[Forum Game] - A Union Divided

[Frymonmon]

Hello! And welcome to A Union Divided! In this Forum Game, we shall enter the United States of America, in an Alternate Reality, where the Confederate States Army, under the masterful command of the General Robert E. Lee, the Army of Northern Virginia entered Maryland on September 6th, 1862, and won a devastating Victory against the Union Army near Sharpsburg, Maryland. What became known as the Battle of Shaprsburg led the Confederate Army to move East, pushing the battered Union Army to the gates of Washington D.C., where General Lee was able to assault the city, overrun the defenses, and as a true Gentleman, asked permission to be allowed into the White House to talk to President Lincoln. While the talks were tense, General Lee was able to get the President, and the United States Congress, to agree to a ceasefire for the time being. Here is where we start; the President of the Confederate States of America has traveled to Centreville, Virgina where he will be meeting with President Abraham Lincoln to discuss the terms of Peace.

This is where you, the players come in. You will all assume the roll of a Congressman or Senator from the United States, and will have the option of voting on, passing, and enacting legislation. This game shall also have elections for the President of the United States. While the incumbent will be Abraham Lincoln, by no means does it have to follow history after this.

Rules and Procedures
The game is rather simple. Everyone roleplays their own, made-up character, while you get to create a background, birth date, location, office held, and political party of their choosing. One person shall assume the position of President of the United States. They will be voted in by a simple vote of the players each "Turn". Signups are ALWAYS open. A simple one would be be as follows:

Adam Smith: Born in 1836, from a Southern mother and a Northern Father, he lived in New Jersey when the War broke out, and was able to get elected to Congress as a Congressmen from the Democratic Party, and worked to make sure that the Union was at peace, and it didn't matter if the South came back or not.

Updates in this game will be structured as the following: Term Update; Primary Update; and Election Update. The Term Update will be about the Term of the current President of the United States. Once this is done, the Primary for each party in the United States shall be held, and the winners from this will go on to the Election, where they campaign and try to garner support from the players. From there, another Term Update comes out and it starts all over again.

There are three types of players. All of whom can vote for President and on Bills. The first would be the President of the United States, who is obviously the leader of the nation, and responsible for the acts and actions of the United States Government. The second type are the legislators, Senators or Congressmen from around the country, and the last would be a Civilian, General, Mayor, or Governor of a state. The only difference is that these people cannot introduce legislation to be voted on, only the Senators and Congressmen can do that. For the purpose of this game, we will assume that the Congress acts as one body.

Political Parties
Republican Party
Liberal Republican Party
Northern Democratic Party

Participants
President Alexander Stephens (Democrat) [Frymonmon] b. 1812
President Thaddeus Stevens (Republican) [Seek75] b. 1792
General Ulysses S. Grant (Nonpartisan) [Maxwell500] b. 1822
Secretary William Henry Seward (Republican) [stormbringer] b. 1801
Congressman James David Curtis [EmperorGrimm] b. 1829
Governor Leland Stanford (Republican) [wedgeskwalker9] b. 1824
Governor Henry von Gneisenau (Nonpartisan) [Spectre17] b. 1826
Hercules T. Pomeroy (Fire-Eater) [Ab Ovo] b. 1807
Former President John Calvin (Republican) [That One Duke] b. 1829
Senator George Lavigne (Northern Democrat) [NikoHoI3] b. 1817
Senator Leonard Day (Northern Democrat) [RepBentley] b. 1819
Governor Danny Shaw (Nonpartisan)[Noco19] b. 1823
Governor Charlie MacKenzie Cameron (Nonpartisan) [Dadarian] b. 1822
Former President Jebediah Packer (Republican) [Tapscott] b. 1821
Senator Emmanuel Augustus Alden (Northern Democrat) [Watercress] b. 1820
Colonel Andrew Nathanael Greene (Republican) [MastahCheef117]
Alexander Rhodes Harrison (Nonpartisan) [Riccardo93] b. 1839
Alexander Sinclair (Republican) [etranger01] b. 1840
Richard Jarvis (Republican) [RedNomNoms] b. 1829
Margaret Kilgallen (Nonpartisan) [The Bishop] b. 1830

Past Participants
Former President Abraham Lincoln (Republican) [etranger01] b. 1809

Elections
United States Presidential Election of 1864
United States Presidential Election of 1868

Presidential Terms
Lincoln 1860-1864
Calvin 1864-1868
Jarvis 1868-1872

Primaries
Primary of 1864
No Primary for 1868

Extra
Times of London 1868
The Baltimore Sun 1868
Time of London 1868

 

[Clophiroth]

I would like to join, only a question... How would a third kind of player (Civilian, Mayor, General or Governor) gameplay be? Of course, I guess a General would be allowed to lead troops, and Governor interact with the government... But a Civilian? XD

 

[Frymonmon]

Just for the sake of the game, you still get a voice in Bill passing through the Congress. The only difference is you can Roleplay state's efforts (Such as California and Oregon deciding to break away from the Union, Maryland joining the Confederacy, ect.), which is why the third section is included. A Civilian could be one where you RP as a Civilian, and then run for Governor on a platform, win, and then you can do said platform in your state.

 

[Clophiroth]

Oh, then a Civilian is some character still non-elected... Maybe use a non-politician char? A bussinessman/lobbyist, a union leader or a prestigious churchman? Not direct politician, but still an important influence in politics...


I will surely be just a Congressman, but I want to be informed about the other options :3

 

[Seek75]

Name: Thaddeus Stevens
Born: April 4, 1792 (70 yrs. old)
Political affiliation: Republican Party
Born into a poor Vermont family, Stevens was put through school by his widowed mother. Graduating from Dartmouth, he moved in 1815 to Pennsylvania. Studying law, he later set up his practice in Gettysburg where he became known for defending runaway slaves gratis. He served in the state legislature from 1833 until 1842, where he is most remembered for his defense of free public schools. Elected to the House of Representatives as a Whig, he later joined the Republican Party when the Whigs collapsed. Now an ardent foe of slavery and the Confederacy, he will use all his power to keep the Union from giving any concessions over to the slave-holding traitors.

 

[Maxwell500]

Ulysses S. Grant please.

 

[Frymonmon]

Seek, Maxwell added.

Clophiroth: Yeah, it's assumed that it's someone with political influence, and thus could be able to get a Congressman/Senator to vote their way. So it would be an important Mayor, Governor, or a Businessman, as they were highly influential starting around this time.

 

[Mathrim]

OOC: Grant shouldn't be politically important I think.

Hiram Rhodes Revels.

 

[Stormbringer]

William Henry Seward please.

 

[Deaghaidh]

OOC: Grant shouldn't be politically important I think.

Hiram Rhodes Revels.

He'd still be fairly well known, having won some major battles in the West.

I'll refrain from jumping in, but this looks quite interesting.

 

[EmperorGrimm]

Not sure if I should do a historical character or not but here's my fictional one.

James David Curtis, thirty four years old, originally from Georgia but his mother weded a northern venture capitalist when he was fifteen. Curtis continued his education at the College of New Jersey studying philosophy with intentions of entering law school before he left to help his ailing stepfather with the family business. His death saw him take over his father's assets and turn around the fortune of his family while winning the seat of congressman from New York. He is a member of the Northern Democrat Party.

 

[Stormbringer]

William Henry Seward please.

Sorry, I am gone next week, so I will actually jump in when I get back. If someone wants Sweard they can have him.

 

[wedgeskwalker9]

I'd like to play Leland Stanford, who at the time was the Governor of California.

I should add that Stanford was a Republican in real life, and I intend to be one in the game as well.

 

[Frymonmon]

Everyone added

 

[Spectre17]

Name:Governor Henry von Gneisenau
Age: 36 (born 1826)
Party: None yet
Bio: Born in Berlin, Prussia, Henry's father was the son of the famous Prussian General August von Gneisenau. At an early age Henry took an interest in war and the military. His father decided to move to the United States in 1836 after the death of his father 5 years previously. Arriving in New York Henry dived into his new life. At the age of 20 he joined West Point Academy and graduated top of his class. He was posted to a rather sleepy Fort in Northern Virginia. Having nothing better to do Henry began reading military theories, he had already read Baron Jomini at West Point so he threw himself into the theories of his countryman Karl von Clausewitz. Clausewitz had not yet been translated into English so Henry was nearly the only officer in the entire US Army to have read his theories. When the civil war broke out von Gneisenau was given control of a division in the Mississippi theater. Under the command of General Ulysses S. Grant the Army of the Mississippi performed well with Henry's division doing particularly well.

After the war Henry left the army, seeing that the US would not be fighting for several years, and ran for Governor in his home state of New York which he won convincingly. After his victory he set about expanding the infrastructure of the state with new railroads as well as an expansion of the docks in New York City.

 

[Ab Ovo]

Like I don't have enough to worry about...

Hercules T. Pomeroy​

Date of Birth: August 6th, 1807
Political alignment: Fire-eater
Bio: A rich and influential Maylander whose family is said to have come over with the Baltimores; Hercules is as fire-eating as they come. Having briefly served in the Army of Northern Virginia before the Battle of Sharpsburg, his limp only adds to what some say is an irresistible charisma. While not a politician -yet- he staunchly and openly advocates for a union of Maryland with the CSA and will do anything to see it happen.

I hear the distant thunder-hum,
Maryland!
The Old Line's bugle, fife, and drum,
Maryland!
She is not dead, nor deaf, nor dumb-
Huzza! she spurns the Northern scum!
She breathes! she burns! she'll come! she'll come!
Maryland! My Maryland!​

 

[unmerged(489981)]

Senator John Calvin​

Date of Birth: May 11th, 18 1836
Party: Radical Republican
Bio: Calvin, an Anglo-Saxon from Boston, is a Radical Republican. Born to abolitionist parents, raised in an abolitionist school, he went on a tour across the South to learn about the conditions of slaves in the South. Absolutely horrified, he came back more Abolitionist then before, and began preaching in the streets of Boston and New York City about the sins of slavery. When the war broke out, he declared that the Union "had God's support" and donated family funds to the Union. He ran for election in Massasachusetts ad won in a landslide

Now that the Confederacy has won, he has been advocating nothing but military buildup to defeat "the hell on Earth".

 

[Ab Ovo]

So Fry, when is the ball gonna start rolling?

 

[NikoHoI3]

Name: George Lavigne
Date of Birth: 16th of April, 1817 (Age: 47)
Position: Senator of Iowa
Political Alignment: Northern Democrat
Biography: A French-American, George grew up in Louisiana until he reached the age of 18, when he went to law school in Chicago. After graduating law school in 1839. There was a need for more lawyers and law professionals in the towns sprouting out west. He moved to Iowa City, in the Iowa territory. He ran a successful law firm until running for Congress in the 1850 election, as a Democrat. He was elected to the Senate in the 1860 election, as a northern Democrat.

 

[Frymonmon]

((Everyone added, and I am just waiting on etranger01 to open with his demands for the Peace))