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So, I was just thinking about the game like I often do, and had an idea for what I think would make a neat feature. We've talked in the past about "Services" (a sort of project/perk mix, where you could enable something like "Free Healthcare for All Citizens" that would have some tradeoff type effect, and it would be advantageous for some nations and harmful for others). I thought this was a good idea, but I was trying to think of a better way to implement it than simply an "on/off" switch for a bunch of options. Nation perks are also something that people are constantly asking about, and today I finally mashed the two together into an idea that I wanted to suggest to the community. How about a system of Laws that functioned as a mixture of both "Services" and "Perks"? I'm thinking it goes something like this: each nation would have some sort of legislature that would have to pass laws. You (as head of state) could push for laws to be passed or repealed, once per day. These laws would have effects that could help or harm your nation, depending on your building style. For example, let's say there's a Universal Healthcare law: There'd be a number of laws, this being just one example, and each nation would have the ability to try and sign one into effect or repeal an already passed one per day. Whether you were successful or not would be a random chance figure, maybe 33%. So, let's say you think this law is going to benefit your nation (you can afford the extra upkeep, or maybe you just need extra slots so you want to cut down on hospitals), you click a button and attempt to pass this law. The dice are rolled, and 67% of the time you'll fail (meaning you can try again tomorrow to pass/repeal a different law) or 33% of the time you'd succeed (the law goes into effect, and you can try tomorrow to pass/repeal a law). It's a pretty straightforward system, and I think that players who enjoy the roleplay aspect of the game (think NationStates) would enjoy this feature a lot, and players who want nation perks (diversification of nations) would enjoy it as well. Laws could be stacked so that you'd need to pass one related to, perhaps Military, before you could pass another, more influential law, etc. It would also provide a platform for fun events, like April Fool's jokes, some sort of Zombie Apocalypse (you could pass laws to react to it, or something, etc. Potential drawbacks are that some people are undoubtedly going to be luckier than others, some people are going to think it's just another hoop to jump through to getting your nation "ideal" (in terms of numbers, min-maxing, that sort of thing), and other people will probably be disappointed it's not Nation Perks in their simplest "pick and choose" form. I think, though, that limiting it to 1 law action per day, and having laws that are situational (peacetime/wartime, commerce/resources, etc.) would create the diversification that perks would add but in a very limited, roleplay oriented way. For example, if your nation had a bunch of laws that were great for peacetime but bad for wartime, and suddenly you go to war, it's not going to be easy to magically flip all of your laws. It would make you think twice whether you want to invest too heavily one way or the other, and keep people from being able to just react immediately to changes in min-max situations, which essentially nullify any sort of optional mechanic. Anyway, there's my rambling thoughts on what I think would be a neat feature for the game. This is totally just me making a post about an idea, don't expect this to be happening overnight. Also, I don't really need any "law" suggestions, for the aforementioned reason. Just give me some feedback on what you think. Good idea, or no?

The following is my opinion. See that door? Go back through it if you have an issue with what I say. Here is how I see Orbis and the main 'cultures' that are at play within it. They are in no real particular order or anything, and my knowledge of them varies. For what its worth I've spent the last 8 years interacting with many of them in various forms, and I hope that maybe you'll find this at least interesting. The three main cultures at play right now are: CyberNations eRepublik LunarWars There are of course more minor cultures around as well as various people who fit into multiple or none at all. That said, lets get started. The Old Guard: Cybernations. Yes, lets just get it out of the way. We all know what (That terrible game that is totally irrelevant and I shouldn't be bringing it up anyways) is, and it is more or less the oldest 'culture' at play here in Orbis. My experience with them is actually the most limited out of all the cultures I'll be talking about, so by all means take everything I say here with a grain of salt. In my experience with (That terrible game that is totally irrelevant and I shouldn't be bringing it up anyways) and its labyrinth of Politics it all really boils down to a few simple things. First off, treaties are king. The be all end all of the political thought process. Their culture revolves around forming pacts with one another for various reasons ranging from "We're friends, so lets protect each other." to "These guys are !@#$, lets treaty them so they can't fight against us when we murder their friends next week.". Frankly, it doesn't make much sense to me. But then again, I'm part of another culture that I will get to later on in this post. Secondly, these guys/gals are pretty easy to spot. They like to be 'official'. They speak, act, and operate in specific patterns. Everything they say, do, and sign is done in a very prim and proper way. They dislike and do not understand others who simply prefer a more informal way of doing things. I've seen the term 'childish' and things of that nature used when they come across a group or alliance that isn't a cookie cutter mold of themselves. For all intents and purposes they are the 'Elitist' group. That said, their way of doing things shouldn't be offhandedly considered bad. Its actually the opposite. Their system works, if a bit slowly. The pacts between themselves and others are generally very long lasting. They are very loyal to those pacts and treaties, partially because thats the only thing they know and also because its stable and the safe way of doing things. They know how to organize, but again their main drawback is speed. eRepublik: Read This. Based on my experiences with eRepublik its very accurate. There isn't much I can add to it. LunarWars: Go back and read the CyberNations part. Read it? Good. Reverse everything. Now add in a dash of hate towards (That terrible game that is totally irrelevant and I shouldn't be bringing it up anyways). You have the LW crowd. Doesn't make sense? I'll do my best to explain that world and how it operated. This is the culture that I'm "part" of. Its the one I know best, am known best in, and have been an off and on leader within for the past 8 years. Its also doesn't have a home any longer. (That terrible game that is totally irrelevant and I shouldn't be bringing it up anyways) and eR both have worlds that they call home. LW is different as it no longer has a home. It was destroyed. The game they hail from no longer exists and was taken down long ago though a security flaw. Numerous attempts have been made to recreate it and every single one has failed. So, they have no where to go but forward to new worlds. They arrive in force and claim what they can. Without a home world to recruit from they have very little in the way of numbers. They adapt to the new world, or they die. They have to. There is no retreat back to a safe world. It doesn't exist for them. As for LW, it was a place of constant hate and betrayal. Treaties were somewhat uncommon. Alliances largely either stood alone, or in massive blocs. Wars were very common, but the reasoning was vastly different than that of (That terrible game that is totally irrelevant and I shouldn't be bringing it up anyways). Simply put, betrayal or even no reason at all. Alliances stabbed each other in the back because they could. It was common to have alliance heads smile and speak of peace, while simultaneously planning out the systematic destruction of one another. Treaties would be cancelled and dropped with no explanation, a war declaration posted, and an organized beatdown followed within minutes. Alliances would go to war because it was a Friday night and someone ran out of beer. There was very little reason behind much of it beyond just killing each other. However, it was also balanced out. Alliances that had no formal treaty between one another, but had friendly relations, would stand together and take beatings together. In a way, it was a odd sense of 'honor'. But in a world of constant betrayal, the only person you knew you could trust was the guy who had taken a bullet for you. It was their way of counteracting being rolled monthly. With no way for an opponent to know who would side with a potential enemy, and thus their total strength, it provided a way for those alliances to survive and continue to exist. The LW culture is quick to war, and very efficient at it. Maximum damage is the rule of thumb, extensive knowledge of mechanics, and always wary of anyone that approaches. Formal treaties are viewed with distrust, and treaties between potential rivals are generally considered a future threat. Blocs are hated, even though the nature of the LW culture forces them to be in a paperless one. Because they have no home to return to they are forced to be well organized, educated in the mechanics, and brutal in war. There is no retreat. Surrender isn't something they understand, because surrender is basically death. The LW culture has two major flaws to it. First, because of its distrustful nature its very hard for an outsider/recruit to acclimate to it. Nobody in the group trusts them, and they are viewed as a potential spy or leaker. Unless you have LW street cred (As in, you played) you are very rarely considered an equal. Think of it as a bunch of old war vets swapping war stories from WWII, and in walks a 20 year old who shot a pistol once and wants to hang out with them. The second major flaw is their distrust of one another. Sure, they may have taken bullets for one another in the past, or even recent history, but deep down... that distrust of a potential betrayal is always there. An innocent comment, and friendly "Hello" to a potential enemy suddenly becomes something else entirely. Well, thats my culture post. As I said before, its my opinion. Take it with a grain of salt. Its not meant to piss anyone off but to kind of explain how I view the main groups/cultures of Orbis. Maybe this will help others understand them or at least bridge the gaps between them.

Hey guys, I guess I just wanted to throw up a blog post to let you all know about what I've got coming for you soon. There's a few things that are in-progress, and that I'm excited about. First, however, I'd just like to let you all know where I am at in life. It's college, the end of the semester, and finals start (today.) I'll be pretty busy the next week or so, and then I'm going home a couple days before Christmas (ridiculous our semester goes so late) and will be spending some family time of course. So for the next 7-10 days, I really doubt I'll be doing much/anything constructive on the game other than general management things. I apologize for this, but I've got some more important stuff in my life at the moment. That said, after Christmas time I'll have a few weeks of free time between semesters where I'll be putting in overtime on game development. There are a number of things that I'd like to bring to you in the near future, first and foremost: perks. Perks are still being developed fully before they're introduced to the test server. Right now you can get a taste at https://politicsandwar.com/nation/military/perks/ What I'm thinking about doing is giving each perk tiers of 5 or 6 that scale the benefits up. For example, when you choose a perk, you'll immediately face the full resource costs, but only a fraction (1/5 or 1/6) of the benefit. You'll be able to spend more perk points to upgrade each thing to it's fully benefit, but of course that takes away from the opportunity cost of potentially unlocking additional perks. I think that'll be the best system, and it's going to take me some time to fully implement it on the test server for testing, but I think I've got a pretty clear plan in mind. The next thing I'm going to have to clear up is Colors/Treasures. This will likely be postponed until after Christmas as well, but I'm thinking about just adding the extra colors I proposed, as with no Color Stock Bonus it doesn't really matter how many colors we have. Changing colors means I'll have to change some of the treasures as well. I'm thinking about perhaps making all treasures a 3% Nation Bonus (some are 6% and 9%) and making each one Color dependent. 30 isn't divisible by 13, so I'll throw the extra treasures on the less popular colors (according to the polls) to encourage more use of them. Another thing I'm planning on doing is getting rid of the pre-approval for national anthems and backgrounds, and letting players choose their own in-game portraits (without pre-approval.) This will cut down on my daily workload significantly, so long as it's not heavily abused. With that reduced workload, what I'd like to do is allow players to buy credits with Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and Litecoin. I've become more interested in Cryptocurrencies lately, and I think this would be a great way to promote them and give you all (the players) more options to donate. I know there have been complaints about PayPal in the past. This will probably take manual confirmation, and won't be instant like PayPal (but I'll try to do it within 24 hours.) Oh! And lastly, I'm working on reforming our admin/mod team. Malone is being removed as an administrator, and he's been pretty busy with RL stuff lately, but I expect he'll return as a player at some point. We've talked about it and he said he's fine with being removed. You should all thank him for how much he helped the game and community this summer, his efforts were truly invaluable. With our moderators, I'm planning on trimming down the team that we do have, and then adding some new moderators. I'm also looking at tightening down on how moderators operate, and implementing a system like needing agreement by at least one other mod when warning points are issued, threads are locked, etc. I'm looking forward to bringing a better experience to you guys on the forums. Magicboyd25 has also stepped up to be a moderator of /r/politicsnwar and if you're interested in being a part of the game's subreddit, I suggest you check it out. There's not much on there now, but hopefully we can make some use of it. Thanks everyone, and happy holidays!

With Caecus writing several entries about TEst a couple weeks ago, I figured I'd create my own little blog to write about the real TEst. First things first, the TEst I lead is different than the real TEst. Jodo and ElPinchazo (and probably Phiney) can only be the leaders of the real TEst as they've lead the alliance during the longest periods of time. The real TEst is slightly less concerned about the world around them and more willing to throw caution to the wind and march to their own beat. The TEst I lead is similar to that but I'm a bit more pragmatic and keep more channels of communication to other alliances. Neither is superior to the other, I simply took what I could from TEst and and added it to what I see as my strengths as a leader. Combine my strengths with TEst's play style as best as you can and you have the current Terminus Est. My goal for this alliance is simple, give the members what they want. TEst has been involved with 4 (5 if you count Arrgh) wars since I took over, Alpha, GPA, Pantheon, and TFP. All four of those alliances were targeted for a combination of reasons. First, one thing all four have in common is being atop our "who do we want to fight", poll. It's funny when you look at those threads because it's less about wanting to fight someone because you dislike them, and vastly more about who would be a good fight. At the time of each, really, all of those alliances had the one of the most impressive top tiers at the time. When we decided on Alpha, about a month later we felt reason was given enough through that whole debacle with Sparta and the fake logs drill which resulted in a plan to roll TEst by several alliances, which resulted in those Rose forum leaks about them getting the impression they wanted to roll TEst regardless. That combined with being atop of our bingo list, we attacked. We teamed up with Syndicate who also had their own reason for attacking which kept them engaged much longer than us, as TEst often leaves shortly after the conventional warfare wraps up. GPA and TFP we hit because they had big neutrals, and TFP was right after Pantheon so it made it easier to just do it then since everyone was still itching for more fighting. Pantheon was hit for two reasons, like Alpha they were atop out bingo list (the list gets re-voted after every war with the previously rolled alliances excluded) and second we were paid. I'm not going to say who paid but someone took us up on this thread. It's really an interesting thing, how we operate. We don't fight for political reasons, except to maybe make some new friends through bloodshed. We really don't take things too seriously and are an alliance that keeps their word. We willing to work with most anyone if they've something worth fighting for, money in some cases and shared interests in others. We're just here to have fun, so feel free to stop by and shoot the shit with us. https://discord.gg/z2BWuzV "Prefontaine and his band of merry idiots" - Hereno

While war wages on within Politics and War and currently my nation is losing pixels for a great cause, today is also a day to remember the men and women across the United States who have given everything to protect our great nation! As we continue to fight our pixel wars let us all take a moment to remember those around us who have served and gave their all for nation(s) that we really live in. Let us salute those who have fallen and remember them for the sacrifices they gave! I recently lost my Grandfather a few weeks back! He was a great man that served in Korea and Vietnam repairing helicopters in the 1st Cavalry Division. I knew he had lung issues but didn't realize that it was most likely contributed to Agent Orange, and was the reason he passed so soon and unexpectedly. He was a great man who never stopped working despite his complications, and when we had the chance to see him, he always cared to ask how things were going for us! Thank you for your service Sir! o7 -Restius

In previous posts on the rise of TEst, I regarded TEst's paperless policy as political ingenuity. I still hold that to be true. However, the recent war and the dog piling against TEst merits some observation as to why the paperless system failed in otherwise a successful system. After all, this is the same paperless alliance that went from a small, insignificant alliance at the beginning of the year to the top alliance post Silent War, and at the end of the year is expected to be rolled back into obscurity. What went wrong: The paperless system was a flexible system that allowed TEst to dance between two blocs by a complex system of backchanneling that requires hyperactivity and charisma on part of TEst's leadership. But the paperless system thrives only in the context of two spheres who are locked in bitter combat against each other. The dissolution of the Rose sphere proved to be the end of the paperless system. TEst needed to present itself as harmless and innocuous, not as a potential second sphere. Failing that, TEst needed to form an opposition sphere against the Syndisphere. In both instances, TEst has failed. TEst rolled any and all potential allies, thus alienating herself. Due to her "friendly relations" with the Syndisphere, TEst's targets were limited to everyone unrelated to the Syndisphere, ironically the same alliances which could have helped her in an eventual fight. TEst's aggressive actions also cemented in the minds of others that TEst is a powerful alliance worthy of becoming a new bloc leader, thus failing the need to present herself as harmless. Paperless was a system that was good under a specific circumstance. Absent of that specific circumstance, and TEst is left without allies against the hegemon. Why should TEst form a new sphere? The system of PnW (and its potential flaw) is that it forces all the players into a realist paradigm (see "international realism") but forces the players to propagate the system willingly. The realist paradigm states that a closed international system with multiple alliances forces war upon one another until an eventual hegemon emerges. The collapse of the Paracovenant marked the rise of the Syndisphere as the hegemon, a natural conclusion to all realist paradigms. However, TEst, due to its paperless policy, was in the fringes of the sphere. In a post on "Old FA vs. New FA," Pre posted "You don't get to tell us how to play the game. You can't make us form a sphere to counter you. You can't make us stop fighting people who piss us off, even if you view those as wars of boredom. Enjoy sitting on top, we don't care that you're there." and his reasoning, strictly speaking, is correct. The Syndisphere cannot make TEst form a new sphere to counter them. However, under the circumstances of the realist paradigm, if TEst is interested in maintaining its standing and its power garnered through the paperless policy during the Rose/Syndicate wars, she must do so to counter-balance the hegemon. If not, TEst risks the possibility of being a target of attack from a sphere several times its size. The Future: TEst et. al. may be forced to abandon the paperless system and reach out to the alliances not affiliated with the Syndisphere. This would ironically require TEst to negotiate with alliances who only recently fought bitterly against the paperless hegemon in wars seemingly designed to flaunt TEst's power. Her negotiation will likely prove unsuccessful until those alliances face the brunt of the Syndisphere war machine themselves. It may be several months before another sphere may be formed. There in lies the problem of games such as these: the game sets itself in the realist paradigm, yet has no means of naturally dissolving a hegemon from power without the conscious consent of thousands of players. TEst member posts argue (and rightfully so) that the hegemonic nature of the Syndisphere will eventually end the game (again, a natural conclusion to the realist paradigm). Therefore, one of two things must happen in the new year: 1. TEst manages to assemble a motley crew of everyone she rolled to counter tS in a new sphere or 2. The Syndisphere needs to willingly break up to maintain the realist paradigm. Both of which is highly unlikely. Though in this writer's personal opinion, the former may be more so. TEst needs to make the argument to everyone she rolled that TEst is today, everyone else may be tomorrow (a very convincing argument, in light of Mensa's dire need to water their holy Dio tree with blood often).

It was on the first day in the first month of the second year since Mensa came to Orbis, that the snow struck once more. It again used Rose who are the Swedes of orbis as it's puppet. The Snow whispered in the ears of Rose's top commanders, it spoke of how they might satiate their lust for profit if they but sacrificed a few peasant farmers & yet how they might also strike down Mensa who was ever a threat to their pig disgusting abuse of the poor. For Mensa was already weakened from their long wars for the recovery of the Sword of Falcon from the hands of the pirates who flew the black standard of Arghh. And was yet still more weakened from their war with Vanguard whom the Snow had entrapped in it's intricate designs. It spoke also of the profits to be had selling weapons & other goods of war to all those who would be drawn into the bloody war, or so the snow reasoned to the leaders of Rose. Yet they hesitated to go to war for they were fearful of Mensa & so the Snow spoke of their lofty citadels built with the taxes of the poor, & scoffed at the idea that any could ever breach these mighty places. At last swayed by these words the lords of rose commanded that the people be fed lies & deceit about Dio & Mensa. That all the needs of commerce be set aside & the needs of war be fulfilled. Also they sent word to other peoples held in their sway & that of the Snow. It was at this time that the sleep of the High Priests & the Apostles was troubled. For not sooner then they closed their eyes would they be beset by dreams of fire, destruction, & the machinations of war. Thus they turned to Dio praying that he might reveal the meaning of these dreams. Not long had their prayer been before a vision came to their minds. The vision showed them many things, things that were, the deceit the Snow perpetrated against Vanguard & Rose. Things that were, the plotting of the generals of Rose, the vast preparations of their campaign. And last it showed them that which was yet passed, the path of the enemy, the places where they might be ambushed, the allies upon which they would call & those who might be called to aid Mensa. Armed with this knowledge the forces of Dio were soon made ready, as were the forces of other peoples the vision had shown to be true of heart, from the west over the great atlantic ocean came The Syndicate great merchants & people of commerce, from the east came The Knights Radiant warriors of great renown, The Kings Parliament from the north already knowing of snows ways, & last from the far east came a small band of warriors of Roz Wei, a strange people but valiant. Soon boths sides were readied & marched out to war. As the forces of Rose marched forth from their stronghold, the Snow made a great cackle of laughter not of happiness but of merciless evil, for it knew that Rose could never win but sought to use them to bait the Dioist force from their stronghold where a stronger force might prevail. And as the Snow laughed it took on a form in likeness to the form Dio Brando was want to take when he walked amongst the People, but it was twisted & hideous to look upon for such are all the works of Snow. The Snow climbed onto the highest pinnacle of the highest tower of Rose's fastness & proclaimed itself Bio Drando, Lord of Orbis. To be continued.

Hello again everybody! Apologies for not posting the last part of this, as I've had it all ready, but I'm afraid real life intervened for a while. Anyway, we're coming to the end of this play, and the 1st Act of the next will be going up tomorrow. So without further ado, enjoy... You say Jump, I say Proxy, A Play Written by: TheNG Edited by: TheNG Starring: Viridian Entente as itself The Syndicate as itself Rose as itself United Purple Nations as itself Brotherhood of the Clouds as itself The Dutch East India Company as itself Guardian as itself Vanguard as itself Mensa HQ as itself Sheepy as himself Act 3 Scene 1 - In front of Rose's house Scene: The formerly neat and orderly front lawn of Rose lies in shambles. Mensa HQ and Guardian struggle to get up, stunned by the explosion of Viridian Entente. The Syndicate stands over Rose, who is lying on the ground crying. All four alliance are covered in chunks of Viridian Entente, and stare toward the spot where the alliance formerly stood, watching the giant J that hovers over the spot in shock and confusion. United Purple Nations stands in the background, no longer laughing but instead looking unsure of itself. Sheepy stands by, appearing concerned. The Syndicate: Sheepy? What are you doing here? What happened to VE? Sheepy: Well, we may have a teensy little issue here. Nothing major of course. Rose: angry and sobbing Not serious???!!! My best friend just exploded! Sheepy: Nah, it'll be fine. Just a little hacking issue, nothing major. The Syndicate: What? Hacking? Sheepy: So.... it turns out that I might've let someone hack the universe. But just a little. Guardian: Hacking..... the universe? How is that possible? Sheepy: Well, I'm not entirely sure, but they seems to have made Viridian Entente here explode. The Syndicate: How can you not be sure? You're the god here! Sheepy sheepishly Well.... yeah, I am. But I mean, this isn't an easy job. Even I have to take breaks for classes and snacks and all that. The Syndicate: You went on a snack break!? Look what happened! Sheepy: C'mon, you guys are blowing this out of proportion, I'll make it all right, trust me. Rose: You let VE get blown up! Sheepy, this isn't a game, this is real life! How could you? Sheepy laughs nervously The Syndicate: What was that for? Sheepy: You know, it's funny you say that Rose, because this is all actua- you know what, never mind. Let me just fix things up quickly and.... hmmmm. Guardian: Why the "hmmm"? Sheepy: This may be slightly more serious than I first thought. We may have to travel back in time to a previous version of the universe. The Syndicate: What? Sheepy: It's simpler than it sounds, actually. Just go back a little ways when everything was normal, and we'll be all set. Rose: excitedly Ohh! Time travel! Can we see dinosaurs! Sheepy: How about seeing VE again? Rose: sadly Well, yeah.... I guess..... but what about dinosaurs? Mensa HQ WAIT! You can't do this! This is blatantly unfair to me! I've spent the past several minutes beating up VE. You mean to tell me that all my hard work will be wasted. And VE gets brought back to life???? That's incredibly biased! Sheepy: I'm not sure that's how this works... Mensa HQ: I can't believe this!! Valuing VE over me! My opinion is the most valid, listen to me. VE won't even be beat up anymore! Why do you hate me? Sheepy: I can't hate what I don't understand, this is just how things work. Mensa HQ: sobbing Why does everyone hate me? Why does nobody listen only to me? Why is my life so tragic?\ United Purple Nations: Listen, can we just do this already? I have places to be you know. Sheepy: Alright, let me just check through my backups. Closest one is.... 10 hours ago. There we are. United Purple Nations: What? 10 hours!? You're telling me you don't do hourly backups of the universe? What kind of deity are you? The Syndicate: That does seem pretty sad Sheepy. Sheepy: Will all you ungrateful morons just shut up! pause Very good. Here we go. All the alliances begin talking loudly, trying to get Sheepy's attention. The world begins to spin around them, and suddenly all the alliances are deposited on Rose's lawn 10 hours earlier. Viridian Entente stands beside them. The Syndicate: What.... just happened? Are we back? Rose: I think we... VE! Rose runs over and hugs Viridian Entente, who looks confused. The Syndicate, Mensa HQ, and Guardian stare unhappily in their direction. Viridian Entente: Uhh... hi Rose. What's going on? Mensa HQ menacingly Round 2..... ​Mensa HQ begins to step threateningly toward Rose and Viridian Entente, but The Syndicate and Guardian hold it back. Guardian: C'mon Mensa, it's been a long night. Let's just go. Mens HQ, Guardian, and The Syndicate walk away. Mensa HQ kicks Vanguard on the way out, waking the alliance up. Rose: Vanguard? Are you alright? Vanguard: angrily No! No I'm not. I thought we were going to be friends, not a punching bag. We're through! Vanguard stumbles off, wincing in pain. Rose and Viridian Entente are alone except for United Purple Nations. United Purple Nations: Great shows guys, I must be off though. Try not to suck so much next time. United Purple Nations strides away. Viridian Entente: ​What just happened? Rose: ​Maybe later VE, maybe later. End Scene 1 Act 3 Scene 2 - United Purple Nation's underground headquarters Scene: The room is massive, dark, and menacing. United Purple Nations sits at the head of a long table, with lights shining from behind casting menacing shadows on the video screens lining the walls. Sheepy is on one of them discussing taxes. There is a knock from somewhere in the darkness. United Purple Nations: Come in! The Dutch East India Company and Brotherhood of the Clouds emerge from the darkness and sit down on either side of the table, a few chairs away from United Purple Nations. United Purple Nations: Welcome my friends. This meeting of The Covenant is now in order. Brotherhood of the Clouds: So, how did the operation go? The Dutch East India Company: ​Yeah, were you successful? United Purple Nations: Aside from a small hacking issue, the operation was a complete success. Thanks to a bit of persuasion, all our enemies attacked each other, leaving them all weakened. We now control the majority of the alliances in the world, and our opposition has been rendered impotent. We are one step closer to world domination! Brotherhood of the Clouds: Wow! That's amazing news, great job UPN! The Dutch East India Company: Indeed, it was a masterful work. United Purple Nations: Now now, our job isn't complete just yet. There are a few loose ends left, and they need to be taken care of. Now, here's how we're going to do it........ End Act 3 Well, that's that. Even though it was regretfully delayed, I hope you guys enjoyed this play, and look forward to the next coming out soon! Have a good day!

To use a phrase to sum up my experience: "Not what I expected." I am a bit of a CyberNations Vet, started there in 2007 - I've always known of GPA, I think I was even a diplomat to them through a few alliances - I can't think that far back though. As we all know, GPA is the premier neutral alliance in Politics & War - when someone says neutral, you think GPA. I feel like we all enter this world (orbis) with the intentions of war, hate neutrals, war WAR WAR! But...aren't we all a little neutral in our own ways? Look at GPA - they get raided, they fight back - what alliance doesn't do that? They build up a military right? They have nukes? Hell! They've even engaged in war...so what the !@#$ is this whole neutral thing about?! To me; to be neutral it is to refrain from politics and engagements that would draw in my fellow alliance mates and quite obviously my alliance. It is to protect my members from world politics and not let slip our bullets should we not favor the current global status quo. Neutral is to be equivalent with voluptuous growth. What is neutral to you? I asked this to GPA members and I was quite taken back from the replies. After years of putting the glow of GPA out of my sight and labeling GPA as useless...I feel as though GPA isn't the giant green monster as we are born to believe. - - - - - - - - "Now for me GPA is about playing the game differently from almost any AA out there...It's about solidarity with fellow members and knowing whatever comes GPA will be there after the dust settles again." - Kalev60 "I guess I've always just felt drawn to the idea of neutrality in my real life so it appealed to me in this game - if that makes any sense. While being neutral is a part of why I'm still in this alliance in the first place an ever bigger part of my continued membership in the GPA is the people and the community." - Godfrey "I want to tell you I am a proud member of the GPA and with [sic] stand in arms with my brothers and sisters through anything. I could never leave the GPA after all I have been through with her. Long live the GPA, my online family, and the Green menace." - Little Lloyd - - - - - - - - There you have it. Personally, I loved my time here in GPA. I would recommend GPA to anyone who is looking for a solid, active community. I found their forums eady to navigate, the community was extremely easy going (and fun) and they are always looking for ways to improve what they currently have and make it even better. Most alliances do this - quite clearly - but the active support I saw in each thread was amazing - I was also able to voice my own opinions and being new - I was treated like a member of the community right off the bat. Well done GPA. What I think GPA can improve on is getting their story heard around the world. What I mean is, I would like to see some more branding, a bit more GPA visually in advertisements and other propaganda to boost the image of this great alliance. There also needs to be a bit more patriotism - you have the theme, logo, style...now reach for the stars GPA. Thank you to GPA for allowing me to reside in their quarters for this week. I wholeheartedly had a great time and I wish GPA all the best in the years to come. o/ For now, I am jumping on a flight back to Isla Nublar - InGen - thanks to Edsel. I'll be flying in a Concorde from the Flemish Government - I should arrive at mainland in about 2 hours. Thank you Edsel for being more than generous. (and thanks for not forcing me to do questionaires/forms!) RIP to Plenica Wake Up South America Alliance InGen Here I come.

Today we reached 2,000 players logging in per week, which is a huge milestone. We're at over 17,000 nations simulated to date, and more and more people are signing up every day. A large part of this is due to online advertising, that has brought players from other communities which has enriched our own. I've been working on encouraging this sort of growth, and increasing the entertainment value of Politics & War. I invest more time than you can imagine into development of the game, as well as management, administration, etc. It's been a great experience, being in charge of this whole thing, and doing my best to steer us towards prosperity. I made this blog post so I could ramble on about the game, and talk about the challenges that must be overcome and the amount of effort I've put into trying to do this thing right. What inspired it was that I just upgraded the server's resources, we're now running on 2 more CPU cores and twice the RAM we had previously. This should make a pretty significant difference in terms of how things load (especially during peak hours) and making sure that you guys can access pages quickly and reliably.

Right, street signs...

Hi guys, I thought that starting a podcast would be a great way to keep you all involved in game development. In this first podcast, I'm discussing the high city, low infra problem and how we can address the issue whilst still maintaining multiple diverse strategies for gameplay. I'll be working on getting these podcasts available on various podcasts services, right now they're uploaded on SoundCloud, you can check out this first podcast here: https://soundcloud.com/alex-winchell-853488732/001-war-policies-allowing-more-different-strategies-in-politics-and-war Let me know what you think! Podcast Link

So it begins.

Well, it has been a little while since I put one of these out, and for that I apologize. Nevertheless, here is the final part (for this war at least), I hope you guys enjoy it. A Man, A Plan, Ayyy Lmao, A Play Written by: TheNG Edited by: TheNG Starring: Guardian as itself Seven Kingdoms Viridan Entente as itself The Syndicate as itself World Wrestling Federation as itself Mensa HQ as itself Rose as itself Cornerstone as itself Vanguard as itself United Purple Nations as itself Terminus Est as itself Brotherhood of the Clouds as itself The Dutch East India Company as itself And introducing Black Knights, who will be playing itself Act 2 Scene 2 - United Purple Nation's backyard Scene - United Purple Nations and Brotherhood of the Clouds sit on a hammock strung between two trees while Sheepy dances in the rain. Brotherhood of the Clouds eats a piece of pizza while the two alliances chat. United Purple Nations ...no, DEIC is still in the hospital. Apparently some got lodged in the lung- hang on, I've got a call. Brotherhood of the Clouds Who is it? United Purple Nations The Syndicate... Why would they call me? *answers the call* Hey, this is UPN, what can I do for you? *pause* Yeah *pause* Uh-huh. VE, and a bunch of you guys. *pause* Guardian and those idiots? Wh- *pause* Yeah I'd like to make 'em remember not to mess with us. Right now? *pause* Alright, I'll think about it, give us a minute. *hangs up* Brotherhood of the Clouds What was that about? United Purple Nations Apparently VE and its little flock are having some trouble. They want our help. It's Guardian, SK, and some weirdo named Mensa H- The blood drains out of Brotherhood of the Cloud's face, and it drops the pizza slice suddenly. United Purple Nations looks disturbed. Brotherhood of the Clouds *quietly, hesitantly* Did... you say Mensa HQ? United Purple Nations Yeah, apparently Guardian found a new groupie or something. Brotherhood of the Clouds begin rocking back and forth and cackling evilly. United Purple Nations looks more concerned United Purple Nations Um... you OK? Brotherhood of the Clouds *sinister* At last..... My old nemesis. I've finally got you! United Purple Nations What?! Brotherhood of the Clouds begins shaking and laughing more intensely Brotherhood of the Clouds *rapidly and excitedly* Ever since I first met Mensa, so many months ago I have longed to destroy them, watch them beg and see their disgusting fake genius collapse! United Purple Nations That's kind of messed up dude. Listen, just forget about that. We're gonna get even with Guardian and SK. Brotherhood of the Clouds ignores this and dashes out of the yard twitching and screaming "MENSA" over and over again at the top of its lungs. United Purple Nations looks on then begins to slowly follow. United Purple Nations Why am I the only sane alliance around here? exit Brotherhood of the Clouds and United Purple Nations End Scene 2 Act 2 Scene 3 - A Semi-Busy Street Scene - The fighting which has rocked this particular area is finally beginning to die down. Seven Kingdoms chants along with Terminus Est while being struck with various objects. Guardian is buried beneath Rose, Viridian Entente, Vanguard, and the Syndicate. Only Mensa HQ still stands, battling World Wrestling Federation, Cornerstone, and Black Knights. Mensa HQ You idiots done yet? Perhaps you have realized that dimwits cannot hope to compete with Genius! Abandon this foolish battle now, before I decide I am done playing! As I'm new here, I don't know how you primitives fight, but this is pathetic! Cornerstone ​Stop telling us you're new here! We get it! enter United Purple Nations and Brotherhood of the Clouds Brotherhood of the Clouds I get to kill Mensa! I get to kill Mensa! Mensa HQ You! Another lamb to the slaughter! And this one stupider than most! Brotherhood of the Clouds WHAT?! How dare you insult me like that! I should've destroyed you long ago for what you did to me! Mensa HQ What I did to you? You spied on me! I should've destroyed you! Brotherhood of the Clouds You idiot! Repeat that slander again, and I shall pulverize you! Mensa HQ Me! An IDIOT?! That is a big word for a braindead rock such as yourself! Brotherhood of the Clouds RAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!! Mensa HQ WWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!! Mensa HQ and Brotherhood of the Clouds circle each other, then charge. They collide, but Mensa HQ gets the better of Brotherhood of the Clouds, throwing the alliance to the ground Mensa HQ *triumphantly* Haha! Looks like genius triumphs over this sava- uh. United Purple Nations towers over Mensa HQ United Purple Nations Hi. Mensa HQ takes a wild swing at United Purple Nations screaming. United Purple Nations swiftly catches the fist, and examines it almost curiously. Mensa HQ stares in shock. Mensa HQ uh. United Purple Nations grabs Mensa HQ and slams its back down onto its knee. There is an audible snap. United Purple Nations then drops the alliance to the ground, pulls out a pillow, and presses it over Mensa HQ's head Mensa HQ *muffled* mmmm. MMM! mmmm! United Purple Nations *soothingly* Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh............ This will all be over soon.... Viridian Entente Wait UPN. I have a better idea. End Scene 3 Act 2 Scene 4 - A Semi-Busy Street Scene - United Purple Nations, Brotherhood of the Clouds, Viridian Entente, World Wrestling Federation, The Syndicate, Rose, Black Knights, Cornerstone, Terminus Est, and Vanguard stand in a circle around Guardian, Seven Kingdoms, and Mensa HQ who lie on the ground. Sheepy pretends he is a shrub. Viridian Entente I'm telling you guys, this is a great idea! *loudly* Alright guys, you can leave, but first you have to give me all your money! Guardian *weakly* You monster.... This breaks our most sacred of laws. You cannot. Viridian Entente I may be a monster, but I'll be a rich monster that nobody knows is a monster! So yeah, I can live with that. What do you guys think? Terminus Est I require no worldly compensation, unless you possess skulls. For a construction project I'm doing, you see. Viridian Entente A throne? Terminus Est Why does everybody always assume it's a throne? Nevertheless, my work here is done. Vanguard Well, I'm actually late for a very important event, I'll be going. Vangaurd dashes off, Terminus Est vanishes into a warp portal Mensa HQ *weakly* You know, I am new here, so I don't know how you guys operate, but this seems kind of excessive. Cornerstone WE GET IT! You're new here! That isn't an excuse for everything! Mensa HQ You'd be surprised.... But fine, I'll give you money. Mensa HQ pulls a wad of money out of its pocket. Cornerstone and Black Knights drag it away exit Black Knights, Mensa HQ, and Cornerstone Viridian Entente So, you two going to give me my money? We could keep beating you up! Guardian Martyrdom looks good on Twitter. Viridian Entente Alright everybody. The hard way it is, form a line, 10 minutes of beating, then let the next alliance go. Guardian ehh... how about half my money? Viridian Entente Alright, fine. Just get out of my sight! Guardian pulls out $5, then staggers away Viridian Entente Alright SK. Your turn. Seven Kingdoms Hah. Hit me all you like scum. TEst has done wonders, my chakras are in line and I've transcended pain. You'll never receive an cent. Viridian Entente Yeah, we'll see about that. Rose! Start hitting! Syndicate! Find me a big stick! Two hours pass, and Seven Kingdoms simply lies on the ground, calmly receiving blows Viridian Entente *wheezing* Alright..... Leave..... Before I.... really decide to...... start hitting.... Seven Kingdoms Enlightenment feels quite good. Seven Kingdoms stands up and calmly walks away. United Purple Nations escorts a grumbling Brotherhood of the Clouds away while Rose wanders into the road and gets hit by a car. Viridian Entente, The Syndicate, and World Wrestling Federation fall to the ground Viridian Entente ​You know, I would call that a success. Annoying pests squashed, and I am still universally beloved. Isn't that right? The Syndicate Sometimes in business, controversy can serve as a catalyst to spur market devel- Viridian Entente I really hate you right now, did you know that? enter the Dutch East India Company The Dutch East India Company Alright guys, I'm here! The finally let me out of the- what the !@#$ happened here? Viridian Entente A glorious victory, my dear serf. Now, go inform the world I have won war number 1,256. It is truly a momentous event. The Dutch East India Company I thought you were at war 562? Viridian Entente Yeah, but this one was special. I got paid for it. I wonder, can I make this a job? The Syndicate A true capitalist profession req- Virdian Entente ​Shut up, you're ruining my ambiance. End Act 2 Alright everybody, that is that. Another one down, and I'm sure the twists and turns were a surprise to all of us (except Inst, nothing gets past that dude). Hope you enjoyed this, and I suppose now I'll wait until someone pulls the trigger next.

Alright, here we go, part 2. Thanks for all the positive feedback for the first part, always happy to see people enjoying these, and I shall continue writing them. Now, lets go.... A Man, A Plan, Ayyy Lmao, A Play Written by: TheNG Edited by: TheNG Starring: Guardian as itself Seven Kingdoms Viridan Entente as itself The Syndicate as itself World Wrestling Federation as itself Mensa HQ as itself Rose as itself Cornerstone as itself Terradoxia as itself Vanguard as itself United Purple Nations as itself Terminus Est as itself And introducing Black Knights, who will be playing itself Act 2 Scene 1 - A Semi-Busy Street Scene - The street, while still occasionally crossed by pedestrians and vehicles, has become a battleground. The bushes side has had much of its shrubbery beaten down or torn up by the fighting alliances, who's struggles even spill onto the sidewalks. Sheepy walks along a rainbow far above while Guardian and Seven Kingdoms struggle with Viridian Entente. The Syndicate and Rose look on while Mensa HQ picks up World Wrestling Federation and throws it into the ground. Guardian Hahaha! I love it when my plan comes together! How does Honor feel VE? Seven Kingdoms stares in amazement Seven Kingdoms How can you still take credit for this- you know what? Never mind. I'll be happy when VE ends up like GPA Viridian Entente Enjoy this while it lasts boys, it won't be much longer now. A black SUV with a unicorn painted on the side and tinted windows pulls up to the curb. Black Knights, Cornerstone, and Terradoxia step out Viridian Entente ​At last..... Not to imply that I needed the help, of course. Viridian Entente pushes Guardian and Seven Kingdoms away and stands next to the three new arrivals while The Syndicate and Rose stand behind. The sounds of combat between Mensa HQ and World Wrestling Federation echoes in the background Black Knights Looks like its time for another ride! And you're about to be trampled! Cornerstone I get to apply what I learned from that monk dude in DaVinci code! Terradoxia My very existence as a horrific amalgamation is an affront to life itself. Luckily, I can steal your essence, and we'll be all set. Viridian Entente grins broadly, an expression which reveals its utmost confidence, then motions at Guardian and Seven Kingdoms Viridian Entente *loudly* GET THE- Guardian NOW WAIT JUST A MINUTE!! ​Viridian Entente pauses, and all the alliances stare curiously at Guardian Guardian How hypocritical is this? You accuse us of treachery, we who saved the world from the Neutral Menace, and yet you fight alongside a cheater! Viridian Entente Wait... what? There are no cheaters here. Guardian Hah! So naive. Guardian pulls out a massive bundle of paper held together by a cord and tosses it to Viridian Entente Guardian Look at that! As you can see by my 8 page summary beginning on page 456, and all the preceding analysis and spreadsheets on the previous pages, Terradoxia's finances don't add up! Look at all that unaccounted money! Terradoxia is cheating! Terradoxia What?! I'm not a cheater! Viridian Entente begins to leaf through the papers Viridian Entente I dunno Terradoxia, some of this stuff seems to make a little- Terradoxia *incredulous and angry* ​What? You can't seriously believe Guardian! They're trying to break us apart! Sow dissent! What are you going to do anyway, send me away? Let me fight! Viridian Entente Well, of course we can't be associated with any cheating. And I wouldn't dare to ask such a valued ally to leave, *brightly* I'm just saying, you must be tired right? Look, there's even a nice bench right over there! Why don't you just sit down and rest for a little while and we can talk about this later! Terradoxia walks away sobbing. Viridian Entente straightens up, and looks angrily toward Guardian, who smiles smugly Virdian Entente You may have pulled out those documents and gotten rid of Terradoxia, but the rest of us won't be split off so easily! Viridian Entente indicates Black Knights and Cornerstone Go help WWF finish off that freak! We'll handle these two! Black Knights Looks like somebody is going to need disability insurance soon! Cornerstone Just another heretic to be purified! Black Knights and Cornerstone dash off and confront Mensa HQ, who is slamming World Wrestling Federation's head into the ground and yelling Mensa HQ You call this a battle? *head slam* I may be new here, but I thought you were supposed to actually hurt me! *head slam* I'm making money off this! *head slam* I didn't know I was a raiding alliance! *head slam* What finisher do you call this? Mensa HQ slams World Wrestling Federation into the ground one last time, and eagerly grabs the money that falls out of its pockets. Black Knights charges into the fray Black Knights *Loudly and energetically* AYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY LM- Mensa HQ slams a fist into Black Knight's head, knocking the alliances back Mensa HQ ​I'm new here, so I always like making new friends! *menacingly* We'll have such fun! Cornerstone drop-kicks Mensa HQ, sending the alliance sprawling. Black Knights and World Wrestling Federation both struggle to their feet and join the fight. Nearby, Viridian Entente squares of with Guardian and Seven Kingdoms. Seven Kingdoms pulls back its arm in preparation for charging, and strikes Vanguard, who is walking along the sidewalk. The blow sends Vanguard sprawling Seven Kingdoms Oh! My bad, sorry dude. Want some help? Vanguard rises, with blood in its eyes Vanguard *quietly* You struck me... *loud and enraged* UNNACEPTABLE!!! Seven Kingdoms Listen, it was an accident. I'm sorry! Vanguard launches a furious volley of blows against Seven Kingdoms, who staggers back. Guardian looks on in shock. Viridian Entente smiles and then turns angrily toward The Syndicate and Rose, who stand watching silently Viridian Entente *annoyed* If you two idiots are done watching, attack now while they're distracted! Rose What are we doing again? The Syndicate ​In a proper business environment, sometimes things simply cannot be rushed. Sloppy and hurried preparations often are reflected in the substandard results they produce. I need more time to conduct proper analyses, and develop an actionable plan in this chaotic and unfriendly climate. Many times, in pursuit of overall profit, or a similar goal, we overl- Viridian Entente Shut up already! Rose, attack! Rose You want me to inflict bodily harm? Viridian Entente *exasperated* YES! Rose Did you know what when you hit a skull against a frying pan, it sounds very similar to a drum? Food for thought. Rose strides into battle, colliding with Guardian. The Syndicate makes no move to follow, while Viridian Entente glances over to Mensa HQ, who throws Cornerstone into Black Knights Viridian Entente Syndicate, you either get in there, or I... Wait, who is that? A new alliance silently and confidently strides up behind the battling Seven Kingdoms and Vanguard. It lightly touches Vanguard on the shoulder, and the alliance turns aroung angrily, before staring in awe. The mysterious alliance makes a motion with its hand, and Vanguard silently dashes off to join Rose in attacking Guardian. Seven Kingdoms stares at the retreating Vanguard in confusion, then looks at the alliance which stands in front to it. Viridian Entente and The Syndicate watch closely. Seven Kingdoms *quietly* TEst? What are you doing here? I though you were at that yoga retreat, are you here to help us? Terminus Est I was SK, but as I meditated, I sensed a great disturbance. You are deeply unbalanced, and it is my duty to correct this. I am going to realign your chakras. Seven Kingdoms ​This doesn't seems very violent or psychopathic TEst. You have changed! But I'm curious, how do you realign someone's chakras? Terminus Est deals Seven Kingdoms a vicious blow to the head that sends the alliance sprawling to the ground. Terminus Est bends over the fallen Seven Kingdoms and pulls out a hammer Terminus Est *matter of factly* It is going to hurt. A lot. Seven Kingdoms *slowly and painfully* That sounds like...... the TEst I know.... Why..... the hammer? Terminus Est It is merely required for the first step in the process. Terminus Est swings and batters Seven Kingdoms, while Guardian falters under the combined might of Rose and Vanguard. Viridian Entente grins, then is spooked when World Wrestling Federation falls at its feet, then dashes back into battle. Viridian Entente stares as Mensa HQ screams wildly and hits Cornerstone with a captured cross, then gets hit a folding chair wielded by Black Knights Viridan Entente *to itself* ​That thing is more resilient then it looks. The Syndicate I believe I am prepared. Economic theory shall smite my foes. Viridian Entente Wait a second. Before you join in, make another call. It looks like our puppets might need a little help. Viridian Entente charges into battle against Guardian and Seven Kingdoms, who are succumbing to the combined assault of Vanguard, Rose, and Terminus Est ​The Syndicate punches in a number onto its phone, and holds it up to its ear as the alliance on the other end picks up. United Purple Nations Hey, this is UPN. What can I do for you? End Scene 1 And that's all for now folks. The battle lines have been drawn, and the fighting has begun. The rest of Act 2 will be going up soon enough, I hope you guys enjoyed this entry!

The discussion for what to name the current conflict was posted nearly immediately following the war's inception. While most realized that it was far too early to determine an accurate name of a hardly finished war, I believe that it would be good to begin a dialogue on war naming conventions, and give general talking points or thoughts on the process. After all, this is near the beginning of a game that most of us hope has a long future ahead of it, and this will almost certainly not be the last war that does not have an unambiguously accurate term. When considering naming a conflict, there are a number of factors that contribute to the final term the community uses. The most straightforward approach is: What was the Casus Belli, or who were the direct belligerents? The second instead looks at the reasons the war has come to be in the first place. What prompted the declarations of war from the so-called 'Axis Powers' upon VE? Finally, a more organic term may be used, if there is a single person, event, statement, feeling, or alliance that totally encapsulates the aesthetic of the war. It is because of this natural final name potential that naming a war before its conclusion is premature. One would be quick to point to VE's rising power and influence and the desire to halt their growth as the central reason. As such, many have referred to this conflict as "the Great VE War", a name that seems to be popular. It's not unreasonable speculation to assert that the 'Axis Powers' declared war on VE first in order to gain as much of a military advantage as possible, given the fact that they had knowledge that VE received the leaked war planning screenshots and had a Casus Belli. Giving all of the attention to VE, however, ignores the fact that VE was merely the catalyst for a larger conflict. As we saw from the screenshots, VE was to be used as a pretext to weaken Rose for a subsequent conflict. This tension began at the conclusion of the Marionette War. Ignoring the implications from the end of and period following the Marionette War ignores much of the reason behind why the current conflict was orchestrated. It can then be attractive to then call this war the 'Second Marionette War' as many have done, as the cause was intertwined with the conclusion of the first. Despite this, the 'Second Marionette War' ignores VE's presence, potentially downplaying the larger perceived threat the 'Axis Powers' saw in VE, and the way in which they were planning on weakening Rose. Another name may surface that better describes this conflict than the two listed. We shouldn't be quick to name the war before we see it fully play out. What I hope I've done is provided some thought behind how to name wars in the future. Although fun and propaganda can be had from trying to find clever or silly names for conflicts, the names that are likely to be easily remembered and descriptive are those that follow one of these criteria, not names that are shoe-horned into fitting. Thanks for giving this post a read. My hope is to delve into P&W a bit more than the typical superficial nature of forum posts. I believe doing these sorts of thought experiments is entertaining and enlightening, even if they don't lead to any conclusion at the end of the day.

Note: This is all my speculation, if you disagree, make your own speculation blog So, let us for a moment assume that SK never plotted to hit Rose after this war, and that SK never hit Vanguard. In this universe, SK and Guardian both declare on VE first, just like what happened here, only that SK never hits Vanguard. VE, then naturally calls on their allies, BK, WWF, tS and Cornerstone, and they both declare war on Guardian and SK. The war then expands, as Guardian calls on Vanguard, DEIC, and Mensa, which all hit VE, tS, and BK. Basically, at this point, SK and Guardian can call on a number of alliances: TEst, Rose, US, and possibly even UPN and BoC if DEIC could convince them to come along. Even without them, this war would have been pretty even. In all honesty, I think plotting against Rose was the nail in the coffin for SK this time, causing them to get rolled by almost everyone in Orbis. Even if the plans to roll Rose weren't exposed, I assure you, many many people would be reluctant to ever get close to SK after watching what they did to Rose. This war could have been close and possibly won by SK, had SK not plotted, however, SK was either too paranoid or power-hungry that they decided that they needed to roll Rose. This is all I really have to say about this war in general. And my advice is, if you're allied to SK, drop them, because I don't trust them as far as I could throw them.

December 7, 2015 - 11:45pm It has been 2 day since the last time I was able to write to you. Evidently, there were some problems with the local government and riots temporarily shut down any type of services (electric, cable, internet...water). Don't worry though, I am safe now. It would seem the localized riots pushed my way into the GPA stronghold, lucily for me - there were a few other guys waiting to get in. My hat goes off to Drudric, Kevinovic, formalbatman, and Mieszko Rudski - who were still outside when I got accepted. As I was harboring for safety behind the bench I spent hours on, I heard my name get called over a low PA System. "Max - please step forward." It was stern, I immediately got up and started walking towards the giant doors. They cracked open slightly as I was walking briskly towards - a bright light shown through - as I got closer an arm stretched out and pulled me in, doors slamming quickly behind me. My first thoughts were....what about the other guys out there and who the hell just grabbed my arm? I was pushed up against the doors that just closed behind me. There were 5 - what looked like guards - standing around me. There was one guard further back who seemed to be holding some type of electronic tablet and was scrolling through information, I assumed reading my application and questionairre. The guards closest to me searched through my bags quickly, then patted me down and checked all my pockets - I wasn't sure what they were looking for, but being as rugged as I looked - I don't blame them. Shortly after the pat down, I was swiftly moved through a metal door to the left about 10 feet and I was put in what looked like a temporary holding area. The guard who was previously standing behind the other guards came over with the same electronic tablet and told me his name - Malx65. He welcomed me to GPA and gave me access as a general member. Finally, Accepted! I was handed a few brochures, pamphlets, given a welcome kit with toothpaste, razors, deodorant, and travel size shampoos and was brought to a board house. I have my own room here, I share a bathroom in the board house - which seems to be for new members, so there are only a handful in here. I've just begun exploring the vast complex...It is truly an honor being welcome here. More Soon... ~ Max ~

Over the next 20 weeks (give or take) I will be setting out on an adventure across the world of Orbis. Through my travels I will venture through each continent making stops at select alliances where I will remain for a week or two, help out where needed, get to know the culture and community, and meet new people. Each encounter will be documented here in this venture blog as I travel throughout the world. I am prepared for tough times and great times ahead of me and I look forward to meeting as much people as possible as a traveler through your lands. While a member of the alliances I will be visiting, I will adhere and take part in all policies and rules expected of members in order to gauge the community and culture of the alliance correctly. I ask alliance leaders to treat me as they would any new applying member - that being said, I look forward to getting to know leadership of Orbis. The Itinerary: I will of course start out in InGen - South America. From there I will travel to: Green Protection Agency South America Alliance Plenica Then set course for Africa and hit land at Viridian Entente Charming Friends Black Knights Fark Terminus Est Then fly from madagascar to Pantheon The British East Indies Niflheimr riki Trek across to Asia and meet up with Mensa HQ and indulge myself in Dio culture Vargen Institution Roz Wei Seven Kingdoms Then travel further south to Alpha in Australia. Next stop is Brotherhood of Clouds in North America Rose Odd Squad The Syndicate Then back home to InGen to retire before enlisting into the U.S. Air Force in RL. It is my goal to show the world of Orbis the true communities of Politics & War and open the door for new recruits to try something new or maybe for current members to spread out and try something newer. If I am in your area - feel free to send an invite and I will see if I can fit you into my travel itinerary. Here I come World!

Hello and welcome back everybody! Now that blogs are back up, I can begin posting these things again for you guys. With that in mind, this is not the play for this war. Rather it's the play I wrote during and for the last big war, but never got to post because of the rollback and the forum issues. So, it's been complete for a while, and I'll be posting it all pretty rapidly. Don't fear, I'm working on one for this war as well, and the 1st part should go up in a couple days. Enjoy everybody! You say Jump, I say Proxy, A Play Written by: TheNG Edited by: TheNG Starring: Viridian Entente as itself The Syndicate as itself Rose as itself Uranicus Socialitas as itself Asgard as itself Vanguard as itself The Dutch East India Company as itself Mensa HQ as itself Act 1 Scene 1 - Viridian Entente's backyard Scene: Viridian Entente’s backyard is expansive and impeccably organized. The lawn is dotted with statues of the alliance in various poses, and is sectioned into various areas, including several victory memorials, a recreation space, and a shrine where others may prostrate themselves before the glory that is VE. Viridian Entente, The Syndicate, and Rose sit on a hammock, while Sheepy sits on a boat. Viridian Entente: So, do you guys want to help me set up a new monument? The Syndicate: Didn’t we just do that yesterday, and the day before? It doesn’t make financial sense to have such extravagant displays, even after such an enormous victory. Viridian Entente: Yesterday was the Garden of sacred Viridia, today it’s my latest statue, The Marshall Glory of the Entente. Completely different you see. The Syndicate: That statue is supposed to be of you, right? Why does it have 3 six-packs? Is that even possible? Viridian Entente: Of course I have three six-packs you idiot! I’m Viridan Entente, such things are normal for the superior being that is me. Rose: innocently Can I play with the statue? Viridian Entente: Shut up Rose. The Syndicate: So…. listen VE. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something. Ever since that last fight, you’ve changed…. And not for the better. You’re more short tempered, and we’re always arguing, and you’ve been really unkind to Rose. I feel like you’re not listening to me anymore, and we’ve lost understanding. Viridian Entente pauses hitting Rose with a wine glass Viridian Entente: Well, your ideas are stupid, and your job isn’t to think, it’s to blindly follow all my commands because I said so. The Syndicate: That’s my point. We never used to be like this. I think we could both use a little… break. How about we each take some time off and the- Viridian Entente jumps off the hammock angrily, throwing Rose and the Syndicate off as well and on to the ground. Viridian Entente: confused and angrily Are you breaking up with me?? The Syndicate: I’m not saying that, I just think- Viridian Entente: You know what?! Fine! I don’t need a moron like you slowing me down anyway! Get out of here, and never come back! The Syndicate: What? Why do you have to be such an ass? Viridian Entente: ME? You’re not even a real company! I’ll show you, think you can break up with me. GET OUT! The Syndicate: And you’re just a pathetic alliance hiding in your pretend glory! Wait and see, you’ll miss me, but I won’t miss you. Goodbye VE, and good riddance! The Syndicate abruptly turns and marches away. Viridian Entente and Rose look on silently, then Viridian Entente stands up and begins running after The Syndicate Viridian Entente: Wait! You can’t do that! You can’t just walk away! I won’t allow it! The Syndicate: Watch me… The Syndicate exits Viridian Entente’s backyard while Viridan Entente stares on in shock. Rose walks up behind. Rose: This may be a bad time, but where do you keep your sandwiches? Viridian Entente: softly and sadly Shut up Rose….. End Scene 1 Act 1 Scene 2 - Viridian Entente's basement Scene: Viridian Entente’s basement, formerly neat and orderly, is a mess. Furniture is and various objects are strewn about and smashed, and dirty dishes and clothes carpet all surfaces. Viridian Entente sits on a couch in its pajamas watching TV and eating ice cream. A pile of discarded ice cream cartons sits at its feet. Rose stands behind the couch, staring in disapproval. Rose: C’mon VE, I know you’re sad about The Syndicate, but you have to get over it. You’ve been doing nothing but eat ice cream and cry for the past two weeks! Viridian Entente: Shut up Rose! You don’t understand me. Nobody does. I’m fine. tS doesn’t even bother me anymore. Rose: Skeptically You sure about that? So you wouldn’t mind if I put away all these framed photos you have ou- Viridian Entente: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Viridian Entente rolls of the couch and begins sobbing. Viridian Entente: wailing Why did Syndicate have to go? I’m so lonely… Rose: I know what will make you feel better! How about I find you a new best friend! I’ll be right back! Viridian Entente: But…. wait. Rose dashes out of the basement excitedly. Viridian Entente opens another carton of ice cream. End Scene 2 Act 1 Scene 3 - A park Scene: The park is mostly empty except for one corner, where Uranicus Socialitas, Asgard, and the Dutch East India Company stand talking. Rose enters and runs over. Sheepy sings the blues on a bench. Rose: excitedly Hey US! Do you want to VE’s new best friend? Uranicus Socialitas Oh. Hi Rose. I think I’m alright if it’s all the same to you. Perhaps I could visit VE or something, make it feel better? Rose: Yay! Rose grabs Uranicus Socialitas in a massive hug. Uranicus Socialitas Uh. Yeah. That’s great Rose. You’re kind of crushing me… Rose continues to hug Uranicus Socialitas tighter and tighter while the other alliance groans. Suddenly, Uranicus Socialitas’s ribs all snap, and the alliance falls down dead. Asgard and The Dutch East India Company look on in horror. Asgard: Shocked Rose?! You just killed US! Rose: Oh…. Sorry about that. That means you guys are my friends now! Asgard: I’m not sure that’s how it wor- The Dutch East India Company: I think I’m gonna take a rain check on th- Rose: Come with me friends! We’re gonna make VE happy! Asgard and The Dutch East India Company back away with horrified looks on their faces. As they leave, Rose looks dejected. Enter Vanguard Rose: Hey you! You look like a strong young alliance! How about joining up with the two greatest alliances on the planet! Vangaurd: You’re the first alliance who’s ever called me strong. Wow! You want me to hang out with you and VE?! Rose: How’d you know I was talking about VE? Vanguard: Your superiority complexes are famed far and wide! Rose: Uh… That’s nice. Now c’mon! VE is gonna be so happy I found a new friend! Yippee! Rose skips out of the park, dragging Vanguard behind. As they leave, a shadowy alliance rises from behind some bushes. Mensa HQ: Sinister Interesting. Very interesting. Time to have some fun…. End Act 1 Well, there we are. Act 1 complete, and I bet many of you know where we're going. Part 2 will be up shortly!

It's time to put down the pen It seems to be accepted wisdom that the only thing wrong with treaties is not having enough of them. More treaties = more power! All those allies of yours who will happily march into the meat grinder to further your glorious ambitions and provide a barrier between you and any enemy seeking to harm you. Signing a million treaties is only bad for the game because stagnation or because it makes you a !@#$, but that's someone else's problem man, for you it's ballin'. Few people seem to realize that treaties themselves have significant downsides which erode your sovereignty, earn you enemies and makes you a target for wars, the exact things that treaties are supposed to protect you from. Most alliances have enormous requirements for declarations of war against another alliance. Democratic alliances could require the whole alliance to vote in favor, or only the emperor is allowed to declare war, and is a decision made with gravity and seriousness. If you have even one treaty though, this entire process is hijacked and you are thrown into someone else's conflict because you signed a piece of e-paper. The decision as to when and how and upon whom you declare peace or war is the most significant element of sovereignty an alliance has, and treaties with any mandatory defense clause destroy this. For reasons unknown, this surrender of sovereignty to third parties is often done with happiness, as alliances don't want the stress and burden of maintaining their own foreign policy, and essentially cede control of this to their "allies" (masters?) who take a more proactive view of foreign policy. In this instance, you no longer control your foreign policy, you ally controls your foreign policy, you are no longer an alliance, you are a subset of your ally's alliance. You have just made yourself into a vassal state. This surrender of sovereignty is significant but unheralded, and the slaves insist they are free, and prove it by going from one master to another. The ugly secret about treaties is that they do not keep you safe. A treaty is an aggressive act, not a defensive one. A treaty is essentially a declaration of war in a bottle, which you hand to someone else for them to make use of in an emergency. It is less like a shield and more like a daisy chain of grenades. Because of the nature of defensive treaties, having a treaty with the target of a war can mean that due to the sick logic of treaty chess, you are the one attacked, as was seen most recently with the war against Rose where Mensa HQ attacked Vanguard instead of Rose, knowing that Rose will have no choice but to counterattack. Did Vanguard joining a bloc with VE and Rose keep them safe? No, it made them a target. The giant blobs of treaties which have amalgamated into three vague blocs of paper essentially view each other as a threat, and so have made enemies out of each others constituent alliances who had few and isolated prior arguments, purely due to the fact that they exist as rival power structures. Rather than disengage from these power structures and maintain their own foreign policy, the answer to this hostility and looming warfare is MORE TREATIES. Yes, always more treaties with more power blocs, every important alliance must be connected directly to you! This leads to the final absurdity of treaties in that in the end it's a promise, and not everyone keeps their promises. After all the downsides of hostility and partisanship, alienating alliances due to your connections, loss of sovereignty, loss of independence and increased risk to yourself for signing so many treaties, in the end when your alliance is attacked by your various enemies and rivals, half those treaties are worthless because those allies also have treaties with your enemies and the half that don't will find any excuse not to defend you. So put the pen down, stop being such a !@#$ and have some self control, for !@#$ sake.

I've been thinking a lot about the difference between my "home" community of NationStates, and other nation sims like this one. I want to start off by saying that they are very different games. NationStates is, at its core, a political game, with a focus on ideology and broad policy over micromanaging. It has no clearly defined goal, and there is no clear metric for success or failure. War is conducted either through role playing (of which there is a great deal) or through a complicated proxy system involving the administration of regions. This second system is really better regarded as an entirely different game, and has its own universe of politics and opposing communities. Even this, however, has a minimal effect on an individual's choices. NationStates is somewhat strange among popular nation sims, in that there is almost nothing to do with game mechanics after one has mastered the basics. Paradoxically, this lack of hardcoded goals seems to have spurred players to develop entire world's of things to do. By the admission of the game creator, who is an award-winning author in his own right, the rigid self-imposed standards of quality in the role playing community rival those of fully published works. The level of politics and intrigue which permeates both national roleplaying, and especially relations between regions, makes real-world diplomatic crises seem straightforward. As with any sufficiently large community, the level of activity and detail is nested fractally, and has no endpoint. In sharp contrast, P&W is based on the premise of tweaking numbers to perfection, and micromanaging until the cows come home. Nation scores, leaderboards, and wars provide a plethora of goals and ways to stack up players' efforts. Alliances take this one step further with data-oriented aid programs and additional tools to pinpoint the effects of player actions. Players who do well can bask in the glory of being ranked highly, and nations who fail will know as much in no uncertain terms. Even with these features, however, players are limited in how much detail they can put into their nations. Daily activity is limited by resources, and creativity in policies and spending is limited by the need to maintain defensive capabilities. These limits are not necessarily a bad thing. The more complex a game becomes, the steeper the learning curve for new nations becomes, and the more likely new players are to become overwhelmed and quit. A finite number of daily actions promotes long-term strategies, and player loyalty. There is also a certain realism in limiting the possibilities for players to enact fringe policies, and shepherding players towards a particularly successful model. In many ways, P&W and NationStates are opposites. P&W is geared towards developing one's nation along very specific lines, with the end goal always coming back to war and building infrastructure. NationStates is not so much a simulator, as a template for creating stories, whether those stories be enshrined in roleplay, factbooks, or fictional statistics. And yet, the politics between alliances and regions is almost the same. The same language, the same agendas, and the same (contextually justified) paranoia of other groups. After a great deal of thought, I have concluded that it is not so much that the engines are similar, it is that the players, and their actions and intentions when dealing with each other, are virtually the same. The purpose of such an online game is not to generate a set of statistics for one's ideal utopia, as such could be just as easily accomplished with a pencil and paper, and skip the period of building. Nor is it for the purpose of the raw stimulus of pushing buttons correctly; we make it far too difficult for that. What is really on display in these games is the interactions between players. We desire external validation of our achievements, and we choose to seek such validation through a system which mimics the familiar flow of international politics. It can come as no surprise, then, that similar demographics will join both games, or that similar themes and buzzwords will arise in both communities of players with similar taste in style, because the source and manner of human validation is the same. In conclusion, while the mechanics of NationStates and Politics & War may be presented as opposites, and indeed, there are substantial differences in the traditional methods of regular players, the demographics of the players, and the manner in which they address each other, are almost indistinguishable.

Usually threads involving paperless conversations end up in a lot of shit-posting so per request of what my next blog should be about, what is paperless was suggested. Simply put paperless is having an alliance structured around the idea that you have no official treaties with the exception of protectorates. Protectorates get an exception in this case because the point of a protectorate is to dissuade alliances from attacking the one being protected. If you look at an alliance in the 30's ranking and see they're protected by someone your far less likely to want to raid them. The power in the protectorates protection comes from its existence being known. Now to the meat of it all. With VE's recent jump to paperless, lets focus on that for a moment. VE could become paperless and not move what-so-ever on the political spectrum if they so wished. They could still back up Rose in the next war, and Rose could back them up if need be. But in the same vein they're not honor-bound to fight a large war that doesn't match up to their desires. The problem with treaties is time, in my opinion. Usually in the phases leading up to signing a treaty the activity between alliances is very high, one side is typically courting the other in a manner of speaking. Once the treaty is signed there's a honeymoon period where everything is great and your talking. Then a few months in your like an old married couple who only seem to talk to one another when there's a fight about to happen. The romance is dead. This is what spawned the concept of paperless for me. Without that piece of paper, should relations fall off or have highs and lows, you can act on what is right for you at that time. You could fight more, fight less, and the repercussions of your actions are yours and not several other alliances. Lets say an alliance your friendly with takes an action you don't like for war, you can support them, not, go against them. Should you support them it would be because you feel committing to a war you don't agree with is worth the relationship between alliances at this time. Should you not, you risk your relationship souring with said alliance. And obviously should you go against them you might face their wrath. You can make the decision based on what is right for your alliance, not because you committed to banging 7 months ago before they went bat shit crazy and starting RPing a snake, or something. I typically hate treaties that have been around forever, that you just keep because you have had them for so long. Don't act a certain way because you've had a treaty forever, act for what is best for your alliance and alliances you deem worthy of your support. What is best for your alliance can change quickly, and what alliances you support also can as well. Paper chokes this process. Paperless helps give you the option to pivot easier, however it's still not easy. Paperless alliances require strong, active leadership. You have to keep up with lots of alliances simply for the sake that your friends one day might be against you on the battlefield the next (even if they remain friends). It's also a lot riskier. Should you make a major misstep and get your alliance dog-piled, there will be few people lining up to bail you out because there will be little political pressure for them to do so from outside sources. You won't get people trolling you for not honoring a treaty, or not supporting a side people believed you should like recent examples with Alpha (when tied to Rose/tS) and TKR (when tied to NPO was it?). This fits that paperless suits a proactive leadership style, and PnW-wise a proactive military style. You want to be the one on the attack. I could go on, and maybe I will in a follow-up blog but lets try to wrap this one up. Paperless is very much like paper, it's just not out in the open like everyone else and you can change where you stand much easier. You need the right people to do it well, and need to be an alliance that stands by your word because that's all you have, your reputation. I find the best way to do it is talking to people about possible scenarios and where you stand so your friends and enemies alike know where you stand on issues, because your enemies might become your friends and vice versa quicker than you think. Or not. It's really up to you and your alliance, which is why I like this system more than the traditional.

OBEY. WADDLE. PROSPER. As the Empire digests its newest Herringsraum into the Greater Penguin Nestingland, members of the Nestingchancellery authorized the first wave of colonists to settle the depopulated holdings on the edge of Krakkian territory. Colonists are advised to be on the lookout for armed resistance, and to remember that hard work breeds strength in spirit. Colonists Will Be Determined By Random Lottery, Failure To Relocate Is a Terminable Offense! As the size of the Nestingland has tripled after its conquests, experts predict less food shortages as the Empire industrializes its new coastal areas. Enlist today for an additional Herring Ration! Please Stand By, for a speech from our Bird-Emperor: Failure To Respond To State Salutes Is A Terminable Offense! Loose Beaks Sink Fleets: Report Dissent And Odd Occurrences Immediately! Failure To Report Eggs With Odd Number of Speckles Is A Terminable Offense!

I just released a new podcast, this one is just me talking about the recent changes and what I may be doing in the future. I talked about some tinkering with military population caps, military score, changing server time to GMT, and making some quality of life improvements to keep people happy. For the next podcast, I'll try to answer some questions, so if you have any, feel free to ask them here in the comments. It doesn't have to be game related, though I reserve the right to pick and choose the questions that I answer. Podcast Link: https://soundcloud.com/alex-winchell-853488732/002-reflection-on-changes-and-future-plans

As it stands, the Nova Scotian Federation does not recognize foreign waters in properly international zones. As the freedom of the sea promotes trade, countries that block off trade to certain parts of the world via boundaries and tariffs are formally not recognized by trade vessels of the NSF. Saying this, we will enforce our beliefs in the free and open international waters by accompanying trade vessels (now fleets to keep the cargo safe from terrorists) with at least 2 naval ships.

Citizens of Orbis: Long has been the night. Long has been our exile from the surface. Our cities, once the envy of our enemies, have collapsed into dust. Our lands, once bordering only with the sea, have been picked apart and claimed by the unworthy. Our indomitable will, once the Proud Birthright of every Master-Fowl, has been exposed as an ephemeral shadow of its former self. No. Longer. As the great Mythic Fowl of legend was once consumed by fire and reborn anew, so will our Empire ascend from the ashes. We will rebuild our great Nests, We will rearm our growing military, and we will rejuvenate our national pride. Our enemies, weak and fat in their cowardly peace, will bow or break before the triumphant will of the Nestingland. Even now, our expert Penguinaries are cleansing the streets of the filth that is the CommuSeals. As our mortal enemies draw their last breaths, so does our fledgling Nestingland draw its first. Enemies of the State, take heed: Your time is in its twilight. Your species, whether it be Ursine, Feline, Hensonian, or any sickening species that does not bear the title of Master-Fowl will be crushed underclaw. Our time is at hand, our Nest ascendant. We will have our final victory, one that will last for a thousand winters. One Fowl. One Nest. One Emperor. FIIIIN! HAIL! FIIIN! HAIL! FIIN! HAIL.

FLIPPERS ARE GOOD, FINS AṞ̟͓ÍE̦̲̩̯͞ͅÌÌ« ̢͚̹Ì͉FÍ Í”ÌºÌžÌŸÌŸÌ®AÍ”ÍSÌ¡ÌÌ£Ì¯Ì C̶̰̜͚̦IÌ•Í̮̲͕̞͎S̘̙Ì̖͖̤T Are we clear? I say again, are we clear? Something is wrong with our comms. Be advised, enemy intelligence is on all frequencies. Sealskau has fallen. Sealingrad is no more. Something isn't right. This can't be r- OÍ̗̯̺͎̳̞ͅB̮͔͓̱̲̳͡EÍÌY̞͎̫.Í̯̲̪̱̳ ÍÍ̦͎͔͉WÌŸA̦D̢͔̖͚̱ÌÌÍ”D̩̞̹͡L̦͙E.Í͉ ̗͎͚̤P̜̹͉Ì̥͉R̺̲̗̺̪͔͜ͅƠ͇̮S̮͚̞͟P͓͚̺ÍE̸Ì͉̗Ì̜̲̭RÍ͖͖̘͔.Í ÌªÌ¹Í‡Ì¹Í™ÍŽÌž ̩̙͢ͅY͈̗̻ͅO҉̣Ù͚̲R̼͇̦ ̬͚EÍNÌ͚͖D̖͚̥ ̙̬̹̘IŞ͎̱͎̹̪ ÌÌ—AÍT̖̮̮͚͡ ̳̮̘̕H̡̻̤̬̩̣AÌ·Ì«Ǹ̞̙̲ÌD.͙̩̗̮̙̦̘ ÌœÌœÌ Í•Ì Í͕͖̳Y̲̞ͅO̥͔͔̙̣͚̜Ṵ̡̘ Í•Ì°C͇͙͉̺̤Í̲A̡͈͎̖Ì͈̥̖NÌ ÌžÌ°ÌªN͔͉̥͇̻ͅO̤͕T͎͖͔͖͈ S̶̗̳̳̫̘͖Ţ̪̻͙̯̜Ơ̲PÌ¢ ̙͕͉̦͎̼̖͜Ṱ̹̫͕̹͇̲͟H̯͖͓ÌÍ”E̷̘Ì̲ ͔̦͚͚̳͚I̼̭̭MÍ Ì¤Í…Ì¹Ì–P̧̘͖̟͈̹EÍÌ NÍ–Í…ÍšD҉̻͇̯͕̗IÍÍŽÍ̘̯̱̭̙N̪̲G̡̱̜̗ Í͇̙̳TID̨̖ÍÌ Ì«Ì¹Ì¦Ì«E̵Í̲͓.̰͇͔͉ ̦̦ ÍžF̪̻̮͘I͉̲̖̟͔N̼ ̻̙̖̰ ̭̼̰H̙̘͔A̱͉I̱͖̥̭͔͟ͅL̸̦̻ ͙͎̼͇̮̪ ̯̥̪̩̦͇

FLIPPERS ARE GOOD, FIA̻̙DÍ Ì¸Ì¬ÌŸḎ̯̹̥̀ͅL͎̱̦͉͔̯ͅEÍ͉̤̬͓͉.̸͔̭͉͙͓̪̗̥̀ ̷͔̻̥̩͈͎̲͚͞ÌPÍŸÍ̩̩̹͚͓͉̖̹R̡̫̮͓OÌ¡ÌÍ̤S͡҉̥̲͙͓̰̼PÍžÍ̶͖̳̪͈E̵̡͇̪Ì̲ÍÍ•Ì°R̢̺̦͙̯̜̬̹ͅ.̷̨̮̮̦̞ Evacuations are underway. Please relocate to the nearest F͇͕̗̰I͔͓͙̭͈̗̪̭̕͟I̞̲̬I̪̦͉͎̞N̶͖͈̺͜ ̢̲͔̮͔̟̱̲HÍœÍÌ—Ì°Ì͉͚̭̥̻À̩̤̮̺ÌÌŸI̵Í͉̹͓͙̳̙̀Ļ̤̳̱̣̖̼͜ation area. Pups and Cows first. All available male seals are compelled to avenge the Mother-islands. This message is set to repeW̴̭̲OÍ͎̖̦͙ͅÌÌœR̛͈̦̜̲̗͔͟TÒ‰Í̵̙̳̥͈̺̞ͅH̨̛̱̜̀L̢̳̣̖͉̳̬E̶̛͓̟̫̻̞̼̺͢S҉͔̼͉͕̺̤̼S̷̗̗̭͞ ̲̺̩SÍ˜Ì·Ì­Ì¤ÌªÍ”ÌºÌ Ṵ̷͘͘B̸̖̙̕-͎̬̲̭̺͖ÌÍ•FÍœÍÍ‰ÍˆÌ³ÍšÌ Í•Ì­ÌªOÌ—Ì̜̼̥͉̰͓͙WÍžÌ®Ì—Ì£Ì Í“LÍ Í Í̯ͅÍ:̢̨͚̞͙̫̻͡ ̸̘̹͔̺͚̥͜ ÍÍ Ì­Ì­Ì¹FÍ̼̱R҉̻̩͞O҉̳̗͖̼̯͟͞ÌÍ•Í•Ì­MÍ€Í̗̻͓ ̶̫̟̗̣͚͖͡TḬ́͜H̩̺̫͜͡Ì̱̟Ȩ̹̰̰̥ Í̗̬̜̥̲͇̺ͅAÌ·Ì Í™Í•Ì—Ì²Ì¯S̶͈̪͜͜ÌÌ͖̹̞Ḥ͖̘͈̻̣̗̀EÍ¡Í̹̹Í̲S̵̢̞̥̲ ̶̸ÍÌ»OÍ̭̜̖̣̣Ì̹F̴̨͎͉͉̞̟̯̺ͅ Í͔̣̖̟͉ͅDÒ‰Í̫̜̺̣̳͇͖ÍĘ̫̞͈͕̲G̜͔̦̻ͅE͞҉̺̥͙͈̀NÍœÍ ÌªE̥͚͇͇R̸̲̹AÍ Í€Í™Í…Í‰Í•ÌŸÌ¯Ì±Ì¯ÍCÌŸYÍ͎͇͕͕̫̳Ì,̶̧̫̦̘Í̪ Ì Ì³Ì»A̧̨̖̺̩̪ͅ ̴͎͙̱̘͔͙̗N̮͡͞È͕̱WÍÌ¨Í…Ì±Í™Ì Ì²ÍšÌ³Ì¯Í“ ÍOÌ·Ì̺͈̖͎͈͉R҉̴̤̭̞̯̬̣D̷̞̣̺̩͉ÌÌ E̴̶͉̻̤̞ÌR̬̩̺̹̼̦̘͡ ÍÌ•Ì›Í‡Í–Ì¹Ì°Ì ÌŸÌ¬ÌŸWÍ Í™Í–Ì̞͙Ì̮͓I̛̞̳͈̭͎̖LÌ·Í¢Í̲͎L̶͎̬̩̻̞͢ÌÌ»Í ÍžÌ—Ì³ÍŽÍˆÌṞ̴̺̮̦̲͙̣̩I̳̬̳͈͎̼͎͉Ş̷͙̣͕̯̖͖̬̫Ę̴̛̜͙͔͉̲͎̥͕.Ì´ÍÍ ÌºÌ¦Ì£Ì¹Ì—Ì¥Í‡ ̴̨̣̜̜̗̪̺̩͜O̧͞Í͓̟̹U̪͢R̨̜͕͈̗̺̳̙̕ Í ÌºÌ—Ì­Ì Ì°TÍ Í̘̭̱I̧̳͚͈͕M̷̧̙̺̕ÌḚ̷̢̰͚̮͖͓ Ò‰Ì̘̻͉͓̭̱̜IÌ¢Í̟̘̜SÍÌ—ÍˆÌºÍ Ì¢Ì­Ì¤A̜̣͕͖ÌT̴͙̦͎͎͉̪̭ ̯̙̭͘HÌ´Ì¨Í¡Í‡Ì Í‡Í™AÍ̯̗̮͔̺NÍ Ì¸Ì¬Ì±ÍŽD̟͙͓̙͜͟ÍÌ«Í“,̷̺̻͞ ̛̫̩Í͇̭͉O̵̷͕̬̗̩̪̕UÍ̼̼̹͇̞Ŗ̬̘̪̫͔̩̤͟ ̞͙̮͇͖̜Ę̸͓̣̩̮̤̹͢M͙͢PÌ¢Í̯̜͖̦̬̪̪͚ͅI͎͓̞̤̬̮R͇̺̥̫͕̟̮̕͞Ę̦̖ Í Ì­Ì˜Í™Ì—Í‡Í‰A̶̲̻̳̬̞͘RÍ̷̱I͚̼͚̳͕͎͡͞SÌ Í•Í…Ì¬Ì¤Í™ÍšÌ¹E̢̬̘̩̻Ǹ̻̜̘͘͡ Í¢Í̟̘͕̬AÍ̧̙͔̬̹̪̜N̵͔͎̦̟͢͞ͅÌ̹E̞͈̬̺̭WÍÌ•Í¢Ì©Ì Ì¦Ì¦Ì£Ì–Ì¥Ì³Í….Ì·ÍÌ̬ Í Í“Ì¹ ̧͓͖̰̞̩̘̕T̨̘H̦Ì̩̥̫̺͉E̻͖̩̰̮͕͚̱̖R̡͈̻̙̣̦̣̻͚EÌ¼Ì¤Ì Ì£ÍšÌ£ ̷̸̫̮ÌÍ•IÌ Ì±Ì¯SÍ̸̻ ̹̱͚̜̘̘̫NÍÌ¨Ì¥Ì Í‡Ì°Ì¥Ì¼O̧̰̺ͅÌ͔͈ Ì•ÍœÍ”Ì ÍŽÌ©Í•R̢̨ÍÌ ÌÌ«Ò̷͖̹OÍ͓͎̗̫̤̥̲̳̞̀͡MÌ¢Í Ì˜Ì¤Ì¥Í“Ì«ÌŸÍ“ ̢̱̜̗͜Ḭ̳̣̀F̷̳̱̺̫͚O̘ÌÌ£R̶̭͚̙ÌÌ™Í̺̞ Ì¦ÌºÍšÍ“Ì ÌºÍšÌ˜ÍPÒ‰Í̺̙̖Í̳̰̬̼E̻̟͟AÍ̥̙C̢̖̙E̸̤̣Í̤ͅͅ.҉̵̫̞͢ Ì§Ì Ì²Ì˜Ì™Í‰ÌºÌ¯Ì³TÍžÌ·Ì Ì±Ì¹Í”Ì͕͇H̸Ì͙̙̼E͈̼̰͕͘RÍ҉̰̬Ę̴͕̰̖͇̹̻̹̦͡ ̧̥͉̥̘͈͇I̘̗̖S̱ ̼͎̖̀Ơ̡͖͉͟NḬ̲́LỊ͈̳́Y̪̞̤͇͖͚̲͡ ̺̱̟̯̗͎̣̀HÍ¢Í̹̱͉E̥͢ͅRÍœÍ̘̰̗͙ÌÍ…R̛͖͓͎̭͞IÌ¨ÍœÍ Ì–Í‰Ì¦NÍỊ͖̼̥͓́ͅG͉͇͔̤̳S̵̡̯̱͈̹̥͔RÌ Ì¬Ì¦Ì­ÌžÍ…Ì©Ì²A̶̢̛̞̤̪̫̣͇̣̗ͅUÍ͇̞͙̤̼͞ÌÌ©MÌ·Ì¶ÌªÌ¼Ì¼Ì¹Ì .ÍÍ̬̖̪ ̨Ì̜͕BĮ̪̤͙̩́ͅÌ͉Ǫ̵͕WÍÌ̺̫ ̤̫̰̲̰͘B̶̘͚͜͜E̸̕ÍÌŸÌžFÌ›Ì Ì³Í…Ì¤Ì£O̷͘ÍÌ̫͇̩̥̦RÍÍ̬̥͉͞EÍÌ Í•Ì²Ì²Ì® ̧͉̘̳̯͕̫̕Y̛͖̳̣̰Ǫ̪̪̘̦͜ͅŲ̼͡͞R̴̩̤ÌÍ“ ̦̣̭̣͈CÒ‰Ì·Í…Ì¬Í”Ì Ì¦Ì¹ÌžO̴̜̻̙͢N̢̫ͅͅQÍŸÍŸÌ¢ÌÌ Ì­ÌºÌ¼ÍU̬̲EÍ̴̢̥̩̗͎̳̮R̢̲̭O̵̪̗̗̺R̯̣̳͇S̶̖̲͢.͟҉͓͉̩͇ ÍŸÍ Ì±Ì¬ÌŸÌ¯Ì¯ Ì¶Í Ì¬Í™Ì­Ì¹ÍŽO̶̱̞̜͔̳Í̮̭B̴̲̙͇̗͞EÌ•Ị̩́ͅY͕̳̯̫ͅͅÍ.Í̪͕̫̭̺͙͇̰͟ ̤͇ͅW͕̹A̢̨Í̬Í̩̳̟DÌÌ Í–Ì Ì˜Ì–Í‡DÌ Ì Ì—Ì Ì°Í”Ì¼Ì™Ḽ̟̦̱͕E̢̬͙.̵̤̙ Ì´ÍÌ›Ì­Í‡Ì Ì˜Ì©P̶̰͇̖̳͟ͅR̰͉̫͖͢O̟̮͞SÍ̛͎͔Í̬̱̣PÍ Ì»Í”Í–Ì™Ì¼E҉̢̘̭͘R̞̪̮̞̼̯.̡͔̞̮

... Something... on August 3rd, 1997. [Dimitri Valko] Alright, I got a hold on a reporter in Pakistan... say hello. [Dio] You were expecting someone else, but it was me, Dio! [Dimitri Valko] Oh, god no. [Dio] Interview commenses! [Dimitri Valko] Yes, now ask some questions. [Dio] You were expecting questions, but it was me, Dio! [Dimitri Valko] ... [Dio] ... [Dimitri Valko] OUT!

Woodbury at War! SWF Surrenders to Mensa? On October 20th, The Socialist Workers Front declared war on International Revolution. A war that Woodbury leader "The Governor" supported. The forces of Woodbury, led by The Governor himself, marched into the nations of Eagleland and Puella-Magia. The war against International Revolution went well enough, however on October 21st, the next day, Mensa attacked all alliances of the Salus Bloc. While The Governor believed that the Salus bloc could overwhelm and defend against Mensa if they united their forces and coordinated together, the leader of SWF, Vassili Dovgan, disagreed. The Socialist Workers Front (As well as Odd Squad) folded and surrendered to the forces of Mensa. After the surrender, The Governor went on to say: "For the first time ever, I am ashamed of my alliance. Many members of our bloc were afraid when Mensa attacked. We all were, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't afraid. But Mensa are terrorists who use fear and force to get what they want! And what they want is what we have! What we all have worked so hard for! We're supposed to stand up against raiders and terrorists, not run away! This surrender is shameful." Whilst The Socialist Workers Front surrendered to Mensa, the war with International Revolution goes on.

Just though I'd write a little blog post as a teaser, illustrating a number of things that could potentially come as updates in the near future, along with what I'm actually working on. 1. P&Wpedia I want this to be a very useful, accurate collection of information about the game. I've been writing all the articles myself, and trying to include lots of information (and your beloved formulas) so it's a bit time consuming, but eventually I'll have a nice encyclopedia of information like I once dreamed of having on the wiki. 2. National Project Additions I'm looking at developing a new component to the game, additions to national projects. Aimed specifically at some of the cheaper Econ projects, the ability to add an "Addition" that gives you some related or unrelated benefit. There'd be two choices to each project, mutually exclusive, that come at a large cost and provide some benefit to your nation. Would be a way to further specialize nations, and make econ projects a little more viable. 3. Perks I know. We've talked about it for forever. But I think sometime soon it'll finally happen. 4. More Ways to Redeem Credits I'm kicking around the idea of being able to redeem a credit for 50 infrastructure in a city of your choice. It would count towards your monthly limit when you spent it, and might incentivize more donations from larger nations, or at least increase credit demand as a whole. 5. A New NP for Wind Power Plants Looking at adding a project that could make Wind Power Plants more viable. Probably something that lets them power 1,000 infrastructure, instead of just 250. --- There's no ETA or guarantee on any of these, and that's why this is a blog post. Enjoy the read, though!

I had been thinking of doing an in character, news/propaganda blog category for some time. However, it would seem that while I was thinking this over, the whole format has become widespread. While this isn't by any means a bad thing, I simply cannot bare being thought of as 'jumping on the bandwagon' and so decided that I must do something different. This morning I came up with an idea for a comic layout illustration, and it seems to have turned out acceptably. So I'm going with that. I've got an idea for a short little story arc that I think is both interesting and mostly within my current artistic capabilities. If people enjoy it, I may post more. Our story begins in the Campbell Nation, a burgeoning federation (Officially "Neosituationist People's Federation") following a peculiar variant of democratic socialism, and a proud member of the alliance Rose. It is late May, and although the alliance is at peace, it looks as if it will not remain so for long. (We'll meet our protagonist over the next few strips.) Politics and War: A Story in Comic form Part 1 About the art: I draw things by hand, with a regular old pencil and sketchpad, and occasionally some colored pencils. For this comic, I drew the pictures on a page, then fought with the scanner to give me an acceptable likeness, and chopped that up and put it back together again in MS Paint. I am well aware that better options exist, but at the moment I like focusing on the paper drawings. This process will probably stay the same for the story arc, though I may tweak a few specifics. The first panel shows three flags; they are, from left to right: the Campbell Nation's official flag, the Rose alliance flag, and the hammer and sickle used by my nation in game. The seal in the second panel is the official pencil-and-compass emblem of the National Neosituationist Party, which represents the Campbell Nation's official ideology. The third panel is a close up of the Grand Senate of the Federation. All of these symbols are very prominent, and likely to come up again.

Note that this is based on GPA's old image with their old leader. *Grillick uses espionage as a loophole for getting around GPA's declaration of neutrality* *Grillick gets his alliance in a bloody massacre and ends up resigning* Terminus Est, Seven Kingdoms, and Guardian: Yo, why'd you do espionage on us? Grillick: What espionage? TEst, SK, & Guardian: Dude, you were caught. Grillick: Well, our declaration of neutrality doesn't forbid espionage. The Coalition (TEst, SK, and Guardian): Yo that's bull !@#$. Grillick: I don't give two !@#$, I'm king here. I'm not afraid of you. Come at me bro. *The Coalition declares war* *Grillick surrenders after like two days*

Well, thanks word limit. Now I have to divide this into three parts. Act 2 Scene 2 - A parking lot behind the Orbis Wal-Mart Scene: The lot is entirely abandoned, with the exception of Sheepy, who is making a furtive sacrifice to the blood god in an empty refrigerator box. Clouds blanket the sky, and a brisk wind sends plastic bags flying around. enter Guardian, Rose, Seven Kingdoms, and Terminus Est Guardian *excitedly* Alright, our mortal foes shall be here soon! We need to prepare an ambush. Rose, hide behind the shopping cart. SK, behind the light pole. I'll be back here, behind all this donation bin. Terminus Est What about me? Guardian Since you are the weakest link, stand right here in the middle and serve as our bait. Look pathetic, though it shouldn't be too hard. Terminus Est Its hard to look weak when I once disemboweled a guy just so I could get his souvenir keychain. It had my name on it, you see. Rose *excitedly* Can I play with the intestines? Seven Kingdoms *exasperatedly* Rose, TEst is making that up. Its never disemboweled anyone. Guardian All of you, shut up! Now TEst, stand there or I'll break your other kneecap! Everyone else, get into position, I think I hear them! Guardian, Rose, and Seven Kingdoms move into their hiding places. Terminus Est hobbles into position in the middle of the lot enter United Purple Nations, The Dutch East India Company, and Brotherhood of the Clouds, discussing the differences between lemonade and limeade. The Dutch East India Company Well I'm telling you, limes are really much be- *with surprise* Well well well, if it isn't our old friend Terminus Est. What are you doing here? Terminus Est I'm here to inflict severe bodily harm, of course. United Purple Yeah, how you gonna do that? By shooting yourself again? How is that leg by the way? Terminus Est I only need one to kick your ass. Brotherhood of the Clouds So where are your loser posse TEst? They run scared, like last time? Guardian Right here! ​Guardian, Rose, and Seven Kingdoms spring out of hiding, surrounding The Dutch East India Company, United Purple Nations, and Brotherhood of the Clouds. Guardian *eagerly* Now whose at a disadvantage? Heheh, you fell right into my clever trap! Brotherhood of the Clouds Clever? You must admit this trap is rather rudimentary. Anyone could really come up with it. Guardian What?! My genius is unparalleled! Do you think idiots like Seven Kingdoms could come up with something of this caliber? Seven Kingdoms Yeah, I could. This was pretty simple. Guardian *angrily* Shut up! The point is, you've fallen into my trap. Prepare to get crushed for all eternity! The Dutch East India Company You know, why do you hate us so much? Guardian A long history of tyranny going back to when we los- suffered an minor and temporary setback this afternoon! Seven Kingdoms *with brutal honesty* We were bored and looking for some fun. Rose wanted to play on the slide. Brotherhood of the Clouds That is pretty sad. Guardian I'll let SK's treason slide because you'll never get to leave and tell anyone! ATTACK! Mysterious Voice Not so fast! A bag of trash splits in half and Empire of Spades steps out Empire of Spades I can't let you do that Guardian. Like I said before, UPN owes me $5. $5 which I intend to collect. Guardian *huaghtily* Yeah? Well, I guess you'll just have to do that after we're done. United Purple Nations EOS, you're alive? Rose said that it ate you! Empire of Spades hangs its head in frustration Empire of Spades And all you guys believed Rose? Since when has Rose done anything that would lead you to believe it could actually eat me? The Dutch East India Company I dunno, it just sounded like something Rose would do. Rose I can eat you if I want. Spades are just like stickers and rocks, very chewy. Empire of Spades That is really messed up. Have you ever gotten Rose checked out? Seven Kingdoms The doctor says its permanent. Empire of Spades Shame. Anyway, if you won't let me at UPN, I'll go through you first! Guardian I knew I was right to not let you join our party! Sick EOS, allies! Rose and Seven Kingdoms run at Empire of Spades, who nimbly dodges away and charges Guardian. Empire of Spades pulls out a knife and is about to stab Guardian when Ignis Immortales appears from nowhere and launches itself at Empire of Spades. Guardian What? Empire of Spades What the- Instead of shredding Guardian, Empire of Spade's blade cuts deep into Ignis Immortales. Ignis Immotales falls to the ground, bleeding, while Guardian bends over it. All the other alliances stand still. Gaurdian *confused and angry* Ignis, why did you do that, you idiot! I had everything under control! Ingnis Immortales *weakly* Because...... I love you.... Guardian...... I...... just...... wanted to.... help.... I'm glad...I saved... you... Guardian Well, I'm not glad you moron! At least you could've taken down EOS before you got stabbed! And where are the missiles I sent you to buy?! Thanks for being completely useless! Ignis Immortales *weakly* You're....not...happy?....But....I....... Ignis Immortale's head rolls back, and its eyes close for the final time Seven Kingdoms *accusatorially to Empire of Spades* You killed Ignis! Empire of Spades Eh, whatever. Its not like Ignis really matters. Guardian Yeah, fair point. A shot rings out, and Empire of Spades collapses to the ground. United Purple Nations lowers its weapon United Purple Nations Sorry EOS, but I need that $5. You should've stayed dead. ​The Dutch East India Company and Brotherhood of the Clouds pull out guns and the three turn to face Guardian, Rose, Terminus Est, and Seven Kingdoms The Dutch East India Company Lets polish off these idiots for real, then get out of here. I say this takes 2 minutes tops. Brotherhood of the Clouds You're on! Brotherhood of the Clouds and The Dutch East India Company fist bump Seven Kingdoms Not today! For too long have we been oppressed by cruel and callous alliances. Now, we end that threat! For Ignis Immortales! Guardian *whispers* Not for Ignis, thats embarrassing... The Dutch East India Company *sarcastically* Nice role-play, how long did it take you to come up with that! Seven Kingdoms Less than it'll take to finish you off! Ahhhhhh! Seven Kingdoms and Rose charge, followed by Guardian. Terminus Est hobbles as fast as it can behind them. Dutch East India Company, United Purple Nations, and Brotherhood of the Clouds charge as well, and the two groups meet in the middle of the parking lot in a frenzy of shots and fisticuffs. Terminus Est I may be slow, but I'm still crazy! Take this. Terminus Est fires two shots. One manages to curve into its uninjured knee, and Terminus Est collapses. The other bullet slams into Seven Kingdoms, who takes another step and then falls to the ground, dead. Guardian Noooooooooo! Seven Kingdoms! Rose barrels into The Dutch East India Company and Brotherhood of the Clouds, sending them both flying. It then begins to pummel UPN. ​Guardian charges The Dutch East India Company and tries to to keep the alliance down with punches and kicks. Guardian That was for Seven Kingdoms! And that was for my obsessive compulsive hatred of you! And that was for my mother! And that was for world peace! And that was- Brothehood of the Clouds calmly walks up behind Guardian and stabs it with Empire of Spade's knife. Fueled by obsessive hatred, Guardian turns around and tears the knife out from its back and swings wildly at Brotherhood of the Clouds. Brotherhood of the Clouds and The Dutch East India Company back away and watch as Guardian staggers around until it collapses. The Dutch East India Company Where's The Almighty when you need him now? Brotherhood of the Clouds Nice line. The Dutch East India Company Thanks, it was really only natural for such an all-around amazing alliance like myself. Lets go finish off Rose. Rose picks up United Purple Nations, and throws the alliance across the lot, but United Purple Nations lands on its feet. Rose begins singing tribal chants. United Purple Nations *creeped out* Man, why did I have to fight Rose? Oh well, lets cut this rose's stem! United Purple Nations picks up its gun and prepares to fire when Rose suddenly breaks and runs away. United Purple Nations What!? ​Rose yells that it must preserve the line of kings and disappears around the corner of the store. The Dutch East India Company and Brotherhood of the Clouds join United Purple Nations United Purple Nations Rose got away. Brotherhood of the Clouds Oh well, we still won conclusively, as was expected. How much time, by the way? The Dutch East India Company 1 minute 43 seconds, looks like I win. Brotherhood of the Clouds Rats! The three alliances turn to Terminus Est, who is laying on the ground, looking terrified. The Dutch East India Company What do you want to do with TEst. United Purple Nations We're merciful, more than these guys would've ever been. Lets leave this one alone. Brotherhood of the Clouds Alright! As the three alliances take one last look at Terminus Est, Brotherhood of the Clouds suddenly gives out a cry and collapses, a katana in its back. The Dutch East India Company and United Purple Nations turn around in shock and horror to see a familiar alliance standing in the lot. Green Protection Agency Hello my fellows. United Purple Nations *shocked* What did you do? Green Protection Agency I was simply securing my rule over this world. I thank you for eliminating so much of the competition, but I'm afraid your usefulness is at its end. Goodbye. United Purple Nations If you think we're going to let some dirty neutral rule this place, you're sadly mistaken! The Dutch East India Company Lets show this hippie how us blocs do things around here! The Dutch East India Company and United Purple Nations hold up their hands and begin to glow. When the glow fades, a single alliance stands in their place. The two alliances have merged. United Company of East Indies Nations Didn't expect that, did you! This one is for Brotherhood! United Company of East Indies Nations takes a thundering step forward and tries to crush Green Protection Agency. However Green Protection Agency simply dodges the massive alliance and flicks its hand, sending United Company of East Indies Nations flying into a wall, where it dissolves into its two constituent alliances, who do not move. Green Protection Agency Well that was.. unimpressive. All these warlike alliances are fools anyway. Killing and maiming themselves while I take over behind the scenes. If only they knew their pathetic little plots and petty rivalries were utterly meaningless. If they had united, they might have stood a chance. Green Protection Agency stares around at the devastation, its eyes alighting on Terminus Est Terminus Est *nervously* We're cool, right? Green Protection Agency Sorry, no blood-drinking cultists my new world. Insane relics like yourself deserve only to cease existing. Green Protection Agency flicks its hand again, and Terminus Est spontaneously combusts, melting into a pool of bile and ill-thought out forum posts Green Protection Agency Well, I suppose that it is time to begin ruling my new domain. It has been a blast everyone... Green Protection Agency turns and begins to walk out of the parking lot, away from the fallen alliances, giving no further thought to the foes which it had vanquished, and only to the future. Suddenly, an alliance becomes relevant and materializes next to Green Protection Agency. The Supreme Gentlemen Heeeey GPA, loved the final speech. Very classy. I always knew that you would win, I'm pretty good at picking winners. Say, you need any help running this place? I could be very helpful! ​Green Protection Agency I'm sorry, who are you? The Supreme Gentlemen *frustrated* FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU- End

Building Boom Across Country! Newly built apartments loom over the emptying slums from the Capitalist Era. Despite great progress having been made since the downfall of the capitalist class, a high number of refugees from the IR-UPN war still flood the country every day. The result is a building boom of proportions unknown to the country in the past. Up to 10,000 refugees have been entering the country every day as the country struggles to find housing for our new friends and neighbors. For now, the slums that have been emptied have been temporarily re-inhabited while their new homes are being built. For now though, these former slum neighborhoods are constantly being emptied and re-inhabited. The party is paying people to be able to temporarily merge their households and families into single apartments, allowing for more space to be allocated to the needs of the refugees themselves. The party has made the following statement. In the city of Irzen, a major project is underway, to build temporary and permanent housing for the refugees and their families. Orphanages as well as soup kitchens organized by the collectives will be built. The project will house up to 50,000 people as well as accommodate up to 100,000 people with temporary housing to replace the slums of the old neighborhoods. The slums are also going to undergo major renovations so that they'll be, at the very least, bearable. These projects will be considered the newest designated districts of cities, built in convenient locations near city centers. They will each feature 1 open square, 1 main center for information and entertainment, at least 1 Metro Stop, and at least one street dedicated the allocation of resources aka markets and centers of trade. Don't mistake these for businesses, as they are simply the places where people go to pick up their food and meet their other material needs, but they're not businesses. The project in Irzen. There are currently over 10 such projects being built within Arkez. The building boom in the capital of Arkeznark. One such Refugee, Nekkan Mekovitz, a father of two, is grateful for the open arms. "We're grateful, absolutely grateful that Arkez has welcomed us so readily. It has made life a lot easier for my family, which had enough trouble on the voyage to this isolated country." Mekovitz a refugee from an IR nation, has found a new home and a new community in Birzchkinon, the oldest city in Arkez. Hopefully, all refugees will find a new life with just as bright a future here in Arkez.

Translated to English: Lucia Svadin: "Hello, I'm Lucia Svadin, and the results of the election of 1999 are in. Lets take a look." KHEVINIST ELECTIONS Lucia Svadin: "The Conservative Party, The Social Democratic Union, and The Fascist Party got 0 seats and few votes. They totaled to 1% of the population. The Zhoginist Party won 78%, and the Liberals won with 21%. Congratulations to Vladimir Zhogin with his new term, and we wish him luck."

In 12 minutes it's my birthday. I will be 20 and not dead yet. Something ain't right. O.O Christian was here...

With the current state of the treaty web I've really come begun to think that this place is a lost cause. I thought it would be more interesting with with tS leaving the bloc,instead it has just gotten worse. This place could have been something different but instead it appears to be headed into the same pitfall that every other nation sim does when seeing whole groups immigrate from (That terrible game that is totally irrelevant and I shouldn't be bringing it up anyways). It is becoming (That terrible game that is totally irrelevant and I shouldn't be bringing it up anyways)-lite Conclusion

Taxes are a powerful force. In this world, taxes are the only way alliances can physically impose policy on their members without expelling them. Alliances have the power, if they so choose, to seize all net income and all resource production from every member, forever. That is an incredible power, but of course alliances hardly ever use the vast power afforded to them. The question is what can we learn about alliances from taxes? I will argue that just about everything one needs to know about philosophy of an alliance can be gleamed from just two sources: what tax rates the alliance sets and how it uses the resources and money gained from these taxes. Let's start with the two most extreme cases. Consider a hypothetical alliance, let's call it the ABC Alliance. The ABC Alliance has no taxes at all. In this alliance, nations keep all of what they make and produce. There are a few important implications of this policy. For one, the alliance has no source of income outside of donations and thus will not have much in the way of reserves. It also means that the alliance trusts its members ... a lot, given that the alliance believes all its members will ensure they have resources and cash for war and rebuilding. If they don't, there is no net for them to fall back on, no aid will be arriving. This may seem like a terrible strategy, but actually while it's very extreme and would not likely be widely adopted, it could work well for neutral alliances. Neutral alliances would not experience the strain of war often, if ever, so there is not as much of a need to have alliance reserves. Those alliances would probably benefit from allowing their members to keep what they make, and if members do need aid, it could be arranged via members donating money or resources to one another. Of course, this scheme could easily lead to problems if the alliance's estimation of its members' competence is not entirely accurate and large-scale economic hardship, possibly brought by war, comes to claim another victim. Let's consider a second hypothetical alliance called the DEF Alliance. The DEF Alliance has maximum taxes, that is to say they charge a 100% cash rate and a 100% resource rate, seizing all net income and all production for the alliance. As you can probably tell, if the ABC Alliance is libertarian, the DEF Alliance is communist. In this world, it is actually possible for an alliance to be functionally communist, not just ideologically so. The DEF Alliance would use this large income to provide massive amounts of aid to its members. The effective tax rate (df. how much a given nation pays, proportional to its income, over a given period of time considering any income returned via aid and other such mechanisms where nothing is offered in exchange for said returned income) in this alliance is actually not very high at all for most nations as income is returned in the form of aid. If it wasn't, the alliance simply would not develop at all. The alliance simply controls the entire economy and centrally plans all development as it decides who will receive aid, when, for what, and how much. This could theoretically be more efficient if those making these decisions are better at doing so than individual members, but it is also likely to be inefficient. All income is essentially being put through several more steps before it gets spent and each time it does so there is the potential for inefficiencies. More steps before income is spent mean more chances for these inefficiencies to develop. In between the two extremes of ABC and DEF is the vast middle ground. The two hypothetical alliances described above are the two ends of a spectrum on which all alliances fall. It is likely that the distribution of alliances along this spectrum follows a bell curve skewed toward ABC; this is due to a combination of members' ability to vote with their feet and their likely desire not to pay very high taxes so as to be allowed to develop their nation how they see fit. Ultimately, every alliance reaches a compromise in which the members are satisfied they have what they want and the alliance is satisfied it has what it wants, this compromise largely defines where that alliance falls on the spectrum. In making this compromise, alliances are saying a lot about themselves. Higher taxes are associated with more centrally planned economies; the higher the tax rates, the more centrally planned an alliance's economy is; these alliances are likely to have a more collectivistic culture as all resources and incomes are turned over to society, in the form of the alliance, for the benefit of all. Lower taxes are associated with individualism over collectivism (everyone makes what they make, more or less, and does it with it as they so choose, largely regardless of how that affects others), less central planning and more nation-directed development. No point of the spectrum is the "correct" way to do things as at any given point, there is at least one way to make it work. Higher taxes mean lots of aid, at lower to mid tax levels loans are likely to be a more effective solution, and at very low levels individuals will have to save up for development on their own. In all three of these cases, the alliance can develop, doesn't mean it will, but it can, so no level precludes the possibility of development. What the levels, these points on the spectrum, do do is tell us what an alliance believes given how it conducts its affairs. Taxes are fundamental to who an alliance is.

The Iron Dome is a simple national project that gives your nation a flat 50% chance at blocking missiles fired at it. This coin flip of randomness can be depressingly infuriating when your Iron Dome fails to block 7 missiles in a row, or sadistically satisfying when you manage to land 8 out of 9 of your missiles. I witnessed both of these situations during the most recent global war, and neither of them feel like a fulfilling experience to me. Statistically, the Iron Dome can be reworded as "negate 50% of incoming missile damage." It's quite boring when you think about it, devoting an entire national project for the sole purpose of blocking half of the damage incoming on your nation during a war. True randomness has never seemed like a fun game mechanic to me. Yes, games require an element of randomness in them in order to be dynamic and fun. Having the opportunity to succeed despite all odds or face bitter defeat when victory was in your grasp is nearly essential to compelling game-play, but having a coin toss determine one of the most damaging aspects of a war feels like you've been cheated of a potentially compelling aspect of war. I believe that with a small change in game mechanics, the Iron Dome can go from a boring buy-and-forget project to a fundamental aspect of war in Politics and War. In order to make this change, we merely need to include the idea of fluctuating success odds. I believe that by increasing the rate of success of the Iron Dome as land in a city decreases, a better experience will be had by both sides of the conflict. Randomness can provide more compelling and challenging gameplay. Adams & Dormans in Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Theory explain this by saying, "There are two situations in which adding randomness is a useful design strategy:...to force players to improvise, and...help counter dominant strategies." Currently, the dominant strategy with a missile is to always aim for the city with the highest infrastructure level. This will deal the most monetary damage in the long-run, and therefore is the only thing that realistically needs to be taken into account when firing missiles. This has created a war mechanic in which every player in the game does the same thing over and over, which is needlessly repetitive. As an example proposal, let's say that the Iron Dome now linearly scales in its effectiveness with land size, with 500 land yielding a 70% chance of blocking a missile (lower land = less area to block = higher theoretical chance of success), and something on the upper end, like 5,000 land yielding a 30% chance of blocking a missile. These land values are the caps on each end, where lowering land below 500 and raising land above 5,000 will not further change blocking odds. This adds an entirely new dynamic to game-play, forcing improvisation and changing every player's strategy. Instead of mindlessly firing a missile at a 2,500 infrastructure city because it's the highest your opponent has, maybe now their 2,000 infrastructure city has far more land, yielding a higher chance of success. While it might not do more monetary damage, the higher success chance may cause a player to target the 2,000 city in the interest of a guaranteed hit, instead of the riskier 2,500 infrastructure city. I don't claim that these values are rock solid numbers that I would be comfortable changing the game to, but by making the fundamental mechanic change to what I have outlined, I believe that game-play would greatly benefit and missiles in war would be a far more engaging experience. Instead of the mindless "click the largest number" strategy, players would have to make a personal calculation on risk versus reward, and potentially even build their nations accordingly. While I haven't addressed the Vital Defence System, I hope that it's clear that I would also argue for a similar change to be made for it as well. Let me know what you think and if there are downsides to this that you think throw a wrench in the entire idea, or some other suggestions for how to fix the Iron Dome.

Excitement Before Nukes Had Ever Been Launched General Community: Omg! I can't wait until the day that the first nuke is launched! It's going to be a historical day! Abbas Is Nuked General Community: Dude! Did you see? Abbas just took a nuke! General Community: Ooh, aah, ooh, aah. Orbis World War: *Nukes launched daily* *Nobody cares* Drama Abbas is Nuked Abbas: Oh well, I'll rebuild. Orbis World War: Everybody that is nuked: NOOOOO!!!! I'll never be able to rebuild! This is the end of my nation! *cries in a corner* Amount of Nukes Pre-Orbis One nation can receive two nukes from the same nation in the same war. *mind blown* Pre-World War General Community: Whoa, nobody touch Fraggle, he has nukes. World War General Community: Meh, who cares. Everyone has nukes, and I have a navy. Totally equal match.

*Guardian, Mensa and Seven Kingdoms all declare war on Viridian Entente* General Community: Yeah, let's go Axis Powers! VE has had their throne long enough. *The Syndicate, World Wrestling Federation, Black Knights, Rose, United Purple Nations, Green Production Agency, Uranicus Socialitas and Cornerstone declare on the Axis Powers* General Community: The Axis Powers are horrible. They never should have done this. This is treachery. Long Live VE! We've been on their side all along. *VE is demoted to #2 rank* General Community: Cool. *Guardian and Seven Kingdoms exit top ten* General Community: AWESOME!!! *Mensa HQ gets rolled* General Community: This just keeps getting better and better. DEIC Involvement: VoC member: Hey look, there's a world war happening, and our allies are involved! What are we going to do? DEIC Representative: We have more important things to worry about. Let's watch them burn. Nothing we can do. *Axis Powers approach VoC* VoC Representative: Yeah, no. Not after everything you've done. Tenages: But what about our treaty?!?!?! DEIC Representative: Whoops, did I type MDP??? I meant to type ODP. So we are not obligated. Tenages: Wow you are one !@#$ Me: Lol sucks to suck EDIT: The Syndicate: We must defend neutrality! Syndicate member: Is somebody attacking GPA??? Syndicate representative: Oh no, we're going to help VE roll the Axis Powers. Produced by Official Reich Comedy Written by King Oskar Enjoy!

Hello everybody! As I'm sure you all know who I am, at least a little bit, so I'll skip the introductions. I'd like for this blog to be a place where you guys can occasionally see my thoughts, perhaps a different perspective from the standard. (Or perhaps not....) In addition, I'd like to feature some content that it is hard to have on the main forums, with that in mind, (and at the request of several) I'm going to be posting my plays in their full here, so they're easier to read without scrolling through pages of forums. For those who know Pre is too biased, here is my 100% factual history of the Marionette War, from the view of all your favorite alliances! (I unfortunately had to split it into three parts, but at least you don't have to dig through !@#$posts) The (Insert Name Here) War, A Play Written by: TheNG Edited by: TheNG Starring: Rose as itself Guardian as itself Seven Kingdoms as itself Terminus Est as itself Brotherhood of the Clouds as itself The Dutch East India Company as itself United Purple Nations as itself Act 1 Scene 1 - A small park near a major road. Scene: Children are playing on playground equipment, and Sheepy lounges on a lawn chair being fed grapes. Enter Guardian, Rose, Terminus Est, and Seven Kingdoms Guardian You know, its been a long time since we had some fun There isn't much to do when you're secretly allied to nearly all major alliances Rose We could, uh, play on the slide? Guardian Ugh, Rose, that is the stupidest thing you've said all day. What are we, two years old? Rose wails and begins to smash its head against a tree Guardian Oh fer- ROSE! STOP IT! I'm sorry I said you're stupid! Listen, we'll play on the slide with you, OK? Rose backs away from the tree and grins lopsidedly Seven Kingdoms You know, Guardian, you can call Rose childish, but we are all kind of young, I just turned one year old actually. Guardian ​Shut up SK. You know that I can't stand to be proven wrong... Seven Kingdoms But all I said was- Guardian grabs Seven Kingdoms by the throat and pins it against a tree. Terminus Est and Rose look on Guardian *low, deadly whisper* I said SHUT UP! Do you want to be shitposted!? Do you want to end up like SI? Seven Kingdoms *In between choking noises* No... I don't... want to.. be.. Guardian lets go of Seven Kingdoms and straightens its fedora Guardian Well, choking SK gave me a great idea, lets go beat up and bully those innocent children. Rose But what about the slide? Guardian gives Rose an evil look, under which Rose quails. Terminus Est grins and pulls out a large, worn club Terminus Est I like senseless, reasonless violence! Little kids can't be all that different from seals, right? Guardian I like your thinking, TEst! Enter Brotherhood of the Clouds, United Purple Nations, and The Dutch East India Company, chatting amiably but inaudibly Guardian grins evily Guardian Actually, I have an even better idea. I've just remembered that UPN had way more friends than me back in third grade. While UPN was cool and popular, I was a lurker, a nobody. Lets go beat them up instead! Seven Kingdoms So this is how you express your deep childhood trauma. Terminus Est If there is one thing I learned while in prison, its that with other alliances, you have to provoke them first to make us look like the good guys. Guardian But aren't we always the good guys? Uh, anyway, I guess we can do it TEst's way. Seven Kingdoms I can pretend to be their friend to lull them off guard! Guardian Good plan SK! Alright everybody, pop your collars and lets go crush these losers! Guardian and Seven Kingdoms advance confidently toward United Purple Nations, Brotherhood of the Clouds, and The Dutch East India Company. Terminus Est lags behind them, pulling along a confused looking Rose Seven Kingdoms Hey guys, hows it going? United Purple Nations, The Dutch East India Company, and Brotherhood of the Clouds look over United Purple Nations Uh, hello? Seven Kingdoms Hey bros, have you seen this new guy, New Shr- Guardian *interjects* You're stupid DEIC!!! HAHAHAHAA And you, Brotherhood, where'd you get those clothes? The lame shoe store? Brotherhood of the Clouds Uh... United Purple Nations You want something, Guardian? Seven Kingdoms and Terminus Est pull Guardian aside Terminus Est *whispers* This isn't how you do it Guardian, you're supposed to be subtle. Seven Kingdoms *whispers* Since when are any of you guys subtle? Let me handle this. Guardian *shouts* Screw subtlety, I'm gonna murder 'em! ​United Purple Nations, Brotherhood of the Clouds, and The Dutch East India Company look at Guardian in surprise Terminus Est Haha! Feel the wrath of my- Terminus Est pulls a gun out of its pocket and tries to shoot United Purple Nations, but sends the bullet into its own left kneecap instead. Rose passes out from fear and collapses to the ground Guardian Oh come on! Beat them up you idiots! The Dutch East India Company, Brotherhood of the Clouds, and United Purple Nations stare in confused shock as Guardian grabs an unconscious Rose, fear shining in its eyes. Seven Kingdoms *Wimper* We should probably go... Guardian Seven Kingdoms, grab TEst! Guardian retreats, carrying Rose. Seven Kingdoms follows quickly, dragging TEst, who is bleeding badly from its left knee and shouting expletives. Guardian This isn't over! I'll be back! Exit Guardian, Seven Kingdoms, Terminus Est, and Rose United Purple Nations and The Dutch East India Company What was that? Brotherhood of the Clouds I have no idea.... End of Scene 1 Act 1 Scene 2 - The basement of Guardian's house Scene: The basement is messy, covered in dirty clothes, Market Manipulator's Monthly magazines, and piles of unsent hate mail to The Dutch East India Company. Two large posters of a kangaroo and a sneezing cat hang on the walls, next to a dartboard with an image of The Covenant printed on it. Sheepy stands in the corner, covering his ears as a group of people yell at him about planes and ships. Enter Guardian, Rose, Terminus Est, and Seven Kingdoms Guardian *angrily* You guys are worthless! I had them all on the ropes when you losers had to mess everything up! Seven Kingdoms You had it under control? Guardian *continues angrily* Sometimes I don't even know why I let you incompetent fools hang out with me! Seven Kingdoms Because we're the only alliances who can stand you, and you have no other friends? Guardian force chokes Seven Kingdoms Guardian What have I told you telling the truth when it makes me look like the terrible alliance I am? Seven Kingdoms *resignedly, between choking noises* Not to do it... Guardian *Condescendingly* Excellent.... Guardian releases Seven Kingdoms Guardian Alright SK, this was just the first round! We may have suffered slightly due to unforeseen... uh... weather.... but we need to get back at them! Seven Kingdoms I'm pretty sure it was entirely your fault, but whatever. Anyway, do we have to get back at them? We were supposed to be doing something fun, and this is a lot of work. Guardian Well, before my inane rage was merely my way of expressing my deep-seated psychopathic tendencies, and the fear of anything which is better than me. Nowthey've made it personal! And go wake up Rose, that idiot is still passed out! Terminus Est *weakly* I'm still crippled and bleeding over here..... Guardian Of yeah SK, fix up TEst while you're at it. Seven Kingdoms Why do I have to do everything? Guardian Because I'm the smartest one around here, and I need my brainpower to think of a good plan that you morons can't mess up. Seven Kingdoms, grumbling, bandages Terminus Est's shattered kneecap. Rose suddenly wakes up Rose Did I do the good thing? Did I beat up the mean alliances? Guardian I hate you Rose. Seven Kingdoms pulls Guardian aside, while Rose begins to play with a doll and a dead squirrel. Terminus Est awkwardly crawls onto Guardian's bed and begins picking its remaining teeth with a butter knife. Seven Kingdoms *whisper* Listen, if we really want to hurt BoC, DEIC, and UPN, we might need some help. I mean, all TEst can do now is provide weird "moral" support, and I don't know if Rose is really all here sometimes. Rose lights the squirrel carcass on fire and begins to run around the basement, singing about sandwich ponies and reforming neutrals. Guardian *whisper* Nonsense, Rose is a perfectly normal alliance, everything it does is very rational and reasonable. Rose runs into a pole, and collapses backwards like a sac of dumb bricks Guardian *whisper* And TEst has the highest tolerance for pain and intelligent comments I've ever seen, it'll be perfectly fine in a coup- Wait, what is TEst doing? Terminus Est has begun to foam at the mouth and thrash wildly, sightlessly glaring with bloodshot eyes, as it screams like a dying goat Seven Kingdoms *whisper* Oh, TEst must be having another one of its alpha flashbacks, it gets them every so often. Guardian *freaked out whisper* That's kind of creepy. Why did I never know about this? Seven Kingdoms *whisper* Because you are always too busy being a jerk to really care about any of us. Guardian *whisper* Good point. *louder* Alright, I've got a plan, SK, you track down any other alliances who might want to help us. I'll take Rose and go spy on our enemies. Seven Kingdoms Why do we need to spy on them? We know who they are and where they live, heck, you even have UPN on speed dial. Guardian Don't question my true and utter genius SK, you just get us some backup, and calm down TEst. *shouts* Rose, come with me! Exit Rose and Guardian Seven Kingdoms pulls out a large stick while TEst flops off the bed and thrashes around on the floor, wailing. Seven Kingdoms Alright, TEst, time for your medicine... End of Scene 2 Act 1 Scene 3 - Outside United Purple Nation's Treehouse Scene: The treehouse nestles low in a money tree. The Dutch East India Company, Brotherhood of the Clouds, and United Purple Nations sit within it. Guardian and Rose hide in a bush on the sidewalk 20 ft. away. Sheepy stands in the middle of the street, burning a multi at the stake. United Purple Nations Man, that was really weird. Brotherhood of the Clouds You said it, but honestly though, what do you expect from those rejects? The Dutch East India Company No kidding, have you heard how Rose was dropped on its head when it was born? Rose *excitedly* Hey, thats my name! Guardian *loud whisper* Shut Up! Brotherhood of the Clouds And I heard that Seven Kingdoms has never even read Game of Thrones, just the wiki article! United Purple Nations, The Dutch East India Company, Rose, and Guardian gasp The Dutch East India Company Did you hear something? United Purple Nations Uh, I don't think so. Anyway, do one of you guys have a spare button-down. This one has TEst's kneecap blood all over it. Brotherhood of the Clouds passes United Purple Nations a shirt, which United Purple Nations puts on. Guardian Wow, UPN has really great abs... Rose Are you jealous? Guardian Completely and utterly, but- Wait, did you say something intelligent Rose? Rose I tried to ride an aquarium pebble once, but then my mom hit me on the spleen with a large green toad . Guardian Hm, it must've just been my imagination. Brotherhood of the Clouds Just out of curiosity, when were you going to tell me that those guys don't like us? The Dutch East India Company and United Purple Nations exchange glances. The Dutch East India Company *nervously* Uh, totally..... of course.... We didn't tell you already? United Purple Nations *nervously* Uh, must've slipped our minds. I'm so busy being popular, you know. Are you sure we didn't tell you? Brotherhood of the Clouds Yeah, pretty sure. The Dutch East India Company Anyway, what do you want to do with the afternoon? United Purple Nations We could get temporary tattoos and cruise around town in my convertible. ​The Dutch East India Company and Brotherhood of the Clouds Sounds like a plan! Guardian looks at Rose, who is licking a bud that it picked off the bush. Guardian *sadly* ​I wish I had friends like that... *with increasing confidence in order to convince itself* ​Anyway, this was a highly successful espionage mission. It has only served to reinforce my preexisting notions that these fools are weak and divided. They will fall easily to my great and glorious might. Nothing will sta- Rose inhales the bud, starts choking, and falls out from behind the bush. The Dutch East India Company, United Purple Nations, and Brothehood of the Clouds look down in surprise. ​The Dutch East India Company Is that Rose? Guardian rises out from behind the bush Guardian *loudly and shrilly* I take no responsibility for my own actions or of those who blindly follow me! Guardian takes off running down the street with Rose in tow. United Purple Nations, The Dutch East India Company, and Brotherhood of the Clouds look on in shock Exit Guardian and Rose United Purple Nations Why are paperless alliances such weirdos? The Dutch East India Company *sagely* Probably because they carry the most baggage from other places. The Dutch East India Company, United Purple Nations, and Brotherhood of the Clouds break out laughing End of Act 1 Holy Hell, this thing is longer than I thought. Breaking up into 2 parts.