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| Pan Europa | |
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| Topic Started: May 26 2016, 02:53 PM (399 Views) | |
| Xenanthropus | May 26 2016, 02:53 PM Post #1 |
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The Pan-European Empire was forged in the wake of a global economic crisis. The printing of vast sums to repay international loans led to soaring asset prices, only to be followed by a crash of the like not seen since the 1930s, and bringing the banking systems under intense scrutiny. This scrutiny was compounded by revelations of manipulation of statistics and outsourcing of production to developing nations by European and North American corporations, the likes of which were not helped by the proliferation of social media. What followed was decades of economic stagnation, the rise of populist politics and questioning into the sustainability of capitalism. It was into this world that the Pan-European Empire silently glided. But the person responsible for its creation was not a general, a king, or an imperialist. He was an economist. Verner von Schmidt was the son of a chef. He proved exceptionally intelligent at school, having enrolled at Cambridge with a scholarship at the age of 16, and earning a Master's Degree in Economics before entering the banking firm Augsberg Kapital, which he became CEO of by age 22. By the time he was 25, the firm, having stagnated for more than 40 years, had become a FTSE 100 company. Von Schmidt cancelled Augsberg's charitable donations and sponsorship deals, remarking that "we must have a central focus; that is our business". He refused to experiment in negative interest, introduced a system that allowed wealthy customers to deposit precious items, cancelled all fees for customers, wrote off all the loans the company had paid and, in an innovative business strategy, replaced Augsberg's money printing with a credit system. As a businessman, von Schmidt was concentrated, methodical, and always seeking results as opposed to pursuing economic 'isms'. Yet he was also genial, and well-spoken. As captain of the Debating Club at Cambridge, he was said to have been able to make the case for the sea being red and the the ground being up. He had a passion for history, with particular interest, as he grew older, for military strategy. He looked especially to Julius Caesar and Napoleon-people who had united Europe under a common banner with a common cause. He viewed this as particularly relevant to the EU he was living in- a fragmented political power, disarray spreading among its citizens; a far cry from the 'United States of Europe' once envisioned by Churchill. As he rose in power, extending Augsberg across this divided land, he increasingly began trying to seek a means to bring a new, pan-European order across the continent, and to achieve what all others had failed, to create an empire that would last for ever. |
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| Xenanthropus | May 26 2016, 04:04 PM Post #2 |
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Verner von Schmidt intended himself to be the one who would bind Europe together as one. In which case, he stood in a strategic position. Germany, at the time of the recession and the following years of slow growth, was the EU's financial centre. It had managed to stay afloat when many of Europe's other economies had stagnated, and wielded significant influence in the economics of many of these economies because of it. Augsberg Kapital's outreach stretched right across the continent, with Schmidt becoming Germany's main economics advisor. Indeed, the system he pioneered was being hailed as the progressive way forward for Europe. But von Schmidt wasn't going to achieve his ambitions slowly. They had to happen now!After all, if not now, when? But he was strategic, and slowed his pace a bit to properly play the game. His efforts were first concentrated on the countries crippled by debt: Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Cyprus and, most of all, Greece. Augsberg found firm roots in these countries, with men and women of the firm silently infiltrating the government. The countries were being put on the mend thanks to Schmidt, who instituted a wave of debt write-offs. In Cyprus, a few minor conflicts occured with a small but incredibly powerful number of Russians, who had tried to consolidate power in the little island nation by personally assisting the Cypriot's debts. A private meeting, with Schmidt speaking in his most warm and succinct manner possible, soon deflected these problems. Soon Schmidt controlled the Mediterranean in all but name. His next move was to turn attention to the countries with a surge in populist politicians and 'tea parties'- France, Sweden, the Netherlands, Britain and Austria. The last country being Germany's next door neighbour, Austria's finance and banking was already largely under control by Augsberg. Little effort was required for Augsberg Austria's president to become elected. With a commuter-friendly system and immense amount of state GDP stemming from Augsberg via elected representatives coming from the corporation, Europe was booming once more, a reality that helped to neutralise the anti-EU parties. Britain, for many centuries a hive of activists and social campaigners, put up more of a fight against the spreading capitalisation and privatisation. However, in the end, the assimilation of perhaps Europe's most insular child came from the Augsberg bankers and shareholders rapidly being assimilated into Parliament, until Britain followed Austria in electing a Prime Minister with his background in the banking firm. This of course was good cannon fodder for the tea parties further east, however Schmidt targetted the people of Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic directly, boldly speaking out for a cash machine in every settlement from the richest capital to the smallest, poorest village. This would prove his toughest and most testing tactic in his colonisation by finance. Yet, putting up with bombings, protests, petitioners and rebellion within Augsberg itself, the goal was made real in less than five years. The people turned towards the Pan-European Empire and turned against the tea parties, accusing them of being self-centred and misanthropic. In this way the east was won. With his appointment as a member of the European Commision, a position he had been offered and declined several times before, Schmidt, now 45, was able to sweep through the Low Countries, taking Belgium in one fell swoop and setting up Augsberg autocracies in the tiny banker's havens of Luxembourg and Lichtenstein. He also set about a revolution in Europe. He demanded a network of roads be built, connecting every country on the continent with one another. Honing in on the very best of his arguing skills, he successfully created a single European army and revoked legislation preventing EU member states from invading one another. This time in history marks the end of the EU and the beginning of the Pan-European Empire. |
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| Xenanthropus | May 26 2016, 05:02 PM Post #3 |
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The erosion of the borders of EU member states was probably Schmidt's greatest success. With it, the traditionalist anti-EU parties had faded away, taking with them the creeping Islamophobia of Europe. This led to Turkey, which had for decades been at the front of the queue for EU membership, rushed towards it with wider arms than ever before. Schmidt did not pass up this opportunity, and enveloped Turkey firmly under his cloak, and in doing so took in a veritable salad bowl of cultures from the east. Schmidt foresaw the potential of rising cultural incohesion. His solution was to engage with his citizens from all stripes, proclaiming that they should view themselves merely as people. Public demonstrations displayed nude models of all races lined up, to show that every single one was the same thing- a human. New military uniforms, shielding the whole body, did not hint the slightest at somebody's race or gender. Everyone in the Pan-European Empire fought for the same cause (in times to come, this would be reinforced by transmitting such thoughts into people's subconscious). And so the fights began. Neutral Switzerland found itself cornered on all sides by the Empire, yet its heavy fortifications and mountainous terrain put up a fight. For ten years, the Empire soldiered on, suffering significant casualties. Yet Schmidt was determined, and the Empire's army outsmarted the Swiss by tunneling under the mountains and emerging in Bern. The capital was sieged and the Swiss government eventually caved in. Scandinavia put up a fight, forming the Nordic Federation and isolating themselves from Europe. The Empire took this in its stride, playing the waiting game while Scandinavia stagnated, while making alliances with the Baltic nations. Eventually, internal dissent grew within the Nordic Federation, particularly with Sweden trying to assert dominance over the other nations. Finland and Denmark allied with the empire , giving it a passage into Sweden. When Sweden fell, Norway, also neutral and outwith the EU, surrendered in the face of such overwhelming power. And with Greenland under the Empire's control, Iceland, the other main contender for EU membership, saw diplomatic entry of the Empire as the best way forward. The last frontier, the Balkans, was soon absorbed. Verner von Schmidt, now in his sixties, then began preparing the organisation of the Pan-European Empire. Guilds were set up for different corporate brands, with private individuals from corporations being represented in a Guild of Bankers, Guild of Steel Manufacturers, Guild of Carpenters and so on. Artists were also organised into guilds and to produce state commisions. Emperors were to be democratically elected and healthcare and housing is a basic right provided to everyone. Schmidt then disappeared mysteriously aged 67. Since then, the Pan-European Empire has carried on, and will continue to do so, undisturbed and unstopped. |
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