The Ruby Circle! A Tale of Terror, Love, ACTION, Slavery, and REDS!
It was in the year 1863 that the UNION fought against the forces of SLAVERY in their midst The great WAR BETWEEN THE STATES raged on. However, there were WORMS nested in the heart of Lady Columbia: I speak, of course, of IMMIGRANTS: lead by the KRAUT KARL MARX, the paupers of New York City rose up in revolt against the draft. Soon, the rebellion spread ACROSS THE NORTHEAST, and the AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL COMMUNE was declared. The men of DIXIE rode north, and together the REDS and the GREYS overthrew the United States.
Today, the world stands divided between the forces of SLAVERY and the forces of LIBERTY. The vast CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA have only expanded the pernicious grasp of CHATTEL SLAVERY from agriculture to industry. Even more, they continue to spread their influence throughout the CARRIBBEAN, invading and SUBDUING the many free republics of that land. Indeed, the Confederacy can even be found in DARKEST AFRICA, where with the help of their DASTARDLY BOER TOADIES they continue to enslave the free and noble African!
They do this with the help of AMERICAN COMMUNE. It is said that all men in the Commune are equal, but indeed, some are MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS. The Commune is an INDUSTRIAL and ECONOMIC POWERHOUSE, the center of most of the confederacy's BANKING and MERCHANT activity. Indeed, slavery may not be legal in the Commune, but its continued existence is only ensured by the blood-stained cotton of the South! The mighty navy of the Commune establishes communes across the globe. They preach to the locals that they will be free under Communal rule; they libel the freedom loving powers as COLONIALIST! But the truth is the colonies of the Commune are mires of slavery, existing only to supply the metropole!
Together, the two states work together in a system called "THE RUBY CIRCLE"!
Indeed, the Ruby Circle has its co-conspirators across the world. The EMPIRE of BRAZIL, a state much like the Confederacy, maintains the institution of slavery, and seeks to kill the noble Indian. There is the TSARDOM of RUSSIA, where the serfs toil in the mud for their Autocrat. In Japan, all men are slaves to the GOD-EMPEROR. In Prussia, the Army is the master, all peole servants to its maniacal ends.
These forces are opposed by the forces of LIBERTY, those grand old states that believe in truth, freedom, and civilization - civilization above all, which they spread to the less fortunate peoples of the world for the small price of their service to civilization until such a time as they may be educated to a point of responsibility. Quite the bargain!
The two great alliances stand at odds, contesting the future of humanity. There are many battlefronts, but the two greatest are to be found in the torrid jungles of South America, and in the Mysterious Orient. In the land known as Guiana, a border dispute between the CONFEDERATE PUPPET of GREAT COLOMBIA and British Guiana threatens to escalate into open war. The British could appease the Slavers by surrendering the people of Guiana, but finally! They are insisting: NO MORE!
Meanwhile in the East, a mysterious revolt has overtaken the peasants of the decrepit Empire of China. What is worse, they have put the legations and cessions of the Civilied Power under siege! What drives these superstitious peasants to rise up? Only Heaven knows, but it may have something to do with all of those Manhattan-marked gunboats and traders, and the Diabolical Dr. Fang who has recently come to power in the Republic of Thibet...
Can you lead the forces of liberty to triumph? Can you bring an end to the scourge of communalism? Can you untangle the Ruby Circle?
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I started this map Christ knows how long ago just based off of a silly idea when watching Gangs of New York: What if the rioters in the Manhattan Draft Riot inspire a general revolt across the northeast? What if it took on shades of the Paris Commune? And just for good measure, what if we threw in Karl Marx himself?
The result is underpolished and I'm not entirely happy with, but it is pulpy and fun. The essential focus is a small northeastern communalist state that acts as a mercantile republic in service to the CSA. Interesting, but could have done better with it. Oh well.
Wrote the description as if it were for an RPG setting. Do I have any intention of running it? Absolutely not!