WIP Nation Sheet, will update in due time
Name of Nation: The Commonwealth of Freeport States
Capital: Havendown
National Population: 80,000,000
Demonym: "Freelancers" "Freeporters" "Commies"
Ethnic Groups:
Tycoons- Less a racial group than a major social class, there is no discussing the Commonwealth without discussing the Tycoons, the ultra-rich business magnates that practically rule the Commonwealth and all of its largest business concerns. For these men and women, wealth is meaningless and only good for keeping score, only achievement has value. As such the Tycoons frequently seek to outdo and outperform eachother through industry, trade, or public works whilst living lives of unimaginable luxury even compared to their counterparts in other countries.
Language(s) Spoken:
"Burst"- A de facto language of abbreviated commands, nouns, and memorized phrases to quickly convey commands or orders in a factory or business setting within a short period of time. Variations of this is used in trade and accounting to rapidly convey contents of larger business deals, or in the military as radio-discipline. Its found a secondary life as a common stepping stone to learning Trade Common amongst most low-class people.
SMOKY- (Trade Common)
Religion(s) Practiced(If any):
There are no formal state religions in the commonwealth, and a variety of different religions and faiths are freely practiced and allowed to coexist. But by and large, religion is a minor factor in the Commonwealth.
National Symbols:
- Flag:
- Colors: Black and White
- Creed:
"You shall be a merchant before being a man. A merchant before being a king. A merchant before being a man of faith. A merchant before all else."
(1-5 based on the two sides of the scale.)
Government:
Individual -1- State
Religious -5- Secular
Democracy -2- Autocracy
Dove -2- Hawk
Isolationist -2- Interventionist
Summery:
The government of the Commonwealth city-states are nominally independent republics working together for joint security and trade. In practice, most political power is in the hands of the Tycoons and Robber Barons who rule in a variety of ways in the background.
As a whole, the Commonwealth wants trade and industry more than war, and prefers to stay out of foreign wars besides bankrolling and mercenaries.
Economy:
Capitalism -1- Communism
Private -1- Public
Inequality -2- Equality
Summery:
The Commonwealth is characterized by its unrestricted and ruthless capitalist free markets. Corporations and Robber Barons compete and innovate and expand with minimal government interference or restriction. The Industrial revolution has brought about immense wealth for the Commonwealth, and while economic inequality is a severe issue, with a massive divide between the ultra-rich robber barons and the common workers as per norm, the trickle-down of wealth means that the vast majority of the people are having better lives than before, and its still getting better.
Society:
Open -1- Closed
Liberal -2- Conservative
Tolerant -1- Intolerant
Summery:
The Commonwealth as a largely open-borders and free-trading collection of cities is naturally very open and liberal. Dozens of different cultures, races, and social groups coexist and work alongside eachother. Gender roles are largely disregarded in the commonwealth, and there is equal opportunity for anyone with the right motivation and ambition to succeed.
Military:
- Coat of Arms:
- Size: 800,000 standing armed forces, 2 million assorted reserves, militia, and mercenaries.
- Branches:
Ironclads- The armored tank and landship corps of the Commonwealth.
Clockwork Brigade- The semi-autonomous Clockwork warmachines of the city-state of Minagis.
Militia
- Readiness:
The bulk of military spending goes into the navy and tank corps.
While the Commonwealth Ironclad tank corps are not the largest in the world, they are among the most skilled and best-equipped and still sizable. The Commonwealth's resources and heavy industry allow them to built and maintain a massive array of advanced tanks and landships. For some reason (largely attributed to ergonomics of early tanks) the Ironclad Corps are predominantly female, even to present day. Tanks and landships are constantly cycled, upgraded, and replaced to maintain top-grade performance, while second and third-rate tanks are cycled into garrison forces, militias, or sold to other countries in bulk amounts.
The navy has second-best priority. While lacking in large battleships or heavy firepower, the Commonwealth has a respectable force of destroyers and cruisers to patrol the sea routes from pirates or enemies. To stay toe to toe with the more militant nations, naval focus is shifting towards mass production of submarines and torpedo warfare, considered a more "economical" means of warfare than battleships, and while its an emergent field of study the submarine force is gaining ground and new technology at a rapid rate.
Third-best is the emergant air force. While the smallest of the five branches and only supported by a few member city-states, they still retain a number of large airships and biplane squadrons for national aerospace defense. While not the most advanced or best force, they are well-supplied and have the material advantages of being able to use helium for their balloons rather than flammable hydrogen and powerful engines. Their primary focus is on scouting and air-defense rather than bombing.
The general infantry corps however are given bottom-level lesser priority. Chronically undermanned and heavily reliant on mercenaries and static defenses, there is little priority given to the infantry during peacetime.
The Mech-Men Brigade of Minagis are an abnormality compared to their other city-states. A genius inventor by the name of Chekov has under the patronage of the city’s oligarchy has worked to replace much of their military with semi-autonomous clockwork war machines. Clockwork men, steam-powered war dogs, self-thinking tanks. While still a massive work in progress, initial results of a fearless, obedient, iron-skinned, and heavily armed clockwork army have led to more and more industry of Minagis being turned to create the works of the Inventor Chekov to replace their undersized garrison, who considers his “Clockwork Brigade” to be the next face of warfare. If he can manage to make them cheaper to field and improve their intelligence. Most city-states of the Commonwealth refuse to use his designs due to severe Identify-Friend-or-Foe problems.
In times of war, militias can be called up to assist in the general defense. While of varying training and morale, they are notably well-equipped for a citizen-soldier army, due to the proliferation of old tanks and hardware stiffening local defense forces. The Commonwealth has a history of heroic citizen-soldiers holding the line
The greatest strength of the Commonwealth military forces are their exceptional logistics. Between well-built railroads, heavy naval shipping capacity, and a well-organized chain of command, the Commonwealth hold a massive home-field advantage in their defense. However their primary focus is on defence and have limited offensive capability beyond submarine warfare.
Territory:
- Important Locations:
Engines East: The single most largest industrial complex city in the Commonwealth with nine million people, Engine's East (Formerly known as Eastport) is home to steelworks plants, military-industrial arsenals, oil refineries, and a massive trade port. It is the center of operations for 27 Tycoons and their businesses and cartels, the center of industrial innovation, and the base for the Commonwealth Central Military Academy.
Key Elements of Engine's East
- Central Military Academy- The largest and most lauded military academy in the Commonwealth, as well as base to some of the military's best innovators and scientists.
- Webster-Millam Biscuits and Foodstuffs Plants- High capacity food canning plants for a variety of foodstuffs.
History:
- International Relations:
Notes:
M4 "Striker" Light Tank
The most common tank in the Commonwealth, with estimates putting 40,000 tanks in the arsenals, stockpiles, garrisons, and militia warehouses of the Commonwealth. While built for hit and run warfare with light armor, it retains a 76 mm snub cannon for a surprising punch. Whilst considered small and obsolete by most nations, the fact that most militia forces can field these tanks in support of their citizen-soldiers greatly stiffens militia strength. These tanks are also useful in urban combat.
M7 "Swift" Medium Tank
The mainline tank used by the city-states of the Commonwealth. Armed with a 76mm cannon and strong armor, the real strength of the M7 Swift is its mass-producibility. Standardization of parts and machinery as well as sharing 40% of its internal components with other tanks means the Swift is easy to repair and construct en masse.
M10 "Goliath" Heavy Tank
Goliath tanks are a frequent export product to other nations, with their 88mm cannon packing a number of specialist rounds. Vanquisher high-density armor-piercing rounds are made more lethal with a aluminum shell that is discarded during firing, ensuring a higher impact velocity. High-explosive munitions are bolstered with cluster-frag warheads for wider explosive range. While production is mostly limited to Engine's East and a fairly recent invention, demand for these tanks is high to supplement city-state defenses or to bolster the arsenals of other nations.
M11-B "Guardian" Heavy Tank
Less a tank and more of a mobile siege cannon, the Guardian carries a 128mm cannon in a limited traverse turret that is meant to blow holes in fortresses and landships alike. The Guardian is also known for its armor, made of a secret ultraheavy steel alloy made in the forges of Engine's East. The main cannon is made even more fearsome by the usage of an autoloader, allowing for a fire rate not expected of a 128mm cannon. A manual loader is kept on hand as a backup and maintenance technician just in case.
Due to the Commonwealth's defensive orientation, only a few Guardians exist in the arsenals of the city-states. But they are there, and they are ready.
C-1 "Scrapper" Light Chassis
The first of Chekov's combat mech-man designs, using a coal-fueled engine to propel hydraulic and clockwork mechanisms to create a walking combat machine directed by a simulated brain of punch cards and clockwork and capable of wielding an assortment of arms built into its arms. For all its seeming wonder though, the Scrapper is little more than a mass-produced prototype and suffers from serious flaws. Chiefly IFF. The Scrapper can barely differentiate between types of humans without clear uniform markings.
Their standard armaments are a steam-driven chainsaw and an arm rocket. Scrappers can't use complex hands or reload in battle.
C-4 "Titan"-class Medium Chassis
Chekov's first production-model design and overall superior to the Scrapper due to its larger size being able to accommodate a larger and more sophisticated Clockwork Brain. This in turn lets the Titan have a greater range of mobility and usage of hands or self-loading weaponry. Despite the heavy cost in production, Minagis is working to replace their usage of mercenaries with C-4 Titans
Common armaments are battle hammers, chain guns, artillery cannons, combat shields, grenade launchers, and flamethrowers.
C-6 "Indomitable" Heavy Chassis
Pressured to make a Mech-Man that can fill in for the firepower and armor of a tank, Chekov has created a heavily armored chassis that can tank shellfire while firing cannons of its own. Indomitable-class heavy mech-men carry heavy steam boilers to carry heavy steel battleshields and shoulder-mounted 70 mm cannons.
However these machines have a severe cost in coal and steel in their upkeep, and Chekov hasn't been able to improve mech-man IFF. Friendly humans are advised not to be on the battlefield when the Indomitable is on the field.
Guardian-class Medium Airship
The Guardian is a close-air support airship commonly used by all of the city-states of the Commonwealth, mounting batteries of 105mm howitzers, 40mm autocannons, and gatling guns in a number of ball mounts on its flanks and bottom hull. Their primary purpose is to support Commonwealth ground forces in direct combat, or perform high-altitude artillery bombing operations. Despite having smaller caliber guns than most airships and not built for direct battle with other airships, it makes use of clockwork autoloaders to sustain extremely high fire rates, and has the advantage of the Commonwealth's abundant supply of safe helium to remain aloft despite damage without risk of fire.
Sky Fortress-class Superheavy Airship of the Wall
Only the city-state of Pirata maintains these massive kilometer long behemoths of airships. Whilst considered a solid ugly brick of an airship, it is unquestionably powerful with broadside batteries of 200mm rail-cannons, 40mm quad-autocannons, and immense bomb racks protected by steel-titanium plate. It is also a rare airship built not just for sky broadsides but boarding operations as well with thousands of armed crew and sky-mercenaries. Only five Sky Fortresses have been built, and they rarely leave their docks due to the massive expense in helium, hydrogen, and AEther needed to run the turbines to keep them aloft. But when they fly, there is little that can take them down.
No new Sky Fortresses are planned, or can be built. Their inventor has disappeared, and took much of their design plans with him. Pirata can barely maintain them, let along make any major refits to them.
