Current Political Parties of Rheinland?

[LunaticOnTheGrass]

From the Bundschuh's Wiki Entry:

What followed were 15 years of the people’s coalition ruling Rheinland that consisted of the aristocratic, the conservative, the liberal democratic and the Bundschuh Party.

[Tabris]

Yep, which degraded quickly because the Bundeschuh didn't consolidate their position which allowed 'pragmatic' members of the coalition to take control and likely split up said coalition into individual parties such as the Nationalist Party and others 15 years after.

Other than the Nationalist Party which currently controls Rheinland, the brief mentions of a farmer's party and the exiled Bundeschuh there's been pretty much NO mention of other political parties, which makes it fertile ground for new RP such as the Imperial Party of Rheinland I've recently created. An 'opposition' as it were since the Bundeschuh can nolonger do so legally but not following the 'Social Democracy' idealogical path. And it'll be funny/interesting to see how various parts of Rheinland react to such a thing.

[Kampanom]

Rheinland is pretty much the Weimar Republic.

If someone wants to create a rheinlander party...copycat from the ones from the Weimar period.

[Tabris]

That may have been true in Vanilla Kampanom, but you can't really apply that logic to Discovery. X_X With the evolution of the mod the Houses too have changed, Kusari for example isn't an Empire anymore but a Republic. Also copying parties from that era is kinda an iffy issue as some people actually LIVE in Germany on this server and one wrong step and you could provoke something if not carefully done.

[Kampanom]

Kusari right now looks a bit like the Republic of Ezo (a republic estabilished during the Boshin War in Hokkaido, northernmost japanese island), a bit Japan right after WWII.

As for Rheinland, the economy appears to still be broke, although recovering (think of the Weimar Republic just before 1928), and it has a major communist uprising in Dresden, and that may as well remind me of the Spartacist Revolt and the estabilishment of the Bavarian Soviet. The situation overall sounds like that of the Weimar Republic in different periods of its short life.
About the parties, of course I'm not speaking of taking the names, but the platforms, the ideologies, at least superficially. And I don't think it's the case of taking seriously the existance of fictional parties...

[Vogel]

Rheinland is pretty much the Weimar Republic.

If someone wants to create a rheinlander party...copycat from the ones from the Weimar period.

And I don't think it's the case of taking seriously the existance of fictional parties...

Oh. Really?









A victim of knee jerking.





Or if you prefer:






A victim of people not giving a shit. Oh, and laughing at my inability to waste my life and try to get an RM battleship for it despite stupid ID and faction laws, and therefore the idea is irrelevant.



Alternatively you can give up on this place and use it as a convenient source of self-righteous schadenfreude as you watch the very same people who fucked over your ideas and the brilliant ideas of others suffer the very same attrition and quit too. Oh how the world turns nowadays...

[Kampanom]

I saw that coming.

I'm quite sure a nazi-like party wouldn't be allowed in this server (Tabris' monarchic party will probably be the most reactionary party. I don't think the mods will allow anyone to go further than that. I mean, I personally would, but whatevs), but anything else kind of makes sense to me, and I don't think anyone would have too much against them or take them too seriously, if the creators will not make them too much serious or elaborate.



These are quite good posters, by the way.

[Vogel]

I saw that coming.

Everyone suspects the Rheinish Nationalist Salvation Party.

I'm quite sure a nazi-like party wouldn't be allowed in this server

That's because it wasn't. Past tense. Happened.

I don't think anyone would have too much against them or take them too seriously, if the creators will not make them too much serious or elaborate.

Which explains a lot. When you're willing to take matters of politics and philosophy seriously, you open up the whole can of worms, both the good and the bad. But average people are far too immature and/or psychologically fragile to even countenance the notion of telling stories about such things. Democracy is good. Nazis are evil. Kings are generally bad and/or simply outdated. Black and white reasoning with no intricate details whatsoever, mounted upon a fortress of knee-jerking fear, myths, and groupthink.

When it comes to Nazis in particular, there's a terrific lack of moral and intellectual fortitude involved on the part of those who immediately scream and wail about it. It's as if the very mention of the thing kills babies and sets fire to flowers. Meanwhile, stories are shouted down, remaining untold, and the myths and pathetic behavior continue.

Roleplaying is unique in that it goads a person into empathizing with another by default, rather than by whim. To roleplay the rough equivalent of a Nazi (fundamentally impossible here due to different contexts) entails empathizing with National Socialist members, leaders, and apathetic followers. But see, putting a human face on it, to any degree, is too much for those of weak constitution to stomach; it goes against the black and white mythos, and therefore destroys their worldview, and therefore destroys Them. There's also a totally irrational fear that those who discuss it must BE it and are therefore demons in the flesh. And in the process of avoiding all of this like the plague, they learn nothing from the experience except how to fear even more irrationally.

Discovery failed this test with running colors. By laying the blame for Rheinland's aggression on alien infestation rather than human causes, so did vanilla Freelancer in the first place. Moral cowardice defined.

But even in terms of monarchists, monarchism has been relegated to a laughable fringe. The mythos is one of amusement and scorn rather than fear. So when "nobody takes it seriously," nothing is fundamentally done, and no stories of merit are told. Understanding the reasons behind monarchy, the environmental conditions that lead to it, the means by which it is maintained, and the rationalizations of those beneath it, right down to serfs, all remain misunderstood and neglected. So all you end up with is a monarchist "party" that does nothing, changes nothing, convinces no one. Or in my case, an heir to the throne who does nothing, changes nothing, convinces no one. All because it's the philosophy behind the Players that make or break these things. And the ungodly majority of them here have been permanently marked by the times we live in.

Serious roleplaying about matters of import is a waste of time and effort here. Having just dumped a fraction of mine above, it would do you well to learn from somebody else's mistake before committing it yourself like a fool.

These are quite good posters, by the way.

They were adapted from real pieces of propaganda that were retooled to fit the context, such as the pawn having a Liberty star since they were at war, or the hand saying "Unite," which used to be dropping coins into a jar saying "Donate." Reducing the colors to a handful of grays and greens permitted me to replicate them in a rapid fashion while at the same time appearing "new" enough to fit the times. Realistically there would be holograms and video screens with information, but if the party was run underground then suddenly simple posters become an interesting reverse-tech tool that would be more difficult for the authorities to manage.

There was also a history, a founding ethos work, and a propaganda mill for it. The intention was to effectively tell real history through the process of telling a fake one, in the most unsparingly blunt ways possible. That entailed having my character with the noblest intentions slip into doing evil deeds in the name of doing good, and watching as his vision of the future was dismantled from within by the vices of the people it attracted. A far cry from the accusations that I was a neo-Nazi in disguise, but again, what's more compelling? Actual thought, or a witch hunt?


TL;DR - Politics in this game is Pointless because Nothing Important is Seriously Discussed.


I was fully hoping for a Napoleon to lead the Gallic revolution to victory, as a kind of "What if" scenario where Napoleon rose before the monarchy fully collapsed. But by now I understand that short, pudgy men in funny hats are not sufficient for storytelling here, and I recant for the sake of furry erotica and 2 million credits per pirate encounter.

[Kampanom]

I sort of understand you there. To be honest, I would've allowed the nazi party there, as I said, a bit to give a better sense of freedom, a bit to improve the environment. Also, many of my friends are quite...reactionary (or, to put it with absolutely no veils: THEY ARE NAZIs, other than several kind of self-declared traditionalists, third positionists and right-wing fascists. Yes, because there's also left wing ones, admirable people in many ways) and I can even say I understand the ideology behind the common representation of it, although I absolutely can't say I agree with it (I'm a catholic socialist, and I'm one hit in the head short of being an anarchist. I'm everything a nazi is not). Generally, rping as a space nazi couldn't have been that bad.

I gave myself the freedom to lurk in the threads you opened, and I do admit you had a point in a thread whose argument was indirectly related to this. Generally, it was quite a disgrace the way your idea was rejected while every kind of national and ideological stereotype here other than that is accepted, from drug-dealing and idolatrous alien-worshipping italians (the maltese) to cannibalistic spanish pirates (the cretans), passing through american redneck white nationalists (xenos), to french people suspiciously reminiscing of Robespierre's terror (the Maquis), to eastern european stalinists (SCRA) and so on and so on and so on. Indeed, if some people banned your idea, the whole game and mod should've been banned or be boycotted. Italians, french, spaniards and americans, ukrainians voting Svoboda and hungarians voting Jobbik should've boycotted this game but, luckily, we all have shown some maturity, but that maturity was shown by not taking this game too much seriously wich, instead, you did. Telling a story? Sure. Giving a simple message, pro or against what the character is doing? Sure. But absolutely not in a too much serious way, or else this game would become a drama depot, and the fact that it is a roleplaying game already makes it dangerously close to it by default. Controversies must be avoided, although I do admit that banning a...theme, a subject is no correct way to avoid them and, of course, roleplaying as a certain kind of character in no way means being close to it. A person may as well roleplay as a character that represents everything one disgusts, although that is not in any way an easy effort.


By the way, I wasn't saying I would've made the faction, I only said I would've liked the idea of making that faction, although I wouldn't have been involved in it, except the occasional encounter with them ingame. Rheinland does needs a monarchist...nostalgic faction, after all.

[LunaticOnTheGrass]

TL;DR - Politics in this game is Pointless because Nothing Important is Seriously Discussed.

I too am of the belief that social/economic inequality and atrocities against one's own people is a useless and unimportant topic.