[ATEN] Another Terra: Empires and Nations (Worldbuilding Thread)

“There are a million million worlds… all different, all similar. Constants and variables.” –Bioshock Infinite

You know not how you got here. One day you were but a common citizen milling about and doing what common people do, and soon took a pleasing rest after a laborious day of work, as common people do. But when you awoke, you found yourself in stately trappings and with a large cadre of attendants who declared you their leader. It was quite the surreal experience, to say the least; what’s weirder is you suddenly had memories as if you had always been … wherever you were, just as you had memories of your old life. It’s a bizarre experience, being two people at once, isn’t it?

Successive sleep cycles did not serve to undo this experience. Fortunately, rather than blather about how you were not who the many eager civil servants thought, your many memories allowed you to take command of the confusing situation. Looking at the many portraits, photographs, etc. of your political career, it was obvious that you looked the same here, even having a name that was similar. If your minions spoke a different tongue than your one back home, you still understood it fluently. The more curious parts of your mind dabbled into the science fiction you’d read over the years; had you somehow woken up in the body of an alternate version of yourself, on a world and in a country where you had immense significance?

The more opportunistic part of your soul naturally has begun to assert itself… you had always wanted to be able to make a difference in the world; why must that world be the one on which you were born? Oligarch or democrat, reactionary tyrant or inspirational visionary, you have been dealt a good hand by forces that you cannot comprehend. You will build your nation’s – your - place in the Sun.

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Welcome to Another Terra: Empires and Nations!

Whether you are the isolationist builder, the bloodthirsty warmonger, human number cruncher, or subtle manipulator, this game has something for everyone.

Rather than thrusting you into the blank slate world that is common, you will instead be asked to pick a location and supply your history and any details you feel important… feel free to mention other nations in your biography. The more you put in, the more you get out of the experience, as everything you and other players’ put down for your histories will be woven into a history; historical rivalries, friendships, etc. will be born from the collective imaginations of those who seek to be sunbathers.

There is not much limit on what one can do. As a rule, spacefaring civilizations are banned; non-human races are allowed provided you can give some evolutionary basis for them. Take heed that starts will not necessarily be equal.

As an alternate Earth, it is also safe to assume that things have changed… maybe Colombus’ fleet was destroyed before it could reach the New World? Did Protestantism claim Rome? Did Alexander avoid his untimely demise and lay a lasting Empire that Rome could not topple? Did nations that never existed at all in our timeline live, thrive, and even perish? Are the laws of science even the same, or completely different, with what we might describe as being magical as being entirely within the realm of possibility here?

All questions for you to answer… questions only you can answer.

Without further ado…



“Where are the borders?” you are likely asking.

There are no borders to start with. Borders are going to be made by the players, though bear in mind the larger your claim the harder it might be to keep it all… Claims shall be divided into provinces as time goes on.

Let's see what collaboration can yield!

The world is in approximately what we would call 1950 CE. However, due to divergences, this means little; the world can easily have nuclear fusion power by now, or the African powers could all be independent.

British Isles.

On a mobile device, cannot see the map. Operating under the assumption priori that it is one of earth, I henceforth claim what corresponds to Benelux. Further details will be provided on the morrow.

Going to put something in Persia. More later

Great Sumeria
Region: Southern Mesopotamia. Will add in map features tomorrow.
Government: Parlimentary Monarchy
Description: Sumeria, the oldest civilization in the world. The lack of Semitic migration into Mesopotamia ensured increasing Sumerian development, and over time, the Sumerian city-states in southern Mesopotamia merged into one mega-city simply called Sumer. The ancient cities of old are merely various districts in Sumer, and it is the most urbanized and largest city in the world. The Sumerians managed to fend off every threat that came at them, and Sumerian culture and technology flourished in the process. Some power-hungry politicians and generals learned back in the 1800s about a way to channel away their own life force for immense power. People who did those rites of evil gained superhuman strength, intelligence, and stamina, and were even able to do things like see the future, kill people at will, become invulnerable, or even prevent regular people from dying, this came at the price of life. "Mages" who practiced these rituals rarely lived past 40 or 50 years of age. While officially, there is no such thing as magic, almost all politicians and high-ranking military personnel have used these powers at one point or another and young deaths are usually attributed to extreme stress or "hunting accidents".

EDIT #2: Changing from Byzantium to Sumer.

oooohhh, this is part of that trend of "stick it to the NESers", innit?

Count me in.



Lord Protector: Diya Amirmuaz
Prime Minister: Hamid al-Rashad

Official language: Arabic

Further details to follow.

Stats will EVENTUALLY be overlaid, but that's for the actual game. The traditional flow of an IOT is stats first, then story flows from that... here, story will be the initial element, and stats will flow from that...

So yes. For the month or two or whatever until I actually launch the game in a manner that orders become necessary, it's basically just worldbuilding. Collaboration's encouraged but in the event two players' backstories clash I will mend them.

This is interesting. Keep the seat warm for me in Indonesia or SE Asia.

Poland.
nuff said.

City of Almaliq
Mayor: Jarchiudai Temür

Edit: Nevermind! Was looking at the map wrong.

SonicTH said:

...non-human races are allowed provided you can give some evolutionary basis for them.

Click to expand...

I will play as a nation of cherufe (a lizard people) in Chile. The actual meaning of cherefe is of a evil humanoid of rock and magma in volcanos; parallel to giant snakes. They originated to explain how volcanos erupt.

Cryptozoology (conspiracy nut pseudoscience) however has reclassified them as large lizard/dragon people.

I will give information of what this Chilean nation of reptiles be later on.

I can only imagine the blow anthropocentrism has had in this reality already.

Krzowwh said:

City of Almaliq
Mayor: Jarchiudai Temür

Click to expand...

Where is this supposed to be?

SonicTH said:

I can only imagine the blow anthropocentrism has had in this reality already.

Click to expand...

This is TanIOT; they're more like guidelines anyway.

Either way, things are going to be much, much more interesting in a multi-species world.

KaiserElectric said:

Where is this supposed to be?

Click to expand...

Initially I derped and thought it was an island somewhere. I knew it looked familiar; eventually I noted the coloring of land versus sea and sure enough, it's in Central Asia.

In consideration: the nation I will rule will not be the whole of Chile; I think a human NPC might be a consideration: the Mapuche, for the volcanic creature that the name cherefe belongs to is of Mapuche tales.

Their nation will be south-central Chile and south-western Argentina.

The Inca will also have a appearance I guess, either as a NPC or by the player; any rate I hope that the Inca and the Aztecs have the glories of Crusader Kings' Sunset Invasion!

If this means I will be crowded so be it: empire building might be set for oceanic standards, especially if the Aztecs do their colonisation of Europe in ironic twist like in Sunset Invasion.

The Orostratians

Government: The Orostratian nation, the Kingdom of Orostratia, is ruled by a monarch, who is elected from one of the noble houses by the representatives of the 4 spirits – one shaman representing each and a priest serving as a tie breaker. The king exercises a limited number of privileges, held back significantly by the power of the Council of Elders – 100 of the eldest Orostrati shamans, and the High Priest serving as a tie breaker. The Council of Elders passes laws, collects taxes, increases or decreases crown authority and is the body that nobles in the Kingdom of Orostratia swear fealty to, rather than the king – the king having any personal vassals is considered an act of treason against the Council.

Religion: The Orostrati religion is the Worship of the 4 Spirits – Fire, Water, Earth, and Air. There is only one formal temple for the spirits in the Kingdom – the Temple of Stratski, the first King of Orostratia and the one who converted the Kingdom to the Worship. Inside are five altars – one for each spirit, and one for King Stratski himself. It is here that the spirits manifest themselves – and where they speak to those they deem worthy.

It is a rite for every child to pass through each altar once they reach the age of 5 – if a spirit speaks to them, they will begin training until they turn 25, becoming Avatars of that spirit – Avatar of the Flame, Avatar of the Flow, Avatar of the Wind, or an Avatar of the Earth. Occasionally, all of the spirits will speak to a child; in which case they will be trained in all four arts, in the order they spoke to him. Approximately 1% of the population of Orostratia are avatars, and there are usually only 5-10 Elemental Avatars, as the ones with mastery of all four are known, at any given time, both mature and in training.

Religion and the military are deeply, deeply intertwined. Avatars serve dual roles as chaplins and soldiers, passing along blessings from their element to soldiers in their units and serving as elite shocktroopers, striking down and awing their enemies with impressive displays of elemental strength. Avatars of the Earth throw massive boulders and construct walls of rock; Avatars of the Flow wash away enemy encampments and treat wounds, and so on.

The Orostrati military is divided into 4 different groups, each corresponding to an element; the Earth branch focuses primarily on the defensive needs of the military, building fortifications, manning forts, siege warfare, etc. The Flame Branch focuses on breaching defenses, fighting battles, and such; it is the largest branch, as the Spirit of Fire speaks to the most children. The Water Branch serves a dual purpose; there are usually one or two Avatars of the Flow present aboard Orostrati naval ships, serving for offensive, defensive, and mobility purposes, but their largest role is with the ground forces, acting as medics – a normal Fire Branch squad will have 10 soldiers, 2 Avatars of the Flame, and an Avatar of the Flow.

Avatars of the Air serve many jobs. Sometimes, they act as support for Fire squads; blowing air in front of Flame Avatars to increase the intensity of the burn, usually. Other times, protecting their troops from projectiles, such as arrow volleys; most famously, a handful of skilled Avatars of the Wind managed to manipulate the wind to such an extent that they could fly, performing valuable reconnaisance and, in one instance, actually dropping behind enemy lines to assassinate a general. They are extremely flexible in terms of support roles, though fairly weak fighters by their own right.

In the Worship, those who die are reincarnated in the next life; avatars that are deemed worthy are given the opportunity to ascend to the elemental plane and live amongst the spirits upon their deaths. The only way to escape the cycle of rebirth is to become an avatar and them be deemed worthy once you die; most bodies are either cremated or buried, depending on their wishes.

Society: Orostrati society is extremely immobile. The only options for advancement the common peasant has is to either become an avatar, serve as a professional soldier in the Orostrati army, or accumulate enough capital to become a merchant. The social ladder in Orostratia stands as this:

Nobles
Avatars
Warriors
Merchants
Peasants

Avatars can only be picked if deemed worthy – low and high born children all have an equal chance to be spoken to, but other than that, a peasant cannot become noble and a noble cannot become a peasant. Avatars travel freely between all castes, as most are kind and honorable folk – they wouldn't have been chosen if they weren't good for the job – but, thanks to years of abuse of power, there is a general feeling of discontent amongst the peasantry towards the noble class. Avatars and merchants stay neutral – Avatars because their obligations are to the Spirits and not the people, merchants because it is far more profitable to stay neutral – but the Warrior caste is largely split between supporting the peasantry, where they came from, and supporting the nobles, who pay them. Attempts by the king to settle the many disputes between peasantry and nobility are universally shot down by the Council of Elders, and the peasantry refuses to make any concessions to the Council to end the dispute. Though there has been no open warfare, tensions are extremely high, especially in large cities.


Geography:




The deeper purple is land under de jure control of the Kingdom, while the light purple is land under de facto control of the Kingdom. Major cities are as listed -

Red – Summer Capital – Stratskia
Brown – Winter Capital – Mjornar
Dark blue – Juskai
Green – Karbluh
Light blue – Tarzeyn