So Far From God- A Mexico AHD AAR

Attention My Dear Readers.


[thread=636256]The Third Round of the AARland Choice AwAARds are now open for voting.[/thread]


Go and vote your forum needs you! Voting has never been simpler!

--
Ahem. Hopefully that caught your attention. The more people participate in the ACA's the better.
Please head on over there and vote for your favorite AARs, the categories are done with, so all you have to do is vote.

Still planning to update this weekend.

It is not truth that matters, but victory

"We are gathered here today to celebrate the birth of a new nation."



The Mexican flag fluttered crisply in the wind behind him as he spoke to the audience. Rows of solders, veterans of the campaign, stood at attention to either side.

"Since I have received the honor of this office, only one thing has guided me: To make her strong. And today, my dream has become a reality."

He gestured behind him, towards the ocean that was the backdrop to this event.

"More than three hundred years ago, the Europeans landed near this very spot as they sought a way to reach the riches of the Indies. They were few in number, but used the divisions among the people here to conquer and rule them for three hundred years. Our Fathers, tired of Spanish misrule, finally disposed of the old world and its rule."

The audience, mostly aristocrats and other members of the voting class, nodded along as he spoke. And why not? It was they who had won the revolution. The peasants had been defeated and demoralized, but it was the their entrance to the revolutionary cause that had changed everything.

"And now, the New World is taking the place of the old. Its dusty and tired presence throughout the world is waning, to be replaced by the rightful heirs of the legacy of mixing the blood of Aztec warriors with Spanish conquistadores. The best of the old world came here to seek the new, and were renewed in turn, transforming into a new and vital race that has taken the world by storm."



"We followed in our fathers footsteps, and put our house in order, and then continued that long trek to the Indies which is what brought that fruitful union about. Rule over the indies is in our very blood, in our history, our legacy. And I knew, when we embarked on this venture, that we could do nothing but finish the voyage started by our fathers."



"Though the ships of the old world came, and sailed around our ports like flies, we stood fast. Our warriors were already in the Indies, and we at home had but to be patient to allow them the chance to victory. And when their armies struck in Yucatan, we wiped them out and threw them back into the sea. Unlike us, unlike our ancestors, they were not brave enough to commit fully to their venture: their ships remained unburned behind them, a testament to their cowardice."

The horizon, clear of ships, reinforced the point.

"Meanwhile, our solders marched, slowly but surely, defeating them again and again, taking province after province, winning the war where it mattered: in the east. It was never our intention, nor did we every try, to invade the homes of the Dutch as they sought to invade ours. No, we merely wanted them to recognize that their time had come, that it was time for the old world to give way to the new. That it was time for them to go back into the shadows of the dusty past and let Mexico have her rightful place in the sun."



"This, they did not do easily. But in the end, our solders made them see reason, and now, we can see, that this nation is no longer what it once was. It had defeated a power of the old world and shown that the new shall now hold its rightful dominion."

---

The above will be your second friendly reminder about this. I'm going to keep reminding you intermittently until voting is over.

@loki: Mixing the old and new mythologies is precisely what Mr. president was attempting to do, after all, the process of nation building requires national myths about why We Are The Most Awesome Bunch Ever.

@Prawnstar: Hmm..I supposse they would, wouldn't they.....

@Dr. Gonzo: Glad to have you on board. Glad you're enjoying the AAR.

Next update should be this weekend.

FireBlaze said:

One excellent AAR that I just read from start to finish. Words really can't do it justice, but it's wonderful and thought provoking nonetheless.

Click to expand...

Glad to have you, glad you're enjoying it.

Update only half ready, so its not going to quite make it tonight. Hopefully tomorrow.

---

I'm sorry the update continues to be delayed. It continues to be half written, and every night I get home I am too tired after doing all the real life things I have to do to finish writing it. I hope to post it as soon as possible, no later than this weekend, dammit.

In the meantime, the ACA's are going strong. If you haven't gone already, click on the snazzy image above and vote.

Red in tooth and claw

The peace of Metternich was looking a little frayed around the edges.

France had taken Catalonia. Prussia had, for all intents and purposes, united Northern Germany under her leadership.

Everywhere, the world was becoming more dangerous, more competitive, militarily and economically.

The peace was not over yet. The United Kingdom stood on top of the world, overlooking the rest of Europe. The Pax Britannica kept the European family from letting its squabbles get too messy, but it could only do so much. Catalonia had proved that.

Mexico would have to be ready, and he and his country were running out of time.

While he was building an empire in the east, he did not forget about the west.



The common Latin American market was becoming a reality, piece by piece. Brazil was still the sticking point, but he had plans for Brazil...

The markets of Latin America would guarantee both access to raw materials and a market for Mexican Industry. With Mexican leadership, the Spanish speaking world would no longer be a backwater, no longer be stuck in its endless petty squabbles. So many useless wars had been fought over strips of territory while the industry of the region lagged. Mexico would put a stop to it, it would be the elder brother, stepping in for an absent and useless Father who could not even defend himself...

Not that Mexico was ready to go toe to toe with France. He might present an image of martial confidence in the new Mexican Army, and with some justice: it was truly a more powerful instrument than it had been. A force that had been so brittle as to nearly lose Texas, two decades later, had fought a multi-year war on the other side of the world against a European power and taken its colonies by force while repelling two invasions of its own territory. But the Netherlands and France were not truly in the same league, and he never forgot this. as such, the diplomatic efforts to get a European Alliance continued. Let the American disdain alliances with European powers, Mexico would seek them, just in case the strange friendship with the Americans ever turned sour..



Of course, in the end, all alliances were matters of convenience and were essentially temporary. The Game of Power was, in the end, all about strength and survival. The people who adapted the best to the changing world would be the ones who would succeed. The words of his victory speech came back to him. He himself had not really believed what he was saying, but what if there were some truth to what he had said? Was Mexico, not unlike the United States, blessed with the heritage of the Old World without any of the dross? Was there not a new people being born who had shown themselves to be stronger than the old?



After establishing a government by the true heirs of the conquistadors, had Mexico not become a Great Power? The Liberales and the indios had nearly ruined everything, but as soon as the right people were in charge, disaster was averted and the arc of history went down a path that seemed inevitable, a path leading to increasing Mexican dominance of Latin America and the world..



As the elections came up, he felt pleased with his legacy as a President. This was not the end of the story, nor was it even the end of his story. His term was up, but the Party had evolved beyond what it had been. The President was longer all that there was, his strength depended on the support of the other members of the Conservative party. He was, really, first among equals. And when the new President was elected, he would be as well, and then backroom politics would control what he would do.

There was an advantage in having set things up so, thankfully. It would be too much to say that he would control the next President. He would not be a mere puppet. But there was power behind the proverbial throne waiting for him when this election ended, power to take, power to use, power to gain.

He signed his last order as President, making it much like the first. It was time to make sure the election had the right outcome.

Just to avoid any potential confusion by the way that update was written: this chapter is not over yet.

My current plan is to *try* and stretch this chapter out to 1865, maybe even 1870. We'll see how it goes.

But in any case, this chapter will continue. I have vague hopes of posting an update tomorrow to make up for the lack of an update last weekend. No promises.

I have played through 1865 (just getting playing time the last week, much less writing update time, has been tough) so for once I have a buffer of screenshots/gameplay.

Merrick Chance' said:

If you want to keep the Conservatives in power, wouldn't the best thing to do game wise be allow full suffrage?

Click to expand...

And this is the irony, and honestly makes me wonder if the V2 AHD election system works the way it really should. Fundamentally, the Liberals push for wider voting that might assure Conservatives majorities since most pops are conservative. The conservatives, meanwhile, resist, resist, resist.

But, generally, this represents roleplaying. The conservatives don't "know" about the mechanics. They know they have been in power, would like to stay in power, and that the current system has them winning elections handily.

FireBlaze said:

The shadowy cabal can't control all those people!

Click to expand...

:rofl: There's this too. You just made me realize why shadow cabals are popular. They represent a way to communicate power, intrigue, and power politics without the work involved in creating and keeping track of a dozen or so characters, at a minimum.

---

Odds of an update today still 50/50.

A Few Good Men

The fundementals were in place, but, like any building, it was necessary, once the foundation was set, to keep building the Mexican Empire.



In the north of the country, a wary eye was still cast on the Americans and their western ambitions. Talk of Manifest Destiny had to some extent died down, but it was still there. The Mexican State had, for once in its existence, plenty of money to embark on a project of reinforcing the frontier, to guard against some future change. It was an immense undertaking, building a system of forts and similar means of defense over thousands of miles. Just starting it would take years and tens of thousands of pesos. But the land in Texas and elsewhere was theirs and the political will to make sure of it was there.



The new territory in the east would also require investment. The Mexican Navy was more a notional than a real thing at this point, but it would exist sooner or later...and in the meantime the ports would help the merchant marine and the transportation of resources from the East Indies into Acapulco.



Our grip on power remained unshaken. There were signs of change, however. No longer were the Liberals a presence in the Upper House but ghosts in the elections.



And their slow growing strength in the Upper House continued, despite all efforts. Well, the plan had never been to stop reform. Such a thing was impossible. Some might have a vision of Conservatism as striding across the path of history and telling it to stop, but such a vision was futile. No, better to manage the change. Minimize it. Bend as little as possible, never break, and slow it down. Those Liberals priests were slowly educating the masses, perhaps by the time real reform came they might even be worthy of the ballot.

In the mean time, the eternal quest to insure the place of Mexico in the world continued....



And the search for security finally reached an important milestone. Two decades of diplomatic effort finally paid off, and the alliance with the American was no longer the only thing between Mexico and the hunger of American settlers for western land...



And in the coffeehouses of the Republic, the men who had set up the Conservative Order met and discussed what they had done, and what they ahd yet to do, knowing full well that they were masters of the Republic and the guarantee of her place as a Great Power....



It was up to them, and to no other. They were the ones with the power, as it should be. And so long as the wielded that power well, the people would be happy to let them continue to govern, would continue to live their petty little lives, not noticing that while their life was steadily getting better, those who made the decisions were doing better still. How else should it be? Had not Rome been separated between Citizen and Freedmen? Had it not depended on the excellence of a few rather than the strength of the many?

The men of the club raises glasses to each other and knew which was the right answer. After all, was not their very existence a testament to the power of the excellent few over the common many?