skbl17

@@Lordav

Bright Idea knew that she would have to be careful with this deal. The national constitution specified that all treaties were to be ratified in the Commonwealth Assembly, and she didn't want to risk sparking a constitutional crisis by approving one on her own. Oh, but this isn't a treaty, she thought. It's just an agreement. I should be fine.

"Yes, we do have a trade agreement in place. It's not a treaty, so I don't have to run this by any other body. As for the embassy, you'll still have to secure a lot, but that shouldn't take too much time. Assuming everything's in order, you should be all ready to go in 48-72 hours or so." The deal was closed, new relations were established, and it seemed like things were off to a good start for the new Premier.

Unbeknownst to either the diplomat or the Premier, one of the residence's servants, having been present for the negotiations, was penning a letter to the opposition leader. He quietly slipped out and put the letter in the mailbox.

RIP brackets. My (nonexistent) bracket is still perfect, though. 

Once, from this site called TVNewsTalk. If I recall correctly, it was because I was a "troll", even though my posts were all relevant...I think. Anyway, in September 2009, a month after my first account was banned, I created a new account. It's now one of the more active ones on the site.

Sure, if you can explain how they fixed the hospital and what was even going on there. It's quite peculiar.

Oh no, I plan on doing that.

I'm thinking that this is a perfect time to skip ahead. Probably have a post in the RP thread starting with "And so...", before moving ahead.

Thoughts?

Hey there.

 

I apologize if I've asked this before but is there a limit to how many OCs we can play as?

There's no formal limit, but if you plan to use many OCs, try not to cause confusion.

@@Lordav

If Bright Idea heard the diplomats correctly, they wished to secure land for an embassy. Fortunately, there were plenty of vacant buildings on the city's outskirts, and she had wanted to occupy as many vacant buildings in the capital as possible. "Within the capital, there are a few vacant buildings that can be converted to an embassy, but the only areas I can think of that have suitable buildings are wards 5 and 7, and they are quite a hike from the national government facilities. I can provide you with a list of open lots and instruct the Foreign Ministry to secure the necessary permits for construction of an embassy, but you'll be on your own for construction and ensuring the building's up to code. It shouldn't be too difficult."

Bright Idea paused to take a breath, then continued. "If you want to secure a location near the port, you'll likely have to purchase a facility, as the seaside wards are quite dense and crowded."

@

Back in Port Horseshoe, the admirals instructed the foreign vessel to pull into the naval base for inspection and to figure out the next course of action. 

Am I holding up the RP again? Just wondering. I'd like to have Lektra come along with HV, mostly because she really has nothing else to do in Appleanta otherwise than help others.

In a way. I have at least one active player (Ender) waiting for Friday, but it's still Tuesday in-roleplay.

In light of that, I'm suspending the biweekly inactivity check this week. I feel that the RP is moving along at a snail's pace, and I'd like to speed things up a bit, just to boost activity. Also, since I'm on break from college this week, I have more time to focus on the roleplays I'm a part of.

As for tagging along, I don't see why not.

Well, if electricity is allowed, but advanced weaponry is not, I'd take it that the equivalent time frame of this RP is around the very early 1900s (like ~1905)?

(1) Thanks for the info. So what would she call your character though? High just sounds odd.

 

(2) By the way,the way her Magitek works is stuff doesn't *run* off magic as a source of power, just stuff that would be computer systems is a magic based form of interaction and display. Think of it like the operating system. The generator is controlled by manipulating the spell now as opposed to interacting with a computer. It still runs like it would otherwise on electrical systems. It's enchanting, and protects the system from being fried because it's not electrical. Only once electricity leaves the generator complex does it connect to electrical systems cause that's needed to deliver the power.

(1) Full name, preferably. She'll probably soften to the use of 'HV' over time, though. 

(2) That's what I thought when I was making that post, hence my backpedaling to "something else must have happened", as shown in the last paragraph in my post.

@@Lordav (referring to this post)

Bright Idea smiled. So the wheat harvest was going well, good good. "Of course you can establish an embassy here; I do not have to defer to the Assembly on matters regarding embassies. As for your request for grain, you'll have to have your government or your businesses get in touch with our wheat farmers, but the Government of Impalarana will not interfere in the process and will notify some of our biggest wheat producers."

She motioned for her communications director to send a telegram to the nation's wheat producers regarding Ponssia's request. Just as he was about to do so, another pony fervently ran into the room.

@ (also in reference to this post)

"Miss Premier, we just got word from Port Horseshoe that there's a vessel near the port bearing foreign flags. One of the admirals wished to let you know, but he suspects that it's a foreign nation that wishes to open diplomatic relations."

Bright Idea thought for a moment, then turned back to the servant. "If they wish to open relations, they'll have to see me. I'll have time to see them tomorrow."

@@skbl17, 

 

Wasnt this your new desc?

 

http://mlpforums.com/topic/122669-ooc-mlp-nations-nation-info/

Whoops, I thought we were still using the old Nation Info thread. Yea, that's it.

@@bronislav84

(Local time: 11:04 AM Tuesday)

Well, that was quite the explanation. High Voltage was intrigued at the fact that Northfields was upgraded to magitek, instead of the regular hydroelectricity that regional power plants typically use. Now that she thought about it, she did notice a latent magical signature last night in the electric system when she was out repairing the power grid. In fact, she was now a bit concerned; she didn't think that regular appliances could handle being powered by magic.

Oh well, she hadn't heard about spontaneous power outages because of that, so it was okay. Anyway, High Voltage knew that she still had to address Lektra, so she turned to her.

Sparkwing answered Lektra's first question. "She doesn't like being called 'HV', so I don't recommend using that nickname unless you want to mess with her."

"Thank you, Sparkwing. I sincerely hope that you'll take your own advice into consideration one day." High Voltage responded. "So, Lektra, that was a good explanation. When you mentioned that Northfields now runs on magitek, I will admit that I was concerned at first. Most appliances and technology around here are new and not magic-driven, so I was worried about spontaneous power outages occurring because of the possibility that the machines and devices around here wouldn't be able to convert magitek to regular electricity. Thankfully, it seems as if my concerns were overblown.

"As for magitek adoption, I could see why adoption is so low. It's not just about skill, but also what's happened in the last 15 years. While some technological devices run exclusively on magic, most don't, especially in the cities. Hence, you're more likely to see rural electric cooperatives use magitek-based plants, not the more urban-centric utilities like TPL. Hopefully, if TPL's magitek gambit is successful, other utilities will adopt the technology, especially if it's impervious to EMP and other attacks. Time will tell."

Soon, the phone rang. Sparkwing got up to answer it. "I'll answer it, HV; you can keep talking to Lektra."

It's too bad there was an employee code of conduct, because on days like this, she seriously felt like ripping her partner's ears off. "One day she'll stop." High Voltage murmured. As she was about to continue her conversation with Lektra, though, Sparkwing hung up, turned around, and grabbed her senior colleague.

High Voltage looked genuinely irritated. "What is it?"

"I just got a call from the Applelanta Medical Center. No power. The patients are okay and the hospital is running on a generator."

High Voltage's eyes widened in shock at first, but once Sparkwing mentioned that the patients were fine, she relaxed a little. As she levitated her hard hat, she asked, "Possible reasons?"

Sparkwing put on her own hard hat before responding. "There are already a couple of crews out there. Apparently, it was spontaneous; the lines are fine, and there's power feeding into the hospital, but none of the devices, lights, or computers are responsive. Maybe it's that whole conversion issue you were talking about."

"That doesn't seem possible," High Voltage said as she headed for the door. "Northfields came back online last night, and there were no power outages related to the plant's magitek-based operation. Also, AMC got its power back just before 9pm yesterday, so if there was a conversion issue, there would have been an outage last night, not now."

Something else has happened, she thought as she opened the door. Before leaving, High Voltage turned back to Lektra and Sparky. "Okay, you two can stay in here if you want. If you want to order room service, that's okay, just don't order too much. We'll probably be back in a few hours."

Man, I've been gone too long. It looks like the RP has moved on, it's become a bit daunting to keep up.

Who is @skbl17 nation?

 

Also: I am now planning to leave soon at East city, since @Stormgiggle has NOT respond this far. I wait 2 - 3 more days and then i'll put my OC to leave towards West or North city. Where he will possibly go to sail with his one and only galleon to either: West or North.

I have a gut feeling that the "Nation Info" thread hasn't been updated. Anyway, my nation was initially called Port Impala, and was a city-state. I had size and scaling issues, so my nation's size was increased to the size of Germany. Because that was a tad bit...big...for a city-state, I made it a full country and changed its name to Impalarana.

A few notes this Tuesday morning (in real life):

1) I had the "religion" post done, but I went back through it, and it didn't make much sense. Spring Break for me is coming up next week, so I will have a LOT more time to get everything caught up on, and yes, everything will make more sense. Sorry about that.

2) To answer @@bronislav84's question, In relation to canon cities, Applelanta is located in the southeastern part of the country. Basically, far southwest of Baltimare/Manehattan/Fillydelphia, far southeast of Canterlot, and almost due east of Los Pegasus.

3) As promised, I did kick inactive players on March 6. If any of them are reading this, they'll have to go through the registration process again.

4) Roleplay time, it's still late Tuesday morning, but I plan on wrapping up a conversation in-roleplay. Nothing will happen on Wednesday or Thursday in-roleplay, so I'll skip to Friday (yes, I know some of you were waiting for that).

My to-do-list:

1) Get the bloody religion post rewritten!

2) Get an OC profile done for Sparkwing.

3) Wrap up the conversation with @@bronislav84.

4) Skip ahead to Friday morning or Thursday night.

Well, today is March 4, 2015, or the end of the first two weeks since rule #10 was imposed. Registered players who have not met the requirements of rule #10 were just notified about their options. No players are being kicked today.

Furthermore, as promised, the next detail post regarding religion will be posted before the end of the week (and don't worry, it will be on time!)

Okay, so three points:

1) I've decided to add a timestamp to my posts, detailing the current time in-roleplay.

2) Yes, it's still Tuesday. Don't worry, I still plan on speeding up the time within a few more posts.

3) I got a PM from @@EnderPrince regarding the status of religion in Equestria. I'll make that a detail post, which I should have up within the week. There's too much information for me to fit in a simple reply to a PM.

Anyway, per rule #10, March 4 is when I'll be checking for inactivity and notifying posters. March 6 is the first 'cutoff' date.

@@bronislav84

(Local time: 10:58 AM, Tuesday)

High Voltage started to speak. "No, you haven't made a bad impression; at least you're not the one firing EMPs or making car bombs or derailing trains. Anyway, I'm High Voltage, senior linepony with Tropicala Power and Light, the incumbent electric utility in the region. My friend over there is Sparkwing, junior linepony."

"Nice to meet you." Sparkwing responded. "High Voltage and I have been working together for a couple of years now."

"We're actually not from around here, we were called up from the Tampa Neigh area yesterday to help out with the outage situation. Initially, we were going to help out at the Northfields Power Plant northeast of here, but we were turned back at the last minute. Apparently, TPL hired outside help from a company called 'Bolt Solu...tions...'" She trailed off.

Crap, I said I was going to get a new detail post out yesterday! Ah well, here it is (a day late). This will be the shortest detail post.

Weather and climate

Of all the aspects of Equestrian life changed by Equestria Forward, climate was the least affected. For the most part, weather continues to lie in the domain of pony control, and the diverse climates of Equestria are completely untouched. However, little change does not mean no change, a situation that presents itself regularly in the nation's weather.

Weather

As I previously stated, pegasi still control the country's weather. However, there has been an uptick in so called "Everfree systems" - uncontrollable weather patterns that are the result of ejections of energy from the Everfree Forest in the west of the country - which have led to increases in unpredictable and usually severe weather events. This uptick has been occurring for a while, and some professors at Canterlotian universities suspect that it is the result of a breakdown in magical energy that has, in the past, contained Everfree systems from forming.

Initially, Equestria was largely powerless to prevent these systems from forming; they were rare enough that nopony bothered to set up some kind of detection and warning system, and whenever severe weather threatened, most ponies simply hid in their homes or workplaces. As the frequency of Everfree systems began to increase, it became clear that some kind of forecasting and warning system would be needed.

On February 4, 1102, all of the various "weather patrols" in the country were merged into a new government agency, the Meteorological Service of Equestria, or Meteo Equestria for short. The Cloudsdale-based agency was tasked with creating daily weather schedules, manufacturing clouds, creating forecasts, and warning the public in case uncontrollable severe weather threatens. All forecasts and weather schedules are created by 25 regional weather offices (RWOs), who are given primary forecast responsibility for their particular region.

Climate zones

Equestria has an incredibly diverse climate, and is one of the few countries in which no one climate is more dominant than the others. The principality is home to desert climes in the center of the country (Durango and Saddleshire), tropical rain forests (Haywaii and the Hen Islands), mountain climes in the west of the country, humid climes, cold weather climes, and so on. In general however, much of the country is mild-to-hot and fairly humid in the summer, and cool in the winter.

@@Lordav

At first glance, the deal sounded good enough. Ponssia had opened its eastern ports, and was searching for reliable trade partners. The "riches" part also sounded good, so on that front, the deal seemed even better. It's not like Impalarana had nothing to trade, and with harvest season right around the corner, the young Premier was confident. Plus, it's not like the national economy wasn't diverse; there were plenty of manufactured goods to go around and keep the country's economy healthy, even if the wheat harvest didn't go over well.

She would finalize the deal. With the UCP majority she enjoyed in the Commonwealth Assembly, she should have no problem getting it ratified, either.

The diplomat gave off an aura of authority, so she would have to be as formal as possible. Bright Idea began to speak. "First, on behaIf of my country, I would like to formally welcome you to Impalarana. As for your request, the government would be honored to conclude a trade agreement with Ponssia. While we can discuss the specifics here, for any treaty to be concluded, my country's Commonwealth Assembly must ratify the final product. Hence, it may be a few days before any agreement we conclude here can be made effective on Impalarana's end.

"Fortunately, I do have enough support to comfortably push an economic agreement through the Assembly, so there should be no issues."

@

Naval Station Starhoof, near Port Horseshoe, Impalarana

An admiral monitored the coastal waters on the country's southern coast, using his binoculars to watch for ships. Things seemed calm in the waters immediately facing the naval base, and there was a bit of fishing activity in the coastal waters facing the nearby city of Port Horseshoe. There was even a vessel bearing foreign flags, how nice...

...wait, a vessel bearing foreign flags?

Inspecting the ship a bit closer, the admiral confirmed that it wasn't a military ship. As is protocol when dealing with non-belligerent foreign ships, he ordered a group of captains to ready a naval boat to meet the foreign vessel. He would sail out there to meet whoever was on the ship; if they were diplomats, he'd have to find time to bug the new Premier about them. 

@@Lordav

I'll just leave this here. A few pages back, when my nation's size was first increased, I accepted the changes and modified my country to fit its new size. Here's the new nation sheet (my previous nation sheets can be discarded):

Name: Commonwealth of Impalarana

Government type: Constitutional parliamentary republic

Flag/symbol: The two-striped flag is white and blue; white making up the right stripe, and blue making up the left stripe. A white anchor is superimposed at the top-left corner of the blue stripe. This flag, popularly dubbed the "anchor flag", has been in use for seventy years.

Ruler(s) and title(s): Bright Idea (Premier), Bronze Cane (President-General)

Population: 22,330,481

Capital and largest city: Mustang City (pop. 3,450,686)

Environment and location: The country's climate is mostly humid continental in nature. Summers tend to be on the hot side as well as a bit humid, while winters tend to be cold. Snow happens regularly every winter; the country does not control its own weather.

Two primary resources: Wheat and iron ore.

Two scarce resources: Copper and gold.

General race composition: 41% earth pony, 29% unicorn, 20% pegasi, 6% zebra, 3% griffon, 0.5% donkey, 0.3% mule, 0.2% alicorn

General race description: In general, Impalarana stresses a kind of "workplace professionalism" at all times. While not forbidden by law, the wearing of "outlandish" or "ethnic" dress is generally discouraged outside of festivals, Wayside Day, and ethnic holidays. Climate wise, most citizens and residents tend to dress very warmly in the hot and humid summer months and in one or two layers for the coldest days of winter.

General race personality: The "workplace professionalism" culture also affects personality. In society, Impalaranans tend to be a bit on the quiet and productive side, as most days involve work- and school-related functions and activities. Outside of those activities, residents tend to be a bit more open, laid back, and friendly. On Wayside Day, all of this goes out the window, and residents tend to release "repressed" urges due to the lack of work and school, leading to bouts of drinking, a burst of aggressiveness, and festive moods.

Two primary traits: Industrious and professional.

Culture and description: The country's population is incredibly irreligious and tolerant, and generally takes on a whole "I don't care who you are or what you are, as long as you get your work done" kind of feel. Much of this could be attributed to the "workplace professionalism" culture that is so pervasive in the city-state; no one wants to be seen as closed-minded, racist, discriminatory, sexist, or xenophobic, as being so would otherwise harm business and career prospects. There's no formal caste system, but there is a noticeable divide between the rich and the poor despite the presence of a safety net.

Buildings: Much of the country's ultramodern development is centered in the capital, Mustang City, and other smaller urban centers. In fact, the tallest skyscraper, Mustang City's new Seabreeze Tower, measures at 1,120ft high. Brick and concrete skyscrapers dot the skylines of the cities, and architecture in general tends to take on a modern look. Outside of the urban centers, architectural styles tend to be a bit more classical, focusing on brick and stone styles.

Foreign policy: The primary foreign policy of the country can be summed up in three words: "economics over politics." The government and many national businesses stress the establishment of new global trade agreements and economic cooperation. The country avoids getting in military alliances and defense agreements, as it sees the establishment of a "bloc" to be a roadblock to the country's economic ambitions. It remains to be seen whether Bright Idea's new UCP government will maintain the country's political neutrality or seek to enter international coalitions.

History: To keep things short, Impalarana was settled 900 years ago, but the island the country now sits on was a part of a surrounding kingdom. Tribal wars ensued a couple of centuries later, in which the settlers established their own police force; the country declared its independence a few years later with the Treaty of Swahayza, which codified Impalarana's independence and sovereignty, and dropped all international claims to the area. Afterwards, Impalarana pursued a self-sufficiency policy, but it failed and the nation remained relatively poor. A hundred or so years prior to the start of the roleplay, a new party, the National Alliance, was elected on promises to "open up" the country to the world. Trade links were soon established, and the economy began to improve. With the newfound economic success of the country and the party's balance between immigration and "conformity", the National Alliance continued to rule until corruption scandals and revelations brought down the party, a state confirmed by the election of the anti-corruption UCP in the 39th general election.

Quality of life: The standard of living in Impalarana is very good overall, with a growing economy, fairly low unemployment, and wide availability of services allowing the country to maintain a healthy quality of life for its citizens. The abundance of edible crops, such as wheat, allows the country to maintain a stable food supply, and the good (for the era) infrastructure allows goods to move throughout the country seamlessly.

Military power: Impalarana's armed forces, the Commonwealth Defense Forces (Codef in daily parlance,) is kept just strong enough to sufficiently defend the country, but not strong enough to project significant power and become a "key player" in military alliances. The active strength of the military is 28,500, with an estimated 45,000 kept on reserve. Conscription has not been allowed for thirty years, but the constitution empowers the government to institute conscription "should national security and public safety conditions require such a measure to be taken." If conscription is included, reserves can push upwards of 650,000.

The National Alliance government had a plan in place to provide the national police service with military-grade equipment, but in the face of opposition from some backbenchers and the opposition, the plan was indefinitely suspended. During her first speech to the Commonwealth Assembly, Bright Idea confirmed that her government was not planning on "militarizing the police" for the foreseeable future.

Current events: None.

Foreign relations: With other countries in the roleplay, none at the moment.

Okay, I've edited all of my posts to remove references to "Port Impala", "city-state", "Metropolitan Assembly", "Mayor", and "city" in my RP posts and character profiles, since I've renamed Port Impala to Impalarana. My country's size was dramatically increased (from about the size of Singapore to about the size of Germany), necessitating the changes.

Not on the radar, but "good" I guess. Yeah, I'm the guy who likes to type overly-verbose posts in some threads. What should be answered in two sentences instead takes me two to three paragraphs. Then there's one of my RP threads, where some of my posts can easily take up half a textbook. I like detail.

@@Lordav

"Oh, um, very well. Just be sure not to run over any of our residents."

With that, the expedition was escorted by police to 15 River Street to meet with the new Premier.

---

15 River Street, Mustang City, Impalarana

Now that she was settled in, Bright Idea finally had a moment to relax. The time would be short-lived, as the travelers would be there within half an hour. Even with this short window of "relaxation time", the young Premier couldn't help but be a little nervous; she had never negotiated with foreign entities before. In fact, now that she thought about it, she only won the general election because of her stands on domestic issues. The UCP never really established a position on foreign policy, so on that front, she would have to go it alone for the moment. It was definitely going to be discussed at the next party conference, that was for sure.

In the meantime, she decided to occupy her time by drafting her first public order. Public Order #1 would fulfill the personal goal she set when running for office in the first place: order the state prosecutor to reopen the long-abandoned investigation into the arson at her old secondary school that killed some of her friends. In the order, she also added a clause requiring the state prosecutor to report to her every 30 days; Bright Idea was not going to allow the state prosecutor to abandon the case once again. It would reach a conclusion, and she - and the families who lost their loved ones in the fire - would finally have closure.

After twenty minutes, Bright Idea put the fountain pen down. In a way, she wanted to deliver the order to the state prosecutor personally, but she knew that she only had a few minutes before the foreign travelers arrived. In a rush, she called one of the servants into the Gold Room.

"Please deliver this order to the head of the Justice Commission," she asked. "As soon as physically possible."

"Yes, Miss Premier." With that, the servant took the public order and left the room.

Bright Idea sighed, but it wasn't a depressed sigh. She was relieved. Finally, this decades-long saga can come to an end, she thought. Now, on to the issue with the travelers. She waited, but the wait wasn't long. Within two minutes of the servant heading out the door with P.O. #1, another servant peeked in the doorway and made the announcement she was waiting for.

"Miss Premier, the travelers are here."

It was time. "Send them in."

I'm sorry! I'm planning to post Friday if mom doesn't wanna go anywhere. I'm feeling better now. Still taking Motrin and coughing, but definitely better. No temp or headache.

Yay! Glad to see you're feeling better.