La sœur des anges - an Interactive Occitan AAR

Ab Ovo

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• Feb 25, 2014

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• #1

La sœur des anges: an Interactive Occitan AAR

Un jour son image chérie
S’étendra sur tout l’univers.
Peuples, vous briserez vos fers
Et vous aurez une Patrie!​

Table of Contents
Introduction and Rules
The Franco-German War
Elections of 1880
The Election of 1880: Conclusion

 

Last edited: Mar 1, 2014

Ab Ovo

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• Feb 25, 2014

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• #2

Hello, and welcome to the latest Interactive AAR for Victoria II! After having been an avid participant in great VII IAARs such as A Federation of Equals, Edge of Europe, and Blood and Iron, I am absolutely thrilled to be able to debut La sœur des anges as a new twist on an old game. This game will be set in the Grand Duchy of Occitania, a formerly-French state carved from the Second French Empire by a vengeful Germany. Germany has now withdrawn and the Grand Duchy is now left to establish herself. One of the wonderful things of Interactive AARs is the sense of community which, even in a limited form, they can create; and I hope that La sœur des anges can continue in that tradition.

You, the average Occitan voter, will be heading to the polls. Unlike most interactive AARs on this forum the directly interactive portion of the AAR is limited to elections, although free debate among readers is encouraged and is one of the things that makes interactive AARs so great. I will also be influenced by the debates you gentlemen have in the thread.

Elections should occur every 3-5 years or so, although the constitution of the Grand Duchy may well change and the form and frequency of these elections could differ (we could change from a parliamentary system to a presidential system for example {or even from a monarchy to a republic, which would make me very unhappy}). However the interactive element of the AAR will always remain. In the first election you shall be electing the Occitan Parliament.

There will be a bolded section at the end of each election update giving specific instructions on how to place your vote and also details of when the polls close. I will post in the thread, RL allowing, when the polls are closed and after that no further votes will be counted.

When you do vote I ask that you either place it in an entirely seperate post or bold it to make it easier for me to tally them.

As regards rules:

• I reserve the right to veto any action any player wishes to undertake: To help the stability of the AAR, stop interference with the normal functioning of the thread, or simply because I want to.
• You may not create your own political parties, militias, rebel groups or anything else. The only such groups that exist within the AAR are the ones I present.
• I ask that roleplaying is limited and that people use their own forum nicknames in the thread so as to avoid confusion.
• Campaigning outside the thread is forbidden.
• Refrain for spamming, inciting hate or otherwise harassing people within the thread.
• By taking part in this thread I assume you have read these rules. If I feel that these rules are being broken I will first post a warning in this thread, if the offending behaviour continues I shall not hesitate to inform a moderator.

This AAR has been approved by Qorten; and would not have been possible without Tommy4ever, from whom I shamelessly plagiarised.​

 

Last edited: Feb 25, 2014

Ab Ovo

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• Feb 25, 2014

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• #3

The Franco-German War
Oh, les braves gens!​

The formation of the German Empire was done relatively quietly. The Russian declaration of war against the Ottoman Empire in December 1865 had unexpected repercussions as Prussia sided with her old allies in the Sublime Porte and faced off against both the Russians and the French. While Russia spent her time trading spaces with the Turks on the Caucasian front Prussia threw her mass armies into a meatgrinder along the border. The decisive battle was the Battle of Trier, where a force of over forty-five thousand French soldiers was decisively defeated by a numerically inferior Prussian force. After that, the only thing left to do was mop up. The Battle of the Saar resulted in the deaths of over half the French army of twenty-two thousand and after that Prussian forces were free to occupy northern France from Metz to Calais. The Peace of Versailles, which saw the simultaneous annexation of Alsace-Lorraine and proclamation of the German Empire, was signed on Christmas Eve 1866.

The Proclamation of the German Empire by Anton von Werner​

It wasn't for another seven years, in February of 1873, that the French struck again. Germany had been quietly embroiled for years in a war with Colombia in an attempt to wrest Panama from them to build a canal, and a large segment of the German Army was stationed in South America at the time. The French declaration of war was a complete surprise and by the time regular units were deployed and the reserves were set in the long process of mobilisation the French had already streamed into the Rhineland. The first few months of the war were then spent engaging in the Rhineland Campaign against the French. Germany had an excellent defensive position and won battles at Munster, Frankfurt, Cologne, Kolmar, and Nancy. Military wisdom held that the French only had to be exhausted on German soil before the Kaiser's troops could break across the border into the undefended heartland.

Massacre of German Cuirassiers at Epinal, 1874 by Juliusz Kossak​

It wasn't until the fateful Battle of Epinal that German troops were actually able to cross the French border, where they defeated the last sizable French force in-theatre at the time but with massive, almost pyrrhic, losses for their own side. Afterwards Germany used Epinal as a 'beachhead' for the flood of reservists which quickly deluged northern France. The Italian declaration of war on the French puppet of Sardinia in June of 1873 meant little until the Imperial government in Paris, for reasons lost to history, decided to honour their alliance with the small Napoleonic puppet in late 1874. The Italians swiftly responded and occupied vast swathes of southern France as Napoleon III's armies were effortlessly swept aside. The two nations overran nearly all of metropolitan France and Paris fell to German artillery and reservists in the summer of 1876. The Emperor and a few of his entourage escaped south to Montpelier before the Italians seized it and went on to continue the fight from Algiers. France herself was a hopeless cause however, and was divided in half between German and Italian zones of occupation before the Italians made peace in 1877 after finally occupying the island of Sardinia proper; annexing Sardinia and carving out a new Duchy of Brittany as a puppet state to weaken their foe.

The withdrawal of Italy from southern France created a vacuum which Germany was eager to fill and the campaign to wrest the former Italian zone from Legitimist French rebels took most of the rest of the year. After that Germany occupied and administered France under direct military rule for the better part of 1878 and 1879 until a truly massive series of anti-German partisan uprisings rocked the metropole and forced Berlin to abandon plans of occupying French colonial possessions as well. In a peace concluded between the German and French emperors on New Years 1880, all of the German occupational zone in southern France was ceded to the newly-established Grand Duchy of Occitania; a state supposedly designed to satisfy the national aspirations of Occitan-speaking peoples, but in reality created expressly to weaken France to the point where she could never again be a credible threat. Antoine-Just-Léon-Marie de Noailles, 9th Prince de Poix, 6th Duc espagnol de Mouchy, 5th Duc français de Mouchy et Duc de Poix, was enthroned as the first Grand Duke. Whether he was actually taken in by German pleas on behalf on the Occitans versus his desire to be a sovereign prince is debatable, but he was set up in the Occitan capital of Toulouse (an ancient city that, unlike much of the new state, actually did maintain a population of Occitan speakers) as the Germans withdrew.

Now on her own Occitania faces an uncertain future. Germany is mercifully uninterested in Occitan affairs as long as she does not seek reunification with France, but the country is otherwise unstable and minor French reactionary insurgencies still smolder throughout the nation. The Grand Ducal government has a small number of vocal supporters, mostly anti-Bonapartists glad to be rid of the Second Empire and a smattering of Occitanians who had been radicalised by language-based persecution over their use of the Occitan language. But unpopularity was still the norm and Grand Duke Antoine called for the first national elections in order to ease dissent. Voter turnout was unpredictable and the powers of Parliament vague and undefined, but this election would, no matter what, chart the future course of the nation for better or for ill...

 

Ab Ovo

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• Feb 25, 2014

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• #4

Elections of 1880​

Partit de lo Nacioun Oucitano
Party of the Occitan Nation
PNO - Liberal

Free Trade: The prosperity of all free nations is built upon unlimited trade and trust in the seas, and a PNO government would ensure the least possible restrictions on free trade. Occitania has several large port-cities which need to be put back to work after the devastation of the war, and we can only do so if our government opens her doors to merchants of all nations.

Laissez-faire: The Occitan economy needs to be built from the ground-up and any government regulations to stifle invention and capitalist drive could strangle at birth any chance of a burgeoning national economy. Government regulation should be kept at a point wherein the only laws set down by Toulouse are those which protect the private property of Occitan citizens. Anything else would only be a detriment to national wellbeing.

Pluralism: The Catholic Church has undoubtedly played a role in the history of the Occitan region but we must be respectful of all faiths, right or wrong. The essential liberties of belief for all citizens of Occitania must be guaranteed with preference shown to none. We trust in God to see His Faith advance, He does not require any help from the government.

Limited citizenship: French and Occitan alike must learn to work together for the good of the nation, but it is essential not to let things go too far. The Basque and Catalan-majority areas of Occitania should be granted independence, as we ourselves gained independence from France. In this way, we can ensure ethnic harmony within our nation.

Anti-military: We must not succumb to militarist desires. Although putting down the Bonapartist rebels is a top priority, troops should be mobilised only when needed and then promptly allowed to return to their homes. Any expansion of the military other than the current small standing army is a waste of time and money and detracts from far more pressing national issues.

Partit Counservadouro
Conservative Party
PC - Conservative

Protectionism: We must not allow our nation to be economically weakened further by ruthless foreign competition. Our industries must be protected by high tariffs in order to make sure the average Occitan worker can keep bread on his family's table without his labour being undermined by Spanish or Italian competition. Free trade will only lead to a flood of foreign products undercutting our own industries and undermining the integrity of the nation.

Interventionism: To ensure fairness and order instead of unscrupulous economic anarchy the government must be allowed to regulate and intervene in the economy, such as subsidising vital businesses and taking measures to ensure the proper treatment of workers and the preservation of smaller industries. Instead of a gluttonous economic wasteland we must strive for a healthy and organised economy.

Moralism: The Catholic Church is the clear moral underpinning of our society, and should be actively promoted and protected by the government. Only through cooperation and accommodation with and for the Church can we ensure a healthy and vibrant religious and ethical culture for the Occitan nation. Practitioners of other religions may practise at their leisure, but their wrongheadedness should be kept behind closed doors.

Limited citizenship: French and Occitan alike must indeed learn to work together for the good of the nation, but minorities cannot be trusted with the responsibility of nation building and should, by right, be denied the ballot until they have shown themselves to be able to contribute positively to society and the greater good of the nation. Citizenship is a privilege, not a right.

Pro-military: It is absolutely vital to national security that Occitania retain a strong army in order to keep order and defend herself from foreign threats, Mobilisation must be able to be easily accomplished and the expansion of the military from it's present paltry state should be a priority so that we can keep our nation safe from the manu threats of this world.

Partit Reiau-Alo
Party of the Royal Alliance
PR-A - Reactionary

Protectionism: The Occitan farmer is the bedrock of our economy. Pastoralism and farming should be encouraged over the many vast and detrimental characteristics of industrialism in order to create a wealthy, stable, and moral society.

Interventionism: The state should direct the economy towards the national interest, rather than allow private interests to dominate the stage.

Moralism: The Catholic Church is the moral compass of our nation and Catholic education and morals should continue to be promoted as the defining characteristic of the Occitan people. Heresies and the like should be outlawed for the good of the state and the moral fabric of our society.

Residency: We are Occitans, and Occitans alone!

Special notes:

• Communist, Socialist, and Anarcho-Liberal parties do exist, but may not take part in this election because this is, after all, still a Prussian Constitutionalist state. They may take part in next election as long as the PR-A is not elected.
• Jingoism is not included in the PR-A platform because we're Occitania, and jingoism is absurd (for Occitania) pre-colonialism. Once the Scramble for Africa fires, it will be added in.

You must vote for:

PNO,
PC,
or PR-A.

You may write the name in English or Occitan, or use the initialism. Please put your vote in bold and edit your original vote instead of posting a new one, should you change your mind. Polls end 7pm Friday.

Happy voting!

 

Last edited: Feb 26, 2014

Terraferma

General

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• Feb 25, 2014

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• #5

This outta satiate my hunger for more Interactive AARs such as these.

I vote for Partit Counservadouro/PC!

 

Fingon888

Colonel

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• Feb 25, 2014

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• #6

I cast my vote for lo Partit Reiau-Alo.

 

Scrapknight

Consul of Baekdu

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• Feb 25, 2014

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• #7

Another day, another monarchy to topple. XD

I shall proudly cast my ballot for the PNO and a freer, more democratic Occitania!

We really ought to get started on that reunification business as soon as possible, however.

 

unmerged(271387)

Field Marshal

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Feb 20, 2011

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• Feb 25, 2014

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• #8

Yay,another interactive AAR!
Thanks Ab Ovo!
As for my vote,I shall vote for PR-A

 

Last edited: Feb 26, 2014

viola

General

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• Feb 25, 2014

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• #9

Party of the Occitan Nation/PNO!

 

Zzzzz...

No blood! No bone! No ash!

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• Feb 25, 2014

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• #10

Party of the Occitan Nation

 

Ab Ovo

Merchant of Venice

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• Feb 25, 2014

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• #11

Scrapknight said:

Another day, another monarchy to topple. XD

I shall proudly cast my ballot for the PNO and a freer, more democratic Occitania!

We really ought to get started on that reunification business as soon as possible, however.

Click to expand...

Yeah, the Germans probably wouldn't be more than irritated over an Occitan Republic. Reunification however, that would have a 150k stack of Germans in Toulouse faster than you could say "puppet state". We're not a puppet state ATM, just a friendly nation in the Reichsphere. Plus France is a anarchic failed state at the moment...

 

Tommy4ever

Papa Bear

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Sep 13, 2008

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• Feb 25, 2014

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• #12

(Those rules look familiar

Really glad to see an interactive AAR in the LTRC-BaI tradition, finally a chance for me to take part in one!

Could you give us a little information on Occitania like population, craftsmen and clerks %, where the concentrations of industry are, what the capital is etc?)

Despite my uncertainty over their suicidal economic objectives of the Liberals, I believe they are the safest pair of hands to protect our nation from the reactionaries. I therefore cast my vote for PNO.

 

Derahan

Ever doubtful

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Oct 30, 2009

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• Feb 25, 2014

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• #13

Well then, I shallt be joining my first interactive AAR (though not so interactive as others but that's how I like it)!

I cast my vote for the PNO because liberals all the way eh?!

 

The_Shepherd

Captain

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Nov 16, 2009

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• Feb 25, 2014

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• #14

For my Reactionary brothers in the PR-A!

 

Kaisersohaib

HONEYMOON

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May 6, 2012

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• Feb 25, 2014

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• #15

Lovely! An Interesting nation I must say, I choose PC

 

M

Marschalk

Lt. General

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• Feb 25, 2014

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• #16

Today I vote Partit Counservadouro, good sirs. But I must say that I believe that all righist forces should unite now. I, Monsieur Marschalk, call for a coalition between PC and PR-A after these elections that would create a stable government, administering for the good of the Grand Duke and Country!

 

Belgiumruler

Comrade Belgie

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Aug 18, 2012

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• Feb 25, 2014

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• #17

Partit de lo Nacioun Oucitano, Freiheid Uber Alles! Oh right, we are in france. Ehm, then Liberte sur tout le monde or something

 

Otto of england

Never Forget Java

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• Feb 25, 2014

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• #18

I vote for the Partit Counservadouro.

 

The_Shepherd

Captain

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• Feb 25, 2014

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• #19

Today I vote Partit Counservadouro, good sirs. But I must say that I believe that all righist forces should unite now. I, Monsieur Marschalk, call for a coalition between PC and PR-A after these elections that would create a stable government, administering for the good of the Grand Duke and Country!

Click to expand...

Though I do not know how you would accomplish this in game terms, this seems reasonable enough to me.
For HH the Grand Duke!

 

Last edited: Feb 25, 2014

Ab Ovo

Merchant of Venice

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Oct 2, 2012

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• Feb 25, 2014

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• #20

Early tally:

PLO - 6
CP - 4
PRA - 2

Liberals have an unexpected early lead, but a conservative-reactionary coalition would result in a hung parliament if polls closed today. Good turnout thus far, keep 'em coming! A national overview post similar to what was requested by Tommy will be up this evening.