SKIOT: The Actual Sign-up thread

Country Name: Northumbria
Government: Theocracy
Religion: Lindisfarne-Catholic. The result of the Synod of Whitby choosing Iona over Rome to base its calendar on.
Points:
3 Culture
1 Learning
History: Following the Synod of Whitby it was decided that the Kingdom of Northumbria would follow Iona instead of Rome in matters of calendar. As this continued matters became more and more dictated from Lindisfarne and the monastic traditions of Celtic Christianity spread throughout the land. Honouring St Bede and St Cuthbert a Cathedral was constructed on the banks of the river Wear on a high promontory. This place was to be called Durham and became the new capital of a religious Northumbria.
Neighbors: Various Scottish peoples and some southern rabble.


More to Come

The stats are not going to be complicated, because this isn't that kind of IOT. Also, each turn is 15 years. So the first turn will be 800-814, the second 815-829, and so forth.

Economy: The "currency" in this IOT is economic points or EPs. On a specific turn, your income of EPs equals the number of provinces you have, times a modifier. A large number of factors can impact this modifier, including proximity to traditional trade routes from your start, the number of points you put into economy at the start, your stability, and random events. You also have a "bank" of EPs, which you can store EPs in for some later date. They don't earn interest or anything, they just sit there until they're used. You can't spend fractional EPs.

Government and Stability: There are two important things here, the specific type of government you have and your stability. You can change your government either through stories, or via random events, and the exact type has little gameplay effect other than what you want it to. Stability is a number that ranges from -3 to +3. Your stability can be changed either by <investing EP>, or by random events. Rebellions may occur if you have negative stability. If your stability drops to -3, then expect your nation to collapse.

Military: In regards to military building, 1 EP gets you 1 company, or 1 naval squadron. Everyone starts with a total of 2 companies, plus 1 company per point placed into army and 1 company per point placed into navy at the start of the game. There is a soft cap on the total number of units you have, that being your number of provinces times 2. If you do build over that cap, you will have to pay 1 EP in upkeep per unit per turn you have them raised.

Combat: Combat itself is quite simple. To make war, you merely have to send me warplans, of which there aren't really any limits on what to do, with. Considering this era, formal declarations of war are not only unnecessary, but in fact discouraged. 1 squadron can transport 1 company. Military units can also be used in peaceful expansion into uninhabited territories, 1 territory per 1 company, but then you run into the risk of encountering unfriendly indigenous tribes. And no transoceanic crossing until you have the requisite technologies to do so.

Religion: Understandably, religion is an important part of almost everyone's lives at the present, and it will play a role in the game. Each turn, I'll be producing a map showing the majority religion in each province, alongside the political map. Tensions may result if you have a strong presence of religious minorities in your realm. You can put EP into attempting to convert religious minorities, with increasing chances of success the more EPs you invest. Bewarned, however, as attempting to convert the unfaithful will make religious minorities less willing to live under your rule, and your stability may suffer as a result.

Learning: Every country has a stash of learning points. Learning can be gained either by spending 1 EP for 1 learning point, or by random events. On the front post will be a list of technologies, that you can buy with the learning points that you have, and that unlock nice things.

Culture: You also have a number of culture points. You can spend 1 EP for 1 culture point. You don't spend culture points on anything, but having a high culture will feed back into your economy and learning, and will also have nice effects, like other nations seeking to emulate your achievements.

Projects: Projects are the equivalent of wonders from Civilization. They work the same way as they do in NESes, in that you ask me about cost and effects. They will give you nice things. Beyond that I'm not going to say much.

Stories: Are highly encouraged.

Random Events: Every turn, a number of player nations will get random events, almost always with multiple choices. These are similar to events from, for instance, Paradox Interactive games. They can be good, bad, or a mixture of the two.