Northford
05-03-2008, 22:08
Hunting a Hunting
(RP series)
Before a war, a nations prepares. It assembles arms, munitions, rations, planes, ships, sandbags, body armour and fuel, in an aim to prevent its logistical trail being utterly destroyed by the enemy. In preparations for the Haven War, Northford, like all countries, prepared. As well as building up the largest (untested) civil defence network in the Questarian Commonwealth, it also heavily invested in it’s logistical backbone, acquiring planes, guns, rations etc, for the “long haul”.
Expecting the “long haul” to, over time, utterly destroy the Northfordian Industrial Base, the Government planned, eventually spending 40% of the defence budget in the build up to war on acquisitions… not ships, or tanks, but rather the items that are always overlooked: Ballpoint Pens, pads of paper, cooking oil, engine spares.
The “Long Haul” is a rather subjective phrase. How long is the “long haul”, anyway? When the Northfordian Military initially budgeted, they planned on the war lasting 5 years. It was a well known time frame within Civil Defence planners working on a “Five year Frame”, paraphrased as the “FyF” (“Fiff”). Despite how well this plan may have worked, there was one oversight: poor quality.
Standard rations for the Northfordian Armed Forces were designed to last 25 years, they were packaged under numerous layers of mylar-aramid , in a vacuum/argon atmosphere which is permeated with Gamma Radiation. Under the FyF, however, these standards were dropped significantly, with the idea that in the controlled atmosphere of blast shelters, such extra standards would not be necessary.
Several years on however, with 50 million meals reaching the end of their shelf life, the Civil Defence network was reaching a problem disposing of them. The armed forces refused to use them, owing to the fact they were not designed for “rough and ready” combat environments, and there simply were not enough homeless in Northford to consume all the meals within the timeframe.
More pressingly however, was the issue of aircraft. Approximately 6 months after the build up of arms in preparation for the Haven War, the Northfordian Air force was due to begin massive “Questarisation” of the Northfordian Air force, with the previous “Space Union” bought planes to be sold off, scrapped, or recycled in favour of a more modern Air force in line with the rest of the Commonwealth. This was not realised, however, since it was realised that in the time it would take the Commonwealth to re-train, re-arm, and re-develop the infrastructure needed, the war could, and indeed would, be well and truly upon them. A shortage of aircraft was not a desirable aspect in war, and for this reason the expansion was halted.
Several years on, however, with the immediate threat of another war subsided, the issue of replacing the aircraft in the Northfordian inventory was once again pressing. The Northfordian Air force itself contained just over 40 000 aircraft in it’s inventory, with 25 000 of those being the venerable Su VTOL “Lion”, with the rest being a hearty mix of dedicated air superiority fighters, strike, close air support, bombers, as well transport and refuellers. Replacing all of those would be an expensive job, with the cost of scrapping 40 000 aircraft alone being largely prohibitive.
===
In the immediate aftermath of the Haven War, Northford decided that its interests lie largely abroad, not only of its country, but also of the Haven region. This policy was realised in a number of areas, including the strengthening of Northfordian rule of the lands it held in Arterus, consolidating it from a series of secluded bays, naval stations, penal colonies and island-cities into a fully fledged, functioning economy. The penal colonies were reduced, and with the aid of smaller financial incentives the population expanded from just over half a million to 12 million, in little more than three years. Economically, the Colony was transformed also, due to it entering into a full customs union with the Questarian Arterus Territory of [Name], with a focus shift from primarily fishing into full blown agriculture, a service based economy, with a particular onus on interregional offshore banking. Population wise, the territory was re-enforced, with some of the bays being converted into urban shorelines, while others becoming luxury, secluded beaches with acres of palm tree’s dotted about.
Other than Arterus, Northford developed two other overseas territories, Northfordian Continentia, and the Northfordian Refuelling Base in Praetonia. Northfordian Continentia was developed as an overseas land in another region after the experiences of the Haven War, while the Praetonian refuelling base was gained through a mutual exchange of bases with the Praetonian Government, seen largely as a move to counter signs of growing rift between Kingston and Redbridge. While the Continentian land was seen essentially as a “Fall back” option, the refuelling bases in Praetonia were far more practical, allowing the Northfordian Navy to operate search and rescue (as part of the wider RGL/QC network), convoy escorting and refuelling services in the Fyre Sea region, independent of other nations forces.
There were, however, growing concerns within Northford that at present the country was lying in an uneasy crossroads, between being merely a well developed country in the Questarian Commonwealth that was able to represent itself well independently of the rest of the Commonwealth, and a power in its own right that is tied to the rest of the Commonwealth through faith, choice and common beliefs.
These fears were manifested in a series of ways, for, while Northford had almost economically achieved parity with Questers, and, Navally at least, punched well above its weight, there were deep routed problems inside Northfordian society. In an effort to achieve economic might without resorting to a highly stratified class structure, Northford resorted to importing large amounts of cheap labour, outsourcing manufacturing, and, where possible, using the highest-tech labour saving devices. Three quarters of the population in Northford possessed a bachelors degree, with a quarter having a masters or more. A ninth of the Northfordian population lived abroad, often in other countries in the Commonwealth or in Cravan, with another ninth living in offshore Northfordian
While this had, in many eyes, produced an ideal situation, with high wages, an educated population, very few commentators had overlooked the ‘downsides’ to this situation. Due to an agreement with the rest of the countries in Commonwealth, overseas commonwealth citizens had the right to vote in a large range of Northfordian elections. With a large Northfordian population concentrated along the coastal areas, and the largely industrial areas concentrated deep in the interior, there were several constituencies that returned candidates that were essentially ‘non Northfordian’ both in ethnicity and political views. Another situation that developed over several years was the increasing divisions between the military and the largely liberal ‘elite’ that constituted the bulk of the population. While the Northfordian Armed Forces (particularly the Navy) was one of the largest institutions inside Northford, there was a growing resentment from middle aged people that being inside the armed forces prevented people from gaining higher qualifications.
Finally, and perhaps the most divisive problem inside Northfordian society was the increasingly isolated urban populations. With seventy percent of the mainland Northfordian population located along the northern seaboard, population density was, in several areas, at breaking point. Housing blocks were essentially small villages, having their own shops, law enforcement facilities and local education blocks. While this worked well from an economic perspective, socially, it was a tinder pot. In the immediate aftermath of the Haven War, a “Block-war” erupted between two neighbouring housing establishments in Redbridge, with organised crime elements getting involved. After the riot was eventually quelled by a division of the National Guard, 130 were found dead.
===
It was in an effort to fix these problems that led the Northfordian Government, after several months of investigation, to the conclusion that with current population growth, Northfordian society would break down within the next 75 years, barring either development of the largely agricultural interior or the expansion of Northford’s boarders, either southwards, or somewhere else in Haven.
While at a cursory glance, developing the agricultural interior would seem like the logical choice, there were several very important, logical reasons against this. Firstly and for mostly, the Questarian Commonwealth of Northford was proud that it was one of the few industrialised countries (barring agricultural powerhouses such as Franberry) that had a surplus in food production, and between feeding almost 4 billion people and ensuring the country maintained its economic might, there simply was not space to house (,according to projections,) 150 million people.
Another factor was one of jobs. Using a mixture of cheap labour and expensive labour saving technology, manufacturing and agriculture had been not only largely mechanized, but also largely robotized, with very minimal human input into the food chain. Even if space was found to house these ‘extra’ people, there would either be large scale unemployment, or the Government would be forced to redevelop the already large transport infrastructure linking the interior to the coast.
With just these few factors in mind, the Questarian Commonwealth had decided it had to look abroad to find solutions to its demographic crisis. The two most apparent solutions to the problem was developing Northfordian Arterus and Northfordian Continentia. There were, however, even problems with this: Northfordian Continentia was already relatively developed, and was designed explicitly as a ‘fall back’ for Northford, and the rest of the Questarian Commonwealth, should another large scale war break out. Housing a large population here, along with the industry that such a land would house would make the land a prime target in the event of another large scale war, thus countering the purpose that the land was acquired for. Arterus, also, had problems, however on a relatively smaller scale. After the Haven War, the land was industrialised, developed, and already had a population of 12 million people. While, of course, there was the ability to develop the land further, it was estimated that in order to prevent yet another demographic crisis in a generations time, with the present geography, the area could not be developed to accommodate a population above 35 million.
While this presented a problem, there was a simple solution: increase the size of Northfordian Arterus. As a continent, the land was largely unclaimed, especially south of current Northfordian holdings. After sending several small, platoon sized surveying missions, along with several small corvettes from the Hydrological Squadron of the Northfordian Navy in Arterus (- HSNNA), it was realised that should the Northford decide to expand southwards, the area facing it was largely arable, and, though lacking minerals or plentiful natural resources, would be more than suitable for agriculture, and, as required, the development of urban areas or industry.
It was projected that with new land in Arterus, the population could potentially reach upwards of 55 million, while still keeping with the “character” of holdings in Arterus - an important factor, if it were to keep its tourist industry thriving as it currently is. Even with this increase, it was clear that the development would not be enough; in other words, more land was needed.
Looking abroad, the Northfordian Government identified two future areas that could be developed (or colonised) to remedy the demographic crisis. The unorganised territory located North of the mainland was identified as the ‘ideal’ extension of the Northfordian nation, and had even been given the humorous nickname “Southford” (despite its geographical location) in official documents. The land was large, unclaimed (except for a small island in the process of being colonised by Cotland) and was relatively close to the Northfordian mainland.
The second area identified was the vast swathes of land around East Haven, located around a dozen thousand kilometres from the Northford. While it was far away, it was significantly nearer than the other holdings Northford possessed in Arterus and Continentia, and possessing a larger tract of land in East Haven would allow Northford to become a large player in the region again, regaining and expanding upon the foothold it held in the area when it held the outpost of Keplers Edge. An area in East Haven would compliment the existing small base the Northfordian Navy was courting the Cohenians with, potentially allowing the Northfordian Navy its own porting facilities close to the Questarian island of Cylon.
While a colony in East Haven was identified as a possible base, however there were several problems with this suggestion. Namely, such a base would be far away from home countries of the QC or RGL, and would entirely rely on other APOC countries for defence. Secondly, while it such a land would do well to alleviate the demographic crisis, it would be in that uncomfortable intermediate distance where it would be far enough away that its society could develop radically different, while being close enough that it would develop into a true tributary state.
In reality, however, both targets was selected for future colonisation. The site opposite the Northfordian mainland on strob’ was identified as the primary site of Northfordian colonisation, while the site in East Haven was to be identified as a secondary target, with an emphasis on heavy industry, and a political structure integrated heavily with the rest of the Commonwealth in the region. The “Southford” site was to be colonised by a large party from the Northfordian mainland, while the “East Havennic Commonwealth Area” was to be colonised by a much smaller force, en-route from Northfordian Arterus to Clandonia for war games.
Change was coming, the question was, as always, how fast…
Basically, this a prelude to a bunch of RP’s I’m planning for the next 6-9 months, save me having to write the nation’s backstory each time. Essentially, this thread is designed to link to the other RP’s, as well as allowing a place to commet on things a) not strictly relevant to an individual RP, or b) something that isn’t mentioned in specific detail. Also, this is a place for OOC questions and comments, for when I’m not on #d, or for something specific you want an exact answer on. Also, most RP’s are going to be closed, so this is the place to get ‘in’, assuming you want to be.
ICly speaking, at the moment of this thread, a colonisation force is being readied in Northford proper, and the Northfordian fleet from Arterus is entering Haven waters, from the South-East. (Point of reference if you want to post)
RP’s:
Colonising the Southern Tip of Northern Haven
QC/RGL War Games
Colonising East Haven
Developing Arterus
Developing that peninsular near Cylon
Thread with Soda, me buying land etc
(RP series)
Before a war, a nations prepares. It assembles arms, munitions, rations, planes, ships, sandbags, body armour and fuel, in an aim to prevent its logistical trail being utterly destroyed by the enemy. In preparations for the Haven War, Northford, like all countries, prepared. As well as building up the largest (untested) civil defence network in the Questarian Commonwealth, it also heavily invested in it’s logistical backbone, acquiring planes, guns, rations etc, for the “long haul”.
Expecting the “long haul” to, over time, utterly destroy the Northfordian Industrial Base, the Government planned, eventually spending 40% of the defence budget in the build up to war on acquisitions… not ships, or tanks, but rather the items that are always overlooked: Ballpoint Pens, pads of paper, cooking oil, engine spares.
The “Long Haul” is a rather subjective phrase. How long is the “long haul”, anyway? When the Northfordian Military initially budgeted, they planned on the war lasting 5 years. It was a well known time frame within Civil Defence planners working on a “Five year Frame”, paraphrased as the “FyF” (“Fiff”). Despite how well this plan may have worked, there was one oversight: poor quality.
Standard rations for the Northfordian Armed Forces were designed to last 25 years, they were packaged under numerous layers of mylar-aramid , in a vacuum/argon atmosphere which is permeated with Gamma Radiation. Under the FyF, however, these standards were dropped significantly, with the idea that in the controlled atmosphere of blast shelters, such extra standards would not be necessary.
Several years on however, with 50 million meals reaching the end of their shelf life, the Civil Defence network was reaching a problem disposing of them. The armed forces refused to use them, owing to the fact they were not designed for “rough and ready” combat environments, and there simply were not enough homeless in Northford to consume all the meals within the timeframe.
More pressingly however, was the issue of aircraft. Approximately 6 months after the build up of arms in preparation for the Haven War, the Northfordian Air force was due to begin massive “Questarisation” of the Northfordian Air force, with the previous “Space Union” bought planes to be sold off, scrapped, or recycled in favour of a more modern Air force in line with the rest of the Commonwealth. This was not realised, however, since it was realised that in the time it would take the Commonwealth to re-train, re-arm, and re-develop the infrastructure needed, the war could, and indeed would, be well and truly upon them. A shortage of aircraft was not a desirable aspect in war, and for this reason the expansion was halted.
Several years on, however, with the immediate threat of another war subsided, the issue of replacing the aircraft in the Northfordian inventory was once again pressing. The Northfordian Air force itself contained just over 40 000 aircraft in it’s inventory, with 25 000 of those being the venerable Su VTOL “Lion”, with the rest being a hearty mix of dedicated air superiority fighters, strike, close air support, bombers, as well transport and refuellers. Replacing all of those would be an expensive job, with the cost of scrapping 40 000 aircraft alone being largely prohibitive.
===
In the immediate aftermath of the Haven War, Northford decided that its interests lie largely abroad, not only of its country, but also of the Haven region. This policy was realised in a number of areas, including the strengthening of Northfordian rule of the lands it held in Arterus, consolidating it from a series of secluded bays, naval stations, penal colonies and island-cities into a fully fledged, functioning economy. The penal colonies were reduced, and with the aid of smaller financial incentives the population expanded from just over half a million to 12 million, in little more than three years. Economically, the Colony was transformed also, due to it entering into a full customs union with the Questarian Arterus Territory of [Name], with a focus shift from primarily fishing into full blown agriculture, a service based economy, with a particular onus on interregional offshore banking. Population wise, the territory was re-enforced, with some of the bays being converted into urban shorelines, while others becoming luxury, secluded beaches with acres of palm tree’s dotted about.
Other than Arterus, Northford developed two other overseas territories, Northfordian Continentia, and the Northfordian Refuelling Base in Praetonia. Northfordian Continentia was developed as an overseas land in another region after the experiences of the Haven War, while the Praetonian refuelling base was gained through a mutual exchange of bases with the Praetonian Government, seen largely as a move to counter signs of growing rift between Kingston and Redbridge. While the Continentian land was seen essentially as a “Fall back” option, the refuelling bases in Praetonia were far more practical, allowing the Northfordian Navy to operate search and rescue (as part of the wider RGL/QC network), convoy escorting and refuelling services in the Fyre Sea region, independent of other nations forces.
There were, however, growing concerns within Northford that at present the country was lying in an uneasy crossroads, between being merely a well developed country in the Questarian Commonwealth that was able to represent itself well independently of the rest of the Commonwealth, and a power in its own right that is tied to the rest of the Commonwealth through faith, choice and common beliefs.
These fears were manifested in a series of ways, for, while Northford had almost economically achieved parity with Questers, and, Navally at least, punched well above its weight, there were deep routed problems inside Northfordian society. In an effort to achieve economic might without resorting to a highly stratified class structure, Northford resorted to importing large amounts of cheap labour, outsourcing manufacturing, and, where possible, using the highest-tech labour saving devices. Three quarters of the population in Northford possessed a bachelors degree, with a quarter having a masters or more. A ninth of the Northfordian population lived abroad, often in other countries in the Commonwealth or in Cravan, with another ninth living in offshore Northfordian
While this had, in many eyes, produced an ideal situation, with high wages, an educated population, very few commentators had overlooked the ‘downsides’ to this situation. Due to an agreement with the rest of the countries in Commonwealth, overseas commonwealth citizens had the right to vote in a large range of Northfordian elections. With a large Northfordian population concentrated along the coastal areas, and the largely industrial areas concentrated deep in the interior, there were several constituencies that returned candidates that were essentially ‘non Northfordian’ both in ethnicity and political views. Another situation that developed over several years was the increasing divisions between the military and the largely liberal ‘elite’ that constituted the bulk of the population. While the Northfordian Armed Forces (particularly the Navy) was one of the largest institutions inside Northford, there was a growing resentment from middle aged people that being inside the armed forces prevented people from gaining higher qualifications.
Finally, and perhaps the most divisive problem inside Northfordian society was the increasingly isolated urban populations. With seventy percent of the mainland Northfordian population located along the northern seaboard, population density was, in several areas, at breaking point. Housing blocks were essentially small villages, having their own shops, law enforcement facilities and local education blocks. While this worked well from an economic perspective, socially, it was a tinder pot. In the immediate aftermath of the Haven War, a “Block-war” erupted between two neighbouring housing establishments in Redbridge, with organised crime elements getting involved. After the riot was eventually quelled by a division of the National Guard, 130 were found dead.
===
It was in an effort to fix these problems that led the Northfordian Government, after several months of investigation, to the conclusion that with current population growth, Northfordian society would break down within the next 75 years, barring either development of the largely agricultural interior or the expansion of Northford’s boarders, either southwards, or somewhere else in Haven.
While at a cursory glance, developing the agricultural interior would seem like the logical choice, there were several very important, logical reasons against this. Firstly and for mostly, the Questarian Commonwealth of Northford was proud that it was one of the few industrialised countries (barring agricultural powerhouses such as Franberry) that had a surplus in food production, and between feeding almost 4 billion people and ensuring the country maintained its economic might, there simply was not space to house (,according to projections,) 150 million people.
Another factor was one of jobs. Using a mixture of cheap labour and expensive labour saving technology, manufacturing and agriculture had been not only largely mechanized, but also largely robotized, with very minimal human input into the food chain. Even if space was found to house these ‘extra’ people, there would either be large scale unemployment, or the Government would be forced to redevelop the already large transport infrastructure linking the interior to the coast.
With just these few factors in mind, the Questarian Commonwealth had decided it had to look abroad to find solutions to its demographic crisis. The two most apparent solutions to the problem was developing Northfordian Arterus and Northfordian Continentia. There were, however, even problems with this: Northfordian Continentia was already relatively developed, and was designed explicitly as a ‘fall back’ for Northford, and the rest of the Questarian Commonwealth, should another large scale war break out. Housing a large population here, along with the industry that such a land would house would make the land a prime target in the event of another large scale war, thus countering the purpose that the land was acquired for. Arterus, also, had problems, however on a relatively smaller scale. After the Haven War, the land was industrialised, developed, and already had a population of 12 million people. While, of course, there was the ability to develop the land further, it was estimated that in order to prevent yet another demographic crisis in a generations time, with the present geography, the area could not be developed to accommodate a population above 35 million.
While this presented a problem, there was a simple solution: increase the size of Northfordian Arterus. As a continent, the land was largely unclaimed, especially south of current Northfordian holdings. After sending several small, platoon sized surveying missions, along with several small corvettes from the Hydrological Squadron of the Northfordian Navy in Arterus (- HSNNA), it was realised that should the Northford decide to expand southwards, the area facing it was largely arable, and, though lacking minerals or plentiful natural resources, would be more than suitable for agriculture, and, as required, the development of urban areas or industry.
It was projected that with new land in Arterus, the population could potentially reach upwards of 55 million, while still keeping with the “character” of holdings in Arterus - an important factor, if it were to keep its tourist industry thriving as it currently is. Even with this increase, it was clear that the development would not be enough; in other words, more land was needed.
Looking abroad, the Northfordian Government identified two future areas that could be developed (or colonised) to remedy the demographic crisis. The unorganised territory located North of the mainland was identified as the ‘ideal’ extension of the Northfordian nation, and had even been given the humorous nickname “Southford” (despite its geographical location) in official documents. The land was large, unclaimed (except for a small island in the process of being colonised by Cotland) and was relatively close to the Northfordian mainland.
The second area identified was the vast swathes of land around East Haven, located around a dozen thousand kilometres from the Northford. While it was far away, it was significantly nearer than the other holdings Northford possessed in Arterus and Continentia, and possessing a larger tract of land in East Haven would allow Northford to become a large player in the region again, regaining and expanding upon the foothold it held in the area when it held the outpost of Keplers Edge. An area in East Haven would compliment the existing small base the Northfordian Navy was courting the Cohenians with, potentially allowing the Northfordian Navy its own porting facilities close to the Questarian island of Cylon.
While a colony in East Haven was identified as a possible base, however there were several problems with this suggestion. Namely, such a base would be far away from home countries of the QC or RGL, and would entirely rely on other APOC countries for defence. Secondly, while it such a land would do well to alleviate the demographic crisis, it would be in that uncomfortable intermediate distance where it would be far enough away that its society could develop radically different, while being close enough that it would develop into a true tributary state.
In reality, however, both targets was selected for future colonisation. The site opposite the Northfordian mainland on strob’ was identified as the primary site of Northfordian colonisation, while the site in East Haven was to be identified as a secondary target, with an emphasis on heavy industry, and a political structure integrated heavily with the rest of the Commonwealth in the region. The “Southford” site was to be colonised by a large party from the Northfordian mainland, while the “East Havennic Commonwealth Area” was to be colonised by a much smaller force, en-route from Northfordian Arterus to Clandonia for war games.
Change was coming, the question was, as always, how fast…
Basically, this a prelude to a bunch of RP’s I’m planning for the next 6-9 months, save me having to write the nation’s backstory each time. Essentially, this thread is designed to link to the other RP’s, as well as allowing a place to commet on things a) not strictly relevant to an individual RP, or b) something that isn’t mentioned in specific detail. Also, this is a place for OOC questions and comments, for when I’m not on #d, or for something specific you want an exact answer on. Also, most RP’s are going to be closed, so this is the place to get ‘in’, assuming you want to be.
ICly speaking, at the moment of this thread, a colonisation force is being readied in Northford proper, and the Northfordian fleet from Arterus is entering Haven waters, from the South-East. (Point of reference if you want to post)
RP’s:
Colonising the Southern Tip of Northern Haven
QC/RGL War Games
Colonising East Haven
Developing Arterus
Developing that peninsular near Cylon
Thread with Soda, me buying land etc