ForestBoard

I'll think of a good way to get Kyratistani into our new roleplaying league. The country is originally set in real-world Sikkim, and is supposed to be the world's biggest hermit, going even further than North Korea...not to mention the banning of virtually all modern-day technology excluding radio. However, I have role played before that we slowly start opening up to the world sometime in the 2020s, so perhaps this will be that time.

We still aren't using transportation more advanced than mules or bicycles though. Sorry.

Middle Barael wrote:

Haha yeah no.

Take it from the writings of Iris Dubois, MBBC's journalist who has recently become quite famous as a result of her informative and right-off-the-press articles about the protests and her friendship with activist Shira Meron. On Saturday Dubois posted on the interregional social media site RMB:

Message

Despite attempts by some hooligans and foreign nationals to disrupt the ongoing economic reckoning in Middle Barael or paint a picture of chaos, the protests have remained largely peaceful. Light fighting broke out at a protest in Minerva earlier this week due to a Minerva PD raid on Chan Islander drug traffickers and gun smugglers, but within a few minutes it was contained as protest organizers learnt that the police were not in fact targeting the activists. Minor skirmishes also broke out following heated arguments in Sacrovilla and Nava, but nobody was badly injured and these skirmishes were quickly stopped, and in Cothon City a few were lightly bruised following a mini-stampede in the streets of Medina neighborhood. But other than these few isolated incidents, the protests have kept with the Baraelan core value of pacifism, and indeed the only fighting so far recorded to have taken place in relation to the Occupy Forest movement is the rioting in Einswenn, to which of course we wish peace and unity. However, attempts to spread chaos and paint a picture of an unravelling MB will not be tolerated by anyone in our Most Serene Eco-Republic, and we all urge for calm and unity

This message has since then be "quoted" by many across the political tesseract, including by King Solomon, Chloe Arborn, PM Marc Nuya, Shira Meron, Dr. Nathaniel Manza, and Bill Fremont.

So, basically Iris Dubois is a friend of Shira Meron? The very politician who called for protests, brought people to the streets and openly desires to use it for getting into power on snap elections? Yeah, of course Iris would support her, it’s a pre-booked soft seat in the new governmental system, ergo Iris won’t tell much about something that could potentially go wrong and work against ma'am Meron.

Ruinenlust wrote:

So...did anyone else see the Annular Solar Eclipse?

Nope; it's just 12% here in Luxembourg so still too bright to make any difference.

Jutsa wrote:

Gonna add a bot reminder to make me update their entries with these relevant suggestions.

For what it's worth, I believe Bigtopia is more along the lines of some kind of African nation, while South Nobovidia (something like that) is Mexico - I think.

Other relations

Maxtopia's most likely something like Egypt (gotta add that too)
East Lebatuck's 100% the USSR (and Russia to an extent)
Ausblic's Australia (kinda named after Aussie [Australian rePublic] because of the fruit baskets issue)
Althaniq's prooobably Saudi Arabia, though it could be something like Qatar or something.
Qonpaluuk's 100% Iceland
Skandilund is all of Scandinavia [save for Denmark apparently?]
Prudenlund, I believe, is Denmark (interesting that the issue about a war between you and Skandilund was actually a Danish territory but I digress)
Albionia's definitely the UK, yeah.
Merovingia's probably Belgium.
Galliennes (or something) is France
Savoiia's Italy
Aldoustan I tried making into some future-dystopian Kazakhstan but atm it only is most likely this.
Blackacre is honestly kinda like dystopian USA or something (Heck Valeria Drake did twitter things).
The United Federation is... kind of obvious, although this is more steriotypical confederate bible-belt semi-old-timey super-capitalist USA.
San Vitenzo's Cuba. No questions there.
Brancaland's Canada.
Gallopavia is a hybrid of the Netherlands and Turkey, I believe.
Brasilistan, similarly, is a hybrid of... well, Brazil and some Turkic nation, or something.
Daguo's China (Little Daguo being Taiwan)
Sakura's Japan
Nui Va Song's Vietnam
North/South Palisade... not sure? Kinda generic, though they're pooosibly North/South Korea or something but it's kinda meh at best.
East and West Calypso are probably typical tropical getaways like the Bahamas or Bermuda or something
Moltovea I believe is basically Moldova? I think? Interesting nation to have a specific NS representation, but yes.
Macronesia's Indonesia.
I admit I'm not really sure about Marche Noir/Blanche tbh. Same with Lilliputia/Gullivad, tbh, and Tasmania's not Australia because of Ausblic, but rather is probably the result of Max Barry trying to make fun of Tasmania by depicting it as some kind of hellhole.
Kawandaland's an African nation (Maybe Rwanda?) that has a really funny name.
Haptu's... I wanna say Haiti, but either way it's based on being a proxy war country.
Manamana might be Panama? I admit I don't know if Panama's a tax haven though and Manamana definitely is so this might actually be more like the Bahamas in that respect.
Moltevino's Mediterranian... honestly might be Greece or southern Italy, not really sure.
Sacerdia's some kind of religious nation that miiight be based off of Israel? Kinda hard to tell though.
Smalltopia, interestingly enough, has generally been considered Germany (Very different from Bigtopia).
Some nations, like Zompaboodaland, Wezeltonia, and West Ferodiah, are ultimately unique, I believe. Despoujanbourg Republic feels reminiscent of irl but I can't put my finger on it, and Copiluaca was named after this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVJqwCdzZnw
I also thought we might've had a nation reminiscent of either Pakistan or India, but I can't really recall either of them existing in the issue base so I can't be certain.

I have a feeling Macronesia is just Microronesia and also I'm part of the camp that says Qonpaluuk is Greenland.

New ladavia wrote:

I have a feeling Macronesia is just Microronesia and also I'm part of the camp that says Qonpaluuk is Greenland.

Macronesia has much longer islands though.

Kyratistani wrote:

https://www.canva.com/design/DADUBXTQg7M/t3UnRjiXL3V-nxxmgs0KWA/view?utm_content=DADUBXTQg7M&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=publishsharelink

This is a cookbook I made with 36 recipes from my culture (my father is from Afghanistan, and my mother is European Kyrgyzstani). I hope you enjoy them!

That's quite a cool thing you put together. I look forward to trying that borscht recipe, as the one time I made the dish it was pretty bland and boring (but that was my own fault, as I only included the bare-bones of the recipe). The shorba looks incredible, as well.

Is that format something you designed yourself? Or are there templates and prefabricated layouts that you used?

Arklanda, Lugnan, Einswenn, Middle Barael, Cuillin, Novian Republics, Aberdoom will be the competing Forestian teams in this tournament. Good luck ^^!

Sorry for double posting

The most serene republicans wrote:

Dangitty, I completely missed the Forest (re)founding day. Happy late Forestversary everyone! I honestly originally joined NS as an excuse to draw more flags but this region ended up being such a positive addition to my life! I'm gonna use this as an excuse to bake a cake and call that a celebration.
Love this idea! I'm gonna be sending my telegram later today. Since a lot of MSR's forgein policy is based on principles of international cooperation and such, could MSR be included as an in-lore founding member of the union of forest?

And unrelated lore question (and kind of related to the cartographer issue), do the continents in both maps of forest have names? I was trying to describe MSR's location based on the map for my wiki-style factbook but I ran into this issue.

For your first question, I am going to include anyone who joins during the month of June as an official founding member of the UoF. This won't mean anything practically-speaking, but it is an extra honor lore-wise since it means you were among the nations to build the UoF. So as long as you join some time this month, then the answer is sure!

And for your map question, I think generally we just call it "the Old World" and "the New World". But of course your own nation may have its own completely different name, since Forest is so culturally diverse. Just out of curiosity, where do you plan on settling?

Tavokkoga Rakaa | Kumuneen Rakei Orestuvon | Sentonnaada simisa
Rakavo's Clock | News from Rakavo for Forest | Third edition (the two previous editions were for another region, which I'm not sure still exists..; see Rakavo's factbooks and dispatches)

Karkaiti State Ombudsperson Belanti next Grand Pensionary?
Rakavo taken by surprise by High Court nomination

ORSIMME | As the moment approaches that the next Grand Pensionary (Taissi Hansaika) has to be appointed by the legislative bodies of Rakavo’s States in the first week of next month, many eyes were directed at the High Court of Justice (Keittiusa Rakunguo Tusontavon, Rakavo’s highest court), as the members of the latter nominate the candidate for Rakavo’s top executive office.

Despite the events that took place during the incumbent Grand Pensionary’s term – an outbreak of an infectious virus forced the Emerald Council (Hansavo Tiunerteen, Rakavo’s national/confederal government) to close the borders of two of Rakavo’s States, because of which it was severely criticised, especially after the outbreak was swiftly contained, thanks to or despite the State quarantaine, without further danger to the rest of Rakavo – Hana-Luoka Sankaidenni’s charisma and the facts that he was otherwise little controversial and considered a capable leader, made him the widely expected candidate of choice to succeed himself as Grand Pensionary. It was however not to be.

The High Court of Justice’s choice unexpectedly fell on Karkaiti’s State Ombudsperson Ms Aaramme Puonaksappa Belanti (34), who stood out, according to the Court, for her organised way of leading and “the way she treats every citizen as if they’re emperor”. Despite these admiring words, experts say that this nomination is a “clear path away from an Emerald Council that shows too much initiative”, such as the current Council has done, as it is thought that Belanti won’t be the person capable of taking tough decisions in times of need, which would put that power straight back to the States’ governments.

Less democratic States like Kora or Lindi however consider the appointment of Ms Belanti as an attack an on the integrity of the States’ independence. Pensionary Taksamavo Kangoinni of the State of Kora publicly called Ms Belanti a “Goat hugging ally of friend and foe”, put forward by Karkaiti to control the other States of Rakavo. As it happens, Ms Belanti is currently abroad in the Federal Kingdom of Einswenn, where she will hold a lecture on allowing people to get used to the variety of human beings by showing minorities in every day contexts during the 2021 Keepenhest Pride. She couldn’t be reached yet for a comment on her nomination.

Cat-herders united wrote:

So what’s y’all’s hot takes on the elections in Peru?

I don't really care who's running against her, anyone named Fujimori shouldn't be anywhere near the Peruvian government. Castillo isn't great by any means, he's definitely not my favorite, but he's still a hell of a lot better than the far-right daughter of a dictator. He also has promised to concede to the progressive wing of his coalition on human rights, particularly those of the LGBTQ+ and refugee populations, which were his weakest points, and he was already pretty good on things like worker's rights. This was the best outcome for Peru.

Castillo's win is also an indictment of the belief that the left wing is on the decline in Latin America, as Chile's upcoming elections are likely to be too. There might've been a bigger right-wing surge had it not been for COVID and the subsequent downturn of the economy, but as it is faith in the government has been shaken significantly worldwide.

Kyratistani wrote:

straight from a terrorist organisation

Excuse me? If you're attempting to link Pedro Castillo to the PCP-SL, this is incorrect. He quite literally was a member of the "peasant patrols" (Rondas Campesinas) in the 80's, and spent half the time in this election just distancing himself from the left-wing of his party. I don't like Castillo at all, I think he's pretty much just another conservative populist, but accusing someone of being a Senderista/MOVADEF is a pretty heavy accusation, especially in Peru. And it's no surprise that the peruvian right has been dragging this accusation for so long, because red scare is one of the prefered tactics of Fujimorism...

And from what I said I bet you can guess my thoughts on the elections.