republican - 2 seats, 1.09% [In Massachusetts, "Republican" now means "Irish". The GOP has all but given up on this state.]
• Scottish National - 2 seats, 1.03% [Mostly just a bunch of people who larp as William Wallace and scream "Freedom!". They get votes?]
• Parti Français - 1 seat, 0.70% [Considering the French are 8% of the state, this party really sucks at getting their votes.]

Resulting Government
- Joseph P. Kennedy III (Sinn Féin, with Catholic People's, Social Democratic Labor, National Association, Socialist and Swedish People's, with Solidarity, Communist and Pride supply and confidence)
Majority - 10 (105/200)

 

[Turquoise Blue]

In future I'm gonna post role-play I do for each election-game here depending on if I think they're good enough.

First, this game (Ikiru ka Shinu) is set in 1858 Bakumatsu Japan, and never got past the first turn. But I really got deep with that, including digging up what might be the most detailed English writing about the history of Ryukyu, to form my character.

So who is Kunigami Chōten? Well, why not post his character form here? [I also have pasted the explanations for each issue for full clarification].

Picture (Okada Saburōsuke)

Name: Kunigami Chōten
Age: 31
Gender: Male
Allegiance: Ryuk-... Satsuma.
Class: Nobility
Occupations and Offices: Bureaucrat in the Ryukyuan Administration (1850-present)
Bio: A quiet and cerebral man, Kunigami Chōten grew up with a burning ambition in his heart. That of Ryukyu standing, well not tall, but proud. That on its broken and divided islands, it can craft a new society, one of industry and of progress. He sees the West, and all he feels is… jealousy.

He knows they merely see Ryukyu as a puppet, at best, of Japan. And that irks him. He sees Japan’s present society, and sees it as tiresome and backwards. He wants his kingdom to blaze into the future, to well, to ‘Westernise’. Perhaps only through putting on Western attire Ryukyu can break free.

His passion is painting, and he paints both the traditional Okinawan style and increasingly the new Western. He hopes to one day, fuse both to show a new Ryukyu, one that blends Ryukyuan tradition with Western learning. And to show that Ryukyu can take both, become a true kingdom in its own right.

Or at least prevent a future annexation by the Japanese…
Flaws and Traits:
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters - You are likely a charismatic idealist, and envision yourself leading the righteous into battle, be it in war or revolution, but you possess few actual martial skills; Generalship is capped at 3.
The Man of Ryukyu: Hailing from the Ryukyuan islands in the Satsuma Domain, Kunigami Chōten has made a name for himself among the local aristocracy of the islands and is today a champion of the cause of the Ryukyan people. +5 to initiatives about or taking place in Ryukyu
Stats:
Generalship - 3
Subterfuge - 4
Administration - 6
Charisma - 6
Issues:

Spoiler: The Modern Age According to Kunigami

Kurofune: (In 1853 the kurofune, Black Ships, of Perry crashed through the carefully cultivated barrier of bakufu control. Dozens more have followed in their wake. A flurry of treaties has slowly begun to open Japan to the Americans, British, Russians, French, and Dutch. A mere 8 years ago our contact with the west was tightly regulated through a single artificial island in Nagasaki where only the Dutch could enter at the Shogun’s blessing. Now foreigners walk freely in numerous cities subject only to the laws of their own nations. Their goods flow into the country as protective tariffs are being forced down to nearly non-existent levels. Anger is rising at both the foreigners who have entered the country and the bakufu which appears powerless to resist them. There have already been several incidents of violence associated with the sonnō jōi (Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarians) movement although they remain somewhat infrequent. The sonnō jōi gain power by the day despite Shogunal condemnation with the Emperor himself rumoured to be a sympathizer. The Shogun and his advisors warn we must take a cautious approach and build up our strength until we can confront the foreigners on an equal footing lest Japan go the way of China. There are also some, albeit a somewhat small group, who believe the time has come for the country to embrace the international system. What is your position on this pressing issue? Righteous violence against the invader? Pragmatic diplomacy while marshaling Japan’s strength? Or acknowledgment of the modern age?)
"This is an opportunity for our land to get more cards to its hand. We must seek to acquire as much of the foreigners' technology as possible so we can make Ryukyu as powerful as possible. We must take their technology and use it to make our land prosperous!

Bakufu: (For some 250 years the Tokugawa bakufu has ruled Japan. The Shogun stands at the center of a circle radiating from his person to the broader Tokugawa family, its vassals and cadet branches, their ostensible fudai allies, to the tozama outsiders. The Emperor’s supreme authority has long been moral and theoretical rather than concrete as the military government exercises real control. Yet centuries of peace, relative prosperity, and urbanization brought change to the delicate balance between central authority and regional autonomy created by Tokugawa Ieyasu in the early 17th Century. Many of the mechanisms designed to keep the daimyo and domains obedient have fallen into mere formality. The distinction between by fudai and tozama blurred as lords found common cause in protecting their rights against centralizing impulses. Evidence of the bakufu’s erosion even before the arrival of the west came in 1840 when an order for a daimyo to exchange his realm for another was flatly refused with the backing of local grandees and both fudai and tozama lords. Now the humiliating treatment of Japan at the hands of foreign powers has further shaken the legitimacy of the bakufu and led to a groundswell of support for “restoring” the emperor to his proper power. Tozama leaders advocate loosening central controls to increase the ability of domains to modernize on their own. On the other side there are many within the bakufu and their fudai allies who argue it must begin a process of strengthening and transforming itself into something closer to a modern western nation-state. In the debate over the system which has governed Japan since the 17th Century, where do you fall? Has the Shogun had his day and is it time for the Emperor to return? Do the domains need greater control of their own affairs? Can only a reinvigorated bakufu bring peace to Japan?)
"Do not speak to me of Edo business!"

Sunno: (Sonnō, the first word in the slogan sonnō joi, refers to reverence for the Emperor. The Emperor of course has always been a figure of reverence through his status as a living deity descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu herself. As Shoguns usurped Imperial power, they nonetheless continued to view the Emperor as a great and powerful man worthy of respect. Yet this has taken a turn in the last few decades. Adoration changed from a spiritual and cultural value to a political one. Scholars began advocating more temporal power for the Emperor to bring peace to a country that appeared to be slipping towards disorder. The arrival of the west has transformed this relatively small scholarly school into a grassroots movement extending through the length and breadth of Japan. With the bakufu entering crisis many now look to the ancient court at Kyoto for guidance. There is variance within the movement, however, as to some it simply means the Shogun should heed the wishes of the Emperor more closely and form something resembling a proper power sharing agreement. Even some members of the bakufu itself have come to see some merit in the idea for the sake of improving national unity through Kōbu gattai (Union of Court and Shogun). At the same time more radical members are moving towards supporting a full “restoration” of Imperial power and deposing the Shogun who stands in the way of the Emperor’s divine will. Such men are still outside the halls of power but appear to be inching closer in numerous tozama domains. What is your opinion on the Emperor and Imperial power? Is the current situation sustainable? Should a new Kyoto-Edo partnership be established? Can the Emperor and court take power for themselves?)
"I have reverence for my King. Some for the Emperor, who is of course the Sun God and whatnot, but I revere my sovereign the most."

Rangaku: (Contrary to the belief of some, Japan has not remained a close-minded place these past centuries. The phenomenon of Rangaku, or Dutch Learning¸ has brought a steady flow of western knowledge from the Netherlands through their trading post at Nagasaki. Japanese scholars have come to increasingly understand fields such as biology, astronomy, and chemistry from a western point of view. This has only accelerated in the past few decades as traditional Confucian approaches to the sciences gradually give way to western empirical methods. The arrival of Perry convinced both the Shogun and many domains that they must embrace a modernizing approach or risk being crushed by the outside world. The bakufu invited the Dutch to establish a naval academy at Nagasaki in 1855 and hurriedly purchased several modern steamships. Numerous domains rushed to do the same. After them came other military, scientific, and industrial advisors alongside a flood of texts. This has not been undertaken without considerable resistance. There are some who view this as a perversion of traditional Japanese cultural as well as evidence the Shogun is selling out Japan to foreign powers. In a perhaps curious twist, others believe both that foreigners are an existential threat to the purity of Japan and western technology must be adopted to resist it. Although numerous scholars, engineers, and officers are eager to learn from the west there are an equal number who feel their position is threatened in this new age. Is the growing official acceptance of western knowledge a fundamental threat to our ancient culture? Must Japan modernize as fast as possible or risk colonization? Or can we afford to take a more measured approach?)
"Knowledge can never be a dangerous thing. Read, note and learn from them, so we can use it for our means."

Mibunsei: (For centuries, the Japanese class system has been rooted in Confucian morality which became formalized in the mibunsei system. Under its principles there is strict separation between the four ranked classes of samurai, peasants, artisans, and merchants with the Emperor and court nobility above all. Each class ought to remain in its proper place and occupation. In practice, however, this has never fully been the case. The samurai intermingle with both the court nobility above and wealthy commoners below. Well off commoners often purchase commissions or marry into samurai families which allows them access to higher rungs of power. As the Japanese economy developed into a sophisticated form of proto capitalism the legally superior samurai and daimyo often found themselves indebted to powerful merchants or landholding peasants. Some scholars blame this blurring of lines for a rise in internal unrest, corruption, and infighting within the ruling class. Of course, others chafe at the formal restrictions in place which stigmatizes new entrants to the upper ranks and bar those who do not have this status from official positions above the village level. Within the samurai class itself many positions have become hereditary which keeps talented men from rising. Should the status quo simply remain lest any change only worsen matters? Is it time to embrace true Confucian morality through strict adherence to mibunsei? Or are these restrictions remnants of a less enlightened past?)
"We need reform, that is clear. But we cannot sacrifice our traditions. Note, learn, but keep who we are. And by we, I mean Ryukyu."

Gimin: (Gimin, “virtuous men,” occupy a key part of popular memory among Japan’s rural and urban labourers. These men stand up to cruel landlords, unfeeling officials, and nature itself to fight for the common people, often becoming martyrs in the process. Japan has a long tradition of lower-class protest ranging from withholding taxes to presenting petitions all the way to rioting and organized rebellion. Even during the so called “Tokugawa Peace” this has remained a fact of life. Yet the daimyo and bakufu are alarmed at the increasing rate of disturbances since the beginning of the 19th Century. The advent of proto capitalism brought dislocation to the countryside resulting in a growing gap between desperately poor agricultural labourers and wealthier landowners. Population increases have sent many to the cities where they are dependent on cheap supplies of rice and often insecure work. As urbanization continues and a growing portion of commoners are employed as wage labourers they are vulnerable to swings in the economy or sudden increases in the price of grain due to natural disaster. Efforts to counteract this trend through a mix of suppression and enforcing a Confucian “moral economy” have largely failed, much to the consternation of the ruling class. Is this a sign the common folk need greater support or loosened restriction from their betters? Should they simply be repressed with force despite possible economic consequences? Is it the fault of immoral merchants and landowners?)
"They're inconvenient. The West however, have managed to quell them to an extent. The last major Gimin rebellion there was a decade ago, and the one before that was sixty years ago. We should take notes so we can learn how to modernise our economy so the gimin no longer rebels."

That sums up Kunigami. A Ryukyuan nationalist to his bones, he loves his island-home and wants to see it prosper. And he sees true prosperity as only coming via modernisation. To him, the days of old are dead and Ryukyu must act boldly.

Hence why he advocates what he calls his "Modernisations". The First Modernisation is that of industrialisation, the Second Modernisation is that of government reform and the Third Modernisation is that of education. But do not think he wishes for Ryukyu to sacrifice its culture and become "Westernised". He thinks that Japan has made Ryukyu lose its treasured past, including that of the priestess system and belief in the spiritual superiority of women. This is a man who believes fervently in gender equality for nationalist reasons, but as of the First Modernisation, he is holding back for now.

Now, the below is the role-play itself. It is an incomplete (sadly) letter from Kunigami to the King of Ryukyu about the First Modernisation.

====

To the great, magnanimous, wise and enlightened Shō Tai, King of the Ryukyu Islands and Lord of Okinawa, from your most obedient servant Chōten, Lord of Kunigami.

I present the first part of my threefold proposal to enrich and empower your Realm.

Your ever-beloved islands have never wanted for knowledge of foreign countries nor their advances. Trade with China and with Japan have much enriched it. But actions by England and France the last few decades regarding the Kingdom have deeply disturbed the Realm, especially their dalliances with aggressive missionarism. It is clear that if the Realm wishes to develop itself into one that can turn back those missionaries and protect its cultural heritage, it must take notes of the technological advancements the foreigners have done.

As China takes its last steps as a great power at the hands of the industrial might of England, Ryukyu’s vulnerability is clear. When even the power of China cannot stand against industry, the Kingdom’s age-old strategy of being tributary to two empires cannot last. It is clear that it must adapt to a new and terrifying age. This humble plan of mine is designed to be a proposal on how it can do the first, and most vital, part.

For what unites the European foreigners? Industry. The Kingdom’s northern masters have dallied with industrialisation efforts the last decade, but tides are turning there according to information the court has received from its men at Satsuma. With China falling and Satsuma turning sceptical, it is time for the Kingdom to take advantage of the opportunity it has, and modernise.

One may say that such a small and geographically fractured Kingdom such as Ryukyu cannot industrialise, and my response would be that industrialisation is but a young and green idea. The world has not seen its full bloom yet, nor its limitations.

If this Kingdom desires to industrialise, first it has to consider what sort of energy source that it needs to rely on. There are many options, but in this I am focusing on five. The one the foreigners mostly use. The other one the foreigners tend to use. And the three I believe are best.

The foreigners mostly use coal. The Kingdom is aware that Admiral Perry noted four years ago that there existed coal in the southernmost parts of your Realm, in the Yaeyama Islands, but that due to the Kingdom’s interests at the time you ordered the location to be covered up. If you, in your eternal wisdom, choose to exploit coal for the Kingdom’s industrialisation, this such location will have to be revealed. And I have to note that the Realm has no knowledge or awareness of the amount of coal in those possible seams, so any possible industrialisation based on coal may fall short.

Another source for the foreigners is that of crude oil, also known as petroleum. They extract it from under the soil with drills. This is a source that they have rapidly grown an interest from. However, the Realm knows of no oil fields within itself. There is an alternative, however. Whale oil. This country has a tradition of fishing and whaling, and whale oil may prove a good burner for the possible machines the Realm may wish to import. But whale oil needs to be regularly harvested by whalers, and the challenges comes of balancing the Kingdom’s small population between industrial workers and whalers.

Wood may be a useful source, but it is a limited source that must be restored. The Kingdom must not bring down every tree it has. It must seek to plant one tree for every one it takes down, for its inner peace demands a birth for a death. The Kingdom’s natural beauty depends a lot on its trees, and if they all were to be taken down in the quest for industry, that would be a tragedy beyond compare.

If the King would accept my counsel, I would recommend walking away from any form of coal or oil for the primary form of energy in industrialisation. Those demand too much of your people to extract, and become industries in of themselves. This country needs a regular, steady source of energy that does not demand men’s labour. Fortunately, there is one resource this Kingdom does not lack.

Wind. The Kingdom is noted for its abundance of breeze, and if Ryukyu can exploit such a resource, it may be able to construct industries that do not rely on coal or oil for such purposes. This is not an unknown idea, the Realm’s most familiar Europeans, the Dutch, habitually use it to drain water. The Kingdom is also familiar with turning gears, which transports movement from one area to another. By combining the gear and the wind, the Kingdom may be able to fuel machines using such power.

However, wind by itself, despite the Kingdom’s weather, may be unreliable. There may be still days, and this Realm cannot afford its industrialisation be determined by the fickleness of the skies. This is why I propose a three-source industrialisation. Wind, wood and... water. Ryukyu has considerable peaks with mighty rivers pouring down them. The energy they spend into blazing down the slopes could be used to great ends by fuelling watermills which may be used to develop power for industries.

The use of three sources instead of one enables flexibility. If the Kingdom takes down too much wood, it may rely more on wind and water until its new seedlings dominate the scenery once more. If the wind is still, the Kingdom may rely more on wood and water until the skies bluster and blow once more. And if wood is short and wind is still, water faithfully runs down Mount Yunaha every day and has done so for thousands of years. It is the most reliable of sources.

The tragedy of the Kingdom is that it unfortunately do not already possess sufficient knowledge of industry. So the unfortunate conclusion is that it shall have to invite foreign advisors. There must never be another Bettelheim, that is certain, but there is no chance the Realm may industrialise without learning from foreign powers.​

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Extract from “A Complete History of Wales Vol. 5 – ‘Subjection’.” by Aneurin ap Gruffydd, 1974.

The Conquest of Wales was complete with the last Prince, that of Gwynedd, bending the knee and acknowledging Cnut II as ‘Lord of All Wales’, ending centuries of constant struggle against English expansion. To understand the period between conquest and integration, the so-called ‘Marcher Years’, we have to dissect Welsh society at this period, both in the Marches and in Gwynedd, and how it interacted with English domination.

The ‘Long Peace’ that Magnus the Ancient enjoyed in Wales during his reign was enabled by the rise of what was at the time described as either ‘Marcher’ or ‘Walian’ people. To understand the stability of the ‘Long Peace’, we must understand the Walian people, what historians refer to as the ‘Cambro-English’. Cnut II was a man dedicated to Christian beliefs in just rule and law, and hence appointed the Hardradas he believed to follow those beliefs the most similarly as he did. This would have a long effect on shaping Welsh society. There could have easily been more harsh rulers that would have ruled differently from the men Cnut appointed instead.

While Haakon ‘Ironfist’ of Powys would be known widely in England for his brutal response to the Earls ensuring the young Magnus would reign smoothly, and his rule of Powys be more firm-handed than that of Harald of Dyfed and Rolf of Gwent leading to a minor rebellion, he was known for cultivating a minor class of translators, inspired by his dearly-departed brother’s deep reliance on a translator to talk to Anglisc-speaking people. He was ruler over a vast Kymraec-speaking populace, and he had to make his will known to them so they could obey. Those minor class of translators would increasingly grow more and more wide until it proved to be less a label of employment and more a signifier of class, the ‘aspirational’ sort that aligned with the feudal elite’s interests while regularly having contact with the peasantry. This practise which proved so effective at dictating Haakon’s will on to his Kymraec-speaking subjects would spread to the other earldoms of the Marches as they paid close attention to what Haakon performed, and this vague class grew rapidly in those more light-handed areas.

By necessity, the ‘Walians’ were bilingual – knowing both Anglisc and Kymraec – as they served as the ‘bridge’ between the Anglisc/Norse speaking elite and the Kymraec-speaking masses, ensuring that the former could communicate their demands and ensure taxes could be collected promptly and without any misunderstandings that could occur. It was noted that by the end of Magnus the Ancient’s long reign, the ‘Walians’ were in multiple generations and carving out considerable influence over government via dominating the trade economy and the translation industry. While Haakon’s successor noted a discomfort with their growing influence, the expectations set out by Cnut and upheld by Magnus via his Ancient Laws and Parlement held firm and they were increasingly relied upon to ensure the ‘just rule’ principle was consistently held to.

By the very end of Magnus the Ancient’s reign, it was even noticed that the children of prominent Marcher lords under the Earls were growing up more and more influenced by the ‘Walians’ as it proved extremely easy to hire a ‘Walian’ nurse than hire one from England or throw hostage to fortune and hire a Welsh one. Indeed, those children would go down in history as the second stage of the ‘Walian Ascendancy’ as history marked this period as, the stage in which the 13th century would see a growing class of bilingual minor nobles of dubious loyalties expand influence in the realms of Wales.

Indeed, if you look at notes from English visitors to the Marches, you find many scathing notes of the ‘Walians’ and their ambiguous loyalty, as well as the Marcher Lords for enabling such. Those notes will often pin all the blame on the ‘soft-hearted’ Cnut and his weakness for ‘Christian justice’, hindering their ability at bringing the matter to an English court still dominated by Cnut’s children.

But historians do concur, the growth of the ‘Walian’ class of collaborators with the new regime, originally created as a form of necessity by Hardradas influenced by the idea of ‘Christian justice’ and emerging as an embryonic middle-class in medieval Welsh March society, played a key part in defusing tensions that could have led to a major rebellion within Magnus the Ancient’s reign, and ultimately enabling his successor to believe he could complete it peacefully via a marriage with the daughter of the last independent Welsh ruler.

However, for most Welsh people, who remained firmly peasants and solely Kymraec speaking, the emergence of the ‘Walians’ changed little. They were told in their language what obligations they had, what taxes the new lord demanded from them, what the prices were at market. They spent their entire lives speaking Kymraec, just like their ancestors did, and had little incentive to learn any Anglisc. The ‘Walians’ tended to come from the ambiguously-defined ‘common gentry’ that grew to achieve more power by leveraging bilingualism to enter themselves into key positions in the new regime. It was not a popular class, but one of the common gentry expanding power.

With the Earldoms loyal Hardrada family members and the common gentry enjoying power via being interlocutors, the only exception was that of the Prince of Gwynedd. The sole ‘truly’ Welsh ruler of Wales, it would be a mistake to assume his court was that of a realm yearning for lost days. While there were of course nostalgia, there were benefits to being cooperative with England, including noted greater trade with the Marches and Lancaster, and the Prince was extremely conscious of his fragile status, despite being in comparatively defensive ground. It was why after the Powys Revolt started, the Prince ordered a man with a quick horse to gallop to the royal court with a letter disavowing the revolt and re-asserting his oath of loyalty to the King as Lord of all Wales.

Gwynedd did not benefit from any possible ‘Welsh Revolt’, and the growth of the ‘Walians’ made it more difficult than ever to truly unite the ethnic Welsh against the English, for who was Welsh in those times? Was it the powerless Kymraec-speaking peasantry or did it include the bilingual common gentry making a living as interlocutors in all things? A more harsh rule of Wales could have created alienation of the common gentry and created the roots for a more potent Welsh Revolt, but skilful handling of it by the Hardradas in Wales and the ‘Walian’ class defused that and created the ‘Long Peace’ that Magnus the Ancient enjoyed.

Then arrived Erik, Magnus’ fourth son and successor. Influenced by this new status quo in which Wales was seen as a relatively peaceful area, and the ‘Walians’, as dubiously loyal as they may appear, to be maintaining that such peace, he deemed the area worthy of being integrated via the altar, not via the axe, and made preparations to ask the Prince of Gwynedd for his daughter’s hand in marriage and the final unification of Wales with England, and with promises considered generous for the time.

Aiding him was the shift in English thinking of the Welsh as fundamental enemies since time immemorial [actually around 500 AD] to a more ambiguous stance. Poems and notes at this time cultivate the imagery of the Welsh as a mystical race with great powers, and fascination was mixed with fear. However, it was a safe fear, as the Welsh was then considered mostly pacified and even the Gwynedd Lord bowed the knee to the King, and even upheld his word. The true fear, not the exoticising fear, was the Saracens, a far away and merciless alien race that could slaughter many good Christians. Compared to the Saracens, the Welsh were comparatively small potatoes.

One amusing note is that of a noble at court who wrote in his letters approvingly of Erik’s idea to wed the Princess of Gwynedd, but did not justify it by any form of realpolitik, but by the idea that by marrying into Welsh blood, the ‘magic’ of the Welsh would be inherited by the Hardradas, and that any Welshman would refuse to take up arms against a Welsh ‘ruler’, no matter how diluted the blood may be. This noble then went on to reference the old English foundational tale of expulsion of the Welsh to Wales in the settlement of England, and completed rather snarkily ‘It took us a Cnut to conquer most of Wales, but Erik shall conquer a cunt for the last’.

===

Extract from “A Complete History of Wales Vol. 6 – ‘Balance’.” by Aneurin ap Gruffydd, 1977.

The Wyrmcrieg, or as the Walians called it in their developing version of Anglisc deeply influenced by Kymraec, the ‘Draicrec’, divided many areas of Britain. But it never did Wales. The Kymri and the Walians could agree on one thing, that their loyalty was to their Prince. The son of the ‘Good Queen’ Siwsan of Gwynedd [commonly referred to in Anglisc as Susanna] and grandson of the last Kymro monarch, their loyalty to Prince Edmund was twofold.

First was of course that many of their number became influential under Edmund’s father Eric, who became celebrated in many well-to-do families as the one who ended the conquest and the rebellions, and indeed today you can still see his legacy in the Welsh name Iareg. As part of his historic agreement with the Prince of Gwynedd was that Edmund’s son would be recognised as Prince of all Wales. So almost from the outset, the Rauther line was strongly associated with the emergence of a united Welsh national interest, to the point of adopting the Red Dragon of Wales as their symbol, as contrast with the White Dragon of England.

This led to the second fold of their loyalty, which was to the House of Gwynedd and the perceived senior line namely that of Edmund’s. While it may seem confusing to readers today accustomed to houses being inherited solely through the male line in medieval times, the Kymri had numerous examples in their past of houses surviving through the female line, such as the house of Gwynedd itself, which was descended from lords of the Isle of Man that married into the house proper.

This legal argument was strikingly class-based. The middle-class Walians made pains to avoid such overt association of any Rauthers with a house that was not Hardrada, but the more poorer Kymri believed in it fervently, mixing it with the folk-myth of ‘Y Mab Darogan’ to portray this chivalric heroic saviour that would come to free Wales from the oppression of the Hardradas. It was sheer fortune that Edmund would turn out to be the peak of courtesy and chivalry, fitting the folk-role the peasants envisioned him as. This in turn cemented their loyalty to the line and the belief that they were fighting for Gwynedd, not quite Rauther. But such an argument never entered the King’s court as long as the Walians could help it.

However, the Walians themselves had their own esoteric legal arguments. Being firmly middle-class merchants and translators, their class interest laid with the Parlement, but their regal (and ethnic) loyalty laid with the Witenagemot. Keenly aware that they were disadvantaged either way as a Hwiter victory would lead to Walians being excluded from power and reduced to Kymri once more, their deepest fear, yet a Rauther victory and Parlement being abolished would dent their class influence, they worked overtime to come up with the concept of the “parlement pur”, as it was described as such in the French, or in the original Walian as the ‘Senath’.

The concept of the “parlement pur” was at its heart much more absolutist than the Parlement that Magnus created, calling for a centralisation of power away from what one Walian called “the weakness of the division of right to rule” and pushing for centralisation of power into the crowned head. The “parlement pur” Walians argued for was the unorthodox idea of the abolishment of the Rauther-favouring Witenagemot along with the Hwiter-favouring Parlement, arguing that even the oldest chamber compromised itself. Only a period of “phoenix-fire” could cleanse the country of the faults lingering in the three chambers.

Ultimately, the motivation for this argument came back to what the Walians deemed the ‘Great Betrayal’, that of their promised Prince-King, the one so much heralded as the true unification of the Welsh and English thrones being overlooked in favour of his uncle, and this was done with the explicit approval of the Cyningesgemot, Witenagemot and Parlement. Since that fateful decision, the Walian intellectuals have always been embittered by the system, and wished to destroy it.

For what worth was a King’s guarantee if his advisors could turn back on it? The ideal chamber, in the Walian eyes, was one that guaranteed their influence via representation, but ensured that nobody could compromise the regal right to rule. Hence the “parlement pur”, a parlement like the one Magnus created, but ‘purified’ of any treasonous elements and made explicitly submissive to the Crown. A key element of this ‘purification’ was the explicit abolishment of the chambers having the right to determine succession. It was to be primogeniture, but unlike the more Salic sort advocated by their European allies, the Walians was firm on it being what was described as ‘agnatic-cognatic’ in formal parlance, or like what Ethelrada described later on – ‘sonnen afore doutren, doutren afore brethren’. This was mainly because they were deeply sceptical of any succession rule that could fall into the hands of the hated Hwiters, and would much prefer a Rauther daughter above a Hwiter son.

Ethelrada would be the one to take the ‘parlement pur’ concept on, but she took it from the vague concept of ‘abolish the three chambers, centralise everything, destroy the system, hereditary rule’ it was up to that point and turn it into a much more codified concept, the Grand Courts. It is often easy to dismiss the Walian exiles’ influence as merely symbolic, as they were considerably negligible in terms of presence at court, but they had influence above their numbers, up to the heir to the Rauther claim marrying a Walian noblewoman and siring half-Walian children, including Ethelrada, who grew up surrounded by her mother’s family as advisors due to her father often being someone who was more interested with sins of the flesh than on any parenting.

When Wales was under Hwiter rule, both Kymri and Walians chafed under their rule, as Hwiters grew to distrust any of them as the same, the hated “Welsch”. It is from this time that we see the (now-slightly-archaic) proverb “to welsh”, meaning to work against someone behind their back. It is commonly associated with backstabbing, but seen as less spontaneous, more plotting. This came from the Welsh of both variants never giving up on the Rauther ideal and with Hwiter rule inherently meaning marginalisation of the pro-Rauther Walians which were at that time the only class that could faciliate communication, it worked to ensure that while the ruling elite was pro-Hwiter, they had very little ways to cement their rule over the peasantry which understood little of them and actively disliked them. Hwiter rule of Wales was thus made inefficient and impotent outside their earls’ courts. ‘We aren hal þe oll kardei” one Walian exile noted of the situation.

Ultimately, this situation was untenable and as the Wyrmcrieg continued to rage on, something had to break.

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Incorporates
Gold cross on blue - St. Edward the Confessor's Cross
Red cross on white - St. Patrick's Cross
White cross on red - Representing the Defender of Faith role (and Norway)
Scandinavian shape - Representing the Norse heritage (and Norway)


For a possible union with France, the flag incorporates
The Oriflamme - Representing the Patron Saint of France, St. Denis.

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Henrietta Maria of France
Name: Tiffany Comyn (reigning as Empress Tiffany)
House: Comyn
Date of Birth & Age at Ascension: January 9, 1503 (19 y/o)
Relation to the Previous Monarch: Great-Granddaughter to Malcolm I & V
Personality: Artistic, creative, likes to think of herself as "broad-minded", tends to rely on advisors a lot, not particularly great at "statecraft" and tends to be easily distracted (but is aware of that and tries to snap out of it).
Style of government: A "courtly government" with royal favourites and the imperial legislatures having great say, with the Empress herself aware that she's not a natural leader, so she will gladly defer to them. If possible, she will try to form a "cabinet" of important favourites.
Spouse/Potential Marriage: The King of France [or his heir, which one is closest to her age]. Failing that (hopefully not!) she will seek to marry a close relative of the French King who will not seek to push themselves as consort. [the aim is really an alliance with France].

Main Goal: The Tiffanic Renaissance
Being a woman of the modern 1500s AEnglund, the Empress is keen to continue her great-grandfather's legacy.

She will continue his sponsorship of the universities, and seek to sponsor the creation of one in the west of AEnglund in the growing city of Brickstow ('Bristol'), aware that both universities as is are on the eastern half of AEnglund. This university is aimed to appeal more to the western English and Welsh intellectuals and the growing importance of the Atlantic Ocean for the Empire. She hopes it will be named the Imperial University, but won't push.

She will set up an "Imperial Society of Natural Philosophy" on advice from her more scientific-minded advisors, and hope that there will be many natural philosophers keen to join the Society. Members of the Imperial Society will have imperial favour of course, and given that Tiffany doesn't know much of natural philosophy and of the emerging science, she will seek to try to give her favour as neutral as possible, and based on clear proof.

Keenly aware of her relative's reputation as "Arthur the Navigator", she will also set up an imperial company of people who are employed to explore the world and (ideally) discover riches unexploited or trade routes once-undiscovered, and of course claim it all so it may be enjoyed by the Empire. The "Imperial Company of Navigators" sounds like a good name.

On much more familiar grounds, she will seek to encourage the more... artistic element in life. The growing popularity of plays in Westminster has caught her eye and she is keen to cultivate it, with her even attending some of the plays and inviting certain playwrights and their company to perform for her. Perhaps if one of the companies catch her eye, they could end up "The Empress' Men"...

And of course she will seek to invite renowned artists and philosophers to court. She does like the paintings and the philosophic wit over such... cold things such as natural philosophy (even as she sponsors it anyway). She will try her best to encourage the artistic element with her favour. The art she will favour will tend to be more inclined to the kronisket theory, with a sense of imperial unity being encouraged. The Scots, the Welsh, the English, the Norsh and the Atlantic folk, they're all united in one loving empire.

As a part of this favouring, she will try to encourage more Francophile art, or art that represents the Frank as a 'natural' ally against the Germans, and perhaps a play or a painting here and there that implies that the Northron has more in common with the French, anything to justify her big plans.

Major Goal 1: The Grand Concord
As part of her attempt to marry in the French royal family, she will seek to orient Northron foreign policy towards a more pro-France stance and establish closer ties between the Empire and France, continuing on Cead's legacy, but overall she will try to stay reasonably aloof from war in Europe, well knowing the Empire is exhausted from the most recent Northern War. Perhaps this is just a reasonable geopolitical stance, but her writings suggest it is more motivated by a deep distaste of the idea of being a 'warrior queen' like Etheldreda and Caitlin.

Influenced by some Italian advisors, she will seek to employ the use of "ambassadors" and "embassies" to the countries which she (and her advisors) find crucial to the Empire's interests. Namely, France, Frisia, Austria, Aragon, León, Hungary and of course her relatives (are they still related?) over in Egypt. The Hardradas of Egypt and those of the Empire has long diverged, but she is keen to rekindle relations especially with this new idea of diplomacy. She will also, if possible, send an envoy to Lithuania to establish relations, but if it is unworkable she will not bother.

While she will not seek a binding alliance within her reign with all those countries, she will seek to cultivate warmer and more consistent diplomatic relationships, especially with France which she would be the first to admit the Empire has ran hot-and-cold on.

As part of this diplomatic effort, she will seek to create a military attaché system where the military people will seek to learn from the new ideas emerging elsewhere. She will also host the ambassadors from those countries [if they so desire return any] and welcome them the warmest possible.

Major Goal 2: A Renewed Government for Peace and for War
Some of the Empress' advisors (especially the Italian ones) have been quietly dismayed at how inefficient and how reliant on one person the Imperial structure is. So they have encouraged her to at least dabble in some government reform.

The Flottecortes, Colloquium, Riksdag, Løgting, Alþingi, Inatsisartut and Avalonic Alting (which she would try to gently counsel to change to a new name out of personal confusion at it and the Icelandic one having the same name) would remain of course. The imperial system flourishes on those regional parlements. In addition to those number, and only if the Flottecortes consent, she will set up a Senedd for the Welsh nobles, elevating it to a nation in itself equivalent to the Faroes and Iceland. This was very much influenced by her more romantic side fuelled by kronisk rhetoric (as well as her brief time being Princess of Wales leading to her visiting her new realm and liking their music a lot).

However, it is true that the current system is woefully inefficient. The advisors do not counsel a major change in the system, pointing to the woes of the Wyrmcrieg and the incoherency of the three-parlement system (and of course, the Riksdag actually has power). Hence the regional parlements will continue as they are, and she will merely ask them all to send a set number of 'delegates' to a much expanded Imperial Court - justifying it as an expansion of the old court to take in account the parlements' wishes, and actually a show of respect to them all.

She will still make herself available to the parlements if they so desire (well, maybe not for the Avalonic Alting. But to be the first European monarch to step foot on Avalon soil... now that's tempting). However, all of this court reform comes with the second aim at a government "renewal".

Namely the bureaucracy. It has been much straining to do the tasks it currently needs to do, and hence that is why she will seek to expand it further - into a proper "Imperial Civil Service". She will also encourage the expanding civil service to open itself up to less noble sorts, as long as they show some intellectual qualification of course. The Empire needs every intelligent subject, not just the nobles (as appreciated as they are).

She will also put the head of the new civil service in her Imperial Court, so he can advocate for the civil service's interests. No more will bureaucrats silently toil with the government and the monarch unwittingly adding more work.

All this is hoped to make the government run more efficiently (and maybe with less money waste?).

On other matters, after months of arguing between some counsellors who wish for an expansion of the military and others which wish for an expansion of trade routes, the Empress (normally willing to let them come to a conclusion) lost her patience and told them all she has made her decision.

Which is... Both.

Yes. Both.

As her advisors stare at her in confusion, she elaborates on her plan. The North Sea Empire is one ruled by the sea, correct? Hence the logical thing is to expand the Navy, but ensure that the Navy also protects and expands the trade routes the Empire can control (and those the Society of Navigators discover too). Hence we will have far more secure trade and stronger economic grounds to build off of.

The Army, ah, that's something to reform indeed. She will, this time deferring to her counsellors, go for a gradual move of the Huscarls to a less "frontline" position and try to utilise more modern ideas to expand the army. She will seek to further encourage the innovation of technology for military means. However, she will pain herself to ensure that the Huscarls see this as not a removal, but as a promotion. They are the eldest and well respected class, and after the ah, Northern War debacle, surely they would be up to helping the Empress modernise the army, with them of course as... officers? Yes, that sounds good. A formalised military hierarchy with the huscarls kicked upstairs to "officer" status.

The huscarls will serve as the core of what her advisors now eagerly describe as a "professional army" like the Eastern Roman Empire. A core of well-trained officers, with local soldiers buttressing up the rank and file, with there being a clear hierarchy of command going all the way up to... oh. The Empress as commander-in-chief. She shows her distaste at having a military role, even if purely ceremonial, but relents to pressure.

With the Navy now oriented to protecting trade and the Army hopefully professionalised, the whole thing should be far less of a money-sink and far more efficient. Gosh does her councillors like that word. Less money for more action. Hopefully it works.

Minor Goal 1: The Female Art
As much as the Empress likes to present herself as very different from the previous queens [Ethelreda and Caitlin] by being a far more peace-loving and consensus-oriented monarch, she does have her own wishes. A far more humble one of course, but one all the same.

She will seek to encourage some of the noble women to participate in painting and in wider art, with a few receiving her support. If there's enough interest to work with, she will present her paintings to court as a way to signal that even the empress paints, so it is not just a masculine thing.

Eventually she will wish to paint a self-portrait, distrusting anyone else to truly capture her image. One day, yes. And it'll be beautiful.

Minor Goal 2: A Family Woman
Keenly aware of the AEnglisk tradition of warm royal families and the shortcomings of the Comyns in that area, she will seek to ensure that her own family, her husband, etc., are well-looked after. The Empress will try to set aside a period of time every week to spend with her children, and her husband [if the King of France and his heir] will be kept in regular contact [hopefully helped by the navy being improved] and have enough time to well, produce any children. The ultimate aim is to reintroduce some true family to this Comyn [Bourbon?] dysfunction.

The Empress will also make sure that all her children are well-accommodated to the various heritages they have - the French, English, Scottish, Norwegian and Welsh heritages - as much as possible. Her first son will be granted the Prince of Wales title [as well as Duke of Lothian yes] and when he reaches his tens, be sent to learn as much as possible of the realm of Wales and hopefully grow to like it as much as she does.

Minor Goal 3: A Taste of Fashion
The least of her priorities, but still one, is encouraging a more simple fashion for both men and women. Less large dresses for women, less elaborate clothing for men. This comes from her frustrations at doing anything in an elaborate dress that reduces her to just standing around and looking pretty.

But simple doesn't mean drab, though. She'll try to ensure it remains colourful, just... less complicated.

 

[Turquoise Blue]

John Byng
AP: 5
Name: Johan Wyndham (full name: Herr Johan Totcher Frederiksson Wyndham)
Gender: Male
Nationality: Brytisk, born and bred (AEnglisk)
Date of Birth: 17 January 1720 (35 years old)
Profession: Huscarl, Scipwalda (before the Rasmussen takeover)/Gros Flotwalda (after), Thingman
Aims:

• The Stratocracy: Wyndham is a loyal ally of Rasmussen and will seek to fulfil his aims and continue the idea of the Stratocracy. If Rasmussen somehow dies before the Stratocracy is fulfilled, Wyndham will continue the plans, but more... subtle as befitting one called the 'Wyrm'. The Heer and Flotte will have complete control under a Wyndhamite Stratocracy, of course, but the idea of an overt one-party state is something he instinctively distrusts. Indeed, if the Stratocracy is shaped by Wyndham and not Rasmussen (which again, Wyndham would not dare think of crossing Rasmussen in the latter's lifetime), it will be one of a 'shadow state' in where the Grand Executor and the Heahcarl are as one, with the positions inexorably bonded, but not merged. Of course, if Rasmussen is alive/politically powerful, his plans go ahead, not Wyndham's.
• Matters of the Colonies: Always disgruntled at the lack of sufficiently developed naval ports from his days as a sailor, and of chronic underinvestment in them, he will seek to orient investment towards strengthening colonial ties with the motherland via port development, and crack down on colonial dissent. The new regime has no need of tolerating ne'er-do-wells and traitors. Indeed, he will seek to make examples out of traitors by bringing in an Eastern invention, the knout, that he encountered while in the Volga. He admires how it utterly break even strong men. Any who seek to foment dissent in the colonies will feel the knout. However, he will seek to bring the carrot with the stick - those that work with the new regime will get favourable state treatment, and the developing cities and settlements will receive investment for new naval ports which will bring in trade with the mother country and new settlers - more loyal to the state.
• Feathering His Nest: As a Huscarl, but not a peer, Wyndham will seek to cultivate his dominance of the Folkshus and of the more 'common' aspect of the military, seeing off any possible dissent from the non-Huscarl aspects of the military to the new regime by emphasising its more meritocratic and constitutional (ha!) approach compared to the old way. He will seek to use his patronage as an influential member of the new Stratocracy to encourage this meritocracy. He won't take a peerage for himself, aware that his reputation is shaping up to be that of a 'great commoner', even if he's far from one of the common sort. The people are easily fooled by the lack of a title...
• There Once Was A Ship That Put To Sea...: The Navy/Flotte will get favourable contracts and ports be expanded in Bryten itself if Wyndham can help it, with a keen focus on Lunden. He knows it instinctively distrusts any dictats from Yorvik, so he will move to authorise the renewal and expansion of the Lunden port set up by Magnus IV and Lockrona and set up a strong naval presence there, coupled with some (limited) investment in renovating buildings. Naval ports all over Bryten will get investment, but the ports will be more built around naval usage. The Flotte needs strong and well-maintained ports if it is to be Bryten's greatest military force.
• ...The Name Of The Ship Was The Billy Of Tea: Always a keen man for technological development, he will sponsor certain men who are trying new ship designs, and he will insist on every one of those designs being rigorously tested. If any proves their mettle, he will authorise the designs to be built and slowly replace older ships of the line of a previous and now inefficient design.

Unique trait(s):

• Dutiful: No matter what else, Johan Wyndham is dutiful to his country, suffering multiple wounds in sea battles for the Northron Empire.
• Loyal: He is loyal to his emperor, his mentor and his country. He is very much a 'my country right or wrong, if wrong to be set right' man.
• Resentful: He is a man who does not forgive easily and will brood grudges against people he has deemed traitors to the country.
• Piece of Shit: He is not a man who treats his wife very well. She can often be seen hiding bruises from when he deemed her to be going against him. His children all privately despise him, but since he rarely sees them, he doesn't know it. He has lots of mistresses as well.
• Wily: His greatest talent is not that he is charismatic, which he is not. It is his ability to read a situation and work out how to adjust it to his advantage. Some have called him "the Wyrm" for such, but it has got him far in life and may reach further yet.

Background: (Go as detailed or as vague as you like. I might reward more detailed stuff with a bigger mention or a boost to rolls but all depends on how well the character fits in the update.)
Other Details: (Got anything else you think I should know or want to mention? Put it here!)

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Since Discord is down

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Picture (Optional):

Horatio Nelson
Name: Aston Lewisson Cromwell
Faction: Fylkirid (Originalist)
Date of Birth & Age at Appointment: 14 May 1732 (51 years old)
Personality: What can one say of Aston Cromwell, Bryten’s newest Heahcarl? A man with intense dark eyes, he is known as someone who bears a grudge, even if he is very keen to conceal his feelings. He is generous to his own, but merciless to his enemies. This is no bombastic military general, but a cold and calculating strategist who sees the entire struggle for influence in the military as one of strategy, and he believes that by Cnut Aldraic-Kane’s utter failure, he has won the struggle.
Origins: Even the bald simple fact that Cromwell is Heahcarl shows that a lot of things have gone wrong for the huscarl caste. A man who came from basically nowhere – the earliest army records already have him as a fenrik – his huscarl status is assumed, rather than taken as fact. A keen politician as well as an experienced military man, he successfully played the ‘game’ so to speak, and climbed up the greasy pole to become an overst by the time ‘that idiot from Iceland’ took over. A protege in a sense of Wyndham, Cromwell realised that what the Totalists planned would lead to disaster, and made sure to distance himself from any real involvement in the matter.

Declining to support the disgraced traditionalists nor the ascendant Totalists, Cromwell sought to cultivate the ‘originalist’ idea, that of the heahcarl and huscarls as people’s champions as the true ‘original’ purpose of the Stratocracy and the reforms implemented as distancing the huscarls from their true purpose. While this politically isolated him during the Totalist years (even as he served the military faithfully in the war in Avalon), it benefited him massively once Bryten started to burn.

The War Council turned to lots of other potential heahcarls after throwing out the Marshal-Executor, but one by one they all declined, eager to not be in the firing line, or quietly fleeing to Norway. Cromwell knows he is the thirteenth choice, and the one forced on the Council due to Lind's intransigence. But that the War Council is desperate for a path, any path, out of the current crisis. Cromwell promises ‘victory and justice’. But for who?

Style of Rule and Politics: Cromwell is a cagey man who trusts very few. Thus his cabinet will be solely those that have been with him during his wilderness years as well as sufficient sops to the established factions (not the totalists, he hates them) up until he deals with them for good. He will seek to use his civilian equivalent and his faction to shore up his numbers as much as possible of course, the two have an understanding.

Cromwell’s politics can be summed up quite simply as ‘originalist’. A radical vision of the Stratocracy as far more than just a caste interest, and more of a System. He believes that only Wyndham of all his predecessors truly understood the Stratocracy, and that all others merely saw it as crass benefit, or in the Totalist case a path to dictatorship. No. None of that is for Cromwell.

He will be the ‘Folkscarl’ – the People’s Leader – and seek to utilise their anger effectively to boost his and the Executor’s radically meritocratic policies. If the masses lynch a traditionalist huscarl, a totalist one, or even a die-hard Teague who opposes their policies, ah well, seems as they caught them way too late. What a shame. Perhaps that’ll scare some of the more stubborn survivors right back in line. We don’t want the great Brytisk Folk to mete out their justice again, right?

The Stratocracy, as a System in where the military has insane amounts of power, will survive. The caste that created it, Cromwell has little sympathy for. He well remembers his true origin, and what genuinely motivates him in the end. The Stratocracy made him who he is, and he has nothing but utter loyalty to it. The caste that it made bloated? No, no. This freeman will deal with them…

Short Term Goals:
1) The New System
Even though Lind is a confederate in promoting meritocracy, he is still one that is against the Stratocracy as an idea. Thus Cromwell will work with him, shake his hand, while quietly working to undermine any overtly anti-stratocratic (not anti-huscarl, he will do nothing to stop Lind from undermining those bloated folksmen who backed the traditionalists and the Totalists in turn) policies. The Heahcarl must maintain power in this new world.

Cromwell’s ‘New System’ will be the below, if he gets his way.
- The end of any ‘caste laws’. As someone who technically shouldn’t be as high as he is, he despises those laws, and will support any move by Lind (or even move himself if Lind forgets) to demolish them. Position and place should entirely be on merit, not on one’s caste.
- The War Council to remain powerful and with a controlling interest on foreign policy. Once all the non-Originalists on the Council are done away with, he will turn it into a formalised committee with clear portfolios, both for ‘Home’ and ‘Away’ matters. Order at home and interest abroad are crucial. Judging it necessary to appease the Folk and their righteous anger against his predecessors, he will rebrand it to something less tainted, probably ‘Union Council’. Yes, that sounds nice.
- The Heahcarl to remain appointed by the Union Council, with the only other way to replace him being of course the King-Emperor. The Heahcarl remains the undisputed foreign policy authority, with not even the Executor able to override him.
- There will be a clear definition of ‘dual spheres’, with the Executor, Cabinet and Thing having clear authority on domestic matters, and Heahcarl, Council and Military having undisputed authority on foreign and military matters. If he gets his way, he and Lind will agree to this dual spheres and the maintaining of the true nature of the Stratocracy, purified of its impurities, will be successful.
- Apart from all that, he supports Lind’s meritocratic reforms to the hind of course.

2) The Great Purge
Cromwell is not naive. He knows the fractious nature of the huscarl caste. He knows how greatly privileged it has become. He knows that they were eager to back the so-called traditionalists (actually kleptocrats) and then the insane Totalists in turn, with his originalists being the smallest of the three main Fylkirid ideologies. Well. What a good thing he has plenty of willing executioners.

He will deliberately and slowly open up avenues for the masses to ‘express their anger’ on his rivals, with more and more huscarls being cut out of the protection of the military and exposed to the folk’s murderous rage. The originalists will be saved in his plan, but everyone else, especially those more opposed to his and Lind’s radical reforms? Well, well, what a pity. What a mess. Ah well. Such are the times.

By the time the Folk are finished meting out justice, he hopes that the huscarl caste are either dead or utterly broken and willing to surrender to whatever he decides is best for the country. It is originalism, or it is your certain death, is the implicit threat that will emerge after deaths upon deaths. After the caste laws are repealed, he will be very clear that there is just simply no ‘huscarl’ caste. Merely ‘military men’ and their families. Caste is a threat to Bryten. It will never be a thing again.

The Totalists will be targeted quite firmly for this, with those madcap people with paramilitaries portrayed as the worst of the worst, with leaflets going around portraying them as rapists and murderers to stir up the masses’ fury. Then of course he and the new army comes in and defeat them (if the masses didn’t kill them first), a clear redefining of the army as a protector of the Folk.

He will seek to ensure that promising huscarl talent are reserved and even saved, of course. The Purge is like a forest fire, it can easily be managed with careful moves, and if there’s careful altering of records to say that one wasn't actually huscarl all along, ah well. Papers! What can you do, sheesh?

3) The New Model Force
The Heahcarl knows that if he goes ahead with the Purge, that’s a good deal of people at the top just gone. In those times, that’s not a good move if there’s not sufficient replacement. Therefore when the caste laws are repealed, he will move to promote ‘New Model Men’ for his ‘New Model Force’. Men from the lower classes and serve in positions now capped by their caste will suddenly be given new roles by the Heahcarl. The emphasis is on a folkshaer, a military of the people. The first test of the New Model Force will be dealing with the renegade Totalists. Once they are defeated, the Force will be able to sell itself more as the folkshaer far more easier.

Long Term Goals:

1) The ‘National Interest’
Bitter at how Brytisk foreign policy has been incoherent and destructive, Cromwell will seek to create a clear foreign policy perspective. After all, if he gets his way on the New System, diplomacy is within the Union Council (see why it was renamed?). So he will seek to expand the diplomatic system originally started by Queen Tyffa I and expanded (but eventually neglected) by successive monarchs and heahcarls. The Heahcarl is the one exclusively responsible for foreign policy, right? So that includes diplomacy.

The diplomatic service will be revamped, with diplomatic staff apart from the ambassadors and envoys now being supplied by the Department of State, and thus of the ‘civil service’ so to speak. If peerages are being handed out like candy by the Emperor to Lind for his sort, well, Cromwell wants some of that for his people too especially if the aristocrats abroad won’t take to diplomats from the ‘new’ men.

The National Interest will be emphasised in diplomacy. A rejection of the old ‘Scandinavianism’ (indeed, Cromwell has choice words for how Bryten sacrificed troops again and again for Norway), it casts a sceptical eye on any idea of Bryten having ‘permanent entanglements’. In Cromwell’s words – “Bryten has no eternal allies nor perpetual enemies. Its interest is both eternal and perpetual, and that is its lodestar that we, as its state, should follow.”

Always sceptical of Germany, but hesitant at tying Bryten so permanently to the mainland, he will seek to improve diplomatic connections to the Ententa, even if refraining from permanent alliance. International trade is under the Heahcarl’s authority (if the New System succeeds…), and this is something Cromwell senses opportunity in using. Perhaps advantageous trade deals with them.

[think OTL 19th century fopo, a sort of feckless realpolitik motivated by imperialism, as well as using trade deals to acquire economic leverage].

2) The People’s Force
If successful with his short-term aims, he will focus on his aim to ‘folkise’ the Military. The Haer and Sciphaer will be the Folkhaer if he can’t help it.

The ‘Cromwell Reforms’ to create a New Model Force (and not the rudimentary one he implemented to ward off reactionary influence) will include
- A policy so that the longer a soldier serves in the Force, their wage increases. This is intended to encourage a culture of loyalty, not to a certain caste, but to the Force and the System.
- More promotions from the ‘lower’ classes via seeking of talent no matter where it comes from.
- An aggressive push to spread the idea that the Folkhaer, not the old military nor the old huscarls, represent the Folk and their interests, and that in the Force, one can through service advance oneself greatly. A partnership with the Church will be useful here.
- A united chain of command with the Haer and Sciphaer now clearly unified under the Union Council and seen as firmly two branches of one greater Force (it is a pity Haer is reserved for the Army, so we will have to use Folkhaer, but you know, if it’s possible to rename Haer to Landhaer…).

3) The Lifeblood of a Nation
It is not often one associated with a Heahcarl, but Cromwell has staked a commanding interest on trade policy as part of his New System. He knows the Executor has ideas, weird ones, strange ones. Cromwell is not a man to bend or break, but he knows Lind’s cooperation is particularly important. Cromwell has no concrete theories himself on the dismal science, apart from the clear belief that Totalism failed the country utterly.

So while the Sciphaer seek to regulate Brytisk trade on the high seas, and seek to expand its economic interests in the colonies (what of them we have left) such as the Osbaldines (a sure money-maker that will make up for the Great Disaster, some of his advisors on the Union Council say), the Haer will seek to ensure that trading at home is done as smoothly and as efficient as possible. Any disturbances in critical trade ports will be dealt with. Not with the knout though, that’s the old way. Order, but not through savagery. It’s a fine balance.

The Diplomatic Service will continue, with trade deals being done with the Ententa and other civilised countries. Lind’s wish for free trade is tiresome, but Cromwell is sure he can entertain the idea by widening Bryten’s ‘economic sphere’ further and further with trade deals upon trade deals while giving the wider Empire liberty to trade with whichever makes it profit.

TLDR: Slow implementation of free trade via trade deals removing barriers, while the Force becomes a guarantor of trade (if it wasn’t one already)

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Merle Oberon
Name: Tiffany Astrid Naomi Osbaldsdottir Tostig-Byrben. "Naomi Tostig-Byrben", thank you very much. Uses the pen-name "Naomi Zoffany".
House: Tostig-Byrben (#379479)
Date of Birth & Age at Appointment: 14 April 1895 [roughly in her 40s]
Relation to the Previous Claimant: Daughter of AEtheling Osbald and his first wife Princess Hanna.
Party: TBD
Personality: Intellectual, but more of a broad mind than a deep one. Very keen on athletic pursuits. Really does not like being 'controlled', and very much associates republicanism with personal freedom. There's no one more passionate about it than her, funnily enough.
Political Sympathies: Left-liberal, Fabian to an extent, extremely sceptical of the old aristocracy and of the radical-right
Style of Rule: Firm constitutionalist, respecting the boundaries of her office. However, if it veers away from her sympathies, she will take action to nudge it back towards respecting liberties and people's rights, and won't hesitate. Her main focus is cultural affairs [albeit a very broad interpretation] and will interpret her office's powers quite broadly to push matters into a more liberal, 'free-thinking' path.
Origins: Everyone knows who Naomi Tostig-Byrben, or Naomi Zoffany, is. The heir's heir at the time the monarchy was abolished, her "Letter to the Executor" was very notable in calling for a republic. Now well into her 40s, she has become a notable Mesopotamian writer under her uncle's ancestral family's surname - earning her the nickname of "The Last Great Zoffany", and has returned to Bryten a good few years ago. Eventually, she decided to stand for election to the Ealdorman position on a clear left-liberal platform with a hint of "tough leadership" mixed in.
Spouse/Potential Marriage: None of your business.

TBD

Short Term Goals: (How will you respond to the immediate problems facing the nation? 1-3 goals max.)

Long Term Goals: (What will you do in the long run? These can be broader, legacy policies Maximum of 3 but less is perfectly acceptable.)

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Lauren Bacall
Name: Sara Jonsdottir Welles
Gender: Female
Nationality: Brytisk (AEnglisk ancestry)
Date of Birth: TBD
Profession: Personal Secretary to the Princess
Aims: N/A
Unique trait(s): Holds herself to the highest expectations, is one of the Mannerology schools' most perfect students, very protective of her Princess and takes her position as secretary very seriously. There is no way you see the Princess without her secretary's approval.
Background: Some may murmur on how the daughter of a tradesman ended up personal secretary to the heir to the throne. The answer is simple, a lot of ambition, dedication and the triumph of manners above all else. That and charity, there was a good deal of charity. Nevermind that. The point is that she got into a Mannerology school and excelled. She ticked almost every box of the ridiculous requirements. She clapped in that uncomfortable way even. She proved herself more of Mannerology than many noble women ever did, and this opened up doors for her.

One of the people she got to know at the school was the Princess - the granddaughter of the Caesarin - and they got on well and formed a strong relationship based on trust. After they graduated, the Princess determined that she needed someone who was capable of managing her responsibilities as a royal yet was someone she could trust utterly. Sara was the obvious choice, especially as outside of the mannerology school, she had zero contacts. She became personal secretary in the autumn just before the Caesarin died and the AEtheling became Caesar.
Other Details: The Princess does not appreciate anyone disrespecting her personal secretary, for her secretary is an extension of her will.

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Alexandre Millerand
Name: Alvin Jack Strætsson Blair
Gender: Male
Nationality: Brytisk
Date of Birth: He doesn't know for sure, but he has been going by 41 years. He notes his birthday on 1 March. He thus puts it down as 1 March 1847.
Profession: Thingman, Co-operativist, Community Organiser.
Party: Progress (Radical)
Background: To get in the mind of Mr. Blair here, one has to understand where he comes from. Which is literally nothing. The earliest recorded instance of him is on an orphanage's records noting that they have discovered a sprog wrapped in a blue blanket on their doorstep. They named him Alvin after the dog that died a day before. He grew up at the orphanage and doesn't exactly have fond memories of it. He apprenticed with an ironmonger who often smacked him for simple errors, and he learnt to read by that ironmonger's son taking pity on him and giving him lessons after work off dog-eared second-hand schoolbooks. The ironmonger's son dying in a work accident deeply affected him, and from that point forward, he took his name 'Jack' as a second name and started signing his name 'Alvin Blair'. 'Blair' doesn't originally refer to a family name, but to the name of the orphanage - 'Blair Street Orphanage for Abandoned Boys and Girls'. When forced to give a patronymic, he gives Strætsson [i.e. 'son of the street'].

Through hard work and (he admits) a few strokes of good luck, he managed to climb himself to respected member of the community by the 1870s, and when the Earl was looking around for people to get engaged in co-operative affairs, he was a strong supporter. Was it not Jack's pity and his compassion that made this bastard orphan into a literate man? Is it not self-improvement and compassion for one's fellow man that should be the aim of every individual? Co-operatives and charities in his eyes are marks of a better man than 'mere self-interest'.

Elected as a Progressive Thingman in the 1870s off co-operative support, he was generally one to echo support for the co-operatives and for charities. Generally discontented with Ceapmann's shift to the right over his time as Executor, he has decided that the Progressives need a stronger 'mass' aspect in order to ward off the Populist challenge. After all, was it not the Earl himself who saw the potential of the masses?

And in the Earl's final legacy, Mr. Blair here sees opportunity to change the political stage.
Aims:
Lesson Number One: Be A Mass Party
As one of the more vocal pro-co-operative Thingmen and with long ties to the movement, he has considerable pull. He knows that they're almost universally on the 'Left' of the party and are all mildly discontented with the last government's overt pro-business and pro-Ricslilid stance. While no one would ever back Order, they say, they have Concerns. And Blair knows it very well. They need something to change the game. And he knows a way.

One thing that struck him a decade ago was how many beggars, fallen women, matchstick girls, chimney boys and the like turned out to see the Earl's final journey. He knows the loyalty of those people are to Progress, but are so tantalisingly untapped in potential. The most forgotten of the Brytons are yet a key to the social-lilids' victory. For is not Progress ultimately a party determined by democratic means? That any member can turn up to the party meetings and vote on motions and on people to nominate? As he leans closer, a gleam in his eye, he also notes that Progress' membership is determined not by class, not by membership in other organisations, not even by gender, but by money, cold hard money. Which the co-operatives have in spades, and they need people to vote at those party meetings. The smile grows on his face as you make the connection.

To cut to the chase, Blair's proposal to the co-operatives is simple. That they sponsor the growth of 'petty guilds', namely free-to-join guilds [restricted to people of certain employment of course], fund their establishment and pay for membership in Progress for every member of those petty guilds. In exchange, the matchstick girls, chimney sweeps, beggars, what have you, will vote dutifully for co-operative motions at local party meetings [when they can] and vote for the candidate the co-ops back [and get paid for it, is the subtle hint].

The co-operatives' Thingmen will also push for the interests of the lumpenproletariat as well, of course. Blair himself will push forward regulation forcing match making companies to abandon the use of white phosphorus in their wares as the first blast in this new wave of legislation. He will speak in the Thing's records the personal testaments of matchgirls affected by phossy jaw, and make sure that the law is indelibly a Progress one, one the others back belatedly.

He will of course also look into the petty guild membership also participating in election campaigns if they can, but he's not optimistic.

Lesson Number Two: Be A Social Party
While Blair knows his plans will take a while to do, he will seek to build foundations. The matchgirl law first, but also pushing Progress to support charities more than it already has done, by inching closer to the idea that charities and the state are 'natural partners'. Why should charities work solely on the free market when the state has money to spare? It is not the state dictating welfare, but the state being a good friend to organisations based around nothing but the natural goodwill. It is not profitable to do a charity, and it should not be. It is God's work, and Progress knows that the state should encourage God's works. The free market is not everything.

He is also very acutely aware of the fact that many of the people he seeks to recruit are of the fairer sex. While he is not a suffrage-demanding radical, he knows that women have particular interests. One of the bills he seeks to push through the Thing is one reforming the law around women's property, abolishing the idea of coverture and establishing the principle that a woman, married or not, has full legal standing to her property (This is essentially this law).

As someone who originally was from nothing, he will not hesitate to bring up his origin to help burnish Progress' [by now slightly lacking] reputation as a party of the masses, and he will seek to - through the unlikely working-class alliance he forms - to get more people like him elected as Progressive Thingmen. The party must always be a mass party, and it must never be the party of a select few. He will refrain from openly going to war with the ricslilids, but he will seek to build up the radicals and ensure that Progress cannot neglect its left again.

Unique trait(s): He is a man who is used to dealing with a lot of shit being dealt at him. If someone else in the Thing gives him hell, he replies calmly. A shouty Thingman is nothing compared to the matron or the ironmonger. He has seen worse in his life than a shouty sort. When he reads personal testimonies from his constituents [either actual constituents or people he champions], his emotion shines through. Every time he does so, the chamber is quiet for a moment afterwards. He knows this, and it is why he uses it to good effect to push people to laws he believes are good for the people.

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Neville Chamberlain
Name: Niran Areh
Gender: Male
Nationality: Kemean
Date of Birth: 14 April 1839 (56 years old)
Profession: Politician, Reformer, Noble, Conservative, possible Chief Minister or Vizier [possibly both to solve the constitutional question]
Faction: Conservative
Aims:

• The Security of Keme: It is transparently clear to Areh that the war was a mistake. While of course he would praise the soldiers and call for a Remembrance Day for the fallen, he will seek to avoid a second war that will destroy Keme. His policy, 'reserve, but proud reserve', will seek to extract Keme out of any entangling alliances. Keme's interest is solely mercantile and securing trade from countries, not pointless wars that only undermine Kemean society.
• The Winds of Change: Areh is not blind. He knows which way the wind is blowing, and he has read extensively of the Iberian situation. While Keme is no Iberia, he knows that eventually the masses of Keme will demand reform, and that the veterans will have ambitions. Therefore he will propose a major constitutional reform in Keme, establishing the Divan permanently and even granting a form of suffrage if pressured. However, he will not be a Kemeanist in this, no, he will seek to ensure the high court's interest is preserved and that the monarch still enjoys his own. It will be a limited reform. His own position will be clarified as he will seek to merge the positions of Vizier and Chief Minister into one clear executive position, even if he refuses to clarify on if it is ultimately answerable to the Diwan or the King. In classic Arehian manner, he says 'six of one, half a dozen of the other, Bryten didn't clarify, why should we'.
• The Historic Compromise: To be a Conservative is not to be a Monarchist. While Areh will sing the praise of the old and wise King (and his young and wise son the Prince) every day, he is not a reactionary that thinks any change is inimical. In this new era, one touched by shudder people-rule, the state has new expectations. For one, the troops deserve some sort of pension for fighting in that ultimately doomed war. That Areh will ensure Keme gets. The state will step into the economy in a limited manner - more limited than Areh would prefer - to ensure that the rural and urban peasantry gets some form of limited support. Perhaps a workplace compensation scheme and an old-age pension system. It is not a socialist or Kemeanist policy, it is a policy to maintain social stability.
• The Kemean Identity: This is not quite an Aim in itself, but Areh has a very Europeanist stance, but his view of Keme is a bit more nuanced - "In the heart of every Kemean resides the urge to be a Westerner with dreams, ambition and progressive thinking. Unfortunately for our people, lurking in its shadow is its rival, the urge to be of the East, a despotic hedonist with nary a care but pleasure, hollow tradition and cruelty. This is the struggle of every Kemean, for we are a people of two natures, not one. To achieve the perfect society, we must seek to reject the urge to reduce us to nothing."

Unique trait(s): Lives a very austere lifestyle, deeply loathing the idea of any 'hedonism'. If you visit him, you will be served dry crackers, even if with serviceable wine. Very keen on exercise and on 'bodily perfection', he boxed in his youth and still can pack a mighty punch if anyone tries to lay hands on him.
Background: It was never supposed to come to this. Niran Areh was supposed to be the spare, with his elder brother Tadros being the heir to the family legacy. So while Tadros was doing his own thing, Niran sought to establish connections. He knew he would not get far in life relying on the House of Areh’s boon. He wanted to be his own man and saw hard work as the path forward for him.

Through lots of toil and sweat, he did, and ended up a respectable businessman who knew people from all levels of society. He prided himself on being a man who shook hands with all castes, as long as they could do exchange with him. ‘Any man of golden character can be born high or low’. Of course, don’t ask him about his ‘little’ start-up loan he got from his apa and maw…

Still, one can admit that apart from that, he did come across his success honestly. By the time he was 30, he was regularly making a little tidy profit in the mercantile world of Keme. Then he was told of his brother’s sudden death of an opium overdose. Tadros was always far lazier than Niran, and far too many times did the younger brother envy the elder. Still, as he entered his elder brother’s abode, he saw what he would later regard as ‘decadence’. Drug smoke everywhere, clothes laid around absent-mindedly, and a clear disregard for his duties to the family.

His elder brother had a young wife from a respectable family, Ỉrỉs, who Niran met soon after, and agreed to marry to continue their familial alliance. He never had much love for her, but they grew to have a very amicable understanding, bolstered by their first child, a daughter named Mariam. Perhaps Niran just wasn’t the sort of person to feel much romance, so dedicated was he to his work. Ỉrỉs would look after Mariam and their other children, and he would deliver the profit and keep them all comfortable as both a successful businessman and the new heir to the House of Areh. He could trust her to keep her dalliances discreet, for he couldn’t provide in that dimension after all.

Leveraging his pull as a businessman and noble, especially when he became the family head at the age of 43 once his father died, into a position of relative influence, he sought to apply what he learnt at the ‘hard school of life’ to his politics. The supreme act was work. To apply oneself wholeheartedly to an endeavour was heavenly, even Godly. The worst sin was to be decadent and a wastrel, like his older brother was before his untimely death. While he allows Ỉrỉs her pleasures, he lives a very austere lifestyle. Someone once cruelly remarked that “the Arehs are a perfect pair – Ỉrỉs eats everything in the stew, Niran drinks the stew itself.” It is quite clear that on all matters monetary when the husband has to spend to spread influence, he hands the purse (albeit reluctantly) to the wife. This has resulted in the austere Niran being known as a host of extravagant parties.

Now at the age of fifty-six, Niran Areh stands tall with greying hair. His business is doing well. Not great, not terrible, just well. His wife is at his side, wishing for his success, even if there’s still not a spark of love there. His daughter is a spirited twenty-something woman who has ‘unorthodox’ ideas, and his other children, well, they’re his legacy as well, aren’t they? But his main priority remains first and foremost his country. As he sits with the Prince, they discuss the future…
Other Details: His wife has discrete affairs with other noblemen and he sometimes uses it as leverage over them if utterly necessary.

 

[Turquoise Blue]

The flag of the Tsardom of Sibir ('Siberia' in Western remarks, 'Seibir' in Siberian romanisation).

The flag of the Tsardom of Sibir is one of stripes above all - three blue stripes and three green on a white banner. This symbol of Siberia dates back to the post-Conquest days (even in modern Sibir, the conquest of the Khanate is capitalised to emphasise its key importance to the identity and foundation of Sibir, and a traditional Siberian date reckoning was 'X years since the Conquest') and to the great amount of fighting necessary to establish the new boundaries of this Slavic Siberian state.

Valentyn Klymenko - remembered in Sibir as the pleasantly alliterative Valëntein Vëleikĭ, Valëntein the Great - often led his troops, and to signify his retinue was part of them, he ordered the lifting of banners of green and white. In the fighting to expand the nascent Sibir, many of the emerging elite associated it with the green and white banners, and many feudal nobles took it as a symbol of Siberian power and used it themselves in their own struggles to expand their liege's power.

So far all well and good, but then the power struggles began after Valëntein the Great perished at the ripe age of 71. Many nobles sought to expand their power at the expense of others, and all turned to the green and white banner. To distinguish himself as he cracked down on his more upstart nobles, Valëntein II - remembered unfairly in history as Valëntein Malĭ, Valëntein the Little - added a blue banner to denote that it was the tsar, not just any Siberian host. His struggle to curb noble independence would be inconclusive, but end up establishing the first of a strong Siberian tradition - the zëmstva. In exchange for more power to the tsar, the nobles secured a council of the landed interest (in Siberian, zëmstvo literally means 'land-ness') which the tsar would summon every year.

The banner of the tsar would remain blue, white and green, and just as the white and green became a symbol of Siberian power, so did the blue, white and green, but the number of banners would vary with some merely using three, and increasingly the tsar to note his power and influence used eleven - three blue, three green, five white. The Civil War of the early 19th century was not over the question of noble power, but of that of the growing belief in leiúdeistvo - which is often translated into AEnglisk as 'folkism' but misses the distinct Siberian nuances. For one, it was not a nationalist movement, but a constitutionalist one, and their main cause was not quite suffrage - although they did acquire that goal as the Civil War raged on - but local autonomy. One can explore the many causes of the Civil War, including growing leiúdeinik thought, the genetical thinning of the House of Kleimënko, the growth of a mercantile class in Turahrad and so on, but the key thing is that the conclusion was the establishment of the modern system of zëmstva, in which each village council - long an institution of Siberian life - was regarded as of the same make as the Tsar's council and officially recognised as such. This, along with the broad suffrage and the marriage of the last Kleimënko - Tsarina Alĭa - with the leader of the constitutionalists, the noble Olëxandr Volodeimeir, marked the end of the Civil War. For our purposes, namely chronicling the development of the flag of the Tsardom, it is said to be either Alĭa or Olëxandr who came up with the idea of forming a modern flag for Sibir by taking the blue-white-green which was widely used by both sides in the Civil War, and formalising it as the flag of Sibir in that of the royal eleven. Before this, it was not regarded as of importance - everyone knew the blue-white-green was Siberian anyway.

To denote the flag further, they added the coat of arms of the Tsardom to it. The coat of arms has a very long pedigree, and is one of the things that marks the unusual continuity the Tsardom has with the Khanate. The crossed arrows was noted to be a symbol regularly used by the Khan, and it was adopted as part of the growing symbols of the emerging Tsardom, with the coat of arms becoming more complex as time went by, including a bow, two martens and 'spots' of ermine denoting fur - for fur was a key Siberian export and key to the coronation robes of every Tsar. It was a natural choice to mark the stripes as 'truly' Siberian.​

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Decided to make a list of all the characters I've done for an election-game or succession-game that I've actually put time in beyond an one-off election.

Edmund Acina, Auphi Acio-Siadro (17th Marchioness of Penuvor), Tiffany Arkwright/Tiffany Bridgerton, Stephen/Lauren Astudillo*,

Austin Blanchet (the Elder, 1st Baron Wilmington), Austin Blanchet (the Younger), Justin Blanchet, Euphemia Bloom, Haimric Brymdun, Raminta Buinickaitė,

Valérie Bonnay de Casa, Julia Casanova, Sel Case*, Anton Chayka, Tyffa Comyn, Apikalia Kalākaua/Pika Connors, Vika Mikhailova/Vika Connors/Vicky Michael*, Harry Crane,

Artemis Fowl, Astrid Frost,

Aethelred Galbraith (5th Earl of Strathclyde), Alfred Galbraith (12th Earl of Strathclyde)

Priska Jahn/Mieke Jans,

Lily Kamiya, Kristín Hilmarsdóttir*, Kunigami Chōten,

Luci Label, Melody Lam Tsam-yui, John Lancelot, Evie Larkin, Kim (Kayode)-Lee/Kimiko Tanimoto, Casella Lemonwood, Liang Zemin, Astra Lion-Core, François Jean Locronan (2nd Earl Lockrona), Francis Lockrona-Taylor (6th Earl Lockrona), Charles Lockrona-Taylor, Francis Lockrona-Taylor (10th Earl Lockrona), J. M. Lockrona-Taylor, Edmund Lockrona-Taylor, James Lubbock, Emily Lubbock, Andrey Lylley,

Sir Theodore of Macedonia, James A. Maxwell, Tonya Melnik, Marie-Rose de Montfaucon, Arya Moon, Fabian Morgenstern,

Taylor Nakamura, Nguyễn Tiến Chí, Strawberry Night [1st Countess Mallorquin],

Azuolas Ozols,

Tobias Lothair Pabst, Evie Park, Joel Ambrósio Pinheiro,

June von Rentelen, Zika Rhenniyaw*, Dietrich von Rosenberg, Ruan Mei,

Pishoy Salib, Remember Schofield, Mélanie Song Guiying, Godric Spekter, Lily Sun,

Tanimoto Saki, Tanimoto Sora, Tanimoto Sota, Viserea Targaryen, Natalia Tarkovskaya*, Chika Temple/Tuesday Townsend, Edward Templeton-Black (5th Duke of Canterbury), Matthew Thomson (as Danny Rennie), Pavle Tomić, Naomi Tostig-Byrben, Keit Tsahkna, Emily Tsang Yaling,

Harry Wilde, Audrey Wilson, Darren Wilson, Buzz Windom, Alfwin Wyndham, Johan Wyndham,

Aurelia von Verdin, Taleah Vesikula/Talia Hamilton, Lewis Vest,

Zoia.

* Planned characters

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Faceclaim: Nathaniel Dance-Holland
Character: Alexander Justin 'Austin' Blanchet (later 1st Baron Wilmington) [son of J. Blanchet]
Game: Power to the Many (by Major Crimson, Gonzo and Rankein) - ACTIVE
Location: Delaware, British North America (later Delaware, Dominion of Anglia)
Time: Lived 1731-????, Played 1774-????
Ideology: American loyalism, paternalistic conservatism, pro-slavery, pro-"loyal" Native, very condescending proto-feminism.
Personality: Devout to a fault, quite erratic, but likes to think he is a 'man of his word'. Bitter rivalry with his brother.

Faceclaim: George Clymer
Character: Justin Joseph Blanchet
Game: Let Sleeping Dogs Lie (by TheReformer and Gonzo) - DEAD
Location: London, England, Kingdom of Great Britain
Time: Lived 1693-???? [-1780 in PttM], Played 1746-1747
Ideology: High Toryism, Absolutism, Francophilia. Especially Francophilia.
Personality: Idealistic, lofty thoughts, often can be quite naive at times.

Faceclaim: Helen Gladstone
Character: Euphemia River Bloom
Game: Hard Graft (by Charcolt) - DEAD
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Time: Lived 1801-????, Played 1844-1865 [sparingly]
Ideology: New Religious Movement, feminism, abolitionism, very very proto-New Age shit.
Personality: Deeply insecure, secretly dislikes what she sees as her 'purpose', but believes that if she fails at converting humanity the world dies.

Faceclaim: Margaret Bondfield
Character: Raminta Buinickaitė
Game: Fresh from the Forge of Nations (by Augenis) - COMPLETED
Location: Republic of Lithuania
Time: Lived 1900-1939, Played 1938-1939
Ideology: Very firm pro-Soviet Stalinist communism, but with some nationalist streaks.
Personality: Defiant to the end, stubborn as heck, will [and did] die for her beliefs.

Faceclaim: Robin Wright as Claire Underwood
Character: Valérie Bonnay de Casa
Game: A dictatorship would be a lot easier! (by TransUral) - ACTIVE
Location: Republic of Potosi [ATL Bolivia]
Time: Lived 1954-????, Played [tbd]
Ideology: Developmentalism, and willing to be pro-indigenous and pro-trade union if it gets her support. However, very realpolitik.
Personality: Stylish, fashion-conscious, deeply calculating. From a young age, she was made to expect she would be President of Potosi.


Faceclaim: Unknown model
Character: Juliana Maria Pia Luna "Julia" Casanova
Game: Winter in America (by TransUral) - COMPLETED
Location: New York State, United States of America
Time: Lived 1943-1982, Played 1972-1974 [with sunset rolls]
Ideology:
- Pre-1973 Casanova: Radical feminism, SCUM Society, actively hates all men, wishes to discover brain surgery to 'convert' men into women.
- Post-1973 Casanova: Right-libertarianism, "Feminist capitalism", 'mainstream' as much as possible. At first fake, but she ends up actually believing it.
Personality:
- Pre-1973 Casanova: Deeply weird, insular, hates socialising, plays a lot with her knives and wants to practise on 'human subjects'.
- Post-1973 Casanova: A personality in collapse, mind actively against itself, increasingly forgetting her radical past. More sociable, surprisingly.

Faceclaim: None
Character: Apikalia Kalākaua "Pika" Connors [based on a character for a RP I did long ago]
Game: International Society of Explorers and Adventurers (by EdMarCarSe) - DEAD
Location: London, England, United Kingdom
Time: Lived 1884-????, Played 1902-1904
Ideology: Not much of one. Generally pro-British, given she was brought up a Brit? Didn't really develop her much...
Personality: Creative, inventive, curious. Deeply curious.

Faceclaim: None (I tried, but...) [if I was to play this version again, I would go with a Wednesday Addams picture, I guess]
Character: Viktoria Terentiyovna "Vika" Mikhailova
Game: Plowing the Sea (by killertahu22) - DEAD
Location: Russian Republic [later Russian Empire]
Time: Lived 1894-????, Played 1908-1910.
Ideology: An eclectic and incoherent mixture of fervently religious monarchism and Bolshevik-influenced communism.
Personality: A revolutionary zealot who sees no compromise possible if it diverges from her ideas, but ultimately will put Russia first.

Faceclaim: None (I once floated a picture, but it didn't stick) [see my disclaimer on Vika (1), it applies here too]
Character: Viktoria Mikhailova "Vika" Connors
Game: International Society of Explorers and Adventurers (by EdMarCarSe) - DEAD
Location: London, England, United Kingdom
Time: Lived 1890-????, Played 1902-1904
Ideology: Not much of one. Devoutly religious to a fault, stubborn and headstrong, somewhat of a 'tomboy' by Victorian/Edwardian standards.
Personality: Devoutly religious to a fault, stubborn and headstrong, somewhat of a 'tomboy' by Victorian/Edwardian standards.

Faceclaim: Ethel Mannin
Character: Viktoria Terentiyovna Mikhailova
Game: Darkness at Noon (by Kerguelen) - ACTIVE
Location: Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Time: Lived ????-????, Played [tbd] - it's a succession game, idk yet.
Ideology: Quite religious, very socialist [left-communist, I would say].
Personality: Intense, very intense, often a quiet thinker but one that is a firm ideologue.

Faceclaim: Frances Clayton as 'Jack Williams'
Character: Harry Jackson Crane III
Game: Hard Graft (by Charcolt) - DEAD
Location: United States of America
Time: Lived 1802-1884, Played 1852-1865.
Ideology: A 'Jacksonian' take on utopian socialism, a somewhat deluded 'liberal interventionism', die-hard abolitionism.
Personality: Less of a man, more of a destructive force, he is a hard, hard taskmaster who regularly gives hell to his friends and enemies.

Faceclaim: Tony Benn
Character: Artemis Madison Fowl
Game: The Crossroads of Destiny (by Heliogabalus) [this one goes to the fourth and final thread] - COMPLETE
Location: United States of America
Time: Lived 1921-1987, Played 1960-1984.
Ideology: Started off as an anti-populist conservative but shifted to the left to 'green' centrism due to the nuclear exchange.
Personality: Insufferable as fuck, thinks he's always right, looks down on everyone else, quite charismatic nevertheless.

Faceclaim: Edith Summerskill
Character: Astrid Maria Lisette Frost
Game: Auferstanden aus Ruinen (by Communard and UniquelyEqual) - ONGOING
Location: Free State of Bavaria, Federal Republic of Germany
Time: Lived 1923-????, Played 1949-????
Ideology: 'Social Christianity', environmentalism, Christian feminism, pro-'caring' government, 'Bavarianism'.
Personality: Prickly, more at home in bureaucracy, dislikes being ordered around.

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Spoiler: Text of the Instrument of Government (1009)

We, the assembled representatives of the Equestrian Ponykind, do declare that all power to govern this realm comes from the divine nature of our Holy Princesses, Celestia and Luna. Long may they reign, long may the sun and moon rise in turn, and may none of our actions counteract their Divine Guidance.

As part of our service as Their Majesties’ ever-faithful and true assistants in governance, we have submitted this humble proposal for constitutional reform which we earnestly hope will receive their approval.

Noting the limitations of unicameralism in representing and working for the interests of all ponies, we humbly propose the creation of two different chambers, one to represent the important aspects of our society, the other for ponykind as a whole and the Four Races. The two chambers assembled shall be known as the Paddock.

The first chamber shall be named the High Loft and be composed of four different measures. The first measure shall be the totality of all ponies of good breeding and good character that the Divine Princesses had seen fit to ennoble, and their heirs thereof. Any future nobleponies bearing an honourable title shall be given a seat in the High Loft as well on the date of their ennoblement, to be held by their heirs and their heirs’ heirs for as long as their lineages hold.

In place of strife, we seek to bring harmony to all of Equestria. We seek to ensure that the workings of government rises above disputes that cloud our days. There shall be two councils set up, one elected by every pony that has registered their status as a business-owner and hence representing the interest of those who manage and those who seek to enter the glorious world of entrepreneurship. The other council shall be elected by every worker registered with a union and seek to represent the working pony and the interest of those who toil for the nation’s prosperity.

Those two councils, the Business and Trade Union Councils respectively, shall be of the same number of councillors and together make up the National Arbitration Board which shall be the court of final appeal on any labour dispute. It is hoped by the drafters of this bill that such a structure encourages those who produce and those who manage to work together for the common interest of the Realm. To ensure the interests of the two are represented further, they shall be the second and third measure of composure to the High Loft, appointing Economic and Labour delegates.

In the interests of efficient government and ensuring the will of the Princesses are communicated greatly to the ponies of Equestria, no matter where they be, this bill will be reorganising the local governments into ‘ranges’, each governed by a ‘derby’, a paddock in miniature in other words. They shall be unicameral at their commission, but be granted permission to reorganise themselves if they so desire, and be supervised by a ‘vicereine’ appointed by the Princesses to communicate their words and guidance to the range in question. The vicereine shall appoint an avener to be head of the range government, taking the Princesses’ advice and the derby’s leanings in consideration. The avener will nominate people to be part of their cabinet and have the derby confirm them.

The fourth and final measure of composure to the High Loft shall be ponies directly elected on basis of the range boundaries. Those ponies shall be referred to as ‘lofters-elect’. In the case of any ponies suffering from demise in their office as lofter-elect, the range derby in question is granted permission to appoint a substitute until a by-election is held for a permanent successor. All four measures of composure is mandated to be equal in presence in the High Loft.

The second chamber, and the primary one of governance, shall be known as the Stable of Commons, which shall be the legal successor to the current chamber. In the interest of adequate and equitable representation of the races of Equestria, the measure of election used in the 1009 by-elections chosen in the interest of accelerating the representation of thestrals to the present chamber shall be extended to other races and set in perpetuity.

Any previous customs set for the present chamber’s conduct and governance of its own business shall be considered extant in the Stable of Commons as its successor unless measured otherwise by this bill or any future bills passed by the Stable for its own management. Internal management of paddockian conduct in either the Loft or the Stable shall be exclusively the domain of the relevant chamber.

When the Stable considers a bill worthy of being presented to the Princesses, it shall be first sent to the High Loft for review. The High Loft can deem it worthy in their eyes too, or it can send it back for revision. In the case they send the bill back, the High Loft must give clear reasons why it is not worthy in their eyes and offer substantial recommendations for alteration. The Stable may not be able to send the bill back to the Loft without alteration. No bill may be presented to the Princesses unless it have had both chambers of the Paddock’s stamp of approval. This is hoped to avoid or lessen any clash of the Princesses with the Paddock as we have experienced such too much recently.

The sun and moon are two halves of the same whole, we cannot have a day without sun nor a night without moon. Any bill presented to the Divine Princesses must have both of their approvals for it to become a full-fledged law. If one or both of the Princesses think such a bill is not worthy, she or they may send the bill back to the Paddock with clear directives they deem in need of revision.

In extraordinary circumstances, the Paddock may be prorogued in the interests of national order. Such a decision needs to be true in the day and in the night, and hence shall have both of the princesses’ approval before such a decision becomes true. The Paddock may be re-assembled with the stamp of approval from one Princess, but be treated as a ‘plot paddock’ with limited powers until the second Princess grants assent to it being formed as a full paddock.

The two chambers can also be subjected to election if both of the Princesses deem it in need of renewal. They can subject the Stable, the Loft, or both together, to a stamp election. If the Loft is subject, it means that the lofters-elect and the business and union councils are all up for election once more. If the Stable is subject, it means that all ponies elected are now subject to a new election by the measure of election as legally set out in law.

The Divine Princesses have seen fit to appoint a pony of good stature in the past to govern the Realm on their behalf, the High Chancellors. Such a laudable tradition shall be continued, with the new position of Cheval Regent superseding the position of High Chancellor, and shall be determined in the same manner, namely that of the Princesses, both of them, coming to an agreement on who is the most fit pony to govern on their behalf.

The Cheval Regent shall present their choices for their cabinet to the Stable and if each of their choices enjoy a majority of the Stable in their favour, they shall be able to serve in the position for as long as the Cheval Regent serves their term, or unto their resignation. Special disposition is made to the position of Leader of the High Loft, which shall be selected by that chamber alone.

The Cheval Regent can recommend the Princesses declare a state of emergency with the backing of a majority of their cabinet. In a state of emergency, the paddock is prorogued and all power of governance lies with the cabinet and the Cheval Regent, all on behalf of the Princesses. The Princesses must agree as one to grant the Cheval Regent this request. Either one of the Princesses may break this state of emergency if they so deem such. The state of emergency can be no longer than ten years, and cannot be called again without a renewal of the paddock.

All of those reforms above are designed to further our assistance of the Divine Princesses, for without them the sun and moon would not rise in their turn. It is from them that we see the glory of Equestria, and it is ultimately from them and their benevolent reign that we are assembled here, for we are nothing but servants sent by ponykind to serve our beloved Princesses in the arduous task of governing the greatest Realm in the world, the Holy Principality of Equestria.

May those reforms bring around an age of peace, prosperity and harmony to all ponykind, and make the Divine Princesses smile once more!