2058 - Changed World

[Sir_Thunderslug]

Holy carp, I've done something like this before. Well, ish. I didn't necessarily play a country, more like a global mercenary organization that countries would hire to do their dirty work. I wouldn't mind doing so again, but it feels like this is a strictly country-only RP. Unless I'm mistaken.

 

[Pat]

Holy carp, I've done something like this before. Well, ish. I didn't necessarily play a country, more like a global mercenary organization that countries would hire to do their dirty work. I wouldn't mind doing so again, but it feels like this is a strictly country-only RP. Unless I'm mistaken.

It isn't. You could even just be an individual. If you want, you could be a terrorist group.

 

[greenhawk]

A question- what is the world's population is 2058?

 

[Pat]

A question- what is the world's population is 2058?

Less than it was in 2018 by I would say a third or so, minimum. Keep in mind Japan imports most of it's food though. So it would probably be worse for Japan than others unless they were able to stabilize quickly and find new trade partners that had food to share.

 

[Pat]

Some countries would probably get a massive boost in population because they were not immediately impacted by the weather and chaos that toppled other governments around them and were able to accommodate the refugees crossing their borders.

 

[greenhawk]

Less than it was in 2018 by I would say a third or so, minimum. Keep in mind Japan imports most of it's food though. So it would probably be worse for Japan than others unless they were able to stabilize quickly and find new trade partners that had food to share.

Already had that in mind. Do remember that Japan is a political wreck for some reason, and it goes beyond "half the population is dead"

 

[Pat]

Sir_Thunderslug , if you're still interested, feel free to make your own custom CS for whatever organization you desire.

 

[greenhawk]

Name: Republic of Japan/ Republican Japan.

Flag:

Territory: Kyushuu, Shikoku, Okinawa (up to Okinawa), and Yamaguchi prefecture (Southern tip of the main island of Japan)

Population: 9.3 million people.

Economy: Struggling, but not a breadbasket. Main exports include sea food, soy, volcanic products, wind energy, small ships (including armored escorts), and algae oil products. Main imports include land food, wood and metal. While the republic holds a sizable arsenal that wouldn't shy a larger power, it won't export it under usual conditions and would rather try to arm its citizens.

Military: The military includes 250,000 men and women in active service, but its true power lies in making sure all adults serve four years in the military (with rather severe punishment for most of those who try to avoid such fate), and serve every once in a while as a reserve force. In fact, it should be noted that being in the army opens so many connections that even if you were left unharmed by the regime, you will face discrimination. As part of being conscripted includes farming or any sort of resource gathering for a time, the country became reliant on the military crops. Exo-suits are common for the infantry and the navy, but some reserve forces might receive an older model for their service. As for robots, their use mostly exists for factory work and less for civilian use. However, AI modules for vehicles have been developed in the Republic a few years ago, and are so far considered success in protecting soldiers from quite a bit of harm.

Army: Despite the lessened importance of a land army, the military still has the bulk of people in it. The army is in control of the "military rations", the network, maintaining whatever society is rebuilding, and in the darkest hour was known for single-handedly saving democracy in Japan back in 2039. Some soldiers might even teach in state schools, thus gaining the nickname of "Bookies" (the role, however, is considered feminine and men in the position might be thought a bit less about). Heck, some places has

Navy: The grand fleet includes 4 "Subaru" nuclear Carriers ,4 "Yamato" Class battleships (super heavy ships), 9 "Mikasa" Class cruisers (medium ships), 24 "Saigo" Class ships (light ships), 45 "Esteban" submarines and about 140 armored escorts, with dozens in the hands of private citizens. 75 thousand women and men serve in the navy full time, and any conscript that finds their way to the navy would probably end up cleaning and serving a particular ship so much that they'd yell at anyone who'd do as much as to spill a drink on the board.

Air Force: The air force is a bit on the underdeveloped side on first sight- under full duty only 15 thousand men and women serve. The air force is a support power to the navy and the army, hardly considered a force of its own. The planes, mostly cold war era fighters and bombers or their equivalents, were the first to use the algae oil, thus bringing hope to those who needed energy the most. However, drones are under the control of the air forces, and the planes are equipped with "Ichiban"- an automatic and basic AI that can turn a plane from a peashooter to a real fighter.

 

[Sir_Thunderslug]

It isn't. You could even just be an individual. If you want, you could be a terrorist group.

Oh, sweet! I was thinking more of a neutral money-motivated and/or favor-motivated organization. Can be good. Can be bad. Walks in the grey a lot; not everything is necessarily black or white in terms of their morals. The organization I will play with have a professional understanding with most countries, in that their services will be catering to the highest bidder. Anything my organization can and will be disavowed by countries who have hired them (so that the reputation of the client will not be tarnished - this makes things risky for me, since that means even countries who hired my organization will be forced to deal with their agents as hostile intruders, although more powerful government officials will be able to pull more strings to aid the agents their government has hired; the onus will still be on my agents to not get caught in the first place) but because their fees are quite expensive, it's a very profitable job.

And before one asks, yes, I've been reading too much Oregon Files. That being said, I made the template for this syndicate way before I ever knew about Clive Cussler.

 

[Pat]

Oh, sweet! I was thinking more of a neutral money-motivated and/or favor-motivated organization. Can be good. Can be bad. Walks in the grey a lot; not everything is necessarily black or white in terms of their morals. The organization I will play with have a professional understanding with most countries, in that their services will be catering to the highest bidder. Anything my organization can and will be disavowed by countries who have hired them (so that the reputation of the client will not be tarnished - this makes things risky for me, since that means even countries who hired my organization will be forced to deal with their agents as hostile intruders, although more powerful government officials will be able to pull more strings to aid the agents their government has hired; the onus will still be on my agents to not get caught in the first place) but because their fees are quite expensive, it's a very profitable job.

And before one asks, yes, I've been reading too much Oregon Files. That being said, I made the template for this syndicate way before I ever knew about Clive Cussler.

If you want you can be the resident bad guy everyone is trying to stop from conquering/destroying the world.

 

[Pat]

Either way, I'm curious as to see how it'll play out with the other nations.

 

[Sir_Thunderslug]

If you want you can be the resident bad guy everyone is trying to stop from conquering/destroying the world.

I don't know if that's a good idea. Well, it's a terrific idea. But, making me the 'big bad' is not a good idea. I get WAY too carried away. You'd catering to the side of me who wants nothing more than to build a massive doomsday facility on the moon, where I can store a massive collection hedron colliders to generate antimatter, for which to create weapons to hold the world hostage.

*eye twitches* *stifles evil laugh*

If nobody else takes the job of being the 'big bad', I would be honored to accept it. You will, however, need to give me a list of 'dos' and 'do nots' that I will *try* to abide with.

Until then, methinks I'll stick with my 'merchant, mercenary, and mechanics' syndicate.

 

[Pat]

I don't know if that's a good idea. Well, it's a terrific idea. But, making me the 'big bad' is not a good idea. I get WAY too carried away. You'd catering to the side of me who wants nothing more than to build a massive doomsday facility on the moon, where I can store a massive collection hedron colliders to generate antimatter, for which to create weapons to hold the world hostage.

*eye twitches* *stifles evil laugh*

If nobody else takes the job of being the 'big bad', I would be honored to accept it. You will, however, need to give me a list of 'dos' and 'do nots' that I will *try* to abide with.

Until then, methinks I'll stick with my 'merchant, mercenary, and mechanics' syndicate.

Oh this'll be great. I'll PM you the details.

 

[Bush]

Couldn't the Venezuelan Empire be a major villain?

 

[Pat]

Couldn't the Venezuelan Empire be a major villain?

Writers don't have good kingdoms fighting bad empires. They have a good group of somehow special teenagers fighting a bad empire because the way that those two opposing sides are powerful are so different.

 

[Pat]

You're powerful in a conventional way. As are essentially every other nation that's going to be in this roleplay. This group on the other hand, will be powerful in a nonconventional way.

 

[Bush]

You're powerful in a conventional way. As are essentially every other nation that's going to be in this roleplay. This group on the other hand, will be powerful in a nonconventional way.

This...kinda sounds dumb. I excepted there to be a group of nations vs a group of nations, like the World Wars, not like an ISIS situation. It sounds a bit unfair and unfun to all us powerful nations just fight against a small group.

 

[Sir_Thunderslug]

This...kinda sounds dumb. I excepted there to be a group of nations vs a group of nations, like the World Wars, not like an ISIS situation. It sounds a bit unfair and unfun to all us powerful nations just fight against a small group.

If I may interject, that's not how nations really work. There are all kinds of rules and decorum that bind countries. A small but powerful syndicate would not need to abide by such rules. Give them the ability to corrupt the infrastructure of nations, whether it be their internet or their politicians, and you've got a force that can take on any country, especially if they have influences and assets on more than continent. A union of countries is a lot more tedious and a lot less powerful than you think. Just look at the UN today. Every one in them has their own agenda, and not all of them align. Takes them 1000 arguments to get anywhere, and even then, their progress is 3 steps forward, two and a half steps back. A global crime syndicate that nobody can prove exists would have powers that a conventional nation wouldn't dare exploit, because that would make them the common enemy that all others would love to unite against.

 

[Bush]

You do make a good point.

But I would rather do a World War situation. I feel like more people could be involved.
This ISIS situation feels like the small group is the only one doing anything and the countries fighting them get the back-end of the deal.

In my proposed situation, Two sides form, but, like you said, it's not all sunny and rainbows, or would be super powerful on each side. Like in WW2, the United States and United Kingdom wanted to stop Nazis Germany, but they also wanted to make sure that the Soviet Union wouldn't take over the continent.

Let me make an example (I don't think this situation is 100% realistic). In a WW3, the Venezuelan Empire joins alliance with the Republic of Japan. (sorry greenhawk you were the only example I could use). Both countries would argue how operations work. Maybe Japan with secretly try to prevent Venezuelan expansion, since they know about Venezuela's harsh government and policies. Maybe, if France (a future version) is on the same team, tensions would rise about French Guiana and Venezuela could backstab their alliances.

But, unlike Venezuela, this isn't a dictatorship and I don't control the rp. If everyone really want to do this situation, then I'll deal with it. What we could do is that we do your situation first and during the situation, tensions would rise between the countries and that's what sparks WW3.

I just hope the small group isn't too overpowered.

Ok I'm going to bed

 

[Sir_Thunderslug]

You do make a good point.

But I would rather do a World War situation. I feel like more people could be involved.
This ISIS situation feels like the small group is the only one doing anything and the countries fighting them get the back-end of the deal.

In my proposed situation, Two sides form, but, like you said, it's not all sunny and rainbows, or would be super powerful on each side. Like in WW2, the United States and United Kingdom wanted to stop Nazis Germany, but they also wanted to make sure that the Soviet Union wouldn't take over the continent.

Let me make an example (I don't think this situation is 100% realistic). In a WW3, the Venezuelan Empire joins alliance with the Republic of Japan. (sorry greenhawk you were the only example I could use). Both countries would argue how operations work. Maybe Japan with secretly try to prevent Venezuelan expansion, since they know about Venezuela's harsh government and policies. Maybe, if France (a future version) is on the same team, tensions would rise about French Guiana and Venezuela could backstab their alliances.

But, unlike Venezuela, this isn't a dictatorship and I don't control the rp. If everyone really want to do this situation, then I'll deal with it. What we could do is that we do your situation first and during the situation, tensions would rise between the countries and that's what sparks WW3.

I just hope the small group isn't too overpowered.

Ok I'm going to bed

That might work perfectly. See, I just got a PM suggestion saying that one of the plot points could be that one side of the villain group (not the pandering, money-grubbing, weapons/illegal tech, mercenary side) wants to set humanity back a few centuries to prevent another environmental crisis. What would be best to do that than another World War?

The small group won't be overpowered when it comes to straight fighting, though. Like the GM said, they would only be strong when it comes to unconventional warfare. They will have a small, elite fighting force at most; they'd be able to win a battle, but lose the war, well, because they won't be able to call upon the thousands or millions an actual country might be able to summon.

That being said, if it comes down to a war, and I wouldn't mind if it did, the 'eco terrorist' side of the small group would clash with the mercenary side - while a war would provide income, a world-ending war might destroy their market.

Furthermore, I'm considering only running the mercenary side of the villain group. The 'Big Bad' would be more of a threat if we ALL pitched in. Basically, I do agree with your concern that the small group would be pulling the strings too much, and the countries there would be mere decorations in the RP.

I propose that the main villain terrorist group be a joint effort. That way, the 'big bad' would have tendrils in all the countries. Essentially, sleeper agents everywhere. It'd make it more convincing, and there would be a lot less godmodding/powerplaying from one person, since part of such a tactic required having to say that they were able to corrupt some of the high-ranking officials of other players. That would also allow us to coordinate an evil plot that would end in another world war, basically, letting the 'big bad' turn us on each other.

 

[Bush]

I guess that could work, but I'm still skeptic.

But we do need time to introduce the countries and their relationships before we jump into a major war, so...

 

[Sir_Thunderslug]

I guess that could work, but I'm still skeptic.

But we do need time to introduce the countries and their relationships before we jump into a major war, so...

Skepticism is fine, especially if it's constructive.

 

[Bush]

If we have to do this situation, I think it shouldn't last for a long time in the roleplay so we can go onto the major war earlier which, in my opinion, would be more interactive and fun.

The thing I see is that if everyone controls a bit of the small group and situation, then we lose the element of surprise. One of my favorites things in a rp is that everyone's actions matter and contribute to the rp. The thing is, if everyone controls the group, we aren't fighting with each other, where there are stakes to each of our actions; instead we are fighting against our own self, where we plan out ahead our actions, meaning there is no surprise or stakes.

With a major war, there are stakes with choosing which side, which place to attack, etc...But instead everything is determined beforehand and there is no stakes.

 

[Sir_Thunderslug]

If we have to do this situation, I think it shouldn't last for a long time in the roleplay so we can go onto the major war earlier which, in my opinion, would be more interactive and fun.

The thing I see is that if everyone controls a bit of the small group and situation, then we lose the element of surprise. One of my favorites things in a rp is that everyone's actions matter and contribute to the rp. The thing is, if everyone controls the group, we aren't fighting with each other, where there are stakes to each of our actions; instead we are fighting against our own self, where we plan out ahead our actions, meaning there is no surprise or stakes.

With a major war, there are stakes with choosing which side, which place to attack, etc...But instead everything is determined beforehand and there is no stakes.

I understand your concern, but my initial impression with this plot was 'storytelling first, conflict second', and that it its setting was one of a fragile peace. If you wanted a solely war-based RP, there's an entire section of the website devoted to that, via the Arena forum. I would also go so far to say that not only is the sacrifice of some element of surprise worth it for a good story, but it is well within the capability of a roleplayer to keep any information revealed where it belongs. Just because we know what the terrorist organization is up to, doesn't mean the countries do. It will be an exhilarating test of our creative prowess and personality to be able to set up two scenarios, one of an espionage-oriented cold war and one of an actual world war, and then have the one flow smoothly into the latter. However, we cannot hurry the former plot stage; not only do we need ample time to know our factions, but it seems even more unrealistic that the world would rush so gleefully into all out war after decades of progress and peace. There needs to be the right kind of spark, lighting the right kind of fuel, to tip all the world leaders into making such a drastic decisions. And no, one single dictatorship by itself, provoking all its neighbors, will not create a world war, only a massacre as other countries gang up on it for creating a disturbance.

Don't get me wrong, I love war-scenarios as well, and I do love the sense of tension and uncertainty when we don't plan too far ahead in a story. But for an RP like this, were a global war was not the main goal to begin with, some extra planning won't hurt at all.

Still, it's the GM's call. I'm just making suggestions, is all.

 

[Bush]

I agree.