Imperium Offtopicum: The Peshawar Lancers

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I am really busy this weekend, so expect something on Sunday latest. For this turn, I can't do that much.

Do I start with the 10 IP like everyone else? I know I'm not just starting, but it is a new country, and if I don't then I am very far behind.

If I do, Build 5 armies and invade the province to my north.

If I do not, Construct 1 army.

 

[Lord Haldane]

GENERAL GORDON, I PRESUME?​

Major-General Charles George Gordon, Companion of the Order of the Bath; 'Chinese' Gordon, hero of the capture of Changchow - and Gordon 'Pasha' of the Soudan, to which he was lost in the chaos of The Fall. Or so the Empire had thought, until the latest official dispatches from Sir H.M. Stanley's expedition related, with no small amount of joy, his survival as protector of the city and people of Khartoum. Whilst probing beyond the First Cataract of the Nile, in the nominal border of Upper Egypt and the Soudan, a band of native tribesmen reportedly recognised the kindred of Gordon Pasha, who had issued an edict demanding that any Europeans be brought to his court for shelter, and hurriedly took them south to the city of Omdurman. Gordon, now sixty-seven years of age, had assumed lordship of Khartoum's grateful population after the Khedivate collapsed under the strain of countless insurrections; swelled with Egyptians fleeing south, he apparently fought off the zealous attacks of a Mahdist pretender in the dark years following. The city-state is now stable and relatively prosperous, for the backwards region, but the beloved General has been seeking news of Britain's fate for the past two decades. After meeting his old acquaintance Stanley, Gordon reportedly wishes to undertake the journey to Bombay and the embrace of civilisation.

Sir H.M. Stanley's expedition is brought before Gordon and Agha Khalil Orphali, in his camp somewhere in the endless wastes of the Soudan.​

Agha Khalil Orphali, the lieutenant and bodyguard of the elderly Pasha, has been delegated governance of the city, and Gordon reportedly rides north with Stanley and Selous to rendezvous with General Baden-Powell. Baden-Powell's own dispatches, from Egypt proper, relate the resounding success of the Nile Field Force in stabilising a suitable site near the Canal. Several neighbouring hamlets, including Port Said, have been pacified and, within the year, it is likely that an attack will be launched on the remains of Cairo, which are held in the faltering grip of an old Egyptian functionary. Given Gordon's salvation from the wild, and the happy state of his hard-fought desert paradise, it seems likely that a further expedition to fully rescue Khartoum to civilised governance will be staged in the coming years. Vague reports among Soudanese tribesmen of a European trader, hailing from far to the south of Abyssinia, will be 'fully investigated' in the words of the Foreign Secretary.

 

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Message from the Admiralty

Steaming Ahead

Spend 2IP towards the creation of a Fleet (4/4).

Good stuff in this post, though I did want to note for everyone that naval technology right now is about where it was in the 1850s and 1860s. (The CSS Alabama above is a great example.)

 

[Deaghaidh]

Good stuff in this post, though I did want to note for everyone that naval technology right now is about where it was in the 1850s and 1860s. (The CSS Alabama above is a great example.)

OOC: Yeah, in general tech level 2 or three is where we were pre-Fall: Ironclads, breech loader rifles and machine guns. I'm not an expert on artillery history, but I suspect the same is true there. The one exception seems to be Airships, where 2 seems to be WWI level at least.

Interestingly, in the postscript to the book Stirling states that in his world wood-hulled sailing vessels remained competitive almost until the 21st century. His argument is that without Europe and the US, steel and coal remained rare and thus too expensive. I don't know that I buy that.

 

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OOC: Yeah, in general tech level 2 or three is where we were pre-Fall: Ironclads, breech loader rifles and machine guns. I'm not an expert on artillery history, but I suspect the same is true there. The one exception seems to be Airships, where 2 seems to be WWI level at least.

Interestingly, in the postscript to the book Stirling states that in his world wood-hulled sailing vessels remained competitive almost until the 21st century. His argument is that without Europe and the US, steel and coal remained rare and thus too expensive. I don't know that I buy that.

Airships are a steampunk flourish...I mean they're practically a required fetish for Victorian fiction. Otherwise yes, tech tier II is equivalent to the state of things in 1878.

As to sailing vessels, I can't really get behind that either. I'm guessing he also thinks the massive depopulation of the world in his version of the post-Fall would retard growth significantly. (The population of India alone drops from 200 million to about 50. By the time of the book, by 2025, he writes that the British Empire's total population of 230 million is "a little less than 50% of the world's population".

 

[DonCossack]

OOC: And just like that, the navy post was changed. Weird.

 

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OOC: And just like that, the navy post was changed. Weird.

Oh, and 24hr Countdown initiated!

My list of orders needed still stands, and Watercress will want to use his extra 4IP.

 

[Watercress]

OOC: Ah, cheers for the remainder. Is it nessecary to PM you my orders, or is it fine it leave them in red in this thread?

Anyways;

WIP Newspaper Article

Orders:
Build 1 Navy with 4 IP

 

[unmerged(48557)]

OOC: Ah, cheers for the remainder. Is it nessecary to PM you my orders, or is it fine it leave them in red in this thread?

Anyways;

WIP Newspaper Article

Orders:
Build 1 Navy with 4 IP

You can PM any orders you want to remain private, though there's only a few players who do keep their spending secret. The only things that must to be posted in this thread are declarations of war and military movements.

 

[Seek75]

PM John Cook, once more, stands in the center of the Colombian Congress, watched intently by the Congressmen. Cook is no longer the young man he used to be. His hair has lightened to a dark gray, and the wrinkles in his face have become far more prominent than before. He seems to cough frequently, and his hearing is beginning to give out. Regardless, his characteristic aura of authority and power remains around him, now also complimented by an air of wisdom in his old age.

Cook speaks. "My fellow Congressmen...alas, our attempt to aid our brothers-in-arms, the Californios, has failed, and they have been sucked into the United Territories. I do not bode any ill will towards Premier Roosevelt, however: he fought a fair fight, and the Californios surrendered willingly.

"We have not come out of this empty handed, however. As you are all aware, the Californio navy is now our navy, and the sailors have sworn the oath of allegiance to Colombia. Not only that, but the Californio upper class has also retreated to Colombia, bringing with them their fortunes. I am certain our economy will boom significantly from this chain of events. In fact, one certain Californian capitalist, Robert Waterman, has agreed to help fund upgrades for our soldiers, so that they are up to par with the standards of other nations."

Spend 3 IP and 6 CP on Tier II infantry

 

[Lord Haldane]

Incorporation of the Royal Suez Canal Company
(Registered as the Imperial Suez Canal Company under French law.)
​

With the principal aim of restoring to working order the Suez Canal, and guaranteeing the freedom and neutrality of that waterway, the British Empire and France-Outre-Mer pledge hereby to:

• ...jointly finance the cost of reconstruction, in materials and manpower, estimated at 50IP or 25CP, or a combination of the two. The British Empire assumes responsibility for two thirds of this cost, or 34IP; France-Outre-Mer assumes responsibility for the remaining third, or 16IP.
• ...share in full the operating revenue of the Company, in dues and attendant facility profits, projected to be 2IP over a five year fiscal period. (2IP per turn.) Each party therefore receives 1IP in income upon completion of the venture.
• ...enshrine the sanctity of the Canal, which neither party will violate in a way which contravenes this agreement. The Canal shall remain open and inviolate to all parties or nations, excepting to those at war with either the British Empire or France-Outre-Mer.

Unless both parties have provided the capital owed under the agreement by the year 1935, ownership will default in full to that party which has met its obligations; if none have done so, this contract is duly dissolved and all parties released of any obligations.

Signed,

Lord Haldane
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs

 

[Deaghaidh]

Le Temps Nouveau
A Deal on the Suez Canal

After weeks of private correspondence between the Emperor and British leadership, a brewing diplomatic crisis over the Suez Canal has seemingly been resolved. Under the terms of the agreement revealed to Le Temps, British armed forces would be responsible for the defense of the Canal. But French interests would own a 50% share, and the Canal would be closed to any power engaged in hostilities against either France or Britain.

The agreement tacitly approves British occupation of Egypt, in exchange for Britain shouldering a larger portion of the initial investment. While this has not been warmly received by the more extreme "war hawks," the Emperor called it "a necessary concession to preserve peace and advance civilization."

Some have speculated that this agreement may mark the beginning of an entente cordiale between France-Outre-Mer and the British Raj, Imperial spokesmen cautioned against drawing such far-reaching conclusions from this one agreement.

The full text of the agreement is here reprinted for the benefit of our readers.

Incorporation of the Royal Suez Canal Company (Imperial Suez Canal Company in France)

With the principal aim of restoring to working order the Suez Canal, and guaranteeing the freedom and neutrality of that waterway, the British Empire and France-Outre-Mer pledge hereby to:

...jointly finance the cost of reconstruction, in materials and manpower, estimated at 50IP or 25CP, or a combination of the two. The British Empire assumes responsibility for two thirds of this cost, or 34IP; France-Outre-Mer assumes responsibility for the remaining third, or 16IP.
...share in full the operating revenue of the Company, in dues and attendant facility profits, projected to be 2IP over a five year fiscal period. (2IP per turn.) Each party therefore receives 1IP in income upon completion of the venture.
...enshrine the sanctity of the Canal, which neither party will violate in a way which contravenes this agreement. The Canal shall remain open and inviolate to all parties or nations, excepting to those at war with either the British Empire or France-Outre-Mer.


Addition: Unless both parties have provided the capital owed under the agreement by the year 1935, ownership will default in full to that party which has met its obligations; if none have done so, this contract is duly dissolved and all parties released of any obligations.

This agreement is signed in the name of Napoleon IV Bonaparte, Emperor of France and Spain

 

[Deaghaidh]

OOC: BTW, in poking around on the internet about the Suez Canal, I uncovered something truly awesome. Prepare yourselves for this.



Are you prepared?



In this time period, there was a serious push from some in France to turn the Sahara into an inland sea

A 1911 article on the subject:
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C03E4D91539E632A25756C1A9669D946096D6CF

De Lasseps (the mastermind of the Suez Canal effort) was for it, and really it doesn't seem entirely outside the realm of possibility. Jules Verne used it as the premise of one of his books. Allegedly it would just take a 50 mile long trench, as much of the central Sahara is well below sea level. In previous geological eras, there was a sea there.

So. Who dares me to do it?

 

[Polar Mongoose]

OOC: Go for it. Much better investment than guns or ships.

I wonder if the Sahara would stay a desert during our new ice age though. Last time we has an ice age the Sahara was supposedly much wetter, although I'm not sure how connected that is supposed to be.

Is it just my eyesight, or does the border of the middle east territory I'm invading not reach to the Suez canal?

 

[Lord Haldane]

OOC: BTW, in poking around on the internet about the Suez Canal, I uncovered something truly awesome. Prepare yourselves for this.



Are you prepared?



In this time period, there was a serious push from some in France to turn the Sahara into an inland sea

A 1911 article on the subject:
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C03E4D91539E632A25756C1A9669D946096D6CF

De Lasseps (the mastermind of the Suez Canal effort) was for it, and really it doesn't seem entirely outside the realm of possibility. Jules Verne used it as the premise of one of his books. Allegedly it would just take a 50 mile long trench, as much of the central Sahara is well below sea level. In previous geological eras, there was a sea there.

So. Who dares me to do it?

OOC: I'm envisioning a final hour dash to prevent the dastardly French plan to use altered weather patterns to accomplish what Napoleon could not.

 

[Deaghaidh]

OOC: Go for it. Much better investment than guns or ships.

I wonder if the Sahara would stay a desert during our new ice age though. Last time we has an ice age the Sahara was supposedly much wetter, although I'm not sure how connected that is supposed to be.

Is it just my eyesight, or does the border of the middle east territory I'm invading not reach to the Suez canal?

OOC: It's implied that rainfall in the western Sahara region temporarily went up in the decade or so after the Fall, IIRC. I don't think our mini-ice-age was long enough to have the same effect as the natural ice ages, but disrupted winds and currents shifted the climate, and all that moisture in the air (from the ocean strike) had to come down somewhere, right?

I think that that territory ends at the Canal, which should be interesting.

 

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Is it just my eyesight, or does the border of the middle east territory I'm invading not reach to the Suez canal?

It does reach the Canal, though Egypt is the province controlling access. East Balkans controls the Bosporus and Central America controls the theoretical Panama Canal. In the next turn update, I've filled in the two uncompleted canals and changed the ocean color to something lighter.

 

[Polar Mongoose]

It does reach the Canal, though Egypt is the province controlling access. East Balkans controls the Bosporus and Central America controls the theoretical Panama Canal. In the next turn update, I've filled in the two uncompleted canals and changed the ocean color to something lighter.

OOC: No blocking enemy ships moving through the canal then?

 

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OOC: No blocking enemy ships moving through the canal then?

Not at will. You could submit an order to attack the canal with armies and disrupt traffic, but you'd have to declare war on the owner of Egypt.

 

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So that everyone can easily check treaty obligations and avoid painfully searching this (now very long) thread, I'm going to ask that everyone link any publicly signed treaties in their embassy post.

Also, I updated the Byzantium link to Polar Mongoose's embassy.