NationStates Jolt Archive

Presidential Mansion, Manila, Phillippines

"He's joking, right?"

"No, Mr. President. His Majesty is quite serious about this."

The President of the Phillippines held in his hands a very long letter, handwritten on the finest paper, bearing the personal Seal of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Royce I.

Most of the world knew of Roycelandia, and whilst they were generally a popular and well-liked country, they did have a habit of indulging in what the British used to refer to as "Gunboat Diplomacy" to get their way, and it was with this in mind that the President had opened the letter with trepidation.

The Phillippines hadn't been doing too well for themselves after independence from the US (and before that, the Spanish). Whilst not a shit-poor 3rd world country in the vein of, say, Ethiopia, the fact remained that the Phillippines really didn't have much of anything going for it except cheap labour and lots of forests. They also had some rather unsettling neighbours in the region, and it was largely beleived that it was the United Elians in Brunei and that had helped keep the region largely trouble free until now.

Alas, the situation in China had deteriorated, there were large fleets in the area, and trouble was brewing.

This letter from His Majesty seemed to provide some of the answers.

In effect, it was a formal invitation for the Phillippines to join the Roycelandian Empire as a Commonwealth Nation. His Imperial Majesty Emperor Royce I would be installed as Head of State, and Roycelandia would be allowed to operate a few military installations in the Phillipines.

In return, Roycelandia would completely pay the Phillippine's Foreign Debt, provide employment for the citizens, provide free Health Care for all Filipinos, fund the education system, and get the country back on it's feet.

The Phillippines would NOT be annexed into the Empire, and would remain a Sovereign Nation. In effect, the Phillippines would gain a powerful Monarch, whilst the President etc would effectively become the Monarch's advisor on Filipino Matters, as well as being in charge of the Phillippines. All democratic elections and so on would remain in place, and the day to day running of the country would remain unchanged.

"As far as I can see" said the President, "It's a good deal. We gain a lot, and don't need to make any major sacrifices in return. However, the Phillippines is a democratic country, so the decision is not mine alone. We must put this offer to the people, and see how they feel. I hope they feel the same way I do..."

OOC:It's exactly what you read- Roycelandia is offering the Phillippines the chance to join the Roycelandian Empire as a Commonwealth Nation. It's not a military invasion or annexation, and Roycelandia isn't going to colonise the place or run it in a "hands-on" way like the rest of the Empire. Things would more or less stay as they are in the Phillipines, with the obvious exception of things like the fact Royce I would be the head of state, there'd be a few military bases, and everyone's quality of life would improve no end...

OOC: Well, Wulaishen was AMW's Philippines, but he hasn't done anything with them. If he appears and tries to resist, I'd honestly be surprised.

Needless to say, rumours after this fashion were sufficient to immediately bump-up Igovian aid to revolutionaries in the Philippines, of whom there were no small number. While it was true that the chance of Commonwealth resources being misappropriated existed in responding so soon to speculation, this was accepted as one of the costs of popular government: not every Igovian was a reserved tactician.

Previously, the Communist Party of the Philippines had received relatively minor official attention from Portmeirion, which was concentrated on efforts from Vietnam to Venezuala, but borders mattered less to Igovians than to probably anyone else on earth.

It looked as if the Roiks were coming to Asia, after all, and few Beddgelens were impressed. Along with material aid to the New People's Army, Beth Gellert dramatically stepped-up its propaganda and other educational programmes directed at the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, hoping to waylay any imperialist attempts to feed the masses some claptrap about representation.

On the down side, the frequent penetration of Filipino territory by Igovian Marathon and Preston aircraft, Hound and Anunkai submarines, and Dwrgi-T wing-in-ground-effect vehicles may well have compounded fears about the current state of national security.

But screw that, inaction was no better, as one Senate-going comrade put it.

"The Maharaja Confederacy would like to support our friends in Roycelandia in their absorption of the Islands of the Phillipines. His Highness The Maharaja Gaj Singh II of Jodhpur wishes to extend any aid Roycelandia might need in ensuring a peaceful and profitable exchange of power in the Phillipines.

Signed,

Balgangadhar Tilak
First Chamberlain of the Court of His Highness the Maharaja
On Order of The Yuvraj of Jodhpur, Shivraj Singh"

Roycelandian engineers and teachers had already arrived in the Phillippines, and were busy helping out in schools (especially in remote areas), rebuilding bridges, and upgrading roads.

The ironic position for the Bedgellertens was that the mere presence of groups like the New People's Army and Igovian aircraft was enough to unsettle a lot of the local populace, and as a result there were more than a few who were quite keen on the idea of Roycelandia setting up shop in the Phillippines.

Debate had already begun in Parliament and in the Media, with both sides presenting some convincing arguments on their viewpoints.

The Security and Prosperity aspect was a big one- with various Guerrilla Bands operating in the Jungles and the economy totally ruined, the advantages to a stable, 1st world country coming in and "Helping Out" were immeasurable...

As it becomes more clear that the Roycelandian empire is intent on fostering division in the Philippines, Igovian efforts are redoubled in spreading understanding of what the stable 4th world* promises.

Alexi Rhys-Petrov, former Group Captain 201 Squadron Soviet People's Air Force, was one comrade on the ground in the Philippines, and increasingly important in Igovian efforts. He was lecturing on Igovian revolutionary experience in the 1980s and on things held to be highly important in basic Beddgelen education. Things such as the 1871 Paris Commune and the 1921 Kronstadt uprising and the efforts by the Principality and foreign powers; the false progressives of the Second Republic, and the Prussians; and the false revolutionaries of Lenin's Bolsheviks -successful in all but the first case- to crush true progress and replace it with a poorly disguised stagnation.

Rhys-Petrov compared the consumerism and -already clearly unsuccessful- electoral dictatorship offered by the Roycelandians and their Filipino pets to the limp and treacherous second republic or the veiled power-grabbing revolution of the Bolsheviks.

At the moment, comrades like Alexi were more concerned for their safety amongst the Filipino 'communists' or their leadership than anything external that may threaten them. It would be a challenge to connect with the people at large in areas associated with the movement without immediately coming into conflict with revolutionary leaders.



*This is a term used by Beddgelens in describing the free revolutionary world as opposed to the 1st world of NATO-association, largely defunct 2nd world (that arguably still includes nations like Dra-pol and Kanendru), and none-aligned 3rd world. A minority of Beddgelens prefer to associate themselves with the 2nd world, but most resent the implication of revolutionary subversion and corruption.

Quezon City, Phillippines

Colonel Stewart Griffin of the Emperor's East African Rifles had never been to the Philippines before, and he was thoroughly interested by what he saw when he got there.

In many ways, the situation wasn't all that different from what the Americans would have found when they bought the islands off the Spanish in 1898, with various Guerrilla bands in the Jungles and a well meaning but ineffective central Government.

Roycelandia had agreed to become the sole providers of Armaments to the Filipinos, and over 50,000 Self-Loading Lee-Enfield rifles, Webley Mk VI revolvers, Lewis LMGs, Bren LMGs, and Vickers MGs had been shipped in and were being distributed to Filipino troops, along with training in how to use them.

Meanwhile, a full-scale propaganda campaign was underway- not the obvious type, but a more subtle one- prominent "MADE IN ROYCELANDIA" labels on medicines and consumer goods, popular Roycelandian sitcoms on TV (although the hit Roycelandian sitcom My Neighbour Is A Darkie isn't amongst them, primarily because although it is howlingly funny, it's also very racist and politically incorrect, and most of the jokes wouldn't translate well to an Asian market), and that sort of thing. Much light was also being made of Roycelandia's promise to pay the Phillippine's Foreign Debt, and get the country back on it's feet.

The Dreadnought IRNS Leiter was also in port, making a Goodwill Visit to the Phillippines and giving the crew some much needed R&R...

Meanwhile, a team of the Imperial Foreign Legion's best Jungle Warfare soldiers had also arrived with Colonel Griffin to help train the Filipino Defence Forces, and possibly search out Communist Guerillas and "re-educate" them...

OOC: Roycelandia's definitions of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd World are:

1st World: Modern, Civilised, prosperous, industrial/tech nations. Places like Roycelandia, France, Britain, Quinntonia, etc

2nd World: Underdeveloped/not very well off, but trying to improve things. Places like Strathdonia could be considered 2nd World.

3rd World: Underdeveloped, poor, shithole countries. Places like Lusaka and RL Somalia, Ethiopia, etc...

Whilst preparations are underway for the Referendum (Which will be a few months away at best), the Filipino Government has signed a Treaty allowing Roycelandia to operate military bases in the Phillippines and station forces there.

Roycelandian Sunderland Flying Boats are already a common sight in the skies over Manial, Quezon City, and Luzon in general...

tag

Responding to this archaic threat, the Igovians have suddenly begun to arm communist rebels -of whom there are a great many- with ex-service SA-16 MANPADS capable of threatening high performance jets, let alone generations old flying boats. The missiles are available for export in large numbers having been recently withdrawn from nation-wide issue and held now only by the Soviet Militia Corps.

Along with them -on the Commonwealth's answer to flying boats, the much more efficient and powerful WIG vehicles- have come yet more advisers and educators, now operating increasingly openly on some islands, and old small-calibre infantry mortars, RPG-7s, and Russian firearms in Beth Gellert replaced by domestic designs after being issued to larger than present forces under Sopworth's dictatorship. While the primary Igovian aim is to steel revolutionary communities against likely impending crack-down attempts, the reality is probably that the aid enables fighters to go on the offensive in response to more western imperialist meddling in the Philippines.

Hindustan doesn't quite know how to interpret the events in the Phillippines, but by the look of things it seems like the islands are getting a good deal. While Hindustan of course would have offered aid and support, pressing commitments in Colombia, Al-Ahzad, Kanendru, Central Asia, and now deployments in Lusaka have caused worry among delegates to the popular congress that the Hindustani aid system might become overstretched.

"Perhaps if we convinced some other countries to help out here and there too, we could have the same results," says one delegate, although this comment is generally not well-recieved and will not manifest itself in new foreign policy. No, the government will rely on its manufacturing and industrial base, coupled with responsible financial practices and relatively small military spending, in order to fill the foreign aid chest.

But back to the Phillippines.

Hindustan doesn't necessarily object to their assimilation into Roycelandia, but at the same time is suspicious of old Royce's motives. The prospect of French ships and aircraft operating from bases sandwitched right between Progressive India and Lyong is not a favorable one.

But one thing is for certain- Hindustani admirals do eye Bedgellen WIGs with watering mouths, and would be very interested in aquiring some.

(Hey Maharaja and BG, would you guys be interested in an India summit?)

(Sure, why not, eh? And as to the WIGs, it is highly likely that a strong lobby in Beth Gellert would support sharing of technologies in this regard: civilian cargo craft based on the Dwrgi (a 140-ish ton WIG vehicle) already appears frequently in Hindustani ports, and there are plans under way to create a regular passenger service to northern ports. Increasingly militant environmentalists in the Commonwealth are delighted by the vehicles' fuel economy relative to cargo weights and speed of transit, and want to see the technology more widely applied.
This maritime passenger service to neighbouring Hindustan would not be the case but that our rail networks are probably not properly compatable... a possible issue for any Indian conference: most Beddgelen railways are of a wide-gauge sort more like Brunel's, and -so far as we know- not used outside BG and C19th Britain.)

OOC: Wow and empire that can't spell a country's name is offering to them an opportunity to join their empire. It's unrealistic for them to accept. Never mind the fact that you're ignoring the efforts already taken by Gawad Kalinga, the President wouldn't go to the people for this decision, they would go to the US. The Philippines is very interactive with the States, even with their independence, the US killed a lot of people and instated heavy propaganda in the Filipino schools. As for the them not doing very well after attaining independence, they haven't been doing well since the Spanish came. The Spanish messed a lot of things up, and so did the Americans. It's really unrealistic, if you're trying to recreate the relationship between America and the Philippines then it wouldn't make sense because if the president would agree to that then they never would have relinquished the relationship with America in the first place.

OOC: Oh I didn't know AMW is an alternate Earth, I didn't know about this new thing until recently. Nevermind

(Still, the spelling thing holds true, I think, but I'll resist the urge to make fun of the Roiks over this ;) , but only because it's in a thread that doesn't concern me. If only Dra-pol cared about the outside world I'd be all over it.)

The Russian Mafia, which has a presence in most places, (with most other criminal organizations long defeated or allied) including the Phillipines, has offered a deal to the Roiks. They will keep their hands out of the Phillipines, and the Roycelandians will keep their hands out of Nigeria. Alternatively, they could help each other out in those regions.

The ironic situation is that should Communist Guerrillas actually bring down a Roycelandian Sunderland, then outcry in both countries would almost certainly bring reprisals and strengthen anti-Communist feeling in the Philippines.

More importantly, most of the Sunderland Flying Boats seen over Luzon are civillian ones operated by Imperial Airways. Whilst there are a small number of Military ones (Operated by the Imperial Maritime Air Service), the differences are only apparent at reasonably close range (ie, the civillian ones don't have roundels on the wings or machine gun turrets).

So far, however, the Roycelandians have been maintaining a low-key presence in the area. There is even talk of an Amnesty for Communist Guerrillas who lay down their arms. Walk out of the jungle, no questions will be asked, no reprisals will be taken.

In fact, one of the major benefits has been the establishment of an Air Harbour at Manila, allowing for more efficient refuelling of Imperial Airway's Sunderlands on the Port Royal-Beijing route.

The Russian Mafia have been told that His Majesty knows how to do business, and is prepared to "work with" them in the Philippines and Nigeria...

OOC: I feel a little bad about the mis-spelling of "Philippines", but that was my fault for not double-checking it. Still, it's been corrected now.

Incidentally, the Imperial Aerospace Sunderland is a largely modern aircraft in all major respects aside from external appearance and, of course, the four turboprop engines. Sure, it's not as fast as a 747, but it's a lot more stylish and comfortable. Remember, for Roycelandians, getting there is part of the adventure...

As another aside, there are actually two major Roycelandian airlines- the Government-owned Imperial Airways (operating IAe Sunderlands , IAe DC-3 and DC-4s, as well as modern versions of the Ford Tri-Motor and Ju-52), and the privately owned Air Roycelandia, which operates Boeing 747-400s, Boeing 737-800s, Hawker-Siddeley 748s, and Fokker F-1s (AKA the Fokker Friendship).

(Not half so flash as a brand new Dwrgi-T WIG-vehicle, though ;)
As to whether the communists shoot down any aircraft, well, I don't know. I don't know enough about the details of the rebel groups and their dispersal through the islands, though perhaps I'll try to read up on it a bit, now.
And I don't think I'd feel right taking over the insurgent groups of an entire NPC nation and saying that they'd all seen the light of the true Soviets as opposed to whatever various revisionist policies they may previously have been exposed to... I suppose I hope to balance it... BG's and my own OOC influence or control will only go as far as Roycelandia's over the other sections of the NPC nation. Yeah, I'll just stop typing and go to see what I can learn about the history, strength, and location of the communist movements in the Philippines. I don't want to get carried away, but equally I don't want to miss a chance to ruin Roik plans :D )

OOC: Royce, by "working with", what exactly do you mean? What would the Roiks do if a coup was attempted? I'm guessing you'd try to grab Nigeria, so I'm willing to give you a piece of it.

OOC: You can bet that any coup in Nigeria will result in the Imperial AND Colonial Guard being deployed there, and I'd be willing to be sizeable sums of money that United Elias, Lusaka, Strathdonia, and possibly the African Commonwealth (if he gets his net access back) would also descend on Nigeria, partly to stop Roycelandia or the Russian Mafia from annexing it, but also partly because we all enjoy meddling in each other's plans so much...

How much of it would you be prepared to give Roycelandia? :D

(Sure, why not, eh? And as to the WIGs, it is highly likely that a strong lobby in Beth Gellert would support sharing of technologies in this regard: civilian cargo craft based on the Dwrgi (a 140-ish ton WIG vehicle) already appears frequently in Hindustani ports, and there are plans under way to create a regular passenger service to northern ports. Increasingly militant environmentalists in the Commonwealth are delighted by the vehicles' fuel economy relative to cargo weights and speed of transit, and want to see the technology more widely applied.
This maritime passenger service to neighbouring Hindustan would not be the case but that our rail networks are probably not properly compatable... a possible issue for any Indian conference: most Beddgelen railways are of a wide-gauge sort more like Brunel's, and -so far as we know- not used outside BG and C19th Britain.)

OCC: Ok. Just waiting on the other third...what kind of rail did they use in India? Some kind of colonial gauge? According to the CIA world factbook, India's got some 45,099 km worth of broad gauge rail, but I don't know if that's the same as English wide-gauge. I'd assume that its been used in Hindustan, though.

As for the WIGs, yeah some cargo variants would be handy. Perhaps for trips between the Western port cities and the Arabian Peninsula and Africa. I couldn't imagine one of those things navigating the Suez canal, though. How many do you operate now?

IC:

The popular congress writes up some telegrams to the Roycelandian government asking if they could send some observers to the Philippines and take a look at things themselves.

The Roycelandian Government has said that any neutral observers who wish to view Roycelandia's Philippines operations are more than welcome to do so. And for once, there appears to be nothing dodgy going on... no crates labelled "Machine Parts" but actually containing Nuclear Weapons, no "Peacekeepers" that wipe out villages everytime they go on patrol, and no Government Officials dying of "accidental causes" that involve .303 or .455 bullets... Very Un-Roycelandian, in other words...

As soon as they learn of Roycelandian approval, a team of delegates from the popular congress is assembled and loaded onto a SAt. 32, headed towards Luzon.

http://www.lietadla.com/lietadla/ruske/an-24/an-32-06.jpg

An SAt. 32 requisitioned for diplomatic missions headed to the Philippines.

Alexi Rhys-Petrov had spent a lot of time in the Philippines over more than a decade, visiting first while still in the air force and not long after the Filipino communists had asked for international support on an official leve. That move, in the late eighties or there about, had been a departure for a movement long proud of its self-sufficient nature. Though the CPP had traditionally received several million dollars each year in private contributions, it had never sought aid on an official state level. Two Beddgelen attempts to ship in significant material aid to the tens of thousands of NPA guerrilla fighters had been intercepted (ooc: I have supposed that real Chinese attempts wouldn't have come in AMW, and as such are replaced by Beddgelen missions), and Portmeirion had pretty well given up on the idea with the fall of Sopworth's premiership and the increase of troubles on the Asian mainland following the USSR's collapse.

Comrades like Alexi, operating as private citizens, had continued to visit, often risking arrest, establishing if nothing else a limited convention of Igovian-CPP interaction.

The end of the Philippines' previous and greatly unpopular government had hurt recruitment to the revolutionary factions, and mistakes had been made on the propaganda front, but across the nation there still existed hundreds of thousands of supporters and thousands of regular fighters: possibly so many as a few tens of thousands. The possibility that Roycelandian intervention would lead to a measly rise in the standard of living or to some other small benefit for the nation's peasants meant that the communists might suffer more recruiting troubles in the long term, but Alexi hoped that the initial threat posed by the prospect of meddling by one of the world's most infamously imperialist forces would have the opposite effect in the immediate future. Igovian influence on the fighters may also endear the movement to the people as it could only learn from the better established Beddgelen revolution, but this in itself raised potential problems as those who'd done best for themselves within the movement might well feel threatened by talk of decentralisation and truly universal democratisation. Rhys-Petrov had resolved in his own mind to work with his comrades to imbed as much positive theory as possible now, and later, if forced, to arrange for the arrest of excessively self-interested persons subverting the revolution... if the revolutionaries themselves would root-out the corrupt elements of their movement, the future would greatly brighten.

In the meanwhile, more Igovians were arriving with the return of Commonwealth-level interest sparked by Roycelandian rumblings. GSIC-lead missions brought small numbers of WIG vehicles laden with arms and supplies, much more able to evade the authorities than had been lumbering ships years earlier. Comrade Getafix of Galle was the Elector of the Soviet assembled to carry-out liason with the Filipino communists, and arrived in country cutting a more imposing figure than did the relatively well-mannered Alexi.

(OOC: We've a few dozen Dwrgi WIGs of all types. Eventually there's to be probably five of the massive Red Dragons and maybe three figures for Dwrgis in military service, and who knows how many civilian.)

Alexi Rhys-Petrov had spent a lot of time in the Philippines over more than a decade, visiting first while still in the air force and not long after the Filipino communists had asked for international support on an official leve. That move, in the late eighties or there about, had been a departure for a movement long proud of its self-sufficient nature. Though the CPP had traditionally received several million dollars each year in private contributions, it had never sought aid on an official state level. Two Beddgelen attempts to ship in significant material aid to the tens of thousands of NPA guerrilla fighters had been intercepted (ooc: I have supposed that real Chinese attempts wouldn't have come in AMW, and as such are replaced by Beddgelen missions), and Portmeirion had pretty well given up on the idea with the fall of Sopworth's premiership and the increase of troubles on the Asian mainland following the USSR's collapse.

Comrades like Alexi, operating as private citizens, had continued to visit, often risking arrest, establishing if nothing else a limited convention of Igovian-CPP interaction.

The end of the Philippines' previous and greatly unpopular government had hurt recruitment to the revolutionary factions, and mistakes had been made on the propaganda front, but across the nation there still existed hundreds of thousands of supporters and thousands of regular fighters: possibly so many as a few tens of thousands. The possibility that Roycelandian intervention would lead to a measly rise in the standard of living or to some other small benefit for the nation's peasants meant that the communists might suffer more recruiting troubles in the long term, but Alexi hoped that the initial threat posed by the prospect of meddling by one of the world's most infamously imperialist forces would have the opposite effect in the immediate future. Igovian influence on the fighters may also endear the movement to the people as it could only learn from the better established Beddgelen revolution, but this in itself raised potential problems as those who'd done best for themselves within the movement might well feel threatened by talk of decentralisation and truly universal democratisation. Rhys-Petrov had resolved in his own mind to work with his comrades to imbed as much positive theory as possible now, and later, if forced, to arrange for the arrest of excessively self-interested persons subverting the revolution... if the revolutionaries themselves would root-out the corrupt elements of their movement, the future would greatly brighten.

In the meanwhile, more Igovians were arriving with the return of Commonwealth-level interest sparked by Roycelandian rumblings. GSIC-lead missions brought small numbers of WIG vehicles laden with arms and supplies, much more able to evade the authorities than had been lumbering ships years earlier. Comrade Getafix of Galle was the Elector of the Soviet assembled to carry-out liason with the Filipino communists, and arrived in country cutting a more imposing figure than did the relatively well-mannered Alexi.

(OOC: We've a few dozen Dwrgi WIGs of all types. Eventually there's to be probably five of the massive Red Dragons and maybe three figures for Dwrgis in military service, and who knows how many civilian.)

OCC: Three figures? I barely have three figures of missile boats. But I don't suppose I'm really expected to have much of a military. Of course, it is embarrassing when the Russian mafia defeats your military in battle, as was essentially the case off Tord, where I lost one of my few capable surface warships.

Mabye I'll have four or five Dwrgis.

IC:

The SAt. 32 lands in Luzon, and the group of observers disembarks. They wait for a Fillipino or Roycelandian escort...

The Roycelandian International Development Aid Society's head man in the Philippines is there at the airport to greet the LRR inspectors, along with a Land Rover.

"Would you like some lunch first, or shall we get straight into it?" he asks as he carries their bags to the back of the Land Rover.

The delegation chooses to get to business first, as they already ate enough food for a few meals aboard the plane.

They pile into the Land Rover, a common vehicle in Hindustan, and indicate their readiness to go. While amounting to six people, the delegation still manages to fit fairly comfortably on the vehicle, and Hindustani roadways often witness such vehicles being used to transport more than ten people.

Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

At South East Asia Command (COMSEA), the concept of Roycelandia exerting more influence in the region was viewed positively, and they would send messages of support to Manila. Whilst the possibility of Elias forces helping in taking on left wing guerillas in the Northern part of the country was unlikely, given most local forces being on REDCON Charlie due to the emerging situation in China, intervention in the South was feasible. Brunei's own Sabre Regiment of Special Forces had a long, ruthless and notorious history of operating in the Sulu archipelago and Mindanao against recalcitrant Islamic fundamentalist guerillas, which were once seen as the largest threat to Brunei's government. Taking this into account, the decision was taken to deploy a small action group to patrol the Southern Filipino islands, which would consist of the 8,000 ton Amphibious Landing Ship Bolkiah one of three such vessels in the Royal Brunei Navy, carrying two squadrons of special forces. The taskforce would be escorted by a pair of Elias Navy Corvettes, also based in Bandar, as well as a single diesel-electric submarine. Its mission was twofold, firstly stop Islamist guerillas from using this as an oppurtunity to cross into Borneo, and also to conduct operations against them. The strategy used by the Sabre Regiment for two decades would be employed, landing small teams of men to conduct recon operations of a few days each, focusing on snatching prisoners, then using helicopter raids and air strikes to destroy insurgent camps.

OOC: LRR, I don't think it's worth actually RPing the inspection of Roycelandia's operations in the Philippines. At the moment, we're not up to anything dodgy- we're on our best behaviour for this one.

I mean, it's not like His Imperial Majesty Emperor Royce I has decided to take an uninhabited Volcanic Island, hollow it out, and send his Minions out to do his bidding or anything... Ah crap, did I say that out loud? Forget I said anything... :-P

Seriously though, no-one (except the Beth Gellertens and other "Anti-Roycelandian Elements") is going to find anything dodgy going on. Oddly though, large shipments of small, cheap consumer goods (Digital Watches, DVD Players, TVs, Transistor Radios, Walkmans, and so on) are being imported by Roycelandia, and distributed to the general populace through various "Promotions" and "Prize Draws" (ie "Look under the cap of your Cola Shaka bottle to see if you win!- Of course EVERY bottle of Cola Shaka has a prize...)

Port Royal has also indicated to UE (quietly, of course), that Roycelandian Aircraft in the Philippines can be made available for resupply, transport, and evacuation missions, should they be required...

OCC: Eh, I guess not. Just looking for something to do.

The delegation returns suspicious, but without any evidence of Roycelandian bad intentions.

taggith

The Filipino Government has announced that the Referndum will be held in one months' time. Opinion polls show a majority support for Commonwealth with Roycelandia, especially as a result of Chinese and Bedgellen "Agression" in the region. Anyone who can help rid the area of the Communists is also going to be popular, and the large Roycelandian aid and military presence in the country has convinced a sizeable number of former doubters that Commonwealth might not be a bad idea at all...

With thousands of communist fighters let alone supporters and sympathisers in the Philippines, Commonwealth agents increase their efforts to drive-home democratic ideas. Many of the chain's isolated communities consider how little their voice matters to Roycelandia and Manila, and Igovians speak nervously of authoritarian meddling in increasingly democratic communities. The Beddgelens have again reacted to the forward march of Roycelandian influence by encouraging and assissting the establishment of communes with community of goods and direct democracy, leading to economic growth in some of the most under-developed villages. Arms, of course, continue to trickle in, along with increasing numbers of light machine tools for local industry (including militaristic) development.