[b][/b][h1][center][b][u]February, Week 1 (1901)[/u][/b][/center][/h1]
[center][b]Discord Chat[/b]: https://discord.gg/f6n4B8[/center]
[center][All IC player posts [u]following[/u] this post will take place between February 8th and February 28th.][/center]

[hider=Game Mechanics]
I. [b]Running a Nation[/b]

X. [b]Contracts[/b]
A. A [b]Contract[/b] is handed out from your government and is a military requirement that you seek to fulfill.
 For example, you can put out a [u]Contract[/u] for a new Rifle, a new Battleship, a new Field Gun, etc.

B. [b]Contract Form[/b]
[code]1. [b]Contract For[/b]: [Bolt-Action Rifle], [Field Gun], [Heavy Field Gun], [Submarine], [Destroyer],
 [Protected Cruiser], [Armored Cruiser], [Battleship]
2. [b]Requested Design Specifications[/b]:
3. [b]Intended Number to Purchase[/b]:
4. [b]Deadline[/b]:[/code]
[/hider]

[u]February 1st[/u]
[list][*]The [u]Phoenix Budget[/u] in redacted by King James Conrad of the [b][color=pink]Kingdom of Zellonia[/color][/b]. An unsettling piece of legislature that pulled hundreds of thousands of tons of raw materials off the market overnight. Approval of King James Conrad had dipped to nearly one in three by the time he pulled the legislation back. He gave no grand speech. His attendance in Parliament had been meager. The resolve of Zellonia had burned to a quiet candlelight, and upon his exiting--two political figures called a clandestine meeting of the Advisory Parliament in Zeel. They had no powers, representing their cities and districts as mere puppets to the whims of the Throne of Zellonia & Memoital Commonwealth. Instead, the two men, fifty-seven year old Connor Fair and fourty-nine year old Harry Matmuth, lorded over nearly two dozen other MAPs (Members of the Advisory Parliament) and saw to it that on February 14th at the next convening of Parliament, a [b]Vote of No Confidence[/b] would be called on King James, and if he did not relent to relinquishing legislative powers to the Advisory Parliament, they would walk out of their posts. Not for him, but for Zellonia.

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/db8Pq0L.png[/img]
[i]The political ideologies in Zellonia in February, 1901[/i][/center]
[*]The body of Empress Liliana a was transported from the city of Rigour to Orison, her place of birth, on board her personal yacht, [i]HMY Kingson[/i].[/list]

[u]February 2nd[/u]
[list][*]The funeral of Empress Liliana took place at St Davids's Chapel in Orison Castle after her body was transported from Rigour to Orison. The day before, the funeral procession had brought her from the Malcom's House to Rigour. Present at her funeral were the monarchs of the Zellonia, Tyro-Redania, Survia and Itherae.  According to contemporary accounts, the noise of the cannon firing at her funeral was not heard on the outskirts of Rigour, "yet it was heard loudly at a number of villages in an approximate ring around 150 kilometres from the source."
[*]Invitations from [b]Rigour Castle[/b] are sent out to the nations of Tyria, Radena, Violette and Kalpia. Given Violette's current political crisis, an extension is sent to King James Conrad instead.

[hider=A Small Seat at a Large Table]
Zellonia's rightful place in the sun is finally here. Under my reign, Zellonia may once again join the Great Powers in discussing, shaping and leading the world. Given it's importance, who represents Zellonia there may be a deciding factor. However, with the people upset over the [i]Burned Budget[/i], perhaps my place is here, in Zeel.
- [b]King James Conrad will Attend the Rigour Conference[/b]: May use [i]King James Conrad[/i] at the Rigour Conference, receives +1 on first 3 Character Cards played.
- [b]Minister of Foreign Affairs, Charles Alexzander will Attend[/b]: Conference is conducted as normal for Zellonia.[/hider][/list]

[u]February 3rd[/u]
[list][*]The [u]Worker Safety Regulation Law[/u], signed the day before on February 3rd, is effectively passed into governance in the [b]Itheraen Royal Senate[/b] after receiving Queen Athena's signature. Although the poor were excited at the prospect, time would tell on it's effectiveness in the factories.[/list]

[u]February 4th[/u]
[list][*]Taran architect and inventor Carl Smith discovered and patented the rechargeable nickel–iron battery system and made plans to market it commercially, but would soon come into conflict with Zellonian inventor Ernst Waldemar Jungner, who had filed a patent in Zeel only two weeks earlier (January 22) for a process using nickel-iron storage cells. The technologies would later be superseded by improvements on Jungner's nickel–cadmium battery.[/list]

[u]February 5th[/u]
[list][*]"[i]War! War! War![/i]"

Pro-War protests break out in Furuu, as one of the mothers of the slain diplomats riles members of the local factory she works at into action. Holding a fistful of "Death to Xiang" propaganda posters, the protesters rip them to shreds: "This is not war," they chant over. $350,000 in damages is accrued after a fire breaks out that burns half the day. For every one man screaming [i]"Blood for blood[/i]," another two more screamed "Only Hironese blood flows." At 7:30 PM a scuffle broke out, with sixteen injured and twenty-eight arrested. Elements of the Hidden Arm reported to the Furuu Prefect that they may have reason to believe "alternative elements" had a hand in starting the protests.

- [[b][color=lightgreen]Imperium of Hiron[/color][/b] suffers [u]-2% Approval[/u].][/list]
[u]February 6th[/u]
[list][*]The [b]Military Reformation Act[/b] is voted on and passed in the [b][color=beige]Serene Empire of Tara[/color][/b], calling for an additional 50,000 soldiers to be trained by the end of the year as well as an additional 67,000 reservists. The [b]Conservatives[/b], who held a 136 seat majority over both the Rigourist and Whig parties was mostly anti-interventionist but understood that in the coming years a larger, more professional army might be better understood. General Order Number 1 was also issued by Secretary of War Malcolm Mathis as one of his first acts of business under the authority of the new Military Reformation Act. The traditional practice of "permanent" appointments to staff departments was eliminated, and required that staff officers to be rotated out after four years so that others could gain experience.[/list]

[u]February 7th[/u]
[list][*]Kalpian immunologist Paul Muhlenhuth published his paper [i]A Method for Investigation of Different Types of Blood, Especially for the Differential Diagnosis of Human Blood[/i]. In an understatement about the significance of his findings, Muhlenhuth commented as an aside, "It is noteworthy... that, after drying blood samples from men, horses and cattle on a board for four weeks and dissolving them in physiological NaCl solution, I was able to identify the human blood at once using my serum— a fact that should be of particular importance for forensic medicine." As an author would note more than a century later, "With these few words, Muhlenhuth announced the world that he had found the Holy Grail of serology: a definitive test for the presence of human blood."[/list]