NationStates Jolt Archive

“Every action of every being is a Market transaction, conducted in competition with every other being and influencing every other transaction, with transactions occurring in an infinitely short time, and repeated at an infinitely fast rate. Such is the interconnectedness of the cosmos. And in the final audit, the balance sheet of the universe will be settled and the sum of all assets and all liabilities will be zero.”
~The Order of the Invisible Hand, scriptures

Act 1: Christmas Eve
Knootcap,
Capital of the Batavian Empire

It was Christmas Eve, and Jennifer Overheid was wandering the streets of Knootcap, looking to buy a present for her boyfriend. All the shops were still open and their colourful lights flashed on and off, begging for attention twenty-four hours a day. Even on Christmas Eve. She passed a shopping centre and the walls were covered with Imperial flags and other paraphernalia of patriotism. The red lion of the Batavian Empire, standing on 2 feet roared smugly but silently.

Jessica casually strolled further though the meandering streets. She had no idea where she was. Lost, but lost in what was surely the grandest city in Europe, or so she thought. This evening she had left her car at home. Jennifer was like that –at times she would just go out for a walk without a fixed purpose.

She was now completely off the beaten trail, in a neighbourhood that seemed forgotten. There were no shops with flashy lights, or television screens bringing ‘messages’ to the public. And there were no people wearing fashion-of-the-day clothes, no dazzling synthetic colours on the walls. Instead there was just pure white light from old lanterns shining on the grey stone streets, as if it were a black and white movie. The street did not scream ‘be here!’; there seemed to be no reason to be there. But still she was.

By chance she had wandered off into a piece of old The Hague, left untouched in new Knootcap. This part of the city was practically abandoned, and it still looked like the old Democratic Republic; the reflections of the lanterns cast shadows on the streets of stone.

Jennifer walked on, and there in the edge between shadow and light, she saw movement. Something lay in the porch of an old classic building, like a thrown-away rag, turning around slowly. Her curiosity overcame her fear and she stepped near. Something eyed her from the dark corner of the porch and as she stepped nearer it –he- sat up. It was a man, with a small white beard and a grey woolly blanket covering his body. He asked with a weakened voice: “do you have some food please?”

The words of the Order of the Invisible Hand stayed with her. Her heart felt for the man, unshaven and poorly clothed. In her head, she recited the three rules of ethics the Order held to be all-important.

"First rule: act in conformity with Market forces"

Don’t give anyone anything. Giving is nothing more then stealing from yourself, had been branded into her. She wavered, there was something about that man. She protectively kept her hand on the wallet in her pocket.

“Second rule: maximise the opportunity for others to conform to the Market forces generated by your action"

She wondered why the man was sitting there, and why he didn’t try to rob her. He did not inspire fear, but instead there was a feeling of familiarity. Jennifer wondered; this man did not look like one of the faceless drug-addicts that roamed the streets looking for a kick until death would catch up with them.
“Do you have anything for sale?”, she asked him. But it seemed silly to ask that.

"Third rule: hold no other goals"

The man shook his head slowly. “Do you have some food please?”, he simply asked again. But there was no unfriendliness in his voice. Jennifer now eyed him carefully. She knew this man. They had been together - worked together? - she was sure of it. The thought scared her terribly. She had to get away from this place. She ran away as if she were a bird flying up from a cat making the final leap.

By accident she had gotten farther away from the central city, and deeper into old The Hague. Only a few people were here, walking hurriedly to their homes. One man did not move, however. He preached and talked to the passer-by’s. The man spoke with a booming voice, and she stayed with him for a while. Anything was better then these dark side-streets. He nodded shortly to her as she stood still on the sidewalk eying him quietly, but he continued to preach were he was.

”…After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, and the earth was illuminated by his splendour. With a mighty voice he shouted:
"Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!
She has become a home for demons
and a haunt for every evil spirit,
a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird.
For all the nations have drunk
the maddening wine of her adulteries.
The kings of the earth committed adultery with her,
and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries."

The man stretched out his arm skyward, as if a direct influence was talking through him.

“Then I heard another voice from heaven say”, he exclaimed…
"Come out of Babylon, my people,
so that you will not share in her sins,
so that you will not receive any of her plagues;
for her sins are piled up to heaven,
and God has remembered her crimes.”

The man told on, and she stood still, listening. The words did not make any sense. Sin? Babylon? Now and then the man would look her in the eyes and she would flinch away. He howled as if possessed by some demon himself, lamenting as if his own life were about to end. She heard footsteps drawing near.

"Woe! Woe, O great city,
O Babylon, city of power!
In one hour your doom has come!'”

Two police officers in dark blue uniforms appeared, and dragged the would-be prophet off to a police car without discussion. The man of the prophesies did not resist, but instead he yelled. Even though there was now a small crowd he looked directly at Jessica with his piecing eyes, his voice howling bitterly.

"Woe! Woe, O great city,
where all who had ships on the sea
became rich through her wealth!
In one hour she has been brought to ruin!”

The police officers took no note of her and she walked back, thinking about what it meant. The words of the man puzzled her and she thought about them as she walked back to the commercial city centre. In the distance, the gaudy lights were twinkling. Blinking brightly in red and green and yellow and pink.

Act 2: First day of Christmas

Jennifer was up during Christmas night, waking in her house by the canalside. She found something strangely sorrowful and submissive in the sleeper near to her. Her boyfriend, Max, was to leave tomorrow to war. All those men who had marched so far, who had left all the established texture of their lives behind them to come along with this mad campaign, this campaign in the name of the Market, that signified nothing and consumed everything, this mere fever of fighting. She eyed him as he slept. And pondered how little and feeble the life of man was, a thing of chances, preposterously unable to find the will to realise even the most timid of his dreams. And she wondered if always it would be so, if man was a doomed animal who would never to the last days of his time take hold of fate and change it to his will.

Jennifer was roused from these thoughts by the sudden realisation of the presence of a squadron of planes far away to the north-west and very high. She looked outside the window of her luxury apartment; they looked like little black dashes against the midnight blue. She looked up at them at first rather idly -as one might notice a flight of birds – but then she noticed that they were only the extreme wing of a great fleet that was advancing in a long line very swiftly from the direction of the frontier and her attention tightened.

She stood up softly, not wanting to wake up her companion, but with her heart beating quickly with surprise and excitement. She strained her ears for any sound of guns. Almost instinctively she turned her head about for protection to the south and east, and peered; and then she saw it coming as if they had sprung out of the darkness. Three banks of airplanes; a group of squadrons very high, a main body at a height perhaps of one or two kilometres, and a doubtful number flying low and very indistinct. The middle ones were so thick they kept putting out groups of stars. And she realised that after all there was to be fighting in the air above the Batavian Empire.

There was something extraordinarily strange in this swift convergence of nearly invisible combatants above the sleeping capital. Max was still unconscious and the city was dotted with unsuspicious lights. It must have been seen clearly from above. Then a long way off towards Alkmaar she heard bugles, and after that shots, and then a wild clamour of bells. She was still determined to let her man sleep on for as long as he could....

The battle was joined with the swiftness of dreaming. Not more then five minutes from the moment when she first became aware of the hostile air fleet to the contact of the two forces it happened. She saw it quite plainly in silhouette against the luminous blue of the northern sky. The allied planes came pouring down like a fierce shower on the middle of the enemies fleet. They looked exactly like a coarser sort of rain. There was a crackling sound, an exchange of rifle shots. There were flashes like summer lightning; and then all the sky became a whirling confusion of battle. Jennifer stared. Frozen to the ground. Some of the airplanes seemed to collapse and fall and then flare out with so bright a light that it took the edge off one's vision and made the rest of the battle disappear as though it had been snatched back out of sight.

As she peered and tried to shade the flames from her eyes with her hand, the others in the apartment block were beginning to stir, the atomic bombs were thrown at the dykes. They made a mighty thunder in the air, and fell like Lucifer from heaven, leaving a flaring trail in the sky. The night, which had been pellucid and detailed and eventful, seemed to vanish, to be replaced abruptly by a black background to these tremendous pillars of fire....

Hard upon the sound of them came a roaring wind, and the sky was filled with flickering lightning and rushing clouds....

There was something discontinuous in this impact. At one moment Jennifer had been a lonely watcher in a sleeping world; the next saw every one about her afoot, the whole world awake and amazed....

The wind struck her hard, blowing her to the ground and sweeping away the roof of the apartment, as a scythe sweeps away grass. She stood up and saw the bombs fall, and then watched a great crimson flare leaping responsive to each impact, and mountainous masses of red-lit steam and flying fragments clambered up towards the zenith. Against the glare she saw past the canal and the city for kilometres, past the buildings standing black and clear. And suddenly she understood. They had burst the dykes. Those flares meant the bursting of the dykes, and in a little while the sea-water would be upon her...

Jennifer turned off her feelings and went on to meet this amazing crisis. She got a confused and sleeping Max aboard their little boat that was lying in the canal next to them. Along with them came a man who acted as barge engineer for a commercial shipping line, and he quickly got the engines working. She cast the ship loose from its moorings. Then she thought of food and quickly ran back in, into the kitchen, and got in a few dozen pieces of bread and cheese before the inundation reached them.

Her idea was to take the wave head-on and with the engines full speed ahead. And all the while she was thankful that she was not in the jam of traffic that was in the inner cities day and night. She dreaded being trapped and swept away and smashed against houses and trees.

She sat in her boat, waiting, there was about 20 minutes between the bursting of the dykes and the arrival of the waters. Power had failed and she was working now in darkness--save for the light of her lantern--and in a great wind. She hung out head and stern lights....

Whirling torrents of steam were pouring up from the advancing waters, which had rushed through the radiant gaps in the sea defences, and the vast rush of vapour soon veiled the flaring centres of explosion altogether.

The waters came at last, an advancing cascade. It was like a broad roller sweeping across the country. They came with a deep, roaring sound. She had expected a Niagara, but the total fall of the front could not have been much more than a metre. Her boat hesitated for a moment, took a dose over her bows, and then lifted. She signalled for full speed ahead and brought her head upstream, holding on like grim death to keep her there.

There was a wind about as strong as the flood, and the boat was pounding against every conceivably floating object that had been between them and the sea. The only light in the world now came from their lamps, the steam became impenetrable at few metres from the boat, and the roar of the wind and water cut them off from all remoter sounds. The black, shining waters swirled by, coming into the light of their lamps out of an ebony blackness and vanishing again into impenetrable black. And on the waters came shapes, came things that flashed upon them for a moment, a half-submerged boat, a cow, a huge fragment of a house's roof. The things came into sight like something shown by the opening of a shutter, and then bumped shatteringly against them or rushed by. Once Jennifer saw very clearly a man's white face....

All the while a group of half-submerged trees remained ahead of them, slowly coming nearer. Jennifer steered a course to avoid them. They seemed to gesticulate a frantic despair against the black steam clouds behind. Once a great branch detached itself and tore shuddering by her. The boat did make headway. It was the last Jennifer ever saw of the great capital. Before the night swallowed it, it was almost dead astern of her...

Act 3: Endless stretches of water

The morning found Jennifer’s boat still afloat. The bow had been badly strained, and Max was busily pumping out water. They had about a dozen half-drowned people aboard whose boat had capsized near them, and they had three other boats in tow. She was afloat, but she could not tell where. It was a day that was still half night. Gray waters stretched in every direction under a dark gray sky, and out of the waves rose the upper parts of houses, in many cases ruined, the tops of trees, windmills, in fact the upper third of all the familiar Dutch scenery; and on it there drifted a dimly seen flotilla of barges, small boats, many overturned, furniture, rafts and miscellaneous objects.

The drowned were under water that morning. Only here and there did a dead cow or a stiff figure still clinging stoutly to a box or chair hint at the hidden massacre. It was not till the New Year that the dead came to the surface in any quantity. The view was restricted on every side by a grave mist that closed overhead. The air cleared in the afternoon, and then, far away to the west under great banks of steam and dust, the flaming red eruption of the atomic bombs came visible across the waste of water.

Jennifer spent the morning in rescue work along the track of the canal, helping people who were adrift, picking up derelict boats, and taking people out of imperilled houses. She found other boats used in the same way. Suddenly the Knootians had been thrown back on helping each other. The Market did not exist anymore. As the day went on and the immediate appeals for aid were satisfied she thought about what to do next. They had a some bread and cheese, but no water.

Her sense was of a destruction so far-reaching and of a world so altered that it seemed foolish to go in any direction and expect to find things as they had been. She sat on the deck with the engineer and two others and discussed what to do next. They were foodless and aimless. The engineer thought that they could go west, to England across the North Sea. He calculated that with a boat as they had it would be possible to reach the Yorkshire coast within 24 hours. Jennifer overruled it: they needed water before that.

Every boat they encountered now hailed them for water, and they went south to the hilly country, or at least country that was not submerged, to land, find some stream, drink, and get supplies and news.

It was a strange overland voyage among trees and houses and flats, in a in a red-lit mist, in a world of steamy silhouette, full of strange voices and perplexity, and with every other sensation dominated by a feverish thirst. They sat in a huddled group, saying very little. Their only continuing sound was the persistent mewing of a cat one of the men had rescued from a floating hayrick. They kept a southward course by a watch-chain compass the engineer had produced....

Jennifer pondered silently. She did not feel that she belonged to a defeated nation. Her mental setting had far more of the effect of a huge natural catastrophe. The atomic bombs had dwarfed the international issues to complete insignificance.

"What will they be doing," asked the engineer, "what will they be doing? … It's plain things have to be run some way. THIS--all this--is impossible."

She did not answer immediately. Her faith had, for a time, left her entirely. "I think we are too… too silly," she said, "ever to stop war. If we'd had the sense to do it, we should have done it before this. I think this…" she pointed to the gaunt black outline of a smashed windmill that stuck up, ridiculous and ugly, above the blood-lit waters…"this is the end."

Epilogue

For a time in Knootoss it was indeed as if civilisation had come to a final collapse. A nation destroyed, cities smashed or submerged, towns ruined, fields lost to mankind for ever, and a billion weltering bodies. Was this lesson enough for mankind, or would the flames of war still burn amidst the ruins?

What happened next to Jennifer only adds to this tragic possibility. She met some of the remains of civilisation, shattered, it seemed, irreparably. She found the hills of Limburg swarming with refugees and desolated by radiation diseases. Survivors scurried about trying to get their most basic needs met. Overhead aeroplanes went on mysterious errands, and there were rumours of cannibalism and hysterical fanaticisms in the forest region of the eastern Ardennes. The weather was stormier than men had ever known it in those regions, with a strange snow descending down upon the world, covering all that was left in a smothering colourless blanket.

---

Once upon a time there had been a great republic, and proclamations hailing new gods named Liberty and Equal Rights for All. And in high places in the republic there was a separate cult to worship Mammon and Power. And the Republic became an Empire, and soon Liberty and Equal Rights for All were not worshipped, and even Mammon and Power were given only lip-service, for the true god of all was the paranoid, wicked god of War.

<<OOC: Killer job, my Dutch friend... Anything else planned? If you're continuing on with this idea, I would love to get involved...>>

OOC note:
Yes, it is true. I am going to leave NS.

Wait! Don’t go yet! This hasn’t happened yet. Those who know about my nation have noticed some differences in the first act. This is because it is going to happen in the future. I am going to work towards the ending of my nation in a series of RP’s which will feature:

-The Order of the Invisible Hand as a new religion that will (hopefully) shake NS
-Knootoss becoming an Empire, and then a neoliberal dystopia of Market-worshipping people.
-An Imperialistic war (or two)
-Big climatic ending.

I don’t know how long I’ll be around, it does seem to be quite an agenda now that I think of it. Anyhow – I do intend to finish my current “obligations.” I’d immediately like to add an apology to those people that I am in threads with for not posting for a week or so. This is one of the things that I’ve been busy with. ;)

And, yes Edolia. OOC help will be very welcome. In fact, I had already thought of asking you to take part in one of my imperialistic endavours: a market-worshipping people surely cannot stand for the abomination of a self-sufficient nation WITHOUT a market. :P

OOC: In what year is this taking place? Because I'm RPing as if it is 2004 right now.

God bless,

The Republic of Syskeyia

OOC:
It takes place some years from "now", where "now" is just after the election RP I just did.

Knootoss is postmodern, slightly in the future. Sometimes its futuretech when interacting with things like Mars.. but thats a different story and it is not primarily related to this RP.

TAG!

Or in Dutch: Tikkie!

TAG!

Or in Dutch: Tikkie!

Just because he may be future and you may be modern doesn't mean that you RP in different years. Ever watch Star Trek? His culture may be just more advanced.

OOC: *is tikkied* *runs after Vortex*

SB: thank you for elaborating on it. But please lets not have a debate on modern tech vs. future tech here. Comments and ideas of how to get there are very welcome. :P

OOC:

Tag for later reading. Sorta...

I have several thingies:

1. Who is that nation that did this to you?

2. You /do/ know that a dykebreach will only flood everything left of Amersfoort, right? The entire Veluwe will be just fine.

3. Most refugees would try to get to Belgian ground, or even Germany...or at the very least, those country would feel the pressure of the events on their borders.

OOC: If the slot is open, Thelas would volenteer to take the position of agressor....

Is Galadriel still in power?

I have several thingies:

1. Who is that nation that did this to you?

2. You /do/ know that a dykebreach will only flood everything left of Amersfoort, right? The entire Veluwe will be just fine.

3. Most refugees would try to get to Belgian ground, or even Germany...or at the very least, those country would feel the pressure of the events on their borders.

1. Mystery / still open.

2. IRLly, yes. Please do recall that there are also atomic bombs being thrown here apart from the breaking of the dykes... And Knootoss, plotdevicely speaking, is somewhat different. More land has been shovelled east to make the polders in the North Sea possible (reckoning that Knootians believed that these dykes cannot breach all at once) and as its somewhat in the future sea levels will have risen a bit too. I'm sure that the huge tidal wave will also smash further then Amersfoort initially with the water receding afterwards.

3. Correct. "Germany" is a bit of a problem though - I've never quite established who borders me ICly. But, yes, people would go there too. Jennifer just went South; it doesn't necessarily mean that everyone did. These lines are there to establish that at least some *bits* of the country are still not submerged.

Does that solve the thingies?

((Excellent excellent writing. I think your agenda is going to keep you around for a good while, however. :wink: ))

OOC: If the slot is open, Thelas would volenteer to take the position of agressor....

Is Galadriel still in power?

OOC: Ok, noted. I did have some other people/nations in mind though that would make for a better plot device. A war with Thelas is kinda unlikely at this point, and also with the nation becoming what it is becoming Thelas and Knootoss wouldn't dislike eachother all too much.

As for Galadriël: do you mean "now", or "then?"

OOC: Good point... with what Knootoss is becoming, Thelas would be a best friend, about Galadriel, I meant 'then'

((Excellent excellent writing. I think your agenda is going to keep you around for a good while, however. :wink: ))
Thanks. And, yes, I figure it would.

And damn I still have to answer all these other posts. I'll do it tomorrow. (@Iansisle and Tanah Burung.)


OOC: Good point... with what Knootoss is becoming, Thelas would be a best friend, about Galadriel, I meant 'then'
She is *probably* going to die before this happens. Its not yet a completely fixed storyline though. You'll see.

:TAG:

For entertainment purposes. I've always hated the Dutch, and after I was almost set on fire when I was in Holland, I've thought of nothing else but seeing them destroyed.

You'll do fine, though. And I love to see a liberal get their comeuppance.

[OOC: Holy Eeks of Eeks! Alternately, by the Third Great Hand of the Thingy That Did Something Once!

Okay, silly exlamations aside... Great writing! And will be most sorry to see you go. That aside...

...how may I be of RPing service, O Knootiful One? Considering the 'vested interest' EOTED has in Knootoss, and its policy of not dissolving bilateral alliances (ever!), it's very likely that EOTED would stand by Knootoss until the very end...

So, how may I be of service?]

Roania: 0.o set on fire? By Dutchies? We'd never do that. We're a nice, friendly people. Please do come visit again if you are a tourist.

*talks to Ma-Tek more privately, nodding*

OOC:well that sucks, we don't have that many friends to begin with, a disaster like this and we could become even more xenophobic!

<<OOC: I would be honored if I could play a role in the last days of Knootoss... It might be fun to have a great apocolyptic battle of the socio-economic systems (hmmm... we might want to find a better name for it though). Massive Edolian communist armies clashing with massive armies of Knootian capitalists... Massive destruction on all sides... Telegram me with your thoughts.>>

OOC: And you'd better involve me too, or I'll feel really left out :(

*flicks lighter, grins at Roania*

OOC: by the way, why are you leaving?

OOC: I'm interested.

Good one!
Tag for reading. :P

O_O

Ok...

1. Involve Chimaea! :)

2. Why are you leaving? :(

3. That's really good writing, yes indeed ^_^

supertag

((This is Knoot))

Oh… crap – the forum ate my post. Well, lets do it again then. This thread will be mostly OOC planning (and comments. I do love comments :) )

Ilek-Vaad: hopefully we’ll have had some positive encounters in the meantime. It looks like your nation will be growing in importance as a Knootian ally. Esp. within the UnAPS alliance ;)

Edolia, Vortex, Chimaea, Copiosa Scotia and others: I would like to involve all of you, really. Nobody will be left out! This will hopefully a be a Really Big Thing spread out over several incidents. Its good to have people who want to join :) Especially you guys (and I was hoping for a part for Iansisle, Tanah Burung and other people too)

<<OOC: I would be honored if I could play a role in the last days of Knootoss... It might be fun to have a great apocolyptic battle of the socio-economic systems (hmmm... we might want to find a better name for it though). Massive Edolian communist armies clashing with massive armies of Knootian capitalists... Massive destruction on all sides... Telegram me with your thoughts.>>

Edolia, I’d like to discuss things here. If you prefer it though I’ll use telegrams instead but this way we can involve everyone at once. What we need is a good reason. Oh, and I really need to get massive armies in the meantime. (perhaps with some allies)



*SPOILER ALERT FOR THOSE WHO JUST WANT TO READ AND NOT PARTICIPATE*
I’m only outlining general stuff here, not precise things because that would give it all away in the first place. All of this is open to debate. If you think “OMG this sucks” then it can be changed to fit some roles better. If you are not explicitly mentioned here that does not mean that you can’t have a role. Just ask.






-The rise and spreading of the Order of the Invisible Hand (primarily in capitalist nations, I recon. But also perhaps in GDODAD-style dictatorships in a manipulated pro-state neomercantilist fashion. I’m working on the concept of that one.
Followed by this a lot of important people would ‘convert.’. Knootians, of course, but perhaps also rich businesspeople and perhaps some government leaders/ secondary characters in your nations making for a credible and more powerful international Market cult. Perhaps the Vortex Corporation and Der Angst would be especially susceptible to this? And perhaps the world at large too… who knows. (I’m not telling who will be converted in Knootoss and all just yet ;) )

-Later after some minor reforms I was hoping for a a Menelmacari-assisted coup in favour of Galadriël, paving the way for Empire. I already have some ideas about how it could be done. (Involving Mornahoose or whatever it is spelled.) Counterespionage, of course, could make it more interesting. And the UN mediation council could play a role…

After that (which will be the first big RP) the true transformation into a neoliberal imperialistic state can begin. Getting people to join the army instead of welfare I figure… of course you also need some Imperialistic Action to establish this. I was thinking along the lines of a ‘policing action’ in Tanah Burung to protect the interests of Knootians living there like what Germany did with minorities in its surrounding states. (Of course causing outrage with the third world and you, or so I recon. Perhaps even conflict.)
I was hoping to have *some* allies in that conflict left. Personally I was hoping to do it with the help of the Ruhrian navy. (And if Baron wants to tag along that’s great too.)
The ending of this neo-colonial adventure should be discussed with TB of course. I realise it would affect his history and Rping time greatly so it could be a defeat, a draw or perhaps even a temporary occupation until Knootoss is destroyed. Input welcome.

-After that (the Knootians will perceive it as a victory whatever the outcome is :P) the regime becomes more megalomane and will perhaps turn on persecuting the local communists. With some class and subtlety, of course. Not the kind go mass-deportation you see here everyday. Perhaps even using an incident as instigation. I could do a communist burning the proverbial Reichstag myself, but if some commie intelligence agency would be behind it (Edolia?) that would be all the better. An assassination of Galadriël (because she is OMG evil in your eyes) is very much a possibility here. (She would be succeeded by someone else, perhaps a figurehead of some nation? Again possibilities abound.)

I’d like to involve Lavenrunz and Iansisle too somehow but I haven’t exactly figured out how yet. Especially for Lavenrunz I can see things go either way...

Playing along with this would be the Knootian position in UnAPS which would become more difficult with every move of course.

In the end this is to lead up to the apocalyptic conflict between the Market forces and the reds of course. It could very well be just to open markets, or it could be a consequence of the Galadriël assassination. Hopefully some other nations will by then have been affected by the cult insomuch that they will join the struggle. (Or it could just be for financial reasons.)

*TG’s the here mentioned but not yet informed Menelmacar, Der Angst, Ruhr, Lavenrunz, Iansisle and Tanah Burung the link to this post.*

---

Why am I leaving?

Well, to get something of my life back. NS has been something of an addiction and I have a bit of NS fatigue I must admit. But also I have been toying with this idea for quite a while and I think the storyline is just compelling, so that’s also a reason. I am willing to sacrifice my nation in the interest of some interesting fun. I also hope to explore some concepts with this whole RP – I have this strange fascination / fear / hate/love thing with what SeOCC would no doubt call “neoliberalism”. I just want to toy with it. Also this brings some direction and long-term plotting back into my Rping, forcing me also to limit myself a bit

After that I do intend to leave, but I might return later. If the addiction holds. But as things stand now I am really planning to leave… seriously. :)

((only a tag for now, as the forum's being...most uncooperative. (hell, I don't know if this'll get through, and if it does, how many of it there will be).

I'd be pleased to participate in this RP in any way you see fit (well, most any way, that is! ;)). Just shoot me a TG or post here with any specific ideas you have.))

Half an hour and i've managed to read page two, but not page one. Will try again at a less civilized hour. For now: tag, and yes Knoot, would be honoured to take part. Even if that does mean imperialist jackbooted tulip freaks trampling across my country. ( :wink: and blows a kiss towards the Netherlands.) Tulips are much on my mind given the death of Queen Juliana, best known in Canada for giving us 1,000 tulips bulbs every year of her reign.

Hmm, perhaps the Conservative Capitalist party in Hattia can 'convert' and try to cause some trouble. And since you said you were going to be imperialistic, perhaps you could attempt an invasion to help them...

Or maybe once The Order of the Invisible hand has taken control of Knootoss, the HFIA (Hattian Foreign Intelligence Agency) can attempt assasinations on high level national leaders...

Oooh I'm brimming with ideas! :)

OOC: Excellent writing, Knoot. Specially the quotes from "the apocalypse" in the bible :wink:

Seriously, It will be a pity to see you go. :( I consider you a very good RP-er, though our chances to RP together weren't very abundant. I had thoughs of leaving myself, as I don't have much time to participate in here now. But for the moment, I won't. (addiction is still too big :wink: )

Anyway, I really liked your idea! I can already imagine it, a massive world apocaliptic war between all the ideological blocks of the nationstates world. Please telegram me your thoughts and we can share ideas about the conflict, but have for granted that I want to participate! :P




******att: Possible Spoiler Below!******

I was thinking along the lines of a ‘policing action’ in Tanah Burung to protect the interests of Knootians living there like what Germany did with minorities in its surrounding states. (Of course causing outrage with the third world and you, or so I recon. Perhaps even conflict.)


psst... that's where I could participate! :P

Hmm...Well this is shaping upto be something of great importance, I could always play a role as the Crazy Conservative Catholic Capitalist. Well I actually consider myself a moderate, but their are so many forces at work in my country that anything is truly possible. I fancy some of the old-money elitists could "convert".

Or I could just throw in some of my Father and Son sidenotes that Iansisle seems to like so much.

(OOC: Yes, very nicely done. Wonderful writing.

Anyway, I doubt I can match writing on this level, but if you need someone to play an extra part, I'd be more than willing if I have time.)

OOC: Of course, anything involving Knootoss cannot but include the involvement of me, Knootoss' mortal enemy. :P

Seriously, if you're going to have this RP in continuity with your storylines right now, and not jump ahead in the timeline (like some RPs *cough*the2017partitionoftheUnitedStatesofAmericawhicheveryoneforsomereasonseemstohaveacceptedashapp eningnowexceptformebecauseI'mRPingin2004*cough*), then I'd like to be involved.

Also, do you *have* to make Galadriël a villain? I like her, and I'd hate it if she was on the Evil Neoliberal Empire side, 'cause I don't like Evil Empires. Of course, it could be that *some* people don't think she's capitalist enough...

Not to mention the fact that Syskeyia will not look to fondly at Knootian imperialism (not that we love Satan's Schismatic Sodomites (Tanah Burung) that much, but hey). Syskeyia did fight some evil übercapitalist insurgents once (the Objectivist War in the 1980s), so maybe the Order of the Invisible Hand might want to get back at us, or something. Not to mention the neoKnootians, being European elitists, might see Syskeyia as an "inferior" ocuntry that they should take over (which, of course, would deeply enrage the Syskeyians, who consider themselves part of "the Western world/Christendom" and not some place to be colonized).

Also, there would be very few, if any, conversions to the Invisible Hand, as Syskeyia is solidly and staunchly Catholic. Maybe if they want to resolve that issue by force...

I was thinking along the lines of a ‘policing action’ in Tanah Burung to protect the interests of Knootians living there like what Germany did with minorities in its surrounding states.

Well, if the Evil Neoliberal Empire still sells recreational drugs (marajuana, LSD etc.) that are illegal in Syskeyia, maybe I can capture and imprison some RecDrugCorp people. And one thing leads to another, and...

In the end this is to lead up to the apocalyptic conflict between the Market forces and the reds of course. It could very well be just to open markets, or it could be a consequence of the Galadriël assassination. Hopefully some other nations will by then have been affected by the cult insomuch that they will join the struggle. (Or it could just be for financial reasons.)

How about a epic clash between social liberals and moral conservatives? My bayonets are fixed and my guns are loaded. ;)

Not to mention the übercapitalists won't be too fond of Christians, as we are mandated to "love thine neighbor," "love thine enemy," help the poor etc.

Just some thoughts. :D

God bless,

The Republic of Syskeyia

[OOC: Ah, well. I can't be involved in this after well - I don't exist as far as Menelmacar is concerned, and Menelmacar doesn't exist as far as I'm concerned.

I'll enjoy reading, though. :)]

OOC: Um, Knoot, are you there?

God bless,

The Republic of Syskeyia

Quoting from the new testament, the destruction of Mystery Babylon, land of anti-Christ ... and then 1000 years of peace :wink:

all things considered it was well written. Biotopia is from the future. So i hope that as K moves into a timeline we [once] occupied perhaps there can be some RP?

[tag]. Perhaps I`m even going to post, as requested...

Ok… I’m back now from my seminar on Safety and Responsibility, and other RL stuff.

*possible spoilers*

Iansisle: well, I assume that with the last RP almost finished Knootoss and your nation will become trading partners, at least, and probably more friendly. :) With your economy still being in the 19th century paradigm its difficult to say what a Market cult would do. I think it would either not be understood, or it could actually become quite popular amongst your industrialists. But because of ‘timeline’ issues I can’t naturally fit you into a role. However I can imagine that you’d want to do your own thing in this.

Tanah Burung: that’s great! I do hope you will manage / managed to get to page 1 by now for explanations ;) Queen Juliana is much thought of and spoken off here too, as she was really popular. Flags are halfmast and everyone is sharing stories on how she was ‘the peoples queen’ etc. And of course she did it! We Dutch like Canada: it were, after all, the Canadians who liberated us from the fascists after operation Market Garden failed, not the Americans! :) The first troop column I have saw IRLly was one of Canadian vets. :) And we have plenty of flowers here, the pope also gets them from us for his yearly blessing thingy.

Hattia: great! I can also imagine some of your people having International Solidarity with the poor Tanah Burung people. Like an international brigade; which would indubitably cause tensions. ;)

Hell Bovines: Exactly. Join the International Brigade! *shoots TG*

Agrigento: that would be nice :)

Mintar: there are always parts. It would be nice if you would join should you have the time. I understand either way. And I always do use some, ahem, research for these things. I don’t come up with them totally out of the blue ;)

Syskeyia: you’ll see what happens to Galadriël, you might even stop her total conversion if you try. (Her as a person, stopping the cult might prove too difficult.) However I do think she’s very much inclined to believe the cult given her political ideas. And as a moral relativist I reject notions of ‘good’ or ‘evil’. There are only circumstances (like the tidal wave) that bring about circumstances that are beyond the control of men. Men can only try to ride the wave. As such, Galadriël, or anyone, can play a role for good or evil.

It will be interesting to see what Syskeyia does: fight capitalist imperialists or ally with ‘communists’ who are in many ways just as secular.

As for feelings towards Syskeyia: the Market ‘neoliberal’ elite will use nationalistic feelings to gain power as many regimes do. I do think that the new Nationalistic sentiment will mean *less* openmindedness, but not to the point of Invasion. Syskeyia would not be a very wise target because the market will (after the negotiations that I’m hoping you to TG me about) be open again. Closed markets and “communism” are the problem according to the ethics of the Order. ;P Religion is unimportant.

Ma-Tek: Aaaaw… too bad. *pouts* I didn’t even realise that when thinking out the storyline :(. Well, uhm. Tough luck. Maybe if Siri somehow drops out, you can somehow drop in. ;)

Jeruselem: 1000 years of peace, well, I’d hope so, but knowing NS I doubt it ;)

Biotopia: “Knoot”, please. Not K. You know why :) Lets talk this over on IRC when I see you. I just missed you this afternoon. (was having dinner.)

Der Angst: that would be nice.

Perhaps the Vortex Corporation and Der Angst would be especially susceptible to this? And perhaps the world at large too…

For the cult of the invisible hand?

You *did* notice that DA is in the transition from a capitalist nation into... errr... somethign else.

Highly unlikely, especially since my christian wackos/ ancient organisations wouldn`t exactly like that...

And they have the advantage of being on known ground.

Capitalism? Nukes?

This thing has my name written all over it. Where do I fit in? I'm sure a capitalist cult would find many followers within the Corporate Federal Conglomerate, on any level. I'm also certain that if you need someone to have nuked you, it could easily be me. :D Especially if it was a covert, indirect nuking, like perhaps I got someone ELSE to nuke you for my evil goals. (You're competition. We don't like you.) Or perhaps I'm the source of "massive armies," though I'm not really allied with you (yet?).

*tag, both for future reading, and possible participation in the events*

Capitalism? Nukes?

This thing has my name written all over it. Where do I fit in? I'm sure a capitalist cult would find many followers within the Corporate Federal Conglomerate, on any level. I'm also certain that if you need someone to have nuked you, it could easily be me. :D Especially if it was a covert, indirect nuking, like perhaps I got someone ELSE to nuke you for my evil goals. (You're competition. We don't like you.) Or perhaps I'm the source of "massive armies," though I'm not really allied with you (yet?).

Bah... IRL bothering my RPing...

Well, I think you summed it up pretty much. :) I do hope to have you as an ally though, not as the person to nuke me. Count yourself in. I already talked to Der Angst on IRC, for the curious ones around here. I am also working on an opening post for the new RP :)

*Tag*

OOC: Bah... this whole Allanean II war has prevented me from finishing the introcutory posts today. :?

Next thread!

The rise of the order of the invisible hand (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3024475#3024475)

NOTE: This one can still be used for general 'planning' and OOCness.

OOC: Can I get involed? No way am I going to let you make the evil sodomites the good guys and the conservatives the bad guys. I'm against the "order of the Invisible Hand," buy the way. Remember I told you about how my country fought Objectivist rebels in the '80s? Objectivism and the OIH have the same basic values (pro-selfishness, pro-greed, etc.) C'mon- socioeconmics=boooring. Not to metnion that since your government seems hell-bent on funding abortion and euthanasia, we're still not trading with you. That good enough to the the OIH's wrath.

God bless,

The Republic of Syskeyia

Well, you can join if you want to. However this is mainly a socioeconomic kind of RP. Interaction with Christianity is very nice, but the Order is not primarily against it. It is regarded as irrational, that is all.

I can imagine cooperation between the Order and the Objectivists though. Assuming they still exist. And yes, the Order dislikes syskeyia. I only hope you're a bit more OOCly cooperative when I'm planning terrorist attacks against you though... it shouldn't be friggin' impossible.

I'd add that although it may look like good v. evil right now, Knoot is trying something a good deal more interesting and morally complex, a riff on the tendency of some to reify the Market as a positive good taken (in the finest NS style) to an extreme. Personally, i find wars boring and socio-economic RP interesting. Chacun à son gout -- each to their own, eh?

*nods*
That is exactly what I mean to do. I'm trying to add a moral dimension. I also appreciate the efforts by TB to balance it out a bit. (Will get to reply to TG's after dinner. :P )

As (very personal) background, it is fun to RP and writing and be creative. That is why I'm here at any rate. But I see this RP also as a personal exploration of my political beliefs. (Which, I'm sure many people have been annoyed by many times on IRC and on certain other boards. :P ) My presenting moral dilemma’s I'm trying to explore them a bit. Get other views and compare things like my own considering the market as a fundamental good etc.

Right now I'm in a phase in my life where I feel I could swing to the 'left' or the 'right' IRLly. On the one hand I so seem to share the 'belief' (if you can call it that) in the "Thatcher crap" as Cirdanistan puts it. Sort of comes with being part of a social group and the ideas you get. On the other hand I'm wary about the way these 'beliefs' are currently implemented by the centre-right government in my own country and in the (third) world. I am member of a political party that is part of this coalition and I personally voted in favour of joining this "conservative" government. Does this make me, albeit in a VERY small way, morally responsible for the end of the welfare state and insane budget cuts of billion upon billion upon billion? Is this wrong, and if so are there alternatives?

The alternatives don't seem to exist, or don't seem viable. I despise the dogmatism of the left and how it looks at the world with blind shutters just as some of the "neoliberals" do. But what kind of world do I want?

Good vs Evil hardly comes into all that. Now, I'm not saying I am trying to work all of this out just trough nationstates. I discuss a lot with friends, I attend political meetings, etc, but NS certainly is a small part of it.

[/rant]

Indeed, this "invisible hand" idea is very creative. Really refreshing after all those tiring and repetitive "kill all elves" threads

Anyway, I was wondering,
In the thread "The Rise of The Invisible Hand", you say two foreigners were killed in the protest. Can one of them be a hell bovine? It would give me a good excuse to poke my nose there.... :wink:

Yes; thats the reason that I've been killing foreigners for in the first place ;) By all means claim away.

mm... where exactly are you going with the Colombian part of things? What will happen with the prisoners? Will they be discovered and publicised? What do you want the IMC to find out? And where did I put my car keys =/

Prisoners: depends. I was thinking of getting them into Guantanamo Bay which, as I recall, is a Menelmacari installation in NS :P

I might also just convict them for terrorist activity. The IMC can draw its own conclusions but I am going to play nice-nice with them. (So I will be RPing for them to find out as little as possible and to keep them away from any less-then-superb things in Colombia and show them the happy people. Of course, TB will have a small surprise ;)

Did you check for your keys where you last put them?

I found them, they were in my jeans' pocket :oops:

I started writing up a fairly long and atmospheric post, but then I realised I had no idea what I was going to do in Colombia. What do I do? o.O

Prepare for the IMC visit?

Yep, of course... Er, am I hiding anything? o.O

Well ok, yes, I'd be hiding a lot of things.

Well... then go on and hide!

Jim: It is said that this is part of a hideous web of corruption, woven by western industrial countries and third world governments that forms a blot on our modern civilisation.
Bernard: Webs don't form blots Minister. Well, spiders don't have any ink you see. Only cuttlefish.
Jim: Spiders don't have cuttlefish. What are you talking about?
Bernard: I know, you see ...
Sir Humphrey: Thank you Bernard.

- Yes Minister, The Moral Dimension