(IR) Atlas of the 3rd Industrial Revolution

[Reprisal]

The Technocratic Coalition and the United Commonwealth of Toril

Name - Reprisal.
From - Parksville, British Columbia, Canada.
Power(s)
- The Technocratic Coalition
- aka The Technomancy
- aka The Technocracy
- The United Commonwealth of Toril
PC(s)
- Sir Ian Payne of the Technocratic Coalition
- Prime Minister Erika Lesage of the United Commonwealth

Ideology:

The basic ideology that both Ian Payne and Erika Lesage ascribed to was that of Empirical Thought and Classical Liberalism:
- Political power, or sovereignty, is derived not from the Divine, but from the people.
- The belief that all people are created equal, and are accorded basic rights such as life, freedom of choice, and private property. There are no castes as there are in traditional, or classical, conservatism; but there are classes. A person is free to move up and down the ladder of the class structure, but there are no free rides.
- The belief that people deserve to acquire that which they have earned by merit. Therefore, by this system, the rich are rich because they provide some service that is extremely valuable.
- The belief that it is the government's job to maintain Negative Liberty, also known as the Freedom from Constraint. The Government, by this ideology, is charged with making sure that there are no obstacles blocking its people from pursuing their goals.

- Ian Payne believed that only governments elected by its people are responsible for the occurences within its own borders. No foreign power had the right to dictate to the Technocracy because it was a foreign power. Such nations had no sovereignty over him nor the Technocracy, and their violent meddling was seen as an act of war. This justified the eradication of the elven people, at least nominally... Their loss was tragic, but avoidable. He believed the eradication of the elves was very much their own doing and that the Technocracy was not directly responsible for their demise.

- Erika Lesage was a more proactive governor. Instead of keeping others from interfering in the system, she intervened in the actions of her nation directly by invoking the War Measures Act in the face of a foreign power infiltrating the Humanoid Alliance. Instead of being a Classical Liberal, Erika was leaning more toward a Modern Liberal (a wee bit more left than CLs).

Government Structure

The government of the Technocracy was spotty at best... We never really got into it beyond the basic Parliamentry system...

The United Commonwealth of Toril had a more detailed political system:

At the heart of all politics was the Commonwealth Parliament. The Commonwealth Parliament is the name given to the two Houses of Parliament, an Upper and a Lower. Political parties, each espousing a different political ideology, vied for control of the Commonwealth Parliament...

The first, called the Commonwealth Senate, is the Upper House of Parliament. The Senate was designed to act as a forum for member-states where each member was on equal foot with one-another. Therefore, each of the many Technocratic Coalition members each had four Senators, as did the larger but fewer Humanoid Alliance territories. They would be the last legislative house to pass a Law before it was sent to the President to be given Presidential Assent.

The second, called the Commonwealth Assembly, is the Lower House of Parliament. The Assembly was designed to represent all the people within the UC. Using a simple "Majority Wins" system in each voting district, or Riding, a multitude of Commonwealth Representatives are elected. Unlike the Senate, where the multitude of Technocratic member-states are given the advantage, the Humanoid Alliance, with its huge population is given the advantage. (This is important later.)

The Assembly is by far the most important of the two houses as the domestic government is determined here:

The Leader of the party with the most seats in the Commonwealth Assembly is constitutionally given the right to become Prime Minister and appoint a Cabinet. These Cabinet Ministers are each given portfolios such as Agriculture, Magical Applications, Industry, Justice, and Education. The Domestic Government is largely charged with running the country, or rather the Commonwealth, smoothly.

The Presidency is the last facet of the United Commonwealth, and is elected by a simple Commonwealth-wide popular vote. The President is given control over all Foreign Policy, the Military and is given a vital veto of domestic laws. In this respect, it is obvious why we chose Forrester to be President as there are a lot more humanoids than humans, gnomes and dwarves in the Commonwealth now that the Humanoid Alliance formed.

Miscellaneous Information:

An interesting note is that Ian Payne never intended for the Humanoid Alliance to join with the Technocratic Coalition so readily... He did give out the call for any nation to join their own, but did not expect the belligerent humanoids to take up the offer. In relation to the Humanoids, and Kara-Tur (I think that's what they were called), he called for the formation of a World Forum, which never actually occured... As a result, Ian had a much larger confederacy on his hands (therefore harder to run in an orderly fashion), and no World Forum. Once the Humanoids accepted the universal offer, Ian was flaberghasted, but accepted it and started working with his ally, Lord Forrester.

And thus, the seeds were planted... but were they seeds of unity, or discontent?

When I joined the 3rd IR, I had to come up with an explanation as to how the UC would allow Forrester to do what he did... I came up with the idea that there was a change of government in the Commonwealth. Instead of Ian Payne's, and later Erika Lesage's, Liberal-Democratic Party of Toril, the Humanoid-backed Commonwealth Party of Toril had been at power during the time Forrester (the Player) was controlling the entire Commonwealth.

When Forrester left, I joined, and began posting a series of newspaper articles explaining how the people of the UC found out about the star-matter bombing of Oerth and demanded that the Domestic Government and the President step down. Though the Humanoids conceded that the DG step down, they were fully behind Forrester.

He was their Charles de Gaulle, and could do no wrong in their eyes. (Man, I hate de Gaulle! "Vive le Quebec liberté!" my butt! )

Thus, my posting of the newspaper articles most likely hatched plots on the part of other players, and they proceeded to destroy Payne's mistake.

And the rest, they say, is history...

((It was at that time that I stopped playing, as I had the belief that there was a lot more behind the conflict... More precisely the transfer of about seven 11th Level spell capable countries to a certain faction... I guess I should have e-mailed Edena about 2500% more than I did... ))

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

The Technomancy was born out of the initial anarchy caused by the elven and druid attempt to halt the gnomish industrial revolution in Faerun.

If you look at the maps of the Forgotten Realms, you can get an idea of where the Technomancy (or Technocratic Confederation, as it was also called) was.

The following nations or areas were founding members of the Technomancy:

Lantan
Amn
Tethyr
The Vilhon Reach
Chessenta

The following nations or areas later joined the Technomancy:

The Nelanther Isles
Calimshan
Unther
Mulhorand
Thay

Later on yet, the following nations or areas joined the Technomancy:

Nimbral
The Western Shaar Area
The Eastern Shaar Area
The Dragon Coast Area
The Chondalwood and other woodland nations of the south.
Luiren
Var the Golden
Ulgarth
Sossel

- - -

The nation of Halruaa was devastated by (I seem to remember) the illithid early in the IR.
Zouron the Archmage took power there afterwards, and subsequently built a confederation of his own.
This confederation was known as the Magocracy.

The following nations or areas were in the Magocracy:

Chult Area
Talashar
Halruaa
The Lake of Steam Area
Dambrath

- - -

The Humanoid Alliance, created by Forrester, began in the Spine of the World with an alliance of all the humanoids of those mountains and the Frozenfar to the north of them.
Quickly, the humanoids in the mountains and lowlands of the Savage Frontier (also called The North) joined their northern neighbors in alliance.

Humanoid emissaries stirred up their brethren in Thar, Vaasa, Damara, Narfell, the Great Glacier, and in all the mountains of those regions.
The humanoids of these regions assembled into one confederation, then joined their western allies.

Simultaneously, vast numbers of humanoids in the Underdark were able to throw off the yoke of drow slavery, or slavery to other races, due to the wipeout of those races at the hands of the illithid.

These humanoids assembled in alliance against their illithid foes, made common cause with their surface brethren, and formed a very formidable army - probably the largest standing army on Toril at that time.

The rest of the humanoid populace of the Underdark and on the surface received an invitation into the growing alliance they could not refuse.

Thus, the Humanoid Alliance was created, and it had the largest standing army in the world, at that time.

The Humanoid Alliance then conquered all of what men call The North, except for Waterdeep and Luruar, with whom a tense truce existed.

The Humanoid Alliance, further east, overran all of the Cormanthyr region, forced the Dalelands to submit to their authority (except for Shadowdale, which they maintained a tense cease-fire with), and then they received a crucial offer of military alliance from Sembia.
With Sembia a formal ally of Forrester, and humanoids welcome in all her lands and cities, Cormyr had no choice but to accept the Overlordship of the Humanoids.

In the west, the Humanoids demanded the Overlordship of all the Western Heartlands, and got it - except for Westgate, Baldur's Gate, and Candlekeep, which joined the Technomancy to protect themselves.
There was a great deal of fighting (and massacres of elves and elven allies), as the Humanoids made it clear that they were the supreme power northwest of the Sea of Fallen Stars.

The Humanoid Alliance besieged and destroyed Neverwinter, the elves in the High Forest, the small elven settlements in Cormanthyr, Semberholm, and finally Evereska itself was destroyed (and it's population of elves eaten.)

Zhentil Keep had joined the Techomancy.
It's rival, Mulmaster, forged a military alliance with Forrester, and joined the Humanoid Alliance.
Hillsfar refused to join either Techomancy or Humanoid Alliance - the Humanoids proceeded to assault, conquer, and destroy that city.
The other cities of the Moonsea then proceeded to all take sides (and all elves in the region were summarily killed, except in Zhentil Keep alone.)

The Vast was overrun by the Humanoid Alliance, and it's cities (including Raven's Bluff) acknowledged the Overlordship of Forrester.
The Great Dale and Impiltur capitulated, accepting the generous surrender terms offered by Forrester.

Thesk then joined the Technomancy, to save itself, but Rashemen would have none of it.
Rashemem fought a bitter, short war against the Humanoid Alliance, then capitulated.
It would appear the Humanoid Alliance offered them acceptable surrender terms ... or total annihilation if they refused said terms.

At this point, only Waterdeep, Luruar, Shadowdale, and Aglarond were still free nations in the north (and they are free nations today, and collectively known as the Nations of the Chosen.)

- - -

The Hordelands never joined the Technomancy or the Humanoid Alliance, but they did attack both - only to be driven back out of Faerun with severe losses.
Zakhara became an early trading partner of the Technomancy, it's nations eager to attain the new knowledge and weapons.
Zakhara then formally allied with the Technomancy, and would remain it's ally from then on.

Kara-Tur attempted to remain neutral in the events of the IR, only to be caught in them as a ship is caught in a hurricane.
The ultimate result of this is that all of the nations of Kara-Tur formed one great nation, called the Eternal Empire, to protect themselves, and they too began intensive technomantic research.

Maztica never took sides in the IR, but it became a refuge for powers defeated in the conflicts.
Bran's Druids retreated to Maztica.
The Faerie of Toril retreated to Maztica (before they retreated from Toril, and never returned - they still have not returned.)
The elves of Mystara who came to Toril, retreated and hid themselves somewhere in the vast forests of northern Maztica.

The scro occupied Selune, and established a major trading base there.
The elven bases on Selune, and in the Tears of Selune, were destroyed.
Ultimately, vast numbers of scro, gith, other spelljamming races, and eventually people from Toril would come and colonize Selune.

The githyanki came in force to Luna, and ultimately conquered a great part of that small world.

- - -

The United Commonwealth of Toril was, at it's heart, the old Technomancy, with it's capital in Amn.
After the war with the illithid ended, the Technomancy began the diplomatic effort to united all the peoples of Realmspace.
The entire continent of Zakhara joined, seeing peace, prosperity, and power in the new alliance, and also being at ease with the evolved culture and beliefs of their northern neighbors.

The Magocracy joined after Zouron mysteriously disappeared.
The mages of the Magocracy saw in this alliance a chance to obtain heights of knowledge and power undreamed of beforehand.
It is also true that many of the mages joined out of altruism, having been affected by the Ritual of the Church of Toril.

The NeoIllithid had already joined the Technomancy, and thus, they became members of the new alliance by default.
The Deep Illithid then joined the Technomancy.
This astonishing act was the result of the Illithid Evolution, detailed in the IR.

Practically every other Underdark race then subsequently joined, most of them good aligned races now due to the Ritual of the Church of Toril.

Then the Humanoid Alliance joined, and because they joined, the Scro joined.
This brought vast numbers of peoples living in Realmspace into the growing alliance, and more followed quickly, such as the githyanki and other denizens of Luna.

Maztica joined the growing alliance out of desperation and need, since the war had devastated the continent.

The other continents of Toril, except for Kara-Tur only, also joined for this reason, or were persuaded to join by adroit diplomacy.

When the Humanoid Alliance joined the growing alliance, the Elves of Evermeet also joined by default.

Finally the undersea races joined, persuaded by the adroit diplomacy of Ian Payne.

It is worth noting that the phaerimm had joined the Technomancy, evolved into a good aligned race, and had volunteered to use their awesomely powerful magic to protect the fledging alliance.
The Sharn, ancient enemies of the phaerimm, had laid that emnity to rest, and had joined the phaerimm as friends and allies, and had offered their aid and protection to the alliance.
Both races, infamous for their indepedence and aloftness, had become very social in nature, and both races had agreed to abide as CITIZENS of the new alliance, bound by the laws and honoring the codes of Ian Payne's dream.

This kind of thing, combined with other developments, such as Larloch joining, and the beholders joining, and the illithid joining, and the general (and massive) change in attitudes, alignment, and temperment, of the peoples of Toril, caused a fair amount of awe among the peoples of Realmspace.
The other worlds of Realmspace would end up joining the new alliance, in awe and wonder, in hope, in fear (for some), as Ian Payne worked his magic in words on them, bringing them all into the United Commonwealth.

On Toril, they called it the United Commonwealth of Toril.
In Realmspace, they called it the United Commonwealth of Realmspace.

Either way, it ended up absorbing most of the peoples of Realmspace into it's fold.

Kara-Tur did not join, and maintained it's Eternal Empire.
The scro did not join, so Selune remained independent (later to become the Republic of Selune), and later the Scro Star League would emerge as the scro and their gith allies adapted technomancy to their ships.

The Nations of the Chosen (of Mystra) also did not join, and adopted a Switzerland-like neutrality.
A neutrality carefully honored by the United Commonwealth.
The people of Realmspace held Mystra in awe and reverence, or at least they held her in awe, and they dared not interfere directly with the Chosen of the Goddess of Magic.
After all, all their technomancy was partially derived from primordial magic, and whether they held Mystra in awe and reverence, or in fear and loathing, all respected what She was.

The evil faiths of Faerun were decimated by the war and it's aftermath, and further decimated by the formation of the United Commonwealth.
As a result, they decided to combine their strength, and work together to survive.
In this amalagation of faiths, the subsequent power-struggles, and as fate decreed, Shar emerged as the dominant Goddess of the dark faiths, and the other evil dieties became her lessers.
Thus the Church of Shade was born, and with great amounts of aid incoming from the Demiplane of Shade, it emerged into a strong underground power in Realmspace.

Ian Payne became a saint in his own lifetime, and after his death, millions mourned his loss and strove to match what they saw as the idealism and loftiness he had represented.
A monument was built over his tomb, and later a church dedicated to the ideas Ian Payne held dear.
This church flourished and quickly spread, with the open blessing of the United Commonwealth, until it pervaded all of Realmspace.
The Church of Mercy was it's name, and it endures to this day.

During the IR, the faiths of Sune, Sharess, Llirra, Gond, Oghma, and most importantly Selune all merged into one faith.
This fiercely good faith invoked what people would later call the Ritual of the Church of Toril, and in so doing brought hope and peace to a devastated world, and enlightenment to many races.
The combined church flourished, and the faiths of many other dieties (all of similar nature to the original five dieties) were absorbed into it.
The new church espoused an almost Sensate-like approach to life, and wholeheartedly embraced technomancy and all forms of learning.
The new church espoused a fierce regard for the value of life, and was in general strongly neutral good and chaotic good.
The new faith became fantastically popular; the new church became so popular that people simply called it the Church of Toril, and abandoned any lesser names they had thought up.

 

[The Forsaken One]

Very nice

Add a evry extended summary of the 3rd one to it and we have the IR in a bottle

 

[Kalanyr]

/me thinks this thread still needs some work!

 

[Serpenteye]

Strategies of Treason. To Betray a Traitor

This is a copy of an e-mail I sent to Edena early in round 1 of the IR. Soon after I sent it I was troubled by an unusual feeling of guilt. I decided this plan was too evil to be implemented and that it might cause too great upset. I didn't want to push Mr Draco out of the IR by backstabbing him and I didn't want to pay the price for failure (Which I deemed probable since I assumed Edena would be very hesitant to allow a player of the IR to be completely destroyed. The "come-back" of Melkor and Acererak after the War of Vecna prooved this assumption correct.)
I soon sent an other e-mail to Edena cancelling this one so none of the events planned here ever took place. It was probably for the best, in the end.
Nevertheless, for historical interest, this is what could have happened. An evidence both of the deceptiveness of my personal character and the softness of my bleading heart.



=========================================
Strategies of Treason
To Betray a Traitor

The power in the Dark Union is divided equally, in power points, between me and Mr Draco. Mr Draco has exclusive contol over the legions of Kas and since the legions of Kas have such a high powerlevel I have considerably more power than Mr Draco in the rest of the Union. It can easiest be described like this:

114/2=57. 57-34(Kas)=23. 114-34=80. 80-23=57. My power: 57points outside of the legions of Kas. Mr Draco's power: 34 points in the legions and 23 points outside. This means that I have 57/80=71,3 percent of the power outside of the legions of Kas.

--

The Dark Union of Oerth has two rulers, and that is one too many. The God-Emperor joined with Kas from necessity and to exploit his power, not to gain an equal partner. As soon as Kas appeared in the Dark Union efforts were taken to undermine his influence.

The operation was undertaken with extreme caution and subtelty. Key officials and officers loyal to Kas were kidnapped, brainwashed and magically compelled and returned with custom made normal seeming memories of their time of abcence. Mostly non-legion people are targeted, but a few in the legions too but only if it is reasonably safe. The brainwashing was/is done at a subconsious level and the patients are unaware that their loyalties have been transferred to the Emperor until they are telepathically triggered. Only a few people are kidnapped each week and they are usually back before thet are missed, so as not to rouse suspicion, but the operation proceeds steadily. If suspicion is roused it's directed against foreign agents in the Dark Union or hostile religions, but not too bluntly. Those who prove to be resistant to the brainwashing and enchantments are put to death. I cannot stress enough the caution this operation is undertaken with. My agents are extremely well shielded against divinations and will rather die and suffer for all eternity than betray their Emperor. Only the most loyal agents are used for this. Extensive testing is used to ascertain if the brainwashing is complete before the subject is released.
If someone finds out about this trough scrying (like Vecna, since 10th level magics is the only magic that can reasonably penetrate this secret) e-mail them directly. Please, do not post it on the board until I give the sign by saying that I execute the final stage of my secret plan sometime during turn 2.
When I execute the final stage of the plan orders are given to all my forces. First the assassins murder any and all officials loyal to Kas they can find (according to the encoded lists they are given) and get away with killing, poisoning is a favoured method. At the same time the converted Kasites are telepathically triggered and given their orders to strike against the power of their former leader when the armies move. Six hours later (game time, not real time) orders are given to the armies to seice control over the Union in the name of the Emperor. Followers of Kas are attacked and arrested or killed. They are taken by surprise and should be overpowered quickly. If Kas himself is found, during this final stage, he is subdued, arrested and brainwashed so that he too can serve his true master. Before the armies move to take control of the Union all this is done covertly, suspicion is directed against foreign powers and the Emperor will make a show of investigating the source of the chaos. If necessary a few seemingly important (but actually decoy) officials known to be loyal to the Emperor are also murdered by the assassins to make it seem that Kas is not the only target for the foreign powers.
--

So, what do you think? A devious and evil plan. Is it too evil? Or is it perhaps not sufficiently devious? Is it doomed to failure or a certain success? It's up to you to decide, for you are the one true God . Let me know when Kas' powerlevel is significantly reduced.

===================

Knowing the skill and intelligence that Mr Draco possess, that he proved repeatedly over the cource of the IR, I now have serious doubts that this plan could have worked. What do you, players and lurkers of the IR, think?

 

[Knight Otu]

That's a tough call...
I'd say that Mr Draco propably expected you to betray him at one point or another. I'm not sure if he would expect it that soon, though. Maybe flip a coin to decide if it would have succeeded?

I soon sent an other e-mail to Edena cancelling this one so none of the events planned here never took place.

(Highlights by me)
As it seems that at least the brainwashing took place, maybe the rest of th plan would have succeeded?
Sorry about that nitpick, but two no's usually make a yes, and it is an interesting error in this case. I certainly don't intend to offend you.

 

[Serpenteye]

That's a tough call...
I'd say that Mr Draco propably expected you to betray him at one point or another. I'm not sure if he would expect it that soon, though. Maybe flip a coin to decide if it would have succeeded?


(Highlights by me)
As it seems that at least the brainwashing took place, maybe the rest of th plan would have succeeded?
Sorry about that nitpick, but two no's usually make a yes, and it is an interesting error in this case. I certainly don't intend to offend you.

It takes a lot more than something like that to offend me.

I noticed the error after I had edited the post the first time and logged off the internet. I didn't feel it was serious enough to bother correcting at that time. Since it has apparently caused some confusion I've now edited my post again.

 

[Knight Otu]

I'm glad to hear that there are no hard feelings from your side, Serpenteye.

 

[Serpenteye]

I'm glad to hear that there are no hard feelings from your side, Serpenteye.

Don't worry.

 

[Mr. Draco]

Hmm, just noticed this...

Well, it had crossed my mind that you would betray me early on. I had some plans for that situation, but I'm glad they weren't necessary. As for your plan, one thing to remember is that it would have been very hard to pull off the "reprogrammings" within the Legions because they were quite far away from the main Union territories. But, it still might have succeded. I call it a coin toss.

However, the one thing regarding the IR that I've wondered, was what would have happened if the players in the hellfurnaces (Kalanyr, Forsaken One, and Festy Dog) had, instead of getting Kalanyr 10th level magic early, attacked, or built up their power through industrialization, and remained evil (in the case of Kalanyr). Just a little food for thought, but I think it would have put evil at a definate advantage in the IR, and possibly evil could've taken over, had Melkor remained allied with us.