On National Identity and the Balance of Power

This is a rather important thing for you civilization leader to know and to RP. This topic not only provides realism to the game, but it also is logical. Read this carefully to completely understand what I am talking about here.


National Identity (AKA Self-Determination)

All peoples, no matter what nation they belong to, usually have some type of national identity. Nationalized countries with a proper government always will promote nationalism, not to be confused with patriotism. Nationalism can have many definitions, but the overall idea goes into a single identity for a group of people. In other words, those people who live in Poland, will always consider themselves Polish and from Poland, nowhere else... of course unless they moved there from somewhere else.

When you ask someone where they come from, they will always say their country, because it has promoted a national identity. Therefore, the same should be true for this game. If one comes from Anumias, they are Anumian. If you live in the Commonwealth, your national identity should reflect that. The only flaw in Nationalism concerns ethnicity.

A prime example of this would be 1800's Europe. In the Empire of Austria-Hungary, there were so much ethnicity; from Slavs and Slovaks, to Germans and Balkan people. Nationalism was therefore at the time considered a threat to the country, as it would essentially split up and partition the entire Empire, causing revolution and social / racial instability.

Therefore, if your nation is multi-religious and ethnic, nationalism could be a problem for you unless you incorporate all those peoples under one singular mixed culture... much like the United States.


The Balance of Power


This is the biggest thing that players who lead nations NEED TO REMEMBER.

There is ALWAYS a cause and effect when it comes to foreign relations. The Balance of Power, which is used world wide today, most notably in Europe, is what discerns good from bad in a way. The Balance of Power is essentially the amount of power that each nation holds and will remain stagnant (the same / unmoving) or else measures must be taken in achieving the balance once more.

When a person moves to attack another nation, they are, whether they believe it or not, effecting the amount of power they bring forth. Nations will not usually sit by and watch as this happens. Those with the same amount or more power than the aggressor, will take action diplomatically or militarily with force, to stop the disruption of global power. Players who choose to be the aggressor must always think about the effect of their actions and what it will have on the grand scheme. Making alliances with others.. or nullifying alliances could bode well or not so well for your country and the balance of power. Alliances will shift the balance, just as crushing another nation would.

Nations who side with the aggressor must always be aware that you are also making a shift in power. After a nation goes down or is defeated and loses power, a conference of sorts, or a treaty must be made [usually]. The treaty, and what points are made within will ALWAYS have to restore the balance. Yes, there are some times, such as the two World Wars, where the balance of power lied heavily on one side. This is the worse thing to do. One should never defeat a nation and not restore the balance... only more problems will arise if that occurs.


When the treaty is being formed, all major sides of the war should be present, and a third party should be selected as the mediator to ensure no bias and a fare trade of terms. An example:

Anumias and the Templars go to war with one another. Some nations may step in on either side through alliance or not. The balance has officially been broken. After whatever side loses, a Treaty should be made somewhere. Inkland [let's say] could be made the mediator of the treaty.

Certain actions that can be taken to restore the balance of power are as follows:

-Appeasement (aka forgiving the aggressor.) = Usually all power will restore as it was before the war began. IE: Land is returned and reconstruction is common.

-Partition of Land = During war, one side will probably take land. To restore power, as well as punishing the aggressor, lands are distributed amongst the players in the war. Many times, nations gain or lose previous lands and then some [sometimes.].

-Reduction of Governmental Power = The aggressors, and sometimes even the other sides may agree to lessening governmental powers in order to make sure some forms of legislation are not passed again. This means that war can be avoided as some acts or actions would be null and void.. they would not work again.

-Reduction of Military = Just as it sounds. The mediator can choose the aggressor and even other players to reduce their military significantly, or put restrictions of portions of the military to avoid further conflict.

-Reconstruction and Punishment = The mediator, with the agreement of the other players [excluding the aggressor] may choose to just go into reconstruction of all territories. This is more or less Appeasement, however the aggressor will usually always take the formal blame for conflict.



Remember players, the mediator will only be there to help restore the balance in a fair way. ALL PARTIES IN THE WAR / CONFLICT, must come up with a single agreement. Therefore, some punishments that one side wants must be gotten rid of, or used. The aggressor or "enemy" should be included in the treaty and have a say in what happens to them. Sometimes this is not the case, but if they are, things will usually always go much better afterward.

All these things should be taken into account between player to player, and also player to NPC.