Introduction
On a Knife's Edge, a Post Weltkrieg 2 Kaiserreich Japan Game.
It's over. It's been over for 4 years.
The time of radical change, of millions of deaths as the world crumbled upon itself within a tide of revolution. It is a time of restructuring, a time where Empires are forged and a time where Empires died.
And the Empire has endured, significantly altered from the initial turmoil of the late 1930s, but stronger, and perhaps, much better off in the end.
Japan stands as one of the most unaffected nations in this post Weltkrieg World, an Empire that has shed most of its Imperialist traditions during the tumultuous years of 1936 to 1937, where scores of Ministers, key Government Officials and even Prime Ministers were assassinated.
It could be a time where the Military could take over, it could be a time where the Syndicalist menace overthrew the Japanese government and usher in an age of Syndicalism unfettered, but both options fail to be.
Instead, with the National Security law passed, and with the Emperor himself agreeing to the necessary reforms proposed by the civilian government, the country stabilized under Civilian Rule, the new government, now unconstrained by undue Military or Syndicalist influence, began reforming the country, reining in the highly influential Zaibatsus at first, freeing Korea from the yoke of Japanese Imperialism, in exchange for their membership within the Co-Prosperity Sphere, and then spreading their reach all across Asia.
Now, from the cold fringes of the Kamchatka's to the river valleys of the Nile, the Co-Prosperity Sphere has succeeded in it's mission of uniting all of Asia. Now, Asia, a region formerly ruled by European Imperialists, Syndicalist bootlickers to Paris and London, and Tin-Pot dictators, stand pretty much set to combat the growing influence of the Third Internationale.
The year is 1949, and may Japan and her allies overthrow the Syndicalists that looms in the West. 10.000 Years for the Emperor!
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Welcome to On a Knife's Edge, this is a Kaiserreich Quest where you play as the Japanese Government after my playthrough of it in Kaiserreich, inspired by Atlanta-Georgia's quest with the British Government. In this RP, you play as the Japanese Government at the start of the year 1949. 4 years after the last major war Japan fought.
You have 5 action points, and with all of these action points, you can write a resolution or a decision that you want the Japanese Government to undertake, there will also be crises where you must take action on it immediately, taking action on a crises will not cost an action point, so you can do 5 regular actions while resolving any crises that will come and face your nation. Finishing an action takes 1 turn, and 1 turn is 1 year of game time. Actions do not stack up on turns unless it is something major (like a massive infrastructure project or wanting to build a space program), in the event of you committing your government towards doing a major project, that turn will be used up until the point the project is successful, or it fails.
For example, you want to create a bullet train line running from Tokyo to Osaka, OTL, the Tokaido Shinkansen takes 5 years to build, so, all things being equal, you would have only 4 action points for 5 years while the first Shinkansen is being built. So choose wisely.
I will use a twenty-sided die in order to generate which decisions are successful and which one are not, I am the arbitrator of the odds though, so, for example, if one makes a radically ahistorical decision, like forcing through immigrant rights during the 1950s in the style of America's immigration system, the chances of such an act succeeding the Imperial Japanese Diet are very slim to none.
Of course, events in the world may change public attitudes towards many things, I will inform you of such events, but it is up to you to capitalize on the event or to hold back.
Dice roll odds:
Decisions in-line with attitudes of the time: 4 minimum for a successful roll
Decisions out of line by 1-2 decades: 8 minimum for a successful roll
Decisions out of line by 3-4 decades: 12 minimum for a successful roll
Decisions out of line by 5-6 decades and decisions the Japanese government has never taken OTL (sans events happening in this timeline favouring such a shift): 16 for a successful roll
Two final things before you play. There will be a system called 'The Empire', in which you can measure the loyalty of the various territories the Japanese Empire has acquired during the tumultuous years. Most of the major territories have been cored and are considered integral towards the Japanese Empire, although there are still work to be done within those territories, and there are also territories recently obtained, like most of the Western Pacific Territories obtained by Japan during their war with German East Asia.
The system works on a 100 to -100 scale. With 100 being loyal to the Empire, and -100 being Openly Rebellious, the Syndies in the West might sense opportunity should one of your colonies rebel, so you should watch out.
The Empire.
Extremely Loyal to the Empire: +100
Favourable Public opinion: +50
Several grumblings, but mostly loyal: +25
Indifferent: 0
Visible discontent: -25
Massive protests: -50
Armed militias: -75
Open rebellion: -100
And finally, since you are effectively a constitutional monarchy, you can gain Monarch Points (shamelessly ripping off Atlanta-Georgia) where you can gain the Emperor's favour by doing several private errands for His Excellency. Hirohito might ask you to withhold information that might be scandalous should it be revealed, create crown companies, and perhaps even turn a blind-eye to something that could potentially damage the reputation of the Crown, the decision lies with you.
You can have a maximum of 10 Monarch Points.
Current Monarch Points: 2
You can use Monarch points to:
Written Statement from the Imperial Palace: 1
Written Address from Imperial Prince or Princess: 2-4, depending on intensity
Written Address from the Emperor: 5-6, depending on intensity
Radio Address by the Imperial Prince or Princess: 7
Radio Address by the Emperor: 8
Publicly Televised Address by the Emperor: 9
Joint Publicly Televised Address by the Emperor and his Family: 10
Alright, I think I have covered all the basics, My next post will outline the situation on the Empire during 1949, choose wisely, and may Japan prosper forevermore!
