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After the Ashes: A Fire Nation Chancellor Quest

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[X] "She's my niece - a close association is dangerous, I know, but it might prove worthwhile here. She associates with the national associations here in Caldera, not Ozai's, the youth ones; I know you're not fond of the modernist movement, but it might be useful to attach them to our government, let some new blood into the court in order to take attention away from reliable hands such as yourself and I. It might make the conservatives uncomfortable, all the talk of meritocracy and youth, but I wouldn't mind throwing up a distraction to take attention away from us in these trying times…"

While it is often the new industrial and commercial elites that often stabilise and even drive change, that change cannot occur without an intellectual core of dedicated ideologues who can codify doctrine and look at the long term and immaterial reasons for change.

The Mercantilists are first and foremost pragmatists - change is a means, not an end, to them. That end being greater growth and prosperity (at least for them). Their idea of peace is essentially colonial pragmatism; their main problem with slavery and genocides being that it's inefficient.

The Colonials have no concrete proposals for change; their ideal would probably just be Sozin's empire but with more equal-opportunity initiatives. They are good partners for reform, but cannot drive it by themselves.

Even if our MC wants radical change, it will be difficult to accomplish if their powerbase is centred on these factions.

The Modernists, however, are a group of people whose ideologies are centred around making things better for everyone. I e. NOT committing genocide, wantonly cruel campaigns of plunder and destroying civilian populations. They are also driven by the youth and progressives - traditionally not demographics risk averse to struggle in the name of progress. Furthermore, the Modernists seem to have an egalitarian basis to their ideology, judging by their humanistic and meritocratic tendencies. This means that they are the only faction who wants to reform society into something that we'd not consider terribly stratified and authoritarian - none of the other factions seem to have much of an issue with aristocratic rule.

[X] "Revisionist" (Uncertain Clique, Personal Interest, Moderate Divergence)

While playing a faster fasterfasterfasterfasterFASTER type Accelerationist, or a communist revolutionary, would indeed be very Funni, I don't think we'd be be able to gather the support to stay in power.

I'm thinking that the best path would be to reform the Modernist faction away from 'Greater East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere' towards 'Liberal Internationalism'. We'd be able to introduce at least some democracy to the Fire Nation, and bring along the Colonials and Mercantilists with us in our progressive block without making the general population too upset.

If reactionary powers try to block change? Well, Fire Nation society seems to be tense and divided, and these sorts of times are ripe for a Cultural Revolution. We are the party of the youth, after all, and revolutionary times have a tendency to make even moderate voices adopt radical measures...(hint: one of them starts with 'Re-' and ends with '-public').
Zuko probably wouldn't even be too mad at us, if only to spite his family.
 
Well this is fascinating. Avatar was always a very shallow setting. Thin worldbuilding and little if any thought put into how things reached this point or what the consequences of actions would be.
Aang beat Ozai. Great… how does that do anything to impede the Fire Nation's military industrial complex?
Ozai and Azula are removed. Great… what about all the thousands of military and civilian leaders and organisers who actually run the nation?

[X] "She's a relative of the governor in Yu Dao… don't give me that look, young man, I know she's mixed, but the Fire Lord seems to hold a misplaced sympathy for foreigners and mongrels. She's a colonial, so we can at least expect her to know her place and heed our counsel; their kind is always quick to listen to their betters when it comes to this sort of thing, especially since she'll be without other friends in the court. More importantly, we can expect her to advocate for the interests of the colonies, which would hopefully offer a starting point in talking the Fire Lord down from whatever foolishness he might be contemplating in the colonies.
[X] "Moderate" (Loyal Clique, Personal Interest)

More interested in Aang and Zuko having to deal with a colonial than any other factor.
 
Lord Cheddar said:
If reactionary powers try to block change? Well, Fire Nation society seems to be tense and divided, and these sorts of times are ripe for a Cultural Revolution. We are the party of the youth, after all, and revolutionary times have a tendency to make even moderate voices adopt radical measures...
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I want to point out that with militant nature of fire nation, maybe backing of white lotus, Avatar and Fire Lord, we could agni kai the civil war away with heirs toppling the rest of aristocracy
 
[X] "She's a relative of the governor in Yu Dao… don't give me that look, young man, I know she's mixed, but the Fire Lord seems to hold a misplaced sympathy for foreigners and mongrels. She's a colonial, so we can at least expect her to know her place and heed our counsel; their kind is always quick to listen to their betters when it comes to this sort of thing, especially since she'll be without other friends in the court. More importantly, we can expect her to advocate for the interests of the colonies, which would hopefully offer a starting point in talking the Fire Lord down from whatever foolishness he might be contemplating in the colonies.
 
[X] "She's a relative of the governor in Yu Dao… don't give me that look, young man, I know she's mixed, but the Fire Lord seems to hold a misplaced sympathy for foreigners and mongrels. She's a colonial, so we can at least expect her to know her place and heed our counsel; their kind is always quick to listen to their betters when it comes to this sort of thing, especially since she'll be without other friends in the court. More importantly, we can expect her to advocate for the interests of the colonies, which would hopefully offer a starting point in talking the Fire Lord down from whatever foolishness he might be contemplating in the colonies.
[X] "Moderate" (Loyal Clique, Personal Interest)
 
[X] "She's my niece - a close association is dangerous, I know, but it might prove worthwhile here. She associates with the national associations here in Caldera, not Ozai's, the youth ones; I know you're not fond of the modernist movement, but it might be useful to attach them to our government, let some new blood into the court in order to take attention away from reliable hands such as yourself and I. It might make the conservatives uncomfortable, all the talk of meritocracy and youth, but I wouldn't mind throwing up a distraction to take attention away from us in these trying times…"
[X] "Moderate" (Loyal Clique, Personal Interest)
 
[X] "She's my niece - a close association is dangerous, I know, but it might prove worthwhile here. She associates with the national associations here in Caldera, not Ozai's, the youth ones; I know you're not fond of the modernist movement, but it might be useful to attach them to our government, let some new blood into the court in order to take attention away from reliable hands such as yourself and I. It might make the conservatives uncomfortable, all the talk of meritocracy and youth, but I wouldn't mind throwing up a distraction to take attention away from us in these trying times…"

[X] "Revisionist" (Uncertain Clique, Personal Interest, Moderate Divergence)
 
[X] "She's an associate of the Finance Minister - that alone is a good in, but I'm told that she also carries a fair amount of weight with the admiralty club and the mercantile concerns here in Caldera. The mercantilist clique is well established in court, though I find it unlikely that our new liege will share Ozai's disfavor; her appointment might prove a sufficient reinforcement to raise them back as a counterbalance to Ozai's clique and the militarists. Even more importantly, I imagine that she'll understand the importance of maintaining our economic position in these uncertain times; after all, if things falter too much, we risk far more than what is ultimately a minor dynastic squabble…"
[X] "Moderate" (Loyal Clique, Personal Interest)
 
[X] "She's my niece - a close association is dangerous, I know, but it might prove worthwhile here. She associates with the national associations here in Caldera, not Ozai's, the youth ones; I know you're not fond of the modernist movement, but it might be useful to attach them to our government, let some new blood into the court in order to take attention away from reliable hands such as yourself and I. It might make the conservatives uncomfortable, all the talk of meritocracy and youth, but I wouldn't mind throwing up a distraction to take attention away from us in these trying times…"

[X] "Revisionist" (Uncertain Clique, Personal Interest, Moderate Divergence)

This is such a good idea for a quest that it got me out lurking.

I'd really want to see a radical modernist to see the crazy, but this is the most out there modernist that has any chance of winning.

On the topic of the colonial, honest the god feels like it would be the vanilla option, might as well try something interesting with the quest concept is what I'm thinking.
 
[X] "She's my niece - a close association is dangerous, I know, but it might prove worthwhile here. She associates with the national associations here in Caldera, not Ozai's, the youth ones; I know you're not fond of the modernist movement, but it might be useful to attach them to our government, let some new blood into the court in order to take attention away from reliable hands such as yourself and I. It might make the conservatives uncomfortable, all the talk of meritocracy and youth, but I wouldn't mind throwing up a distraction to take attention away from us in these trying times…"

[X] "Moderate" (Loyal Clique, Personal Interest)
 
[X] "She's an associate of the Finance Minister - that alone is a good in, but I'm told that she also carries a fair amount of weight with the admiralty club and the mercantile concerns here in Caldera. The mercantilist clique is well established in court, though I find it unlikely that our new liege will share Ozai's disfavor; her appointment might prove a sufficient reinforcement to raise them back as a counterbalance to Ozai's clique and the militarists. Even more importantly, I imagine that she'll understand the importance of maintaining our economic position in these uncertain times; after all, if things falter too much, we risk far more than what is ultimately a minor dynastic squabble…"
[X] "Radical" (Disloyal Clique, Substantial Divergence)
 
[X] "She's an associate of the Finance Minister - that alone is a good in, but I'm told that she also carries a fair amount of weight with the admiralty club and the mercantile concerns here in Caldera. The mercantilist clique is well established in court, though I find it unlikely that our new liege will share Ozai's disfavor; her appointment might prove a sufficient reinforcement to raise them back as a counterbalance to Ozai's clique and the militarists. Even more importantly, I imagine that she'll understand the importance of maintaining our economic position in these uncertain times; after all, if things falter too much, we risk far more than what is ultimately a minor dynastic squabble…"
[X] "Revisionist" (Uncertain Clique, Personal Interest, Moderate Divergence)
 
[X] "She's my niece - a close association is dangerous, I know, but it might prove worthwhile here. She associates with the national associations here in Caldera, not Ozai's, the youth ones; I know you're not fond of the modernist movement, but it might be useful to attach them to our government, let some new blood into the court in order to take attention away from reliable hands such as yourself and I. It might make the conservatives uncomfortable, all the talk of meritocracy and youth, but I wouldn't mind throwing up a distraction to take attention away from us in these trying times…"
[X] "Moderate" (Loyal Clique, Personal Interest)
 
[X] "She's an associate of the Finance Minister - that alone is a good in, but I'm told that she also carries a fair amount of weight with the admiralty club and the mercantile concerns here in Caldera. The mercantilist clique is well established in court, though I find it unlikely that our new liege will share Ozai's disfavor; her appointment might prove a sufficient reinforcement to raise them back as a counterbalance to Ozai's clique and the militarists. Even more importantly, I imagine that she'll understand the importance of maintaining our economic position in these uncertain times; after all, if things falter too much, we risk far more than what is ultimately a minor dynastic squabble…"
[X] "Revisionist" (Uncertain Clique, Personal Interest, Moderate Divergence)

Time to go all neocolonial and offer massive loans at moderate interest rates to the Earth Kingdom for reconstruction as an "apology", as long as we get continued access to their resources. Play our cards right and we get all the benefits of exploiting them without the costs of occupying them.
 
[X] "She's my niece - a close association is dangerous, I know, but it might prove worthwhile here. She associates with the national associations here in Caldera, not Ozai's, the youth ones; I know you're not fond of the modernist movement, but it might be useful to attach them to our government, let some new blood into the court in order to take attention away from reliable hands such as yourself and I. It might make the conservatives uncomfortable, all the talk of meritocracy and youth, but I wouldn't mind throwing up a distraction to take attention away from us in these trying times…"

[X] "Revisionist" (Uncertain Clique, Personal Interest, Moderate Divergence)
 
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Royalist - This is in fact not actually fine New
  • Apocrypha
    • This is in fact not actually fine​

    Director Gongsun's - Fen to her friends - day had been taken up, like for most others, by the revolving door that the Dragon Throne had become. While she would never say she had been happy with the death of Phoenix King Ozai, she wouldn't be crying any rivers of tears. No, said tears would be saved for the loss of another fleet. Her job hadn't been made any easier by the loss of the northern fleet and with another one lost that situation certainly wasn't going to improve.

    Then, just as she was moving her paperwork away so it would be damaged by the soon-to-be-released flood of tears, she gets news that the new Fire Lord Azula had been overthrown and replaced by her brother Zuko following her loss in an Agni Kai.

    After a bit of waiting, just to be sure Zuko wouldn't also be overthrown, she set to work preparing for whatever changes the new Fire Lord would want to implement. He was an associate of the brutal Avatar Aang, so she made sure to have her valuables prepared for a quick exit in case her name found itself on any less than desirable list. Ideally, she could remain at her post - maybe even move up if only some light purges were carried out - but if she needed to quickly go into exile, she certainly wasn't planning to do so without her jewels, dresses and sake.

    When another messenger came running into her office, she thanked the ancestors that General Iroh had decided to overthrow his nephew. The armed forces could really use some good news for a day like this.

    But sadly, a boy still sat the Dragon Throne and the chancellor had decided to jump what was very possibly a sinking ship - understandable to be honest - which meant that, unless the ministers managed some impressive political acrobatics, a knife-fight for the position was soon going to start.

    Fan looked out the window, just to check if the avatar was there to put them all out of their collective misery by just sinking the island back into the sea. She was both thankful and a bit disappointed when no walking apocalypse decided to appear.

    That could only mean that it was time to get back to work, to hopefully salvage what could be salvaged of the war effort.

    ***​

    The Bureau of Domestic Maritime Commerce and Navigation had the honour of being one of the government bureaux most fucked over by the late(?) Fire Lord Ozai.

    It was a venerable institution, dating back to even before Sozin's reforms subordinated the position to the Ministry of Finance. Its duties were the maintenance of domestic sea-borne trade, regulations, maritime tariff enforcement and the combating of piracy in the entirety of the Fire Nation and its overseas empire. It had grown large under Sozin and Azulon, but Ozai's rule had seen it greatly reduced.

    First were the several punitive - and very unnecessary - regulations levied upon shipping enterprises in the colonies owned by owners of "mixed" heritage pushed on by the Supremacist faction, without granting her the increased resources needed to enforce them. Then the Militarists forced a "Navy Liaison" on her, who's entire job was just to tell her to completely abandon any policy or intra-bureau program that drew attention away from supporting direct military logistics, even though the navy - unlike civilian shipping - had their own warships to fight pirates with.

    Then, like an executioner's axe, Fire Lord Ozai stripped her off all combat-capable vessels. It was in the wake of the loss of the northern fleet and to make up for the losses the navy had sustained, Ozai - in all his wisdom - had taken the small costal defence fleet of the bureau and gifted it to the navy.

    Her bureau was now administratively overstretched and toothless, barely able to do its civilian duties and completely unable to combat rising piracy due to not HAVING A FLEET.

    And as a cherry on top, she was still stuck with the Navy Liaison.

    She hoped the new Fire Lord would alleviate her bureau's suffering, or at least not worsen it.

    "Right now ending up on a purge-list wouldn't be the worst thing imaginable" The very tired woman said to the empty office.

    A/N: Just felt like writing an Omake, so I did. Might write some more with her later on, I am quite fond of a good ol' bureaucratic moral vacuum.

    Edit: Oh, also, I'm not that good at ALTA worldbuilding, so contradictions to canon are very possible.
     
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  • New
  • Apocrypha
    • [X] "She's my niece - a close association is dangerous, I know, but it might prove worthwhile here. She associates with the national associations here in Caldera, not Ozai's, the youth ones; I know you're not fond of the modernist movement, but it might be useful to attach them to our government, let some new blood into the court in order to take attention away from reliable hands such as yourself and I. It might make the conservatives uncomfortable, all the talk of meritocracy and youth, but I wouldn't mind throwing up a distraction to take attention away from us in these trying times…"
    [X] "Revisionist" (Uncertain Clique, Personal Interest, Moderate Divergence)
     
    [X] "She's my niece - a close association is dangerous, I know, but it might prove worthwhile here. She associates with the national associations here in Caldera, not Ozai's, the youth ones; I know you're not fond of the modernist movement, but it might be useful to attach them to our government, let some new blood into the court in order to take attention away from reliable hands such as yourself and I. It might make the conservatives uncomfortable, all the talk of meritocracy and youth, but I wouldn't mind throwing up a distraction to take attention away from us in these trying times…"
    [X] "Revisionist" (Uncertain Clique, Personal Interest, Moderate Divergence)

    On the one side, "war is good because we are progressive" is gross, on the other side, I hate nobles.
     
    Limabot said:
    I wouldn't really say the Modernists would be very Fascist (as that would probably be more in line with Ozai's Supremacists); they strike me more as the "Enlightened Liberal" colonialism of 19th Century Britain than anything.

    Still, seeing Zuko have to deal with an Ultra-Modern Accelerationist as his chancellor does sound quite amusing.

    [X] "Radical" (Disloyal Clique, Substantial Divergence)

    [X] "She's my niece - a close association is dangerous, I know, but it might prove worthwhile here. She associates with the national associations here in Caldera, not Ozai's, the youth ones; I know you're not fond of the modernist movement, but it might be useful to attach them to our government, let some new blood into the court in order to take attention away from reliable hands such as yourself and I. It might make the conservatives uncomfortable, all the talk of meritocracy and youth, but I wouldn't mind throwing up a distraction to take attention away from us in these trying times…"
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Well, I picked 'radical' for a reason, and the modernist position is popular in the Army, urban youth, and students. While the Supremacists are the most out-and-out fascist, the Militarist influence on the Modernists is strong, and the origins of a National Socialism might lie in a suddenly shocked radical.
     
    [X] "She's a relative of the governor in Yu Dao… don't give me that look, young man, I know she's mixed, but the Fire Lord seems to hold a misplaced sympathy for foreigners and mongrels. She's a colonial, so we can at least expect her to know her place and heed our counsel; their kind is always quick to listen to their betters when it comes to this sort of thing, especially since she'll be without other friends in the court. More importantly, we can expect her to advocate for the interests of the colonies, which would hopefully offer a starting point in talking the Fire Lord down from whatever foolishness he might be contemplating in the colonies.
    [X] "Moderate" (Loyal Clique, Personal Interest)
     
    [X] "She's an associate of the Finance Minister - that alone is a good in, but I'm told that she also carries a fair amount of weight with the admiralty club and the mercantile concerns here in Caldera. The mercantilist clique is well established in court, though I find it unlikely that our new liege will share Ozai's disfavor; her appointment might prove a sufficient reinforcement to raise them back as a counterbalance to Ozai's clique and the militarists. Even more importantly, I imagine that she'll understand the importance of maintaining our economic position in these uncertain times; after all, if things falter too much, we risk far more than what is ultimately a minor dynastic squabble…"

    [X] "Moderate" (Loyal Clique, Personal Interest)

    Economics all the way.
     
    [X] "She's a relative of the governor in Yu Dao… don't give me that look, young man, I know she's mixed, but the Fire Lord seems to hold a misplaced sympathy for foreigners and mongrels. She's a colonial, so we can at least expect her to know her place and heed our counsel; their kind is always quick to listen to their betters when it comes to this sort of thing, especially since she'll be without other friends in the court. More importantly, we can expect her to advocate for the interests of the colonies, which would hopefully offer a starting point in talking the Fire Lord down from whatever foolishness he might be contemplating in the colonies.
    [X] "Revisionist" (Uncertain Clique, Personal Interest, Moderate Divergence)
     
    [X] "She's an associate of the Finance Minister - that alone is a good in, but I'm told that she also carries a fair amount of weight with the admiralty club and the mercantile concerns here in Caldera. The mercantilist clique is well established in court, though I find it unlikely that our new liege will share Ozai's disfavor; her appointment might prove a sufficient reinforcement to raise them back as a counterbalance to Ozai's clique and the militarists. Even more importantly, I imagine that she'll understand the importance of maintaining our economic position in these uncertain times; after all, if things falter too much, we risk far more than what is ultimately a minor dynastic squabble…"
    [X] "Moderate" (Loyal Clique, Personal Interest)
     
    [X] "She's a relative of the governor in Yu Dao… don't give me that look, young man, I know she's mixed, but the Fire Lord seems to hold a misplaced sympathy for foreigners and mongrels. She's a colonial, so we can at least expect her to know her place and heed our counsel; their kind is always quick to listen to their betters when it comes to this sort of thing, especially since she'll be without other friends in the court. More importantly, we can expect her to advocate for the interests of the colonies, which would hopefully offer a starting point in talking the Fire Lord down from whatever foolishness he might be contemplating in the colonies.
    [X] "Revisionist" (Uncertain Clique, Personal Interest, Moderate Divergence)
     
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