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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Reprisal" data-source="post: 149506" data-attributes="member: 1161">Well now...... how can I not accept renewed control over The United Commonwealth of Toril? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60e.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":cool:" title="Cool    :cool:"  data-smilie="6"data-shortname=":cool:" />All right, if the UC is to return to a more proactive player in these reindeer games, I will have to know a few things first off...1. Who claims to be the allies of the United Commonwealth?  And how have our relations been so far?2. Who has demonstrated a genuine enthusiasm for the ideologies of the Commonwealth? (This sorts out who are our strategic allies, and who are our comprehensive allies...)3. Who has long disagreed to the point of enmity with the United Commonwealth and its ideologies? And how have our relations been so far?In any event, here's a little background information on the United Commonwealth.  (Though you might know this already, think of it as much a warm-up for myself... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> )The United Commonwealth of TorilThe United Commonwealth (UC) was borne out of a heavy assortment of conflict between the forces of progress and the forces of tradition.  After two cataclysmic conflicts with various powers, foreign and domestic, the United Commonwealth came into its own.  Its chief founders, Sir Ian Payne of the Technocratic Coalition, and Lord Forrester of the Humanoid Alliance, came together as a result of the second conflict over Toril.The UC itself is a confederacy of other nation-states who have joined together of their own volition.  Its government is made up of two main branches: the executive branch, or the Commonwealth Presidency; and the legislative branch, or the Commonwealth Parliament.The President of the UC is directly elected by all electors in the United Commonwealth.  The President has three main functions: first, he is the Commander-In-Chief of the UC Military; second, he is the chief architect of the UC's Foreign Policy; and lastly, he has the constitutionally guaranteed power to veto any bill coming from the Commonwealth Parliament.  The UC's current President, Forrester, has been the Head of State for over forty years now... He has been a true product of his upbringing in the Humanoid Alliance: patriotic, honourable, stubborn, and even a little hot-headed.  This can be seen in many of his sweeping initiatives that have addressed issues of UC concern head-on.  It is, perhaps, why many of those citizens of Oerth have a distinct distaste for him because of the apparent "over-assertion" of Torilian supremacy.  Forrester has long been called the "Father of Toril" for good reason.  He is a very paternalistic politician, often utilizing his country's great influence to steer other nations in the right direction... sometimes whether they like it or not.Over these past forty years, the exponential growth in the population of the Humanoid Alliance has made it the single largest member-nation in the United Commonwealth.  As a result, its influence in the lower chamber of the Commonwealth Parliament, called the Commonwealth Assembly, has increased along the same lines.  A new political party, called the Commonwealth Party of Toril (CPT), had begun to supplant the Liberal-Democratic Party of Toril (LDP) slowly over time.  Each term, it would grow a few seats, and the LDP would shrink about that many.As we all know, the Commonwealth Parliament is the legislative branch of government.  It is made up of two parts: the upper chamber, the Senate; and the lower chamber, the Assembly.  Of the two, the lower chamber is the most important as the Head of Government (as opposed to the Head of State) is taken from that party with holds the largest amount of seats in the Assembly.  The current governing party, simply referred to as the Government, is the upstart CPT with Korren O'Tagh as Prime Minister, but an election is coming up quickly, and the days of unbridled support Forrester has been enjoying appear to be numbered.  The leader of the established LDP, Erika Lesage, has been gaining support from not only the Commonwealth Proper (the former Technocratic Coalition nations), and the rest of the sphere, but also from certain minority groups within the Humanoid Alliance...The Commonwealth Senate has been the silent actor in all of these political undoings... As the chamber representing the interests of member-nations, not of the entire population as with the Assembly, it has been able to disrupt any calls for total war by the President and Prime Minister.  For this reason, many citizens in the Humanoid Alliance have called for the abolition of the Senate because they feel it undemocratic.  They cite that a tiny member-state such as the Psionic League, which as since rebuilt from its ultimate sacrfice,  has the same say as the entire Western Territory of the Humanoid Alliance... Others, especially within the Commonwealth Proper, have vigorously defended the Senate as the last bastion of rational governance.To this day, the debate between populism and regionalism still rages on within the United Commonwealth...The Greyhawk Dilemma: What shall we do?At this point in time, the United Commonwealth of Toril has been at an impass.  The discovery and subsequent involvement in the Realm of Greyhawk has become the focus of the media, acedemia, and government.  There have been three main paradigms in relation to our relations with the Realm of Greyhawk.One side, populated mostly by those supporting the CPT and the Humanoid Alliance, has called for an entire "pacification force" be sent to Greyhawk to subdue any wrong-doers and occupy Greyhawk until a time that it is ready to join the ranks of the United Commonwealth...  This has been the dominant ideology of the Government, and the Presidency, and has only recently began to show signs of systemic weakness.The other side, advocated primarily by the Commonwealth Proper and the Liberal-Democratic Party, has been one of diplomacy, multilateralism, and a careful focus of force (military, economic, or magical) upon those parties opposed to peace and prosperity.  After many months of long campaigning, Erika Lesage has roused enough support to challenge the political supremacy Commonwealth Party.The final, and perhaps most alarming side, in the debate are the isolationists.  Supported by no significant political party, there has been a movement of people and non-governmental organizations calling for the complete and utter retreat from the Realm of Greyhawk.  Citing the belief that "their's is no busisness of ours" the advocates of isolationism has been a thorn in the side of many, many a politician.OOC: The Future is UncertainIn the first few turns that I will be playing, I will be telling of the political pressures within the UC and how they affect those parties outside.  There will be an election, and there will be much in the way of political, social and economic turmoil afterwards, no matter who wins...  I would only ask that those Powers interested should start commenting on the way the UC has acted, and how they wish the UC to act from now on...</blockquote>

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