I had an idea for a direction to take Talon in and since it might affect and would be affected by the Riot Plot I figured it would be a good idea to run it by Roach and get his opinion. He suggested I run it by the board to get input as well.

At this point Talon hasn't seen the video that's sparked all the hullabaloo. My thinking was that he see's the video and then is convinced by various third parties to run for Mayor of New York on a pro-Mutant Rights platform.

Obviously, he'd need to get his U.S. Citizenship IC to be able to do that, on top of a host of other things. My minor's in Poli Sci, so I know a thing or two about the political game, and it makes sense with Talon's backstory growing up in a political family.

On several levels it makes sense for the character. He's got a background growing up in and around politics so he understands the way the game is played. After all, politics is about the same no matter where you're from. He's also strongly in the lawful good camp, so he'd be motivated to achieve change from a legal standpoint. Since the riot plot will, probably, paint mutants negatively in the public eye he might also see it as his duty to disprove that image.

So, it makes sense in my head anyway and several thread ideas started coming to mind. Threads involving studying for the citizenship test, taking that test, launching and running a campaign (which would involve events at Xilx's bar if she was willing), campaign speeches, debates, and so on and so forth. There's a lot that can be done with it, considering the election's not until November.

Obviously, it's something that would affect the whole board so it was suggested to run it by the players and such for discussion. The affect to the board would be greater if he were to win the election.

I also want to stress that I do NOT care one way or the other if he wins the election if he runs. I really don't. I won't get all huffy and storm off in a pouty huff. As someone with a minor in Poli Sci I know how hard it is to run a successful Independent campaign in the political realm. Yes, it's possible to win it's also VERY possible to LOSE.

I'd like to do the plot regardless of whether or not the mods/board say he can win the election. There's a lot of threads and fun in it, I think. Thoughts?

I'd like to start some of the legwork for it soon. There's a lot of background and set-up stuff that would need to be done in order for a plot like this to be believable. It's also very possible to start in on some of that background now and then, if the idea's not well received it can easily be written in that he simply decides not to run for it, for one reason or another.

Thoughts?

Please chime in with responses and the like if you have questions or concerns. I'm trying to get a feel for interest and such.

Can you be a Mayor if you were not born in the States?

Yes you can. The only office that non-natural born citizens are barred from holding is the Presidency. In recent history Arnold Schwarzenegger was the Governor of California (aka Call-ee-forn-yah, aka the Governator) even though he's Austrian-born. You have to obtain your citizenship first, which I would RP out (studying for the test, taking the test, obtaining dual-citizenship and all that). One of the bonuses to having a minor in Poli Sci.

There are several foreign born politicians in the U.S., including:

Jimmy Delshad (born in Iran) who is the Mayor of Beverly Hills
Madeline Albright (born in Czechoslovakia) is a former Secretary of State
Mazie Hirono (born in Japan) is one of Hawaii's two Senators

And there are tons of other examples as well.

So, Talon could never be President, but he could be NYC Mayor if he were to win the election.

I knew about Precidency, that is why I suspected it could be like that for simillar politics careers... thanks for the quick history class, it is always good to learn new stuff.

If Markus were more active, I would say your best chance to enter politics is by teaming up with him... but he is not very active right now, so you are better on your own. Maybe... if your character does not care about getting his hands dirty, he can ask The Order for support.

I was actually thinking Order Members could help on this, in their own way, as well. If Talon doesn't know their true nature then, either during the campaign or while he is mayor (if it were decided by the powers that be that he got to win) it could be a major scandal if some of it came to light. Investigations, maybe trials, everything. Lots of drama

Anyone else have any questions or concerns about this?

I feel like I shouldn't be dipping my spoon in this since I'm not from the states and don't have a clue regarding politics over there (oh, I'm blessed I guess!?) but from a writing perspective, here's my two cents.

1) Handwave the test. Have Talon mention he's studying for it in one thread or another, and then have him have his citizenship a couple of weeks later or what have you, mentioning he passed it. I really don't see much RP potential in this unless you feel tempted to do a solo of it or you find some other foreign character ALSO taking the test.

2) I see potential in a good mutant being in office. If Order members help put him in office, I also see potential in a fallout, or corruption or betrayal or whatever you guys feel like playing. The only concern mods would give you I think is the permanent effects something like this would have. That's for mods to answer though.

3) Then again, I find it hard to believe that a visible mutant who happens to be foreign would actually win, unless there was some cheating in the system (which kind of reminds me of that Heroes plotline with the guy who could fly and the kid who could control electronics making him win). Humans are still a majority and even though there may be people who like mutants or support them, I'm not so sure their support would be large enough to have a visible mutant win an election.

4) The safest, less permanent route would actually be for Talon to try and lose. You get to play your plotline, you get to run a campaign, deal with people trying to bribe you or whatever but in the end, nothing comes out of it. I don't know if that actually feels like a waste of time or as something fun to do. Also, like Fausto mentions, Marcus' character was into the political aspect, Syn may have something to say in this, but most characters on the site aren't that into politics, being students, cops, vigilantes or having their own business.

1. I was planning on, mostly, soloing the citizenship test stuff. That is, of course, unless Shammikittikins also wanted to take part in that and have Regan become a citizen as well.

2. I was thinking that too, if the Mods were to decide that he got to win then there could be a lot of potential there. If the Order helps, whether or not Talon knows they're evil, and he wins there's potential for all sorts of fallout. Of course, as Mayor, he could also demand that the two officers that pummeled Gina be fired (if they haven't been already) and there are any number of other things he could do, like promote Jorge to police chief and all kinds of other things. It's actually a fair bit of IC power. Of course, anything significant affecting a player or a character or the board would still require Mod approval

3a. Oh, I quite concede it would be an uphill battle to win. Of course, with a visible mutant running I would tend to think the mutant population of NYC would be very motivated to turn out to vote. In some ways you can point to the 2008 election of Obama as a model since he was the first serious minority candidate to win a nomination and there was a massive increase in the amount of minority voters at the polls in 2008 which helped elect him. An argument could be made that, on a micro-scale in NYC, the same thing would happen with Talon to get him elected.

3b. Of course, I've also said all along that I'm perfectly fine with Talon losing the election. You still get all the char. devel. stuff and everything from running the campaign that way and you can still do all the scandal stuff from the Order helping (if they help at all) by simply having all that scandal stuff happen while the campaign is being run.

4. Char. Devel. is never a waste of time. It would still be a fun thing to do even if he were to lose the election.