[OOC] Precipice of War - We Write Under The Sign Of The Goat

[Pepperm1nts]

Heh, "Gormenghast".

[Letter Bee]

Letter Bee said
Can I join the game as the Philippines?

Aaron, we need to talk on Steam tomorrow.

Gormenghast, can we collab sometime soon? I need Spain's help to make a good story about, well, ya all can guess.

Also, I need ideas on how to turn the...you know into an interesting story, and that includes making the clandestine organization that would initiate...you know.

Edit: I'm Filipino, by the way.

[Letter Bee]

Okay, still playing as the Philippines, but after some discussion with Aaron, I think that I can achieve my goals (a mixed economy like Sweden's), without resorting to armed force.

[Letter Bee]

Nation: The Socialist Republic of the Philippines

Leader: President Ramon Cristobal (Term is ending and elections are coming)

History: In some respects, the Philippines is charmed; it is part of one of the most powerful military blocs in the world, has a say in what goes on in the Third International, and has enjoyed a long period of internal peace and tranquility. But in other respects, the Philippines is cursed, particularly economically: The State Ownership of property has harmed the economy, private enterprise is only safegaurded at the small-business level, and Freedom of Speech, though officially protected, is unofficially restricted by subtle means. Not merely that, but there is a Chinese Military Presence in the islands, although even their presence pales before the economic grievances of the Filipinos, especially in the countryside, where redistribution and collective farming has failed.

At the same time, however, the Filipinos enjoy a standard of physical health that people in other countries would envy, thanks to the extension of universal healthcare. Mental Health, on the other hand, is in a murkier situation, due to the presence of misconceptions about conditions such as Autism, ADHD, and other, more severe mental health problems, misconceptions and obsolete data implemented all across the asylums and treatment centers ran by the Government, and amplified by popular superstition. This has led to incidents of malpractice, and even medical experimentation. While this is the case all over the world, in the Philippines, this has led to minor and major grievances. Nevertheless, the welfare system is still popular, although people are arguing for a needs-based system.

Not to mention that President Ramon Cristobal's administration has been implicated in several corruption and sexual scandals, in a wide spread across the party. As the Philippines is under a multi-party system, albeit a multi-party system where the ruling Christian Socialists have been able to keep their monopoly on power since the Chinese Occupation, this has resulted in other groups and interests, whose power had been steadily increasing for the past few decades, finally moving to try and take power.

One of these groups is the Philippine Social Democratic Party, a group whose platform is based on a combination of privatization of state assets and encouragement of private enterprise, high welfare benefits, a decoupling of the Government from issues of Mental Health, and increased freedoms all across the board. Cultural issues are the restoration of Manila as the 'Pearl of the Orient', a reduction of Chinese artistic and architectrural influence in favor of Western, Latin American, and Indian models, and, as a bargaining chip with the Chinese Mainland, a more militant stance towards Spain, advocating the sending of troops against that country; the irony of looking towards Spain as a cultural model while sending troops to kill Spaniards is not lost on anyone.

[gorgenmast]

Hi there, Bee. I'm sorry, but I just saw your post now due to holiday goings-on and the Guild access being craptacular lately.

I would be happy to collaborate with you on anything, but first the status of the Philippines under you needs to be ironed out. Aaron has a lot invested in the lore of the Philippines and I'm sure he doesn't want to have that undone by a new player - especially when new people sometimes bail after realizing how daunting the RP can be. I would speak with Aaron again over steam, and maybe include me. We can work any discrepancies in the lore and make things agreeable for all parties involved.

In any case, glad to see that you're interested. Looking forward to seeing your IC soon.

Also, Happy New Year to everyone. I've got a post halfway done and I'm getting around to responding to a certain PM convo. I swear that I'm not procrastinating or being lazy.

[Letter Bee]

Yeah, I get ya; I did discuss with Aaron, but he also wants to discuss with other people.

[gorgenmast]

That's what Steam group chat is for.

Also, plot development up in this piece.

[Letter Bee]

Cool, I guess. Will go to Steam group chat now.

[Snow]

Oh, hey. I could actually get on the site today. Hopefully it stays that way.

[Dinh AaronMk]

Snow said
Oh, hey. I could actually get on the site today. Hopefully it stays that way.

inb4 Mahz fucks up again.

I also have a post started but I should go through and do some short posts for some other RPs before going to work on it again.

[Vilageidiotx]

Now that the RPG seems to be stable, i've started to write a post too, but this mutha is going to take a while. I've got 1300 words down and i've barely covered what it needs to cover.

[Letter Bee]

I'm leaving the game. Sorry about this, but I have problems with the slow pace.

[gorgenmast]

Sorry it didn't work out. Take care.

[Letter Bee]

Unsubscribing.

@Aaron, sorry for disappointing you. Also, here was what I was going to post once someone else posted:

Andres Malvar, 16 years old, was one of the rarest people in this world, a 'casual' wargamer. And, by casual, that meant that he wargamed for fun, not to practice war, well, most of the time he played for fun. However, with all the turmoil going on in the world, an army or navy's worth of minatures was hard to come by, and so he instead made his own out of scra metal and a mold, en masse.

Where did his knowledge of wargaming come from? Well, he was a military brat, one whose father came from the Philippine Constabulary originally, then became a rebel, then sided with the Chinese during the invasion. Now he was an officer who doted upon his son, his only child since the deaths of his first two daugthers. Either way, he passed on his knowledge of wargaming to Andres, who found ready playmates in the children of other officers.

However, Andres was getting bored with just wargaming, at least with modern armies. It's not that said modern armies were bad, per se, it's just that they were the ones most often used, due to there being more spare minatures for them than for say, medieval armies. Which, ironically, was what led Andres to make up his own miniatures in the first place; he wanted to play a Medieval Army!

"You know," spoke a voice from behind him; the boy was in his room, "you can make a great sculptor someday, if you don't want to be a strategist." It was his father, Tarcillio Malvar. "Or perhaps an author, you have the imagination. Of course," he said, "Walang pera dyan (No Money There), ngunit walang pera kahit saan (But no Money anywhere)," one of his subtle jibes at the Socialist Government.

"Alam ko (I know)," replied Andres. "Anyway, want to hear my idea?" he said in English once more. Andres' idea was for a game involving individual minatures, where one can play a lone hero or group of heroes facing off against monsters drawn from Filipino Legend. He thought of calling it Sword and Sorcery, because those were the two main themes of his planned game. Once he was done explaining, Tarcillio said:

"That's a great idea! Worthy of a novelist, even," the officer was proud of his son. "That's just like Science Fiction, except with Magic. Do you have a story planned?" Andreas smiled, and, after getting up from his bed and getting some notes from the drawer, spoke about his setting, which was an original world that, again, drew from Filipino Legend with Christianized elements:

"A long time ago, there was The One, Bathala, who created the Anito, the Spirits. The Anito, under Bathala's guidance, created the world, while Bathala himself created two people, Malakas (Strength), and Maganda (Beauty), who then interbred with the Diwata (Minor Gods who, under Spanish times, were relegated to the position of fairy-like figures), creating the present race of Humanity."

"But not all was well, but one of the Anito, Masilaw (Glaring, in the sense of too much light), grew jealous of both Bathala and his peers, and rebelled against them, using as his cause the ascending status of Humanity, who were growing to equal the Anitos. His lie was that Bathala wanted to replace the Anitos with Humanity and the Diwata, and many Anito believed him, and so the War of Supremacy began."

"Masilaw first struck at Humanity, creating the Law of Mortality, which caused all humans, everywhere, to suffer death, if not now, then eventually. Then he sent out Dilim (Darkness), Tanikalang Ginto (Golden Chain), at Karnal (Carnal), to tempt Humanity and bind it to its base desires, preventing them from ascending to a higher state. Then, he shaped various Halimaw, or Monsters, to plague humanity and further distract them from ascending."

"Eventually, Bathala and his forces struck Masilaw down, trapping him in the Abyss. But, it was too late to save Humanity, for King Buhawi (Windstorm), used the 'Sparks of Creation' that went into the making of Malakas and Maganda, fragments of Bathala himself, and created The Shroud, a barrier that divided Humanity from The One and the Anito. The Shroud meant that all messages from Bathala to Humanity can only be transmitted to, or via Humans, humans who can freely misinterpret or edit the messages. Why did King Buhawi do this? Well, I'll elaborate on it tomorrow..."

[Pepperm1nts]

I did warn you it'd be slow.

[Vilageidiotx]

That is one of the major caveats of chapter-sizes posts. Takes a long ass time to get one done.

[Letter Bee]

Yeah, I get ya. Unsubscribing now.