Football:

By the eve of the 13th century, the Holy Lanlanian Empire had come into a dominant position in western Skathia. Though the Florinthians and Vallish controlled sizable territories along the coast of the Sea of Nyland, the northern coast of the continent had fallen firmly into Lanlanian hands following a short naval war with the Oslanburgish in the second half of the century. Imperial settlers were beginning to explore further inland, spreading their roots and coming into conflict with indigenous populations as they went. Lanlanians had an inherent love for the sea, however, and many more continued to explore the waters to the south and settle along the coasts.

While the majority of the empire's colonial efforts were through charter companies, a few were the result of pioneers settling on lands they wandered onto. The islands of Saint Leaf and Saint Sage were such colonies, which were settled in the early 13th and accepted as an Imperial territory in the middle of the century. It was primarily settlers from the Saint Islands that colonized the southern Aesean Ocean, and lead the Empire into conflict with Valland.

New Arvendel, New Alden
24 Nueva 1289

Leif Adersen had inherited his father's pioneering spirit. He'd joined his father, one of the original colonists of Saint Sage, in his early adulthood, and was struck with the ingenuity and human spirit that the colonists had expressed early in Saint Sage's colonization. The togetherness expressed in those early days, by people working together to build homes, develop farms, and survive the winter, affected Leif deeply. As Saint Sage grew and more settlers arrived from Lanlania and elsewhere, Leif became disillusioned with life on the island. A governor was sent from Halvadag following his father's death. Businesses took over many of the functions that the people had previously worked together to achieve. Ships filled the docks, bringing with them goods and soldiers. Gone were the simple days.

It was no surprise, then, that Leif chose to repeat his father's achievements. Taking with him men who felt much the same, Leif commissioned a ship to take them south to what would become New Alden in 1286.

The first two years hadn't been too difficult. There indigenous population was small and spare, while the wildlife was largely tame. There were no wolves or bears. Leif and many of the men had experience with building a village from scratch, and they'd built enough homes to welcome their wives and children on the second year. The governor of the Saint Islands, impressed by their spirit, sent them supplies and livestock.

By the third year, New Arvendel had developed into a small village of over 100, with many children. The farms around the village were giving dependable harvests and the seas were bountiful. Of course, the peace would not last. By now, the Vallish had noticed the settlement and were upset at the Lanlanian incursion onto land they'd claimed first.

To mark my semi-return, I have decided to do a lot of retconning and reconfiguring of the Angirisian Empire. A lot of the basic premises to the country are largely remaining the same, but the last twenty or so RP years worth of material are being stricken from the record and redone.

Angiris is easy because I know what I want to do with it:

History changes
Enough of the old history of the Angirisian Empire constantly being on the brink of collapse every time you turn around. The Empire remains the same age, but without a lot of the civil wars that plagued it back in the more ancient eras. Therefore you don't see a lot of rising and falling of a lot of dynasties. Yes, still some Emperors get knocked off because of incompetence or they just plain die young or even some die on the field of battle (especially in the early days), but there are hardly any who get knocked off because of revolution or civil war.

Another change I'm making to Angiris's history is the Sentric vs. Ostrid Church schism. It still happens, but unlike the original historical timeline, the Angirisian Empire ends up hardly caring about religious stuff and becomes more secular much earlier than it did before, likely during our equivalent of the Medieval Era. It goes without saying that I'm largely taking a lot of the religious aspect out of the national identity of Angiris when it comes to the Empire's actions in the past but that doesn't mean that the Ostrid Church isn't there; the Ostrid Church is still as strong in the modern era despite these changes but had to adapt without a lot of support from the Angirisian Empire and probably would now be headquartered somewhere else rather than Angiris. That means the old Temple City of Travincal (what was the Ostrid capital in a sense) is now either a regular city or abandoned.

One other change I'm making is a slight one: Drazen. Instead of it just sitting there with nominal independence despite Angirisian occupation, under the changed history of Angiris, the territory of Drazen will more than likely have been totally absorbed into the Angirisian Empire/Dominion despite anything other countries might say on the matter.

Another key change I'm making is the changeover from a full Empire into a constitutional monarchy of sorts. That's all erased and being done over, starting from the day Emperor Leoric died. His son Aidan still takes over as Emperor Tyrael but now has direct control over his government and the nation. So no more of these elections deciding which party gets what amount of seats in the Senate or what not. That's all over with. Now there may still be some elements of a representative government around in the new Angiris but it will largely be ceremonial with little to no effect on the Throne.

Government changes
With the erasing of the elections of the last 20+ years and the assertion of total control of the Angirisian government by the Emperor, it might be suffice to say that the Empire still changes a bit. Upon the coronation of Tyrael, he proclaimed the Old Empire obsolete and proceeded to announce that the Angirisian Empire would be reorganized into the Angirisian Dominion, and not much else changes in the overall structure of the Angirisian government or its bureaucracy. There still is a Senate with elected representatives, but as I mentioned before they don't have really any power.

Also, some of the provinces and cities are changing names...
Khanduras --> Marsara
Aranoch --> Helios
Westmarch --> Tython
Kehjistan --> Castanar
Skovos --> Braxis
Angleterre --> Tarsonis
Athelon --> Tyrador
Xiansai --> Veridia
Ohiae --> Antiga Prime
Virginium --> Torenis Prime

Westmarch City --> Tythonopolis
Xiansai City --> Veridian City
Caldeum --> Pridewater
Kurast --> Mephistopheles
Lut Gholein --> Borea
Daytium --> Dylar
Columbiana --> Miranar
Cuyahogium --> Mistaff
Thames --> Krydon
Seine --> Korhal

With these changes I am sure that some people will have questions or concerns, and I shall be happy to address them as they come along. But for now, these are the changes I'm making. There may yet be more.

[float:right;]Directorate Use Only[/css]
Expanding Country: Drubang Confederacy
EC.'s Government Type: Presidential Dictatorship

Campaign Setting: Modern Period - presently
Campaign Goal: Two-fold, one is part of the heiwawa island chain northeast of where Drubang already is. The other is south of Drubang on the mainland http://imgur.com/a/L6GGFay

Informational Links: lol <3

When did you last have an Expansion? Probably last year or so. Harmajaa bebe
When was the Expanding Country's last military conflict? Actual wars was a while ago, but they've been supressing rebels for some time, since the election really.
Why do you seek to expand? IC, Drubangs leader is bloodthirsty and wants more powah, like any idealogue. His two targets are an islamd nation to the northeast and Drubangs age old enemy, Tobong, to the south.

OOC, idk, I just want to write about it I guess? Just want to do something and pop that expansion cherry again.

Campaign Plot
Tomat Mogu has been President for Life for eight years or so and it's time, he believes, to expand the Confederacy using military force. Much of the last eight years has been supressing rebels that spawned following the election. Mogu is a Letang, a minority group in Drubang, and the ethnic Kalimantrans were pissed about that and some decided to rally around General Manahashet Dua, a Kalimantran military man who lost the election to Mogu in 1588. Dua has finally been defeated and killed (it took a while okay? jungles are tough.) and now Mogu wants to turn his eyes elsewhere. What else is a bloodthirsty idealogue to do? Beyond supressing Dua's rebels, Mogu has also been modernizing the military and investing in infastructure. Much of Drubang is still poor, but it is slowly coming along. Being a bloodthirsty dictator, Mogu has plans to invade his neighbors. Two neighbors in particular.

The first is a small Heiwawan republic to the northeast, will work with ikarman on the specific details/info about this small island republic. This will be a primarily naval conflict I'm sure. Pretty straightforward and somewhat boring, honestly. Just surround them and bombard/blockade until they quit.

The second is much more interesting. Tobong, or more namely the Democratic Republic of Tobong, is the remnant of the old empire whose death spawned Drubang (drubang was the product of one warlord taking a bunch of shiz by force after Tobong collapsed). Tobong and Drubang have been enemies ever since and there have been countless minor border scuffles and maybe even a small war at some point, particularly early on. Tobong is a quasi communist state ruled by a warlord, similar to Drubang except Drubang is very anti-communist historically. The first Drubang leader killed a lot of communists early on and that probably spawned an initial war between Tobong and Drubang tbh. Mogu wants to defeat Tobong in conflict to display superiority and to take land and booty from an age-old enemy. The trouble is, there's a small country between the Tobongi capital (Ka Tobong) and Drubang, The Modu Republic. The Modu Republic, like Tobong and Drubang, isn't really a republic at all, rather a state ruled by a warlord dictator (see a common theme?). Modu and Tobong are Kalimantran like mainland Drubang. The main border of Drubang and Tobong is pretty heavily fortified jungle, and mountains that would be a slog to get through, but Modu is significantly weaker than Tobong and Drubang, and so Drubang decides to cut through Modu a la blitzkrieg through Belgium. Tobong, seeing Drubang coming in, counter-invades Modu as well and attacks Drubang along their border. It's a war kids!

Not sure how this one will turn out honestly but it'll be messy in the jungle thats for sure.

Potential for Other Player Involvement

Someone can play Tobong if they want.

Kazemura is nearby, but not too many others are close enough to get hella involved, I think anyway. Unless they want to travel far. Kazemura is probably more concerned with that Heiwawa tiny island republic than Tobong honestly, lol.

How your country may evolve from success
Drubang won't be able to occupy/annex all of Tobong at all, but if they are successful they could take Modu probably and some bits of Tobong. Honestly Mogu just wants to obliterate Ka Tobong to shame his enemies and probably take border territories to weaken them. Maybe demand reparations or something. His ideal thing would be to take Modu, border territories from Tobong, and the actual Tobongi capital so he could destroy the city totally. This would be intense because Ka Tobong has been populated for a long long time and its total destruction would probably be a human rights crime if not a crime against history. Any large scale defeat for Tobong will likely lead to revolution of some kind, as it would be deeply shameful, but if Drubang were to have that sort of total victory Tobong would probably cease to exist and fracture into more warlord states, probably. Maybe a runt Tobong would continue to exist run by the same warlord or a relative? idk we'll see.

If Drubang takes the island republic they will add that to their other portion of the archipelago. Probably won't grow too much more in that direction, but they may go further south to the lower part of the Bahaan islands.

Tobong will likely become an NPC after this, though I might roleplay the revolution and further antagonizations from Drubang until they fight again. Tobong should be pretty largeish but not too huge. The old Tobong Empire was largeish and I presume there were other places controlled by it as well that are now their own places.

How your country may evolve from defeat
Depends on the nature of the defeat honestly. Mogu's control is based mostly on force, so a defeat would be pretty bad for him back home. He just got the Kalimantran rebels defeated, but this would probably whip up all new ones. If he was deposed and Kalimantrans took over again, The Letang would probably revolt as well and then Drubang could fracture for a time. The more likely result is a stalemate with both sides occupying their halves of Modu and the borders ending wherever they were at the time of the end of the war, but we'll see how it goes. Drubang is probably more prepared for war than Tobong, but Tobong isn't a pushover.

<how might other Players get involved in your campaign?>

People could play Tobong.

Kazemura might have a problem with Drubang, but they can fight us if they want. That's their deal.

Special Report: The No Nonsense Interview


The burning questions of the month; No Bias. No filler. No formality. Just facts.

This Month: King Vittorio-Emanuele


We have much to get to, so we should start with the bit of news that has to do with future questions. The Military budget has been increased by 47%. Why? And How will it be paid for?

Simply put, the budget is being increased to finally give what our admirals and generals have been asking for for two decades. A stronger and upgraded Navy. A new strategic base in Ostara. A future Main battle tank. And much more that remains classified. As for spending, it's been decided by the People's Council, and is to expectedly pass the Nobility council, a new tax on both cigarettes and alchohol. Now! Let me be clear in that this tax will not keep someone from buying these products. Its very small compared to other nations. But we all need to do our part in supporting our military. Even if it means paying a few extra dimes for a beer. The goal is that perhaps after we successfully set our military back to standard, we can roll back one if not both taxes.

You mentioned a new military base. How did we get it?

After deliberation with Severyane, we're setting up a naval and airforce base in a lease plan on one of their islands. In return we're increasing their lease of Muro Island from 1620 to 1635.

Some may see that as a complete 180 on your dismay at the previous lease plan with their base on Muro. Others claim it will hurt our alliances in the SBTO.

I can answer those both at the same time. I was absolutely disgusted with the previous lease. It benefited us to no extent compared to Severyane getting a naval base and us getting new firearms that we could've easily produced here. Now? We have our own military installation to be constructed in Ostara. I would never have been able to reach out and receive such a deal without help from Eskkya's government, who have been friendly with the Severyanians for quite a while. So, no, I'm not bothered about hurting our allies. Our allies still remain as important to us as before. It is just now, we have the chance to strike wherever and whenever. We no longer have to wait a week to strike back. The goal all along is to have our submarines have safe harbor in all oceans. And now we have it.


Would striking 'wherever' include any of the combatants in New Zealmark? The escalation there was rapid.


I will say about that situation, in plain words, is one of the most appalling things I've seen as King. I'm seeing two nations go after the defenseless people of New Zealmark and Soyabar. The greed of Svarna and Ishnalla is obvious to anyone with sense. The actions are reprehensible to the highest order. And the silence from the rest of the world is even worse. But then again, these same silent nations gave arms and equipment to Ishnalla. Why else do I see Ishanlla soldiers on the news, waving guns made from many 'reputable' nations. Appalling comes to mind. Because it really is.


So does that mean an armed response?

Not out of the question, for sure. I still hold out some semblance of hope that a ceasefire can come of it. But it's clear from Svarna from their propaganda that they plan on ridding colonizers from the world. Does that include Trinitas? Such rhetoric may seem foolish, but I will not let such threats go idly by.

Perhaps a fluff question. But to end on a much nicer note, What of the rumors of the Queen? Is the new rumor of her being pregnant true?

I have no comment, but be sure to keep an eye out for some news from the Palace soon.

So, I'm Snipes. I'm a fairly new member of the NationStates community, but I think that my RP experiences in the past will help me acclimate to the new climate.

As for personal interests, I like guns, politics, history, memes, vidya gaems, normal stuff for an edgelord like me to enjoy.

But enough small talk, I'd like to get started here.

Belasev Today

Background

The Keszarian political system entered in crisis only after a decade after the transition to democracy. This allowed libertarian businessman Nándor Dohnányi-Persbrandt to be elected president as an independent candidate in 1574. However, the 1576 financial crisis damaged considerably the popularity and stability of his government, with anti-establisment parties such as the far-right National People’s Party and the Communist Party gaining support in the next elections.

Álmos Vaszary, who was President of the Keszarian Republic from 1569 to 1574, was considered the forerunner in the 1579 presidential election, aiming to become the first democratic president to be elected twice in Keszarian history, as Keszarian constitution does not allow the president to serve two consecutive terms, but it does not establish a limitation of terms. However, Vaszary was surprisingly defeated by Géza Békésy, elected vice-president as a Civic Democratic Party candidate in 1574, and who had served as minister during Vaszary’s presidency. Álmos Vaszary was the most voted candidate in the first round, but Békésy was able to defeat his former party leader in a close campaign.

Békésy’s first term was successful but contradictory: he was a popular president, gaining support from both business circles and the main media groups; his economic policy was considered heterodox but his government was helped by a fast recovery from the financial crisis; on foreign policy, he was seen as openly populist and pragmatist at times, with a more strongly anti-Carpathian rhetoric while strengthening the alliances of Keszaria on the region. Békésy founded his own political party, the Keszarian Liberal Movement, which became the dominant political party while the opposition remained divided with the National People’s Party becoming the second most voted political party in the 1582 and 1586 parliamentary election.

Békésy’s attitude to their radical right political rivals could be either cynical or pragmatist: gaining their support in exchange of a few consessions (such as granting rights to ethnic Keszarians living in Carpathia), or presenting himself as the only alternative to the extremist National People’s Party. Békésy found an unlikely ally in Gyöngy Székély, who was elected vice-president as National People’s Party in 1579 (president and vicepresident are elected in simultaneous but separated vote). Several months before the 1584 election, Székély would leave the National People’s Party and founded her own political party, the National Democratic Party, causing a split in the far-right party.
She would be appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1584, and one year later, the National Democratic Party integrated into the Keszarian Liberal Movement.

In 1584, Béla Kertész, the candidate of the Keszarian Liberal Movement, was elected president. Kertész, a veteran politician, former member of the conservative Messanic Democratic Party who joined Békésy’s movement in early 1580. He was considered a more predictable politician although more conservative-leaning than Békésy, specially in social and religious issues. The government’s policies barely changed compared to Békésy’s presidency, except that the Sentric Church became more supportive to the government.

Géza Békezy, however, remained as president of the Keszarian Liberal Movement, although a honorary title, was considered to have a considerable influence on the national government. In 1587, Békézy was elected senator for Mágaszházý province, and his political role became more evident, often shadowing the president himself.

Géza Békésy won the 1589 presidential election in a landslide, becoming the second president -after Árpad Ormandy in 1559- to win the election without a need of a second round. During his second term, the Keszarian Liberal Movement’s dominance on all aspects of civil life became more obvious, with most all critical media either disappearing or being bought by businessmen close to the government, which gained more a more influence and power. In 1590, after the Keszarian Liberal Movement won the legislative election by a landslide, getting 204 of 299 Mps, the parliament enacted constitution changes, centralizing legislative and executive power, establishing the election president and vice-president in a single-ticket, and weakening the constitutional court and the judiciary system. Human rights organization alleged that his reforms curbed civil liberties and restricted freedom of speech, while his critics denounced him as “authoritarian leader”, who was even turning the country slowly into a “personal dictatorship”.

After 15 years of Keszarian Liberal Movement rule, the longest party rule since the end of communism in Keszaria, the 1594 presidential election was considered key for the survival of Keszarian democracy, which some people considered pretty much dead already. However, it was unlikely to be expected another result that a third presidential win for Géza Békésy, who did not seem to face a serious rival the months previous to the election.

The day of the election, on late Alvan,  international observers found that although all competitors had access to the media, Békésy was given clear prominence. Strict candidate requirements, established only a few months before the election, also limited “genuine competition”, a Nylander NGO declared. Observers from the Hejdar Union concluded that voting on the day of the election was assessed positively overall, but the “process deteriorated during the vote count which was assessed negatively in almost two-fifth of polling stations observed due to procedural irregularities. Allegations were made as well that Békésy supporters had been driven around in coaches in order to vote for him in multiple constituencies. These practices wre documented by video monitoring systems installed on most voting stations.

Notwithstanding those claims, Géza Békésy was announced the winner of the election with a 56.1% percent of the vote, therefore not requiring a second round. Dorko Vörösz, the candidate of the Civic Democratic Party was second with 19.8%, while Árpád Meggyesfalvi, an independent candidate, was third at 14.2%, while Istzám Esterházy, the leader of the far-right National People’s Party obtained only 8.9%, the worst result in two decades.

Most of the opposition did not acknowledge the results of the election, and protests followed. On Alvan 27, approximately 12,000-18,000 protesters demonstrated in Köszövár. There were again more protests on inauguration day one month later, with estimated 15,000-20,000 protesters taking part only in the capital city. 500 arrests were made that night and another 200 arrests the following day.

The protests were not successful, but they seemed to have created the roots for a change in society. The next months witnessed an increase in activism, with people joining political organizations and the creation of a small online media outside the control of the government. Leaks about corruption by the ruling party further plumbered the popularity of the government just a few months before the 1594 legislative elections to be held on Ochtyr.

The Civic Democratic Party held talks with other political parties, and they agreed to come to the election on a joint electoral list, which would be named as the Democratic Alliance for Keszaria. Only the National People’s Party, the Communist Party and, obviously, the ruling Keszarian Liberal Movement, of all the elected political party at both local and national level, did not join the new opposition coalition. The opposition seemed to gain momentum, reducing the gap with Békésy’s party from 49-14% to 42-31% in the last polls.