In celebration of me getting my Cloud back, I'm about to punch you guys in the face with a fist-full of OLD SCHOOL, BABY:
Late 2004... four years ago, this month. It was the calm before the storm. Another day of children at play, or so it seemed... *takes a drag of his bubble pipe and coughs*
You see, Age of Kings Heaven once had "democratic" tendencies; people yearned for a voice in their local government. And one day, October 28th, 2004 at 3:58 PM to be exact, a man named trebuchet_king announced
Oh yes... this election, it definitely seemed like fun and games. You know... something you could "have fun participating in". *spits* Several parties joined; you had the big parties, like the National Fascist Democratic Socialist Republican Workers Popular Revolutionary Front Party led by GoC/Lorenzo; AoK People's Party led by trebuchet king/Icy String; the Era Party led by watchwood; even the Historian's Party led by MW was a contender! You had your smaller, "third-wheel" parties, like the Wang-ker Party (Kevin Wang), the Vote for Me, Dammit Party (xyz), the Surgism Party (Surge), and the Ultimate Party (monk). And you even had parties that sprung up overnight like cheap rap record labels; the None of the Above Party (Cobra), the Poor Black Lady Party (Grubby), hell, even the Codename Bob Party got in on the "fun".
It was complete chaos... the media didn't know what to think. How could they cover so many parties? And then the propaganda started airing:
-Does any other party ooze cool like ours?
-Does any other party have GoC, Lorenzo and Adder in it?
-Does any other party "keep it real" (or whatever those damn kids say)?
Judging by this criteria, we can see that GoC / Lorenzo (feat. Adder) are the best leaders for you!
I'm Dr Lorenzo, and I endorse this message.
Things were chaotic. The mindless mob cried, "lol no othere partyss tellin me wat 2 do lol!!" The media were displaying the ad 24/7 because they had no other ads to run! That day, the NFDSRWPRF led by GoC were the front runners, and nobody could beat them!
And then... a beaming light of hope:
After the new, revitalizing message was aired, the public went crazy! Immediately people started talking about this new party with their friends and family! "Registration fees are definitely too high, I can barely afford to spam!" said a local Soccer mom. "No war, dude, no war, Arocratic for life," a local hippy shouted out loud, before getting embarassed and sneaking back into the crowd. Finally... a party for the Soccer moms and hippies; "the forum majority", they called it in 2004. But the NFDSRWPRF Party took this very challenge seriously; "Aro, I propose merger talks begin at once. I have an excellent offer for you, and if you accept it victory for our coalition will be a foregone conclusion. Are you interested?" GoC asked Aro at a local conference, but Aro outright refused his offer; he was confident the Arocrats could easily beat these rookies. The media was surprised at his powerful rejection, but excited; they wanted to see these two parties eat eachother alive!
But unfortunately... other parties took to the new Arocratic domination
This attack ad stunned the public! ForumGate?! PILLS?!?!? These revelations about the former lead party were absolutely stunning, and immediately the NFDSRWPRF Party plummeted in the polls. The Arocratic Party's President was definitely likeable; sentiments were best summarized by a statement by Gordon B, on Zak's amusingly flip-floppy pro-Aro signature: "Your sig also states that even people who think Aro smells funny still like him." The attack ad technique was working amazingly well, beyond the Party's wildest imaginations, and the public, for the most part, backed the party happily. The Arocratic Party decided to unleash a series of attack ads against the other lead party, the AoK People's Party, to achieve the same effect.
These ads worked wonderfully! People began to question the morals of the AoK People's Party, and whether they really represented "the people"; and then, the Arocratic Party hit absolute gold. They found a group called the "Swiftpost Veterans of AoKH", who held proof against all forum veteranship trebuchet_king had claimed! The video was produced, and soon more ads were aired, crushing the AoK People's Party completely.
Unfortunately, this is when the complications began. After listening to Era Party propoganda, people did *not* want to see the Arocratic Party in control; the President being both the Seraph *and* the lead forumer was unthinkable! That'd be, like, a DICTATOR or something! Mace began to widthdraw from his Vice Presidential position, issuing no statements for the rest of the campaign, and Aro felt immense pressure from the party to drop out. As a last-resort attempt to destroy the Era Party's credibility, the Arocratic Party released one final ad:
While it changed minds, it didn't stop the Arocratic backlash. Aro withdrew the party, and instead backed former rivals, the NFDSRWPRF Party; but that couldn't stop the large gathering the Era Party achieved, already having thousands and thousands of voters pre-registered in their favor. When the public elected the Era Party into office, all seemed lost....
Fortunately, watchwood proved to be a difficult leader; he constantly felt that he had no powers, and that later caused him to become
» Your attractive master.
» "Because I before E is a LIE!!!"
[This message has been edited by Aro (edited 12-16-2011 @ 10:24 AM).]