I don't know. Creativity is not really my thing.

[Terrance888]

Welcome to the second freeform Nes/IOT/story-thing.

The first one enjoyed a fun run for about 15 hours of diplomacy, scheming, and world building until, I guess, some people got too attached to their chosen peoples and declared every act a victory, every step a conquest. This was more than one person, mind you.

This one, being written by one who is definitely NOT sleep deprived and with a handful of lessons from the first one, is going to be several things, not going to be several things, and will be governed by several things.

THREE THINGS IT IS
A story where anyone is an authority
A mutual project of mutual respect and interest
A freeform world where nearly everything anyone says goes

THREE THINGS IT IS NOT
A game focused on nations and victories
A world without consequences
idiot screwball implausible nutcase crazy hellfire spam thread

THREE GOVERNING THINGS
1) Rule of Cool: If it is cool, it is possible.
2) Adjudication: At any time, a writer can call for adjudication on another writer's post. When that happens, the post is temporarily noncanon. If writers wish to discuss the post, they must quote it. The final status of said post will be determined by me. I may choose to pick other people of good taste as well.
3) Mutual Respect: There won't be rules against spamming or nation wanking or what have you, but you gotta respect other writers, their posts as well as the rules of the CFC forum itself.

Before we go further, I would like to say you can participate however you like. Want to put events on a timeline? Go ahead. Want to make a map? Cool! Want to write about a diplomatic situation? Sweet. Just a normal world building story? Awesome.

However: Want to write an update style post? Go ahead. Want to advance the date? Go ahead. Want to write about a nation's utter victory? Go ahead. BUT REMEMBER to keep the three sets of things in mind.

Now we can begin. First we need some kind of world, a playing field. We need it to be relatable enough for conflict and interaction, but other than that first post gets to determine the bare bones of the setting, and following posts get to hash out details.

Enjoy!

 

[ork75]

Small Sky Islands. Airships are primary transportation, held aloft by mysterious engines working in some random physical principle.
Tech level = approximately 1935

 

[Terrance888]

There are legends of life before the engines were built. It was considered to be nasty, brutish, and short.

The engines are not recent, and infact seem rather high tech, but not many are crazy enough to tamper and study them, and almost no government is crazy enough to allow anyone crazy enough to do so, to get close enough to do so.

 

[ChineseWarlord]

The sky island nation of Utopia has begun building a new ion cannon to work for self-defence.

 

[Lord of Elves]

Vis a vis the legends, the inventors of the machines are held as demigod-like figures and are considered prophets in major religions which were either retrofitted in order to fit in with the new sensibilities of the machine era or were begun in worship of the technocrats. Accordingly many major world powers are based around the control of the state apparatus and much of the economy by guilds of so-called technocrats which have replaced both royal dynasties and traditional economic venture.

According to the early-20th century nature of the technology, these sky ships are steampunk-esque. Colonialism across the seas has been complemented by seizure of the air. Increasingly great nations are little more than ventures by the technocratic guilds, complemented by national fervor and worship of the Great Inventors.

 

[Grandkhan]

Several large sky-islands are dominated by a an totalitarian revolutionary state, analogous to the Soviet Union of our history, but far, far more ambitious. The State seeks to remake the planet into its ideal utopian society, and end the rule of the exploitative technocratic guilds by any means necessary. It seeks to create the ultimate citizens through a mandatory program of eugenics, and all are employed in the great foundries or in massive collective farms to build equipment for the 'liberation' of the rest of the world. All for the state, all by the state.

 

[Lord of Elves]

The Great Inventors revolutionized medicine as well as warfare. People across the world are living longer, healthier lives, insofar as they are not slaughtered in the vicious and seemingly-futile wars between the technocratic polities. Weaker nations, who are not the native lands of a Great Inventor or blessed by the protection of one of the technocrat polities, are safe havens only inasmuch as their land is undesirable. The world, once comprised of many competing states and small petty kingdoms and republics, is increasingly centralized under the control of the technocrat polities.

Resistance to the technocrat guilds and heresy towards the Great Inventors is punished as high treason in most powerful states, where Ludeism [proposed name for Grandkhan's ideology, in honor of its champion Philipp Lude who lead a workers' revolt in Insert Polity Name Here and was a precursor to the new Insert Polity Name Here which is Grandkhan's State] is rightly regarded as a direct threat to the existing order, and is stamped out by the use of large surveillance and containment programs.

There is an ongoing arms race between the more powerful polities for better, bigger and faster airships. The advancement of modern medicine has significantly increased the birthrate of the technocratic nations, and with many young workers coming of age every year, factory safety conditions are considered secondary to the efficient and expedient production of weapons and war machines.

 

[mythmonster2]

Some people speak in hushed whispers of an endless expanse of land beneath the layer of clouds that lies below the sky islands. What lies beneath has taunted mankind for as long as man could dream. Expeditions have been made naturally, but none have ever returned. The Cloudbreaker's Association is the major group that willingly risks their lives to uncover this mystery for all of humanity.

 

[Nintz]

Floating in, around, and beneath the islands are beasts most similar to our Pterodactyls of old. They are reptilian birds capable of wreaking havoc on the land, including taking down airships in packs.

 

[Eltain]

In the, let's call them depths, far in any direction from any habitable island, lie the Cairwhallers. These immense beasts are powered by a seemingly magical force, left to die by their creators long before the emergence of Men unto the worlds.

These ancient behemoths travel the world in search of stories. If an adventurer strays too far from any islands, they can be sure to encounter a Cairwhaller, which will demand a tale or two in exchange for safety.

[Nuclear powered space whales, left over from before the world was shattered, creating the sky isles. Dactyls and pirates fear them, and they are myths to islanders.]

 

[Grandkhan]

I'm on a bus, and super bored, so let's talk about the State.

Phillip Lude was just one guy, who wrote a book on how to create the most efficient society possible. Throw out the worship of the Inventors, and stop pursing about with Guilds whose sole purpose is to restrict innovation and social mobility. Start a program of eugenics, to make citizens the most productive possible. Make harsh laws, with even harsher penalties. And put anything and everything under the control of a body of people whose sole concern is the society as an aggregate.

It just so happened that this spoke to a large chunk of society, and Lude found himself, almost accidentally, at the head of a revolution which toppled two polities and conquered two others.

All this was 21 years ago, or Year 0 in the State's reckoning. Lude died in Year 12, precipitating a power struggle within the Body for the Advancement of Society between moderates and hardliners. The Hardliners won, cleaving exactly to Lude's writings and taking the state to unheard of heights of repression in an effort to bui the ultmate society.

The State is called the State because that's what it is. It makes no pretence to nationalism, because efficiency is universal. It seeks to integrate all into the State, and makes no pretense of it. It suvives, because it is efficient, ruthlessly so. It will create the ultimate society, because efficiency must be spread to all - whether they like it or not.

 

[Lord of Elves]

Some expounding on geography...

The world is something like it was imagined by ancient peoples OTL. So far as anyone can tell the majority of the continents exist in a large, empty space of clouds and floating islands, bounded on all directions by endless horizon. There are four major continents, wherein the "world" is roughly the size of our own but with larger, more centralized landmasses. Generally-speaking, the four continents are separated by large expanses of open air, but are divided within themselves by large seas and lakes of water.

I'll leave it up to other people to name the continents and all that stuff. There are, at least by my proposal, some continents comparable to our own -- there is for example, probably a Eurasian-style continent inhabited by similar cultures, a New World of some kind, etc.

 

[mythmonster2]

Out of the four continents, there is one that is unique, for its inhabitants are not even human. At first glance, though, and perhaps if the being was wearing a particularly heavy coat, there would not be much to tell them apart from regular humans. Its hair would be white, regardless of age, and they would be unusually slight of build, but still identifiably human. Weighing it would show that it is lighter than a human of its size ought to be. And if you asked it a few questions, you would learn it has keen eyesight and a much better sense of hearing.

If you were to take off its coat, however, you would be greeted by a large set of feathery wings. These are the Manari, and they inhabit the continent of Alior. Unfortunately, their wings do not allow them to fly independently, but merely glide with decent maneuverability. The Manari were initially alone on Alior, but when humans landed on the continent, several Manari joined the humans on their way back to the other three continents. Mentally, they are a bit slower than most humans, and they have a tendency to act on instinct, rather than planning out their actions. By now, Manari are on all four continents, and humans coexist with them on Alior, which is divided into several feudal kingdoms.

Oh, and they can in fact breed with humans. Since you were just dying to know that. The offspring are either Manari or human, with no inbetween.

 

[filli_noctus]

Due to the irreplaceability of the engines, naval combat is entirely carried out by way of boarding actions. Only one attempt has been made to destroy an airship outright using a ranged weapon and the perpetrating nation was swiftly overrun by an alliance of every other polity.

 

[Terrance888]

Steampunk or Dieselpunk? It IS the 1930s in general/widespread technology.

EDIT: Brining together initial post and following developments, I rule that although the main continents are major targets for colonization/contest (ala Africa) or home to major politities (aka Europe), most polities are one, or a collection of, the sky islands spoken of earlier: and in fact, the total area of said sky islands is about equal (or greater than) that of the continents.

Every so often, several sky islands will migrate between continents.

 

[ork75]

Intended to be dieselpunk - ranged weapons were intended to be present and in use but engines powerful enough to carry extremely heavy armor, negating the effects of all but the heaviest.

At any rate, a nomadic mining coalition lead by the Iron Duke travels around in monstrous ships, mining and raiding any nation refusing to give them safe passage.

 

[filli_noctus]

Small Sky Islands. Airships are primary transportation, held aloft by mysterious engines working in some random physical principle.
Tech level = approximately 1935

There are legends of life before the engines were built. It was considered to be nasty, brutish, and short.

The engines are not recent, and infact seem rather high tech, but not many are crazy enough to tamper and study them, and almost no government is crazy enough to allow anyone crazy enough to do so, to get close enough to do so.

Intended to be dieselpunk - ranged weapons were intended to be present and in use but engines powerful enough to carry extremely heavy armor, negating the effects of all but the heaviest.

I think a discussion on the airships may be required at this juncture. The picture I've been building from Terrance's post quoted above is that the engines they run on are mysterious, powerful technology that is far beyond what the inhabitants of the world are capable of producing. The engines therefore would be the basis of the global economy and as such would be considered inviolate, even in times of war, and the airships would not carry much armour as they would only need to be defended from poorly aimed small arms fire.

 

[Angst]

Frithbick lives on a bathroom-sized island in solitude and just wants to be left alone.

Frithbick has many names and terms for his time, which he yelps into the abyss. He clings to his (solitary) tree on his tiny piece of earth where he does his self-declared meditation. Thing is, however, if he lets loose, he'll most probably be plunged into the abyss. That might explain why he's so intense about it. The abyss answers him, surely, but it is still not relevant to yelp at it, as it'll still be there (and the answers are most probably just in his head) but who can blame the poor guy? How the doop did he get there and what does he eat? This is what he just yelled:

"I AM FRITHBICK, LODE OF WORDS. BEGONE, DEEP CHASMS, I WISH NOT TO SEE YOU RISE NOR MYSELF PLUNGED. THEY CALL YOU ABYSS, I HEAR, BUT I KNOW YOUR NAME, HORSEMAN, CHAOS, NIHIL, BEHOLDER, DAEMON, SHAN'T BE PULLIN' ME DOWN AND PLUNGE TO ABADDON. GULA HADN'T ME HERE BUT LECHERY AND WHY YOU CALL ME LEPER? IT'S NOT DUE MOCKERY BUT HONESTY, IS IT? WHICH IS YOUR JUDGE? OVERARCHING SUBJECTIVISM IS STILL BLAND ARBITRARY MORALITY. SCREW YOU AND YOUR OBJECTIVE ISMS. IT IS ONLY ******ATION OF SPIRIT AND YOU ARE THE RAMBLING ONE. SATYR. BUTTPIRATE. SINEATER. SODOMIA."

And Abyss answered him: "Shaddup, Down'd bipedial, couldn't be less interest'd, you're as insignificant as snowdust."

But he keeps yelling at the empty void as a zeppelin approaches his small home.

 

[Ailedhoo]

The little isle of Neuhnee was rich in ruins and poor in pockets, its cold climate and poor soils ensuring hard life for farming, the nearest being the hills which were rich in soil for highland grass, allowing a wool industry to emerge on the isle. The capital city of Riftan had however seen a rise in the finance industry but several ecomonic collapses later saw such specialisation not getting the isle out of poverty. Tourism has become a hope for the ruined castles and villages but the roads are in very poor conditions thanks to their presence near the cost and the common storms hitting the isle. To this end the isle is a client of the mighty Begganbeg Empire.

 

[Eltain]

The Begganbeg Empire has an unwieldy history. More recently, however, it has been split into five uneven Princedoms, each with their own constitution ensuring Lords retain their power and shun any sort of Imperial rule. Cooperation of necessity between the Princedoms has lead to the Empire becoming a major regional if not world power. Its vast reach spans two continents and countless volatile, traveling isles. It has become more a volatile, ever-changing Oligarchy with 5 unbreakable Codes of Laws (between the 5 Princedoms) flung about it, however it has retained its strength and subjugated countless ethnicities and cultures, until at some point in the past 100 years it has become a sort of melting pot.

Dual-citizenship with other countries are outright illegal, and Manari are counted as second-class citizens.

[I would consider the Begganbeg Empire to be in the 'old world', if there were such a thing. At a crosshairs between two-three major continents. Obviously, this is subject to change with other writers.]