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Tibby's Graphics and Grab-Bag Thread.

The Well-Organised Mind: The Colours of Magic
White Magic
Lightness, Brightness, ‘Cleansing’.
The magic the Universal Church [and the Divine Mandate down in Moorea] endorses, for it is widely associated with the Divine and with Peus, the senior of the two sons of the Divine Will. Peus, in the Testament, was noted to have used White Magic and brought it to the world to heal it and cleanse it of sin. It is a magic associated with air, the heavens and being free of sin.

It however, has been commented by some mages as the least flexible of all domains of magic.

Green Magic
Nature, Earth, Life.
Seen as the least ‘harmless’ of the non-white magics, it is deeply associated with nature, with physical healing (some people even argue Peus used green as well as white, they’re seen as heretics though) and with fertility (always a good thing to have a green mage around during planting time). One of the domains that are the most full with ‘amateur mages’ from the lower classes, which has not endeared it much to the established magical community. Green magic is noted to have its wild moments (and low-key is the magic associated with death).

Blue Magic
Alien, Esoteric, Anti-Physical
While green magic is of the land and white magic of the heavens, blue magic is of the unseen realms that do not wend as our world do. It is a ‘foreign’ magic with untested limitations, and most used by the Fair Folk and their descendants the Marcher changelings in Albion. The Universal Church is of the open view that this magic is ‘tainted’, but the Divine Mandate (a splitter religion that believes prophets were sent after the sons perished) see blue magic as a gift from the Divine and their final prophet, Immanuel, was noted to be a master at wielding it.

Yellow Magic
Rational, Scientific, Methodical
The Universal Church despises yellow magic. They see it as selfish ‘tainted’ magic, magic wielded by fools and charlatans, and people seeking to make a quick buck. However, yellow magic is by far the most predictable type, and can be (but has not yet) distilled down to numerical formulas to an extent that the others cannot ever reach. It is the magic of the alchemists, of the burghers, of the money-oriented nobility and wields a sway over society that neither the Church nor the Mandate can drive out.

Red Magic
Anger, Demonic, Passionate
The first of the explicitly banned ‘corrupted’ magic, it is the magic of the demonic realms and of the destructive inclinations in the human psyche. ‘Demonic cults’ are alleged to exist in the Cisleithanian rural areas and further out east, but how much of that is reality and how much is propaganda? What isn’t propaganda however, is that even as the religious authorities ban red magic, their officially-endorsed mage-knights that fight for the Divine are known to use their passion and anger in their magic, which is the domain of the red. The authorities know this and ignore it.

Black Magic
Addiction, Insecurity, Pleasure
The second, and by far the most targeted, banned ‘corrupted’ magic, it is the magic of the ancient beliefs, the magic of the night (and some whisper, of the stars). It is a wild magic that plays on people’s insecurity and doubt, and drags them further and further into its addictive pleasures with every use. It is not an inherently evil domain, but it can easily break people’s minds.

The Old Faith (an underground pre-Universal religion) is the greatest champion of such magic.

Summary
White - Light Magic, bright magic, Universal Church-approved, free from sin, but inflexible and encourages zealotry.

Green - Nature Magic, earth magic, life magic, a little wild at times, but accepted by the UC more or less.
Blue - Arcane Magic, alien, incomprehensible, used by the Fair Folk, disliked by the UC but not cracked down.
Yellow - Elemental Magic, alchemy, rational, methodical, burgher-approved, UC dislikes it a lot, but can't practically crack down on it.
Red - Demonic Magic, anger, irrational, destructive, very few people approve of it, UC bans it, it's a "corrupted" magic.
Black - Dark Magic, addicting, insecure, wild, deeply personal, "Old Faith"-approved, UC bans it, it's a "corrupted" magic.
 
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Violet - "sapphic love" (lesbian, purple)
Pansy - "achillean love" (gay, yellow)
Rose - "panian love" (bisexual, red)
Lotus - "transcended" (transgender, rainbow [varying colours for varying types])
- White Lotus - "indifferent to gender" (non-binary, white/white with tinges of colours)
Candytuft - "indifferent to sex/love" (ace, white)
Iris - "inquisitive" (questioning, blue)

Green carnation - "queer" (LGBTQ, green)

"Bud" - closeted/egg, "queer person who has not bloomed".
"Blooming" - refers to both coming out and general LGBT identity confidence, the two are seen as part of one whole.

May Day has LGBT connotations instead of socialist connotations, and May in general is the "blooming month" [pride month].

Lots of plastic flowers being sold and worn on labels at that time.
That's so cool
 
Violet - "sapphic love" (lesbian, purple)
Pansy - "achillean love" (gay, yellow)
Rose - "panian love" (bisexual, red)
Lotus - "transcended" (transgender, rainbow [varying colours for varying types])
- White Lotus - "indifferent to gender" (non-binary, white/white with tinges of colours)
Candytuft - "indifferent to sex/love" (ace, white)
Iris - "inquisitive" (questioning, blue)

Green carnation - "queer" (LGBTQ, green)

"Bud" - closeted/egg, "queer person who has not bloomed".
"Blooming" - refers to both coming out and general LGBT identity confidence, the two are seen as part of one whole.

May Day has LGBT connotations instead of socialist connotations, and May in general is the "blooming month" [pride month].

Lots of plastic flowers being sold and worn on labels at that time.
This sounds alot cooler than OTL
 
Return of the Rodina II: Antonina 'Tonya' Melnik
ПАСПОРТ / PASSPORT
Sj-Ewnrk.jpg

(Maia Sandu)
Фамилия / Surname: МЕЛЬНИК / MELNIK
Имя / Given names: АНТОНИНА АЛИКОВНА (ТО́НЯ) / ANTONINA ALIKOVNA (TONYA)
Пол / Gender: Ж / F
Дата рождения / Date of Birth: 12.3.1948 (currently 43 y/o)
Национальность / Nationality: РУССКИЙ / RUSSIAN
Религия / Religion: ПРАВОСЛАВНЫЙ / ORTHODOX (her faith 'comes and goes')
Федеральный субъект / Federal Subject: ЛЕНИНГРАДСКАЯ ОБЛАСТЬ / LENINGRAD OBLAST
Партия / Party: РОССИЙСКАЯ ОБЪЕДИНЕННАЯ ДЕМОКРАТИЧЕСКАЯ ПАРТИЯ «ЯБЛОКО» / RUSSIAN UNITED DEMOCRATIC PARTY "YABLOKO" (1993-)
КОММУНИСТИЧЕСКАЯ ПАРТИЯ СОВЕТСКОГО СОЮЗА / COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE SOVIET UNION (1972-1990)
List of Previous Offices Held:
Soviet Bureaucrat and Apparatchik (1970s-1990)
Associate at (random Russian business) (1991-present)
Member of the State Duma (1993-present)
Biography: Antonina Alikovna Melnik, known as Tonya to her friends, is in a sense the epitome of the old Soviet bureaucracy. Well-acquainted to the byzantine realm that ran the old Soviet Union, she was if anything a barely relevant paper pusher who nevertheless grew to truly understand the intricate webs and connections. Even now she still has many of that skill and can still lean into it considerably when it benefits her considerably.

Yet the Melnik that stands as a Yabloko member of the State Duma is one considerably affected by the fall of Communism. As she describes it, it was as if everything became truly clear. Her life spent at a desk navigating the system and keeping the old Union up, it was… well it wasn’t useless. She did help Russia. But it was keeping up an unjust system, keeping down the people and their true voice silenced. It was less a dictatorship of the proletariat and more just a dictatorship proper. And hence gradually floating around in the chaotic post-Soviet world, evolving further and further from the old communist ways, she ended up part of the reformist-democrat Yavlinsky-Boldyrev-Lukin clique (later on evolving to the Russian United Democratic Party 'Yabloko'), and ended up elected to the State Duma as a sincere democrat in 1993.

Acutely aware of her weakness as a bureaucrat in a world where image is everything, she regularly practises her speeches in the mirror of her apartment, perfecting her intonation and facial expressions, trying to get it down to a T before she actually gives them. But no matter how much she pushes herself into this unfamiliar world, she is still one much more used to the reality that no longer is. And the more she goes off script, the more her speeches become clinical and formal, more like her true self – the unassuming bureaucrat. Still, she is persistent. That is her core trait.

Corruption
Anti-Corruption:
Corruption is a serious issue, and we should use all the resources available to the state to eliminate or at least reduce it.

The Economy
Center:
Resume the voucher privatization, but consider slowing it down to ensure a smoother, less volatile transition to capitalism.

Chechnya
We should seek to achieve some sort of negotiated peace that preserves the average person’s liberties there.

Culture
Russia is a diverse, multiethnic country. It is ultimately one of many peoples, and we should embrace that and support our ethnic minorities. Regarding homosexuality, while I obviously don’t support the ideology, there are a fair few non-ideological homosexuals around, enough to justify the decriminalisation.

Constitutional Reform
Center:
The current system is acceptable, perhaps with some tweaks to ensure comprehensibility and avoid another political standoff.
(has some sympathy to center-left)

Yugoslav Wars
We should focus more on our own internal matters for now, but support an international peacekeeping effort.

Foreign Policy
We should reconcile with the West of course! Perhaps not an alliance with NATO, put that to the people in a referendum. With China, I don’t see why we cannot reconcile with them as well. We can be a constructive bridge between West and East.

Administration: (3+2=) 5
Economy: 4
Diplomacy: 3

Media: (6-2) 4
Combat: 1
 
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Pák Tou Belge?: Examples
"Ie pák belge. Ie sum belge. Mien pais, mien lond, set exist! S'est nox néderlandais, nox fransais. S'est belge!"
- I speak Belgian. I am Belgian. My country, my land, it exists! It is neither Dutch nor French. It is Belgian!

"Hallu, Franshom!"
- Hello, Frenchman!

"Ze plus grat ilusion van ze franshom est sét ze belge pák sa tál. Sela ók vrai por ze néderlandais."
- The greatest delusion of the Frenchman is that the Belgian spoke his language. That is also true for the Dutch.

"Pák tou nox Belge? O."
- You don't speak Belgian? Oh.

"Láng liver ze roi! Za Belgice zál nóit on républiek zyn!"
- Long live the King! Belgium shall never be a republic!

"Ie pák belge. Za Belgice pák belge. Ta za Belgice!"
- I speak Belgian. Belgium speaks Belgian. All Belgium!

"S'est Belge. Vou ave neit ze tál belge zién?"
- This is Belgian. You have not seen the Belgian language?

"Ta est boed avet mie. Dank por ze pose za kuestie!"
- All is good with me. Thanks for asking!

"Dá n'est resen án mie te douten!"
- There is no reason to doubt me!

"Za Belgice est vrecht!"
- Belgium is real!
 
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The Well-Organised Mind: Character Form
Picture: (feel free to pick any picture that you think works!)
Name: (Albish names tend to work like "GivenName Patronymic Dynasty", but if you want a non-Albish character, feel free to mix it up!)
Magic Specification: (Mages that get this high tend to specify in a magical domain. Red and Black are off-limits, and Yellow and Blue are suspicious)
Previous Profession: (Doesn't even need to be in the Academy! Likely isn't at first, but probably more likely as time goes on)
Biography: (for any needed lore, turn to Archaembald for advice. But overall, you have creative freedom within the bounds of lore)

Aims:
Headline Aim (for this one, I will roll twice and take the highest)

Two Major Aims (for this one, a +10)

Two Minor Aims (no roll bonuses)

Unlimited Aside Aims (-5 for the first one, -10 for the second, you get me)
 
The Well-Organised Mind: Modifiers
Royal Favour: The King really likes the idea of the Academy, being a convert to the idea thanks to his mentor Albert convincing him of such.
+15 to aims to establishment of the Academy. Expires after 20 years or the death of Henry IX. Can be modified by poll choices.

Magical Scepticism: The mage community isn't sold on the Academy, preferring the old mentor-apprentice system. Can they be convinced?
-10 to any rolls on recruitment and expansion of the staff and students. Has no expiration date. Can be modified by poll choices.

Money's A Bit Thin: The destructive Flower Wars have exhausted much of Albion's treasury, and this extends to the Academy too.
The Treasury slider is capped on 'Balanced' and cannot go higher than that for 20 years.
 
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The Calamari Realm (often erroneously called the "Kingdom of Calamaria") is a country in the Pacific Ocean populated by the "Calamari", a fairly diverse genus of sapient sea creatures traditionally divided in many species, of which the dominant races are the "Inklings" and "Octarians". The "Inklings" traditionally reside on the islands, the "Octarians" in the seas around them. The two often utilise the ink they naturally produce as weapons against the other to blind them and in Calamari parlance 'splat' them.

The two races, the land-dwelling but generally one-form-fits-all Inklings and the more diverse but sea-dwelling Octarians, historically disliked each other and often engaged in "turf wars" on the shores of the islands, and the shores were often soiled with ink in the two's consistent fighting. It was in the latest of the turf wars that Captain Cristian Tomos first 'discovered' the islands while sailing aboard HMS Trouble. He was seeking to explain an unexplained phenomenon of squid and octopi that looked very unlike the others his fellow Pacific explorers encountered. While most of that ilk resided deeper in water, the "pacific calamari" seemed to be freshwater variants and far more vibrant in colouring.

Cristian Tomos made landfall on Inkopolis Island in the late 1870s, and was about to claim it for Britain before he noticed a number of people approaching him from the distance. As they came closer, he tensed up. Would they be peaceful natives who would accept the 'touch of civilisation'? Or ones that had to be taught it by the sword? Yes, he was definitely shaped by his time, how can you tell? The people eventually became clear. They were a dimunitive sort, with black-rimmed and large eyes, but what was most striking about them was what they had as 'hair'. They had squid tentacles in bright colours. Now, Captain Tomos was not a dim-witted sort. He immediately made connections between those squid-haired people and the pacific calamari. He was just unsure if they hunted the pacific calamari to wear as ritual headwear or were pacific calamari themselves.

His lieutenant and future famous explorer, Daring Do Dazzle, was immediately a fascination of the squid people for being an Equestrian. The Captain asked his lieutenant if there were any on the crew who knew magic, the lieutenant confirmed that there was a few, and the Captain requested one of them cast a spell to make them understand and be able to speak the squid language. The spell was cast, and after a few exchanges with the natives, they were asked to bring them to their "leader". The word used for "leader" was meant by the Captain in the sense of monarch or ruler, but the Inklings understood it as more simply "most respected one". And this leads us into the system of Inkling governance.

Inkling governance was not like the European understanding of monarchy. There was a head of state (what was the one called the 'most respected one', or as the British understood it, 'monarch'), but it was not hereditary. It was more like the dux bellorum, the one who leads the Inklings in the turf wars and chosen in the next turf war after the last one was 'splatted'. Surrounding the most respected one were the real power, the Council. It was the Council that declared each turf war, managed the islands in peacetime, and built up defences. The Captain and Lieutenant brought their biases to interpreting such. The Captain believed the monarch was a tribal chief and those about them were the tribal council answerable to them. The Lieutenant, originally coming from Equestria, believed the monarch to be a more divine figure in their community but more or less hands-off.

The 'monarch' at that time, Pearl, was keen to work with the weird not-squid people and the talking pony in exchange for technology to acquire complete victory over the Octarians in what she plotted to be the "Last Turf War". Meanwhile, a French ship not that far away hauled up a weird talking octopus that transformed into a diminutive boy. They knew the boy was trying to talk, and eventually got the ship cook (who learnt a bit of magic in his youth) to cast a spell. Things led to other things and it eventually culminated with the French working with the Octarians.

The Last Turf War was in the 1890s and dragged in Britain and France (both fairly unwillingly), splatted many Calamari, and it was in a smoke-filled room that the British and French agreed to force the two calamari races to cooperate as one state. This they managed to do, and in the process came to an understanding regarding their global interests, paving the way for the Historic Entente in the 1900s. The Inklings and Octarians were forced to the table by the disgrunted French and British, and came to an agreement to unify the two as the new Calamari Realm.

The new Calamari Realm government would be structured like the Inkling government, but with an elected council (and a Prime Minister, a clear European import) and instead of a dux bellorum the monarch would be selected through a 'splatting' competition. It took a while to explain to the Europeans that Calamari doesn't really die, just get 'splatted' and hence reborn. Hence death to them is not scary at all. Just a new start in life. And hence a 'splatting' competition was less a fight to the death as humans understood it and more a 'friendly' competition.

Meanwhile as concepts of genes and evolution became mainstream, the question of the origin of the Calamari loomed large. From what did they evolve? The closest they had to any evidence was the fact that the Inkling and Octarian religions (increasingly merged together as the Inkopolitan Church) both said that they came from the sky and were cast out of heaven for an unexplained sin against the Great Architect.

But as DNA testing became more of a thing in the 1950s, it was discovered that Calamari did not have DNA as structured in every living Earth-originated species. Their entire structure was that of a triple helix DNA, something that rose further questions, and had no X or Y chromosome (proving the theory that Calamari were all sexless). Eventually, they managed to (with the King at the time's agreement) discover ruins of an advanced spaceship. The religious theory were slowly reconsidered, and by the 2010s, the idea was widely accepted that Calamari was from space, somewhere.

Then Neptune was reached by spaceships. It was known to be a large water world, and there were theories of life there, but the discovery of lifeforms there that were vaguely similar to the Calamari was a major breakthrough, and after DNA testing in the 2020s showed that those lifeforms also had the triple helix DNA. The official theory was crystallised with the discovery of underwater ruins of advanced civilisation. The theory goes that once, Neptune had a grand civilisation and then it fell apart. The Calamari were in a sense refugees from a collapsing civilisation that crash-landed on Earth and made their way there, forming new species such as the Inklings and Octarians.

(flag created by u/ardnin on Reddit)
 
The Calamari Realm (often erroneously called the "Kingdom of Calamaria") is a country in the Pacific Ocean populated by the "Calamari", a fairly diverse genus of sapient sea creatures traditionally divided in many species, of which the dominant races are the "Inklings" and "Octarians". The "Inklings" traditionally reside on the islands, the "Octarians" in the seas around them. The two often utilise the ink they naturally produce as weapons against the other to blind them and in Calamari parlance 'splat' them.

This is stupendously tibby
 
testi.png
new guernsey 1937.png

{{Infobox election
| election_name = 1937 New Guernsey general election
| country = Ontario
| type = parliamentary
| ongoing = no
| party_colour = no
| party_name = no
| previous_election = 1929 Ontario general election
| previous_year = 1934
| next_election =
| next_year = [[1937 Ontario general election|1946]]
| seats_for_election = 51 seats in the [[i|Legislative Assembly of New Guernsey]] <br /> 26 seats were needed for a majority
| election_date = 18 November 1937
| image1 = [[File:Nick Clegg (2011) (cropped).jpg|x160px]]
| colour1 = e57373
| leader1 = [[i|Ludvig Joyce]]
| leader_since1 = [[Ontario Liberal Party leadership elections#1930 leadership convention|22 July 1935]]
| party1 = {{Canadian party colour|ON|Liberal|name}}
| leaders_seat1 = [[Elgin (electoral district)|Maple Shade]]
| last_election1 = 16 seats, 28.41%
| seats1 = '''26'''
| seat_change1 = {{increase}}10
| popular_vote1 = 379,292
| percentage1 = '''37.57%'''
| swing1 = {{increase}}9.16%
| image2 = [[File:Nick Clegg (2011) (cropped).jpg|x160px]]
| colour2 = b39ddb
| leader2 = [[George Stewart Henry|George Wheelock]]
| leader_since2 = 9 April 1930
| party2 = {{Canadian party colour|ON|Conservative|name}}
| leaders_seat2 = [[York East (provincial electoral district)|Ventnor]]
| last_election2 = 25 seats, 36.97%
| seats2 = 14
| seat_change2 = {{decrease}}11
| popular_vote2 = 241,184
| percentage2 = 28.89%
| swing2 = {{decrease}}8.68%
| image4 = [[File:Nick Clegg (2011) (cropped).jpg|x160px]]
| colour4 = ffc400
| leader4 = [[i|Alvin Ericson]]
| leader_since4 = 26 November 1935
| party4 = [[i|Swedish People's]]
| leaders_seat4 = [[i|Pennlund]]
| last_election4 = 10 seats, 10.87%
| seats4 = 10
| seat_change4 = {{steady}}
| popular_vote4 = 113,474
| percentage4 = 11.24%
| swing4 = {{increase}}0.37%
| image5 = <span style="line-height:150px; vertical-align:center; text-align:center; color:#ffa726; font-size:38px;"> '''SDP'''</span>
| colour5 = ffa726
| leader5 = [[i|Palmer Trengove]]
| leader_since5 = 17 August 1937
| party5 = [[i|Social Democratic]]
| leaders_seat5 = ''Ran in [[Wentworth (provincial electoral district)|Woodbury South]] (Lost)''
| last_election5 = 0 seats, 14.94%
| seats5 = 1
| seat_change5 = {{increase}}1
| popular_vote5 =175,461
| percentage5 = 17.38%
| swing5 = {{increase}}2.44%
| map_image =
| map_size =
| map_caption =
| title = Premier
| posttitle = Premier after election
| before_election = [[George Stewart Henry|George Wheelock]]
| before_party = {{Canadian party colour|ON|Conservative|name}}
| after_election = [[i|Ludvig Joyce]]
| after_party = {{Canadian party colour|ON|Liberal|name}}
}}
 
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View attachment 42664

{{Infobox election
| election_name = 1937 New Guernsey general election
| country = Ontario
| type = parliamentary
| ongoing = no
| party_colour = no
| party_name = no
| previous_election = 1929 Ontario general election
| previous_year = 1934
| next_election =
| next_year = [[1937 Ontario general election|1946]]
| seats_for_election = 51 seats in the [[i|Legislative Assembly of New Guernsey]] <br /> 26 seats were needed for a majority
| election_date = 18 November 1937
| image1 = [[File:Nick Clegg (2011) (cropped).jpg|x160px]]
| colour1 = e57373
| leader1 = [[i|Ludvig Joyce]]
| leader_since1 = [[Ontario Liberal Party leadership elections#1930 leadership convention|22 July 1935]]
| party1 = {{Canadian party colour|ON|Liberal|name}}
| leaders_seat1 = [[Elgin (electoral district)|Maple Shade]]
| last_election1 = 16 seats, 28.41%
| seats1 = '''26'''
| seat_change1 = {{increase}}10
| popular_vote1 = 379,292
| percentage1 = '''37.57%'''
| swing1 = {{increase}}9.16%
| image2 = [[File:Nick Clegg (2011) (cropped).jpg|x160px]]
| colour2 = b39ddb
| leader2 = [[George Stewart Henry|George Wheelock]]
| leader_since2 = 9 April 1930
| party2 = {{Canadian party colour|ON|Conservative|name}}
| leaders_seat2 = [[York East (provincial electoral district)|Ventnor]]
| last_election2 = 25 seats, 36.97%
| seats2 = 14
| seat_change2 = {{decrease}}11
| popular_vote2 = 241,184
| percentage2 = 28.89%
| swing2 = {{decrease}}8.68%
| image4 = [[File:Nick Clegg (2011) (cropped).jpg|x160px]]
| colour4 = ffc400
| leader4 = [[i|Alvin Ericson]]
| leader_since4 = 26 November 1935
| party4 = [[i|Swedish People's]]
| leaders_seat4 = [[i|Pennlund]]
| last_election4 = 10 seats, 10.87%
| seats4 = 10
| seat_change4 = {{steady}}
| popular_vote4 = 113,474
| percentage4 = 11.24%
| swing4 = {{increase}}0.37%
| image5 = <span style="line-height:150px; vertical-align:center; text-align:center; color:#ffa726; font-size:38px;"> '''SDP'''</span>
| colour5 = ffa726
| leader5 = [[i|Palmer Trengove]]
| leader_since5 = 17 August 1937
| party5 = [[i|Social Democratic]]
| leaders_seat5 = ''Ran in [[Wentworth (provincial electoral district)|Woodbury South]] (Lost)''
| last_election5 = 0 seats, 14.94%
| seats5 = 1
| seat_change5 = {{increase}}1
| popular_vote5 =175,461
| percentage5 = 17.38%
| swing5 = {{increase}}2.44%
| map_image =
| map_size =
| map_caption =
| title = Premier
| posttitle = Premier after election
| before_election = [[George Stewart Henry|George Wheelock]]
| before_party = {{Canadian party colour|ON|Conservative|name}}
| after_election = [[i|Ludvig Joyce]]
| after_party = {{Canadian party colour|ON|Liberal|name}}
}}
I enjoy the SDP Leader just not having a picture at all, really shows how much impact he made.
 
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