09-23-2018, 10:16 PM | #3651 | |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: New Reality Seeds
Quote:
Last edited by David Johnston2; 09-24-2018 at 12:06 AM. |
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09-24-2018, 06:48 AM | #3652 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: New Reality Seeds
Pneumonic Plague has an untreated mortality rate of 100%, so 90% mortality is being slightly generous (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumonic_plague).
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09-24-2018, 03:05 PM | #3653 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Re: New Reality Seeds
Byzantium missed a chance to secure it's eastern borders when Irene of Athen's sonConstantine VI turned out not to be able to take initiative. Part of this was his being raised by his mother and her allies to be passive and obedient, much was simply a character flaw.
Still, there was a real chance to gain stable borders for the Empire or even take back Palestine. Although Harun al Rashid ruled over a period of amazing prosperity, he wasn't himself all that impressive. And his generals were political appointments. Had Constantine VI been decisive he could have moved the border back to a defensible line and even kept his mother out of the government. On this Q4 parallel, Constantine was decisive. He soon knew he wasn't a general, but could appoint generals and took no guff from his mother about their theology. (Irene trusted only Inconophile Eunuchs with high office). Constantine's policy didn't remove the threats to Byzantium, but he made them more manageable for a while. It is now the year 1021, Constantine VI's great-grandson Constantine IX rules a strong Byzantium and has made a marriage alliance with the Bulgars. The Patriarch, a close relative of Constantine's first wife (died in childbirth and the child died too) is bitter. He wanted Constantine to marry his sister-in-law so that members of his family would hold the throne. Meanwhile, the Caliphate is wondering what a Byzantine-Bulgarian alliance might mean to their security. Homeline's main question is "Why is the Cabal so active in this world?" Further fun. Radical Greek Nationalists are flocking to this parallel. Why?
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Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo |
09-24-2018, 04:12 PM | #3654 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: New Reality Seeds
In Harmony-5 , the idea of war is unexceptable to the population due to the waste involved. Instead, conflicts between groups have been solved through paired duels (a female duel and a male duel) after the terms of the duel and the terms of peace have been negotiated. If one side wins both duels, the other side agrees to their terms of peace. If there is a mixed result, both sides withdraw and will not try again until a year and a day has passed. The threat of war with every other neighboring nation makes every side keep to their agreements.
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09-24-2018, 04:56 PM | #3655 |
Join Date: Feb 2011
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Re: New Reality Seeds
So how often do people renege on the treaties, demanding the enforcement wars?
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09-24-2018, 09:48 PM | #3656 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: New Reality Seeds
Not often since the Egyptians first started keeping records in 3200 BC. When nations violate the peace, the nation is destroyed, their temples are looted and their gods forgotten, their histories and their records are burned, their territories and their people are divided between their neighbors, and their names are removed from the histories of their neighbors, simply replaced by a number that represents their place in the list of infamy for the region. For example, Rome does not exist in the histories of Harmony-5, it is just referred to as '13' or the Thirteenth Violator of the Peace of Europe, and it went extinct after it violated the Peace of Europe with the Rape of the Sabine Women in the 8th century BC.
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09-24-2018, 10:12 PM | #3657 |
Join Date: Jan 2014
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Re: New Reality Seeds
Or how often do non-state actors use violence?
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09-24-2018, 10:23 PM | #3658 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: New Reality Seeds
Violence is just as common in our world, it is war that is forbidden. Most nations have well trained armies, with equal numbers of men and women, in order to produce the best duelists possible from their population (and to benefit from enforcement wars). Quality, not quantity, is the focus though, with soldiers spending decades perfecting their combat skills through sparring against each other, just in case they are called to defend their nation's honor.
Duels are to the death. A duelist who wins becomes a celebrated hero of the victorious and usually retires to train future duelists. A duelist who loses usually dies and receives a hero's funeral by the victorious nation as a sign of respect. |
09-25-2018, 06:15 AM | #3660 |
Join Date: Jan 2014
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Re: New Reality Seeds
Then here's the trick. Would be imperialists send arms to local insurgents to build influence in a region. Ostensibly non-starter actors receive support from states that quietly oppose the others. Terror is used to pressure states from going ahead with duels.
The duelling system has other flaws. If one side refuses to negotiate at all, say because they consider the matter to be purely internal, what happens then? |
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