Hi y'all
I'd love to get more involved in international RP so I wanted to sort of put out a call for people who'd like to be implicated in some way in the politics of Zolo.
For one, as it seems Tytor is not really active at the moment, I wanted to re-open the question of who the founding colonial power of Zolo could be. The Republic was originally the colony of an imperialist power which later became independent, and I'd love to have that colonial power be the nation of someone who's active, so that the history of Zolo's might be intertwined with theirs more explicitly-- any volunteers? It'd be perfect if your country is not Ardian and had some phase in its history (1800s or 1900s ideally) in which it functioned as a colonial imperial power and could feasibly have sent settlers to colonize Zolo (who would then behave in a genocidal manner to the native people). A large portion (the dominant portion) of Zolo's population would then ethnically, culturally, linguistically, and religiously be an extension of your country.
Secondly, I was hoping that perhaps some foreign companies or governments could be entangled financially with Zolo, so that those countries would then have some stake in Zolo's civil conflicts and politics. I've already tried to set it up so that it would make sense that Zolo would be a supplier of cheap fruit and coffee, as well as various other products such as minerals, to most of the world-- thus I reckon that any serious turmoil in Zolo could cause the price of fruit to rise all around the world. So I guess I'm humbly asking that others could integrate the fact of Zolo's existence into their country's own economic and political storytelling, at least insofar as it would affect the price of fruit, coffee, sugar, beef, spices, cobalt, lumber, rum, and lithium; which would in turn concern consumers and those with political and economic power. Perhaps concern about the ethics of the production of fruit that is being exported to your countries could be a jumping off point for some sort of scandal or political intervention.
Thirdly, I've written that the Republic of Zolo has $172 billion in national debt: I figured maybe half of this could be owned by foreign governments or financial institutions, which would then give them an immediate interest in the politics of the country. Anyone want to volunteer to own some of Zolo's national debt?
Fourth, the way I imagine it, Zolo is not quite a post-colonial nation as it is a neo-colonial one. Most of the population is extremely poor, and it is not very developed or industrialized. Although most of the country's wealth is owned by an extremely small portion of the (settler) population, I imagine that a significant amount of the country's economy and land could be dominated by foreign companies as well. After all, the government of Zolo does not prioritize the needs of Zolo's population over the possibility of making a profit: they don't care how it affects the local population if they can make some money by allowing foreign companies to gobble up the country's natural resources, to destroy its ecosystems, or severely underpay its population. This particularly advantageous business environement makes Zolo a perfect place to write-in any companies who value profit over ethics doing some shady things. If you've got something unethical you'd like to write-in a company doing, you might as well make it happen in Zolo. And it just makes sense that the country would be attractive to ethically unconcerned investors: if we RP that a company based in your country is operating in Zolo, it would in the short term be very advantageous to that company, while in the long term providing a pathway to engaging your country in Zolo's political struggles. Would anyone like for a company or companies based in their country to own a significant amount of land, or a significant part of the mining, forestry, or agricultural industries in Zolo?
People of the Mundus, hear me! Do you imagine your nations just as morally righteous and unambiguous defenders of human rights, or are they like every government in the world that actually exists, that is, at least a bit evil? I urge you to scandalize your governments by implicating them in the crimes of Zolo for commercial gain. Think about how interesting it might be for the commercial interests of your country to come into conflict with their ethical values or self-image. How will your nations respond to the polticial crises in Zolo which are to come, which will surely disrupt the world market? Just let me know if any of you have any ideas or would like to volunteer your countries for any of this.
I also have a more specific idea for an RP storyline I'd love to flesh out with anyone willing to more generally commercially implicate their country with Zolo that I could DM anyone interested.
