' Wrote:AFA have engaged in battles on the KNF side. Pitched battles.
Cutting Bretonian supplies does not keep foreign trade out of Kusari. That is their goal.
Again mate, you're settling in on limiting the AFA's role to foreign trade. Political instability is something the AFA won't take lightly, and they're backed up by the government, which hints to the fact that they might receive supplies and the subsidies on the foreign trade that they look for in exchange for playing a small part in helping the Kusari overcome the Bretonians.
"It is a cold universe until you know God as your Father, and then it becomes a home. Even the next life simply becomes the Father's house, home."
—David Pawson
' Wrote:How is that a powerplay. I did not create Nagano, nor Shikoku, nor Kyushu. Three major food producing planets. And Bretonia feeds itself from just Cambridge, so imagine how much food Kusari is producing.
Aren't they mostly water, and densely populated? They may all have farms, but they aren't planetwide farms. And don't pull the fish argument, because then you'd be the Fisherman's Alliance. (And fish farming isn't 'artisan farming', for the record)
' Wrote:In fact, I have been reading. The rumours in Cambridge deny any Synth Foods presence in Bretonia, because they have real farms.
The Synth Foods vehicles are arriving from Liberty, not through the blockaded Taus. Farmers hate Synth Foods and foreign trade. The foreign trade is coming from Liberty, not Bretonia.
I have to agree with this. I've spent a fair bit of time raiding Bretonia recently, and not once do I remember a Synth Foods NPC transport. I do, however, remember destroying a lot of them in Liberty and all the way up through Shikoku with my Rogue. Liberty is the source and seat of power of what the FA was founded against, practically exclusively. Effectively no corporations come through the Sigmas for obvious reasons, as well as none coming through the Taus for even more obvious reasons. Shikoku is the only legitimate entry point for Kusari foreign trade, and I would hope that normal FA player patrols would reflect that.
As I read through this, I at first found it rather hard to come to terms with a branch of the FA being used as support troops. The KNF, after all, would probably just recruit/impress them into service if they really needed them, and I have no doubts that given Samura's heavily vested interests in the Taus they wouldn't mind offering the official services of their henchmen that were absolutely dedicated to fighting on the front lines, or as commandos (they are, as has been pointed out, rather well trained, so it's likely some of them are up to snuff for such work). My thoughts wandered to why Samura would sponsor raids in Bretonia rather than Shikoku- remembering again that Samura's competition is entirely Libertonian or named "Kishiro Technologies"- wouldn't Samura gain far more from bolstering its resources or hindering Kishiro's than it would from laying waste to companies that are, from Samura's PoV, unimportant? Then it hit me.
The KNF can't shoot civilians behind the lines.
Really, they can't. Besides being bad form, the negative PR would have significant adverse consequences to the war effort even with Kusari's propaganda machine. Maybe one or two operations could be covered up, but a sustained campaign against Bretonia's (civilian) supply lines would be recognized.
So, the KNF and their puppetmasters in Samura have a problem. In order to wear out Bretonia (now on home ground, as opposed to Kusari's precarious logistic situation), they need to do something to even out the logistics. However, the KNF cannot move openly against Bretonian citizens at risk of losing everything, nor is it likely they will win a war of attrition with current positions- especially now that a still-Bretonian Planet Harris is behind the front and still capable of sending out raiding parties (like the privateers, for instance).
What Kusari needs to complete its stranglehold on Bretonia is a third party that doesn't have to worry about political backlash. A third party with the funding and training to weave past the BAF, do some damage, and run away before overwhelming force comes after them (and on home ground, overwhelming force is not hard to come by). A third party that can be blamed and ostracized openly by its employers without faltering in their loyalty.
Basically, a third party like the Farmer's Alliance- or at least part of it.
Now, as I understand, the Artisan Farmer's Alliance represents a part of the FA with a more generalized focus on tradition rather than just farming. Not all of them should be commando material, nor possess the particular kind of nationalistic fervor that drives them to more or less abandon their personal agendas (and almost certainly their lives) to do what Kusari must do but cannot. This is the kind of person that will inevitably either end up in the Blood Dragons or the Farmer's Alliance (depending on views of the Kusari gov't) but only make up an itsy-bitsy portion of them. This is the kind of person that should be venturing fearlessly into Bretonia waving the flag of the Farmer's Alliance.
HOWEVER- the rest of the Farmer's Alliance still needs to do its job protecting Kusari- well, Samura- from foreign interests. If Samura loses profits to Liberty, then the KNF doesn't have as many ships to throw at the BAF. That is still a very important task, and significantly less likely to kill you. Even ultra-nationalists who are in the FA more for Kusari than for the Farmers are likely to stick with Kusari-side operations because of a functional self-preservation instinct, or the idea that living longer means serving Kusari for longer. The people who go behind the lines should be an utterly minuscule portion of the FA, and a small minority within the ranks of the less farm-centric AFA.
All in all, my suggestion is that the AFA establish a specific wing to fly into Kusari with. They are not intended to fight the BAF, or really even cover numbers when the KNF are losing; they are scarce and valuable and not to throw their lives away while doing anything the KNF can do. The other characters in the AFA should be doing more "traditional" FA things, although I would certainly put venturing out into the Taus to escort or defend Samura operations into this category. In addition to me thinking this is what the RP leads to, I hope that the various parties who came to this thread looking for rational discussion might be satisfied with an arrangement of this sort.
' Wrote:Again mate, you're settling in on limiting the AFA's role to foreign trade. Political instability is something the AFA won't take lightly, and they're backed up by the government, which hints to the fact that they might receive supplies and the subsidies on the foreign trade that they look for in exchange for playing a small part in helping the Kusari overcome the Bretonians.
Pure assumption. That is their role. Political instability could help them beat up support for having Synth Foods kicked out, too.
Zelot, thanks for your initial post and for opening your RP up to questions from the community.
As to those who continue to argue just to argue, stop.
I actually have a genuine question, Zelot, and it has to do with your description of AFA as "ultra-nationalist," and whether that fits well within the context of the Kusari empire. Within scholarship on nationalism, nationalist movements are usually set apart from empires for one significant reason: nations and nationalism, by definition, root themselves in a particular bounded territory which is part and parcel of their national identity, while empires expand and attempt to subsume more and more territory under their control. Nationalists have a specifically limited sense of their nation's territory; empires do not, and typically refuse to except for pragmatic reasons. Thus, an ultra-nationalist group aiding the military expansion of empire doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
When it comes to the RP in your first post, I find the argument for AFA presence in Leeds a bit tenuous. The only point that seems remotely applicable is #4, and that is a stretch considering FA's/AFA's stated raison d'etre. Now, I'm not asking you to stop, because I tend toward a live and let live approach to RP, when nobody else is being adversely affected. However, I do wonder if a stronger RP rationale isn't called for here.
Nationalists are inwardly focused, and some specifically emphasize purification of culture. This is FA/AFA to a tee. However, hitting supply lines to aid imperial expansion is not. What I'd suggest is that AFA, if it wants to continue an active presence in Leeds, actively engage in cultural expansion. Looking at Leeds as incoming Kusari territory, aim for the purification of its culture (along Kusari lines). Use nationalist propaganda, mixed with environmental concerns (since that would be the most obvious connection in that system), to extend the nationalist message to your nation's newest members. I think this would fit the faction much better than mere paramilitary action.
' Wrote:How is that a powerplay. I did not create Nagano, nor Shikoku, nor Kyushu. Three major food producing planets. And Bretonia feeds itself from just Cambridge, so imagine how much food Kusari is producing.
Tomioka, rather, is not yet producing foodstuffs.. Shikoko provides fish as luxury consumables and Kyushu, under Samura direction and the utilization of genetically engineered rice *would bring up the faction that need not be named and raise an eyebrow here* is a strong provider of foodstuffs, but is facing strong competition from synthfood in regards to popularity.
' Wrote:Pure assumption. That is their role. Political instability could help them beat up support for having Synth Foods kicked out, too.
This isn't about mentioning every single "could be". Their support through written work is the concrete evidence all around, hence their petitions and their "legal" status.
' Wrote:Not my fault if you don't know your own faction's goals.
Beginning to sound like Patriot. Please don't cross that line.
For Sovereign, thanks for bringing more reason into the matter. Zelot already stated that if the AFA has 5 wings, 1 may be around Bretonia, keeping 4 in Kusari, which sounds pretty logical.
"It is a cold universe until you know God as your Father, and then it becomes a home. Even the next life simply becomes the Father's house, home."
—David Pawson
' Wrote:Zelot, thanks for your initial post and for opening your RP up to questions from the community.
As to those who continue to argue just to argue, stop.
I actually have a genuine question, Zelot, and it has to do with your description of AFA as "ultra-nationalist," and whether that fits well within the context of the Kusari empire. Within scholarship on nationalism, nationalist movements are usually set apart from empires for one significant reason: nations and nationalism, by definition, root themselves in a particular bounded territory which is part and parcel of their national identity, while empires expand and attempt to subsume more and more territory under their control. Nationalists have a specifically limited sense of their nation's territory; empires do not, and typically refuse to except for pragmatic reasons. Thus, an ultra-nationalist group aiding the military expansion of empire doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
When it comes to the RP in your first post, I find the argument for AFA presence in Leeds a bit tenuous. The only point that seems remotely applicable is #4, and that is a stretch considering FA's/AFA's stated raison d'etre. Now, I'm not asking you to stop, because I tend toward a live and let live approach to RP, when nobody else is being adversely affected. However, I do wonder if a stronger RP rationale isn't called for here.
Nationalists are inwardly focused, and some specifically emphasize purification of culture. This is FA/AFA to a tee. However, hitting supply lines to aid imperial expansion is not. What I'd suggest is that AFA, if it wants to continue an active presence in Leeds, actively engage in cultural expansion. Looking at Leeds as incoming Kusari territory, aim for the purification of its culture (along Kusari lines). Use nationalist propaganda, mixed with environmental concerns (since that would be the most obvious connection in that system), to extend the nationalist message to your nation's newest members. I think this would fit the faction much better than mere paramilitary action.
Sorry for the wall of text.
Nice post, Thank you. The problem in this area is that while we call Kusari an Empire, and that is the propaganda of it (Much like the United States is often refereed to as a democracy, when in fact it is a constitutional Republic.) Kusari is no more an Empire than Bretonia, Liberty or Rhienland. As to how a nationalist motivation fits in, the AFA will blindly follow the will of the Emperor, being the symbol of that nationalist fervor. The Emperor has declared Bretonia an enemy of Kusari, and a threat to it's cultural integrity, and asked the AFA to help the "Empire" in a way uniquely suited to them, as what they have mainly done in Kusari is interdiction of trade, the same thing they are being asked to do here. I hope that at least in part answers your question.
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