EPA C&K - The Symposium

[Ran Exilis]

This thread is for constructive criticism, bringing up and discussing ideas, and other stuff like that.

The official entries and scenarios are posted in the designated thread, and the usual "Nice job!"-comments go in the General Chat-thread.

[Ran Exilis]

Anyhoo, I made a map; a slightly adapted version of the original project's map:



I mostly did some polishing and fine-tuning vis-a-vis geographic features.

The red mountain icons are active volcanoes, while the green mountain icon denotes the Sutter Buttes. The big lake that appeared in the Great Basin is Lake Lahontan, which formed anew ITTL thanks to the collapse of large-scale agriculture in the wake of the Fall, and the great increase in precipitation thanks to the formation of that new inland sea in central California.

[Haggis]

So, let's talk about world powers, there is no way with the level of technology that we're aiming for that there's not some type of foreign and possibly overseas power operating within the North American continent. Also what about Caribbean and European Diasporas?

For instance Haitian settlement in Senegal would produce trans-Atlantic cultural and trade connections. With waves of refugees and the like I'm confident that this trade would take off again the moment either side crosses the Atlantic. Which admittedly may not happen for something like 200+ years but y'all can't honestly expect that somebody from somewhere ain't come across?

I mean, alright. Just say that some Senegalese guys, right, you with me? Say they cross this here ocean and run into some folks that speak some French! Not only that but these crazy folks are related to an ethnic minority in their own home territories? And they're all like, "what! That's crazy!" come on, that'd be epic.

Hell, anyone, for real. Most of the people crossing the Atlantic on either side would probably find some group that speaks a related language PDQ. This'll influence alliances and the like. Ionno, just an idea.

[Gulag]

Originally Posted by Haggis

So, let's talk about world powers, there is no way with the level of technology that we're aiming for that there's not some type of foreign and possibly overseas power operating within the North American continent. Also what about Caribbean and European Diasporas?

For instance Haitian settlement in Senegal would produce trans-Atlantic cultural and trade connections. With waves of refugees and the like I'm confident that this trade would take off again the moment either side crosses the Atlantic. Which admittedly may not happen for something like 200+ years but y'all can't honestly expect that somebody from somewhere ain't come across?

I mean, alright. Just say that some Senegalese guys, right, you with me? Say they cross this here ocean and run into some folks that speak some French! Not only that but these crazy folks are related to an ethnic minority in their own home territories? And they're all like, "what! That's crazy!" come on, that'd be epic.

Hell, anyone, for real. Most of the people crossing the Atlantic on either side would probably find some group that speaks a related language PDQ. This'll influence alliances and the like. Ionno, just an idea.

I'm all for cross-Atlantic trade, especially the Haitian/Senegal idea proposed above - the potential for awesome is pretty high.

I, for one, liked attributes of GBW's Kongo-Oyang Group from EPA Zero, notably its origins in the military-industrial/commercial sector of China and Africa, as well as its its Black Militancy. I'm sure we could bring some of that back to much smaller degrees for a trans-atlantic trade group here.

As for other Trans-Atlantic contacts, there are damn likely to be European fishermen reaching the Great Bank off the coast of Canada and mixing it up with Etat du Maine & Quebecois fisherman. The Euros could be Basque, what with their looooong history of seamanship.

[Haggis]

So yep, there's some states right there.

[Gulag]

Placeholder Post - will be edited later

Upperlands Cooperative
Unique style of government, which is a mix of agricultural/commercial cooperative and Protestant Church government - that is to say multiple layered democracy
Mild theocracy of Christian syncretism
Mainline is a mix of Catholics, Methodists, and Lutherans
Use fermented cama milk and hard bread for communion
Religious schism with hard-line Jamaican Baptists, Lithuanians Baltic Catholics, and Chinese Christians
Presidium in Old Ignas & Bishop Wars
Low intensity conflict over election of bishops mostly limited to riots or civil disturbances by aggrieved members of the populace
All of Lower Michigan is referred to as Detroyt or Oak’s Lands by Upperlanders
Economy is based on Buffalo, Beefalo, Guns, Ostriches, Leather, Eggs, Feathers, Pot, Camas
A large portion of Old Ignas is on boats and travels with the government to Escanaba during the winter – during the spring and summer the major cities along the lake are almost floating cities like they do in parts of southeast Asia; restaurants on boats pulling up next to people selling opium and hookers and a doctor with syphillis treatments and maybe even a floating chapel: Just everything you need but on the lake. During the winter, those boats that aren’t moved up out of the water move out to warmer waters like Michiana
Lots of high quality guns and light artillery – they trade their surplus to Michiana in exchange for food imports to ensure survival through the winters

Michiana (Western Michigan & Northern Indiana)
Lots of cereal grains
Stuck between New Mishiken & Shicawgo who both have territorial aspirations on Michiana and as a result it has an alliance of convenience with the Upperlands
Home to many wintering boats and Yooper traders
Trade food for guns and ammo from the Upperlands

New Mishiken (Central Michigan & the Thumb)
Great farming techniques and a variety of durable modified crops and livestock
Growth and production of penicillin and anti-biotics
Best doctors and healers known come from New Mishiken
Reasonably solid population base with natural gas and petroleum production
Former U of M et al colleges in lower/central MI keep education alive and University ownership of large amounts of property for crop testing and farm animals etc. gives them a huge boost in the immediate post-Fall world to form the core of New Mishiken

Dawint : made up of two areas called Diitrot and Wintser (Detroit & Windsor)
A purely mercantile state organized and run in a way that is equal parts mafia and business leadership
Not very nice place for politics – very cutthroat in a very literal sense
Major trade center – Constantinople meets Hong Kong, New York, and Singapore
Culturally dominated by ethnic groups from the Mediterranean like Greeks or Assyrians

Republic Trantaw (southern Ontario)
Trantaw is frankly best described as Canada meets Rome with a liberal dash of Napoleonic era England for additional flair. Voting in the Republic Trantaw is based on property ownership, but thankfully there is no shortage of land to own, allowing the majority of the population to be represented in politics. Trantann politics have an established tradition of reform through violence when democratic means are not responsive enough for public opinion

The Sinsinate (Covington/Cincinnati)
Expansionist oligarchic republic – land-owning voters & hereditary senate seats
Chursman: Executive has very wide ranging powers across the board, and has no limit on how many 5 year terms he can serve; elected by the Senate
*Always called the Sinsinate, much like how the Ukraine is called the Ukraine

Bachur (Wisconsin, from “Badger”)
Expansionist semi-elective monarchy
For the time being, Bachur has reached its maximum sustainable size and is occupied with absorbing their newest additions – this means that many acquired provinces and cities with aberrant pre-conquest laws and privileges that are maintained for the time being
Somali-Chechen intermarriage warrior class, Hmong

Iwa (Iowa)
Oligarchy, slave state – Bachur vassal/in Monarchic union with Bachur akin to England & Hanover
Hell on earth – methods for keeping slaves in line include Vlad Tepes style impaling & Congo Free State levels of awful
Sparta-on-crack levels of punishment, lashings just to remind slaves that they’re slaves
Constantly hiring mercs & criminals to supplement their army – constantly oppressing slaves or quashing revolts, or turning back raiders
Employ full time bounties & hunters to capture runaway slaves – who are then crucified or impaled
The military of Iwa’s diverse nature means that individual armies and units are very diverse
A minimum of 60% of all available land is converted to farming and produces utterly massive output

Calumbus (Columbus, Ohio) defunct non-hereditary monarchy
Suffered two sieges and sacks by competing armies from Trantaw & the Sinsinate before finally being occupied by the Sinsinate

Shicawgo, Millwawkey & Illnoi
Millwawkey is the center of beer production for the Eastern half of Nourika, with massive production and distribution
Shicawgo has an equally massive industry to produce ice blocks to facilitate the shipping of that beer - Sawdust too
Illnoi is a non-slave state, which it uses to attract escaped serfs and slaves in droves which it then traps in tenant-farmer, sharecropper, or factory-town conditions that are just a little better than slavery

[Gulag]

here is one of my very very rough maps so you have an idea of what and where everything is.