Author Topic: Partners in Crime for the Republic of Zolo (and revisiting Zolo's founding)  (Read 3638 times)

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Offline zoelikestrees

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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.
« Last Edit: May 14, 2024, 05:05:08 PM by zoelikestrees »

Offline paralipomena

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Some companies from Mktvartvelo would be certainly interested in investing in your nation, including in agriculture and mining.

If your nation needs weaponry, as well as mercenaries/security training, there are one or two companies which would be interested as well.

Offline Altona

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If you've got some Uranium and you don't mind not being a member of the Mundus Atomic Engery Agency then Altona is happy to buy a load of it very regularly. Altona has a bit of a passion for nuclear engineering and has companies making reactors for several nations naval projects, some small modular reactors for civilian use and even experimenting with floating ship nuclear reactors to bring electricity to remote areas etc.

Offline Snow

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Might also be worth checking these out. Its all smaller companies looking for oppurtunities both for expansion and investment

https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=3020.0

Offline zoelikestrees

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That sounds great @ paralipomena, I'd love to discuss that more with you in PMs, if you'd like. Maybe we can RP some sort of business deal either between major companies in the countries or an economic agreement between their governments. As I elaborate on the big companies of Zolo I would also be happy to write in that the big mining and/or agricultural companies are partially owned by foreign investors or companies, and some of those could be from Mktvartvelo, especially if there's a financial institution(s) which would be likely to buy shares in foreign mining or agricultural companies. And/or perhaps we could establish that a particular major mine is owned by a company from Mktvatvelo and then flesh out a story around that. Zolo has its own arms industry, but the government might be interested in buying some of the more advanced weaponry which would be more difficult to produce domestically with the country's limited industrial capacity. Zolo's also got cartels and rebel groups I'll elaborate more on in the near future which might be interested in smuggling weapons from Mktvartvelo.

@ Altona, Zolo's government wouldn't have signed onto the MAEA and has nuclear submarines, so it would totally make sense for them to be exporting uranium to Altona. Would you prefer to RP creating some sort of new deal, or to retroactively write-in that Zolo has been shipping large quantities of uranium regularly to Altona for quite some time?-- perhaps since the 1980s or late 70s. The state might also be interested in commissioning the production of some more nuclear naval assets, and could negotiate a deal with someone in Altona perhaps. Feel free to PM me so we can flesh out the details.

@ Snow, thanks for the tip! I guess I'm more looking for investors in Zolo's economy rather than to RP Zolo's financial institutions investing abroad at the moment, but perhaps I could still send someone to the convention. Perhaps the state could employ Themyscira's Aderta Fibre Optics for some cutting-edge urban surveillance technology to assist law enforcement and counterterrorism efforts; they could make an offer to Gusano's ShaleCraft innovations to allow them to frack gas on land taken from Zolo's people; or Paradise Inc., Zolo's largest tourism and travel company, could make an offer to partner-up with The Kingdom of the White Forest's TAKE A HIKE to set up campsites or guided tours in Zolo's rainforests. What would you think about that last idea?

I decided I wanted Zolo's national debt to be more significant so I raised it to $372 billion, and wrote into its annual budget (2.5% of federal govt. expenditure) $13.1B in payments on that debt's interest. So I'm once again asking: who would like to have their government or a financial institution in their country own some of Zolo's national debt (up to 200 bil can be foreign-owned)?

Offline paralipomena

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That sounds great @ paralipomena, I'd love to discuss that more with you in PMs, if you'd like. Maybe we can RP some sort of business deal either between major companies in the countries or an economic agreement between their governments. As I elaborate on the big companies of Zolo I would also be happy to write in that the big mining and/or agricultural companies are partially owned by foreign investors or companies, and some of those could be from Mktvartvelo, especially if there's a financial institution(s) which would be likely to buy shares in foreign mining or agricultural companies. And/or perhaps we could establish that a particular major mine is owned by a company from Mktvatvelo and then flesh out a story around that. Zolo has its own arms industry, but the government might be interested in buying some of the more advanced weaponry which would be more difficult to produce domestically with the country's limited industrial capacity. Zolo's also got cartels and rebel groups I'll elaborate more on in the near future which might be interested in smuggling weapons from Mktvartvelo.

Sure, feel free to do so. Both scenarios could work, let me know if you have any preference. In normal circumstances, I'd say it would be more likely that Mktvartvelo would deal with the government than with smaller rebel groups though.