Iluvatar

American Dream: A Shattered Union

Oh definitely, i'm sure I can work out some kind of port access deal with them.

@Nerevarine

Wonderful :)

American Dream: A Shattered Union

@ClocktowerEchos

Yeah, I expected that. It was just a general aim that I thought I should announce, to make some decisions more realistic (i.e. with an ultimate goal in mind).

I thought Bermuda would be fine, since it's not far off the US coast anyway. The other islands (except the Bahamas) would not feature, but are mentioned to explain the relatively high manpower of the nation.

I've basically completely renovated my app since I realised it would be better to have a kind of 'Atlantic Island Confederation' things, so I now have a larger population and military (both of which I shall tone down, actually - I think that the food shortages would have decreased the population more than that).

And I was not planning to 'colonise' en masse - as you say, my population and military are far to small for that nonsense. Think more Venice's 'empire' in that it focuses more on trade and commerce rather than political control.

Also, I understand your point about defence, but it is my thinking that most nations have more trouble to deal with at home than cross a Bermudian-dominated ocean to reach the Home Islands. The Bahamas, however, I see your point. Take note of the population increase I made when I realised; 'hang on, there are also people in the Azores' and so forth.

The Federated States of the Atlantic

Full name: The Federated States of the Atlantic
Short names: Bermuda, the FSA

Flag:

Nation Type: Merchant Republic (think Venice, on an island scale, minus canals)
Claims: Bermuda, the Azores, Madeira, The Canaries, The Bahamas (basically an Atlantic island empire)
Terrain: As the islands in question are mostly far from land, generally the same as they are in our world.

Government Type: Initially instituted as a provisional Republic until a surviving heir to the throne could be found, the Most Serene Republic of Bermuda was declared after an expedition to the British Isles revealed that no central authority remained and that the fate of the Royal Family was unknown. Rumours circulated that they had fled to the Falkland Islands when the bombs fell, but there was no way to confirm this. Bereft of a Monarchy, the people of Bermuda gradually came to terms with a Republican government, although it has never been decided either way whether or not the Monarchy could be reinstituted if a heir could be proved beyond doubt - indeed, the two major political parties are called the Royalists and the Republicans, based on the original debate between those in favour of finding a Monarch and those in favour of maintaining an independent, Republican Bermuda.

Capital: Hamiliton, on Bermuda
Head of State: Samuel Kipps, Chancellor of the Federated States and Governor of Bermuda
Other Important People:
- Christopher Thompson, Chief of the Defence Staff of the Federated States
- Laura Hyaline, Governess of the Bahamas
- James Harrisson, First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff of the Federated States
- Adriano Coelho, Governor of the Azores
- Thomas Cratchet, Archbishop of Hamilton

Population: ~1'700'000 (population of entire FSA)

Attitude Towards Evols: Never really turned up in Bermuda itself, although examples of the species have been discovered in the rest of the Federated States. They are generally ignored unless proven dangerous, in which case they may be driven away or hunted down.

Economic System: The control of the largely capitalist economy is monopolised by the merchant middle class, with the 'working class' generally consigned to more menial labour such as agriculture and, importantly, fishing. Bermudian trade is dominated by several large, privately owned but government subsidised companies modelled on those of the great European Powers of the colonial age.

Resources: Bermuda produces little itself, other than fish (which have seen a population boom with the end of large-scale commercial fishing). However, a lucrative sugar-trade has been built in the overseas possessions in the Bahamas, and Bermuda intends to expand its monopoly on the resource (as well as branching out into other products, such as spice and tropical fruit). Shipbuilding has also seen a significant increase, some of which are exported. With Bermuda's lack of many deep-water shipyards, vessels are usually build on specially constructed structures out at sea, or inland and then transported to the coast. Bermuda seeks to secure a wood-trade route to ensure supplies will continue to fuel the industry.

Currency: Bermudian Pound

Technology: Technologically, Bermuda is divided by its social classes, which, while flexible and easy to cross from one to another (being based on wealth), still maintain differing roles in society. Some electronic navigational equipment remains, and is primarily owned by the Royal Navy (a name retained from its time as a British territory) and the wealthier Merchants. Because of Bermuda's lack of natural resources, advanced industry has largely ground to a halt, making imports (and thus the necessity of achieving monopoly on the sugar trade in the Caribbean) necessary to maintain Bermuda's technological level. The first factories and metal-works are beginning to crop up in some of Bermuda's territories, but industry is nevertheless limited.

Official Religion: Church of Bermuda - Anglicanism, in essence, with the ecclesiastical centre moved to Hamilton. There are also large populations of Catholics in the Azores, Madeira, and the Canaries, but with the destruction of Rome, many have instead turned to the Archbishop of Hamilton for spiritual guidance.
Religious Information: Same as Anglicanism. Catholics, bereft of a Pope, generally follow the teachings of the last known Pope to hold the office, and base religious decisions on his ideas.

History:

When the bombs fell on London at the twilight of civilisation, Bermuda stood with the British motherland in her hour of need. But, as technology failed, the ships grew few in number, and the shooting stars of falling satellites split the sky asunder, the links with Britain grew weaker and weaker.

With London's authority gone, and no contact with the outside world, the Bermudians fell to fighting among themselves. The First Civil War of Bermuda, as it came to be known, was a bitter struggle between the Royalists, who held onto the hope that contact with the British government and the Crown could be reattained; and the Republicans, who rejected London's authority, and desired to make contact with the United States of America, 'who would not abandon us in our hour of need, as the British did'. Their critics were quick to point out that the Americans had also abandoned their bases on Bermuda, and that contact with them had been lost before it had been with London.

After a decade of strife had elapsed, the two factions met in Hamilton, a shadow of its former self, and came to a compromise. Both groups recognised that, without units, Bermuda would not survive - already thousands of people had died after the imports of staple crops came to an end.

A new Constitution was made, instituting the Royalists and the Republicans as the first two political parties. It was decided that a Provisional Republic would be installed, and that if an heir to the throne could be proven - a big if - a referendum would be held to decide whether or not the Monarchy would be reinstated.

The first ships went over the sea - old luxury liners, left rotting in Bermuda's harbours, mended and patched up. East and west they sailed - to America, where the scale of the destruction and collapse was laid bare; to Europe, where the United Kingdom was found as a shattered union of its own.

And the ships also sailed to the many little harbours of the Azores. It was with this contact, with an island chain as at war with itself as Bermuda had been, that the first seeds of expansion were sown.

Promising aid to first one faction, and then another, Bermuda slowly unified the Azores archipelago, with a government sculpted to the interests of the Bermudians. In time, the island were again as one, the new government installed with a new constitution as well as a currency and economic union with Bermuda, forever binding the island to the will of Hamilton. And few complained, as the Bermudians did not oppress the people, nor did they extort from them - much.

Across the Atlantic, in Madeira and the Canaries, the process repeated itself, sometimes simultaneously. English became the lingua franca of the islands, but the language was enriched with the vocabulary of the Spanish and Portuguese. The Bermudian Pound, revalued more strongly against the accumulated gold in Hamilton (most of which had been taken from the Azores), grew the economy of Bermuda by 50% in just seven years, while the other island profited by the increase in markets when communications reopened with the outside world via Bermuda.

The commercial interests of Bermuda grew with the fostering of the wealth of its new possessions, and so its interests turned to the rich bounty of the Caribbean, which expeditions had found to be in a perpetual warfare, but rich in the now scare luxury resources such as sugar and spice. The Bahamas, a former British overseas territory themselves, presented the geographically closest opportunity for exploitation, and it took little effort to convince their war-torn people that they were the representatives of the British, come to restore order.

The Acts of Federation, six years after the unification of the Bahamas under Bermuda, saw the united islands become the Federated States of the Atlantic, still technically a provisional republic, but now firmly a new multinational state with a common bond - that of survival.

Bermuda now dominates Atlantic trade, its large (if diverse) Royal Navy sure to intercept any foreign vessel sighted in 'the FSA's territorial waters' - i.e. all of the Atlantic in the quadrilateral of the four major island chains. The nation now seeks to bring more of the Caribbean under its sway - primarily the Antilles and the Turks and Caicos Islands, with the absorption of Cuba both debatably possible and up for consideration in Hamilton, due to the large number of Hispanics that would populate the nation and overturn the dominance of English-speaking Bermudians.

Culture: The culture is varied, mainly rooted in the pre-apocalypse foundations. The FSA is a multinational state, embracing all cultures within its borders. English and Hispanic (a merger of Spanish and Portuguese) are the two biggest languages. The Hispanics are the largest ethnic group, but the British Bermudians currently hold more political power. Social change is beginning to question this arrangement.

Military Numbers: ~8'000 - ~0.5% of the total population, rounded down to the nearest thousand. There is two-year national service for everyone, and families with members in the military are given government financial help in some areas of life.

Military Units: There is enormous emphasis on the navy in Bermuda. The fleet is a mismatched, combined force composed of modern vessels (refitted to allow some less sophisticated functions to work using contemporary technology - i.e. bad technology), 'new' ironclads made from steel imported from the Appalachian region along with certain metal alloys from recycled naval vessels that could not be adapted, and colonial era-like frigates made mainly of Canadian wood. There are even two 'balloon carriers' - special 'ironclads' with flat decks designed to accommodate hot-air balloons for reconnaissance.

In each 'fleet group', there are one or two ships with radio. Messages from the central naval authority are transmitted to these 'radio ships' (which are changed each time the fleet sails), and then broadcast to the whole fleet group using semaphore.

The army is primarily a defensive force, equipped with tank traps (not used often these , trench-constructing equipment, and guerilla-style weaponry (such as remote charges and landmines).

Approximately one quarter of the army is an 'interventionist task force', equipped with rudimentary muskets, primitive firearms, and even some makeshift artillery groups, which more resemble cannon rather than modern artillery. The primary function of the ITF is to support pro-Bermudian groups in wars, in order to set up a friendly government in the region involved, rather than to launch all-out invasions. The central government is looking into expanding the offensive capabilities of the army.

American Dream: A Shattered Union

@Nerevarine Oh, I need to buy your wheat please. Would you like sugar?

Obviously, you're inland and I'm an island, so we may need to negotiate with... is it the Badyoyo Tribes, at the mouth of the Mississippi?

American Dream: A Shattered Union

<Snipped quote>

That's actually a really hard thing to do in this era, AFAIK. America isn't exactly prime rubber territory. (There's a reason so many nations were eager to get their slice of the Congo just before WW1.) Copper is very possible, and maybe certain earth elements...

@Shorticus

I understand that there are large numbers of rubber trees in the Amazon region. So the next project after most of the Caribbean islands come under Bermudian economic dominion (or at least are aligned with our interests), there will be an attempt made to expand trade routes to the mouth of the River Amazon to trade rubber there - if there is even a supply available. However, as that would probably take at least a decade, I doubt it will occur in this RP, depending on how quickly we advance time.

@IluvatarThere are a two things I feel the need to point out:

1) You have a very disconjointed and separated nation, literally anyone can just come in and wipe and island out seeing as most people have armies larger than your entire population. I highly recommend you find a strong ally in one of the places you wish to trade so you aren't instantly nommed on. (The Grand Commonwealth Union is available for such a relationship if you want :p)

2) As Shorticus mentioned, there is no real way of producing rubber and whatever electronics you have is best kept to yourself. Unless you some how got an expedition into Africa and is now sending your copious amounts of rubber, I don't see it being too likely you'll be exporting rubber. While synthetic rubber might be an option, again I feel that its something best kept to yourself along with electronics as its probably one of the things that would keep you alive.

@ClocktowerEchos

1) Bermuda's army is small, but professional. However, the navy is far more emphasised, combining several 'modern' vessels (refitted to function with the fuels and technologies now available, and obviously lacking the sophisticated computer technology for functions like cruise missile targeting and so forth, with the loss of contact will artificial satellites) with ironclads (using imported iron ore) and even a few colonial-era-like frigates, made mostly of wood (imported from the Canadian region). Bermuda itself, the Azores, Madeira, nor the Canaries (the latter two of which will probably not feature in this RP, since they'd be more concerned with trade with Europe and Africa) are not particularly valuable to any would-be attacker - with the loss of most aerial transport, they cannot be used as airbases, and thus lack strategic value (except as a staging point point for a trans-Atlantic invasion or colonisation effort by sea). The Bahamas are thus considered the weakest and most-sought after Bermudian territory, and it is there that most of the armed forces are garrisoned.

- Obviously, this garrison would still be unlikely to withstand a full-scale invasion, and so yes, a powerful ally is needed. Yours would be welcome! :)
- Taking into account the risk of a direct strike on the Home Islands of Bermuda as a bargaining tool for any aggressor, it would be unwise to draw reinforcements from there. It would therefore be necessary to bring them from the Azores, the next closest Bermudian possession to the Bahamas. Again, this makes the need for a powerful ally more pressing, as well as the development of some kind of early-warning system to allow the arrival of reinforcements to begin as early as possible.

2) Oh, don't worry, I wasn't planning to export them any time soon, if at all. The idea is to source rubber from the Amazon Rainforest via the River Amazon in about a decade, so that Bermuda will no longer have to rely on imports of technology to maintain its naval prowess. Of course, for Bermuda to begin developing its own technology at all, sources of copper and rare-earth elements must also be secured. Bearing in mind the value of electronics in the post-civilised world, any exports at all will be decades away - and that is only if other nations fail to secure the same resources.

- If Bermuda can source rubber from the Amazon, we will be well-placed to supply it to other North American nations at high prices. Of course, price reductions could be given to those who offer Bermuda trade concessions >:)

American Dream: A Shattered Union

<Snipped quote by Iluvatar>

Don't ignore the fact they'd need staple foods imported in as well or they'd starve.

@Dinh AaronMk

Don't worry, I shan't. Currently, they eat mostly fish, as well as the limited interior imports of staple crops from the Bahamas.

The main commercial aims of Bermuda will likely run as follows:

1) Secure trade routes to the mouth of the River Mississippi to guarantee a supply of wheat from the Great Plains.
2) Establish a continuous supply of wood for fuel and shipbuilding, perhaps by creating a base on Nova Scotia for Canadian timber.
3) Gain a reliable source of iron ore, probably by setting up a trade company for the Appalachian region.
4) Establish good relations with a nation willing to export electronics, or gain a sufficient educated population base along with supplies of copper, rubber and rare earth elements to kickstart Bermudian technological industry.

American Dream: A Shattered Union

<Snipped quote by Iluvatar>

Don't ignore the fact they'd need staple foods imported in as well or they'd starve.

@Dinh AaronMk

Don't worry, I shan't. Currently, they eat mostly fish, as well as the limited interior imports of staple crops from the Bahamas.

The main commercial aims of Bermuda will likely run as follows:

1) Secure trade routes to the mouth of the River Mississippi to guarantee a supply of wheat from the Great Plains.
2) Establish a continuous supply of wood for fuel and shipbuilding, perhaps by creating a base on Nova Scotia for Canadian timber.
3) Gain a reliable source of iron ore, probably by setting up a trade company for the Appalachian region.
4) Establish good relations with a nation willing to export electronics, or gain a sufficient educated population base along with supplies of copper, rubber and rare earth elements to kickstart Bermudian technological industry.

American Dream: A Shattered Union

WIP

My Hider

Full name: The Federated States of the Atlantic
Short names: Bermuda, the FSA

Flag:

Nation Type: Merchant Republic (think Venice, on an island scale, minus canals)
Claims: Bermuda, the Azores, Madeira, The Canaries, The Bahamas (basically an Atlantic island empire)
Terrain: As the islands in question are mostly far from land, generally the same as they are in our world.

Government Type: Initially instituted as a provisional Republic until a surviving heir to the throne could be found, the Most Serene Republic of Bermuda was declared after an expedition to the British Isles revealed that no central authority remained and that the fate of the Royal Family was unknown. Rumours circulated that they had fled to the Falkland Islands when the bombs fell, but there was no way to confirm this. Bereft of a Monarchy, the people of Bermuda gradually came to terms with a Republican government, although it has never been decided either way whether or not the Monarchy could be reinstituted if a heir could be proved beyond doubt - indeed, the two major political parties are called the Royalists and the Republicans, based on the original debate between those in favour of finding a Monarch and those in favour of maintaining an independent, Republican Bermuda.

Capital: Hamiliton, on Bermuda
Head of State: Samuel Kipps, Chancellor of the Federated States and Governor of Bermuda
Other Important People:
- Christopher Thompson, Chief of the Defence Staff of the Federated States
- Laura Hyaline, Governess of the Bahamas
- James Harrisson, First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff of the Federated States
- Adriano Coelho, Governor of the Azores
- Thomas Cratchet, Archbishop of Hamilton

Population: ~2'260'000 (population of entire FSA)

Attitude Towards Evols: Never really turned up in Bermuda itself, although examples of the species have been discovered in the rest of the Federated States. They are generally ignored unless proven dangerous, in which case they may be driven away or hunted down.

Economic System: The control of the largely capitalist economy is monopolised by the merchant middle class, with the 'working class' generally consigned to more menial labour such as agriculture and, importantly, fishing. Bermudian trade is dominated by several large, privately owned but government subsidised companies modelled on those of the great European Powers of the colonial age.

Resources: Bermuda produces little itself, other than fish (which have seen a population boom with the end of large-scale commercial fishing). However, a lucrative sugar-trade has been built in the overseas possessions in the Bahamas, and Bermuda intends to expand its monopoly on the resource (as well as branching out into other products, such as spice and tropical fruit). Shipbuilding has also seen a significant increase, some of which are exported. With Bermuda's lack of many deep-water shipyards, vessels are usually build on specially constructed structures out at sea, or inland and then transported to the coast. Bermuda seeks to secure a wood-trade route to ensure supplies will continue to fuel the industry.

Currency: Bermudian Pound

Technology: Technologically, Bermuda is divided by its social classes, which, while flexible and easy to cross from one to another (being based on wealth), still maintain differing roles in society. Some electronic navigational equipment remains, and is primarily owned by the Royal Navy (a name retained from its time as a British territory) and the wealthier Merchants. Because of Bermuda's lack of natural resources, advanced industry has largely ground to a halt, making imports (and thus the necessity of achieving monopoly on the sugar trade in the Caribbean) necessary to maintain Bermuda's technological level. The first factories and metal-works are beginning to crop up in some of Bermuda's territories, but industry is nevertheless limited.

Official Religion: Church of Bermuda - Anglicanism, in essence, with the ecclesiastical centre moved to Hamilton. There are also large populations of Catholics in the Azores, Madeira, and the Canaries, but with the destruction of Rome, many have instead turned to the Archbishop of Hamilton for spiritual guidance.
Religious Information: Same as Anglicanism. Catholics, bereft of a Pope, generally follow the teachings of the last known Pope to hold the office, and base religious decisions on his ideas.

History:

When the bombs fell on London at the twilight of civilisation, Bermuda stood with the British motherland in her hour of need. But, as technology failed, the ships grew few in number, and the shooting stars of falling satellites split the sky asunder, the links with Britain grew weaker and weaker.

With London's authority gone, and no contact with the outside world, the Bermudians fell to fighting among themselves. The First Civil War of Bermuda, as it came to be known, was a bitter struggle between the Royalists, who held onto the hope that contact with the British government and the Crown could be reattained; and the Republicans, who rejected London's authority, and desired to make contact with the United States of America, 'who would not abandon us in our hour of need, as the British did'. Their critics were quick to point out that the Americans had also abandoned their bases on Bermuda, and that contact with them had been lost before it had been with London.

After a decade of strife had elapsed, the two factions met in Hamilton, a shadow of its former self, and came to a compromise. Both groups recognised that, without units, Bermuda would not survive - already thousands of people had died after the imports of staple crops came to an end.

A new Constitution was made, instituting the Royalists and the Republicans as the first two political parties. It was decided that a Provisional Republic would be installed, and that if an heir to the throne could be proven - a big if - a referendum would be held to decide whether or not the Monarchy would be reinstated.

The first ships went over the sea - old luxury liners, left rotting in Bermuda's harbours, mended and patched up. East and west they sailed - to America, where the scale of the destruction and collapse was laid bare; to Europe, where the United Kingdom was found as a shattered union of its own.

And the ships also sailed to the many little harbours of the Azores. It was with this contact, with an island chain as at war with itself as Bermuda had been, that the first seeds of expansion were sown.

Promising aid to first one faction, and then another, Bermuda slowly unified the Azores archipelago, with a government sculpted to the interests of the Bermudians. In time, the island were again as one, the new government installed with a new constitution as well as a currency and economic union with Bermuda, forever binding the island to the will of Hamilton. And few complained, as the Bermudians did not oppress the people, nor did they extort from them - much.

Across the Atlantic, in Madeira and the Canaries, the process repeated itself, sometimes simultaneously. English became the lingua franca of the islands, but the language was enriched with the vocabulary of the Spanish and Portuguese. The Bermudian Pound, revalued more strongly against the accumulated gold in Hamilton (most of which had been taken from the Azores), grew the economy of Bermuda by 50% in just seven years, while the other island profited by the increase in markets when communications reopened with the outside world via Bermuda.

The commercial interests of Bermuda grew with the fostering of the wealth of its new possessions, and so its interests turned to the rich bounty of the Caribbean, which expeditions had found to be in a perpetual warfare, but rich in the now scare luxury resources such as sugar and spice. The Bahamas, a former British overseas territory themselves, presented the geographically closest opportunity for exploitation, and it took little effort to convince their war-torn people that they were the representatives of the British, come to restore order.

The Acts of Federation, six years after the unification of the Bahamas under Bermuda, saw the united islands become the Federated States of the Atlantic, still technically a provisional republic, but now firmly a new multinational state with a common bond - that of survival.

Bermuda now dominates Atlantic trade, its large (if diverse) Royal Navy sure to intercept any foreign vessel sighted in 'the FSA's territorial waters' - i.e. all of the Atlantic in the quadrilateral of the four major island chains. The nation now seeks to bring more of the Caribbean under its sway - primarily the Antilles and the Turks and Caicos Islands, with the absorption of Cuba both debatably possible and up for consideration in Hamilton, due to the large number of Hispanics that would populate the nation and overturn the dominance of English-speaking Bermudians.

Culture: The culture is varied, mainly rooted in the pre-apocalypse foundations. The FSA is a multinational state, embracing all cultures within its borders so long as they assent to the dominance of Bermuda and the English language within the country.

Military Numbers: ~10'000 - 0.5% of the total population, rounded down to the nearest thousand. There is two-year national service for everyone, and families with members in the military are given government financial help in some areas of life. That is why the number is above the 0.5% of the population.

Military Units: There is enormous emphasis on the navy in Bermuda. The fleet is a mismatched, combined force composed of modern vessels (refitted to allow some less sophisticated functions to work using contemporary technology - i.e. bad technology), 'new' ironclads made from steel imported from the Appalachian region along with certain metal alloys from recycled naval vessels that could not be adapted, and colonial era-like frigates made mainly of Canadian wood. There are even two 'balloon carriers' - special 'ironclads' with flat decks designed to accommodate hot-air balloons for reconnaissance.

In each 'fleet group', there are one or two ships with radio. Messages from the central naval authority are transmitted to these 'radio ships' (which are changed each time the fleet sails), and then broadcast to the whole fleet group using semaphore.

The army is primarily a defensive force, equipped with tank traps (not used often these , trench-constructing equipment, and guerilla-style weaponry (such as remote charges and landmines).

Approximately one quarter of the army is an 'interventionist task force', equipped with rudimentary muskets, primitive firearms, and even some makeshift artillery groups, which more resemble cannon rather than modern artillery. The primary function of the ITF is to support pro-Bermudian groups in wars, in order to set up a friendly government in the region involved, rather than to launch all-out invasions. The central government is looking into expanding the offensive capabilities of the army.

American Dream: A Shattered Union

Could I be a quasi-British nation based in Bermuda? On a quest to reclaim the glory of the Crown? Or maybe a Republic. Haven't decided yet.

Main aims would be to secure imports of wood and steel for ship-building - basically a merchant nation.

American Dream: Shattered Union (An NRP set in the post apoc US)

Would an English or British nation seeking to establish colonies in the New World be acceptable?

The Rise of Man (Fallout-like RP)

Alas, I had to abandon the RP because of exams. I thought it had already died when I left.