The United Territories of Civitas, or UTC, a country built on a foundation of democracy and freedom. The UTC is only 297 years old, a junior compared to some of her ancient neighbours, however she has a history filled with action and prestige. The main difference in the UTC and other countries is her democratically elected government that has always been present. Other democracies have all emerged from autocratic monarchies. The UTC is not a superpower, recently an international recession, mass austerity and national strikes have left the economy shattered and the people calling out for change. But now, in the year 2015, a new election campaign is beginning and this is the time for new parties to step in and save the nation. Bringing it not only back from the brink, but to new heights of power.

Welcome to the OOC, this is where I will outline how the RP will run and the different rules that are in existence for you to play with. So firstly we need some political parties, which will be created by your selves. Here I don't just want 8 different extremist parties. I want to see 3, maybe 4, parties that are not all across the spectrum. Maybe 1 extremist and 2 much closer to the centre. This will be as realistic as possible and so 8 neo-Nazi groups are just not viable, also I want to be able to create a majority possible and that is very difficult with 8 parties. The Characters page is where I will put up Parties and their associated MPs, however I want people to post their Parties here in the OOC first and then, when I accept them, I will post them in the Characters tab. Parties will take the format below.

Party Name:
Party Acronym:
Party Motto:
Party Logo:
Party Ideology:
-Government Involvement:
-Economy:
-Taxes:
-Military:
-Environment:
-Citizen Rights:
-Education:
-Health-Care:
-Emergency Services:
-Immigration:
-Other:

Each Party, if in power, needs a President, a Vice President, a number of Ministers and then just regular MPs. Of course each party needs MPs to represent them, most will be NPCs that I will give control of to the Party leader (Though I will announce backbench rebellions if I have too) however some will be played by you, the RPers. And this means you need an MP Sheet.

MP Name:
MP Appearance:
MPs Party:
MPs Position in his/her Party:
Home Territory:

Useful Maps-


The Territories have no names, i will let you come up with them (may be more fun for you and saves me some work so I can make this better overall for you) and I won’t do extensive descriptions. However for a basic knowledge, the Northern end, next to the coast especially, is very working class. The Southern Coastal bits are the complete opposite. The very rich have homes here. Then through the middle there is a number of large industrial cities surrounded by suburban homes. Which means you have a mixture of middle class and working class citizens, a majority neither way.

Once we have our MPs and Parties we are very close to starting the RP, so now it’s time to go over the actual RP IC. Firstly we will begin on January 1st 2015, where each of you will be touring the country and promoting your Party to try and get a majority of the seats. First things first, your party will produce a Manifesto to deal with the problems I will outline in the first post. This can be done in a PM and then posted into the IC at an event. Once done you can set out your tour plan and IC meeting some of the public. Finally I will run a party leader debate as well as a debate for other MPs. I don’t see the election period being massively long since there is only so much you can describe on a tour bus. I will announce the election results on February 28th IC. After that the majority leader needs to announce his Ministers (There is a Minister for Health, Interior, Foreign Affairs, Defence, Education and Industry. As well as a Chancellor of the Exchequer) and some of them can be just named NPCs. If Parliament is hung then the party leaders will need to wheel and deal about creating a coalition. If that happens then each position is open to any of the involved parties. So you could have the President from one party and then the Vice President from a second party. During times of war a National Government ‘should’ be formed as this brings in the best from all parties, however that is for the ruling party to decide.

When our first meeting in the House of Commons begins then you, as MPs, will begin to propose bills to the floor. Each bill should be debated by at least 3 posts and is controlled totally by the sponsor of the bill, only the sponsor has the right to alter the actual bill however if they choose to try and push it through without full support, obviously it may not pass. Bills are then voted on by sending me a PM, so that the vote is secret, and I will announce the results as I will also take on position of Speaker. A bill will use the following basis, and I prefer it go into a quote.

Name of the Bill:
Sponsor(s) of the Bill:
Basic Bill Description:
Exact Articles of the Bill:

Finally I will use the first few posts in IC to put down a Status post (Whether we are debating a bill or not etc.) and laws passed into being previously.

This is a basic laws that are currently in place. And the national situation.

-Government Involvement: The previous government has made massive cuts on the welfare system, Job Seekers Allowance no longer exists and Child Benefits are limited to two offspring per home. Furthermore Housing Benefit does exist but only to a small proportion who need it and Council Housing is at an all-time low. Alongside this there is a record number of food banks, a record high in homelessness and the crime rate has steadily been rising. Also pensions have been cut no end. In essence benefit is negligible and a large proportion of the country is struggling greatly.

-Economy: The previous government attempted to nationalise industry in an attempt to create jobs however in the end bankrupted itself. Currently the steel industry, automobiles industry and energy industry are all nationalised. The other industries are almost entirely privatised and aren’t doing nearly as badly, but sales still struggle in the UTC. As well as this factories are ebing moved and more and more people are being found unemployed.

-Taxes: Currently income tax is at a high of 45% and many struggle under this, furthermore the recent annulment of the Mansion tax and Millionaire Tax means that the wealthy are paying much less tax than before. This angers the middle, and working, classes greatly. As well as this it makes income tax the number one income for the country. A fast food tax has also been introduced that raises a small amount of many however it is becoming more negligible as fast food franchises simply base themselves in other nations to avoid the tax.

-Military: The UTC military has taken serious cuts, without any real international danger the army numbers around 50,000 men and their equipment is mostly outdated. Satellite technology is borrowed from neighbours and the secret service is about as effective as a wet paper bag.

-Environment: Current environment laws have many loophole and big business has been given free run of polluting as much as they like. Furthermore the oil crisis means that oil prices are rising and the reliance on green, or nuclear, energy is becoming a higher concern in other nations.

-Citizen Rights: Currently the country has good civil liberties. Citizens have the right to secret voting, the voting is totally universal and race and gender laws are perfectly equal. The age for voting is 21, the age for drinking is 18 and the age of consent is 16. The voting age was upped in the previous administration however there was very little blow back as the number of younger people interested in politic is tiny, thanks to lack of political education.

-Education: The education system is national however the number of academies has greatly risen and looks set to rise even further. The academies do of course need government permission. University tuition fees used to be non existent however the previous government introduced a cap on fees whilst halting much of the funding for universities. As such every University now has low tuition fees, compared to the rest of the globe. Teachers have also been moved from salary to zero hour contract, meaning that they are only paid for time spent in the classroom teaching. THis has meant that national grades have fallen significantly and that teacher strikes have occurred recently. They have stopped for now as they look to see the new government that enters however they are ready and willing to strike again if need be.

-Health-Care: The health care system is currently nationalised with the very advanced treatments being privatised. This is one of the most costly government expenditures however it is also the largest employer and currently suffering greatly with a lack of funding and being understaffed. This spreads to the ambulance services as they struggle to react to every emergency in time with some people waiting up to an hour for an ambulance if their case is 'non life threatening'. Private companies have been approaching the previous government to totally privatise the Health Care system and will surely be lobbying the next government as well.

-Emergency Services: The police is vastly understaffed and currently very federalised with each Territory having to manage it's own branch and inter-territory initiatives being quite ineffective. The funding is fair for it's size however it is too small and so if an increase in size were to occur, then an increase in spending would be needed. The fire department however is in much better shape. An oversized budget was allocated to the fire services and national coverage is very good with response times to fire related emergencies at an all time high.

-Immigration: Currently VIsa Programmes are used for immigration however illegal immigration is a problem in the poorer areas as nearby neighbours are doing even worse than Civitas. Because of this many people blame their problems on immigrants and there have been some small racist groups appearing.

Current estimates put the population at 79,000,000 people with 15% being over the age of 65 and roughly 55% being of the age to vote. With 30% being under the age of 21.

Any more information people need I am willing to give to people.

I've got an idea for a Populist style party. I hate being one of those people who just post "I'll put something up later!", but I'll work on it tonight after I get home from my job.

EDIT:

I was able to bang a quick Party sheet out. I'll expand upon it as soon as I can.

Party Name: The Progressive Party
Party Acronym: PP
Party Motto: "A Square Deal for Everyone"
Party Logo:

Party Ideology:

-Government Involvement: Social Welfare must exist as a safety net for those who cannot make it on their own. We must have those institutions which help those who cannot help themselves. While they need to exist, there must be tight control and reform over how the money is allocated to prevent fraud and abuse of the system.

-Economy: Privatization of all industry. The job of the government is to regulate industry and make sure it plays fair, but it cannot take the place of industry. As private industry goes, so too does the fate of the nation and we must make sure both prosper.

-Taxes: There must be a progressive income tax on every person making over a certain amount. That would mean that those who make the most would contribute more money for taxes, taking their place as the leaders of the country. While it is unfair to unjustly tax those who do not make much, it is equally unjust to tax those who use their skills to amass more wealth than the unfortunate. As such, the Progressive Party is against reinstatement of the Mansion Tax or the Millionaire Tax.

-Military: Military Reform is essential. A slight increase in military spending is called for, only to modernize the armed forces and make them an effective deterrent to global conflict. It's not a big army that can scare war-mongers, but an effective one.

-Environment: Increase regulation and stiff enforcement of environmental laws. Cut off all loopholes used to exploit the law and make sure everyone plays fairly. The keyword for the Progressive Party is conservation. A wise and well-thought-out use of our natural resources is key to the further use of those resources.

-Citizen Rights: Lower the voting age to 18. If you are old enough to serve in the military and decide the global fate of your country, you are old enough to vote and decide the political fate of your country.

-Education: In education, we need to make sure that all levels of our educational system are up to standards and are equipping the next generation of citizens with the tools they need to accomplish anything they wish to do.

-Health-Care: Increase funding to the national healthcare system in the name of improving standards of living, as well as an increase in jobs and financial security to the people.

-Emergency Services: We seek to balance the emergency services by cutting spending for fire and sending those badly needed funds to the police force. In addition, there should be a further federalization and tighter control of police services. A national director of all police services should be created to provide better cooperation and work between the states.

-Immigration: Immigration is an important source of future citizens, but it has been disabused by those who wish to cheat to get ahead. Stronger border control, stricter immigration standards, and clearly defined path to citizenship can make sure that those who join the country and take advantage of its services are only those who can contribute to its wellbeing.

- Other: The Progressive Party stands as a conservative alternative to the party in power. They believe there should be change, but it should be slow and incremental. Socialism and Communism are not the way of the future. Instead, pragmatic and steady political change is the way to improve and revitalize the country.

Leadership

MP Name: Mary Westall
MP Age: 52
MP Appearance: Mary is a normal middle-aged woman. Heavyset and short, she stands right at 5 feet tall. She has brown hair streaked with gray that she wears in a shorter hairstyle.
MPs Party: Progressive Party
MPs Position in his/her Party: Leader
Home Territory: UTC Southeast
Bio: A pit bull in a housewife's body, Mary Westall is the first female leader of the Progressive Party. She originally came into office as a member of the conservative party currently in control of the government. As time went on, she began to feel a ideological split with them and eventually jilted them in favor of the Progressives. After standing in numerous elections and rising in the party ranks, she became Party Leader two years earlier after her predecessor was run out of office in the general election that gave the conservatives control of the government.

MP Name: Seymour Lindsay
MP Age: 45
MP Appearance: Bald and fat, to many Lindsay looks to be the stereotype of the career politician. He tops the scales at nearly three hundred pounds and waddles wherever he goes. His thick thighs rub together with each step, his pants making noise with the movement and giving him the nickname "Whistle Britches"
MPs Party: Progressive Party
MPs Position in his/her Party: Deputy Leader
Home Territory: UTC Central
Bio: A former lawyer turned politician, Lindsay is a rare breed in politics in that he is well liked by nearly everyone he encounters. He is good-natured and polite, even to his political enemies, and does not rely on anything but facts and sound logic to make his arguments. He has no desire to ascend to the party leadership and hopes to someday parlay his career in politics into an appointment as a judge.

MP Name: Everett Rolston
MP Age: 40
MP Appearance: Rolston is tall and lanky with jet black hair that has begun to recede and form a sharp widow's peak above his forehead and a hook nose.
MPs Party: Progressive Party
MPs Position in his/her Party: Chief Whip
Home Territory: UTC North
Bio: The enforcer for the party, Rolston has a reputation of being an expert vote counter and vote getter. Unlike Lindsay, Rolston is a man who craves power and wants to see himself at the top of the party and in charge of the government someday. Considering himself more pragmatic than the two leaders, Rolston is not above going behind the leadership's back to cut deals with the other parties.

A good start to our parties :) I will expand on the information bit in the first OOC, however that is enough info in ideology really. This is just a basic summary of your ideals (i am never going to turn down further expansion though, I love me some politics). Your actual aims for office, such as planned bills etc, can come in a manifesto during the election. So don't worry yourself with a whole platform just yet, you can plan that with anybody else who wishes to join the Party.

EDIT: I have expanded some of the info on each sector and have added Emergency Services: to the ideals.

Party Name: United Territories of Civitas Socialist Party
Party Acronym: UTCSP
Party Motto: "What people need."

Party Logo:

Party Ideology: The UTCSP follows a largely Socialist ideology, dedicating itself to improving the standards of living for all citizens of the UTC, lower the unemployment and homeless figures and install proper government oversight and safe guards into the corporate world in order to stabilize and safeguard the national economy.

-Government Involvement:The UTCSP has long made its displeasure about the short sighted budget cuts the prior government made to programs dedicated to helping the people of the UTC known. One of its primary goals will be the reestablishment of these programs where possible while considering how they could best be restructured to help those citizens in need.

-Economy: The UTCSP acknowledges that the economy is a complete mess and needs to be sorted out, but this is not the kind of thing that can be fixed if you charge into the situation blind; The former government did that and look at where we are now. While the UTCSP have to date not committed themselves to a plan to fix the economy, they are gathering what information they can and are discussing several possible plans of action. First and foremost will be the establishment of proper corporate oversight and enforceable business safeguards in order to get a better idea of where to start sorting out the economic mess.

-Taxes: The first course of action will be the reestablishment of the Millionaire and Mansion taxes, as well as the removal of several tax cuts awarded to the upper classes. Once the wealthy start to pay their fair share, the tax burden on the middle and working classes will quickly find itself lessened.

-Military:A plan is currently being considered in order to strengthen the Military, but the party is being quiet on the details for the time being until they can discuss it properly with military experts.

-Environment:The loopholes that greedy capitalists have been exploiting to do as they pleased must been ironed out as soon as possible. Their continued existence is clearly a sign of how short sighted and corrupt the former government was.

-Citizen Rights: There have been discussions on lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 on the grounds that the younger generation should have a say in how their country is run, but the party clearly has bigger, more pressing issues that need to be dealt with first.

-Education:The UTCSP consider education to be quite important and will take the time to review the current standards of the nations education system before making any plans in that direction. While the main goal of the party in this direction will be improve the system to the benefit of the children that are going through the system, they have shown a willingness to talk with the teachers unions on the matter as well.

-Health-Care: People are more important then profit. While they have not dedicated themselves to a single plan, the UTCSP has made their intentions to improve the status of the health care system by whatever ethical means well known.

-Emergency Services: While the budget of the Fire Department was quite clearly oversized by the former government, the Department has put its funding to good use. As such, the UTCSP will attempt to tailor future budgets so that the Fire Department can maintain its high standards. The Police Department, while well funded for its size, is clearly understaffed and in need of reorganization.

-Immigration: While other parties might be focused on how best to keep those seeking a better, safer life out of the country, the UTCSP is more invested in helping those already within the country illegally become a proper citizen and develop the skills needed to improve the UTC. Everyone who is in the UTC should have the right not to be exploited or having to live in fear.

-Other: The UTCSP is a relatively new party, being founded three elections back with the goal of improving the standard of living for all citizens of the UTC, but mainly those of the working and middle classes. They have long been a loud voice announcing the hypocrisy of previous governments cutting benefits and help programs to people in need to save money while at the same time giving the rich and wealthy tax cuts and outright removing taxes from them while raising taxes for everyone else.

Another good party here :) Like the introduction of some history. I will give figures and dates if asked for but I am happy for people to create some history to suit themselves, so long as it is not meta-gaming. E.g. you want to say that you were the last opposition??? Go for it! You want to say that you have the complete backing of the army and are friends with all the big businesses??? That's a no go.

Expect an ultra-libertarian party soon. I may do that or go for a reformist party.

Have 3 parties so far. I am willing to expect one more, preforably a more conservative party...and that will be it.

Party Name: Communist Party of Civitas (Marxist Leninist)

Party Acronym: CPC-ML

Party Motto: "Join the Class Strugle!"

Party Logo:

Party Ideology: Communism. Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, Anti-Revisionism, Anti-Imperialism

-Government Involvement: The CPC-ML demands an end to the war on benefits for the working class population. With the end of the Previous Government's reign of terror and sanction against the less fortunate finally coming to an end the CPC-ML stands on a strong platform of returning all stolen benefits back to the working class and a complete overhaul of social security and social aide programs to better align with a Socialist economy.

-Economy: Two words: Further Nationalization. All forms of industry must, in the end, call under state-control. With the death cries of Capitalism and it's oppressive system drawing ever-closer it is time to finally remove the head from the beast and slay it once and for all! Nationalize all industries and unite the toiling workers in the factories and in the fields under the banner of Marxism-Leninism!

-Taxes: The Previous Government's end to both Mansion and Millionaire Taxes is utterly disgusting and only further shows the corruption inherent in the Capitalist system. Under a CPC government the Party promises a complete revival of both taxes and a institution of Corporate Taxes to the remaining fat-cats and parasitic bourgeois.

-Military: "The army must become one with the people so that they see it as their own army. Such an army will be invincible."
The CPC-ML stands with the ideology of People's War, this means it is an obligation and duty of all youth to serve a period of two years within a militia force dedicated to defending our glorious nation and revolution from the forces of counter-reaction. All honor and glory to the Red Militias!

-Environment: There is only one planet for Civitas to populate. And we must harness and protect our oceans, lakes, rivers, and soil with our greatest abilities. With a nationalized, Planned, economy our pledge is to ensure that the factories of Civitas will be filled and the rivers clean for the next generation of Civitasi youth to harness their own cultural and political revolution.

-Citizen Rights: As of current, the liberties of our Labour Unions must be extended and all control within the fields and in the factories must be given to the Unions. No longer will the landowner or the manager dictate the toilers labour nor will he own the labour of the worker. All power must go to the local Soviets if there will ever be freedom or peace!

-Education: The CPC-ML stands on the platform that to achieve a cultural, political, and social revolution education must be at the forefront of the nation. This means that our education system must be nationalized, run, and organized by the students. The youth of our future must decide what they want to learn, and they must forge a new Civitas based on these hopes and dreams. Let a thousand flowers bloom in a newly funded and state-supported education system!

-Health-Care: As with much of the party platform, the remainder of the Health-Care industry must be brought into the fold and nationalized, and Unions shall take the helm as the leaders in the new system. State-funding shall pushed into Health-Care and our new education policy will aim for students to find interest in medical fields in the hopes of creating a long-lasting, healthy, revolutionary class.

-Emergency Services: The Police Force of Civitas is, as all vestigates of the Capitalist system are, corrupted and inefficient. The CPC-ML stands for a complete ban on the death penalty and a recreation of the Civitas Civil Protection. No longer shall every province hold a singular constabulary, instead a Red Guard shall be instated to keep the peace in our new world. It is through the theory of self-policing and self-criticism that our nation will grow strong and politically advance past the darkness of reactionism and liberalism.

-Other: The CPC-ML is a old Maoist vanguard force. Finding it's earliest days as a radical non-running party that sought mostly to agitate in Union strikes and labour struggles against the Bourgeoisie. Now, in a 'new dawn', the CPC-ML takes it's first shot at electoral change and a take-over of the Civitas way of life. It is theorized that many of the CPC-ML's chairmen and women have ties to more radical, and violent, organizations in the agitated north-west and rural regions. However, this is all merely here-say and rumors... Perhaps.

Okay...I believe I shall make some changes...everyone can produce their own party. As long as you populate this party with multiple characters then the party can be entirely yours. Also the MP sheet should be used for major MPs, backbenchers can just be names brought up IC.

Now that we have dirty Reds with our filthy Pinkos, I think I'll revamp my party to be conservative. It was sort of center right, but I can go a bit further with it so we have a better balance.

^^^ Good man!

Immigration added now as well..

Reworked my sheet a bit. I can go further right if need be.

The Unity Party now has a "policy" on immigration. I feel kind'f bad about it, though. x)

And the party is finished. Working on the MP's now.

MP Name: Andrew Macdonald
MP Appearance:
MPs Party: UTCSP
MPs Position in his/her Party: Party Leader/President
Home Territory: Central UTC

MP Name: Edward Hyde
MP Appearance:
MPs Party: UTCSP
MPs Position in his/her Party: Vice Party Leader/Vice President
Home Territory: North UTC

Two for now. Will make more later.

Party looks fine and MPs are okay so far...will add them too Character page.

Got my leadership added.

Are there any free spots left? I want to write up a Centrist party (Christian Democratic Party) but I can't do it until the afternoon. :l