Of Iron and Coal - An Industrial Revolution Nation Roleplay

[The Grey Warden]

OF IRON AND COAL - AN INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION NATION ROLEPLAY

THE CONCERT OF EUROPE
Napoléon Bonaparte has died in Saint Helena, but his legacy of power and domination still shakes Europe. The empires of the Americans are shattered, and the empires of Europe hear the first rumbles in a gathering storm of nationalism. The Vienna Congress that brought the Napoleonic Wars to an end was meant to restore the old monarchical order, but the concert of balanced powers it sought to establish is already looking precarious. Whichever nations can seize this moment will dominate a new age.

THE IDEAL GOAL
The goal of this roleplay is not to dominate Europe or the Americans or even the world. The goal is to tell the stories of these empires in a different way and follow them as they face issues that can make or break them. I don't want players, who just roleplay to conquer and control the world. If you're one of those players, then you better go play Victoria 2 or Empire Total War. I also want the players to do the following in this roleplay:

• Collaborations among the players and their nations as it strengthens the bond between players.
• The use of diplomacy over war. Force on diplomacy before you just go to war.
• Don't get upset when things don't go your way. Life is unfair and things will not always go your way. Just deal with it.
• Be as active as the player can be. I don't want to force them to post, I want them to take their time rather than being rushed.
• Arguments are understandable, but don't make it go overboard.
• And lastly, make such that your choices are reasonable and realistic. I don't want you to go unpunished for your unrealistic actions.

I hope that you understand these goals and we have a good time. I just want this roleplay to last for a long time and become a masterpiece on this site along other great roleplays.

THE MAP OF THE WORLD IN 1821

The world has changed ever since The Vienna Congress happened. The mighty Spanish Empire is collapsing in the Americans as revolt after revolt pops up in their colonies. The Greeks finally rebelled against their rulers, The Ottoman Empire, by establishing the country of Greece. Half of India is under the control of the British government.

The small country of America has expanded westward; but, they meet the weaken New Spain. Russia has finally established their land in Alaska and hopes that anything valuable could be found there. And in Africa, tons of tribes have been found by explorers and they aren't welcoming foreigners any time soon. The Dutch East Indies were growing more since they reunited with the Southern Netherlands with the help of the Congress of Vienna.

(The link should of sent you straight to the year 1821. If not, then go to the boxes and put 1821 in one of them and push enter)

RULES
1. Standard RP rules apply, such as no godmodding, powerplaying, metagaming etc. Guild Rules apply as well.
2. Use Common Sense. It will take days to mobilize your national armed forces and weeks to go across the Atlantic Ocean.
2a. If you don't use common sense, you will be warned once. If you do it again, you get kicked out of the roleplay.
3. Arguments, that go overboard, aren't allowed on here. I want lighthearted debates going on. However, if you bitch at them, then I will have to ask you to stop the argument.
3a. If the argument turns into series of insults, then I will stop it and give you guys a good warning.
3b. If it keeps going, then I will just kick you guys out and you can bitch at each other in the private messages.
4. Try to write your posts as a collection of individuals not written like a summary of current news events.
4a. Why this rule exist? It's because it explores the world and the society in a better way than summarizing your events.
4b. If you have read any books by George RR Martin, then you will get what I am trying to reach for.
5. Declarations of War are final, and cannot be taken back. Only a Peace Treaty may resolve the conflict.
6. All Treaties must be GM approved - unless a simple Bi-lateral (a treaty strictly between two state parties. These two parties can be two states, or two international organizations, or one state and one international organization) trade treaty.
7. You can only play as civilized countries. That means that you can't play as the tribes/clans in Africa or in Asia.
8. You play as real nations (France, Britain, America). That means that you can't make your own country that's meant to 'take over the world'.
9. Please put your nation sheets in hiders.
9a. Don't put your nation sheets in the character section until it's accepted.
9b. Don't claim for nations and if someone wants the same nation, you may post it. I will see who sheet is the best and accept them. You can try another nation, if your sheet wasn't picked.
10. To ensure that you read the rules, you must be able to put in a quote about the country that you're playing as.

NATIONS TAKEN
The Ottoman Empire - Nerevarine
Kingdom of France - Vahir

NATION SHEETS

[PICTURE OF THE COUNTRY'S FLAG]
PUT NATION'S NAME AND MOTTO HERE

GEOGRAPHY
What kind of land does your country own?

POPULATION
The amount of people in your country.

LEADER
The leader of your nation during 1821.

GOVERNMENT
The type of government that your nation has.

POLITICS
What kind of politics is in your government?

ECONOMIES
How does your country survive and produce money?

MILITARY
How strong is the country's forces?

CULTURE
What is your country's beliefs, customs, arts, etc?

HISTORY
The history of your country.

INFRASTRUCTURE
What's the country's physical and organizational structures and facilities and how they are?

SCIENCE
How is your technology doing during the Industrial Revolution? Is it doing well or lacking behind?

DEVELOPMENT
How well is your country developing during these times?

GOALS
What are you goals for this country?

[Nerevarine]

The Ottoman Empire

Devlet-i Aliyye-i Osmâniyye- The Sublime Ottoman State

Devlet-i Ebed-müddet "The Eternal State"

™Even if you gave me as much gold as the entire world, let alone the 150 million English pounds in gold, I would not accept this at all. I have served the Islamic milla and the Ummah of Muhammad for more than thirty years, and never did I blacken the pages of the Muslims- my fathers and ancestors, the Ottoman sultans and caliphs. And so I will never accept what you ask of me. - Abdülhamid

GEOGRAPHY
In the many centuries that the Ottoman Empire has existed though, it has come into the possession of many different kind of landscapes, ranging from the mountainous landscapes of Anatolia and the Balkans, to the flat lands of the Levantine and North African coasts. At the current time, the lands held by the Ottomans are the rough and hot land of Anatolia, where the empire is based out of, with the mighty Black Sea to its north, and the east and west separated by the Bosphorous Strait in Istanbul. The neighboring Balkan Peninsula bears much resemblance to Anatolia in its mountainous lands and hot climate save for its northern most regions. This is in stark contrast to the Levantine regions, which have a rather flat land complemented by rolling hills in many parts along the coast. However, once one travels further east in the Levant, the mountains show up once again, covered in forests.

POPULATION
32,350,000

LEADER
Mahmud II - Mahmud is a very innovative sultan, rising to power after a grevious attempt on his life and attempting to continue the reforms of the country that were ended when Mustafa IV came to power in the empire. Although his vicer was killed in 1808, which convinced the Sultan to abandon the reforms, Mahmud has once again resumed the reforms of the empire. That being said, not all are pleased with the ideas of Mahmud's reforms, least not the conservative Janissary Corps.

GOVERNMENT
The Ottoman Empire is an absolute monarchy lead by the Ottoman Sultan, who also holds the title of Caliph, or leader of Islam. Everything the Sultan proclaims is law without question. As the throne is passed to the next legitimate male heir, the Sultan has a personal collection of wives, concubines and slaves, collectively known as the Imperial Harem, to ensure that his lineage will live on. Indeed the House of Osman is nearly unrivaled in its unbroken heritage from the first Ottoman Sultan. Next come The Divan, the Sultan's court of advisors.

Below the Sultan, the Government is divided into two dimensions of purpose, Military and Civil administration. The basic division of the empire is based around a system of administrative units, administered by hereditary governers called Bey. On a judicial level, they were divided into small municipal or rural units called kazas administered by a qadi (kadı). Since a Bey did not have the authority to administer judicial punishments like a Qadi, they were considered to balance each other out. At an even more local level are millets, a separate legal court pertaining to "personal law" under which a confessional community (a group abiding by the laws of Muslim Sharia, Christian Canon law, or Jewish Halakha) is allowed to rule itself under its own system.

POLITICS
The biggest players in politics in the current Ottoman Empire, even more than the Sultan himself, are the Harem, The Divan, and the Janissaries. It is well known that the Harem, filled with women tied to the Sultan, will influence his descisions, so much so that for a while the nation was known as the "Sultanate of Women". Beyond that, the Divan, with its advisors communicating and plotting will always be a source of interesting politics. As for the Janissaries, well they serve as what was once a military elite who now leech off of the empire and murder anyone who gets in their way.

ECONOMIES
A shift has begun to occur to rural female labor with guild organized urban-based male labor less important. The global markets for Ottoman goods fell somewhat with certain sectors expanding. However, any changes were compensated by an increase in domestic consumption and demand. Mechanized production even at its peak remained an insignificant portion of total output. The lack of capital, as in other areas of the economy, deterred the mechanization of production. Nonetheless, a number of factories did emerge in Istanbul, Ottoman Europe and Anatolia. Guilds operating prior to the 18th century did see a decline through the 18th and 19th centuries. Guilds provided some form of security in prices, restricting production and controlling quality and provided support to members who hit hard times. Fine textiles, hand-made yarns and leathers are in high demand outside the empire.

MILITARY
At the current moment the Ottoman Military, while strong, is in severe need of a reform to keep up with its european contemporaries. Only one problems stands in the way of reform, The Janissaries. Any Sultan who has tried to reform the Military has been killed, leaving the military to remain inefficient and rapidly lagging behind its contemporaries.

CULTURE
The Ottoman Empire is a muslim state through and through, which has lead to a great deal of tension between the ruling Turks and their many non muslim subjects. The amalgamation of many different ways of life from the East and West has made the Ottoman Empire a land of very rich culture. The Poetic and Literary traditions of the Empire show great influence from the Persians, as is the architecture so prominent throughout the land.

The music of the Ottoman Empire is built upon many unique systems of melodies and rhythms. In addition to the court music of the Empire, military bands can be found amongst the soldiers of the Empire.

HISTORY
The Ottoman Empire has a long and glorious history stretching back to the founding of the nation by Osman Bey, in the year 1299. In that time, nothing more than another beylik in the swath of turkic Anatolia, the nation was changed by what would be known as Osman's Dream. In it, the leader of the Osmani Beylik saw a vision of his land containing 4 rivers and being surrounded by 4 mountain ranges. Feeling the need to make this vision a reality, Osman brought his empire ever closer to the dying Byzantines. When the Ottomans finally took down the Byzantines with the capture of Constantinople.

From there the Empire only continued to grow. Through a campaign of conquest, the Ottomans came to own vast territories of Europe and Africa. Though the control of major trade routes into Asia, the Ottomans became rich off of traders and tariffs.

Under Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottomans made their way to Belgrade in Serbia and established rule over parts of Hungary. They got as far as Vienna before being defeated. The nation's military power was unmatched, being both a dangerous force on land and in the sea.

Eventually, however, poor leaders arose to the throne, and the empire began to weaken. With Europeans looking for ways around the Ottoman controlled routes, they lacked need for them in the first place. Slowly but surely the Ottomans began to fall behind Europe though a growing expression on religious and intellectual conservatism. By this time the empire was stagnating, and the growing population was beginning to become a problem.

The nation soon fell into the period known as the Köprülü Era, where the country was de facto ruled by the grand visers of the divan. Eventually the nation was returned to the Sultan's power, but the Ottomans were suffering from a growing stagnation. Facing wars with Russia and a multitude of failed reforms, plus the declaration of independence by Greece, the future of the Empire does not look bright. The Europeans often cite the empire as a "Sick Man". But with all hope, the new Sultan Mahmud, will be able to fix these problems.

INFRASTRUCTURE
The infrastructure of the state is mostly defined by its administrative divisions, as described in its government tab, and its access to many great trade lines and naval vessels.

SCIENCE
While by no means technologically backwards, the Ottomans are indeed suffering from a period of Stagnation. It is not beyond repair, but for most it seems that if the Ottomans continue on this path of intellectual conservationism, that they will never catch up to the Europeans.

DEVELOPMENT
The Ottomans are a rather developed nation, and have been for some time now.

GOALS
Stability, and reforms to the government that will help in ending this period of stagnation and let the Ottomans live up to their rivals in Europe.

[The Grey Warden]

Could I reserve the Ottomans?

@Nerevarine

As long as you make a sheet of the Ottomans before someone else does, I think that you don't need to reserve your nation.

[Nerevarine]

Ottoman NS is up

[ASTA]

The goal of this roleplay is not to dominate Europe or the Americans or even the world. The goal is to tell the stories of these empires in a different way and follow them as they face issues that can make or break them. I don't want players, who just roleplay to conquer and control the world.

Looking at the map in the OP, one could easily come to the objective realization that Europeans do, in fact, rule the planet.

This is basically the 19th century except the political chemistry is a bit different. Every European great power is going to dominate the smaller European states with impunity, most non-white countries and peoples are going to be colonized and exploited, and the aforementioned European great powers are going to martially and economically wrestle with one another in order see who gets to become the world superpower until this RP's version of World War One comes along and radically redefines the world's international rankings upon its conclusion.

If these empires aren't conducting themselves like a traditional empire would, then they probably aren't empires at all.

[The Grey Warden]

<Snipped quote>

Looking at the map in the OP, one could easily come to the objective realization that Europeans do, in fact, rule the planet.

This is basically the 19th century except the political chemistry is a bit different. Every European great power is going to dominate the smaller European states with impunity, most non-white countries and peoples are going to be colonized and exploited, and the aforementioned European great powers are going to martially and economically wrestle with one another in order see who gets to become the world superpower until this RP's version of World War One comes along and radically redefines the world's international rankings upon its conclusion.

If these empires aren't conducting themselves like a traditional empire would, then they probably aren't empires at all.

@ASTA

That is a good point that you made. But, the players do have to realize that dominating something is hard. You have to care for it and control it all at the same time. You can't look away, otherwise it would be out of control. But, most players (that I have seen) just want to build up big armies and sent them out across sea and take the lands there.

I want them to know that the tribes are going to put a fight. I want them to know as well that Africa isn't a safe place to be as unknown animals and diseases are around.

You got a point about how domination is important. I just want the players to know that there are going to be consequences if you try that.

@Nerevarine, I am going to look at your sheet now.

[Vahir]

Ooh, a historical NRP. I'm in! I'm going to call dibs on France, working on a NS now.

[EveryMemeAKing]

(Nothing Here)

[null123]

Potentially interested, keeping a eye on this.

I am assuming we have to keep everything historical, and can't modify anything?

[Vahir]

Royaume de France

Le Royaume de France

"Montjoie! Saint Denis!"

[...] France [...]

Queen Victoria

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Geography

Stretching from the Atlantic in the west to the Rhine in the East, from the Channel in the north to the Mediterranean south, France is a pleasant and fertile land, with rolling hills and verdant fields.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Demography

There are around 25 million people graced with the honor of residing in France.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Monarch

By the grace of god, His Majesty, King Louis VIII, rules the realm of France. Exiled after his older brother was murdered by the insidious jacobin revolutionaries, he returned a decade ago to bring back peace and stability to France. A conservative figure, he upholds the rightful authority of the church and the nobility, and fights against the liberals of the Chamber of Deputies.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Government

France is ruled by a constitutional monarchy. The King oversees the nation, guided and advised in this task by the chamber of deputies. The current Chief Minister of France is Jean-Baptiste de Villèle, the newly-elected ultra nationalist who is possessed by an anti-liberal fervor.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Politics

Though France is theoretically a constitutional monarchy, in reality it is ruled by the rich. Only those who pay over 3000 francs in tax to the crown may vote, and recently, the ultra-royalists have pushed a law doubling the vote of the richest fraction of that electorate. Thus, even though opinion in the nation is evenly divided between the conservatives and the liberals, the royalists have a solid domination over the chamber of deputies.

Beneath this veneer of stability, however, France boils. Try as they might, the aristocracy cannot seem to squash the defiant spirit of the revolution which looms over French society, and in secret many, both intellectuals and commoners, keep the tricolor flag of the Republic.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Economy & Developement

France is a mostly rural nation, producing everything from wine to wheat. Its great cities are also important industrial nexuses. Though lacking the entrepreneurial zeal of the English, the french are nevertheless moving forward into the new age.

Re-establishing the economy on a peacetime basis, after a quarter-century of nearly continuous turmoil and warfare, proved difficult. Some industry and industrial technique developed for the wars was carried over, converted to peacetime purposes. France in 1815 largely still was a land of peasantry, however. Urbanization of the largest cities was well under way, and Paris was a leading world capital already. Smaller French towns and the country's many small villages, however, were impoverished and industrially backward.

The 19th century development of road and rail systems, and other social infrastructure, was greatly aided by the grandes écoles, inherited from the prior era: graduates of these high-standards schools became the engineers and policy-makers of French industrialization.

Industrial development in France was rapid during the 19th century. Around the great cities, and in the north and in other areas which had natural resources readily available, large industries formed. Capital was available through banking services largely located, since the Revolution, in Paris. The large French population of the time supplied an available workforce.

Education was made a high priority of successive French governments. Various educational reforms, implemented from the central government at Paris and applied nationally, were designed to raise the general level of the children of French rural and small-town families to a high national level. At the same time, education spread new and often radical ideas, fueling repeated resistance to and even revolt against the deplorable living conditions of many workers in the new industries and factory towns.

Wikipedia

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Military

The Royal Army has a little under 100 000 soldiers in its command, though the experience of the Napoleonic Wars has shown that that number can be multiplied tenfold in times of serious war through mass conscription. Though the Royal Navy has yet to truly recover from Trafalgar, it has been slowly rebuilding.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Culture

The french are a divided people. The urban dwellers of the great cities, particularly Paris, are secular and tend towards intellectualism and philosophy, while the rural communities that dot the country are very catholic and conservative. The peace is maintained by the still fresh memory of the trauma of the Wars.

Given its recent history, french culture is now saturated in politics. One is royalist, or Bonapartist, or republican, and woe to those who fall in the wrong category. Even the poor debate politics and argue over the rightful rulership of France.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
History

France's history stretches back to Charlemagne and before, when the Franks first united the land. The nation has been ruled by a King for over a thousand years since then. This all came to an end with the Revolution of 1792, when the crushing french debt revealed the inefficiency and corruption of the Ancien Regime, and the people overthrew the Crown.

As the King was brought to the guillotine, Europe burned; the flames of revolution could not be denied, or contained. The Old Powers, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and especially Great Britain moved to snuff the candle of liberty in its cradle. First came the Revolutionary Wars, and then, when an ambitious artillery officer named Napoleon Bonaparte took power, the Napoleonic Wars. The ensuing epic struggle tore the old world apart, and wiped clean the filth of the old order.

In the end, the Emperor was overwhelmed by the opposition, defeated and banished to an isolated island... Twice. Since then, the Bourbon kings have been returned to power under Louis XIII, though they now must listen to the will of the people, or at least feign to. Yet try as they might, the Old Powers cannot keep the fires of revolution extinguished forever.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Goals

God, King and Country- those are the tenants of the Bourbon regime. It seeks to overturn the liberal influences of the past decades, and maintain its grip over the nation. All other policies, from foreign relations to the economy, are derived from this drive for stability.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[ClocktowerEchos]

Interested, can I have dibs on China or Japan?

[Willy Vereb]

I may take the Austrian Empire, unless we are allowed to claim alternate historical nations.

[Vahir]

If someone's willing to be Prussia, I wouldn't be adverse to an effort to unify germany. Prussians + French = Complete asskicking

[The Nexerus]

The map in the OP is incorrect for 1821. Russia should control the Caucasus, it doesn't make sense to show the personal union between the Netherlands and Luxembourg as one state but not Norway and Sweden, etc. Not necessarily advising that it be edited, just not taken as authoritative.

[Vahir]

The map in the OP is incorrect for 1821. Russia should control the Caucasus, it doesn't make sense to show the personal union between the Netherlands and Luxembourg as one state but not Norway and Sweden, etc. Not necessarily advising that it be edited, just not taken as authoritative.

@The Nexerus

Poland and Russia is another PU that's neglected.

[The Nexerus]

Finland too, actually. Alexander I is Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland.

[The Grey Warden]

The map in the OP is incorrect for 1821. Russia should control the Caucasus, it doesn't make sense to show the personal union between the Netherlands and Luxembourg as one state but not Norway and Sweden, etc. Not necessarily advising that it be edited, just not taken as authoritative.

@The Nexerus

I tired to found other maps that were in 1821, but they searches lead me to nowhere. I was thinking of moving up the date from 1821 to 1836, since there are maps for the year.

If you guys find better maps than this or find more errors, please tell me and I will try to fix the map.

Potentially interested, keeping a eye on this.

I am assuming we have to keep everything historical, and can't modify anything?

@duck55223

Yes, we are keeping it historical with some modifications to make it not entirely historical.

[The Nexerus]

<Snipped quote by The Nexerus>

I tired to found other maps that were in 1821, but they searches lead me to nowhere. I was thinking of moving up the date from 1821 to 1836, since there are maps for the year.

If you guys find better maps than this or find more errors, please tell me and I will try to fix the map.

@The Grey Warden

This is an excellent resource for historical maps. You can't convert them to image form, sadly, but it's still useful.

[The Grey Warden]

<Snipped quote by The Grey Warden>

This is an excellent resource for historical maps. You can't convert them to image form, sadly, but it's still useful.

@The Nexerus

Wow. I might just link to this and tell people to put in '1821' on the boxes. Thanks, Nexerus.

EDIT: I have put the link to that site up on the interested check.

Interested, can I have dibs on China or Japan?

@ClocktowerEchos

Just post a character sheet of either one and I will look at it.

[null123]

<Snipped quote by The Nexerus>

Wow. I might just link to this and tell people to put in '1821' on the boxes. Thanks, Nexerus.

EDIT: I have put the link to that site up on the interested check.

<Snipped quote by ClocktowerEchos>

Just post a character sheet of either one and I will look at it.

@The Grey Warden

China and Japan are uncivilized countries, I thought we weren't allowed to play as uncivs?