The (New) Antilla Parliament Bio Thread

[Dr. Cynic]

I kept the name of the original parliamentary nation, however if you guys wanna change it, that's ok by me... This is just the Bio thread...

Here's a regional map:




BIOGRAPHY OF YOUR CHARACTER:

Name:
Age:
Party:
Constituency\Region:
Bio:

[Dr. Cynic]

Character Bio:

Name: David Lawrence Valentine
Age: 35
Party: Social Democratic Party
Region: Lindsay
Bio: Dave Valentine, the son of a prominant shipping magnate, had been a prominant author on a number of topics, particularly foreign relations before being elected to Parliament in Lindsay, playing up his expertise in foreign issues. Valentine is a moderate on issues such as defense and in his younger days, held a streak of hawkishness. On other matters, he is generally a left-leaner, favoring a "welfare state" approach to government. He is especially left on social issues, which he is also passionate about. Valentine also holds some skeletons in the closet. A bachelor into his 30s, he was a heavy womanizer until his marraige two years ago. Valentine is of Scots-English descent.

[afleitch]

Character Bio:

Name: Anders MacPherson
Age: 30
Party: Pitfarris National Party
Region: Pitfarris
Bio: A rising star in the PNP, Anders advocates increased autonomy and independence for Pitfarris. Anders is the son of a transport magnate on Pitfarris Island and is centre-right on economic issues, arguing for taxation powers in Pitfarris. He is socially liberal.

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

Character Bio:

Name: Johannes Overgaard
Age: 55
Party: Social Democratic Party
Constituency/Region: Kristiana, Bronseland
Bio: Johannes Overgaard was born on January 2, 1956. His father was the owner of Overgaard Construction, one of Antilla’s largest construction companies. Overgaard is generally centrist on economic issues, center-left on social issues, and somewhat dovish on foreign policy.

[Senator Barnes]

Character Bio:

Name: Christian David Søndergaard
Age: 36
Party: Pitfarris Nationalist
Constituency/Region: Auldburgh, Pitfarris
Bio: A close ally with Anders MacPherson, Søndergaard was born in Denmark, but immigrated to Pitfarris with his family when he was six months old. A strict proponent for devolution, Søndergaard has championed for a Pitfarris Regional Assembly, and special recognition of Pitfarris as a "dependent nation," but hasn't gone as far to call for total independence. A member of the left faction of the PN, Søndergaard puts the environment as his second most important cause, going so far as to call himself an "ecological-nationalist."  

[ilikeverin]

Name: Steven Gudjonsson
Age: 42
Party: Popular Movement Party
Region: Peterford
Bio: Despite his last name, Steven Gudjonsson was born to a devotedly Anglo family.  His father was born to a family that owned a small fishing business in rural Peterford.  However, his father, when he started to run the family business, decided to diversify and start investing in natural gas.  It was fortuitous timing; the gas industry boomed, and the Gudjonssons became rich.  His father married the daughter of a British natural gas company, and had three children.  Steven is the youngest.  Though he had a cushy job at Gudjonsson Gas, he started a brewery.  About five years ago, with the blessing of his wife, Darlene, he decided to run for the Antillian parliament, where he won a seat in a rural constituency.  In his free time, Steven is well-known for being an avid football devotee.

[MOPolitico]

Name: Robert Alexander Burke II
Age: 45
Party: Liberal Party
Region: Peterford
Bio: Alexander Burke (Robert Burke is his father) was born into a lower middle-class family in Fellsands in November 1965, the first of three children. His father was an employee of the local dock and his mother was a substitute teacher. Burke was known in High School as a gifted actor and debating prodigy, even winning a national debate tournament. He eventually graduated from High School with a scholarship and received a degree in education from Peterford University, going on to teach impoverished children domestically and abroad. After much consideration and the blessing of his family, Burke ran for and was elected to the Antillan Parliament this year.

[lilTommy]

Name: Bastian De Wilde
Age: 32
Party: Cooperative Party (Left of centre, ecological-agrarian-democratic socialist)
Constituency\Region: Kristiana Bronseland
Bio: One of four children born into a working class Dutch family; Mother managing the family bakery, while his father worked in Kristiana's small shipbuilding industry. Grandson of the first Dutch Jew elected to the Parliament (almong the thousands who fleed during the Nazi invasion, and escaped after the war). Graduated from Settlers University (one of Kristiana's three universities) with a degree in Urban Planning and Sustainable development, followed after his grandfather and was the youngest elected mayor of Kristiana at age 24. Help found the Cooperative party (merger of the Green Party, Agrarian Party and various dissident leftist from the SDP), which last election gained representation for the first time. Economically and socially left; government ownership, universal education and health and green economy, supportive of local economies (high corporate tax, zero small business tax). gay, Athiest.

[Insula Dei]

Name: Achilles De Bruijn
Age: 72
Party: Social Democratic Party (formerly of the Socialist Party of Pitfarris)
Region: Pitfarris
Bio: De Bruijn is the grand old man of Pitfarris unionism and one of the longest serving MP's in the nation, first being elected 1978. He has served in several former Social Democratic governments and is seen by many as the quintessential symbol of Pitfarris' political links to the mainland. In the 1980s he served a brief while as leader of the Social Democratic Party, but resigned after poor regional elections. He holds a PhD in Law from St. Marks University and is centrist on social issues, as well as solidly leftwing on economical issues.

[Swedish Cheese]

Fiskby!

You are aware that means Fish City... right?

[Hashemite]

Name: Xabier Otegi
Age: 61
Party: Pitfarris Nationalist
Region: Pitfarris
Bio: A leading member of the small Basque community, Xabier Otegi, the grand old man of Pitfarrian nationalism, is the scion of a powerful family of merchants and shipping magnates in Pitfarris. He is the old man behind the Pitfarrian nationalist movement and the old boss of the PNP for ages. Otegi is a tireless advocate of Pitfarrian nationalism and demands recognition of Pitfarris as a 'nation' and significant autonomy and devolution to Pitfarris. He is also fluent in Pitfarrian, the old local dialect of the island.

[Sibboleth]

Name: Iorwerth Roberts
Age: 53
Party: Social Democratic Party
Constituency\Region: Fellsands, Peterford
Bio: Trade Unionist and politician. Roberts is one of the most powerful men in the Social Democratic Party, but he is not a household name and has never held national office. He is currently the Northern Regional Secretary of the General Workers Union and in this capacity holds a seat on the Social Democratic Party's Executive Committee. He has been a member of Fellsands City Council for over twenty five years and has led it for the past twelve; positions that he has kept despite being becoming an MP eight years ago. During his tenure as council leader, he has lavished money on the education, the arts and redevelopment programmes. To those aware of his existence or the extent of his influence, Roberts is an extremely controversial figure, regarded by his detractors as a tyrannical city boss and as one of the 'faceless men' alleged to dominate the Social Democratic Party, but by his allies as an effective negotiator, as a dynamic local leader and as a calming influence on a heavily factionalised Party. Corruption allegations were leveled against Roberts three years ago by an investigative reporter, but no charges were ever brought

[ChairmanSanchez]

Name: Ian Harlow
Age: 39
Constituency/Region: Lindsay
Party: National Patriot
Bio: Born April 4th, 1972, Irving Harlow is one of the most far right politicians in the country! Son of Arthur Harlow (1941-2004) and Janet Harlow (1943-present), he was the eldest child, and only son, growing up with three younger sisters. At the age of 18, he went to the University of Antilla, graduating with a law degree. In 1996, he married Sophie Yelton (1976-present), and had his son Louis in 1999, and his twin daughters, Caroline, and Kate, in 2009. First elected to Parliament as a member of the National Patriot Party three years ago, he stresses a policy of immigration reduction, lower taxes, a balanced budget amendment, and is a opponent of Pittfarian independence, while supporting autonomy.

[afleitch]

Fiskby!

You are aware that means Fish City... right?

Yes It has a nice..whiff to it.

[Χahar]

Character Bio:

Name: Marcus Davenport
Age: 47
Party: Social Democratic Party
Region: Marksland
Bio: Marcus Davenport is perceived as a typical SDP apparatchik. His biography is a rather typical one; he served as a union official before being elected to St Mark's City Council and a few years later Parliament. Davenport is well-regarded by his colleagues, but remarkably obscure for an MP who has served over a decade.

[lilTommy]

I noticed we had no female characters, so i decided to create one... let me know if anyone objects.

Name: Stella Bruun-Bailey
Age: 46
Party: Cooperative (Co-leader with Bastian De Wilde MP)
Constituency\Region: St. Mark's (Skellerseat), Marksland
Bio: One of six children born into a mixed Nordan/English family, in rural Skellerseat with a long history in the mining industry. Her father Edgar Bruun became a leading figure within the Alliance of Antillan Mining Guilds and her mother Emilia White was a longtime Skellerseat councillor and a well know novelist after retirement. before Graduating from St. Mark's University with a Masters in Economics, she worked alongside her father first in the mines as one of the youngest workers and one of the few women, then in the trade union itself. After Graduation she worked as a journalist and columnist for The Antillan, the national left-wing broadsheet. After developing a reputation as a credible national commentator, often appearing as a left-wing analyst, she stepped into politics, joining then Agrarian Party, elected a member of Skellerseat Council. She was elected Skellerseat Agrarian Party Leader in 1994, and in the 1995 Marksland locals the Agrarians were elected the government, in coalition with the Greens and Stella became Governor.  In 2005, she was a leading founder of the Cooperative party and was elected Leader soon after. Elected to the National Assembly in 2007.  Married with 2 young adult children, she is economically and social left. She lives in rural coastal Graunrykshire.

 

[Sibboleth]

No Guilds, please. This is not the Discworld.

[Hashemite]

We can have two characters now???

[lilTommy]

No Guilds, please. This is not the Discworld.

Never read... so i am stickting to my guns

[lilTommy]

We can have two characters now???

If thats not kosher, please let me know... i just thought a female character might be a good thing to have in play. But if everyone here dosen't like that idea, i will take her down

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

We can have two characters now???

If thats not kosher, please let me know... i just thought a female character might be a good thing to have in play. But if everyone here dosen't like that idea, i will take her down

I think it's fine. I've played in similar games where players have run multiple characters. I think that as long as it's not abused, multiple characters should be allowed (but no more than two characters each). I also think the characters should be somewhat different, politically speaking, so that one player can't vote as a bloc all the time.

[lilTommy]

We can have two characters now???

If thats not kosher, please let me know... i just thought a female character might be a good thing to have in play. But if everyone here dosen't like that idea, i will take her down

I think it's fine. I've played in similar games where players have run multiple characters. I think that as long as it's not abused, multiple characters should be allowed (but no more than two characters each). I also think the characters should be somewhat different, politically speaking, so that one player can't vote as a bloc all the time.

Agreed, sticking with the two playable characters... but since i am the only one who's playing for the Cooperatives (for now at least) and since i have 14 members i was thinking of building a list and identifying, giving some background and identity to "unplayable members" just for fun
Thats a good point, how do we manage votes? the SPP has more than one player but some of the other parties only have one... i was under the assumption that those parties with only one player they vote as a block (unless that player wants to mix things up right)

[Sibboleth]

If we assume that Parliament has a whipping system (and of course it does) then that's not really a problem.

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

If we assume that Parliament has a whipping system (and of course it does) then that's not really a problem.

I guess it also makes sense that some parties would be more prone to bloc voting than others. For instance, the Cooperatives are a group of smaller parties that merged over common interests, whereas the SPP are more of a "big tent" party ranging from center-left to fairly far-left. The Nationalists, too, could be more of a coalition of different interests united by the goal of Pitfarris Nationalism.

[Dr. Cynic]

I think we should set a two character cap and allow whoever becomes Speaker to moderate the rest of the seats.