Skylar

Of Steam and Ambition - A Steampunk Nation Roleplay - Interested Check

Still need to hammer out a history for Nordamark, but most of everything else is set.

Basically Nordamark was once a major maritime power during the feudal era and age of sail, with a large and powerful navy and even larger merchant fleet. An economic, military, and political power player once. But with the age of steam, decades of peace, political power shifts towards nations of industry and airships, Nordamark's slipping behind on the military and political fronts because it can't industrialize fast enough and doesn't have large amounts of coal, made worse by apathy of the previous ruling nobility until the beaurucrats of state made a quiet changeover. So it is now refocusing on its economic and "soft power" strengths to keep up until it can find a way to build up its industry and technology, and avoid getting into wars in the meantime. A tricky prospect considering Nordamark is a nation-sized moneymaking machine.

Of Steam and Ambition - A Steampunk Nation Roleplay - Interested Check

Shite, I need to grab a coastal spot too.

Which place is free? I don't have reliable map-editing stuff, so I kinda need to ask for someone else to fill in a spot on the map for me please.

Of Steam and Ambition - A Steampunk Nation Roleplay - Interested Check

Rhymer said EDIT: Maybe goblins could be a distant relative of your gremlins Skylar?

Sure, I'm game for that.

Meanwhile, making considerable edits to my Nation sheet to adhere to the tech of the era. Going to emphasize Nordamark has a lot more "soft power" than it has actual military and industrial equipment. Its lagging in the tech race (hasn't adopted breach-loaders yet, no railroads, scarce coal), but its a center of banking, trade, pleasures, and luxuries. And mercenaries attracted to the kingdom as a safe neutral base of operations.

Of Steam and Ambition - A Steampunk Nation Roleplay - Interested Check

I can dial down my tech if necessary. I think I'll revert to zeppelins for airships instead of the Colossus, and I found some good ironclad warship pics to use.

Plus, I got some other ideas I'd like to move up.

The Lost Fleet [Medium to High Casual]

Call me interested, I'm a longtime Lost Fleet fan. And this could be quite a fleet roleplay to play.

Of Steam and Ambition - A Steampunk Nation Roleplay - Interested Check

*delete*

Of Steam and Ambition - A Steampunk Nation Roleplay - Interested Check

*Delete, doublepost*

Of Steam and Ambition - A Steampunk Nation Roleplay - Interested Check

Kilo6 said
Perhaps The Arkil Federation could be helping to modernize Nordamark's airship fleet, like transferring from helium to Kavuria, allowing them to build airships that don't need to dedicate so much space and weight to the limits of helium. Or something like that. With a cheap supply of Kavuria available from the Federation, it would benefit both nations, with Nordamark saving money on helium along with having a much more modern, easily managed airships fleet and the Arkil Federation having another trading partner. Not to mention a lot of the private industry of Arkil is gonna want to store some of their money somewhere secure! XD

Good ideas. Especially since Nordamark's Colossi sky-battleships are real logistics nightmares to supply and maintain. Cheaply available Kavuria would be a godsend in that regard. And Nordamark banks, such as the Ironclad Guild (notorious for their nigh-impregnable steel vaults) would be more than happy to protect Arkil finances and provide loans to businessmen looking to expand into Nordamark.

Meanwhile the Nordamark luxury and recreation businesses could be getting a major foothold into Arkil cities and into its social elite. Happy people are always a nice thing to have, although it may lead to some interesting complications between our respective intelligence agencies at parties.

Of Steam and Ambition - A Steampunk Nation Roleplay - Interested Check

Okay, working on putting up my nation. A rich kingdom based upon rich ocean-trade and purveyance of luxuries and pleasure, now trying to keep up in an industrializing world despite its shortages of coal and ore and dependance on mercenary forces to fill out its army, navy, and sky-fleet.

So who wants to trade with me? Or take loans from my banks?

Of Steam and Ambition - The Library of Nations

Nation Sheet
[This is where your flag will be]
Nation's Name: Kingdom of Nordamark
Nation's HistoryForm of Government:
Parliamentary Monarchy

Political Status
Political power has shifted away from the hereditary monarchy and parliament to a set of government secretaries. The result is that the government is stable and running exceedingly well, and nobody wants to disrupt the status quo.

Political Overview
The Kingdom in theory exists as a monarchy with a parliament of lords and federal bureaucracy acting in support of the monarch’s wishes. In practice, the traditional aristocracy is beginning to merge with the bureaucracy, and power is shifting away from a monarchy to a de facto plutocracy of federal ministers of state, and nobody is honestly concerned about the matter.

Current Political Leader
King Palver Norden
Minister of State Adrian Coslov
Minister of War Johan Eisenwalt
Minister of Finance Maria Westinghouse
Minister of Foreign Affairs Serina Schilling

Notable Figures
Lord-General of the Army Marcus Smith, human commander of the Nordamark Army
Fleet Admiral Suvorov, Mithran commander of the Nordamark navy
Sky Marshal Lenora Redwind, human commander of the Nordamark airship fleet
Academician Asimuth Chekov, gremlin Chief Scientist of Nordamark and considered the smartest man in the Kingdom. Given a free hand and almost unlimited funding to pursue his research.
Matriarch Heather Redrosia, human leader of the Sisters of Mercy, one of Nordamark's largest religious/medical orders and mercenary groups.

Total Population: 83 million
Employed Population: 75 million
Military Population: 600,000 Standing Military forces, approximately 800,000 mercenaries, militia, reservists, and rear-echelon forces in active service of Nordamark.

The Specie's Information


Nordamark Humans
The general human population of Nordamark are caught in changing times. An ecclectic mix of feudal traditions mixing with the future of industry, only time can tell where their future will go. As a whole, they tend to be a mix of many different demographics given Nordamark's position as a international trade site, and they are more open-minded about other species and cultures than one might expect of their industrial-feudal culture.


Gremlins
Gremlins form the bulk of the working population of Nordamark. Short at 4.5 feet tall on average, they are natural hard workers and craftsmen. The various kings of Nordamark have also come to value them for their simple loyalty to the crown and kingdom, insofar as they get plenty of their simple comforts (No Nordamark king would dare think of imposing a tax on alcohol after the riots 100 years ago). However there is considerable dispute between human and Gremlin factory workers over new industrial jobs, and how Gremlins seem poised to take most of the jobs in the new industrial world. And many Gremlins are beginning to grumble about their lack of representation in parliament.


Mithran
The Mithran peoples are a race of tall (Around 8 feet tall) four-armed cat-like entities. Universally strong and longer-lived than humans yet less inclined to breed, they are a well-accepted minority in Nordamark for their scholarly talents and versatility of action. Males lean towards tasks requiring strength and dexterity, while females lean more towards scholarly fields and multi-tasking thinking.

Army Overview
WIP

Nordamark's military, once a superpower during the pre-steam feudal ages, is now struggling to keep up with the times. Prolonged peace and preference for trade and the arts over warfare by successive kings and ministers of state, as well as prioritization of the navy and emergent air force, have resulted in the army being downscaled and forced to hire mercenaries to fill out its ranks. The regular standing army is undersized and understrength. While it has strong morale and good leadership, lack of local industry and funding prioritization mean that most soldiers are armed with barrel-loaded muskets and artillery are horsedrawn guns or even naval artillery. While there are efforts to introduce breech-loading needle guns, they are limited to specialist units.

For mercenaries, working for Nordamark is quiet and not that well-paying compared to frontline combat pay, but a reliable source of work and coin. Nordamark paymasters always pay in gold or silver and always on time, and there are plenty of brothels, bars, and pleasure dens to spend that coin on (although theres hardly anywhere to pick up the latest gear). Many notable mercenary companies base out of Nordamark for its patronizing of mercenaries, and what they lack in patriotism they make up for with professionalism.

Notable Mercenary Companies.
Steelhead Security: Professional rifleman corps, noted for their signature steel plate armor and long-rifles.
Ironclaw Arms: Large, cheap Gremlin fighting force. Sheer bloody numbers, but poorly equipped.
Devil Dogs, specialized sapper battle engineer company.
Sisters of Mercy: A mercenary group of religious warrior-clerics. More often hired for their medical skills than ability with rapier and pistol.

Navy Overview
WIP

Nordamark has invested heavily in a well-trained and well-equipped navy to protect its sizable merchant marine. Nordamark was the first nation to begin fielding ironclad warships on the high seas, and while not the largest navy in the world and meant primarily to fight pirates and raiders rather than wage total war on the high seas, it is a very elite naval culture few can match.

The majority of Nordamark's heavy industry and steel production is tied into its shipbuilding, producing steam-sail hybrid ships of the line and new Ironclad warships crewed by talented sailors and captains. But the majority of the navy remains untested in this new era of steam power.

Air Force Overview
WIP

Nation's Location
Nation's Geography

Economy Overview

Nordamark is an economic powerhouse of free trade and capitalism. While its original wealth stems from gold and silver mines, the true source of wealth for modern industrial Nordamark comes from its substantial merchant marine shipping, and the purveyance of luxuries and pleasures. Nordamark wine, food, chocolate, pleasure resorts, books, dyes, spices, and dealings in exotic goods are all in high demand by the elites of other countries, and the kingdom is also notorious for its high-class “companions” and “hospitality dens”. The theater arts are well patronized in Nordamark, and it is host to a number of traveling acting troupes and major playwrights.

Nordamark’s primary local industries revolve around shipbuilding and banking. Nordamark shipyards have been the frontline builders of naval innovation and ironclads, while its bankers are shrewd and inventive in maximizing financial investments to turn the largest profit and are leading thinkers in financial . A noted secondary industry is the production of steel in small but high-quality amounts. In all other fields however, Nordamark's industries are lagging behind both in scale and technology due to limited natural resources.

The largest chokehold on Nordamark’s industrial development is coal, as it posses only a few shallow mines of low-quality coal barely suited to heat homes. High-grade anthracite is in high demand, as is good-quality iron ore and rare materials needed to build the latest steam-machines en-masse. Nordamark tries to cover these flaws with imports of machinery and resources, but it simply is not able to become an industrial state without major imports.