TomeBinder — Roleplayer Guild

<Snipped quote by TomeBinder>

I remember you saying you wanted a "The Lost Samurai" kind of feel for your country. I recommend you look up the Meiji Restoration and the Bosin War. TLS is kinda bullshit :P

You could ofcourse take the entirity of Italy and form a nationalist state, although that doesnt really go well with your plan. Maybe a united Iberian peninsula? Or Persia? Persia might be a good bet with going the non industry route, same goes for Spain/Portugal. Italy has alot of wine import, maybe you could use that aswell... But taking the non industry route with Italy is like saying you take a depopulated Russia, you take away it's biggest strenght.

Come to think about it... You have Napels and Sicily right? Why dont you implement a "Mare Nostrum" policy? Get a big fleet up and running and start taxing ships going through the Mediterenean sea? Just my sugestion although I would have gone for the industry, this seems like a viable way of getting money in without industrialising. Just so you know though, if you dont want your country to be ripped apart by Austria, Germany and France then sooner or later you will be forced to industrialize. Else you'll be using matchlocks against tanks.

I dont want to ruin your country but that just came to my mind when I read your Nation sheet. If I were one of those nations you would be on the top of my invasion list :P

Anyway, that's what my thoughts are, use them as tips or ignore them, it's up to you :)@Zoldyck

Oh I'm well aware of my nation's vulnerabilities, and the challenges it faces. That's why I floated it. I don't want to sit down and spam away at a keyboard, moving X fleet to nation Z, researching doomsday weapon 0 whilst ordering the building of Mechanised Division L. That stuff gets old, and fast. You start looking around and seeing your opponents mirroring you at every turn - which is fine, and you know, realistic. But I like flare, and the Kingdom of Naples will have much flare. 

King Pagani's story will either be one of tragedy, or one of glory. Either way it's gonna be a fun and interesting ride.

Anyway, thanks for the shout out with the wine. I'm off to go and do some more research on what else I can sell you scoundrels, before you come rolling in with your tanks and robotised sea monkeys.

Name: The Kingdom of Naples

Territories: Southern Italy, Sicily

Government: The Government of the Kingdom of Naples is a total monarchy, whereby King Pagani holds full control of domestic and foreign policy, as well as being head of the Kingdom's army. There is a Parliament to the Crown of Naples, which in theory is supposed to advise the King on policy making, as well as other matters. 

The Parliament to the Crown of Naples, or PCN, is occupied by sixty District Marshals - themselves appointed directly by King Pagani. It has the power to veto the King's decision on any and all subjects, however rather paradoxically, he also holds the power to ignore their veto. Which he has done before, but rarely, owing to the fact that most of the District Marshals are his friends and so never offer much resistance to him anyway.

The common man is kept firmly out of government, and even the wealthy elite have trouble getting a say if their views differ wildly from King Pagani's. 

However, The Kingdom of Naples also operates along feudal lines. Each District Marshal has under him a certain number of knights, who under them holds a certain number of soldiers. If the King falls too far out of favour with Parliament, he can find himself short of men - though this has never happened. 

Important Characters:

Name: Sante Pagani

Age: 37

Gender: Male

Appearance: A tall square chested male, with greying curled hair and a wispy black beard. He has two blue eyes that are often described as intelligent, and his Roman nose gives homage to his ancestry. He often wears ceremonial plated armour, and a plumbed helmet, when seen in public. In private, he finds comfort in expensive robes.

History: Sante Pagani was the son of a farmer, and came from a poor background. Uneducated, he taught himself to read, whilst his father taught him to ply his hands to the till. 

The nations of the Italian peninsula were all effected differently by the discovery of burū sekitan. The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies saw a boom in industrial prosperity, but the King, Francis II, invested too heavily in urban areas and quickly caused unrest in the countryside. Naples, being a breadbasket of the world, relied heavily on agriculture. As more and more families moved to the cities to soak up jobs, the fragile rural economies were obliterated, and peasant uprisings took place.

Sante Pagani's father led once such uprising, but was killed just weeks into his campaign by Francis II's agents. Heartbroken, and shaken by the brutality of the world that he found himself in, Sante Paganai took up his father's mantle and went about sewing political unrest. His manniesto outlawed the use of of burū sekitan, and the establishments of factories. He loved his countryside home, and saw industrialisation as a great threat.

Several tours of Naples' and Sicily's industrialised hubs showed the hardening peasant what misery there was to be found in a factory. Children as young as six would ply themselves to the mills until they dropped dead; young women were forced to abort their unborn babies, sometimes with fatal repercussions, because they could not afford to lose their jobs. Men injured in the work place faced a slow descent into total poverty. It was a diseased living, driven by greed at its heart.

Pagani sought to change this. 

His manifesto garnered much support from Naples' rural communities, and before long, he had gathered hundreds of enraged farmers to his cause. Together they launched a crushing guerilla campaign against Francis II's army stationed in Naples. This prompted a royal response, and as Pagani's forces swelled to thousands, King Francis II arrived in Naples with an army of 25,000 hardened troops.

Pagani's men fought primarily on horseback, wearing plate mail and wielding swords like their ancestors of old. Francis II's on the other hand, were using rifles, wheeled hulks and long ranged cannon. It looked set to be a blood bath. However, it was this obvious fact that played into Pagani's favour, and Francis II walked haplessly into a trap laid for him outside the city Naples. 

Confident in the strength of his guns, Francis II dismissed the multitude of ranked archers forming up before him. He even ignored his advisers' warnings about Pagani's armoured cavalry forming on the flanks, believing that his dragoons would be more than a match for a few backwards farmers wearing their ancestors' chain mail.

He was wrong. Pagani's archers leased volley after volley against Francis II's tightly packed riflemen, who without much protection, died by the hundreds. They fired back, and some archers fell - but not all. Seeing defeat looming over him, Francis committed his wheeled hulks to the battle - big boxes of iron, powered by steam and harbouring a lethal cannon - but they proved laughably inadequate against massed infantry. Indeed, they were surrounded and had pitch poured through their hatches. 

Pagani then sent in his cavalry on both flanks, and these were met by dragoons. Though Francis II's elite riders were great marksman, and felled many of Pagani's mounted warriors, their cloth uniforms and curved sabres stood little chance against plate mail and axes. The battle of the flanks was a short and bloody affair, but within the hour, it was settled in Pagani's favour. 

Francis II then looked to retreat, but he was caught up by Pagani's pursuing men and executed - though this was against the peasant warlord's wishes. 

Not wasting the opportunity, Pagani declared himself King of Naples, and led his army into Sicily. A few minor engagements took place, all ending in the new King's favour, until a peace accord was signed by the island's prominent nobles. 

By 1866, after just four years of civil conflict, King Pagani had arisen as undisputed ruler of Sicily and Naples. His victory stunned international audiences, who found it hard to believe that what were essentially medieval knights, were able to overcome a modern army.

Economy: The Kingdom of Naples has outlawed industrialisation, and relies heavily on agricultural output. Land reclamation work, aided by foreign specialists, has increased arable land by 12% in the last 12 months, and this is likely to rise to 35% over the next few years. 

Due to the outlawing of modern machinery, the kingdom's agricultural methods are a laborious and long affair. Oxen and field labourers are the main means of harvesting and maintaining crops, and at present, the country can barely feed itself - a growing source of public resentment to the King. 

Wine remains a staple export of Southern Italy and Sicily, and the country has remained a leading exporter despite it's de-industrialisation.  

People are free to trade what they wish, and laws regarding sales of merchandise are relatively lax. Taxes are collected on an annual basis, around March time, and are fixed at 12% of a citizen's total earnings. 

The lack of raw materials in the Italian peninsula has hampered the King's attempts to refrain from modernisation, and his fragile economy leaves him little left in his coffers to import foreign aid - not that he would wish to do so in any case.  

A small market has risen around the marble trade, with Neapolitan Marble being seen as somewhat a fashion trend in some developed nations. Its hand-crafted background give it that certain appeal to the rich and the wealthy. 

With nothing to sell, and no money to buy with, the Kingdom of Naples faces large scale disaster if it does not find a solution to its economic woes. Many feel that modernisation is an eventual step that Kingdom must take, but Pagani seems intent on avoiding this. 

However, the resent discovery of small Blue Coal reserves located at Mount Vesuvius and Mount Etna have provided the King with a potential life line - assuming that he can find nations to lease the land to. Though using Blue Coal to prop up the economy may be seen as hypocritical by both his peers, and his people.

Military: Each District Marshal employs 60 knights, who in turn employ 60 men at arms. This gives the Kingdom of Naples a total troop strength of 216,000, although these soldiers are rarely at their posts in peace time. 

Typically, the Pagani Army relies on armoured troops and melee combat to win the day. The horse is still very much a prominent weapon, and although generally speaking the country's war machine looks laughable to an outsider, they would do well to learn lessons from Francis II's disaster. 

Common Troop Types:

Neapolitan Men-At-Arms, which are either foot or mounted infantry. They usually wear armour, and wield swords or shields.
Neapolitan Knights, who are the tanks of the Pagani army. Much like their medieval counterparts, they rely on their heavy destriers and thick armour to win the day.
Neapolitan Crossbowmen, are exactly as stated on the tin. Crossbow wielding troops, who usually huddle into squares to launch mass volleys.
Sicilian Archers, who employ the Sicilian Longbow (more or less a copy of the English longbow).
Sicilian Petards, that are lightly mounted skirmishers who carry flasks of gun powder. Typically, their task is to overwhelm a tank and find a way of getting their crude explosives inside of it. Though this seems a desperate measure, it has proven effective in city fighting.
Sicilian Catapults, usually of manganol or trebuchet design.
Neapolitian Sky Ballistae, designed for firing missiles skywards at airships. They have yet to be tested.

History: View King Pagani's history, as it pretty much sums up the rise of the Kingdom Of Naples - albeit with a focus on him. 

Can include an additional history section here, if the GM deems it necessary. 

Lore:

Naples was in chaos in the Spring of '62, owing to the huge civil unrest caused primarily by Pagani - although there were many other peasant leaders who also added their weight to the cauldron. 

Modern goods were boycotted by countryside farmers, and Fracis II's attempt to modernise the region's agricultural methods were met with instant hostility. Strong faith in the Catholic Church also proved problematic to Francis II's regime, as local clergymen started to proclaim the rate of industrialisation as an example of Man's 'inhumanity' and as an act that was against the will of God. 

Francis II dispatched his key military advisor, Velio Socci, along with a Light Rifle Division to Naples City. Velio's mission was to restore peace, and to destroy any seeds of rebellion. However, Velio was a cruel man, born from the gentry, and fitted with a belief in the King's right to do what he willed. Many outspoken critics of the regime, mostly peasants, were therefore executed without trial. Villages thought to be harbouring rebels were torched, and some small scale massacres occurred.

These acts gave Pagani's propaganda machine all that it needed to incite further rebellion in the rural areas. It wasn't uncommon for a farmer to throw himself at the feet of passing soldiers, begging for them to spare him, even when they had no intention of evening bothering him. 

Churches became the first gathering points of Pagani's loyal followers. Spurred on by preaching firebrands, who warned of the perils of pursuing "Far Eastern Sin", these gatherings soon swelled. Eventually, Pagani could call upon 500 men at any one time, and expect them to come to him bearing arms. 

Pagani's proposed outlawing of industrialisation, coupled with the local Church's similar beliefs, provided the spark. Convinced that God was behind him, Pagani moved against Velio. 

Striking patrols at night, with axe and spear, Pagani's warbands caused only superficial damage at first to Velio's army. However, the propaganda value of these attacks was massive, and it soon brought yet more followers to Pagani's cause. 

Velio responded with more executions, more village raids and more massacres. None of these served to assist him, and only handed over more angry farmers to Pagani's command. Eventually, what had begun as a rather minor civil unrest in the rural areas, snowballed into a serious military threat. 

The frequency of attacks increased, and soon it was not just patrols that were being targeted, but barracks and supply depots. Enraged, Velio marched 5,000 men to Campagua - a known strong point of Pagani's support. On the way he faced constant attacks from mounted soldiers, and though these attacks often ended heavily in the favour of Velio, they did much damage to morale of his men. 

By the time he reached Campagua, he has lost two thousand to desertions and the attacks. Pagani by this time could count on 5,000 men of his own, and as he approached Velio's column, the King's military advisor made a chaotic rout. Pagani pursued him all the way back to the City of Naples, capturing most of his army, and confiding him to the city's interior. The countryside rose up in support of Pagani's victory.

King Francis II responded by heading to Naples himself, with an army of 25,000 soldiers... and so ended the guerilla campaign.

By winter of 1863, King Francis II had arrived in Naples City and broke Pagani's siege without bloodshed. He chased the peasants across Southern Italy for two weeks, and as Pagani's army splintered into several groups and almost outright vanished - he assumed victory secured.

However Pagani was cunning, and had split his army on purpose to give such an illusion. In secret, he ordered his forces to circumvent the King, and to re-emerge at Naples City. It was a military manoeuvre of miraculous logistics, skill and indeed luck. Only a few of Pagani's men were caught as they made their way to Naples, disguised as refugees. Those that were caught rarely spoke of Pagani's plan, even though they were subjected to horrible torture, and when they did, King Francis II refused to believe that the rebels were capable of such coordination.

A shock then was it, when his messengers brought word of Naples City's occupation by Pagani. The King promptly turned his forces around, and marched back the way they had come, confident at least that he had the rebels trapped.

Pagani marched from Naples City with 18,000 men. Many of these were armoured in crude plate, rode heavy horses, and wielded weapons better suited to the 15th century. Never the less, he marched out all the same.

Knowing that Francis II would attempt to destroy his forces in a pitched battle, Pagani ordered that "every man choose himself a bow or a crossbow, so that gun powder can be shown its weakness". As a result, when the armies met, 15,000 of the 18,000 soldiers following Pagani were equipped for range combat.

Many of the crossbows and bows were crudely made, and put together in a hurry. There were concerns over the availability of ammunition, and the ability of his men to stand toe-to-toe with riflemen.  Even Pagani speculated at his blunder, knowing full well the perils wrought by massed rifles. 

Luckily, the terrain around the city could be described as hilly, and it was the uneven earth that he used to his advantage. Deploying on the northern side of a raised mound, Pagani waited for Francis II to march within bow-range (roughly 200 meters). 

Though Francis had dispatched scouts, and knew of the mass of rebels waiting for him beyond the hill's peak, he had been advised by Velio that the rifle's bayonet was more than a match for a melee engagement with "mere farmers". Indeed, this may have been true, if Pagani intended to charge the royal line. 

As the first regiments of Francis II army crested the hill, Pagani ordered the first volleys to be leased. They struck with devastating force; their crude designs more than able to propel arrows and bolts through cloth and wool. Francis' men fired back in a disorganised panic, and most of their return fire fell wide. Pagani then issued the order to engage, and all at once, 15,000 bow-armed soldiers charged up the hill. 

Francis' vanguard broke and fled before the attack, and soon the King found his forces being looked down on by Pagani's archers. Volleys of arrows soon followed, and the riflemen, unable to deploy all their weapons in the same manner as Pagani's, were steadily slaughtered. 

It was at this point, that Pagani ordered the cavalry to charge both of Francis II's flanks. 3,000 mounted and plated warriors surged around the base of the hill on both sides. Around 5,000 dragoons galloped to meet them, and fired volleys of lead balls from their saddles. Hundreds of Pagani's knights fell to this accurate fire, but when they managed to close the gap, they tore through the dragoons like a scythe through grass.

Within an hour, Francis II's flanks had evaporated and his central infantry were retreating after sustaining heavy losses. Unbeknown to him however, was that Pagani's cavalry had been reduced by two thirds, and his infantry by a third - indeed, had Francis II ordered a frontal assault, and has his men been prepared to do so, he may have turned the tide of the battle.

Instead, he chose to send in his wheeled hulks. Early tanks, powered by steam and blue coal, they were designed to destroy armoured targets and to provide close-range fire support for infantry. Francis II, however, decided they were so formidable, that they could simply run down the amassed peasants. However, they were laughably slow and prone to getting stuck on the slopes of the hill, allowing for Pagani's men to surround them, break open the hatches and to pour pitch inside.

Seeing their modern weapons so easily pushed aside, Francis II's infantry lost heart and fled. Their King followed suit, and a general rout ensued.

Pagani's cavalry chased the fleeing riflemen, cutting down hundreds and capturing thousands more. Francis II was caught by a particularly disgruntled farmer-turned-cavalryman, and had the indignity of a short sword shoved up his anus. 

The battle ended with half of Pagani's men dead, but the entire Sicilian Royal Army destroyed. Pagani quickly proclaimed himself King, amongst popular support, and was crowned in a small ceremony held in Naples City. Then he looked across the narrow channel to the west.

The road to Sicily was open.

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