Shattered America World-Building Thread

Yeah, but they've made a lot of progress over the years. While there have been more than a few riots there hasn't been a coordinated terror attack since the Orange Square bombing of '87. The process is long, slow, and difficult but they're making progress. Djakarta has actually become quite a thriving tourist destination in the last couple of years.

I mean, that's pretty impressive, considering how the Incident of '88 nearly led to a full-blown civil war. I guess they're working on making amends...or maybe it's the apartheid.

I don't know, man. The apartheid is just rumors. I think.

I'm getting this off of worldpedia, and that's not exactly reliable.
 
I mean, that's pretty impressive, considering how the Incident of '88 nearly led to a full-blown civil war. I guess they're working on making amends...or maybe it's the apartheid.

I don't know, man. The apartheid is just rumors. I think.

I'm getting this off of worldpedia, and that's not exactly reliable.

87, not 88. The bombing took place on November 7th, 1987.

We're talking about Baru Belanda, not Nationalist Party Carolina here. The "apartheid" rumors seem like someone transposed Carolina's old sins onto Baru Belanda. While living in "old" Baru Belanda wasn't good for Muslims, it wasn't nearly as bad as living in Nationalist Carolina was for black people.

Everyone knows that worldpedia isn't a credible source. Most universities in New England fail students for copying off of worldpedia articles.
 
87, not 88. The bombing took place on November 7th, 1987.

We're talking about Baru Belanda, not Nationalist Party Carolina here. The "apartheid" rumors seem like someone transposed Carolina's old sins onto Baru Belanda.

Everyone knows that worldpedia isn't a credible source. Most universities in New England fail students for copying off of worldpedia articles.

Dude, now you're going to make me start thinking of Nationalist Party Carolina. Like, I don't know if I'm allowed to go after other countries for racialism, but it was almost comical there.

I mean, it probably sucked living there, but from an outsider's perspective? Churches preaching the idea that Adam and Eve were white Anglo-Saxons and weirdly racist toothpaste commercials on TV? Like, there are some Carolinian movies you can just watch drunk and laugh your ass off.

You kinda have to watch them drunk, though. Watch them sober and you just get kinda depressed.

Yes, I can feel sadness, it's not like that's a thing I'm immune to, thank you for asking!
 
Dude, now you're going to make me start thinking of Nationalist Party Carolina. Like, I don't know if I'm allowed to go after other countries for racialism, but it was almost comical there.

I mean, it probably sucked living there, but from an outsider's perspective? Churches preaching the idea that Adam and Eve were white Anglo-Saxons and weirdly racist toothpaste commercials on TV? Like, there are some Carolinian movies you can just watch drunk and laugh your ass off.

You kinda have to watch them drunk, though. Watch them sober and you just get kinda depressed.

Yes, I can feel sadness, it's not like that's a thing I'm immune to, thank you for asking!

Present-day Baru Belanda is like the opposite of Nationalist Carolina. While Baru-Belanda isn't a land of racial or religious harmony they're making steps in the right direction. Nationalist Carolina was a friendly exterior hiding a rotten core. It took the Nationalist regime's fall at the end of the Second Great American War for that to change.

There's no shortage of New Englander popular culture of the day that satirized the Carolinian Nationalists and other White Supremacist regimes in the region. It was a "laugh or you'll cry" sort of situation. Some of the riskier material, which they were worried would cause another Great American War, is now much more well-received after being vindicated by history. A lot of it still is genuinely funny since it makes fun of the White Supremacists rather than their victims.

While you buried your humanity behind the persona of a proud White Star Bureau member I never thought that you never felt sadness.
 
Present-day Baru Belanda is like the opposite of Nationalist Carolina. While Baru-Belanda isn't a land of racial or religious harmony they're making steps in the right direction. Nationalist Carolina was a friendly exterior hiding a rotten core. It took the Nationalist regime's fall at the end of the Second Great American War for that to change.

There's no shortage of New Englander popular culture of the day that satirized the Carolinian Nationalists and other White Supremacist regimes in the region. It was a "laugh or you'll cry" sort of situation. Some of the riskier material, which they were worried would cause another Great American War, is now much more well-received after being vindicated by history. A lot of it still is genuinely funny since it makes fun of the White Supremacists rather than their victims.

While you buried your humanity behind the persona of a proud White Star Bureau member I never thought that you never felt sadness.

Yeah, Carolina Lotus was a pretty funny sitcom about a bunch of Chinese people living in Raleigh. I missed like half the jokes, but it was still good. Also, you'd be surprised. I think it's less that people assume I'm too much of an evil badass to feel sadness and more that they just think of me as such a douche that they don't really imagine me being sad, since that would make me seem marginally less douchey.

It's like how you don't think of whoever founded Melianism's cat. Apparently that guy had a cat he really liked or something.

And yes, I am comparing myself to a well-known philosopher.
 
Yeah, Carolina Lotus was a pretty funny sitcom about a bunch of Chinese people living in Raleigh. I missed like half the jokes, but it was still good. Also, you'd be surprised. I think it's less that people assume I'm too much of an evil badass to feel sadness and more that they just think of me as such a douche that they don't really imagine me being sad, since that would make me seem marginally less douchey.

It's like how you don't think of whoever founded Melianism's cat. Apparently that guy had a cat he really liked or something.

And yes, I am comparing myself to a well-known philosopher.

There was even a remake of Carolina Lotus that managed to avoid the sitcom remake curse and was actually pretty good.

Things definitely changed in Carolina after the Second Great American War. Especially after they elected their first Chinese-Carolinian President, Harold Chang, in 1994. People like to whisper that he was born in Nanking but that's just a racist conspiracy. OOC: Mandela + Obama + being Chinese = Chang.

It's hard to think that now that I know that it's a defense mechanism that you adopted. Personally, I hope you get therapy too. While you're not as messed up psychologically as Doctor Erica "I'm literally seeing things" Bishop, I still think it'd do you some good. Especially now that you're living in France and you don't need to keep the "Big Bad WSB officer" persona up.

That'd be Aurora, right? Heinrich Stark loved that cat. Aurora's ridiculously elaborate tomb in Prague is still being maintained. It's a tourist location because of how unusual it is.
 
There was even a remake of Carolina Lotus that managed to avoid the sitcom remake curse and was actually pretty good.

Things definitely changed in Carolina after the Second Great American War. Especially after they elected their first Chinese-Carolinian President, Harold Chang, in 1994. People like to whisper that he was born in Nanking but that's just a racist conspiracy. OOC: Mandela + Obama + being Chinese = Chang.

It's hard to think that now that I know that it's a defense mechanism that you adopted. Personally, I hope you get therapy too. While you're not as messed up psychologically as Doctor Erica "I'm literally seeing things" Bishop, I still think it'd do you some good. Especially now that you're living in France and you don't need to keep the "Big Bad WSB officer" persona up.

That'd be Aurora, right? Heinrich Stark loved that cat. Aurora's ridiculously elaborate tomb in Prague is still being maintained. It's a tourist location because of how unusual it is.

Yeah, for a second I thought that the guy who invented Melianism was actually from Greece, but no, apparently he was from...Hungary? Czechia? I think it's Czechia? That's where Prague is, right? Yeah. Honestly, I'm kind of surprised that Chinese immigrants became such a big thing in Carolina, but I guess the truth's stranger than fiction? Also, I mean, I'm kind of a terrible person at this point, and I don't know what I'd do at a therapist's? Lay down on a couch somewhere and talk about my mom? My mom was fine. Dad too, I guess.

I don't really see how talking on a couch is that helpful, but whatever. Also, I only visit France when I can, Erica and I are long-distance. I think. We're still figuring it out. I mean, I'd like to live in France, but I'm not exactly getting paid what she was getting paid. About her seeing things, it's not just seeing things. Originally, it was actually voices. Seeing things became more recent, and the hallucinations got pretty complex pretty quickly. For a while, she just heard lots of voices that kinda mixed with her depression, and, you know, other auditory hallucinations.

Apparently having people whispering and yelling really hurtful shit at you all the time isn't good for your psyche or something. IDK. Also, I mean, I'm still doing my job? Like, it's not like I stopped being a cop when she had her freak-out after the Sparrow murder bombing thing.

Heinrich Stark...I remember him and Marx getting into some arguments. There were the Marx-Bakunin debates and the Marx-Stark debates, right?
 

Md139115

Banned
OOC: Do you think we can have some maps and flags on this thread?

To satisfy, I decided to copy some of my past work.

So while I continue working on my epic entry for the Atlantic Republic, I thought that at the very least, I should post a map for everyone's benefit. National borders are in dark black, and I added colonial borders in red.

OOC: Alright everyone! After trying to write a history of the Republic and running to 4 single-spaced typed pages before even getting to 1820, I have given up on that and instead just wrote out a web entry with the history points merely summarized.

IC:

Country Name: The Atlantic Republic



Government Type: Councilor Democratic Constitutional Republic


Head of State: Eliza Hickam, President of the Republic, Head of the Supreme Executive Council (Freedom Party)


Party in Government: Freedom Party (Assembly), Coalition (Freedom Party and Workers United) (Supreme Executive Council)


Population: 23,975,461


Military: The Republican Army, The Republican Navy, The Republican Air Force, The Republican Coast Guard, and the Republican Medical and Humanitarian Corps


Economy: Traditionally one of the chief industrial nations of the world, the Atlantic Republic (there is no official short form for the name, but “The Republic” is popularly used, with Atlantica or Atlantia being less common) still heavily relies on large-scale agriculture and manufacturing as the basis of its economy, but has recently made strides in developing a modern services and IT-oriented system. Traditionally, the western counties of the Republic have been heavily geared towards iron, steel, and automotive production with some degree of oil and gas drilling as well. The central counties specialize in farming and husbandry, and the eastern counties and the Maryware peninsula on shipbuilding, fishing, and the defense industry. Philadelphia, the capital and largest city of the Republic, predominately focuses on petrochemicals and shipbuilding, though the latter industry is in a steep decline. The Republic however, benefits from a strong network of high-speed railroads and highways that enables unparalleled throughput efficiencies in supply chains, enabling it to stay competitive in the face of increased foreign competition and rising employee costs at home. Of late, efforts have been made to develop a “silicon highway” along the traditional main line between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, consisting of a high-speed network and targeted subsidies that would enable more diffuse spreading of the rapidly growing IT economy. So far, these efforts have met with marginal success outside of the major cities, and inequality in the center of the Republic continues to grow.


Demographics:


Race:



White 88%

Sub-Saharan African 7%

Middle Eastern/North African 1-2%

Native American 1 – 2%

Asian 1%

Other >1%


Religion:

Lutheran/United: 35%

Roman Catholic 24%

Quaker: 11%

Non-religious/Atheist: 9%

Methodist: 5%

Jewish: 3%

Anabaptist: 3%

Anglican Communion: 3%

Other Christian: 3%

Muslim: 2%

Other Non-Christian: 2%


Culture:


The Atlantic Republic is renowned for being one of the most culturally unique and diverse nations in all of North America, if not the world. From the polyglot high culture of Center City Philadelphia to the unique frozen-in-time enclaves of the Amish out in Lancaster, to the energetic Jersey shore towns to the sleepy villages of the Appalachians, there is no one definition of culture in the Republic. In general though, distinctive traits of Republican culture include:

· A high degree of individual expression tolerated within one’s tight-knit, almost tribalist, community

· A distinct emphasis on “practical” education and experience over traditional learning

· A quiet, intense religiosity almost never displayed in public but universally expected

· A love of football, lacrosse, and baseball, to the exclusion of other sports

· An appreciation for fine art and sculpture, best exemplified by the many masterpieces on display at the Philadelphia Art Museum, itself one of the central locations of the city

· A distinct regional cuisine centered on foods that could be easily eaten by hand while working, such as the pretzel, the hoagie, and the cheesesteak. The dominating features appear to be pork and dairy products.

· Almost universal popularity of German-style lager as the chief alcoholic beverage.


Beginning with the Quakers, the Atlantic Republic has been unusually welcoming of USBT groups, much to the chagrin of the more traditional Christian denominations. However, what was once legal but taboo, is now openly celebrated, culminating in the election of Mrs. Hickam, a known Sapphic, as President of the Republic (though it is believed by many historians that Walt Whitman was a Uranic, this has never been confirmed).


History and Society: (a summary)

Pre-1775: The settlement of the mid-Atlantic Colonies

1775-1783: The Colonial Rebellion, major events, proofs that Ben Franklin was a genius

1783-1792: The collapse of the Colonial unity government, the formation of the Atlantic Republic, the vote of Maryland to join the Republic, more proofs that President Ben Franklin was one of the greatest men who ever lived.

1792-1797: The first war with Virginia, aftermath
.
1797-1842: The consolidation of the Republic, the construction of the Main Line Canals and Railroads, the beginnings of the Underground Railroad and contract with Britain to ship the escaped slaves to Sierra Leone. Also includes an account of the Franklinites, a group that believed Ben Franklin was the second coming of Christ and the world has been in the 1000 years of peace and happiness prophesied in the Book of Revelation since his death in 1790. Known for their massive public orgies, and their suppression in one of the first great religious uphevals of the Republic.

1842-1860: Impact of the massive wave of Irish and German refugees fleeing the famines and failed uprisings of their homelands, and the societal tensions afterwards.

1860-1870: The First North American War, its causes, major events, and aftermath.

1870-1910: The Age of Wealth and Follies and the Reform Movement

1910-Present: (OOC: TBD)

Politics and Government:


The Atlantic Republic is a Councilor Democratic Constitutional Republic, a unique form of government that many have compared to the Westminster System, but with a few notable differences. The essence of the government is the principle, popular in Enlightenment times, that all government functions can be broken down into legislative, executive, and judicial categories. From this, it followed that by creating strong, streamlined, independent branches concentrating on each category and capable of blocking the overreach of other branches, an ideal republic could be created.

The legislative branch of the republic is concentrated on The General Assembly, a unicameral 420-person body. Representatives are elected from individual districts apportioned to have an equal number of persons in each district. In the past, district boundaries were drawn up by the Assembly, however this created such slanted elections in favor of the ruling coalition that an amendment to turn it over to an independent committee was overwhelmingly passed by the population in a 1967 referendum. The Assembly’s powers include passing the fiscal budget, ratifying treaties, declaring war, approving judicial and executive branch appointments, and impeaching members of the other two branches of government for high crimes and misdemeanors. Unlike the Republic’s neighbors, and more in keeping with the Westminster System, no veto power exists against the Assembly, except in the case of the election of the President and Vice-President. Members are seated for three-year terms, so staggered so that one-third of the assembly is up for election every year. Given the historical difficulty of the Supreme Executive Council to function in a unified and coherent matter, much of the regulatory agencies of the Republic answer to Assembly committees, giving the legislative branch a reputation as the strongest of the three branches of the government.

The executive branch is concentrated on a 21-person Supreme Executive Council, whose members are elected by districts formed from the combination of 20 contiguous legislative districts. As with the Assembly, the Councilors sit for three year terms with one-third of the seats of the Council up for election each year. In the early days of the Republic, the Council was formed by one representative from each county of the Republic (and one from the City of Philadelphia) but the continued expansion of the Republic made such an arrangement vastly unwieldy, so after reaching a high of 46 members in 1849, the present arrangement was adopted. The President and Vice-President of the Republic are elected from the Council by the Assembly for one year terms, with the Council vetoing the choice if they find it unacceptable. In practice, this makes coalition governments and/or compromise deals the norm in the Republic, as the likelihood of controlling both the Assembly and the Council by one party at the same time has historically been rare. In addition to the President and the Vice President, there are 19 other senior executive offices of state that must be filled by Council members, creating what President Walt Whitman described as “undoubtedly the most bizarre and awkward working environment on Earth.” The duties of the Council are to fill military commissions, conduct foreign policy, enforce the laws of the Republic, grant pardons and commutations, pass emergency ordinances (which, as per the constitution, may only last for a maximum of three months), call the assembly into emergency session, and make executive and judicial appointments. Votes are by simple majority, with the President serving as tie-breaker. The President of the Republic also has the responsibility of acting as head of state, and as commander-in-chief of the uniformed services.

The Judicial Branch is centered on a seven-member Supreme Court of the Republic, whose members are seated for life tenures, and are appointed by the Supreme Executive Council, with the approval of the Assembly. Their primary duty is to serve as the court of final appeal in civil and criminal cases, and to resolve conflicts in rulings between district appellate courts. The court has also taken on the power (based on Common Law precedent, though not specifically enumerated in the Constitution) of determining the constitutionality of a law passed by the Assembly. The court has the right to determine which cases it wishes to hear. Below the Supreme Court are six district courts (Jersey, Maryware, the rest of Maryland, and Eastern, Central, and Western Pennsylvania) that function as the normal appellate courts for cases (without the right to decline cases). The primary level though, is the county courts.

Politics in the Republic is a distinctly tribalist affair, with one’s religion and social status all but determining the political party of the individual. Though there have been many political parties since the founding of the Republic, the present order has held since 1952 and has proved to be reasonably stable. Four major parties exist in the Republic:


·Workers United (Nickname: the Reds, the Commies)

Traditional Colors: Red and Black

Affiliation: Left

Traditional Groups: Industrial workers of German background, university students, lower class.

Traditional regions: West Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, parts of Northeastern Pennsylvania


Historically one of the weaker parties of the Republic, Workers United has been on an upswing recently as socialism is increasingly seen by many as a potential answer to the decline of several traditional manufacturing industries. At present, it holds 34 seats in the Assembly and 3 Council seats, with gains expected in the upcoming elections. The party espouses public ownership of industry, expansion of the welfare system, and strong government intervention in the economy. It is also supportive of abortion/contraception, population controls, and the USBT movement.


·Freedom Party (Nickname: the Old Gray Mare (OGM for short))

Traditional Colors: Gray and White

Affiliation: Center-Left

Traditional Groups: Quakers, Freepeople (OOC: the preferred term for African Americans), Anglicans, Methodists, Jewish, Upper Class

Traditional regions: North Philadelphia, Eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, Eastern Maryland


The largest liberal party in the Republic, and one of the oldest, the Old Gray Mare has been a major voice in politics for over a century, holding political office the most often of any political party. At present, it holds 217 seats in the Assembly and 10 Council seats. Of late though, the party has been in a decline brought in part by unfavorable demographic trends and rising public dissatisfaction with the status quo. Indeed, it has been noted that only the outright rupture between the Christian Democrats and the Libertarians was enough to give the party its recent majority, as voters feared political chaos otherwise. The party supports a free market economy with mild government regulation and intervention, and expansion of the welfare system. It is also the largest political voice in favor of military reductions and non-interventionist policies, and supports strict gun control legislation, to the point where many speak of outright banning their ownership by private individuals. It supports abortion/contraception, and the USBT movement.


·Christian Democratic Party (Nickname: the Papists)

Traditional Colors: Green and Gold

Affiliation: Center-Right

Traditional Groups: Catholics, Middle Class

Traditional regions, Jersey, South Philadelphia, Baltimore and Annapolis suburbs, parts of Delaware.


A commentator once said that the Christian Democrats have been engaged in a two-front war for half a century. Almost everyone agrees with this analysis. The Christian Democrats occupy a unique and unenviable position of being to the right of the Freedom Party and to the left of the Libertarians, resulting in a frequently quixotic arrangement where party leaders try to make themselves palatable to disaffected voters from either party- at the same time. Primarily, it has gained support recently as the Libertarians have taken a sharp turn right in recent decades, causing defections from that party’s more moderate fringe. These defections and sharp comments made recently about each other’s parties have made the traditional coalition government they form unforeseeable in the near future. At present, it holds 113 seats in the Assembly and 5 Council seats, and is expected to lose in the upcoming election, though not by as much as the Freedom Party. The part believes in a free-market economy with a minimum of government regulation and intervention. It also is in favor of stricter gun control, though not to the extent of outright bans. Although it supports the present welfare system (and has even called for more mental health funding) the party is steadfast in its opposition to abortion and contraception, and has frequently refused to vote on budgets giving financial support for clinics providing those services. The party is not supportive of the USBT movement.



·Libertarian Party (Nickname: the Hillbillies)

Traditional Colors: Blue and White

Affiliation: Center-Right to Right

Traditional Groups: Lutherans, Working class

Traditional regions: Central and Western Pennsylvania, Western Maryland


The Libertarians have taken a sharp turn towards the right in recent decades, as many in their traditional base have deeply resented what they feel as increased government intrusion into their life. With party leaders taking increasingly bold and unorthodox stances in public, the other major parties have moved to censure them, resulting in some bitter clashes in contested districts. The party holds 44 seats in the Assembly and 3 Council seats, and is expected to gain in the upcoming elections. The party supports a laissez-faire economy without government regulation. It does not support any gun control, or funding for the welfare system. The party is opposed to abortion and contraception, and is indifferent on the USBT movement.
 

Md139115

Banned
map1-jpg.342486
 

Md139115

Banned
The Atlantic Republic could best be described as the sum total of the impact of the different waves of religious groups that arrived on the shores of North America from Europe, and how they dealt with the various Native, African, and other religious groups they encountered. For centuries, the lands were occupied by the Lenni Lenape, or Delaware, tribe. Europeans who dealt with them back when they had a sizable population and government universally agreed that they were a most benevolent and prosperous society, easily willing to help the early settlers out, and only turning hostile after a long train of injuries in the mid-1700s. The first true European settlements in the area were those of the Swedes, who settled along the banks of the Delaware River and Bay. They were never large in number, but their presence would mark the beginnings of the Lutheran Church in the area. The first major wave of English speakers was that of the Quakers, who, under the leadership of William Penn, founder of the Colony of Pennsylvania and considered by many to be the grandfather of the Republic, settled what is now the Greater Philadelphia region. The unique pacifist beliefs of the Quakers caused them to set up their colony on the principles of full religious tolerance. At the same time as Penn, the English Catholics came and settled to the south in the colony known as Maryland, while an unrelated group of Quakers bought and settled the Colony of West Jersey.

The next large wave was that of the German Lutherans and Anabaptist sects, which took advantage of the tolerance and burgeoning economy of the Pennsylvania Colony to settle to the Susquehanna Valley west of Philadelphia, where even today their mark on the land can be seen in place names like King of Prussia and Germantown. They also developed a unique creole tongue of English and Low German that would become known as Pennsylvania Dutch (after a corruption of “Duetsch” and not related at all to the Netherlands). This wave started in the 1750’s and continued all the way to the war for independence from Great Britain.

In the great Revolt of the Colonies, the four colonies that would eventually make up the Atlantic Republic played a major part, but not without some degree of tepidness and hesitation. Though all four contributed large numbers of troops to the Continental Army, the men of Maryland in particular being singled out for praise by General George Washington for their courage under fire, enthusiasm was not as pronounced as it was in New England. Indeed, the Quakers of Pennsylvania and West Jersey would come to constitute the largest unaligned faction of the war, due both to their pacifism and a canny desire to be in the graces of the winning side, whomever it may be. Despite this, Philadelphia, being the largest city in the colonies (and the largest city in the British Empire after London), was the natural choice for the capital of the Continental alliance, and would host both the First and Second Continental Congresses. It was at this second congress that Benjamin Franklin and the two Adams cousins from Massachusetts, working in concert with Thomas Jefferson and George Mason of Virginia, were able to successfully convince their fellow colonists that the time had come for the departure from Britain.

With the passing of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin would depart for France, where he would serve as minister plenipotentiary and help negotiate the entry of the continent on the Colonial side. George Washington would lose New York City, but retaliate with lightning strikes on Trenton and Princeton, capturing thousands of British and Hessian mercenaries. Philadelphia would continue to serve as the capital until 1777, when it was captured by the British. At which point the Congress would go on to occupy a number of cities (far too numerous to list here) as the de facto capital, all of which were within what would become the Atlantic Republic. However, it was during this phase of the war, between 1777 and 1781, that what would become the Republic suffered most severely, as Briton and Continental alike would drench the soil in blood and suck the food from the land for forage. It was only partially, following the abandonment of Philadelphia in 1778 by the British, and then completely, after the Continental victory at Yorktown, that the region was able to recover and take the first steps towards nationhood.

Following the war, immigration slackened off due to a combination of instability following the collapse of the unity government the Thirteen Colonies had created, and the Wars of the French Revolution greatly disturbing transatlantic trade. This, however, was not of great concern to the fathers of the Atlantic Republic. Rather, they sought to unite the mid-Atlantic Colonies into something survivable. The first and most immediate problem was the Pennamite-Yankee War, which was fought between the Republic of Connecticut and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania over their respective claims in the Ohio Valley. Although Connecticut itself was of no great concern to the Pennsylvanian Government, not having a land border with that state, the Republic of New Jersey was, as it was allied with Connecticut and was undertaking measures to close down the Delaware to foreign trade.

To understand what happened next, it is perhaps best to recall Ben Franklin’s declaration that “New Jersey is a barrel tapped at both ends.” Despite having one of the longest coastlines of any of the colonies, New Jersey suffered the enormous curse of not having but one decent river along this coast to penetrate the pine scrub forests that made up much of its interior. Furthermore, the one river, the Raritan, emptied out just below Staten Island anyway. As a result, the farmers who settled along the Atlantic Highlands and the eastern shores of the Delaware River were forced to rely on New York City and Philadelphia respectively for their seaports. The founders of the colony grasped this, and had split it in half. West Jersey being the Delaware settlements, and East Jersey being the Atlantic settlements. It was only the intervention of the Crown that had forced the colony back together in what many considered an artificial arrangement.

This enabled President Ben Franklin to go to the Republic of New York, which at that point had been a mild supporter of Connecticut, and propose a deal that would come to be known as the “Jersey Partition,” despite including other important clauses as well. In essence, New Jersey would be split along the old East/West Jersey border, with the West Jersey counties of Morris and Sussex going to New York in exchange for New York halting infiltration of Connecticut militias through their land. New York also agreed to sell Pennsylvania the Erie Triangle for $500,000 [OOC: This is a retcon of my earlier post, since there is no darn way Pennsylvania could have made it all the way to Cleveland, and Erie is the only good port between Cleveland and Buffalo, it’s not like New York really needed it anyway], and agreed on a general border at the 42nd Parallel to the Delaware otherwise. On October 6, 1788, the partition was carried out. In spite of the best efforts of the New Jersey government, resistance was effectively useless, with most militia having already resigned themselves to rule by the larger states (and the economic benefits that went with having access to the ports tariff free). Only resistance outside of Mount Holly and Morristown marred what was otherwise a non-violent occupation. This had the effect of de-facto ending the war between Pennsylvania and Connecticut, as the latter could no longer effectively attack the former. The war, however, was never ended de-jure until the two successor states humorously added in a few clauses confirming the end of hostilities in an 1843 trade treaty.

The Jersey partition kicked off the great wave of consolidation of the former colonies, with Delaware going next into the expanded Pennsylvanian state, and New England consolidating into a Massachusetts-led federation. This left Maryland in the position as the last of the small republics, sandwiched in between Virginia and Pennsylvania. It was obvious, even to the Marylanders, which their republic was not long for the world, but the larger question remained: Virginia or Pennsylvania? To the slave-holding Catholics, this was an agonizing choice. Both former colonies had traditionally been hated. Pennsylvania was already moving towards the abolition of slavery, while, in spite of Thomas Jefferson’s and George Mason’s sincere proclamations to the contrary, none of the Marylanders really expected Catholicism to remain protected for long in Virginia. There was also the issue of geography to consider. The Mason-Dixon Line was an artificial construct that Pennsylvania could easily cross at any time, while the Potomac at least offered some protection from the south. However, Virginia clearly controlled the entrance to the Chesapeake and could strangle them all if it so chose. Faced with a choice over the lesser of two evils, in that most distinctive of North American customs, it was decided to put the issue to a vote.

For much of the tense summer of 1789, the pro-Virginia side held the upper hand, and it appeared all but certain that Maryland would join her neighbor to the south. However, two weeks before the vote, Ex-president Franklin tossed the equivalent of a live grenade into the situation. He revealed that part of the reason why Pennsylvania had yielded the two upper West Jersey Counties and paid so much for Erie (which had been a matter of speculation and criticism by many) was so that New York could fund and construct a canal linking the Delaware with the Hudson. Furthermore, Pennsylvania was prepared to fund an equivalent canal linking the Delaware and the Chesapeake. All it took was a quick look at a map to see that this would have the effect of creating a giant free trade zone from the Potomac to New York, and shorten Baltimore’s connection with the Atlantic by a third. On September 24th, Maryland voted by a 56% margin to join Pennsylvania in the Atlantic Republic.

All applauded the brilliance and cunning of Ben Franklin, and many large banquets and fetes were held in his honor. Regrettably, this greatly aggravated his gout and obesity, and on February 27th, 1790, Ben Franklin died of a massive attack of pleurisy. Even in his final moments though, his wits did not desert him, so at the moment of his death, a messenger was already half-way to Baltimore with an astonishing request. And so it came to pass that on his funeral three days later, the residents of Philadelphia were astounded to see none other than John Carroll, Bishop of Baltimore and head of the Catholic Church in the former Thirteen Colonies, leading a procession of every clergymen in Philadelphia in a massive interfaith funeral service. Afterwards, responding to the sharp rebuke from the Vatican, Bishop Carroll was reported to have said: “Let them excommunicate me if they wish! I have just given the Church a mighty foundation in the New World that even Peter would be proud off!”

Sentiments notwithstanding, what happened next would solidify the unity and religious cooperation of the new Atlantic Republic far more than any mere gesture. Virginia never accepted the vote of Maryland, considering it a rigged election (there may be some truth to this, as votes in those days were done by open ballot), and was utterly beside itself at having been made the laughingstock of the civilized world. Accordingly, it declared war on May 1, 1792, and achieved total surprise, crossing the Potomac before the local militia even got out of bed. This revealed an awkward problem for the new Republic, as the Quaker populace refused to fight on religious grounds. Fortunately, the Germans rose to the task, marching south by the thousands to shore up the militias. Although much of the Maryland countryside would be laid to waste by the brutally effective Virginia cavalry, the chief cities of Baltimore and Annapolis would never be captured.

The war also had the effect of resolving another little knot for the leadership of the Republic. Prior to the invasion, all the graduated emancipation plans in put forward in the assembly had failed on the grounds that there was too much vitriol and too little money to invest in anything workable. With the war though, suddenly many owners in Maryland were willing to accept fire-sale prices for slaves, rather than lose them all to the raids. Also, many Quakers, having earned much ire for not shouldering a musket, decided to open their pocketbooks quite a bit more as a patriotic gesture/moral crusade/way to avoid getting killed either by the enemy or their own countrymen. The resulting act would be known as “The Great Freedom Contract;” all male slaves above the age of 18 willing to fight for the Republic would be purchased from their owners by the state, and would be freed at the conclusion of the war. The act also stipulated that any offer made for a female slave at market value (to be determined by a judge) had to be accepted by the owner, the idea being that the wages paid to the ex-slaves during the war could be used to purchase their brides from slavery. The effect was electric. Almost 30,000 slaves and freed Africans would serve in the Colored Regiments before the end of the war, and many Virginians would speak for decades afterwards of the horrors of facing “the Devil’s Beasts.”

The war ended in favor of the Atlantic Republic in 1795. The resulting treaty of Mt. Vernon, overseen by Martha Washington herself, was admired as an evenhanded treaty with only minor territorial changes, Garrett and Allegany Counties in what had been Maryland were exchanged for Ohio, Accomack, and Northampton Counties from Virginia. In the wake of the treaty, Virginia began a brutal crackdown on slaves, seeking to prevent any of them from getting any ideas, this caused many of them to flee north. This, plus the large population of now ex-slaves in the Republic, resulted in severe social tensions. At this point, the British stepped in with an offer to allow former slaves to immigrate to their new colony at Sierra Leone. About 40,000 took up the offer, helped on their way by the Quaker-backed African Colonization Society. Many of these were escaped slaves from Virginia and the Carolinas, not wanting to risk repatriation.
 
I thought I might put up a few things on the Royal Navy while I'm here...

Lion-class rocket battlecruiser

Displacement:
24,300 tons standard, 28,000 tons full load

Length:
252 m (827 ft)

Beam:
28.5 m (94 ft)

Draft:
9.1 m (30 ft)

Propulsion: Two atomic marine reactors, two steam turbines.

Armament: 20 'Black Lance' anti-ship cruise rockets; 14 'Neptune' anti-submarine cruise rockets; 96 surface-to-air rockets; 100 long-range surface-to-air rockets; 168 point-defence surface-to-air rockets; 1 twin 130mm dual-purpose gun; 8 30mm tribarrel point-defence guns; 6 gun-missile systems; 1x10 305mm ASW rocket launchers; 2x6 254mm ASW rocket launchers; 10x533mm torpedo tubes.

Aircraft carried: 3 helicopters

Ships in class: Four: HMS Lion; HMS Unicorn; HMS Princess Royal; HMS Cochrane.

300px-Kirov-class_battlecruiser.jpg


HMS Lion, returning to port after live-fire exercises on the maritime border between the British Caribbean and West Texas.

 
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Yo, guys, this is kind of outdated, and needs to be updated sometime, but whatever, man:

Country Name: Texian Empire (Colloquially "West Texas")

Government Type: Absolutist Monarchy

Head of State: Emperor John III

Head of Government: Emperor John III

Party in Government: West Texas doesn't really have "Parties", though the League of Texan Industry (A group of the various mega-corporations in the country) has significant sway, to the point where government in West Texas can be succinctly described as a seesaw between private totalitarianism and governmental totalitarianism, though the two frequently collaborate.

Population: 36,923,011 (Roughly)

Military: Grand Glorious Army of the Texian Empire (Imperial Texian Army), Imperial Texian Navy, Aerotechnica Skycraft and Munitions, Various Dubious Mercenary Forces, Panultima Chemicals (Combat drugs), Experimental Systems (Working on ATOMIC ROCKETS), the White Star Bureau ("Special Police Force")

West Texas, as any poor, sad, disgusting West Texan civilian, completely over-respected captain of industry, or glorious and almighty Emperor knows, is a horrible place to live for nearly everyone, and the reason why it has the most deaths of drug abuse on the continent is because, put simply, getting high is one of the best ways to survive if you aren't part of the system. There are no political parties, and no politics. The closest thing to politics requires being some rich-ass fucking business owner, and even that's backroom. I cannot stress enough how miserable this place is.

It was founded by noted Alexander-Hamilton-Murderer and Mighty Conquerer Aaron "Wait for it" Burr, who finally decided to not just wait for it all the time and start making a bunch of stupid decisions, like murdering Alexander Hamilton and then going out into the sticks to found an empire. Predictably, Emperor Aaron I managed to literally fuck up everything, since the entire thing started as an attempt by him to get away from the Atlantic.

Okay, that's not entirely true. Aaron I was probably one of the more competent Emperors in our country, but even he succumbed to depression, apathy, and boredom, causing him to make some terrible choices, and every time he was faced with the chance to give his people more freedom at the expense of destroying the cult of personality that was really the only thing getting him out of bed in the morning, he doubled down on the oppression. Diaries of his revealed that he was a drunk by the end of it and would have fled back to the Atlantic if he didn't feel like he had some responsibility to take care of this stupid fucking mistake of a country that he'd created.

West Texas, Best Texas.

From the beginning, West Texas would compete with East Texas (Later the Two-Star assholes) and in fact invade East Texas in the 1840s in an attempt to grab some more land. This failed due largely to a coalition being formed against West Texas, so West Texas just "colonized" the Arkansas Territory (OTL Oklahoma and Arkansas) and called it a day. This "colonization" was pretty similar to most historical forms of colonization, especially those taking place in North America...so it was probably Aaron I's (long-senile) greatest shame. Today, Arkansas is in many ways similar to the megacity that much of central West Texas has become, cultural homogeny over the empire having been enforced.

One might think that West Texas' obvious racism (until it kind of just forgot about the Native Americans) would cover...well...blacks, or really anyone who wasn't white, but put simply, while this was true at first, being a sort of crossroads between the South, Mexico, and Louisiana, West Texas couldn't really claim that those races were particularly inferior, and while slavery was practiced to some extent, it was always seen as somewhat brutal, and in the 1850s West Texas started mass-arrests and using criminals as forced laborers, and that kind of filled the role. That plus the industrial tendencies of West Texas (West Texas was never quite like the South, and the Powers-That-Be of West Texas were much more able to turn to contemporary industrial work than others in the South, especially given that there really was far less places to set up plantations in West Texas than the Old South proper), caused West Texas to break for good from Virginia-style society.

Today, West Texas is a bit strange. Racism is certainly not over, but in most cases, it's not particularly enforced, save for the Native Americans, who have consistently tried to resist their dehumanization, enslavement, and mass murder. The First Indian Wars continued on and off for most of the 19th century, and frankly, at times West Texas had to rely on their traditional alliance with Mexico (Who they got on oddly well with, as West Texas served as a buffer state against the Two Star-ers...really, in a lot of ways West Texas is propped up by Mexico, and the Mexican cartels have made sure that that alliance goes on pretty well, given that they have quite some power in Best Texas). The West Texas Indian Wars were some of the most savage and wide-scale fights West Texas has ever dealt with, and in 1910, the Second Indian Wars begun. West Texas is still fighting the Second Indian Wars, on and off, with "ceasefires" lasting for decades on end.

As for USBT people, there are enough USB people in positions of relative power these days to kind of count as some kind of progress, but really the thing is that West Texas doesn't see USB people as any kind of threat, save for perhaps them not having enough children, and really that's not a huge concern for West Texas. It's seen as strange in most of the cities of West Texas (Violet City and Magnolia being the most libertine of them), but in general USB people are grudgingly tolerated, save for the less industrialized parts of the country, where brutal violence, distrust, and discrimination persist. Transgender people, however, face a much larger uphill battle, as while being exposed as a "queer" used to be damaging to a career (for those lucky enough to have careers), enough people are in power that it usually isn't an issue in most places. However, being transgender is thoroughly seen as strange and while officially there is no discrimination against transgender people, being "mentally ill" is a way to get taken against your will, and being a "crossdresser" is a good way to get completely disgraced, sending you back to the powerless 80% and turning you into a victim. However, in Magnolia, Violet City, and to a lesser extent some other cities, there are attempts to deal with this, and slowly, things seem to be changing. Of course, West Texas seems to go through cycles where acceptance rises, only for deviant elements to be vilified by propaganda and manufactured culture so as to keep people from rising against the system during the Indian Wars or other wars. It's probably not easy to be USBT in general, unless of course you can make it into the White Star Bureau.

West Texas is probably one of the more technologically advanced groups in the South, but with the caveat that that technology is produced unethically and that it is largely weighted towards periods where the Trusts have power over the government instead of the Emperor, and military or civil technology. In other words, while certain people in power are able to access quite impressive technology, most of it isn't particularly widespread to the "lowpeople", and it's usually either taken from other countries and changed somewhat or, in some cases, a product of Experimental Systems.

Experimental Systems is quite possibly the most evil and morally repugnant part of the government of West Texas, even more so than the White Star Bureau, an amoral bunch of lunatics who kill out of boredom and set houses on fire without batting an eyelash (I should know, I am one of those lunatics. Heh.). Experimental Systems is more or less what happens when you take the smartest people to be found in Trusts and universities alike, get them all together, put them under tight schedules with little oversight, give them a constant stream of lowpeople and Native American test subjects, and let them figure shit out. Experimental Systems has a reputation the country over due to its featuring in several (non-West Texan) films and more than a few video games. Their headquarters is in the town of Marfa. Actually, no. It is the town of Marfa. The town's long since been taken over and turned into a nightmarish testing ground and development center, focusing on military and civilian technologies. It benefits from the knowledge of the whole nation. I've been to Marfa once, I never want to be there again.
 
Elevator Wizardry, Part 1

Elevator Wizardry is a podcast created by three brothers, Travis, Griffin, and Justin McElroy, and their father, Clint McElroy, who play the latest edition of Blackest Wizardry in a specific campaign setting created by Justin McElroy. Travis plays the stout Archer Killian Fangbattle, an Angel with a allegedly ruthless sense of duty and a tendency to fuck around and joke all the time, Griffin plays Edward Summer, a somewhat flamboyant elevator-loving Sorceror Sidhe specializing in necromancy, who's sister, Lydia, has gone insane and begun a murderous game show (Yes, it's that sort of campaign), and Clint plays an old man named John. Just John. He doesn't really have a last name, and he may or may not be an agent of the dark god known as the All-Hunger, though he's really more of a slightly annoying door-to-door proselytizer more than anything else, and, like Edward and Killian, enjoys fucking around.

The first plotline of Elevator Wizardry, so named because of Griffin's character's fascination with elevators that manifested first in an in-joke in their test session before the first session and then as an actual plotline when Justin hinted and later stated that one of the characters stole the idea for elevators from our world, is titled Horseshit Adventurers, and consists of a simple dungeon crawl through a sea of Feral People (Sort of a stock enemy in Blackest Wizardry, people driven murderously mad by magic so they're OK to kill), followed by the discovering of the Water Gauntlet, an iron gauntlet that grants its wielder the power to control oceans, though it also...turns them into a Feral Person.

This leads to Elevator Team (As they would later be called) finding a strange man named Magnus, wearing a bracelet with faintly glowing lapis lazuli on it. After they defeat the High Chief of the Feral People in the dungeon crawl, and watch the person they were attempting to rescue, a dwarf named Merle Rockseeker, go insane, destroy the seaside town above the dungeon in a tidal wave, and end up impaling himself on massive created icicles, Magnus tells the Elevator Crew that they need to come with him, especially once he sees Edward Summer almost effortlessly resist the all-consuming corruption of the Water Gauntlet. Magnus uses a magic item to teleport them to the Space Station, where they learn about the Red Robes, an order of wizards and their agents who seek to keep Grand Relics like the Water Gauntlet (Each Grand Relic representing a school of magic, the Water Gauntlet representing Elementalism) out of the hands of the world, for those items were created as weapons in a long-lost war and have caused trouble ever since.

The highest Red Robe, a man named Brian Aranea who gives Edward Summer a run for his money in terms of flamboyance, more or less forces the three of them to become Reclaimers due to their odd status as being incorruptible, turned into agents meant to find other Grand Relics and either ensure their destruction or bring them back to the Red Robes at the Space Station. After this, we enter the next storyline, titled Murder on the Goldcliffe Express, a simple murder mystery involving a Grand Relic of Illusionism known as the Redeye and a serial killer known as the Goldcliffe Killer, who turns out to be the perpetually annoyed train attendant Jenkins. Lots of hijinks are had, we're introduced to Angus MacDango, Mystery Solving Child, a recurring character, Jenkins gets thrown off of the train and hit with a Banishment spell by Edward, killing him, and we go back to the Space Station, where we're introduced to the Fantasy Costco. The Fantasy Costco is ran by a completely untrustworthy cat man in a robe named Jon the Deals Warlock. Jon spelled with no "h", to differentiate him from "John", Clint's character. It's as confusing as it sounds.

At the Fantasy Costco, they play Pachinko for magical items and purchase some other items, before beginning the next storyline, Petals to the Metal, taking place in the wealthy town of Rockport, where a woman going by the alias of "The Raven" has gotten a hold of a magical item known as the Sash of Pan, an item allowing the wielder to control nature, from storm clouds to plants, though, of course, the item corrupts the user's mind, much like the Redeye and Water Gauntlet before it. After Edward succeeds at getting through a thick screen of vines by...flirting with the vines, the group ascends the Central Bank's tower of Rockport and encounters the Raven, who tells the group that even if she wanted to give up the Sash of Pan, she couldn't, and at this point, she just wants to get defeated so she can lose it.

Meanwhile, they get involved...somehow, it's honestly very complicated...in "Battle Wagon" racing, a sort of Death Race sort of thing with magical cars, in which people race magic fantasy not-cars and try to disable one another's cars with weapons. After the hijacking of a Battle Wagon from a garage, an extended Battle Wagon scene and an introduction to Hurley, a Battle Wagon racer known as "The Ram", the Raven's car starts to be enveloped in vines and dark clouds, creating a strange whirlwind around it. The Elevator Team jump off of their Battle Wagon into the whirlwind, where they face off against the Raven once and for all, eventually taking the Sash from her in combat. After a cloud of pink petals envelops everything, mysteriously, the Elevator Team finds themselves in the town square of Rockport, where a tree in the shape of Hurley has begun to grow. Some quite touching sad music begins to play, and later it's implied that Lucretia, a later character, did the teleport, with the Sash turning Hurley into a tree, but Sloane, previously known as the Raven, now played by Dr. Sydney McElroy (and yes, they do joke about her changed voice) joins the party, as a rogue.

After this and another round of dicking around at the Fantasy Costco, the next storyline, Journey to the Planes begins, and...I'll save that for when I'm finished with it, I'm not exactly caught up on the podcast.

Would anyone be interested in "Elevator Wizardry, Part 2"?
 
Elevator Wizardry, Part 1

Elevator Wizardry is a podcast created by three brothers, Travis, Griffin, and Justin McElroy, and their father, Clint McElroy, who play the latest edition of Blackest Wizardry in a specific campaign setting created by Justin McElroy. Travis plays the stout Archer Killian Fangbattle, an Angel with a allegedly ruthless sense of duty and a tendency to fuck around and joke all the time, Griffin plays Edward Summer, a somewhat flamboyant elevator-loving Sorceror Sidhe specializing in necromancy, who's sister, Lydia, has gone insane and begun a murderous game show (Yes, it's that sort of campaign), and Clint plays an old man named John. Just John. He doesn't really have a last name, and he may or may not be an agent of the dark god known as the All-Hunger, though he's really more of a slightly annoying door-to-door proselytizer more than anything else, and, like Edward and Killian, enjoys fucking around.

The first plotline of Elevator Wizardry, so named because of Griffin's character's fascination with elevators that manifested first in an in-joke in their test session before the first session and then as an actual plotline when Justin hinted and later stated that one of the characters stole the idea for elevators from our world, is titled Horseshit Adventurers, and consists of a simple dungeon crawl through a sea of Feral People (Sort of a stock enemy in Blackest Wizardry, people driven murderously mad by magic so they're OK to kill), followed by the discovering of the Water Gauntlet, an iron gauntlet that grants its wielder the power to control oceans, though it also...turns them into a Feral Person.

This leads to Elevator Team (As they would later be called) finding a strange man named Magnus, wearing a bracelet with faintly glowing lapis lazuli on it. After they defeat the High Chief of the Feral People in the dungeon crawl, and watch the person they were attempting to rescue, a dwarf named Merle Rockseeker, go insane, destroy the seaside town above the dungeon in a tidal wave, and end up impaling himself on massive created icicles, Magnus tells the Elevator Crew that they need to come with him, especially once he sees Edward Summer almost effortlessly resist the all-consuming corruption of the Water Gauntlet. Magnus uses a magic item to teleport them to the Space Station, where they learn about the Red Robes, an order of wizards and their agents who seek to keep Grand Relics like the Water Gauntlet (Each Grand Relic representing a school of magic, the Water Gauntlet representing Elementalism) out of the hands of the world, for those items were created as weapons in a long-lost war and have caused trouble ever since.

The highest Red Robe, a man named Brian Aranea who gives Edward Summer a run for his money in terms of flamboyance, more or less forces the three of them to become Reclaimers due to their odd status as being incorruptible, turned into agents meant to find other Grand Relics and either ensure their destruction or bring them back to the Red Robes at the Space Station. After this, we enter the next storyline, titled Murder on the Goldcliffe Express, a simple murder mystery involving a Grand Relic of Illusionism known as the Redeye and a serial killer known as the Goldcliffe Killer, who turns out to be the perpetually annoyed train attendant Jenkins. Lots of hijinks are had, we're introduced to Angus MacDango, Mystery Solving Child, a recurring character, Jenkins gets thrown off of the train and hit with a Banishment spell by Edward, killing him, and we go back to the Space Station, where we're introduced to the Fantasy Costco. The Fantasy Costco is ran by a completely untrustworthy cat man in a robe named Jon the Deals Warlock. Jon spelled with no "h", to differentiate him from "John", Clint's character. It's as confusing as it sounds.

At the Fantasy Costco, they play Pachinko for magical items and purchase some other items, before beginning the next storyline, Petals to the Metal, taking place in the wealthy town of Rockport, where a woman going by the alias of "The Raven" has gotten a hold of a magical item known as the Sash of Pan, an item allowing the wielder to control nature, from storm clouds to plants, though, of course, the item corrupts the user's mind, much like the Redeye and Water Gauntlet before it. After Edward succeeds at getting through a thick screen of vines by...flirting with the vines, the group ascends the Central Bank's tower of Rockport and encounters the Raven, who tells the group that even if she wanted to give up the Sash of Pan, she couldn't, and at this point, she just wants to get defeated so she can lose it.

Meanwhile, they get involved...somehow, it's honestly very complicated...in "Battle Wagon" racing, a sort of Death Race sort of thing with magical cars, in which people race magic fantasy not-cars and try to disable one another's cars with weapons. After the hijacking of a Battle Wagon from a garage, an extended Battle Wagon scene and an introduction to Hurley, a Battle Wagon racer known as "The Ram", the Raven's car starts to be enveloped in vines and dark clouds, creating a strange whirlwind around it. The Elevator Team jump off of their Battle Wagon into the whirlwind, where they face off against the Raven once and for all, eventually taking the Sash from her in combat. After a cloud of pink petals envelops everything, mysteriously, the Elevator Team finds themselves in the town square of Rockport, where a tree in the shape of Hurley has begun to grow. Some quite touching sad music begins to play, and later it's implied that Lucretia, a later character, did the teleport, with the Sash turning Hurley into a tree, but Sloane, previously known as the Raven, now played by Dr. Sydney McElroy (and yes, they do joke about her changed voice) joins the party, as a rogue.

After this and another round of dicking around at the Fantasy Costco, the next storyline, Journey to the Planes begins, and...I'll save that for when I'm finished with it, I'm not exactly caught up on the podcast.

Would anyone be interested in "Elevator Wizardry, Part 2"?
I would. Also, @Ivoshafen wants to write things about the Black Forest Republic.
 
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