Allemande
17-06-2005, 21:01
Here's an idea: the United States of Allemande is a nation in the West Pacific. One of the questions I've been grappling with is what happened to our country during World War II. Were we attacked by the Japanese? Were we occupied? Were we liberated by the United States or its ANZAC allies? Were there naval actions off our shores? Did we send troops to help liberate other Pacific nations? Or did we somehow stay neutral?
Other nations in the area might have fought on the side of the Japanese - after all, for many non-European peoples, this was an anti-colonialist war. There would have been no shame in using the opportunity to try and win your independence; indeed, maybe this is how you became a new nation!
Of course, this means significantly revising the history of the War in the Pacific. In RL, this was really a sideshow compared to the fighting in Europe and North Africa (and everything was a sideshow compared to the fighting in Eastern Europe). But because the "Pacifics" are feeder regions, the demographic balance of the NS world is different. The Pacific is the centre of NS life, because its population dwarfs that of most other regions.
So in the "revised" history of WW II, the War in the Pacific was the most important theatre of action in that conflict. What I'm asking the Pacific nations to do is to rewrite that history.
Which brings us to the RP part...
This is about as safe an RP as it gets. There were no nukes (until the very end, and then we know where and how they were used); there was gas, and there were germs, but neither was used in the Pacific (although either could have been, since neither Japan nor the U.S. were signatories to the relevant protocols banning its use). Civilians were mistreated (used as labour, or for "companions") but genocide was not at all the order of the day (outside of China). Most importantly, you choose your side knowing how the story ends:
The Allies defeat the Axis after four years of tough fighting, and
Your nation survives!
It doesn't get much safer than this.
I see this as a chance for people to practise RP without fear of "winning" or "losing" (fate has already set the final outcome); a chance to make friends or enemies (these people helped the other side and attacked us, those people helped us out when the chips were down). It will create a measure of continuity within the Pacific community, and - if we're clever about it - maybe even explain some of the differences among the Pacifics (like the fervent love of democracy and independence - and the antagonism toward invaders - possessed by my native West Pacific region). Maybe other areas can explain their regional attributes this way.
I'll post this to the Pacific regional forums, but I don't want to own this. Because I suspect that Allemande would have been on the side of the Allies, I'd like to find another Pacific nation that would have been on the Axis side (remember, that's the losing side, so the war will likely end in your occupation - although Thailand was on the Axis side, and came out of the war little worse for wear) to help me organise this. Then maybe we can split off into "remembrances" of the campaigns and political events that marked this all-important era in our past.
Other nations in the area might have fought on the side of the Japanese - after all, for many non-European peoples, this was an anti-colonialist war. There would have been no shame in using the opportunity to try and win your independence; indeed, maybe this is how you became a new nation!
Of course, this means significantly revising the history of the War in the Pacific. In RL, this was really a sideshow compared to the fighting in Europe and North Africa (and everything was a sideshow compared to the fighting in Eastern Europe). But because the "Pacifics" are feeder regions, the demographic balance of the NS world is different. The Pacific is the centre of NS life, because its population dwarfs that of most other regions.
So in the "revised" history of WW II, the War in the Pacific was the most important theatre of action in that conflict. What I'm asking the Pacific nations to do is to rewrite that history.
Which brings us to the RP part...
This is about as safe an RP as it gets. There were no nukes (until the very end, and then we know where and how they were used); there was gas, and there were germs, but neither was used in the Pacific (although either could have been, since neither Japan nor the U.S. were signatories to the relevant protocols banning its use). Civilians were mistreated (used as labour, or for "companions") but genocide was not at all the order of the day (outside of China). Most importantly, you choose your side knowing how the story ends:
The Allies defeat the Axis after four years of tough fighting, and
Your nation survives!
It doesn't get much safer than this.
I see this as a chance for people to practise RP without fear of "winning" or "losing" (fate has already set the final outcome); a chance to make friends or enemies (these people helped the other side and attacked us, those people helped us out when the chips were down). It will create a measure of continuity within the Pacific community, and - if we're clever about it - maybe even explain some of the differences among the Pacifics (like the fervent love of democracy and independence - and the antagonism toward invaders - possessed by my native West Pacific region). Maybe other areas can explain their regional attributes this way.
I'll post this to the Pacific regional forums, but I don't want to own this. Because I suspect that Allemande would have been on the side of the Allies, I'd like to find another Pacific nation that would have been on the Axis side (remember, that's the losing side, so the war will likely end in your occupation - although Thailand was on the Axis side, and came out of the war little worse for wear) to help me organise this. Then maybe we can split off into "remembrances" of the campaigns and political events that marked this all-important era in our past.