NationStates Jolt Archive

January 2, 2006

"AY! Pinches pendejos.... I give them schools, I give them hospitals, I give them food, but no! 'Necesitamos votas!' Bullshit!"

"Si, senor."

Guillermo Martinez puffed on his Cuban Cigar and fumed. He had barely escaped from the mob that overthrew him. He was dictator of a fairly prosperous Latin American Country, and had played politics well.

In his early stages, he was set up, with the help of the Soviets, by Castro in '82 at the ripe age of 25 but after the fall of the Iron Curtain, he had to switch sides. Taking aid from the Yanquis, he built a few schools and a few clinics, but mostly had funnelled it into his fat Swiss Bank Account. Nearly 60% of the Country's GDP was in there.

Then when Chavez made his alliance with Fidel, Guillermo joined in. Unfortunately, 15 years of friendship with America suddenly overturned didn't suit the people well. After a brief gun battle between his Republican Guard and the rebels, the rebels burned down the Presidential Palace. Guillermo was on his yacht at the time, and upon hearing news of the attack, ordered a practical rape of the country.

Every dollar, every pill, every gun that could be found was put into boxes and sent to the docks. Fortunately, the merchant marine was very "friendly" to Guillermo and nearly everything was safely stored there. As many loyalists as could be found also arrived, and by the time the convoy was in international waters, nearly 94% of the nation's money, 83% of the nation's medication, and 98% of the nation's weapons supply was on any one of the ships. 110,319 of the nation's soldiers, doctors, teachers, lawyers and other wealthy people, as well as a strong supply of loyal laborers were also in the ships. About half of the soldiers stayed behind in the principle port, where there were many loyalists. Guillermo hoped that many more would be able to make it out.

They're destination was a remote continent, somehow just recently rediscovered. His private Helicopter fleet had found out that the East side of the Island was quite populated with several colonies. Instead, on the west side, a group of 3 rivers penetrated a dense rain forest, where the climate was similar to that of the old land. All three rivers also had good harbors which would make for good defenses. Cash crops could also be made since the rivers went up into the mountains. Yes, Guillermo thought, it would be swell.

September 4, 2006

The Convoy had arrived at the Island about 3 weeks before, with scouting ships arriving as early as 2 months before. They had picked an area that was mostly rainforest from the coast up to some mountains. There were three rivers and each had the prospect of providing adequate river transport up and down. The northern most one was picked. Guillermo decided that to appease the priests who had come along, the rivers would have religious names. The northern most one would be the San Pedro. The middle one would be the Santiago and the southern most one would be the San Juan, named after the three most important disciples of Jesus... or whatever.

At the mouth of the San Pedro, a cove protected the harbor and Guillermo figured it would make a perfect landing spot, if not a capital. He might, though, move the capital inland and more central, but that was a way's away. For now, 1 city would have to do.

The next day, the construction of the permanent parts of the new city began. Several temporary tenements had been built in the previous months, and several farms had been built. Enough corn farms had been built so that those, compiled with the 2 Goat farms and the fishing centers would be able to feed the 100,000+ people that had come. For now, however, local fruits and monkeys that lived there, as well as purchased American MREs would do.

Over the next month construction of the city began. First a proper harbor was built. Next came a church, a clinic, and some apartments were created. At the same time, several people went to the other side and built a couple of piers and a few corn farms on the northern Peninsula. Most importantly, however, the Presidential Palace was built on a little hill. Every person was put to work and those who didn't got "lost" in the jungles.

Expeditions were made deep in the jungle along the river. Several discoveries were made. Large groups of water-pigs lived along the river that tasted quite delicious, and spider monkeys that acted quite mischevious. However, a few were tamed and were found to make useful pets, since they were very intelligent and use tools, much like Gorillas.

However, more was found. Several groups of indigenous peoples lived along the river. They seemed to be a mix of various groups of peoples, and were not afraid of the technology. Apparently, relatively technologically developed peoples lived in the area. Guillermo was immediately informed of this and he made plans accordingly.

On September 31, Guillermo announced the official founding of the new Ciudad de Guillermo, named after his grandfather, of course. Also, the new nation would be called Tropico after the tropical environment that the people lived in. The people loved it, of course.

September 31-November 9, 2006

With Cuidad de Guillermo at least stable, it was time to expand. Tropico, while having brought plenty of money and medicine, was lacking somewhat in resources. The people had been too busy building stuff to start mining or anything, and oil, metal, and other capital was needed. He figured an expedition to the mountains would be possible in a couple of months, but there had been a large cat attack on the northern farms, and considerable ammo had been spent. Not to mention the fact that oil was needed to fuel the boats and helicopters that explored. Several of the barges that were unloaded were sent out to purchase supplies, but they could not be expected to return for another 4-6 months. Until then, Tropico would have to depend on its neighbors.

The Helicopter fleet included 21 Cargo Helicopters and one Apache gunship. 3 of the Cargo Helicopters were used to transport stuff too and from the ships, while an additional 10 were used for everyday activities, and 1 was Guillermo's personal helicopter, as well as an emergency one. 4 More were used as dispatches in case of attack and could not be spared. That left 4 for exploration.

4 Helicopters, with 2 soldiers, 2 diplomats and 2 pilots each departed from the city helipad. Each Diplomat, on top of Spanish, was required to have knowledge of English and French and at least one other language to have any hope of speaking to people. Knowledge of 1 colony to the South and 1 to the East meant that two headed in each direction. An additional one was sent south, and one was sent North. Their mission was to establish diplomatic ties with those colonies and were then to attempt to respond on their radios. If they reached 40% fuel they were to turn back immediately. Guillermo didn't want to lose anything at this critical time.