Questions concerning the Rogue Isles

Over the years the existence of the Rogue Isles has caused me to ponder several questions about the politics and infastructure of this independant nation.

1. What's the currency of the Rogue Isles? Is it unique to the country or do they just use US dollars for simplicity's sake?

2. Are the Isles represented in the United Nations? If so, is there an official delegate or does Lord Recluse have to step in? (I keep seeing the image of a cranky-looking Recluse wedged into one of those council seats while the delegates on either side of him try not to get clipped by his extra limbs)

3. The Isles *are* a sovereign nation, right? Thus the presence of Longbow troops on Mercy could be a potential international incident? And if Nerva isn't controlled by the Isles, who does?

4. Do Wolf Spider troopers serve as the official, civic police force on most islands? If so, what's the point of the Rogue Island Police (other than as a Wolf Spider boot camp)?

5. Who are all the current Govenors and Marshals for all of the islands?

6. Why doesn't Arachnos evacuate the remaining civilians from Bloody Bay and Warburg (come to think of it, why hasn't Longbow helped the locals there either?)

These would all be great questions for Manticore's fluff thread.

1) Infamy? I honestly have no idea. I have no problem spending the US dollars I steal from Paragon though.

2) I get the impression Recluse sends a delegate, some stuffed suit most likely, but I have nothing concrete. I am virtually certain that he has had to appear in person before that assemblege at least once though.

3) Correct and Correct. Nerva is I believe either independent or a US protectorate. Recluse however does encourage his operatives to engage in acts of crime on Nerva, I think because they can more easily get away with it so close to their home.

4) Arachnos is the Army, the RIP are the police. The RIP are also corrupt and bad at their job.

5) I think Aeon is Governor of Cap Au Diable, and Marshal Brass is obviously the Marshal. I remember hearing that Mako was given governership of Sharkhead, but I can't remember where that was.

6) We don't want to deal with PvP zones to get them out. If they can't escape on their own, Arachnos doctrine states that we should leave them there.

International waters. No man's land. A lawless place. Whatever you want to call it.

These are just my guesses

1) I'd assume they use US Currency. Oh sure, they could have their own currency but with a corrupt system such as the Rogue Isles a constant exchange rate would be difficult to keep. Not to mention if you try to go to Paragon with different currency you'll be immediately flagged as a villain, even if you are a civilian who got a visa to visit his family stateside.

2) Lord Recluse would never stoop so low as to attend a UN meeting. yes, they are part of the UN Council. It's one more way he can gain Power with a capitl "P". What better way to do what you want then to be able to convince certain countries to side with you in your decisions. Lord Recluse would not be where he is today if he did it all alone.

3) Yes, it could be an international incident but I believe Recluse allows their presence on Mercy as a test to the newly freed prisoners from the Zig. Nerva, while protected by the US, is too spread out for the small contigent of Longbow to cover constantly so Recluse encourages crime there.

4)The Rogue Isle Police are the face of the law on the Rogue Isles. While the Wolf Spiders have the final say in everything, the RIP are so that when Paragon and the UN Council start looking at the Isles, they see a recognizable police uniform.

5) Don't know, it's been answered and that's one question I can't just put my imagination on.

6) Number of reasons, it could be finacially impossible to evacuate all those citizens while aliens are running about or with a warhead being launched constantly. It could be that the citizens refused to leave despite the danger or the respective governments just left them there when the fighting escalated.

Melody Harkness was the Governor of Warburg until she was murdered and replaced by Marshal Jason Blitz - but as he's a rogue Marshall, I'm not sure if he counts anymore

Yes, Nerva is a US Protectorate.

That's a possibility. We should still trot these questions before Manticore though.

1) There is no canon answer for currrency. But as many US dollars as get stolen and smuggled back to the Etoiles, and given that it's a former US colony, I'd be deeply startled if it wasn't on the dollar standard.

2) No canonical answer. I'd love to know. My guess is that they have at least permanent observer status, like Palestine and Taiwan. They may be recognized as a nation, they may not be.

3) If you go back over the canonical history, there's a loophole big enough to fly a giant robot through, more or less imposed on the world by Statesman when one of his incursions into Russia nearly brought about global nuclear war: the "hot pursuit" rule. Superheroes and their sidekicks (only) are allowed to pursue supervillains (only) across national borders.

Now let's case-by-case it: Mercy: In theory, the Longbow you see in Mercy Island are Miss Liberty's sidekicks, in hot pursuit of supervillains who've escaped from the Zig, like you. Nerva: No issue obtains; Nerva is part of the Rogue Isles chain, but did not secede from US control (or, if you prefer, was not conquered by Lord Recluse) back in the 1960s. It's still a US protectorate. Bloody Bay: the US position is that when Lord Recluse sold Bloody Bay to Malvoccio, that counted as secession; Longbow entered Bloody Bay in "hot pursuit" of Malvoccio and just hasn't left yet. Warburg: has seceeded from the Etoile Islands and has no recognized government at the time; Lord Recluse has made only token efforts to get it back. St. Martial: WHAT? THE? FLAGNOG? This is the one that utterly baffles me; what in the heck are Longbow agents doing sneaking around the northwestern part of St. Martial?

4) No explicit canonical answer, but if you watch how they operate and read the NPC descriptions, it's strongly hinted that the Etoile Islands follows the Italian model: "police" who are barely more than traffic wardens and "carabinieri" (military police) who do the actual police work. Notice also that you almost never see R.I.P. anywhere outside of Darwin's Landing. I'm assuming that they're effectively the Mercy governor's private militia.

5) I submitted this question to Manticore's list of story-bible questions months ago, and really really wish we could get a complete list.

6) Theoretically American superheroes did evacuate the civilians from Bloody Bay; I'm assuming that the ones we see still there are the people who refused to leave.

It doesn't. Hence the warrant for Miss Liberty to stand trial for her acts of war in Grandville.

Chasing criminals isn't an act of war