Byrd Man

Do The Eagles Circle The Mountains? - A Eastern "Middle Ages" Fantasy RP

Needs more bagpipes. And I'll think about posting.

Precipice of War - We Write Under The Sign Of The Goat

#1890skid

The Shifting Sands of Politics

The party that wins a majority of seats in the House of Commons will be the party that gets to form the government. The party leader will become the president. And with the abundance of parties I'm just going to withdraw mine and make an MP for a party.

The Shifting Sands of Politics

I'm assuming the Atlas Party's deputy leader will end up being John O'Gault.

Maximum Comics – Insurrection \ CLOSED

Part II
No-Tell Motel

“There are things that have to be forgotten if you want to go on living.”
-- Jim Thompson

Skid Row

Slam sat in his heap and cruised a booze brainwave. Hell loomed outside. Skid Row: The bottom of the barrel in Gotham. Considering this city, that was saying a whole hell of a lot. This was his beat back during his days in patrol. It was hard work, lots of scraping and fighting. One time he knocked a rape-o shitbird's teeth out with a nightstick when he tried to fight back. It was good work and he went home at the end of his shift feeling like he actually accomplished something. But that was a lifetime ago. Budget cuts and targeted policing meant no cop cars prowled consistently. They were too busy protecting the fine, upstanding citizens of the city who actually paid taxes.

Here homeless families squatted side by side with homeless drunks. Meth head hookers walked the streets with scabbed faces and reeking of desperation. Slam saw hookers with the Bug prowling for work, not giving a fuck if they killed the men they screwed. Slaw saw junkies shooting up on the steps of a Catholic church. Slam saw a little girl who had to have the Bug. His jaw got tight and he gulped his gin. He watched the lowest of the low sauntering around like they owned the place. Maybe they did? Maybe it was better to rule in hell here than to serve in the Burbs. Some social welfare people and nuns came by, tossing out clean needles and rubbers. Everyone whooped. A drunk slapped a volunteer's ass and asked if they had a pint of Ripple they could give them. Beleaguered nuns did sign of the cross. Winos did the watusi. Smokehounds did the shimmy shake. Junkies did Irish jigs. Slam figured two years. At least two years until Slam was right there on Skid row cutting a rug with the whores and junkies and drunks, five at the most.

He finished off the flask of hooch and got out the heap. He was fresh meat to them. Panhandlers panhandled, junkies made vague threats for money, hookers pawed and promised carnal delights of the sort he'd never had. He stopped in the street and lit up a smoke. He cocked a finger towards a rooftop and got wide eyed.

"Oh, shit! It's the Batman! Everybody run!"

The roaches scattered in the light of vigilante justice and beaucoup beatdowns. Slam laughed and walked unmolested towards a dilapidated building. A dirty, sagging sign above the door said The Ferguson Arms. The hotel was the last known address of Bianca Doheny, twenty-six, heiress to the Doheny Oil Fortune. Fortune should come with air quotes, thought Slam. The old man's house was just as rundown as this flophouse. Slam had two G's in his jacket pocket for the job. Good enough for him, but chickenshit pay for one of the big PI agencies in town.

Slam flashed his PI license at the clerk fast enough that he may think it was an actual badge. The fat man looked up from his stroke book (XXX Girls of Gotham 69) and squinted through thick, crust stained eyeglasses at Slam. He showed a photo of the girl from a few years back when she graduated at GCU. Gramps said it was current enough.

"Seen her?"

He slid the clerk a C-note to get the wheels greasing. He squinted harder at the pic before nodding.

"I think that's her. Jesus, that's what she used to look like? "She's checked into 2C. Long-term tenant. Haven't seen her in a few days.

"Seen her with a guy?"

"Lots of 'em, mister," he snickered. "Day and night they come in and out for her. I might be one of those lucky few thanks to you. Tell you what, you give me another Ben Franklin and I give you the key to her room."

Slam resisted the urge to turn his face into bloody pulp and instead blew smoke before he shelled out fifty bucks and passed it across the counter.

"Ben's out for the day, but maybe you can do business with the Jackson Twins and Alexander Hamilton?"

He grabbed the cash and produced a key. Slam palmed it and headed up rickety stairs. He padded down carpets stained with blood, puke, and cum. Old Man Doheny said she got a solid three grand allowance from her trust fund. Why the flop when she at least had enough money to clock a HoJo's?

2C was a dump like the rest of the hotel, like the rest of the whole goddamn neighborhood. Dirty sheets, old pizza boxes, a makeup bag with garish eyeshadows and bright lipsticks, a medicine bag with junkie works, unopened rubbers with used ones, sex toys, a mirror with traces of coke lines. Slam suddenly knew why she sprung for the cheap and rundown no-tell motel. He found something scribbled on a pizza box. VIKKI - PLASIADES DELIGHT, and then a phone number. He wrote it down in a notebook and rummaged through the filth.

The only thing Slam couldn't find was definitive proof of a guy shacked up with her. The geezer said she bolted with a boy. The clerk said she had lots of men coming in and out. Bianca was hooking? Why? Had her drug habit gotten bad enough that three grand a month couldn't support it? Or was it just part of the aesthetic of the neighborhood? A rich girl slumming and playing street walker. Buy a room in a flop, sell your body, and shoot up morning til night. Très Slum Chic. All the kids were doing it.

Slam pulled the photo of her out of his jacket. Young, big smile and lots of pretty white teeth. Dark hair and a cut little nose. Full of promise with just a glint in one of those eyes Slam knew all too well was hope.

The Clerk: Christ Almighty, that's what she used to look like?

If she'd changed at all, Slam knew that glint in her eyes was long gone. Somewhere between GCU and the Ferguson Arms it had been snuffed out and ground to powder in that cruel and inglorious way only life is capable of.

His cell phone buzzed. He didn't recognize the number but answered it anyway.

"Mr. Bradley, it' s James Doheny. A note just arrived at the house. It seems to be a ransom note. I need you here as soon as possible, sir."

The Shifting Sands of Politics

Got my leadership added.

The Shifting Sands of Politics

Reworked my sheet a bit. I can go further right if need be.

The Shifting Sands of Politics

Now that we have dirty Reds with our filthy Pinkos, I think I'll revamp my party to be conservative. It was sort of center right, but I can go a bit further with it so we have a better balance.

The Shifting Sands of Politics

I've got an idea for a Populist style party. I hate being one of those people who just post "I'll put something up later!", but I'll work on it tonight after I get home from my job.

EDIT:

I was able to bang a quick Party sheet out. I'll expand upon it as soon as I can.

Party Name: The Progressive Party
Party Acronym: PP
Party Motto: "A Square Deal for Everyone"
Party Logo:

Party Ideology:

-Government Involvement: Social Welfare must exist as a safety net for those who cannot make it on their own. We must have those institutions which help those who cannot help themselves. While they need to exist, there must be tight control and reform over how the money is allocated to prevent fraud and abuse of the system.

-Economy: Privatization of all industry. The job of the government is to regulate industry and make sure it plays fair, but it cannot take the place of industry. As private industry goes, so too does the fate of the nation and we must make sure both prosper.

-Taxes: There must be a progressive income tax on every person making over a certain amount. That would mean that those who make the most would contribute more money for taxes, taking their place as the leaders of the country. While it is unfair to unjustly tax those who do not make much, it is equally unjust to tax those who use their skills to amass more wealth than the unfortunate. As such, the Progressive Party is against reinstatement of the Mansion Tax or the Millionaire Tax.

-Military: Military Reform is essential. A slight increase in military spending is called for, only to modernize the armed forces and make them an effective deterrent to global conflict. It's not a big army that can scare war-mongers, but an effective one.

-Environment: Increase regulation and stiff enforcement of environmental laws. Cut off all loopholes used to exploit the law and make sure everyone plays fairly. The keyword for the Progressive Party is conservation. A wise and well-thought-out use of our natural resources is key to the further use of those resources.

-Citizen Rights: Lower the voting age to 18. If you are old enough to serve in the military and decide the global fate of your country, you are old enough to vote and decide the political fate of your country.

-Education: In education, we need to make sure that all levels of our educational system are up to standards and are equipping the next generation of citizens with the tools they need to accomplish anything they wish to do.

-Health-Care: Increase funding to the national healthcare system in the name of improving standards of living, as well as an increase in jobs and financial security to the people.

-Emergency Services: We seek to balance the emergency services by cutting spending for fire and sending those badly needed funds to the police force. In addition, there should be a further federalization and tighter control of police services. A national director of all police services should be created to provide better cooperation and work between the states.

-Immigration: Immigration is an important source of future citizens, but it has been disabused by those who wish to cheat to get ahead. Stronger border control, stricter immigration standards, and clearly defined path to citizenship can make sure that those who join the country and take advantage of its services are only those who can contribute to its wellbeing.

- Other: The Progressive Party stands as a conservative alternative to the party in power. They believe there should be change, but it should be slow and incremental. Socialism and Communism are not the way of the future. Instead, pragmatic and steady political change is the way to improve and revitalize the country.

Leadership

MP Name: Mary Westall
MP Age: 52
MP Appearance: Mary is a normal middle-aged woman. Heavyset and short, she stands right at 5 feet tall. She has brown hair streaked with gray that she wears in a shorter hairstyle.
MPs Party: Progressive Party
MPs Position in his/her Party: Leader
Home Territory: UTC Southeast
Bio: A pit bull in a housewife's body, Mary Westall is the first female leader of the Progressive Party. She originally came into office as a member of the conservative party currently in control of the government. As time went on, she began to feel a ideological split with them and eventually jilted them in favor of the Progressives. After standing in numerous elections and rising in the party ranks, she became Party Leader two years earlier after her predecessor was run out of office in the general election that gave the conservatives control of the government.

MP Name: Seymour Lindsay
MP Age: 45
MP Appearance: Bald and fat, to many Lindsay looks to be the stereotype of the career politician. He tops the scales at nearly three hundred pounds and waddles wherever he goes. His thick thighs rub together with each step, his pants making noise with the movement and giving him the nickname "Whistle Britches"
MPs Party: Progressive Party
MPs Position in his/her Party: Deputy Leader
Home Territory: UTC Central
Bio: A former lawyer turned politician, Lindsay is a rare breed in politics in that he is well liked by nearly everyone he encounters. He is good-natured and polite, even to his political enemies, and does not rely on anything but facts and sound logic to make his arguments. He has no desire to ascend to the party leadership and hopes to someday parlay his career in politics into an appointment as a judge.

MP Name: Everett Rolston
MP Age: 40
MP Appearance: Rolston is tall and lanky with jet black hair that has begun to recede and form a sharp widow's peak above his forehead and a hook nose.
MPs Party: Progressive Party
MPs Position in his/her Party: Chief Whip
Home Territory: UTC North
Bio: The enforcer for the party, Rolston has a reputation of being an expert vote counter and vote getter. Unlike Lindsay, Rolston is a man who craves power and wants to see himself at the top of the party and in charge of the government someday. Considering himself more pragmatic than the two leaders, Rolston is not above going behind the leadership's back to cut deals with the other parties.

The Shifting Sands of Politics

Tried something very similar once. Interested.