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Dictator Quest

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[X] Strength through Unity. You were a demagogue and social firebrand. Your gun was a microphone, and words your bullets; scything down droves of competitors with scathing social commentary. The people all but rioted to put you in office, though the support of the people can be a fickle thing, especially as they demand their bread and circuses.

[X] The Administrator: Money makes the world go around. They have the knack for ploughing through paperwork due to experience, finding the flaws in the accountancy structure and organising the work load to be more efficient. Admin is used to re-organise your nation to be more efficient, to be more profitable and to run smoother. After all, the more you make, the happier your people will be.
 
Ok. Instead of talking about which choice is mechanically similar lets talk about thematics. Because whilst there's going to be some underlying tone we'll decide a lot of the tone of the early days of the quest in this vote for our Main Character and Assistant.

StU/Spy: There's a couple of ways this can go. The first is as a firebrand who the intelligence services backed in the election. The second is as a firebrand who's lost most of his idealism and compromised his ideals to get where he is now, he realised he wouldn't change anything by playing by the rules so he cheated. Either way he's dipped his hands into the mud and that sort of thing doesn't just wash off. Thematically its likely to have an undertone of lost idealism and relpolitik whilst still being motivated to change things.

StU/Administrator: This one's a lot more idealistic. Our character was likely well educated and comes from a good background, our revolution was probably backed by local (or international) business interests. In this case he won by just playing the election game better than his opponents. Still realpolitiky but less so than the spy. We'll likely have to deal with quid pro quo with the business leaders though. Thematically its likely to focus on 'change we need' with an undercurrent of 'jesus christ this is harder than I thought it'd be'. Be wary though, I wouldn't put it past @Gunther to have us be playing as a Conservative reactionary.

StP/Researcher: Wealthy industrialist who's made a living, among other things, selling better products. This guy is aware of how the game is played but is less weary than a spook character, probably still got to his position via bribery though. Has a large fortune from his work as a businessman but is likely going to be focused on the economy over everything. This isn't a bad thing per say, it's 2010 after all, but we run the risk of ignoring other factors. Also our assistant is next to useless for running a nation. Thematically I expect this to include 'jesus fuck running a country is nothing like running a business' and 'ohh shit, the people' and 'ohh shit, the military'.

StP/Demagogue: Wealthy industrialist who made his money off Brand Value and marketing, among other things. Likely has a solid pot of cash. Again, knows how the game is played but unlike in the previous course he likely didn't rely so much on bribes, at least part of it would have been running a solid campaign to get him into power. Hands off a lot of his negotiating to his assistant which is either a good or a bad thing depending on how loyal he is. Again, likely to be focused on the economy with a side focus on the social side of things. I expect the thematic focuses to be 'ohh god, running a country is hard' and 'why is my head of intelligence telling me that my assistant is trying to oust me and take my place?'

StU/Demagogue: Double persuasiveness for double the fun. We basically got in by being SO PERSUASIVE! I expect we won a landslide election, likely despite vote rigging. We're riding on a massive high, now we just need to fulfill our election promises... I expect the themes to focus on 'I have no idea how to run a country, do we know anyone who can?', 'uhh, the people want their election promises now' and 'IDEALISM HO!'

PtS/General: Basically the fuck you I'm in the military of choices. We still need to keep the public sated but we're now a military dictator. Expect this to make life interesting with international relations. Gotten into power via a coup and now must maintain control of the nation. This is foreign intervention bait, especially since we're in Europe. I expect the themes to focus on 'do we have anyone in our forces who knows anything about the economy?', 'Uhh, hai Croatia' and 'my men did what?!' This is traditionally the conservative reactionary choice but as Egypt has shown, sometimes your conservative reactionary military is less conservative and reactionary than your general public.

PtK/General: My favored choice. Its basically a guy who decided he didn't like the ruling parties and with the assistance of the military went and couped them. It includes many of the issues the military coup has but with probably less reactionism. Still, you need to keep the loyalty of the military in order to stay in power. Also, this choice will be hilariously cynical. He just overthrew a government because he didn't like it through underhanded means. Less chance of getting couped and will be generally more aware of stuff. Not an idealistic choice, though functionally it may come to the same end as the idealist, there will just be a different progression there. Thematically its likely to include 'jesus fuck, that economy', 'why can't the military ever do things sensibly' and 'espionage HO!'


This evaluation is done evenhandedly (though it does play off what I know about Gunther's personality a fair amount). I hope you all find it useful in deciding your vote.
 
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Beginning Cultural/Religion Q&A
  • Threadmarks
    • Nice! Getting a solid cast of people participating, which is what I like to see. :) So! To answer your questions, Redtape...

    Redtape said:
    Gunter some questions, or will this be vote choices?

    Do our people consider themselves a distinct ethnic group? Or is there a mishmash of Serbs, Bosnian, Hungarians etc?

    Are the poeple Catholic? Muslim? Orthodox?

    Was the nation ever part of Yugoslavia, Austria-Hungary?
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    1) You're more than welcome to ask questions! I encourage it, even, if you're uncertain.

    2) Your people aren't any one particular distinct ethnic group. You've got Slovenians, Hungarians, Serbians, Croats, Bosniaks... The exact demographics shift a bit considering you're a nation with plenty of land borders on all sides, especially given that your micronation's just started to stabilize, but you're looking at a pretty multicultural population. Whether this is good or bad remains to be seen.

    3) Catholicism is pretty strong, as well as other denominations of Christianity. This, at least, is thankfully not a source of much tension. There's been a growing Muslim population, however, thanks to some emigrants from Afghanistan (amongst other things.)

    4) It's basically right about where Croatia/Slavonia would exist on the map.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Strength through Unity. You were a demagogue and social firebrand. Your gun was a microphone, and words your bullets; scything down droves of competitors with scathing social commentary. The people all but rioted to put you in office, though the support of the people can be a fickle thing, especially as they demand their bread and circuses.
    [X] The Administrator: Money makes the world go around. They have the knack for ploughing through paperwork due to experience, finding the flaws in the accountancy structure and organising the work load to be more efficient. Admin is used to re-organise your nation to be more efficient, to be more profitable and to run smoother. After all, the more you make, the happier your people will be.
     
    [X] Power through Knowledge. As the saying goes, knowledge is power, and you have both power and knowledge. Simply put, you were a spook. Whilst the coup may have been backed by the people and carried out by the military you are the person who stirred the public's unrest, who arranged for the previous leader to conveniently die and who told the generals when to strike. Not that the public knows any of that. To them you're just a man who worked previously as the Head of the Joint National Security Advisory Board.

    [X] The General. The General knows how best to organize and train his troops to get the best out of them. He knows how to position them in the field with the right equipment for the job. The great generals apply the lessons they have learnt to all areas of their life, treating everything as War where only the best can survive. A General can train troops to be more efficient, better and more skilled for the same base cost limited only by their personal prowess.

    FriedIce convinced me
     
    [X] Strength through Unity. You were a demagogue and social firebrand. Your gun was a microphone, and words your bullets; scything down droves of competitors with scathing social commentary. The people all but rioted to put you in office, though the support of the people can be a fickle thing, especially as they demand their bread and circuses.

    [X] The Administrator: Money makes the world go around. They have the knack for ploughing through paperwork due to experience, finding the flaws in the accountancy structure and organising the work load to be more efficient. Admin is used to re-organise your nation to be more efficient, to be more profitable and to run smoother. After all, the more you make, the happier your people will be.
     
    [X] Power through Knowledge. As the saying goes, knowledge is power, and you have both power and knowledge. Simply put, you were a spook. Whilst the coup may have been backed by the people and carried out by the military you are the person who stirred the public's unrest, who arranged for the previous leader to conveniently die and who told the generals when to strike. Not that the public knows any of that. To them you're just a man who worked previously as the Head of the Joint National Security Advisory Board.

    [X] The General. The General knows how best to organize and train his troops to get the best out of them. He knows how to position them in the field with the right equipment for the job. The great generals apply the lessons they have learnt to all areas of their life, treating everything as War where only the best can survive. A General can train troops to be more efficient, better and more skilled for the same base cost limited only by their personal prowess.
     
    [X] Power through Knowledge. As the saying goes, knowledge is power, and you have both power and knowledge. Simply put, you were a spook. Whilst the coup may have been backed by the people and carried out by the military you are the person who stirred the public's unrest, who arranged for the previous leader to conveniently die and who told the generals when to strike. Not that the public knows any of that. To them you're just a man who worked previously as the Head of the Joint National Security Advisory Board.

    [X] The General. The General knows how best to organize and train his troops to get the best out of them. He knows how to position them in the field with the right equipment for the job. The great generals apply the lessons they have learnt to all areas of their life, treating everything as War where only the best can survive. A General can train troops to be more efficient, better and more skilled for the same base cost limited only by their personal prowess.
     
    FriedIce said:
    Ok. Instead of talking about which choice is mechanically similar lets talk about thematics. Because whilst there's going to be some underlying tone we'll decide a lot of the tone of the early days of the quest in this vote for our Main Character and Assistant.

    StU/Spy: There's a couple of ways this can go. The first is as a firebrand who the intelligence services backed in the election. The second is as a firebrand who's lost most of his idealism and compromised his ideals to get where he is now, he realised he wouldn't change anything by playing by the rules so he cheated. Either way he's dipped his hands into the mud and that sort of thing doesn't just wash off. Thematically its likely to have an undertone of lost idealism and relpolitik whilst still being motivated to change things.

    StU/Administrator: This one's a lot more idealistic. Our character was likely well educated and comes from a good background, our revolution was probably backed by local (or international) business interests. In this case he won by just playing the election game better than his opponents. Still realpolitiky but less so than the spy. We'll likely have to deal with quid pro quo with the business leaders though. Thematically its likely to focus on 'change we need' with an undercurrent of 'jesus christ this is harder than I thought it'd be'. Be wary though, I wouldn't put it past @Gunther to have us be playing as a Conservative reactionary.

    StP/Researcher: Wealthy industrialist who's made a living, among other things, selling better products. This guy is aware of how the game is played but is less weary than a spook character, probably still got to his position via bribery though. Has a large fortune from his work as a businessman but is likely going to be focused on the economy over everything. This isn't a bad thing per say, it's 2010 after all, but we run the risk of ignoring other factors. Also our assistant is next to useless for running a nation. Thematically I expect this to include 'jesus fuck running a country is nothing like running a business' and 'ohh shit, the people' and 'ohh shit, the military'.

    StP/Demagogue: Wealthy industrialist who made his money off Brand Value and marketing, among other things. Likely has a solid pot of cash. Again, knows how the game is played but unlike in the previous course he likely didn't rely so much on bribes, at least part of it would have been running a solid campaign to get him into power. Hands off a lot of his negotiating to his assistant which is either a good or a bad thing depending on how loyal he is. Again, likely to be focused on the economy with a side focus on the social side of things. I expect the thematic focuses to be 'ohh god, running a country is hard' and 'why is my head of intelligence telling me that my assistant is trying to oust me and take my place?'

    StU/Demagogue: Double persuasiveness for double the fun. We basically got in by being SO PERSUASIVE! I expect we won a landslide election, likely despite vote rigging. We're riding on a massive high, now we just need to fulfill our election promises... I expect the themes to focus on 'I have no idea how to run a country, do we know anyone who can?', 'uhh, the people want their election promises now' and 'IDEALISM HO!'

    PtS/General: Basically the fuck you I'm in the military of choices. We still need to keep the public sated but we're now a military dictator. Expect this to make life interesting with international relations. Gotten into power via a coup and now must maintain control of the nation. This is foreign intervention bait, especially since we're in Europe. I expect the themes to focus on 'do we have anyone in our forces who knows anything about the economy?', 'Uhh, hai Croatia' and 'my men did what?!' This is traditionally the conservative reactionary choice but as Egypt has shown, sometimes your conservative reactionary military is less conservative and reactionary than your general public.

    PtK/General: My favored choice. Its basically a guy who decided he didn't like the ruling parties and with the assistance of the military went and couped them. It includes many of the issues the military coup has but with probably less reactionism. Still, you need to keep the loyalty of the military in order to stay in power. Also, this choice will be hilariously cynical. He just overthrew a government because he didn't like it through underhanded means. Less chance of getting couped and will be generally more aware of stuff. Not an idealistic choice, though functionally it may come to the same end as the idealist, there will just be a different progression there. Thematically its likely to include 'jesus fuck, that economy', 'why can't the military ever do things sensibly' and 'espionage HO!'


    This evaluation is done evenhandedly (though it does play off what I know about Gunther's personality a fair amount). I hope you all find it useful in deciding your vote.
    Click to expand...
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    Keep in mind that who you play as still falls to you, questers, as a group. You could very well play Strength through Unity/Administrator as being the plucky, charismatic person with a heart of gold that has an administrator that helps them with the more mathematically and economically complex issues involved in running your own personal country. You won't be limited to some set archetype. You can certainly play as an archetype, and these are all wonderful and superb ideas, but I won't rigidly adhere you to what you choose beyond the general skills and talents these involve. ^^
     
    Gunther said:
    2) Your people aren't any one particular distinct ethnic group. You've got Slovenians, Hungarians, Serbians, Croats, Bosniaks... The exact demographics shift a bit considering you're a nation with plenty of land borders on all sides, especially given that your micronation's just started to stabilize, but you're looking at a pretty multicultural population. Whether this is good or bad remains to be seen.

    3) Catholicism is pretty strong, as well as other denominations of Christianity. This, at least, is thankfully not a source of much tension. There's been a growing Muslim population, however, thanks to some emigrants from Afghanistan (amongst other things.)

    4) It's basically right about where Croatia/Slavonia would exist on the map.
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    *Considers his knowledge of Eastern European politics*

    *Sees we have Catholics and Muslims in the same populace, plus a half dozen other ethnicities.*

    Hoh boy.
     
    Gunther said:
    2) Your people aren't any one particular distinct ethnic group. You've got Slovenians, Hungarians, Serbians, Croats, Bosniaks... The exact demographics shift a bit considering you're a nation with plenty of land borders on all sides, especially given that your micronation's just started to stabilize, but you're looking at a pretty multicultural population. Whether this is good or bad remains to be seen.
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    Gunther said:
    ... you're looking at a pretty multicultural population [in the Balkans].
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    Oh dear god.

    Yeah, this is going to suck.
     
    Join team double charisma,Are you see any politician fulfill their promise?.

    Politician will compromise and shift the blame to other guy,if el presidente in tropico teach me something that we can blame other group and keep balance between inner political party.

    People who already wealthy will love capitalism,who poor will love welfare and socialism.
     
    Night_stalker said:
    Suck up to the Russians and pray we can rely on the Army to subdue any tensions?
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    We're in the Balkans, its not really close enough to rely on the Russkies. We're probably going to have to suck up to the military pretty hard though.

    Part of the reason why I want Power through Knowledge/General is because the military starts off backing us.
     
    FriedIce said:
    We're in the Balkans, its not really close enough to rely on the Russkies. We're probably going to have to suck up to the military pretty hard though.

    Part of the reason why I want Power through Knowledge/General is because the military starts off backing us.
    Click to expand...
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    Eh, I dunno, we need an external target to unite o....

    Hang on, what's our foreign relations like, at the moment?
     
    We'll definitely need at least one Charisma person, and I'd rather it be us than a subordinate. Good point on the military, though, and the General is still more interesting than the Administrator (and much more likely to win than the spy), so changing to that. Hell, if we play it right and the General is so inclined, he can be the right hardliner foil to our populist image, uniting the people both in support for us and dislike for him (and setting us up nicely in the case of a potential coup.)

    [X] Strength through Unity. You were a demagogue and social firebrand. Your gun was a microphone, and words your bullets; scything down droves of competitors with scathing social commentary. The people all but rioted to put you in office, though the support of the people can be a fickle thing, especially as they demand their bread and circuses.
    [X] The General. The General knows how best to organize and train his troops to get the best out of them. He knows how to position them in the field with the right equipment for the job. The great generals apply the lessons they have learnt to all areas of their life, treating everything as War where only the best can survive. A General can train troops to be more efficient, better and more skilled for the same base cost limited only by their personal prowess.
     
    [X] Strength through Power. Literal power, in this case. As a wealthy industrialist, it was only natural that you apply those talents into your political career. Holding the infrastructure of the nation in your hands, it became apparent to the masses that a person of personal fortune would be needed to keep the economy's pulse.
    [x] The Researcher: The world moves fast. Technology moves faster. No sooner have you gotten used to a product then a newer and better version is being released. They lead the way through your personal developments. Their genius intellect has created new products that have helped make your fortune and build up your nation.

    What we need is money and science to turn this land to Rapture
     
    [X] Strength through Unity. You were a demagogue and social firebrand. Your gun was a microphone, and words your bullets; scything down droves of competitors with scathing social commentary. The people all but rioted to put you in office, though the support of the people can be a fickle thing, especially as they demand their bread and circuses.

    [X] The General. The General knows how best to organize and train his troops to get the best out of them. He knows how to position them in the field with the right equipment for the job. The great generals apply the lessons they have learnt to all areas of their life, treating everything as War where only the best can survive. A General can train troops to be more efficient, better and more skilled for the same base cost limited only by their personal prowess.
     
    [X] Strength through Unity. You were a demagogue and social firebrand. Your gun was a microphone, and words your bullets; scything down droves of competitors with scathing social commentary. The people all but rioted to put you in office, though the support of the people can be a fickle thing, especially as they demand their bread and circuses.

    [X] The General. The General knows how best to organize and train his troops to get the best out of them. He knows how to position them in the field with the right equipment for the job. The great generals apply the lessons they have learnt to all areas of their life, treating everything as War where only the best can survive. A General can train troops to be more efficient, better and more skilled for the same base cost limited only by their personal prowess.

    Some of the greatest leaders in history have been known for their incredible charisma and for me it's a must-have attribute. Not only that but to be truly successful we need the backing of the people and the military.
     
    [X] Strength through Unity. You were a demagogue and social firebrand. Your gun was a microphone, and words your bullets; scything down droves of competitors with scathing social commentary. The people all but rioted to put you in office, though the support of the people can be a fickle thing, especially as they demand their bread and circuses.

    [X] The General. The General knows how best to organize and train his troops to get the best out of them. He knows how to position them in the field with the right equipment for the job. The great generals apply the lessons they have learnt to all areas of their life, treating everything as War where only the best can survive. A General can train troops to be more efficient, better and more skilled for the same base cost limited only by their personal prowess.


    Anything else we can acquire through networking, but there is no substitute for charisma. And I like the thematics of having a General as our greatest supporter; we not only won the hearts and minds of the civilian populace, we won the personal support of the military leadership at the highest level possible
     
    [X] Strength through Unity. You were a demagogue and social firebrand. Your gun was a microphone, and words your bullets; scything down droves of competitors with scathing social commentary. The people all but rioted to put you in office, though the support of the people can be a fickle thing, especially as they demand their bread and circuses.

    [X] The General. The General knows how best to organize and train his troops to get the best out of them. He knows how to position them in the field with the right equipment for the job. The great generals apply the lessons they have learnt to all areas of their life, treating everything as War where only the best can survive. A General can train troops to be more efficient, better and more skilled for the same base cost limited only by their personal prowess.

    Changing vote.
     
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