User talk:Smoggy80

Archive 2010

Rheged
Sounds fine to me. Truth be told, in my head at least the Rheged-Lancaster border has been more ceremonial then anything, with people crossing from one side to the other quite freely, although the Lancastrian military does patrol the area to discourage raiders. I'm sure that Lancaster would jump at the chance to expand its borders (lets face it, given that it's other neigbors are Cleveland and the CA this is probably going to be the only chance they'll get any time soon).Tessitore 23:35, December 18, 2010 (UTC)

Lancaster would probably be a bit reluctant to send in troops over what is basically someone else's problem, not to mention that they'd be unwilling to risk damaging their good relations with Cleveland. On the other hand, if Cleveland wasn't particuarly interested in what was happening one way or another and/or it looked like things might get nasty in Rheged, then Lancaster would send in troops to try and put a stop to things for the sake of the civilian population.Tessitore 21:00, January 10, 2011 (UTC)

Sounds fine to me. I've also got an idea of my own, namely that prior to the WFA asking to join Lancaster, Lancaster was allowing them to use their ports for less then North Rheged was charging, since a) the heavy taxation by North Rheged sounds like it's politically motivated while with Lancaster it's just business, b) even though I haven't worked out the finer details, I think Lancaster's import tax system is set up in such a way as to squeeze more money out of the Celts and countries outside of the former UK (after all they can afford it), while the poorer British survivour states get a better rate, and c) as is stated in the Lancaster article, Lancaster's relationship with the southern part of Rheged is downright familial. Plus Heysham and Glasson Dock are both much closer to the WFA townships then the North Rheged ports.Tessitore 16:47, January 22, 2011 (UTC)

I don't think a protectorate is the way to go, mainly because there isn't anyone that the WFA needs protecting from. On the other hand it could be argued that Rheged has been a sort of unofficial 'shared custody' protectorate for years given what happened when it got flooded and when things looked dicey with Scotland. Personally, given that relations between the WFA and Lancaster are already downright chummy (see the International Relations section of the Lancaster article for details), I'd go with things becoming even friendlier (and the border even more ignored) until it got to the stage where it was a case of 'eh, we're already acting like we're the same country, we might as well make it official". Regarding which, I know you've said that the WFA will switch to Lancastrain currency in 2012, but it occurs to me that they'd probably be using it unofficially before then, at least in the towns near the border.Tessitore 21:55, February 8, 2011 (UTC)

Southern England & Kingdom of Cleveland
Hi Smoggy I just wanted to check what you thought might be the most likely time for contact between these two nations considering that the CA and Southern England had known about each other since the mid 1990's and Southern England has a large navy that they used for scouting the UK's coastline in the late 90's. P.S I need the info soon because its for an article i'm writing nowVegas adict 19:19, January 6, 2011 (UTC)

Around 98 would make senseVegas adict 16:40, January 7, 2011 (UTC)

Trains and Rheged
This is something that I've been thinking about for a while now. Lancaster has a locomotive works but there's only so many trains that they'll need for their own use. Now, I know that Cleveland has already called dibs on the Northumbrian market and the southern OBN states are probably too far away to be feasible at the moment but it occurred to me that it might make sense for some of the Rheged townships to club together and buy a train or two so that they wouldn't be dependent on their neighbors for transportation. Plus for somewhere like Rheged, Lancaster's Black Fives are a better choice then Cleveland's Peppercorns since they're designed to be able to haul pretty much anything. So, what do you think?Tessitore 16:57, January 22, 2011 (UTC)

Okay then. Any idea as to how many trains and which towns would buy them? The Black Fives are a fair bit smaller then the A1 Peppercorn (there's a locomotive weight difference of 33 long tons) and as I said above they were designed to haul anything and everything so as trains go they're pretty much work horses, ideal for somewhere like Rheged.Tessitore 22:12, February 8, 2011 (UTC)

Congratulations, Smoggy


You are the winner of the 2011 Stirling Award for Best Female Writer of 2010 for your own works and your contributions to community timelines. I am sure you are already aware of this, given that you technically won a while ago. In any case, I officially congratulate you for your hard work and formally present you with this award. Good luck in the next year! Red VS Blue 17:50, January 26, 2011 (UTC)

Blog problem
I have that problem too, just another wonderful thing wikia does for us. I would contact Wikia about this, I have no abilities to fix that myself. Mitro 18:56, January 27, 2011 (UTC)

Wildlife article
I say go for it. People have talked of writing such an article but never got around to it. If you need more ideas you should search some of the earlier discussions for thoughts on how wildlife would be affected by Doomsday. Mitro 15:12, January 31, 2011 (UTC)


 * Be sure to remember the things in the article as well. Lordganon 15:18, January 31, 2011 (UTC)

TSPTF
How interested would you be in being nominated for a Lieutenancy? Lordganon 15:55, January 31, 2011 (UTC)

Sudan
Saw your note on Pita's page. He's not the one you need to talk to about those articles - Vegas is. Lordganon 22:18, February 12, 2011 (UTC)

I'm still in charge of Sudan so in future come to meVegas adict 19:52, February 13, 2011 (UTC)

I think the Sudanese might have a problem with the Egyptian colonies especialy the ones around the Nile but they probabley arn't in a posistion to argue--Vegas adict 18:36, February 15, 2011 (UTC)

Cyrenaica
I had no plans to do so, so go for it.Oerwinde 17:16, February 14, 2011 (UTC)

You could even have the Greek Federation publically agreeing to Egyptian control to make up for the loss of the Nile delta.Oerwinde 18:45, February 14, 2011 (UTC)

Well, since Cyrenaica is pretty much the successor to Libya... It would be more of a symbolic thing anyway, since you're right, Greece has no claim.Oerwinde 19:12, February 14, 2011 (UTC)

Thats actually more than I asked for. Cool. Oerwinde 08:14, February 15, 2011 (UTC)

I'm thinking only the capital has a greek name now. Symbolizing the new Greek rule. You can probably use the existing names.Oerwinde 10:04, March 28, 2011 (UTC)

Food articles
Smoggy, I've been doing some work on the food articles, and I've noticed that your work their is highly localized. As the aricles are meant to display a world-wide overview of the foods and drink in a post-doomsday world, it would be much better that specific examples be kept to a minimum and mentioned in passing. A better place for such detail would be in a section on the local country itself.

Also, I've noticed that you have confused the definition of "soft drink" with that of "non-alcoholic" beverages. According to wikipedia, the standard definition of "soft drink" is restricted to carbonated beverages. Though a small amount of alcohol (less than a tenth of a percent) is allowed, soft drinks become "hard" when discernable amounts of alcohol are added.

Having said that, I will add a paragraph about fruit drinks in general to the Food article, and move your examples of low alcohol "soft drinks" up to the "Alcohol" paragraph (to which I am adding a synopsis of what has been written at the "Alcohol" main article.

Best Regards. I hope you have a great day. SouthWriter 17:42, February 17, 2011 (UTC)

Westmorland and Furness Alliance
Yeah, that sounds fine to me. Any idea as to the specifics of the trade agreement or are we just going to keep things vague?Tessitore 00:42, February 20, 2011 (UTC)

Lancaster's main exports are foodstuffs, textiles, coal and wool. Since the WFA probably has enough in the way of food, although Lancaster is probably faring a bit better when it comes to fruit cultivation, and definitely has more then enough wool, that leaves coal and textiles, the latter of which are generally wool or nettle fibre based fabrics. There's also various metals obtained through salvage (Lancaster has a lot of dead towns within its boarders), a relatively small amount of biodiesel, a very basic and small scale chemical industry which produces stuff like carbolic acid, coal tar, and denatured alcohol, and a few other things that they don't currently have much of an export market for in the other British survivour nations and are produced in fairly small quantities (usually during times of the year when the demand for farm labor is low), such as soap, glass, pottery, linseed oil, glue, paper etc. There's also a decent sized brewery in Blackburn. Basically stuff that would be in keeping with a nation that has a roughly late nineteenth century to early twentieth century tech level. Tessitore 15:42, February 20, 2011 (UTC)

Sounds fine to me. By the by, if the WFA ever finds itself in need of a cash crop, nettles would be a good bet since they couldn't be easier to grow; it's literally a case of planting them and then leaving them to their own devices for ten years or more, apart from harvesting them of course, and Lancaster has quite a few uses for them (in addition to the fibres, I recently found out that a lot of fructose gets released from the stalks during retting, so I've got one or two ideas brewing regarding that).Tessitore 16:44, February 20, 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, that sounds okay, although I really should research just what the term 'protectorate' means. I'd also have thought that there would need to be a longer change over period with regards to the currencies, given that Lancaster uses a different system to Cleveland, ie, the Cleveland Pound is decimal, while Lancaster has gone back to using the pre-decimal system, which could cause some confusion. Then again, it probably depends on just how extensively currency is used in the WFA.

Something else that has just occurred to me. Given that one thing that the WFA isn't short of is uncontaminated farmland, do you think that it might end up becoming Lancaster's 'bread basket'? No real reason why I'm asking though, it's just a thought.Tessitore 22:15, March 14, 2011 (UTC)

Niger-Nigeria
I'll leave that up to you if you want to. I think it more likely for a WAU force to secure the area and establish a local government, building a government from scratch would raise the profile of the WAU. I wouldn't put it past Nigeria to take over the area to increase their own power though.Oerwinde 03:29, February 21, 2011 (UTC)

Spelling
I want to clarify something you said on an anon's talk page. Yes, generally you have to ask the caretakers permission before editing his or her article. However, you do not need permission if it is just to correct a spelling mistake. Same goes for grammar, formatting and wiki code. Mitro 14:28, February 21, 2011 (UTC)

No Mediterranean Sea
Hi, Smoggy. I put together a few maps to illustrate the concept of the Strait of Gibralta "closing." The volcanoes, at least one anyway, will have to rise to displace the water and amount to a wall between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. The best place is in the sea south of the Rock of Gibralta. As the island rises above the sea, the seas on either side will recede, leaving dry land in the valleys that would be new straits for a short time. I am not sure how long it would take the volcano to displace all the water, but when it does, the Atlantic side would just not reach high enough. The pictures are of the volcano before it reaches its highest.

Your idea of the land on both sides of the strait lowering doesn't work, even with massive landslides above and below the sea. This volcano, though, will "do the trick" as we say over here. Below are the graphics to show what I have in mind:

I don't want to "take over," but the more viable a concept the better. Once we figure out the schedule for this, we can begin to figure what is happening on land -- who will be killed in the tsanamis, will the Roman empire fall earlier, etc. You can readily see that Italy (and Christopher Columbus) would be out of the sea-faring business by the time America is discovered in our time line. The whole Mediterranean world would be drastically changed during the millennium it takes for the deep hole in the ground to dry. One can imagine that the dry gulf would be practically impassable. It's shores would be abandoned as the Alps and the Pyranees become the boundaries to a vast desert.

Looking at what you postulate for the eastern Mediterranean, though, I will have to study the implications and justification for the changes to the Nile, the Po, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. If these all drain into the East Mediterrean, how is it going to go dry? Are weather patterns enough to complete the job? What sources are you using to make these assumptions?

I ask these questions only to help this worthy idea along. If you need my help in developing it, send me a note. Have a good day.

Egypt
Thought I'd leave you a note here. Remember when reading anything that has an impact on Greece that Caer writes - and this discussion does impact Kemet, you can't deny that - that he is extremely biased, as he has shown numerous times, in bending everything to try and support his view, and in an effort to make his article, the Turkish Sultanate, the new World Power by means of weakening Greece so that he can "conquer" it with no effort, despite its position and how badly that violates canon. A population increase for Egypt to 5-7 million is likely in order, however, as he is at least slightly right in that regard. Lordganon 11:14, March 20, 2011 (UTC)

Chagos Islands
I'm so sorry I took so long to answer. Your idea concerning the Chagos Islands is superb. I approve any idea that gives one of my nations territory. --Yank 02:47, March 25, 2011 (UTC)

Pope in 1983DD
Smoggy, you need to actually discuss that on the main talk page, not just declare that you're naming one, especially on Mjoch's talk page. Lordganon 23:34, April 1, 2011 (UTC)

Cleveish, Scottish, Northumbrian, Westmorlander, Rhegedite territorial claims
Just updating the ol'map. Just give a rough map of all those countries territorial claims, and what they control, maybe spheres of influence and I'll incorporate them in. Mumby 18:14, April 12, 2011 (UTC)

Stranraer
Since Arstar has left me to keep an eye on things for him around here, I have one question for you on this matter - how do you honestly think the Celts would respond to this invasion of their territory? Think about it. End result's not good for you. Lordganon 16:11, April 16, 2011 (UTC)