Imperium OffTopicum: The Spirit of Man

Alrighty... Lets start at the basics:
If you do all that bad internet stuff (Spamming, trolling, whatever) then you get penalized.
If you RP like a pro then you get bonuses.
If you break the forum rules the Mods will come and eat you.
If you don't work as a team then you are going to die... Sad but true.
If you powergame then you're doing it wrong
If you pretend to powergame then something is wrong
If you want to complain about it being unbalanced then you don't get the point of the game.

Lets also talk about how you can join!
Pick 20 Territories on the overland map (The White and Grey one)
Fill in the following to whatever extent you want to:
Name: (The name of your nation)
Government: (It's Government type)
Capital: (This is crucial in the later game so be wary of it)
Socioeconomic Views: (Its the turn of the century so lets just say that anything goes)
Leader Name: (Name of the leader)
History: (Well... It don't have to be long...)
Traits: (What's special about your nation? Is it innovative, are its people brave and stubborn? Things like that. These will give your nation bonuses - If you RP this well later then those bonuses get bigger)
Flaws: (What are the flaws in your nations society? Large Upper-Lowe class gulf, Isolationist?)

So, I bet that now you want to ask about claiming?
Well, there is none.
This is late Victorian Europe. There isn't any unclaimed territory...
So, after I've put you all on the map I'll add some NPCs and expand your nation by historical borders from what I've gathered from your first post.
However later in the game you will get to expand into the "Brave New World" but I'll tell you about that when we get there.

So what can you do?
You can fight!
There are 4 kinds of Land unit that you can build:
Infantry
Artillery
Cavalry
And the Mysterious other one!!

You can build each unit for 1CP with a limit by the total number of territories you have. Each have their own strengths and weaknesses. When you go to war you can make a war plan detailing what you want your armis to do... Will you opt for a slow and steady approach or will you strike a blow deep into enemy territory? Anything goes!
In the early game you will want to try and gain territory through killing off the NPCs as that will be the only way you can expand (With the exception of killing each other) however in a few (randomly determined) turns something will happen...
After that you may have your hands full. And I stress it again - you will need to work as a team.

Navy
You can build fleets! Fleets are comprised of several ships. Ships cost 1CP to build but you can only make the same number of ships as you have coastal territories. They come in 4 catagories:
Pre-dreadnought Battleship
Torpedo Rams (HMS Thunderchild)
Gunboats
Once again another Mysterious other...

Fleets can be used for 2 missions:
Patrol - A communal pool of ships that will fight Invasion Fleets
Invasion Fleets - Required to escort troops across seas - If you have a fleet then you can send any number of troops across the sea but if it is intercepted by a Patrol then you lose the troops.

Diplomacy:
It is the key.
Without it you wont win. Once the "event" happens you will need to work together to fight it off.
Until then you can get into alliances to fight each other and NPCs.
You can also bribe NPCs with CP to make them do things such as attack your enemies (Do this by sending me a PM). However if someone else has also tried to bribe them then they will look at their offer first. The lowest bid you can make is equal to a quarter (rounded) of the NPC's total number of territories.
There is always a chance of failure and some NPCs will be more susceptible to bribery than others.
To influence an NPC the minimum bid is a half of their current number of territories. Influencing an NPC alows you to decide their diplomatic policy and how they will spend their CPs.
You can also seize an NPC which you gain all of their Territories. This costs 4 times the amount of Territories they control. If were already Influencing them then you gain half their Infrastructure, if you have been influencing them for at least 2 turns then you get the whole lot. You must have a land border with an NPC to Seize it. If one nation is influencing an NPC then it can only be seized by them unless they are outbid.

Infrastructure:
You can expend 5CP to build extra Infrastructure. Each infrastructure gives one extra CP. You can only build one per turn for every 10 territories you control.

Each territory provides 1CP

Events
Both random and scripted events will happen.
Everything from Parson Nathaniel's escape from the martian to an earthquake in Sarajevo. Anything can happen.

Also, I mentioned earlier that you will be able to expand into the Brave New World...
I'll tell you about that when we get to it.

Each Turn now will last a month; to keep up with this the prices of some things have been changed:
Infantry: 4
Cavalry: 6
Artillery: 6
Pre-Dreadnaught Battleships: 15
Gunboats: 7
Torpedo Rams: 7
Infrastructure: 25
CP can now be saved from Turn to Turn (However you can never save more than you make in a single turn)
All NPC actions remain the same price

In the year 1348, Pope Clement VI bought Avignon from Queen Joan I of Naples for 80,000 florins. Afterwards, during the course of the Great Schism, Avignon was inhabited by a series of Antipopes, or men who claim to be Pope when another man is wearing a funny hat. In 1823, Leo XII got his hands on the high hat of sillyness, Antipope Stefanus I of Burgundy rose up and took control of Avignon. He was assassinated six months later by the Swiss. However, when the New Roman Empire rose, another man tried his luck at the Antipapacy: He styled himself Antipope Ezio I, and took control of Avignon with his vast fortune. The French seemed to not care, as they were in the midst of yet another civil war, when Napoleon III attempted to usurp the new Third French Republic.

The war still raged on in France after Napoleon found unlikely allies in Spain. Ezio I took advantage of the confusion and bought a small military for himself, annexing the entire region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, except for the wealthy city Marseille. Ezio knew the value of this city would be best kept intact without fighting, so he simply bribed the officials to hand it over. From his small empire, Ezio built a navy to conquer the Mediterranean through commerce.

In 1887, Ezio saw another opportunity: Northern Italy was at war. Ezio quickly allied with the struggling Venice and laid waste to the armies of Savoy, Milan, and Genoa, gobbling up their lands (as well as Sardinia and northern Corsica) in the process. Over the next 10 years, the aging Antipope increased his influence in the merchant republic, rendering it little more than a puppet state. This outward focus would be the deciding factor in many future Antipapal conflicts.

In 1890, the growing Kingdom of Andorra invaded Barcelona. Ezio saw his chance to make yet another difference: He allied with the mountain people and divided the Barcelonan lands between them. By now, he had allied with the Pope-hating Romans, who had effectively rendered him the only contender for the Papacy. With allies in every direction but the north, colonists were sent to the Aegean to establish new trade outposts. Antipapal merchants set up a small trade port on the island of Malta, as it was one of the first places that had accepted the Antipope as Pope. The Knights of Saint John were given land and their fortress rebuilt, so that they could protect pilgrims once again. Another outpost was built on the struggling Rhodes, and the populate was converted to Catholicism - with Ezio as Pope. The Anti in his name was merely a formality at this point, unless the Swiss were concerned.

The growing Swiss Confederation had long before been the personal guardians of the Pope in the form of the Swiss Guard, and were none too happy that the Antipope and his allies, the New Roman Empire, had basically put them out of the job. In 1891, they declared war on the meddling Antipapacy. However, Ezio had been looking into steam as a viable power source for machinery to utilize coal deposits in Spain and France, and needless to say, the war was very one-sided until the Antipapal forces reached the Alps, where the Swiss were able to utilize their home terrain to create nasty ambushes. The war ended in 1893 with an uneasy peace treaty, which granted the Antipapacy the lands it conquered. The Swiss resented their enemy and still saw him as illegitimate, but Ezio could care less: He was dying.

On his deathbed, Ezio dictated his successes and the reasons why to his trusted bodyguard and friend, Anticardinal Luigi il Verde. This book, 101 Ways to Conquer Everyone Else as the Antipope, was to be passed to his Antipapal successors so they could continue the existence of the greatest theocracy known to man. Ezio died the first day of 1894, and Luigi was elected Antipope by the Anticardinals. Luigi took the name Ezio II to honor his friend, but so far has done little other than consolidate his power since then… at least on the surface. He also eyes France, as fractured as it is (Napoleon did a real number on it). Burgundy, Normandy, Brittany, Aquitaine, Switzerland, Andorra, and Holland all eye each other like ravenous dogs, but only time will tell who proves to be the victor in the coming struggle, and how the Antipope will react.

Note: If someone claims “France” or “Spain,” I will stab them. Also, that was only the major factions. There are probably small ones (Calais, Paris, etc) too. Have fun, Robbie.