Sphere of influence proposal

[Scott of Hyperborea]

This is a legal version of the sphere of influence proposal I made before, which I hope gets put before the Landsraad:

We, the Landsraad of Shireroth, urge Her Niftiness the Kaiseress, Keeper of the Apollo Legacy, Grand Mistress of the Orders of the Dragon, Griffin, Phoenix, and Chimera, Wielder of Vengeance, Bearer of the Celestial Barrier, Countess of Shirekeep, Princess of Hvalafell, and Lady of the Golden Mango Throne, to decree the following:

1. That all Imperial Lands are laid open to any Shirerithian interests that wish to explore, exploit, develop, or colonize them. Citizens of Shireroth need not seek Imperial permission before attempting to develop Imperial Lands.

2. That the Kaiser or Landsraad may choose to evict a person, corporation, or House from an Imperial Land if they demonstrate a willful disregard for its populace or culture. Such a person's work will be deemed "non-canon" and can be explained away by future colonizers in any way they wish. That person will be banned from any further development work in that area, or, depending on the scale of the offense, in Imperial Lands.

3. That the Kaiser or Landsraad may choose to grant governorships to those who have done exceptional work developing an Imperial Land. The governor of a land, and the House to which ze belongs will have control over a land, its armies, its resources, and its development so long as ze holds the gubernatorial title.

4. That the Kaiser or Landsraad may choose to revoke gubernatorial titles and their pleasure.

5. That the official in charge of cartography will, at reasonable intervals, release maps showing what Shirerithian counties are under what degree of influence from what houses.

[Icebreaker]

IN THE INTERESTS OF SELF-PRESERVATION, NOT SURE HOW I FEEL ABOUT ITEM 2.

[Falkner van der Sluijs]

How do you deal with two people developing the same land?

[Kaiseress Anandja II]

IN THE INTERESTS OF SELF-PRESERVATION, NOT SURE HOW I FEEL ABOUT ITEM 2.

Why, do you do a lot of cultural development in Imperial Lands?

[Erik Mortis]

Where would we put this in the Lawbook?

[Harvey Steffke]

I feel very strongly that we will be a better nation overall if we never include the word "gubernatorial" in our Lawbook.

[Kaiseress Anandja II]

You wouldn't. It's a request from the Landsraad for me to decree it.

[Erik Mortis]

Oh.. right. Gotcha. And I agree on the word Gubernational.. I've never liked it.. not even sure what it means..

[Kaiseress Anandja II]

Derived from "Governor", and I agree.

[Erik Mortis]

All I can think of when I hear the word is Eri calling people "Gubers" as a playful insult.

[Scott of Hyperborea]

Corey: Fight. See the proposal I linked to on the top for details.

[Shyriath]

I still very much like the idea overall; but if I may ask about the following:

- 2's "willful disregard for its populace or culture" phrasing. Does this refer just to lack of adequate development, or would it also apply to canon that had been previously established in the Imperial lands concerned?

- Repeating a question from the original proposal thread: if multiple individuals choose to develop the same county simultaneously, what happens if they ignore or flatly contradict one another in their work? Should this be encouraged as a "best material wins" situation, or should they be expected to try to integrate what they're doing?

I'm particularly concerned about the second point. If someone proves more worthy to be a governor, fair enough. But I could see a situation arising where multiple people put in a lot of hard work toward an Imperial Land, but at least one is behaving as if there's no one else in the county. If that same person gets made governor and their work becomes canon, and the other work is thereby ignored, then you're likely to end up with serious bad blood.

I suppose what I'm suggesting here is that, when picking a governor, it might be a good idea for the Kaiser to keep in mind not just the recipient's own development efforts, but how zie responds to others'.

[Scott of Hyperborea]

2's "willful disregard for its populace or culture" phrasing. Does this refer just to lack of adequate development, or would it also apply to canon that had been previously established in the Imperial lands concerned?

I intended for it to mean disregarding canon, for example trying to take over Yardistan and say it's been inhabited solely by lizardmen for the past ten thousand years or something equally stupid. The same would be true of...styles of culture construction we don't want in Shireroth, like if someone tried to make a county into a Star Wars clone with Jedi and Wookies or something.

Repeating a question from the original proposal thread: if multiple individuals choose to develop the same county simultaneously, what happens if they ignore or flatly contradict one another in their work? Should this be encouraged as a "best material wins" situation, or should they be expected to try to integrate what they're doing?

I would like to see people working intelligently with each other. For example, if both Mortis and Annexis are trying to claim Florin Sara, Mortis might write about a colony founded by Mortis on the north of the island, and what was going on there, and Annexis might write about a colony founded by Annexis on the south, and their struggles with the Mortis colony, and so on. Kind of like a mini-recwar. I think this path would be better than arguing about what the Florencians' history has been.

I'm particularly concerned about the second point. If someone proves more worthy to be a governor, fair enough. But I could see a situation arising where multiple people put in a lot of hard work toward an Imperial Land, but at least one is behaving as if there's no one else in the county. If that same person gets made governor and their work becomes canon, and the other work is thereby ignored, then you're likely to end up with serious bad blood.

I would hope that the Kaiser and Landsraad would be wise enough when selecting governors that this would not happen. Alternately, they could grant a governorship conditional upon respecting the culture, and revoke it if the governor disappointed them.

I suppose what I'm suggesting here is that, when picking a governor, it might be a good idea for the Kaiser to keep in mind not just the recipient's own development efforts, but how zie responds to others'.

Agreed. My model for this would be Eluin, where occasionally Ardashir or Ric or I takes over the whole place but we usually do a pretty good job of adjusting for whatever culture has gone before. Ardashir is especially good at this, even if his idea of "adjusting for" is "writing a long and brilliant story about how he killed or enslaved all of them and then spent years brutally suppressing any rebels."

[Kaiseress Anandja II]

Brutal suppression of rebels is fun.

[Shyriath]

Indeed so.

Well, I think my concerns have been pretty well addressed here, so... Yes, well done. I shall prepare my plans to redevelop the Isle of Benacia, as once I did in ages past.

[Aurangzeb Khan]

Right, well I've have a good feeling about this so I've put it before the Landsraad.

[Harvey Steffke]

With none of the debate whatsoever taken into account. Not even removing that awful gubernatorial word! I'm totally using this thread as cannon fodder next time someone tells me I'm overreacting and that I should have a rational debate, as it seems the rational debate doesn't matter in the slightest.

[Aurangzeb Khan]

Most of the debate was piffle revolving around vague assurances... but I hate the gubernatorial word too... ah feck. Back in a second.

[Kaiseress Anandja II]

I was gonna remove it anyway in my decree.

[Erik Mortis]

I'd forgotten about that word.. Thanks Harvey...