blah the Prussian

Nohr. In the name of the glorious Imperium Romanum! Long live the God Emperor! Tenno Hieka Banzai? More like Tenno Hieka Ban-cry!

Ugh. Please don't. I hate nuzlokes. There! I said it!

So when does the next contest start? I just got an idea that I am quite eager to put into words.

He took back his opinion after the LPer handed his ass to him in his counter argument.

Yeah, at this point it being a role-play is kind of out, based on the lack of support for it. In the event of a RP, though, each player would play an entire nation.

Yeah, you're probably right. It's been a long time since I played the Tellius games, at any rate.

Chapter 2 The Spread of Communism and Fascism By 1920, Jack Reed, premier of the USSA, had fully consolidated the Communist Party’s rule over America. He followed a set of beliefs that said that Communism should be spread across the world covertly, using agitators to convince the population to rise up in rebellion. He called his ideology the “Reed Doctrine”, after the famous Monroe Doctrine, which essentially claimed the Americas as the US’s sphere of influence, and his first target was Mexico. Mexico was an exceedingly corrupt dictatorship ruled by Victoriano Huerta. However, the country was in the middle of a violent civil war, with Communists and Republicans both fighting against Huerta’s regime. The Americans sent advisors and weapons to the Communists, led by guerrilla leader Doroteo Arango, better known as Pancho Villa. With American help, Villa was able to take control of all of Mexico in 1921. Mexico would be the first stepping stone to Communist domination of the Americas. Throughout the 1920’s, Communism spread from Mexico, to Central America, Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Chile. Not all American attempts to spread Communism were successful, however. In Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia, the right wing dictatorships in power crushed all Communist sentiments, and formed a coalition against Communism in Latin America. Conflict seemed imminent. In addition, Canada continuously resisted all attempts to incite a revolution. In some countries, America did not need to agitate for revolution. The British Raj was greatly weakened by its defeat in World War I, and advocates for Indian independence saw their time to strike. The Communist Party of India, however, were in the best position, as they reminded the common Indian people of their crushing poverty, and the fact that the Indian nobility actively collaborated with the British. In 1925, led by Shripad Amrit Dange, the Indians rose in revolt with the goal of installing a Communist state in India, led by Communist leader Shripad Amrit Dange. At first, the revolt was only a guerrilla war, with rebels controlling the jungles and striking against the British whenever they had the chance. However, in 1926, British troops massacred peaceful Indian protestors, including intellectual Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi’s death convinced the British Sepoys, or native Indian soldiers, to join the rebels. At this point, the British Indian Army was badly outnumbered, and could not fight against so many rebellious subjects. In March 1927, the British withdrew from India, and the Indian Democratic Republic was declared by Dange in Delhi. The IDR followed an aggressive foreign and internal policy, threatening the Russian protectorate of Pakistan, and prosecuting any “enemies of the people”. In India, a state campaign to abolish Hinduism was mostly successful, with many of India’s poor subscribing to Dange’s cult of personality. In addition, many of the old Maharajas who were unlucky enough to fail to escape India were murdered along with their families after show trials, with their property being redistributed by the state. In the Ottoman Empire, Communism was strong as well. In the past century, the House of Osman had failed in every way to reverse the decline of the Turkish nation. Practically every aspect of society at this point called for the deposition of the Sultan. In 1921, Communist aligned soldiers, led by Mustafa Kemal, stormed the Imperial Palace in Ankara, the new Ottoman capitol, and butchered the Sultan and his family. They then proclaimed the Middle Eastern Worker’s Republic, a Communist State with claims to the entirety of the Middle East. The response from the European Right Wing was to be expected. Across Europe, the right rallied behind demagogues who railed about the “Red Hordes” and the need to “Defend Western Civilization”. Chief among these demagogues was the Italian Benito Mussolini. Mussolini, angered by the fact that a good portion of the land tally had been promised from Austria-Hungary had gone to Yugoslavia instead, at Nicholas II’s insisting, claimed that the Triple Alliance had stabbed Italy in the back, and urged it to leave. This, combined with Communist unrest in Italy as well, encouraged King Victor Emanuele III to appoint Mussolini as Italy’s Prime Minister in 1919. Mussolini immediately cracked down on leftist movements, and slowly centered the state around himself. By 1925, he was the undisputed dictator of Italy. Mussolini called his new ideology “Fascism”. Fascism quickly became a catch all term for far right ideologies in Europe. In Britain, the public psyche was shocked by the loss of the war, as well as India and Ireland, which, after a bloody rebellion, declared independence in 1917, taking the whole of the Island. British firebrand and politician Oswald Mosley formed the British Union of Fascists, a group desiring to restore the British Empire’s former glory and get revenge on Germany and Russia. Mosley’s party, however, did not get far until 1930, when King George V died. His son, Edward VIII, had fascist leanings, and appointed Mosley as Prime Minister. Mosley was quick to reign in the autonomy of the British Dominions, and they soon became Fascist leaning, too. Not all Britons supported Fascism. Some of the more notable were Winston Churchill, former first Lord of the Admiralty, and Prince Albert, Edward’s brother. They would go into exile in Germany. In China, the young intellectual Wang Jingwei coined the ideology of “Sinocentrism”, an ideology similar to Fascism but was different i n that it called back to China’s glory days instead of looking to the future. China, Jingwei argued, was rightfully the Middle Kingdom, the center of the world. All of Asia should be reorganized into Chinese tributaries. Jingwei viewed it as a disgrace that Korea, rightfully a Chinese tributary, was in the Russian Sphere of Influence. He also wished that Japan, closely aligned with Germany, should be brought into the fold. Finally, Jingwei wished for an end to all European control of Asia. This meant the conquest of Russian Siberia and Central Asia, as well as the Dutch East Indies. Indochina and Malaysia were already Chinese tributaries. Jingwei became Prime Minister of China in 1930. Fascism did not triumph everywhere. On June 5, 1930, Tzar Nicholas II of Russia died due to Lung Cancer, caused by excessive smoking. His heir used to be Tsarevitch Alexei, but Alexei had died years before due to Haemophilia, a disease common in European royal families whereby it was extremely difficult to stop blood flow. This meant that Nicholas’s eldest daughter, Olga, would be crown princess. Since her brother’s death, she had been groomed for the position, but she was known for being a liberal. This, along with her gender, did not sit well with the more right wing elements of the Russian Army, who supported Grand Duke Mikhail, Nicholas’s brother. At Olga’s coronation ceremony, the day after her father’s death, Russian troops led by Denkin stormed the cathedral where the coronation was taking place, declaring Mikhail Tsar and the constitution abolished. Fortunately, the majority of the Russian Army remained loyal to the legitimate government. Within an hour, liberal general Pyotr Nicholaevitch Wrangel gathered together a tank regiment and stormed into the cathedral. Denkin ordered his men to take Olga hostage to stop the tanks, but the Russian rebel soldiers surrendered after being promised amnesty. Denkin and Mikhail were arrested, and the constitution restored. The incident had two effects: one, it made Russia firmly opposed to Fascism, and two, it led to Wrangel being promoted to Field Marshal and later chief of the Imperial Russian Army. Finally, the most infamous example of Fascism was France. France was devastated by the First World War. It’s army was destroyed, its industry was devastated, and its colonial empire was reduced to a rump. France had a certain tradition that comes with losing a major war. That tradition is based around a certain dynasty: the Bonapartes. In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte had seized power from the French Republic, declaring himself Consul and later Emperor. In 1848, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte became President of the Second French Republic, later crowning himself Emperor Napoleon III. In both of these cases, the French would lose a major war, leading to the Emperor’s dethronement. Charles Napoleon Bonaparte hoped that the third time’s the charm when he ran for President of the French Third Republic in 1926. The election was a landslide victory for Bonaparte, whose talk of restoring France’s glory and his family’s prestige resonated with the defeated French populace. Bonaparte’s power was further compounded when right wing politician Charles Maurass became Prime Minister in that same election, leading to a parliament dominated by the right. In 1927, Bonaparte announced a referendum to decide if he was to be crowned Emperor of France. The motion passed. On October 24, 1927, Charles Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned Emperor Napoleon V of the French. Later that month, he invited Oswald Mosley and Benito Mussolini to Paris to discuss a potential alliance. On November 5, 1927, the Paris-London-Rome Axis was signed. The road to the Second World War had begun.

Yeah, in hindsight, this story itself would probably work better if it was longer.

Okay, explanation for my story: The reason there is more showing than telling is that the main character isn't Steven, it's the Narrator. The story is to some extent about their views as well. The whole point was to feel disconnected from reality as the reader. Who are the Reader and the Narrator? That's for you to decide. On to reviews! Glaceon: The concept of a FE/Zelda crossover is a very interesting one. Hell, it would be great if you made it into an entire fanfic! Unfortunately, this is partly because there are some parts that need to be expanded on. For example, why is Soren living so long? I don't think Branded live that long in canon. Overall, a really good and also sad read! Ana: The story is well written. The problem is the lack of context. Presumably the pairing is IkElincia, but it's not really mentioned. There are also some characters mentioned but never expanded on. I think it would be better if it was part of a larger fanfic. Overall though, it is an interesting and well written piece. IceTea: This seemed to me to be a collection of really short stories. While the stories themselves are cute, breaking them up the way you do somewhat breaks up the flow of the narrative. Most of the stories themselves work, however. Dcat: While this is a spin off of WOC, it stands on its own, which is good, even though I'm familiar with the source material. There are some punctuation errors, but nothing too major. The story works well as a short story, with a simple but enjoyable plot. Snowy_One: This story was one of my favorites. It was extremely well written, and you do a good job of creating the atmosphere. I also like the theme (that good leadership sometimes clashes with kindness) and like how ambiguous the whole thing is. Good job. Farkas: This works well as a short story because of how to the point it was. No complaints here, but it's nothing revolutionary. Loki: This was my favorite. The characters are easily understood and well developed, and the plot is enjoyable. I do like that it ended the way it did, because leaving what the creature is up to the imagination makes it scarier, and its unlikely that a satisfactory resolution could be reached in the short time there is to tell the tale. Great job! Eclipse: The imagery in this one works very well. My only complaint is that the fantasy element wasn't really needed. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go to class.

Wow. Fail, me. Fail. Whatever, I changed my vote number to 2.

Oh no, not major disorder and injustice! Whatever shall we do?

This story is less coherent than the story of that fanfic Dvea Stdider Pokemon Trainer. That's saying something. This hack makes Ride to Hell: Retribution seem not so bad after all. Thats saying more. These characters make the cast of The Room seem likable. That is saying the most Ive ever said in one sentence. I have no idea what the fuck is going on with this story. The most depressing thing is, most people seem to like this. Google a review. It WILL ruin your day.

Wait, where did it say you could only vote for two? In any case, I'll cast my votes again. And don't feel too bad, Ana; I don't have any votes!

Gonna call it now that Loki is going to win. I honestly think the voting would be more effective if you could only vote for one entry, but that's just me.

So, when does the voting start, and how?

Well, that was, as Shakespeare would say, much ado about nothing.

I'd recommend a single thread to start with, but change to a new one once the thread gets too big.

Since Ana's doing it, I might as well, too. My entry is up as well. As for the actual chapter, it is good to see that canon characters are getting the spotlight as well. A consistent problem with fanfics is the sidelining of canon characters, so its good to see its not happening here.

Welp. It looks like no one is interested in role playing. As such, here is the update: Part 3 Interbellum Chapter 1 An American Revolution Many historians have said that the rise of Communism in America was inevitable. America, certainly, was very susceptible to it, certainly more so than Russia! It is certainly true that American democracy was what made it so vulnerable. The example of the United States proves that pure democracy, without the wise, just hand of a monarch to guide it, is bound to end as America’s did: bloodily. American Democracy was in reality a fluke. The economy was controlled by “Robber Barons” who had a massive amount of control over the economy. The Robber Barons each controlled a business that had complete control over a market. This was called monopoly, and it meant that the owners of the business could charge however much they wanted for the service they provided, because there was no competition. This led to a few businessmen having complete control over the economy, which meant they also controlled the government. The last major attempt to block the Robber Baron’s stranglehold on power came from President Theodore Roosevelt, but all of his measures to stop the monopolies were stopped by the Congress for being “unconstitutional”. So it was that Republican Democracy went the way it always does: Oligarchy. The Robber Barons were not unchallenged, however: the Socialist Party, led by Eugene V. Debs, sought to create a nation where the state controlled the means of production. They argued that only in this way could the rich be prevented from exploiting the poor. Socialism, however, did not seem like it could ever be elected to power-not with the Robber Barons controlling everything. 1913, however, would change all of that. That was the year when American soldiers would be cut down by the thousands in a pointless war started by President Woodrow Wilson. After the war, Wilson barely managed to avoid being impeached. However, the Democratic Party took a severe popularity hit because of the debacle. The Republicans were no better. Into this void stepped the Socialists. In the 1916 election, it looked as if the Socialists would finally win an election. It would not, however, be through democratic means that the Socialists would come to power. They would dominate politics through revolution. In the 1916 campaign, Eugene Debs toured across the Northern industrial cities. He had the votes of the workers for the election. The South, meanwhile, would be the hotbed of the resistance to Socialism. However, it was divided between William Jennings Bryan and Woodrow Wilson. That meant that Debs had the advantage in terms of votes. Or at least he would, if he survived to the election. However, on a fateful day in February, the Ninth to be exact, Eugene Deb’s New York rally was fired upon by police, and Debs was killed. It would be the second shot heard round the world, and it would lead to the beginning of the Second American Revolution. The response of the workers, as well as that of Deb’s former lieutenant Jack Reed, was immediate. All across the industrialized North, the workers rose up, seizing most of the cities. In the following weeks, they would spread out and seize the countryside around the cities, and many units in the US army would switch sides as well. By April, the communists controlled everything north of a line stretching from the Great Lakes to Baltimore, Maryland. Communist troops were also on the offensive in the Midwest. From April to July 15, 1916, heavy street fighting would take place between the Communist forces and Federal troops throughout Maryland. On July 15, after a week long battle, the bedraggled US army surrendered the city. From the steps of th White House, Jack Reed proclaimed the foundation of the United Socialist States of America, whose constitution would be determined at a later date. Despite all of this the war was far from over. Woodrow Wilson had fled to California, where the US army had succeeded in stamping out Communist partisans. Once there, he, along with General John Pershing, formed a defensive line along the Rocky Mountains with the remnants of the US army. The “Pershing Line” would be a tough nut to crack for Communist forces. It would be in the South, however, where the Communist’s greatest task lay. Civilian militias, consisting primarily of poor whites, had been mobilized by William Jennings Bryan. Now, they prepared for the onslaught to come, as the Communists prepared to pacify the South. They did not have long to wait. On August 1, 1916, Communist troops crossed into Virginia. They were met with stiff, fanatical resistance from the militias. Long after Virginia had been pacified a month after the start of the campaign, the Red Army was facing a huge amount of guerrilla resistance from the “rednecks”. Reed ultimately decided to impose draconian measures on the occupied South, including nationalization of farms. The resistance, however, never ceased. Despite all of this, the Communist advance continued, however slowly. After two years of long, bloody conflict, the South was finally subjugated. However, America’s neighbors were also eager to capitalize on her weakness. The Canadians sent troops to occupy New England, one of the more industrialized regions of America, as well as Alaska. In the Pacific, Japan, which had been quiet since the humiliating defeat by Russia and Germany in 1905, took control of America’s Pacific possessions, including Hawaii (where it installed a daughter of the last Queen as monarch) and the Philippines. The Japanese had democratized, but now looked once again towards China for expansion. Reed was forced to accept all of these losses. In June of 1919, the Communists had secured the South, had the Northeast under their complete control, and were advancing in the Midwest. All that was left was to cross the Rocky Mountains and deal the remnants of the Federal Government one final blow. The Communists took many losses crossing the mountains, but by the end of June, they had crossed them, advancing into Oregon, Arizona, and Washington State. As the Red advance rolled through New Mexico and Arizona, the Middle and Upper class of America finally saw the writing on the wall. A Communist takeover in America was inevitable. A mass exodus of the rich occurred, as many prominent Americans, such as William Randolph Hearst and Henry Ford, fled from an America that was becoming increasingly hostile. The former “Robber Barons” fled with them, taking with them their vast wealth and a good portion of the American economy. A large amount of refugees, however, particularly those who were not particularly rich, were turned back by the countries they fled to (particularly Australia, Canada, Russia, New Zealand, China, and Japan). Woodrow Wilson was among them, boarding a ship to Australia before the Communists had even entered California. His ship, however, crashed on Tazmania and he was eaten by Tazmanian Devils, a fitting end for such a terrible person. On August 6, 1919, from Alcatraz Island, the last piece of land that the Red Army captured from the now defunct USA, Jack Reed proclaimed the formation of the USSA (United Socialist States of America) with himself as President. The USSA had mandatory Socialism in all of its states, with governors and Party Council, or Politburo, members being elected as well. However, the Politburo alone elected the Premier, who had absolute power. Free Speech was also greatly curtailed. Clarence Darrow, an American defense Attorney living in exile in Australia, commented that “Never has so good a cause led to such disastrous results.” Unfortunately, the situation in the USSA would not get any better. Reed was an aggressive, authoritarian ruler, and he was determined to spread Communism, whatever the cost. AN: Why no, I don't like Woodrow Wilson.

Title: Steven Fandoms: None Characters: Steven, Narrator Words: 1127 [spoiler=Steven]This is a story about a young man named Steven. Steven lived in the city of Norwich, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. He was born in 1919, a year after the Great War had devastated Europe. His father was shell shocked due to his experiences in the war. Steven and his brothers always had to take care of him. Steven’s mother earned the money in the family. Growing up, Steven was a charismatic, athletic boy who made friends easily. In Elementary School, Steven would learn about the colors, and addition, and subtraction, and Purple, and such a wonderfully wide variety of subjects. Unfortunately, he also made fun of a homosexual boy named Ted repeatedly. Did anyone ever find out? No .It is doubtful they would have cared, based on the attitude towards homosexuality at the time. Ted, however, would carry the bullying with him for the rest of his life. And so Steven made his first real impact on a person. Unfortunately, it was not positive. During Middle School, Steven began to expand his horizons. He joined his school’s Football team, and acquitted himself quite well. In Mathematics, he began to learn about the quadratic formula, and Algebra, and Graphing calculators. He learned about the Crimean War, and Napoleon, and geology, and biology, and chemistry, and an even wider variety of subjects. He also got his first girlfriend (and I use that term loosely) in 7th grade, but broke up with her at the start of 8th. During High School, Steven won several games for his football team, and got another girlfriend. This was really quite good for Steven, and made him happy. During this time, Steven’s grades took a turn for the worse as school became harder and harder, and Football practice took up more and more of Steven’s time. He didn’t care. He believed he had found his true calling in the form of Football. He went to college at Oxford University, hoping to become part of the English Football team, and win the World Cup. He had another girlfriend there, named Mary. They met each other when they were both eighteen years old. Why is she the only girlfriend to be named? Well, because she will stay with Steven for a long time… relatively. In any case, Steven drunk alcohol illegally, he became involved with fraternities, he failed to show up for class repeatedly… all normal things that college students do. As of now, Steven is twenty years old. His future seems bright. Having read all of this, do you feel you have some form of preliminary understanding of the life of Steven so far? You have? That is wonderful news! As such, I can ascertain that it may in fact interest you to know that none of what I have told you about Steven matters. Why, you ask? That is rather simple to answer. In less than a year, Steven will be dead. The story of the death of this boy that we have grown to know rather well starts, it can be said, with the beginning of Human Civilization. To document all of that, however, would be rather challenging, and would almost certainly break the 10,000 word limit. So I will not document it. Suffice it to say, the story of the death of Steven really picks up in September of 1939, when the German Third Reich invaded the Republic of Poland, starting the Second World War. Of course, Steven had read the papers. He had looked on with concern as the German regime persecuted the Jews, and as they annexed Austria. He cheered when Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain proclaimed “Peace in our time”, holding a treaty of appeasement aloft. However, he hadn’t really paid attention. He was just a simple football player. Nevertheless, one day in September Steven was informed that he was now a soldier, sent off to fight the Nazis for King and Country. So he picked up his rifle and was sent to France. Despite all of this, Steven didn’t see all that much combat for a while. France and Britain, you see, had taken a defensive stance towards the Germans, preferring to hide behind France’s Maginot Line, as opposed to actually fighting the Germans. And so Steven, in his bunker somewhere in France, read of how Poland fell to the Nazis. He read of the fall of Denmark to the Germans. He heard of how Norway, despite British help, was forced to surrender. And, through all of this, he must have thought, “Is it not a good strategy for fighting a war actually FIGHTING A WAR?!”. Steven was impatient like that. This cycle of boredom that was what Steven’s life had become at this juncture would continue until one fateful day in May. The date was May 10, 1940. On that day, the armies of Nazi Germany invaded the Kingdom of the Netherlands, smashing the majority of Dutch forces aside with ease. The Netherlands fell four days later. The German Wehrmacht then proceeded to invade the Kingdom of Belgium. Sweeping through the country, they encircled the British troops in the north of Belgium, and pushed through the forested south of the country. They then penetrated into the Ardennes forest that acted as the border between Belgium and France. Sweeping aside the meager French forces that were defending the area, the German Panzers pushed through northern France almost completely unopposed. The seventeenth Panzer division headed towards the city of Rheims, in Picardie. Standing against them was the fourth British Infantry division, of which Steven happened to be a part. It was these circumstances that directly lead to the death of Steven. Steven’s division took up defensive positions around Rheims. They got behind their anti tank guns, prepared to fight. They were ready to give their lives for their country. They would take anything those Nazi bastards could throw at them, and throw it right back! They would fight, by Jove, and they would win! As the first Panzers came into view, Steven scrambled down, ready to fire. He waited for his partner to load the gun, and fired. Miss. Steven’s heart sank. The Panzers drove closer, brushing away all fortifications like they were nothing. Steven couldn’t believe how something so large could move so fast. And then, Steven noticed something. Something out of the corner of his eye. In the grand scheme of things, it really does not matter in the slightest if Steven noticed it or not. It would not have changed anything. But, regardless, Steven noticed it. It was a Panzer. And it was pointing it’s gun right at him. It fired. And, in an instant, Steven was gone. And that is the story of the death of a young man named Steven. My thoughts: I got this idea from pondering the pointlessness of war. The choice to have there be no dialogue was intentional. The story is mainly about the narrator. You can decide for yourself who he is.

So are we free to post now? Because I'm almost done with mine. It's a sarcastic, nihilistic piece.

Japan's denial is despicable, but it was then. North Korea is now.

Okay, thanks. It probably won't take too long to write something up.

Yeah, sure, I'm in. What is the due date for submissions and how do you put stuff under a spoiler tag?