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In the absence of any external threat? Hard to say. Depends on how badly they're screwing up their own environment, I guess. Being able to go wherever and do whatever would seem like a might boon at first, but I'm confident they'd find some way of shooting themselves in the foot.
In the absence of any external threat? Hard to say. Depends on how badly they're screwing up their own environment, I guess. Being able to go wherever and do whatever would seem like a might boon at first, but I'm confident they'd find some way of shooting themselves in the foot.
It honestly depends on a lot of variables, Victoria could be in theory sustainable, but that mainly hinges on them actively preventing any social or technological innovation elsewhere. I always thought it would be funny if some Native Americans used Retroculture as an excuse to kick out all the white people since they weren't here if you go back far enough.
So I've been thinking, do we win as long as we don't lose? Our continued existence in defiance of the Victorians gives people hope and undermines the formers reputation and belief in retroculture as the one true way. The Victorians emulation of Germany means they need to hit hard, hit fast and leverage their success at the negotiating table. But if they expend their manpower, resources and equipment and have nothing to show for it, it erodes their reputation and means they now have a deficit they need to fix by either spending resources to get back to normal, or beg the Czar for more support. Even if they bullshit the populace, people might still ask how a society that was supposed to be soft and decadent enough for the Victorians to crush easily still manages to continue existing.
So, today I worked from 5 AM to 11 AM overtime, and tomorrow I'm going to do the same, but the idea bug bit me and it would not be denied. Have a low-effort Miami Negaverse, feel free to boggle at Chicago's accomplishments and come to plausible yet inaccurate conclusions about what happened and why and how.
Miami Alterverse ---- Posted by Bagel_Braniac: Turn Three, Spring 2075 Rumor Mill Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war!: “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s happening. Chicago boys finally stepped on the wrong toes, and the Vicks decided to teach them a lesson… And let me tell you right now, things...
docs.google.com
EDIT: Also feel free to bitch about anything that you feel that The Rumor Mill shouldn't plausibly know.
EDIT 2: I posted a link that people could view, but not edit. That would explain a few things.
I just realized something. Poptart's version of the New Russian Empire has a random Russian military officer declaring himself a member of a long fallen historical Russian dynasty and crowning himself Tsar who manages to take over Russia. The New Russian Empire is a very effective and modern state under the traditionalist aesthetics. The Tsar has a son and daughter with different visions for Russia fighting to be the heir. That sounds a lot like Kemerovo warlord faction in the New Order mod. The difference is Kemerovo's leader claims to be the rebirth of Rurik and uses the aesthetics of the Rurikids while "Alexander IV" claims to be a Romanov and uses the aesthetics of the Romanov Russian Empire.
I just realized something. Poptart's version of the New Russian Empire has a random Russian military officer declaring himself a member of a long fallen historical Russian dynasty and crowning himself Tsar who manages to take over Russia. The New Russian Empire is a very effective and modern state under the traditionalist aesthetics. The Tsar has a son and daughter with different visions for Russia fighting to be the heir. That sounds a lot like Kemerovo warlord faction in the New Order mod. The difference is Kemerovo's leader claims to be the rebirth of Rurik and uses the aesthetics of the Rurikids while "Alexander IV" claims to be a Romanov and uses the aesthetics of the Romanov Russian Empire.
Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war!: "Ladies and gentlemen, it's happening. Chicago boys finally stepped on the wrong toes, and the Vicks decided to teach them a lesson… And let me tell you right now, things ain't going the way they want. First news I got was of a great big dust up, right in the Vick's front yard! Task force of coal-fired steamers bristling with fifty-cal's and twenty-mike-mikes, stomping right up to Buffalo and smashing the Vick's so-called navy to so much kindling! They had to delay their invasion by an entire month as they brought new ships in from the Atlantic, and if the Commie boys are smart they'll take that time to dig in, maybe train up the Detroit militia so that they'll be less of an embarrassment when the bullets start flying…"
-Cap'n Jed
WAR UPDATE!: "Lord almighty, poor bastards up there must think it's the end of days, on both sides! For the Commonwealth, they're outnumbered like 4 to 1 or some nonsense, Vick throwing all 12 divisions AND tanks AND the CMC at them. For the Vicks? Well, turns out charging light infantry into heavy machine guns is actually a really bad idea, and they're suffering terrible, TERRIBLE casualties. And that's just on the ground! Out on the water, the Commonwealth Navy decided it was time for an encore performance, but the Victorian Air Force had something to say about that… But just as they're lining up for their attack runs, the Commie boys pull an air force of their own outta nowhere! Weren't as good as the vicks, fewer planes and shitter ones too, but you know what? Those poor bastards must've known they were signing up to die, 'cus they dove out of the sun looking to kill as many damn vicks as they could before they got shot down themselves.
Chicago boys must be quaking in their boots… But they're fighting on in spite of this. And that right there, is screwing with Vick's head something fierce."
-Molly Myers
CLASH OF TITANS!: "We all heard it, but nobody believed it. The man they call Hellfire, a geriatric soldier of the old union still keeping up the fight from a carefully preserved M1 Abrams, the man Victoria fears… He's real. He's fighting for Chicago. And when the CMC decided to pull their thumbs outta their asses and show the infantry how it was done, he led a god-damn counter-charge, smashing into those self-righteous bastards like the fist of god himself. CMC never once took a step that wasn't towards their enemy… And all they achieved was to spare Hellfire the trouble of hunting down survivors."
-Old Lester
Victoria… Defeated?!: "TREACHERY AND TREASON! On the eve of the final confrontation, A fifth column of craven bandits and unchristian warlords did emerge to drive a knife into the backs of the great and glorious armed forces of Victoria! Starving and surrounded, the bravest and finest warriors of our continent and generation were denied an honorable death, pounded into rubble by artillery until scarcely a tenth their number were left able to stand, and only then even so much as laying eyes upon their foe! Quoth the survivor, The Machine State fights not with elan! Not with wills of flesh, nor with maneuver or the contest of will, but with things of metal! The Machine State calmly calculated what it would need to spend in blood and steel to win, and did so! Brothers and sisters, we must prepare for the nightmare to come, prepare to aid our glorious Victorian siblings against what can only be a beast of the apocalypse!"
-Father Fisher, found dead in his home a week later
Please wait warmly for your Turn 4 options.
+++
Posted by Abun130:
And now I feel bad about voting for the plan that didn't include expanding our network along the Mississippi. What is going on up there?!
Posted by ShadowShouter:
Dayummm. What sort of Wheaties has the Chi-town military been eating? Good news for us - that's going to have everyone focusing their attention on them.
Posted by Shivering_Timbers:
Well, this is a surprise, but maybe not for the reasons I was expecting. I mean, it's canon that Victoria's attempt to overthrow The Pacific Republic turned into such a fuster-cluck that they had to make all that Azania nonsense to cover it up, so it figures that going up against a halfway decent opponent would lead to disproportionate losses. On the other hand, outright defeat? That, I did not expect. Either the Vicks had a bad case of thinking this was some kind of anime where all they had to do to win was YELL LOUDER and BELIEVE HARDER, or something's going on here that we're not privy to.
Being a player in both of Bagel's other quests, I am... Disinclined to think that the baddies were handed an idiot ball for no reason. Put your thinking caps on folks, we got ourselves a mystery to solve.
Posted by Tears:
That was a long time coming. Running around with unsupported light infantry was inevitably going to come a cropper sooner or later.
If Victoria's soldiers are as beloved up north as they are over here, I dont really see them getting more than three in ten of those soldiers back in any sort of rout.And none of their equipment. Which translates to at least five years in which Victoria is going to be unable to act beyond their borders as they try to rebuild their losses for the next dustup.
Five years when their intelligence network and allies have no backup, and can suffer accidents we have absolutely nothing to do with, no sir. Five years to settle some scores, and secure geopolitical gains without some fucking Vic making threats in our faces.
*grin*
I smell opportunity, boys.
Posted by Selene:
Question has gotta be where was Lex in all this. No advisers? No little green men? Not even any air drops from the Russian Air Force, or Wagner another one of those mercenary outfits he has running around doing deniable work down in Central America?
What game is Moscow playing here?
Posted by Tautological_Templar:
Could be that the Tsar finally lost control over his pet fanatics and he decided to cut his losses. Russia's spent a lot of time and effort propping up Victoria, but they probably have a Plan B for when the inevitable finally occurred. Perhaps they're planning to more directly administer California?
Posted by FossilFolk
The vics navy getting smashed up like that sounds like a prime opportunity for us! Depending of course on how much of the atlantic forces got pulled off as replacements. It's also gonna be a prime opportunity for FCNY, I wonder what shenanigans they are gonna get up to.
Posted by The_Masked_Discombobulator
...Shit, we're going to need to start making Illinois Man memes now, aren't we?
"Shivering_Timbers" said:
Well, this is a surprise, but maybe not for the reasons I was expecting. I mean, it's canon that Victoria's attempt to overthrow The Pacific Republic turned into such a fuster-cluck that they had to make all that Azania nonsense to cover it up… or something's going on here that we're not privy to.
We know from game start that the NCR holds a grudge against the Vicks. We know they still have modern (well, modern circa 2010s) military hardware. We know that Chicago somehow scraped together an air force capable of stopping the Vicks… with what?
I wonder if the Californians were covertly up-arming and upgrading the Chicago Air Force to blunt the Vicks' air superiority edge. Air-to-air missiles aren't very big; you could fit a lot of them on just a few cargo planes. It looks like it wasn't enough to make sure that Chicago's planes would do more than cancel the enemy air power out, but even that's a pretty big jump for a Revivalist polity in the middle of the continent to pull off, don't you think?
Posted by UnmaskedThespian
...A fifth column of craven bandits and unchristian warlords did emerge to drive a knife into the backs of the great and glorious armed forces of Victoria
Huh. If I'm reading between the lines of the Victorian propaganda machine correctly, it looks like Chicago somehow got Victoria's local allies - whoever they might have been - to turn on them. I'm curious exactly how they managed that.
Did they promise them a share of the spoils, or a seat of honor at Chicago's right hand once this is all over? Did they offer coal or grain or just cold hard cash?
...or did the Victorians piss everyone off badly enough that once it looked like they were losing, even their "allies" jumped at the chance to claim a pound of flesh?
The world wonders.
Posted by MasterREADER
Wait...did they. Wait THEY DEFEATED VICTORIA!! Without a sugar daddy!! We have Cuba nearby to buy our stuff, what did they do to warrant the mass defection of the local allies of their enemy and pull a stunning victory!! A question for the Intel department no doubt.
Wait, Victoria's Navy is dead? It DIED! Well, WELL let's take advantage of that now...long term can wait for now, who's interested in a little convy and coastline raiding, they can't stop us ALL!
@bdun140 nice work. I hope there will be another negaverse reaction from Miami about the Victorian civil war and the frankly ruinous treaty that Chicago forced on Victoria. Because the treaty terms are damn well going to be public.
I'm just waiting for the next turn rumour mill/results when they find out that Chicago won so hard that not only did they eradicate the entire Victorian army more or less whole-sale, but it also kicked off a massive civil war inside of Victoria.
And just when they're getting used to that ridiculousness, they learn of the peace negotiations... Which end up with Victoria walking out because they won't accept the terms Chicago offers, only for Chicago to then go and beat them up until they return and sign the original terms... XD
And in this universe, the only thing BagelBrainiac can say as to why an NPC faction spent the early game beating the end boss like a drum is "Victoria rolled really poorly", heh.
Because someone not privy to just how hard the Commonwealth stacked the deck in their own favour beforehand would be in utter shock, I'll bet. The German satint team we saw was predicting a Vicky blowout, and the Detroiters were getting ready to meet their makers before the Raisin line happened.
I belive it depends on the Context of what you want the end goal to be.
Reunify the Eastern edge of America before the Rocky Mountains...They are definitely the Final Boss that is a PHYSICAL threat, at least in the context of New York, and Chicago. For Cali, its dealing with Japan and Russian Alaska. For Miami Gang, its dealing with Panama and whatever other South American Power got Russia for a Sugar Daddy in the interum.
For Building America back to Great or Superpower status..Russia all the Way, or any of the Other great powers if we get that far.
Disc 1 boss, I'd say. There's way too many named characters in both our and our allies' factions who have the destruction of Victoria as their life's goal for them to be described as a starter boss.
I belive it depends on the Context of what you want the end goal to be.
Reunify the Eastern edge of America before the Rocky Mountains...They are definitely the Final Boss that is a PHYSICAL threat, at least in the context of New York, and Chicago. For Cali, its dealing with Japan and Russian Alaska. For Miami Gang, its dealing with Panama and whatever other South American Power got Russia for a Sugar Daddy in the interum.
For Building America back to Great or Superpower status..Russia all the Way, or any of the Other great powers if we get that far.
The states in the New Order mod that act the closest to Victoria's role in this quest are Finland and Onega as they are minor Axis members that try to keep the former USSR disunited and block Russian reunification although Finland's reasons for doing so is more sympathetic than Victoria's. The closest TNO counterpart of what we achieved in the war would be the West Russian uniter like Komi or the WRRF totally encircling and destroying the army of Onega and Finland which humiliates the Finnish government so badly that the Finnish government is couped or Marshal Vasilevsky of the People's Revolutionary Council defeating the Japanese puppet state of Mengjiang's attempts to crush him and instead forcing Mengjiang to sign a humilating treaty that states that Mengjiang shall not interfere with the People's Revolutionary Council's attempt to restore the USSR.
The world's reaction is on the lines of how could a tiny remnant of the USSR possibly defeat those better equipped Axis puppet states? I thought they were reduced to mere bandits and unstable warlord states now. We should pay more attention to Russia now.
Disc 1 boss, I'd say. There's way too many named characters in both our and our allies' factions who have the destruction of Victoria as their life's goal for them to be described as a starter boss.
The relationship between a lot of the characters and Victoria is basically the It's Personal with the Dragon trope on a national scale. Alexander IV is far away despite him ultimately being responsible and Victoria's terror is much more constant and closer to home so people tend to focus their hatred on Victoria.
I'd argue that any buildup of the former USA back to great power status is likely beyond the scope of the quest. That would be a decades long endeavor even without a hostile Russia. The potentially friendly Tier 1/2 powers here, China and Europe, both have geopolitical reason to disfavour a United States that holds that much power globally. China for example. While theyare democratic, they are far more interventionist than the old PRC which stuck studiously to Westphalian principles, and I would argue a lot of that is viewing PRC foreign policy wrt the "peaceful rise", especially within the bounds of an American world order, as far too soft and unaggressive. In their eyes, that cost them their previous chance at superpower status and almost resulted in another century of humiliation. If the current ROC is run by the previous liberals, then the foreign policy establishment will be run by those who once wanted to ape American policy, interventionism and all.
Similarly, the Europeans will want to ensure that if they are not at the top of any post-Alexander world order, it will be multipolar rather than see America return to its previous status. A big part of the European collapse could be seen as an overdependence on the USA. No matter how fond they are of the old days there is no chance that they would tolerate being the junior partner again.
Back to the original point, America would have to be among those upper tier world powers like China, Europe, or even PACS and South America to have a hope of acting to overthrow Alexander rather than simply acting against his proxies which as has been established is a long ways away. I imagine the next bosses in sequence will be the coalition centred around the Shawnee Kingdom building in the conference right now along with whoever else is down the Mississippi, followed by a post-sandwich Victoria, and then if our visions for a united North American continent disagree whichever other unifiers emerge in other parts of the North American anarchy, kind of like in TNO Russia, which may well include clashing with an overaggressive NCR. While Alex may send aid to some opponents the relative strength of his foes closer to home will only increase relative to himself from here on out, so Russian aid may well be at an increasing premium as time goes on.
That is of course assuming that the quest involves throwing more and more bosses at us, which I consider doubtful. I think it's also possible that if we assume there will always be another boss around the corner we'll run into more moral compromises to prepare for that nebulous final boss until we get a "Do you feel like a hero yet?" moment.
Though... thinkinf about what I just footnoted... I can totally see the Russians subtly and covertly encouraging that shit, because it overall weakens California and creates more internal chaos, plus it makes it easier for Russian and Japanese intelligence to penetrate Asian-American minorities that feel ill-used. And "get alt-right loonies to beat people up for them" is basically the key play in Alexander's playbook for "how to weaken the United States," after all.
Approaching the artificial designation of "Asian-American" that comprises multiple heterogeneous groups of different ethnicities and attached cultures as one homogeneous group with the same set of desires and cultural sensitivities is something that IC planners would work with and wonder why their best laid plans at best have fallen like a lead balloon yes.
[X] Focus your rhetoric on breaking up the forming bloc. Some of these conflicts, you can resolve before Young manages to harden their resentment, and that can help reduce the number of people he convinces.
Local Conference
Sneaky Dealings
-Chicago, Illinois, United States of America-
-Commonwealth of Free Cities-
-Saturday, February 8, 2076, 5:26 PM-
-President Sara Johnson-
You slam your fist down into the center of your desk, after everybody clears out of the room. "God DAMN IT!" you yell, turning away and stalking back and forth.
With one move, Alexander has upended the entire impression you'd hoped to convey at this Conference. You are no longer the biggest power at the table. You are no longer the monster, the legend, the hero that just shattered Victoria's strength and sent them spiraling into a civil war.
You are a weak, poor, brutalized wreck of a nation, meek in the presence of one far your superior. Every nation on Earth listens to Russia, when they speak; the Country bows its head when Russia passes.
There is no question of refusing her entrance. To refuse Russia's ambassador, even if it were some man scraped off the ground in Sakhalin and pumped up with vodka before being shoved your way, would have every other member of this conference taking the opportunity to assure that ambassador of their good intentions before leaving. To refuse Alexander's favored daughter? Unthinkable. You grit your teeth, content yourself with sending only Secretary of State Harris to meet the Princess on the docks, and resign yourself to the greatest show of defiance you could possibly muster being only meeting the woman face-to-face in private.
You slump back down into your chair. A single twitch of Alexander's notice, and your plans are undone. And you can do nothing. A part of you thinks back to the time when you served the Governor of Wisconsin, and he had to host John Rumford, in town to investigate the suspicious accumulation of organization in the state. A part of you remembers being placed in the Governor's protection detail, undercover at the café Rumford insisted on using as his meeting point. The part of you that once seethed at the indignity of pretending to be nothing more than an empty-headed waitress serving Rumford at a diner screams for you to indulge yourself for a change and just kill Katerina, and hang the consequences.
The part of you that smiled and asked John Rumford if he wanted another coffee, and told Sara to calm down and go fetch his eggs, knows better.
You take a deep breath, raise up your head, and let it out.
You look down at your hands. They're not exactly decrepit, yet, but they are weathered. A lock of hair drifts in front of your eyes, and, as ever, the shade of grey arrests your gaze before you snap out of it and tuck it back behind your ear.
It has been so long of paying heed to the madmen who hold the world in their grip. You lace your fingers together and squeeze until the skin goes white.
Still have life in me, yet.
Your lips thin, and you take out a sheet of paper to start writing down your thoughts.
Decades ago, you smiled at John Rumford and asked him if he'd like another coffee, and the man thought you a beautiful waitress and your boss a harmless bumpkin who liked streetcars. You cannot pretend not to be a threat to Russia's ambitions, but you can make damn sure that you give them no excuse to come down on your head -- and that your plans proceed regardless. And if the CMC knew better than their master that Wisconsin was threatening after all...
Things will change, you say, dashing out your thoughts onto the page. To the shores of Maine, if they must.
* * *
-Chicago, Illinois, United States of America-
-Commonwealth of Free Cities-
-Sunday, February 9, 2076, 3:00 PM-
-President Sara Johnson-
Katerina Romanova is a beautiful woman. That shouldn't bother you, but it does.
At her age, you already had wrinkles; your hair was already going grey. You were a veteran of an endless war, and you were tired. You were the victim of the constant, draining rigor that survival in the New Country demands. And this woman, in her mid-thirties, looks fresh and healthy. She stands with her back straight, her expression clear of the reflexive fear that occasionally clouds the eyes of any American.
No, come to think of it, it isn't really that she's beautiful that bothers you. It's that she's unburdened. That the world hasn't worn her down the way it has you. It bothers you that life has torn at your body, while hers would fit a woman in her twenties as well as it does her.
It bothers you that she has that, in large part, because of all that conspired to take the same thing away from you.
She smiles at you, and it looks polite and kind and even somewhat respectful. You seethe. Rumford, Matthews, Alexander, and their rotten comrades in evil aside, you do not believe you have hated anybody before as passionately as you hate this woman now.
"President Johnson," she says in accented English, dipping her head slightly. "A pleasure to meet you in person."
You bring a charmed, welcoming smile to your own face and dip your head deep, almost in a bow. "Princess Romanova," you say. "Welcome to Chicago." You gesture to the chair in front of your desk. "Please, have a seat."
"Thank you," she says, pulling out the chair and sliding down into it. Once she's settled, you sit.
"We were very surprised by your visit," you say, your tone light and conversational. "We would have appreciated the chance to coordinate security with your own detail ahead of time."
Katerina's smile hardens for a moment and her eyes narrow in a distinctly unamused expression before clearing. "And yet it all went off without an issue."
You smile slightly. It does not reach your eyes. "Quite," you say, your voice crisp. "One wonder why you chose to make this trip a surprise, though."
"A family flair for drama," she replies, giving you a smile that hints at sharing a great secret. "I'm told I get it from my mother."
You have to restrain yourself from lunging across the desk to strangle her. "She must have been an entertaining woman," you say, in as close to a dismissive tone of voice as you can get away with.
This time, the flare of hostility is far more restrained; you barely catch it. She wasn't trying to broadcast that one. She renews her smile swiftly, though. "Among other things," she says. She takes a breath, glancing around the room for a moment. "I'm certain that you wonder why I've come," she says.
You blink at the sudden burst of directness. "...I have, yes," you say. "Russia has yet to recognize the Commonwealth, Princess. Some of my Cabinet insisted that we should not receive you."
"And I am grateful that you did not turn me away," she replies, in all apparent sincerity.
You tilt your head. Sniping aside, you had thought her just a Russian diplomat. The sincerity is...odd. "Are you?" you murmur, peering at her.
She blinks. "I am."
You nod slowly. "Hm." Your eyes flick over her. "And what brings the throne's eyes to Chicago?"
She presents no reaction to that. "Russia has interests here."
"Russia has no business here," you say. "Quite literally. This is Victoria's playground; the Tsar has no direct interests this far inland. And he'll be getting nothing at all out of Victoria, in their present state."
Katerina nods. "And, as I said, Russia has interests here, not business."
You lean back in your chair. "...please clarify."
Katerina leans forward to match you. "I know that word of my work has made it to the Commonwealth."
"It is known the world over, but you are not here as a representative of the Climate Action Foundation," you say, lips thinning. "What does the Tsar wish to say to us?"
Katerina shakes her head. "I am here with my father's blessing to act as I see fit. I speak with my own voice. And I wish to use that voice to discuss the Commonwealth's place in the fight against climate change."
You blink. "...climate change."
"Yes," she says, nodding.
"You came to Chicago, through war-torn America, from Moscow, to discuss...climate change," you say.
She nods again. "I did, indeed."
You feel the stirring of irritation. "You interrupted this conference to discuss global warming?"
"Yes, President Johnson," says Katerina. "And, frankly, I think there was no better time."
You take a deep breath. "We are here to discuss the shape of our world, small as it is, in the wake of Victoria's influence. Your Highness, your work is...inspiring...but we have other concerns at the moment."
"And I wish to change that," she says. "Let us cut to the heart of affairs, Madame President: Russia is well aware that you intend on reindustrializing. It is a simple matter of sense. We are aware as well as you are that the Commonwealth must do this. What you may not be aware of, is that the fight against climate change is at a very delicate point." She steeples her fingers and fixes you with her gaze.
You narrow your eyes in response. The girl has presence, you will admit. Everything about the way she sits and looks screams, "Look at me, pay attention to me, I am important. Listen to me, I know what I am saying. Feel what I feel, because I can evoke it so well." She has charisma, and you know what it looks like when somebody intends to capture your imagination.
But you have your own share of force of personality. You let just a hint of scorn into your expression, and Katerina blinks, momentarily stalled in her patter. Presumably, nobody she's spoken to has dared look at her like that in years. But your position, while it makes you vulnerable, gives you some freedom of action; you have nothing to lose riding on an errant look. You can, at least, show this girl that she does not impress you without fearing the increase in tensions that the Germans might have to consider. You tilt your head forward, glowering; it might, feasibly, have been something one could describe as a nod. "Get to your point," you say, voice flat.
Katerina gathers herself quickly, breaking eye contact with you for a moment. "Russia and the world have stalled the progress of climate change for years; we are now at a critical point." She reaches into her briefcase and starts pulling out papers, placing them on your desk. "The world cannot afford American powers to begin reindustrializing on the back of fossil fuels. Russia needs to understand that the Commonwealth of Free Cities will lead the way in ensuring that this does not come to pass."
And at this, at long last, you laugh. You laugh, and you laugh, and you revel at the moment of sheer, unguarded insult on Katerina's face. Oh, you laugh like Maleficent herself for a moment, cruel and mocking, and it makes you feel powerful, if only to revel in the increasingly unnerved expression she's finally showing you. At length, you calm. "You think very highly of us, your Highness," you chuckle, shaking your head. "We can do no such thing. Russia may be strong and wealthy, but that is Russia. We are the Commonwealth, and now that I'm being entirely free with you, I will tell you that it is Russia's own policies that have led us to this point. It is thanks to Russia that I must tell you: we absolutely cannot give you what you ask. The Commonwealth could not promise on its own behalf to commit to a zero-emissions policy, let alone to lead its neighbors in the endeavor." You give her a bitter smirk. "I'm afraid I cannot accommodate you, your Highness. The Commonwealth needs oil. It needs coal. It needs gas. Because the Commonwealth needs heavy machinery, and it cannot pay to sustain it on sunlight alone."
Katerina masters her irritation after a moment, sitting up in her seat. "I understand that," she says, quietly. "If I thought you could do it alone, and that you would, I would not be here." She reaches into her briefcase again and pulls out a packet. "However, I do not think that. I am aware of the state of affairs here on the North American continent. I did not come with demands and no assistance." She places the packet on the desk. "The Russian Empire is prepared to offer a deal to the CFC, via the intermediary of the Climate Action Foundation. You will promise to maintain a net-zero emissions rating, as assessed by the CAF. In return -- again, via the CAF -- the Russian Empire shall underwrite the start-up costs of the CFC's power grid and emissions capture network utilizing this technology. And, as well, the Russian Empire will stop lobbying against the CFC's recognition by the wider diplomatic community, and recognize you ourselves."
You pause halfway through reaching for the folder. That...is big. There has been constant Russian pressure to reject your delegations abroad; it has been your single largest obstacle. Were they to about-face now...
…you look up at Katerina. "...your father does not know what you intend to offer," you guess.
"He will abide by the agreement we make," she says.
"But he does not know," you say, now certain. "And he would not approve."
Katerina gazes back at you for a moment, unreadable but silent -- and that, itself, tells you plenty enough. At long last, she takes a breath and says, quietly, "This is more important than defending what remains of Victoria's pride on the international stage."
You stare at her, and again, you see that flicker of sincerity. Oh, it is likely that she's showing it deliberately. But you think that it is real, for all of that. You pick up the packet. "I will need to consider this, and bring it before Congress," you say. "I will not make this decision without consideration, and my emergency powers are soon to expire."
Katerina nods. "I understand. I would, of course, ask that you present it favorably."
"We shall see," you say.
She nods, accepting that, and leans back in her seat. "We would also ask that the Commonwealth take reasonable action to encourage the adoption of this technology among its neighbors. The FZC -- sorry, CAF -- has a package of technologies just for this purpose. To speak in my capacity as CAF Chairwoman for a moment, we would be pleased to assist the Commonwealth in becoming a local distributor for such technology. Please convey that to your Congress. But, for now, as you must report my words elsewhere, I would suggest we move on to other topics."
You nod, still staring at her. "Indeed."
Katerina picks up her briefcase again. "I wished to discuss the question of me making an address to your conference..."
Princess Katerina has taken advantage of her position to make a compelling deal to you: commit to a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions policy, and receive in exchange the seed funding to establish the power and emissions capture network that would require and Russia's diplomatic recognition. This would hardly be them bankrolling the whole of the power base your three-year plan envisioned, but it would let you break into the costly business of renewables. As a bonus for the political palate, you also would not be directly receiving aid from the Russian government, although the distinction is somewhat thin. Do you recommend to Congress that the CFC accepts the deal?
[ ] Yes. Climate change is one of the few things the various power blocs can agree upon, and getting Russia to stop interfering in the process of your diplomatic legitimization is a chance that will quite literally never come again, if you reject them now. This gets you onto the international stage on the right footing, and may inspire a bidding war, if the other powers realize that Russia has gotten the first in with the Commonwealth. Furthermore, with your diplomatic cachet as high as it is in the wake of the Erie War, you are confident that your recommendation to Congress will be as good as a decree, in this case. Commit to replacing the CFC's limited power plants on a one-for-one basis (in terms of power output) with emissions-zero plants by January 1st, 2077, and establish emissions capture technologies to make up the remainder. Receive Russian funding, by way of the CAF, to achieve this and shore up your electrical capacity to sufficiency, along with designs and technical assistance (automatic successes in actions towards that goal). Automatically complete the, "Outreach," Department of State action with Russian backing. Potentially spark competitive investment from other great powers.
[ ] No. It is one part principle, and one part pragmatism, that makes you want to reject this offer. You will never accept Russia's gifts, not until they no longer hold an axe over your head. And more practically speaking, accepting Russian aid implies Russian leanings. Oh, there is the fig leaf of the CAF's involvement, here, but people will still know. You will not squander this chance to publicly and irrevocably set the CFC against the Russian Empire -- not when their primary means of striking against you has just dissolved into chaos. And besides, with the climate an issue of such international significance, you could likely find another patron in this matter. Get none of what Russia promises, and set a very firm precedent of CFC opposition to Russian interests.
MANUAL MORATORIUM.
Well, it took me time, but I made myself write, and fuck this is fun why have I let it languish so long?
Good to see y'all again, folks! Hope you enjoyed the update!
Realpolitik is where morals go to die, and Russian technical assistance sounds like Victorian foreign aid workers but with twice the insidiousness and actual aid.
...that being said, I'm mighty interested in free shit, enticing others to give us free shit and having something resembling an in with the Russian government.
And pissing off the Tsar.
Honestly, I'd agree purely for the sake of driving a wedge between Catherine and her father, but spite is probably not the best emotion to guide statecraft
Honestly, I'd agree purely for the sake of driving a wedge between Catherine and her father, but spite is probably not the best emotion to guide statecraft
Talk about a poisoned deal. I'm interested in free shit, but this is toxic to our diplomatic stance. Still, it's just funding, not "assistance." And. Well. It would give Russia an incentive to keep the Canal open. And that's mighty tempting.
docs.google.com
Depending of course on how much of the atlantic forces got pulled off as replacements. It's also gonna be a prime opportunity for FCNY, I wonder what shenanigans they are gonna get up to.
