Decamper
..!
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2014
- Messages
- 1,159
Hevik grit his teeth as the hard wooden seat cracked against his bony arse for umpteenth time in this long, cold journey north. Well, the cold wasnt as much of an issue anymore, but that didnt assuage his tailbone at all. The mules pulling his carts didnt seem any happier, plodding towards the Capital as reluctantly as if towards their own execution. Why in all the gods names that damned Emperor wanted so much silver was beyond Hevik. It was heavy, useless, and ugly, and if the northerners loved it so damned much they should just go mine it themselves. Or at least get someone else to drive the caravans besides his sorry old self.
He sighed and looked at the shimmering sea, dozens of ships constantly buzzing in and out of the great harbour. Even from as far away as he was, Hevik still thought the capital looked like a grotesque mountain, full of unnatural angles and colours. At least he had something to look at now, even if it was a nightmare. The past month had been boring beyond imagining. Back home they had said the roads were full of brigands and barbarians, that the Empire was too weak to patrol its own roads. He wished that had been true, brigands would have at least been interesting. Hells, they might have even killed him! That would have been a blessing from the gods indeed.
The road along the bay was just as packed as the sea, an endless chain of wagons and soldiers streaming towards the city from all over the south. Gold, silver, steel, salt, fish, wood, grain, even some of what Hevik thought might be that infernal black blasting powder the Qeng were so proud of, all going to fund the hubris of the latest and greatest emperor. Hevik huffed again, tried to distract himself from the press of humanity and beasts around him, and thats when he noticed something odd.
The capital seemed to twitch, districts dancing up and down. Then the ground beneath him seemed to rush up through the wagon itself, hurling him over one of his mules, leaving him a crumpled heap on the road. The day became blindingly bright for a heartbeat, and after another the imperial city was replaced by a great rising ball of fire and smoke. Hevik watched mouth agape, then slowly began to smile, and was just about to burst out laughing when the pain finally hit him. The gods seemed to favour him that day, as the pain disappeared when a wave of searing heat ripped him apart.
He sighed and looked at the shimmering sea, dozens of ships constantly buzzing in and out of the great harbour. Even from as far away as he was, Hevik still thought the capital looked like a grotesque mountain, full of unnatural angles and colours. At least he had something to look at now, even if it was a nightmare. The past month had been boring beyond imagining. Back home they had said the roads were full of brigands and barbarians, that the Empire was too weak to patrol its own roads. He wished that had been true, brigands would have at least been interesting. Hells, they might have even killed him! That would have been a blessing from the gods indeed.
The road along the bay was just as packed as the sea, an endless chain of wagons and soldiers streaming towards the city from all over the south. Gold, silver, steel, salt, fish, wood, grain, even some of what Hevik thought might be that infernal black blasting powder the Qeng were so proud of, all going to fund the hubris of the latest and greatest emperor. Hevik huffed again, tried to distract himself from the press of humanity and beasts around him, and thats when he noticed something odd.
The capital seemed to twitch, districts dancing up and down. Then the ground beneath him seemed to rush up through the wagon itself, hurling him over one of his mules, leaving him a crumpled heap on the road. The day became blindingly bright for a heartbeat, and after another the imperial city was replaced by a great rising ball of fire and smoke. Hevik watched mouth agape, then slowly began to smile, and was just about to burst out laughing when the pain finally hit him. The gods seemed to favour him that day, as the pain disappeared when a wave of searing heat ripped him apart.
Background
The Qeng Xo Empire completed its conquest of the known world almost three hundred years ago. The first Imperial century saw a peace between nations never thought possible, and the trade of goods, people and ideas brought the three continents closer together than ever before. Peace begins to grate, though, when its held by the edge of a blade. This golden age ended after less than a century when a string of incompetent emperors lead to the decline of imperial legitimacy as governors and local leaders began to accrue their own power independent of the Empire. Peoples from across the three continents gathered around self-labeled kings and warlords promising independence and a return to the days of old when the only men they bent their knees to were of their own blood. They waited for any sign, some chance to break free and claim what they so eagerly sought, and the chance did indeed come to them. In the year 297 of the Imperial calendar, the capital city of the Qeng Xo Empire was destroyed by some unknown calamity, killing the Emperor, his council, much of the Empires central bureaucracy, and the elite core of the Imperial army. Nobles and peasants, nationalists and fanatics, priests and generals, rose up across the three continents, ready to claim this new uncertain world for their own.
Introduction
Hi, Im Decamper. Some of you might know me from around here, NES, or running a game over on the Frontier. Im still pretty new to all of this, much less running games, but some people seemed to like the last one, so I figure Ill give another one a shot. The last game ran for 17 updates, so hopefully that means this one will have a good chance of not dying in a month.
The Game
As you might gather from the little blurb up there, The World Becomes Ours is a game will be set in a low/non magical fantasy world during the end of a transcontinental empire. The technology level is roughly comparable to OTLs 13th century. While the Empire made use of hand cannons and larger siege cannons to great effect, the battlefield is still dominated by archers, crossbowmen, sword and pike infantry and lancers. Players will control factions that rise up amid the crumbling Empire, whether they be royal blood lines that had been lying in waiting, warlords eager to grab whatever they can by force, Imperial governors set on restoring the Empire or founding their own, religious leaders set on building their holy theocracies, or anything else you can think of (within reason). Magic does not exist in this world, but religion is as strong as ever.
Brief History of the Empire
Spoiler blank map :
Spoiler climate map :
For reference, the southern continent is roughly the size of Africa.
RULES
Government, Factions and Religion
Government, factions and religion are all descriptive, and do not directly affect your harder stats. The leader of your government may be an individual, or a small group, depending on your government type. Depending on the country, there may be various factions that may hold some influence over the government or the countrys population. They could either help you, or stir up more trouble. Religions are listed in order of what percentage of the population follows them. Depending on stability or the influence of factions, religions may become violent towards one another. In general, the Imperial Pantheon doesnt have much of an issue with other religions, but native religions are more hostile towards the Imperial Pantheon.
Stability, Issues, Will-to-Fight
Ranges from 0 to 10, and displays how content your population is with your government. It can be decreased by all manner of things, and can generally only be raised by actions taken by the players. The level of stability modifies your income, with stability rates above 5 increasing your income, and stability below 5 decrease your income, do to your people either working harder or hoarding goods/avoiding taxes. The possibility of Bad Things happening increases as stability drops.
Stability 10-8 - People are content, willingly pay taxes and do what you wish of them.
Stability 7-5 - People are not overly satisfied with their rulers. They will pay taxes accordingly, but could be pushed into violence and bridgandry.
Stability 4-1 - Your government has lost the support of the majority of its population. If not emerged yet, resistance movements will become a frequent occurrence. If unchecked, full scale civil war will break out.
Stability 0 - Your government has collapsed, rebel brigades and warlords fight over the remains of your once proud nation. You lose, try again next time, but not so sucky.
Issues are the current events that your population or factions worry about, and can be a useful indicator of an approaching problem or of how to raise stability. Will-to-Fight displays what percentage of your population supports a given war effort, and the morale of your troops. If it drops below 50%, you will risk stability loss and rebelling soldiers. Will-to-Fight will be discussed further in the war section, but the general rule of thumb is to get Will-to-Fight as high as possible to start with, and begin thinking about ending a conflict if it nears 50%.
Economy
Your economy is represented by good ol Economic Points (EP). The first number is your banked EP, the second is your income, the last is your upkeep. You may only spend your banked EP. Your income is decided by the Black Box that is your development and trade (see below for more). Upkeep is decided by your military and the development levels of agriculture, industry and infrastructure added together. Income can also be gained from plunder, either from conquering territory, raiding, or piracy. Raiding and piracy will gain you EP, while lowering the development of your target.
Trade
Trade Power is the relative power you have invested in controlling the worlds trade routes. The percentage is the actual amount of control you have over global trade. The higher the percentage, the more EP you are making from international trade. You can improve your Trade Power by increasing the development level of infrastructure and seafaring, as well as by active measures such as using ships or troops to control trade routes, or capturing areas that are important to regional trade. Experiment with whatever backhanded methods you can think of to improve your control over trade.
Trade Value, on the other hand, is how much value your faction is adding to global trade value. While you will always receive EP equal to your Trade Value (unless you are blockaded), having a higher Trade Power will let you take advantage of the full global trade system.
Development
Development represents how developed a particular field is in your nation, as well as the technological level of that field (for example, a high agriculture development level can signify that the nation has many fields, or that the fields it does have are very advanced and productive). Development is generally increased through projects, military conquest, or simply the passage of time. Development can be decreased by military defeats (or conquests, if you annex a large undeveloped territory) or intentionally downgrading to avoid upkeep costs (note: decreasing development will likely piss off your population or specific factions). The development fields are:
Gunnery - How experienced your faction is with gunpowder. Only Imperial factions begin with development in Gunnery. Other factions can only gain access to Gunnery development through another nation with Gunnery, either through force or friendlier methods. Allows the training of Firepower Regiments.
Army - How advanced and experienced your land forces are. Most commonly increased through military campaigns, but may be increased by creative projects. You generally have a better chance of increasing army development when fighting against more advanced opponents. May decrease from terrible defeats, or long term disuse of military. Allows training more advanced military regiments.
Seafaring - How advanced and experienced your naval forces are, as well as the effectiveness of your maritime traders. Contributes to trade power and trade value. May be increased through naval combat as well as projects. Allows you to develop more advanced ships.
Agriculture - How developed your food production is. Contributes to your economy, and is more effective with higher Infrastructure development. Contributes to trade value.
Industry - How developed your production and industry is. Contributes to your economy, and is tied to infrastructure, but less so than agriculture. Contributes to trade value.
Infrastructure - How developed your roadways and infrastructure is. Contributes to your economy, and is mostly used to increase the effectiveness of agriculture, and to a lesser extent Industry. Contributes to trade power and trade value.
Culture - How developed your faction is artistically, philosophically, etc. While it contributes slightly to economy and trade value, it mostly represents a less material stat than the other development fields. Can help with stability, or will-to-fight (either increasing your own or decreasing your opponents).
Projects
Projects are large undertakings that have a single set EP cost that can be paid over multiple turns. They can range anywhere from expansive highways to a massive statue of your cat, and will generally have a positive effect on your development, trade, or stability, though it might not be immediately apparent. If you wish to undertake a project, PM me with your idea, and Ill put a price in your stats after the next update assuming I approve of the project.
Warfare
The first and most important aspect of war in this game will be Will-to-Fight, representing your populaces support of any current war. Once a war begins, a Will-to-Fight percentage will appear in your stability issues section. Will-to-Fight will be most affected by what the reason for war is, and therefore you should put some thought into why you are going to war, and what you will tell your people and the world. This doesnt mean land grabs arent impossible, if your people are poor and starving or your nobles are greedier than usual, they would be all over stealing some more land, but youll need to use some political savy in most cases. Of course, having a legitimate reason for a war will raise your initial Will-to-Fight, with defensive wars likely being the only ones to warrant a full 100% Will-to-Fight. As wars drag on and more soldiers die, the percentage will drop, with only very key victories having a chance of raising it. Once it dips below 50%, you will risk having stability-hitting revolts or rising brigandry, or possibly even coups if your stability is low enough. Will-to-Fight indicates the morale of your armies, and once it dips below 50% you may face desertion, or outright rebellions as it nears 0%.
Combat will take into account the terrain, strength of supply lines, who is defending/attacking, ratio of troops in combat, mobility, strategy outlined in orders, and the stats of the regiments in combat. When writing combat orders, the more information the better, generally. Your generals will try to follow your orders to the best of their abilities, but will react in whatever way they feel most appropriate if the enemy counters your plans. If you dont include any orders regarding the placement of defensive troops, thatll once again be automated by your generals, which once again may not be optimal. You will almost always be better off doing things yourself than leaving it up to me, as I have all the rest of the game to think about. When fighting far off wars or in difficult terrain (tropical, mountains, deserts) it doesnt hurt to throw extra EP and soldiers to keep supply lines open.
Military Regiments
Military regiments have 3 stats: Attack, Maneuver, and Armour. Attack and armour determine how well a unit will perform in direct combat. Maneuver is how quickly your regiments can move or relocate, both tactically and strategically, and is used to determine how far your armies can push borders. It may be cool to have a army made solely of heavy infantry and cannons, but youll be crawling across the world while the enemy flanks you and burns everything you love. In regards to the size of individual regiments, it is largely up to your own roleplaying, but in general most basic land regiments are around 1000 soldiers, and cannon regiments are around 10 guns.
Levies are simple folk that have been pressed into military service. They have low initial prices, and no upkeep, but can only be recruited when your nation is at war, and will be immediately disbanded once the nation is at peace. Warning: suddenly raising large amounts of levies can disrupt your nations growth, lowering stability and development.
Gunpowder and naval regiments may be traded between countries.
If you have an idea for a unique unit, PM me with your idea and why it should exist. If Im cool with it, it will become a small project that you need to fund to design, then you can construct them normally.
Infantry Regiments
Spoiler :
Ranged Regiments
Spoiler :
Cavalry Regiments
Spoiler :
Gunpowder Regiments
Spoiler :
Ships
Spoiler :
Stories
Stories are the best things ever. Write them and youll gain
Orders
Please format orders somewhat like this. Send by PM.
Current Stats
Spending how much EP youre putting towards training regiments, funding projects, etc.
Military Orders what troops are moving where. More detailed war plans will generally yield better results. Maps too, if youre feeling saucy.
Whatever Else Trade deals, espionage, domestic policy, whatever and anything else goes here. Throwing some EP at anything you do will greatly increase its effectiveness or chance of success.
If your orders are based on diplomacy or something posted in the thread, include a copy in your orders. Dont assume I read the thread (I do, obviously, but I miss or forget things).
DONT POST UNTIL I SAY TO OR ILL LIGHT YOU ON FIRE
