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((Just a little query, but I'm wondering if anyone is interested in a spreadsheet to help with marriages and matches between families. We had one in the EUIV portion of this iAAR, but it sort of fell out of use by the end. It was mostly used by nobles to set up matches, but now that we're getting into the era where the middle class is growing, it could probably be used by the new money to arrange matches too. I'm mainly asking this now because I'm working on the royal family tree and it gets tiresome searching for potential matches elsewhere on the tree or making up them up. If players want a shot at a marriage into the royal family, that makes my job easier. It's either that or randomly posting in the thread that someone is looking for a match, but I feel like that's distracting. So if people would like me to revive that spreadsheet so it's easier for everyone to form dynastic ties, I'll do so.))
The investigation slowly progresses. Questioning the guards around the palace has not met with success, but apparently one of the palace workers saw a shadowy figure leaving the palace. At the time, they had not connected the person's appearance with the assassination, but it is likely the person they saw was the assassin. They did not get a good look at the culprit, although they are absolutely certain that it was a man, a relatively young one at that. This seems to fit the evidence, for an older man would not have been able to so easily scale the palace wall. This still leaves a large number of suspects.
((It is quite hard to keep coming up with minor bits of evidence when I don't know the full details of the crime. The next time someone intends to off themselves by assassination or some other spectacular method, it might be best if I'm provided with the full details beforehand. ))
((I will. Firstly, a new use for appointed seats, has come into effect under the new Emperor, I rather see how this appointment by merit thing goes before advocating for changing it. In principle I don't love appointed seats, that's why I abstained on the vestiage removal act instead voting no.
As for the portion against gerrymandering and moving to the Jefferson method, I voted for both in seperate bills and due to it standing alone the anti-gerrymandering measure is more likely to pass. As for the Cortz, we've yet to have any situation where it's consistently blocking the assembly for partisan reasons, so there isn't any reason to reform it, yet. Third section meaningless duentob the current convention, where the cabinet is disbanded by tradition if it loses the confidence of the assembly. Lastly, Fraternidad supports a pension, an unemployment subsidy, better education and healthcare. The last two we proposed in seperate bills this session, which we all supported. The first three are easily defunded by the conservative and as we had discussed before puts us on the defense with accusations that were wasting money. As for minimum wage, safety and work hours, we're liberals, not socialists, we'll probably consider those after the welfare state is complete, probably in the order I listed them or as mass movements demand them. Anyway I'm fine you asked, I think not bothering to respond to these types of questions is weak and boring.))
((I will. Firstly, a new use for appointed seats, has come into effect under the new Emperor, I rather see how this appointment by merit thing goes before advocating for changing it. In principle I don't love appointed seats, that's why I abstained on the vestiage removal act instead voting no.
As for the portion against gerrymandering and moving to the Jefferson method, I voted for both in seperate bills and due to it standing alone the anti-gerrymandering measure is more likely to pass. As for the Cortz, we've yet to have any situation where it's consistently blocking the assembly for partisan reasons, so there isn't any reason to reform it, yet. Third section meaningless duentob the current convention, where the cabinet is disbanded by tradition if it loses the confidence of the assembly. Lastly, Fraternidad supports a pension, an unemployment subsidy, better education and healthcare. The last two we proposed in seperate bills this session, which we all supported. The first three are easily defunded by the conservative and as we had discussed before puts us on the defense with accusations that were wasting money. As for minimum wage, safety and work hours, we're liberals, not socialists, we'll probably consider those after the welfare state is complete, probably in the order I listed them or as mass movements demand them. Anyway I'm fine you asked, I think not bothering to respond to these types of questions is weak and boring.))
((You weren't around in the EU4 portion, but in it the Cortz was the more Conservative of the two houses and successfully blocked several attempts to reform even when it passed the Assembly. Breaking noble power should be high on the to do list.))
((Any details you can provide would be nice. You can send them by PM if you prefer none of the other players to know the details yet. I just need something so I can give little clues as the investigation progresses, or something damning if it succeeds.))
Never expected to see healthcare pass and education not. I'll make sure to mention that in the update. Also, something tells me parties need to start using whips to get those votes in line. ))
((Any details you can provide would be nice. You can send them by PM if you prefer none of the other players to know the details yet. I just need something so I can give little clues as the investigation progresses, or something damning if it succeeds.))
Never expected to see healthcare pass and education not. I'll make sure to mention that in the update. Also, something tells me parties need to start using whips to get those votes in line. ))
((PM tried to whip, yet Health Care passed. The funniest thing to me was the Protection of the Empire Act. It eas a pretty vanilla bill that basically just banned personal armies. Nobody in the Assembly voted against it, only a few abstained, yet it gets defeated pretty significantly in the Cortz. But the biggest thing to me is the state of emergency act, defeated by one vote with a fifth of the body abstaining. It could have been beaten in the Assembly actually, were it not for abstains, but still))
((There is no need for such a law as the majority of hispanians are good god fearing men who would never dare to rise up against the sacred institution of the monarchy ))
((There is no need for such a law as the majority of hispanians are good god fearing men who would never dare to rise up against the sacred institution of the monarchy ))
So this a draft for the Shadow Cabinet. I know asking for both the Ministry of Finance and interior is a bit much, but both are critical to economic policy. I believe I can make strong arguments in the realm of domestic affairs in the run up to the election and get Laissez faire to work well if we win with the coordinated powers of both offices. However if I can only have one, i'd prefer Finance. Remember Laissez faire differentiates us from the conservatives and keeps Marina satisfied with Reconqustia's social reforms.
Shadow Prime Minister - Fernando Luis Alejandro de León
Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs - Victor Thenikos
Shadow Minister of War - Fernando Luis Alejandro de León
Shadow Minister of the Interior - Manuel Medrano
Shadow Minister of Finance - Manuel Medrano
Shadow Minister of Education - Vacant
Shadow Minister of Colonial Affairs - Manuel Alejandro D'Garcia
Shadow Minister of the Navy - Vacant
Shadow Minister of Justice - Vacant
Shadow Minister of Religious Affairs - Vacant
Shadow Minister of Trade - Vacant
The Unionist government faced some difficulties going forward, not externally, but within its own ranks. Many of the bills presented by the ruling party, including the Prime Minister, did not receive the support from fellow party members. The Cortz in particular seemed to be resorting to its old obstructionist habits. Strangely enough, one of the few laws that managed to pass was a healthcare reform bill, somehow slipping through due to support within the Union. What was even more shocking about this was the fact that it had almost no support outside Parliament. There were no groups advocating for healthcare reform, and indeed a poll taken while Parliament was voting estimated that only 0.02% of the population actually supported the reform. The majority of citizens were confused by this decision, and it seemed likely that vocal opposition would occur from the population if Parliament tried to pass more unwanted reforms. ((From now on, players should keep in mind what the in-game POPs want when presenting reforms. Passing reforms that don’t have either 5% of the population wanting it or a movement associated with it will result in a penalty for the party proposing it for the next election.))
It became clear after Parliament adjourned for the time being that the Cabinet seemed to lack focus. The Minister of the Interior and Justice had not even made an appearance in Parliament during the last vote, and hadn’t been seen around the capital in quite some time. It was fortunate for Hispania that Prime Minister Pedro Manuel Falcone was proactive and took up the duties of the missing minister. Under his guidance, the criticized practice of using government funds to promote the ruling party was ended and attention given instead to employment efforts. A review of the administration was performed to prepare for its expansion in areas where it was lacking. The results were more than positive, revealing that the large funding provided for the administration had ensured that the bureaucracy was fully developed in key regions of the Empire. With no reason to hire more bureaucrats, the government offered assistance to the Church of Jesus Christ, encouraging more men to take up the cloth. Leon-Castilla, Extremadura, Gibraltar, and Romagna were most lacking in men of faith, but thanks to the government’s intervention, they saw a noticeable rise in men joining the priesthood after a year. After that, funds were shifted to providing proper training for the growing ranks of craftsmen moving into towns across Valencia, Granada, and Leon-Castilla.
When it came to industry, the Unionist government differed from the view of the previous Imperial administration. The government refrained from taking up the mantle of the driving force behind industrialization, leaving it instead to the growing number of capitalists. This did not mean the government could not assist. Funds from the treasury were invested into capitalists’ ventures, ensuring they got off the ground. Projects to establish a paper mill in Provence, expand the regular clothes factory in Puglia ((You’re welcome, @05060403)), and build a luxury clothes factory in Toscana and small arms factory in Andalucia received the appropriate funding to get the projects going.
The Ministry of Education was quite busy in 1842. After debating about idealism, the ministry ramped up its efforts. Educated minds were consulted on how best to improve Hispania’s mines. It took less than a year of careful study to develop a method to boost coal, sulphur, and iron production. With an improved healthcare system, new methods of treatment could also be devised. Utilizing pressure chambers during thorax surgery was deemed a suitable method to prevent too much oxygen from entering the bloodstream. This did not mean that philosophical pursuits were ignored. A new theory circulating around educated circles was that concept of determinism, where all events are inevitable and denied free will in most cases. Hegelian idealism followed after that, along with proto-existentialism, as educated Hispanians debated whatever topic fit their fancy.
In matters of foreign affairs, the Unionist government continued doing what it did before, which mostly summed up to do nothing at all. Some wondered if the Cabinet even realized there was a world outside Hispania. Certain events seemed to reoccur and were summarily ignored each time. When Byzantium convinced Transdacia’s Foreign Minister to take a less pro-Hispanian approach and increase ties with Byzantium instead, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not bother to react. As for Persia, Byzantium had firmly declared them in their sphere, although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs continued to vie for influence in the region. Either this was a major blunder or genius maneuvering on the ministry’s part. While continued inaction continuously forced Hispania to butt heads with Byzantium over competing foreign interests, it also avoided direct confrontation. Hispania continued to expend resources on ventures that weren’t proving fruitful, but at least it was not antagonizing a valued friend.
The Emperor took a personal interest in extending a hand of friendship to Byzantium. A marriage was arranged between Princess Maria de Trastámara and Prince Isaakios Palaiologos, the second son of Basileus Michael X. A joyous wedding was held in Byzantium and the entire royal family attended. It was unfortunate that the Crown Prince would soon outshine the blushing bride for attention, although it was not by his choice. After the wedding, the Emperor announced that the Crown Prince would be staying in Constantinople as personal guest of the Basileus, where he would attend a Greek university and serve as the personal liaison between the Hispanian and Byzantine royal families. While this might be seen as an attempt to strengthen ties with Byzantium, anyone who looked deep enough would see the real reason behind the choice to keep the Crown Prince in Constantinople. While Ferran was forced to stay in the Byzantine capital, it would mean he’d be far away from a certain Arabian princess staying in Valencia. It was a delaying tactic to avoid further controversy, but at least for a time it would keep the two apart.
The Ministry of Colonial Affairs received queries from both Nueva Granada and Sanchonia about whether Hispania’s new colonies in South America would be granted to them to govern. Hispania had already handed over colonies in North America to its colonial nations before, so the South Americans were surprised when the same practice was not implemented immediately for them as well.
Despite everything, there were still many nations trying to improve relations with Hispania or even sign an alliance. Hungary, the Netherlands, Lithuania, and even Ming were attempting to smooth things over with Hispania. An alliance was offered by Dai Nam and ignored.
It seemed that Asia was to continue to serve as an area filled with hostility. Qing and Delhi battled it out, while Ming was caught trying to fabricate a reason for war with Bengal. It was no surprise then that Ming easily won when war finally came, securing the rest of Yunnan from their neighbour.
In the UKA, tensions were rising over slavery. Support for the end of that practice was growing, especially as new states added chose not to extend slavery. The elite that favoured it fought tooth and nail not to lose their old privileges. Eventually a gag rule had to be applied to prevent laws from being presented on the issue.
Bavaria and Lithuania continued to fight over who would dominate Poland. Bavaria discredited Lithuania multiple times, and this seemed to have an impact. By mid-1843, Poland agreed to sign an alliance with Bavaria. It seemed that Poland had finally taken a side.
The small riots across the Empire were becoming almost commonplace. Most were civil enough and rarely resulted in overt act of violence, although tempers were high. While the vast majority were in Africa, an increasing number were occurring in Italy and even Iberia. Alicante, Naples, Tarragona, Leghorn, and more were the source of such discontent. This was only the beginning.
In April of 1842, a student’s association in Rome published a manifesto calling for voting reforms. A similar action had been taken by a group in Portugal, but the Imperial government at the time had stamped down on such activity. With the recent changes to the press laws though, the government deemed it best not to intervene. The message met with mixed results. Attempts to spread the message to nearby Perugia and Ancona met with little success, while the people of Grosetto were more than willing to listen. The Church became a strong opponent of these liberal ideas, holding sermons across Hispania. Yet this only caused discontent to bubble to the surface. In May, a group of Castilian farmers living outside the city of Rome, egged on by the various liberal groups, started a riot. While like any other riot at first, eventually the focus of their discontent became the Emperor. As calls for his execution were made, there was no choice but to respond with force. The Exercit Napoli was called on to put down the fledgling rebellion.
The increasing industrialization was also leading to poorer working conditions. A mob in Nablus began rioting about the dreary conditions they worked, despite the fact the only factory in town was a lumber mill. A much more serious threat was the riot in Alessandria, just north of Genoa. Workers attempted to riot, but the newly formed Exercit Genoa maintained the peace in the end.
Due to the events around Rome, the government took a more hardline approach going forward. When a liberal professor released a treatise supporting free market and laissez faire economics to much acclaim, various members of the ruling party called it propaganda meant to exploit the working class, although the Cabinet made no official response on the matter. Its focus was more on matters of education. A recent discovery had been made that the curriculum dictated by the Ministry of Education was not being properly followed in parts of Africa. While non-Aragonese minorities were permitted to be educated in their local tongue if their numbers were significant enough, they were still required to be taught the Hispanian language. Schools across North Africa though had been lax in this regard, most not even bothering to fulfill that language requirement. An entire generation of Berber children were not being taught Hispania. The government immediately enforced the required curriculum, stating that all students must be taught Hispanian, even if the rest of their teaching was in another language. Ensuring that all schools were teaching the proper material would take time to implement and stretch the resources of the Ministry of Education.
Tensions could not be maintained indefinitely. The lack of success of various marches and riots led to a return to more peaceful times in Somaliland. Even Rome, the city that had seen much hostility, saw support for the more revolutionary ideas die down. Perhaps the forceful end to the revolt outside its walls was the source of its withdrawal.
Even as things calmed down elsewhere, conflict was brewing in Leon-Castilla. It all began with a poem, one declaring the Hispanian state backwards and oppressive, as well as calling for national unity, liberal reforms, and unification with our cultural brethren. The last point confused many readers, for who were these brothers we were meant to unite with. Many either interpreted it as meaning bringing the colonies back under direct rule or taking Nueva Sicilia back from the French. Either way, the government did not respond at first, not wanting to validate it with an official response. However, it did gain root in the aristocracy of Leon. Spurred on by the call for change, a group of liberal-minded nobles started a riot in the streets of Leon, one that had to be put down by force to prevent its spread. Up until now it had been minorities or the disenfranchised making wild claims, but now the aristocracy was even calling for the Emperor’s death. To say that Emperor Ferran VI was concerned was an understatement. Coordinating with his father-in-law, who could exert a great amount of influence in the region, he managed to weed out the more rebellious of the nobles still remaining to prevent another such uprising.
Just as Leon quieted down, another uprising occurred in Burgos. This one was started by Portuguese labourers who had migrated east. It was put down with equal ferocity after the previous uprisings. Perhaps noticing how violently previous revolts were handled, a chartist society in Badajoz decided to peacefully promote their ideas, and thus avoided persecution by the government. Either way, it was clear that something had to be done. The liberal agitation was spreading. With an election on the horizon, perhaps it was time to deal with those issues.
Estremadura - Liquor Distillery - Under construction
Granada – Steamer Shipyard - 1
Leon-Castilla - Machine Parts Factory - Expanding to 3
Sicily - Ammunition - Under construction
Sicily - Explosives - To be constructed
Sithlent - 21WP
Leon-Castilla - Cement Factory - Expanding to 2
With the current government's policies, factories cost 6WP and each level of expansion costs 3WP.
((Just love that liberal event spam. Too bad the in-game POPs don’t know just how great their Emperor actually is. Anyway, on to business. We have an election going on now. You may start posting campaign posts as soon as you like. I’ll assign bonus VP based on what is written. Remember to point out issues that have been important lately and focus on your party’s policies. Something else to consider going forward is promises of reforms and how the POPs would react. If the POPs don’t want it, they won’t want to elect you for it. Check the save if you can to see what the POPs support. Any that have movements definitely are good to focus on.
As for deadlines, players may propose laws up until Wednesday at 12PM PST. The official voting for the election will also start then. Ministers should post their plans before then too. A good thing to keep in mind is that if ministers don’t post plans or don’t state that they’re keeping the old ones, their party will be penalized going into the election. I don’t apply this if certain ministers have gone AWOL, although it’d be wise to replace them then.
Just a few notes. First, for capitalists, whenever you request me to build something once you have enough WP, I only do WP calculations after an update, so that means it’ll be built the update after. If you’re wondering why none of them have been built yet, that’s why. I still have them marked down though, so you’ll get them eventually. Second, I’ve decided that the cost for each level of expansion for factories should also be influenced by economic policy, mainly to prevent insane WP build-up, especially since the AI may upgrade your factories for free. From now on, each level of expansion will be half of whatever the base factory cost is, so 4WP for state capitalism, 3WP for interventionism, and 2WP for laissez-faire. Third, I’ve been thinking about how alternate characters and proxies are used and wish to make an adjustment. I don’t quite like how they can be used almost as a front for an existing character to perform actions and avoid culpability. I can remember in EUIV players using AI members of their own party in the other house to propose laws their character could not, but at least these people were actively associated with that character’s party. Now we have proxies proposing laws for characters not even in Parliament. While I want every player to have someone voting for them in Parliament so your vote means something, I don’t want proxies to turn into mirror images of your character. Therefore, proxies can no longer propose laws. If a player wants to propose a law, they need to be a member of Parliament. There should be a benefit to actually making your character a member of Parliament instead of staying outside it, other than just VP, so there it is.))
It seems that our social policies didn't really find that much support this time. I propose that we shift our focus over to an expansion of the franchise, as there are about a million Hispanians who want that. We could also try our anti-gerrymandering legislation again. But we should probably wait before implementing further social policies.
It seems that our social policies didn't really find that much support this time. I propose that we shift our focus over to an expansion of the franchise, as there are about a million Hispanians who want that. We could also try our anti-gerrymandering legislation again. But we should probably wait before implementing further social policies.
There shouldn't be much in the way of backlash for the existing reform to healthcare, but it's absolutely true that we should avoid further reforms without popular backing. I think from this point onward we should, when it comes to reforms, by the vessel of popular movement, rather than attempting proactive policy. When ever exists a sizeable protest movement for a political reform, we back it, but limit ourselves to that. On that note, as disadvantageous as the current situation with gerrymandering is, we can't risk the backlash of persuing a reform without popular support, so I suggest we leave that be. The backlash would likely cost us more than the benefit of ending Gerrymandering. I will repropose the equalization of the electorate. Then we campaign hard on that and on our coalition policies. However until the vote begins I think all of our energy should go to passing the reform.
Electorate Equalization Act of 1843
Guarantees that the vote value of all enfranchised classes is equal.
There shouldn't be much in the way of backlash for the existing reform to healthcare, but it's absolutely true that we should avoid further reforms without popular backing. I think from this point onward we should, when it comes to reforms, by the vessel of popular movement, rather than attempting proactive policy. When ever exists a sizeable protest movement for a political reform, we back it, but limit ourselves to that. On that note, as disadvantageous as the current situation with gerrymandering is, we can't risk the backlash of persuing a reform without popular support, so I suggest we leave that be. The backlash would likely cost us more than the benefit of ending Gerrymandering. I will repropose the equalization of the electorate. Then we campaign hard on that and on our coalition policies. However until the vote begins I think all of our energy should go to passing the reform.
I agree, we must first focus our efforts to giving the people the vote, before proposing the anti-gerrymandering legislation.
The more people that can vote, the more people can support other voting legislation.
((I've thought about the penalty for passing reforms that lack support and have decided to make a change. There still will be a penalty, but it will not be applied for reforms proposed by a party that would naturally support them in-game. So a liberal can propose and pass political reforms without penalty, but not social reforms. Likewise, reactionaries can freely revoke reforms. Conservatives should only be doing either when militancy is high or the reform has adequate support. I decided to add this change since the in-game parties of each ideology always support certain reforms. It'd be silly for me to penalize liberals for passing a political reform with only minor support or no movement when the in-game liberals can do so anyway. Sorry if I caused any confusion. I find that an iAAR is a continuous work in progress. I've been doing this one for almost two years, if you include the EUIV part, and I'm still making changes all the time. ))
Firstly I want to apologise for my absence lately. I have spent a lot of time in the military and there has simply not been time for debating. With that said, here are my thoughts on the situation.
I support the idea of a shadow cabinet with the ambition that it will lead to a more organised opposition. My first-hand request for a position on such a cabinet would be Minister of War, but as it's already claimed by Leon, who is more experienced and active than me, I'll let him that position. That leaves me with rather few choices though, but I have decided upon the Ministry of Justice, if you are okay with that appointment? Minister of Education is my second choice.
On to the political climate. I wholeheartedly agree with the statements from other party members that we must focus our efforts on expansion of franchise to make the voter base more positive toward us. But that is not enough. I sense a strong will for reform in Hispania, but too many are acceptant of the current state. The support for moralism must decrease in favour of a more free, secular society. Furthermore the relaxed attitude to the military is worrisome, considering how much we actually rely on the armed forces to maintain this vast empire. ~Sincerely, Bernardo
((Clearly spoken I want us to campaign for pluralism and pro-militarism to impact our in-game votes, though I don't know if we can do that in any way. I'll put a notice to Mike outside this spoiler.
By the way guys, would it be possible to create a conversation thread for Coalicion Fraternidad? The forum appears to cap invites at 5, which is less than the members in our coalition. I can offer to mediate between two such threads, if we want that? If this would just make it too complicated we can stay with simple PMs instead? Opinions?))
((@Michaelangelo Do our election campaign posts influence your decisions in the election events? So that for example a large Fraternidad campaign focused on pluralism would make you more likely to strengthen pluralism in those events?))
It's either that or randomly posting in the thread that someone is looking for a match, but I feel like that's distracting. So if people would like me to revive that spreadsheet so it's easier for everyone to form dynastic ties, I'll do so.))
