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Post by John E on Feb 16, 2011 12:58:48 GMT -5
I'd like to propose two nations/political entities:
The Franko-British Kingdom (or Empire), a kingdom encompassing the British Aisles, France and Germany, and maybe some of central Europe, with colonies in far flung places. Human majority, with dwarf and elf minorities.
The Nordic Confederation, a collective of several nations spanning northern Europe, Iceland and Greenland, and a small slice of Northern America. Human and dwarf majority, with small elf minority.
Also, since Usonia is in South America, should North America be mainly unexplored and only sparsely colonized, mostly populated by natives? I think it should.
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Post by CtraK on Feb 16, 2011 16:19:52 GMT -5
Also, since Usonia is in South America, should North America be mainly unexplored and only sparsely colonized, mostly populated by natives? I think it should. Having blank parts of the map was pretty much in the manual from early on (I think it might even have been your suggestion). I'm thinking that, given that Africa is probably going to be all colonies and enclaves, there'll probably be bits that aren't considered worth claiming and will probably end up blank. Also, if no-one wants the southern area below Ricega Usonia, then I'll have at least part of it as effective (but not official) Appleseed Country. This is a good idea, but the French aren't really big fans of royalty. Or organised religion. Or authority in general, actually. Germany as a single nation-state in OW had been around for 62 years by the time the Nazis reached power, which makes it the new country out of the three, and Britain the old country, which affects the dynamic. Considering all of this, I think there's a real possibility here of form some weird hybrid or even a never-existed-in-OW government. Like I said, good idea, but perhaps even better if it's not simply a Kingdom, Empire or even Republic.
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Post by Yla on Feb 16, 2011 17:37:38 GMT -5
Okay, I need feedback on the bit about origin continents here. It's a major root in all of my political worldbuilding. While it indicates the status ten thousand years ago, it still exercises a large influence on geodemographics and by proxy politics. Either we use it or we don't and take something else, but we must have a common baseline and idea, or our world becomes an ill-defined clusterfuck. The next three bullet points apply in case we agree on that: I think it's pretty much imperative that we have Abyssinia as an at least moderately powerful entity(if not in SW present, then at least in SW history). It was around in OW 1900(the only non-colonialised piece of Africa, in fact[Edit: beside Liberia]), and with the center of power shifted towards Arabia, this applies only moreso. I conceived France in about today's borders, actually. I think the British Isles fit thematically better to the Nordic Countries, which I would have made an actual kingdom. Germany being a bunch of small sovereign duchies and kingdoms shadowed by France, Austria, and Scandinavia. But whatever. I'm thinking that, given that Africa is probably going to be all colonies and enclaves, there'll probably be bits that aren't considered worth claiming and will probably end up blank. No no, Africa(at least the northeastern part) is colonial powers, not colonies. The Americas are the ones getting the short stick. Also, no colonial power making a claim for an uncontested piece of land? What the hell? And in general: I'm getting an 'obvious villain' vibe from Appleseed. 'never-existed-in-OW', like what? If its realistic, I'm all for it, but apart from sovereign Megacorporations, I think we tried everything. Also, remember that of the great powers of OW 1900, only France and the US were republics. The predominant form of government was monarchy, parliamentary to varying degrees. And might we shift this discussion over to the actual wiki forum?
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Post by CtraK on Feb 16, 2011 20:31:31 GMT -5
1. Yes to Abyssinia. 2. I'm just thinking, really, that a UK-France-Germany alliance makes for an oddball combination, but if we're running with it, that strangeness should be front and centre. 4. Duly noted about Africa. 5. The A.C. is currently fairly lightly sketched out, which is probably where the villainous aspect arises from. Hopefully it'll be more ambiguous than that.
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Post by John E on Feb 17, 2011 1:33:07 GMT -5
Having blank parts of the map was pretty much in the manual from early on (I think it might even have been your suggestion). I think it was. But it wasn't decided which parts would be blank. I think North America would be a good one. Germany is certainly an odd man out, but England and France share an entangled history. After all, the ruling class of England was pseudo-French for centuries, and the two countries tried repeatedly to conquer each other. My thinking is, what if one of them won, took over the other one and combined the crowns? Afterward, their combined influence and resources could have launched quite an empire. Perhaps they conquered the less united German states and some of the rest of that region.
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Post by Yla on Feb 17, 2011 6:45:16 GMT -5
Germany is certainly an odd man out, but England and France share an entangled history. After all, the ruling class of England was pseudo-French for centuries, and the two countries tried repeatedly to conquer each other. My thinking is, what if one of them won, took over the other one and combined the crowns? Afterward, their combined influence and resources could have launched quite an empire. Perhaps they conquered the less united German states and some of the rest of that region. See my brainstorm here.
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Post by CtraK on Feb 20, 2011 14:59:13 GMT -5
Just a brief note to say that the anonymous person who edited the R.U. and A.C. pages on the wiki was me - I didn't realise that I wasn't logged in - and it was not a vandal who just happened to write what I was gonna write.
I will clarify this on the wiki later, but just to make it clear - 1 Rumu at the time I write my particular story cycle (haven't decided on the date, see) is worth approximately what £1.13 will buy you in the UK in 2011.
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Post by John E on Feb 20, 2011 20:41:56 GMT -5
I did the same thing replying to Yla's brainstorm. That was me, Yla.
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Post by Yla on Mar 15, 2011 13:51:45 GMT -5
Just happened to me, too. Computer reboot ate my cookie. Just login and replace the sig.
This post also serves as a wake-up call.
CtraK: see my suggestion in Races and your Story thread. John E: I fleshed out the Languages article a bit(still just a sketch though). Can you still work with that?
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Post by John E on Mar 15, 2011 20:11:26 GMT -5
Yla, looks pretty good. At first reading, the only change I'd like is for Old Norse to be of human origins, spoken by humans who migrated into northern Europe in the dark ages. That way Norvish is a mixture of human and dwarvish languages. I don't have any story ideas that require this to be so. It just appeals to me.
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Post by Yla on Mar 16, 2011 16:11:47 GMT -5
Hm. I thought Old Norse would be clearly dwarfish, with human (maybe Arabian) influences only coming into play with Middle Norse and modern Norvish*, if at all. Did the humans actually migrate that far north? But knock yourself out, if you insist. Does this mean that there are no major pure dwarfish languages left?
* Is Norvish actually a word?
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Post by CtraK on Mar 16, 2011 19:04:44 GMT -5
* Is Norvish actually a word? It is now. Australasian-region djinn work as a concept - ifrits in the Outback, marids across Polynesia and Micronesia, etc. The thing is, I've somehow swamped myself with writing projects (which I don't have to do, so it's all a bit silly, but all the same) so I'm hoping that this is something that can slowly develop in the background whilst some of those are at least cut down to size. So I'm just saying: I hadn't forgotten this, it's just something I'll return to now and then.
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Post by John E on Apr 6, 2011 11:48:25 GMT -5
Where do we stand on naming the major countries and regions?
I know we've got Ricega Usonia and the Sicilian Empire. I'd like to call the Western European, England/France nation something like The Commonwealth of Europa. Also, the more I think about it, the more I like Vespucia as the name of the American continents, i.e. North Vespucia & South Vespucia. (I just don't like it shortened) I also don't know what to call the Scandinavian confederation.
Thoughts?
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Post by Yla on Apr 6, 2011 12:07:19 GMT -5
Great Norway. Or Great Sweden. Or Great Lapland. Or whatever is the dominant ethnic.
I see someone listed 'Southern Usonia' and 'Amerovoidland' as Unclaimed Areas. Can someone please elaborate on them, where they are, and what constitutes 'unclaimed'.
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Post by Yla on Jun 4, 2011 15:50:27 GMT -5
Considering all of this, I think there's a real possibility here of form some weird hybrid or even a never-existed-in-OW government. Like I said, good idea, but perhaps even better if it's not simply a Kingdom, Empire or even Republic. 'never-existed-in-OW', like what? If its realistic, I'm all for it, but apart from sovereign Megacorporations, I think we tried everything. There's also the Plato-style Republic. Plato himself tried to set one up in Syracus after his pupil toppled the local tyrant, but failed. Rather predictably, imho. The concept has all the problems of Communism and more. If we take up the concept of Communist dwarves, and modify it to include philosopher-kings, I think we can get something. I'm thinking about enclaves in the Alps, struggling for independence from the corrupt Wise Ones of Bohemia-Hungary and trying not to fall too much under the influence of France or Venice. Although that's Europe again. I fear we neglect the rest of the world.
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