IOT Developmental Thread

[CivOasis]

For those who might be looking for a game, CityIOT has just completed its fifth update, and seems to have finally returned to a more peaceful state after a few turns of war. For those of you interested more in building in particular, this would be a fantastic time to join.

 

[arya126]

A World of Media 2: The Box Office, sequel to the critically acclaimed Arya IOT over the past Summer, has ARRIVED!

 

[Robert Can't]

I'm going to be running a private test of the rules for the new Spirit of Man game in a Social Group. PM or let me know on chat if you are interested in being a testperson.

 

[Polyblank]

Look at this

 

[Polyblank]

Seeing how both Multiple Earth Nations and the Best Earth nation each got 9 votes, we will be going with Multiple Earth Nations as that is my preffered choice.

 

[Civ'ed]

A Guyde to the Empyre of Bernefeld, in the 10th Year of the Emperor Heinrich V, or the 1520th Year of the Pontifex, Chapter II: The Imperial Demesne and Surrounding Electors​

Part 1 of a series of posts wherein I expand upon the fluff for an upcoming game me and Sone are running

The Imperial Demesne is the Terminology used to describe to the, mostly Egenwalder-speaking, Area of the Empire, filled with seemingly minor States . However, most, if not all of the States here, are highly relevant, for they include the Seat of Imperial Power at Reichstadt, and the Imperial Academy of the Alchemical and Theological Studies of Unterswald. Although the Duchy of Alion, as well as the Bishopric of Roxben are on this Map, they shall be covered in a different Chapter of our Guide.

PART I = THE IMPERIAL DEMESNE

Most important Power within this Area is, of course, the Kaisersland, or, as we Albonics call it, The Imperial Demesne. This refers to the dual Cities of Reichstadt and Unterswald, where the former is found on the Border between Freidorf and Reinstad, and the Latter is almost entirely subsumed within Reinstad.

Above, left - the Banner of Reichstadt. Right - the Banner of Unterswald. Both use the gold/black Colour Combination so distinctive of Egenwalder Culture, indicating a fair and prosperous Hand. ​

Reichstadt
Reichstadt is the De Facto Capital of the Bernefeld Empire, despite Bernefeld being a Kingdom sunriseways. This is a Result of the Convention of Solcita, where the Imperial Demesne was established. Reichstadt houses the Imperial Palace, the Diet of the Empire, and an Office of the Imperial Company, in Addition to over 50,000 People within its 5-ringed Walls.

Above, a Map of Reichstadt in Areas.
​

Unterswald is considerably less important, but home to the Imperial Academies.
People from the Imperial Demesne are often somewhat tall as it is a wealthy Area of the Empire, yet they, independent of Class, look down on most other Peoples, even other Egenwalders, and this has led to considerable hostility. Most Imperial Company Higher-ups are from the Demesne.

 

[CivOasis]

CityIOT will be having its eighth update tonight, marking 4 years in-universe since the start of the game. This will also be marking a transition to a new update cycle, which will be slower, more focused upon RP/writing, and have more content than previous cycles, and the 9th update will mark a summer update (which players may note tend to be less terrible for the city), so I highly encourage new players to join, or former and inactive players to resume.

 

[Tyo]

So here's something I've been working on between classes and trying to get I&B looking presentable.

[working title]

Foreword
This is slightly inspired by CivOasis's CityIOT series of games. I like the idea of player characters having an affect on the world, and I wanted to see how it could be on a larger scale. However, you shouldn't come here wanting to have the same experience as CityIOTs. This will be a completely different game, and hopefully you understand the full scope once I explain in full what this game is about.

Setting
The game takes place in a fictional universe of my own design. The most I'm going to say until update 1 is up is that this is a world of fantasy, but set in a more Victorian era rather than the traditional middle-aged-looking fantasy setting. Furthermore, I intend on there being a whole world rather than things being contained to one city. Further details will be released pending the first update. I'd be happy to answer inquiries as to what kind of world this is going to be, even specific ones, but read on before you ask them.

Mechanics
There will be few hard mechanics. The biggest mechanic in this game is the concept of "Traits." Rather than giving each characters stats such as strength, stamina and such, each character will have a set of traits or skills that will determine the success (or failure) of their actions. Each character will start off with two traits, but will quickly build on them. (to make it clear, "trait" and "skill" will be used interchangeably throughout the game)

Another mechanic is "Influence." Influence is rather self explanatory. It's how much weight your words hold on the world. Influence essentially translates to "how likely it is to get done what you want to get done." It isn't a resource to be spent, but something to refine and use to your whim. Influence in other words is not a finite resource. However, you can very easily lose your influence. I'll leave it to your imagination as to how it could happen.

Player Characters
Like in CityIOT, players control their own player characters. However, there is a unique twist. In the joining phase, players will submit their characters. I'll be very lax with the joins, but there will be a few requisites. For starters, downright silly characters are not allowed. This is simple enough. Literally Deadpool transposed into this universe would be an example of something I won't allow. Secondly, I won't be allowing for characters to start little havens far away from any conflict and basically not doing anything outside their oasis and seeking to not be a part of the world. Interaction with the world is the sole point of this game. I don't think I have to explain this further, but if you have any questions, ask away.

Moving on to actual character creation, it'll be a simple process. There will be a set of skills available off the bat, and each character can only choose two, like I said before. After that, you choose a "starting action" of sorts, also from a selection (or one of your own if you want, just ask me about it.) A couple examples would be "Enlist in the military's Officer Academy" or "Apply to a University." You'll have a starting bank account of sorts that you pay through any endeavor you need to. For flavor, you can also add physical appearance descriptions/images and a very general background.

The reason all of this is so vague is because using this information you give me, I will create the character and build them up within the context of this universe, because only I will really know the ins and outs of it. This build up will occur over a number of in-game years.

So for example, say someone creates a character with the starting straits "Swordsman" and "Tactician" and decided to enlist in the country's most esteemed officer academy. Once the game starts, this character's skillset could grow to "Tactical Genius" and perhaps they learn a few more skills such as "Trap-making," "Offensive Commander," or perhaps in their journey they learned a completely unrelated trait such as "Master Chef." Furthermore, throughout their journey, characters will have gained influence. A character that had become a general, like this one could have, would have a very decent amount of influence.

And that was just one example. Different players could decide to be different things. A player could have decided to be an entrepreneur, or perhaps a prodigy in a scientific field, or an esteemed magician, or a brave adventurer.

I think you're catching on to a theme with this. Players will, generally, be well known in some aspect or another.


I'd like to hear what you all have to say about this concept.

 

[Double A]

wooo screen stretching

 

[Tyo]

already taken care of

 

[Polyblank]

Looks really nice Tyo.

 

[Thorvald of Lym]

you shouldn't come here wanting to have the same experience as CityIOTs

Thank God.

downright silly characters are not allowed

So avoid Mr. Novak?

"Master Chef."

You 'n me, Civ'ed?


Naw but seriously you always come up with such tantalizing pitches. I'll definitely check out the final product.

 

[Civ'ed]

You 'n me, Civ'ed?

This is some buttery biscuit base indeed.

 

[JohannaK]

I like the sound of this.

 

[Tyo]

So most of this game's early stuff is just gonna be character creation, so once I decide it's nice enough, there's nothing else to really be developed. Here, I'll give you what I have so far.

Character Creation

To create a character, you will have to fill out the following application:

Spoiler Character Application :

Character Name: (Simple enough. Naming conventions for non-humans will be discussed later.)
Race: (There will be a number of nonhuman races in this, which we'll for now generalize to races you've seen in all fantasy games. However, you can't expect all the usual tropes. Elves aren't simply "perfect little immortal humans" for example. Be prepared to stick to conventions that I'll make later on. There'll probably be a sapient species list of some sort later on. You can also choose to be a foreign human. For simplicity's sake, say what country they'd be from in our world and I'll translate that to the world within this game.)
Age Pre-Timeskip: (This is your character's age before the first official update.The update will apply 7 years of aging for your reference.)
Backstory: (This is optional. The meat of your character's story will be the next 7 years of their life, but some story of your character's roots would be nice. Try to be vague here.)
Personality: (This part is required, but also completely up to you. This is just so I have an idea of how this character will grow in the next 8 years so they end up in a situation reasonable and realistic enough for them to end up in.
Traits/Skills: (list 4)

• Skill 1
• Skill 2
• etc.

Starting Action: (This is essentially the line of which your character will be walking for 8 years. This could be anything, but the conclusion 9 times out of 10 will be the character having a popular reputation for better or for worse. You can do just about anything, so it'd be mundane to list out possible courses of action. Use your imagination.)

This is a public application, and as most of you will be famous, this information would be considered public knowledge with the exception of backstories you want to keep secret, which you then PM to me.

Here will be the list of starting skills I've thought up so far. I've organized them into occupational lists, but there can be some blending. For example, "Natural Genius" is listed under Academia, but can be taken to possibly get far in a military career. Some traits are inherently incompatible with others. In most cases this is obvious, but I'll let you know if there is something wrong with your application.

Spoiler Starting Skills/Traits :

Combat/Military

• Sword Apprenticeship
• Bow Apprenticeship
• Rifling Apprenticeship
• Armor Apprenticeship

Academia

• Natural Genius
• Private Schooling
• Good With Numbers

Magical Arts

• Alchemy Apprenticeship
• Elemental Apprentice [Water]
• Elemental Apprentice [Fire]
• Elemental Apprentice [Earth]
• Elemental Apprentice [Air]
• Summoning Apprenticeship
• Arcane Apprenticeship

Trade

• Armorsmith Apprenticeship
• Weaponsmith Apprenticeship [Melee]
• Weaponsmith Apprenticeship [Ranged]
• Enchanting Apprenticeship
• Inventive
• Beast-Tamer
• Well-Connected

 

[Civ'ed]

I like tyo's thing
---

Report on the Census of The Agyzsteri Lands
By Wolfgang Zeigenhart, Imperial Surveyor
Part II of a series wherein I expand upon BanishedIOT's fluff

Spoiler :

NOTE:
It is very, very difficult to report the correct amount of Agyzsteri Mitburger of our Empire, because they are still primarily nomadic – the largest town in the area is Folyakovar, and in the end, this is the only Agyzsteri city of any notice. Occasionally a wandering group comes by Folyakovar, but to count all of these is a folly. Hearsay places the amount of nomadic Agyzsterians as anywhere between 100,000 to 300,000.

Inhabitants of major population centres of the area:
Folyakovar = 10,000. Roughly 9,500 of these are Agyzsterian, and 500 are of other Imperial groupings, most of the time Seravic, and the Burgomaster, Imre Barnabaz, is an Agyzsterian. The census reports roughly 7,000 Wiedergeburtists, under the Reik of Erhardt Maister, with roughly 2,800 Agyzsteric witchcasters, which as mentioned before are unknown about but under Inquisitorial review. The remainder is roughly 200 individual cases of Seravic worship, as described in Fridric Esenhayn's report on the matter, currently in the Imperial Archives.

Siksagyel = 500. All of these are Agyzsterian, and all of these are Agyzsteric. Siksagyel is apparently a site of pilgrimage, and reportedly, the local shaman is renowned as a healer and even sought out by non-Agyzsterics. Inqusitorial permission to perform religion and healing services was granted.

Gyormezok = 700. Roughly 600 Agyzsterians, and 100 Seravics. The census reports Agyzsterics and Seravics in similar numbers – there are very few Wiedergeburtists in this area.

Egevízyrok = 450. The entire population is, surprisingly enough Seravic, yet believes in Agyzsteric witching ways, and as such is a bit of a confusing point in the census.

Neufriedensdorf = 300. All 300 permanent citizens of this village are Egenwalder. There is a castle here, Burg Neufriedensdorf, run by the Udonic Brotherhood, and a garrison of around 150 men. As it is a frontier town to the Seravic tribes, it is often manned by a few more companies. All inhabitants of the town and surrounding areas are firm Wiedergeburtists under the Reik of Erhardt Maister.

INQUISITORIAL NOTE
The presence of Agyzsteric witchers in the area is a concern for the Inquisition. Although men such as Brother Jeremias might condone this practice as an other way of worshipping the Wiedergeburt, Brothers Valkur and Jonah have already complained about this way of doing work. Request renewed Inquisitorial review for the area.

Shaman's banner, confiscated near Neufriedensdorf.​

 

[SouthernKing]

I'm just going to dump this here.

Spoiler :

Introduction:

Back in the murky depths of 2012, before the apocalypse happened, before a lot of things happened, really, I ran my first NES, SKNES I: Architecture of Aggression. It lasted a solid 11 updates, more than the vast majority of NESes, and apparently quite a few people enjoyed it, but looking back it's pretty easy for anyone to see the many, many mistakes I made, particularly since I was literally in middle school when I first had the idea. This will be my attempt to redo that NES's concept, and recapture its spirit, and do it the justice it deserves.

So what exactly is this? Long story short, it's something of a twist on the classic fresh start NES - instead of starting at the beginning of civilization, in 4000 BCE or whenever, we're starting in the great age of migrations near the beginning of Earth's medieval era, in 500 CE. I hope to, along with everyone, collectively create an interesting - and more importantly, fun - history of this alternate world (and, yes, that means the entire Old world, not just Europe and the Middle East like in the first) through the centuries to come.

I welcome anyone to join, no matter what your past experience with NESing or IOTing or STGing or whatever the hell the cool kids are calling it these days is.

I know in the past few months I've launched several abortive games, but those were mostly launched at a whim. And this is something I've wanted to do for a pretty long while, so I have assured myself I will see it through to something satisfactory.

---

Starting Out:

At the very least, fill out this template:

Country/Player
Color: Pretty obvious. Anything except for black, white, grey, or the map color of the water is fine.
Government: Tell me your form of government. Could be as simple or as complex as you wish it to be, keeping in mind the limitations of the time period.
Religion: Tell me your state religion. It could be historical, or something else entirely.
History: Please outline your country's history, in as much detail as you wish to. As far as limitations go, all that I'm going to say is that everything up to Alexander the Great's death in 323 BCE is absolutely hardlocked, but everything after that is not. If the players all decide they'd rather play in a world that somehow involved an Indo-Greek Empire stretching from Italy to Bengal, then that's perfectly fine with me.
Core Lands: The lands that you control and consider the heart of your country. Please be reasonable with this, and note that controlling larger amounts of territory gives you gradually decreased stability at the start.
Reach Lands: The lands you would optimally like to control, should no one else or no NPCs be there. Again, please be reasonable with this, and remember that more territory means greater instability at start. The size of the Sassanid Empire or Tang Dynasty China should be a guideline for the absolute maximum here. This and the above help me determine your territory at the start.
Neighbors: (Optional) Since 500 CE is obviously not the start of world history, I intend to have a living, interesting world already in place when we start the NES, with plenty of NPCs to fill in the spaces between players. If there are any particular ideas you'd like to have insofar as what your neighbors are, feel free to put them here. Additionally, unlike Byzantium and the Papacy from SKNES I, no nation will "automatically" exist at the start.

I'm not going to restrict the start too much, so let your imaginations flow! But remember that I do reserve the right to reject anyone, and please make your start at least historically justifiable. On that note, a few things you should keep in mind are mostly the few restrictions that I am placing. If you're planning on playing as a complex state society (as opposed to a nomadic tribe or whatnot), please start in places where such state societies actually existed in historical 500 CE, and so on and so forth with other types of societies. Not all starts are equal, nor should they be - the closer you are to the erstwhile centers of classical civilization, the more advanced you'll start off. In addition, again, before you go off carving out a massive superstate, remember, larger starts give you significantly increased instability. You can, or course, start as tribes or nomads, and if you play as nomads, you can move around to your heart's content, and of course raid and settle where you wish to.

Once the game has begun, you can still join as something new! Fill out the template and you can start in the grey space, or, if it interests you, pick an existing country with negative stability (yes, that includes PCs) and you can start as a revolt there, though obviously, your survival isn't guaranteed. (Or, you could still always join as an existing NPC, if that suits you better)

---

The Rules:

Kingdom of Mysore/SouthernKing
Absolute Monarchy: Wadiyar Dynasty
Stability: +2
Economy: 9(2/3/4)-4/5
Projects:
-Grand Samosa Kitchen: 4/10
Religion: Hinduism (70%)
-Sunni Islam (20%/3)
-Jainism (5%/4)
-Oriental Christianity, Shia Islam (5%)
Development: Land 9, Navy 9, Economy 8, Culture 10
Army (10/13): 5 Infantry Companies, 4 Cavalry Companies, 1 Siege Train, 2 Mercenary Companies
Navy: 10 Squadrons
Prestige: 15
Description:

Government

Your form of government is listed under government, in concise but detailed form. This form can be changed over time with reforms, or as the trends in your country change. Besides your government is your country's current ruling dynasty or faction, where applicable. Also listed is the current ruling dynasty or faction of your country, again, where applicable. Knowing this is essential; while actual monarchs will not be tracked due to the turn length (though you can certainly do this yourself) arranging marriages and such was an important part of this time's politics.

You should also pay attention to your stability, which, simply, is a measure of the internal cohesiveness of your realm. Stability goes from +3 to -3. Not only does higher stability lessen the chance of political upheaval, it also translates into better economic performance, as the people take advantage of the peace to make themselves and the country prosperous, rather than having to concern themselves over basic subsistence. Outright revolts may occur if your stability drops into the negatives, with the chances of revolt increasing as you go further down. If, at any time, your country is at -3 and loses stability (in other words, hits -4), your government will automatically collapse.

Economy

The economic system of this NES is based on EPs. The first number in the economy stat is the total income of EPs you will gain this turn. You gain EPs from three sources, listed in the parenthesis next to total income: rural (income from agricultural production), urban (income from artisans, craftsmen, and other city-based production), and trade (income from, well, trade, both land and sea). Next is your total upkeep per turn. Finally, the last number is the number of banked EPs you have. You can bank as many EPs as you wish to; they don't make interest or anything, they just sit there looking shiny. It's advisable to keep at least some banked in case of emergencies or if a sudden large expenditure is necessary. EPs can be spent on whatever, but you can't spend fractions of EPs.

How can you grow your economy? There are multiple things you can do. Investing in infrastructure or agricultural improvements will improve rural income. Investing in infrastructure will also increase trade income, as will opening new trade routes through expeditions and the like. There are many other things that will affect income, but I'm not going to list all of them. And lastly and most importantly, this is still the age where you can pretty much build cities at a whim, so spending 5 EP will give you a shining new city. Bewarned however, just because you built a city does not mean it will survive. Note that cities will form on their own as well, but this is certainly one thing you can do - building cities also gives non-economic benefits, such as giving you a base of control.

Cities of sufficient size will be marked on the map as grey-outlined black circles. Capital cities, where applicable, will also be marked, as white-outlined black circles. I'm going to borrow the old "three-city" system that whoever it was (Thlayli?) invented some years ago. Each city will contribute 1 EP. There are three specialties of cities possible:
-Economic centers (Blue): Cities that serve as the homes of financial centers or hubs of trade. (ex. Venice, Aden, Zanzibar, Calicut, Malacca)
-Cultural centers (Green): Cities renowned for their contributions to art or learning. (ex. Paris, Florence, Baghdad, Delhi, Kyoto)
-Religious centers (Red): Cities that serve as the spiritual center and/or holy site of a major religion. They'll become sought after by pilgrims and the spiritual. (ex. Rome, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Mecca, Varanasi)
Cities can attain specialization either through certain projects, or through natural evolution. Cities can also lose specialization, or even be destroyed completely, if they decline sufficiently enough to be abandoned, or are sacked. Any specialized city contributes 3 EP.

There are certainly other potential sources of income. Chiefly amongst them is simple - plunder. Sacking cities and countries will net you a great deal of wealth taken from the unwilling local populace - often, far greater than you could gain from normal means. Additionally, it is perfectly possible to ask for tribute under the threat of the sword. These mean that you don't need any sort of permanent income in this whatsoever. But remember that relying on plunder and tribute for your wealth leads to its own issues - namely, that once the plunder runs dry, no one is happy.

Projects:

Projects are special, large expenditures that usually take multiple turns. They can roughly be compared to Wonders from Civilization, but could easily be far more mundane. A project could include such things as building great monuments, infrastructure improvements, opening of trade routes, policy changes, inquisitions, and infrastructure. PM me if you want to begin one for details including the total cost and effects.

Religion

Obviously, this being the Middle Ages, faith is of the greatest importance. In many cases, it is the very thread holding thousands of people's everyday lives together. Discontented large minorities are a recipe for rebellion and instability. Attempts at conversion and intolerant state policies, while good for the spiritual unity of the state religion, will lead to greater disloyaly. On the flipside, tolerance and appeasement of non-state religions will make their followers more loyal, though these carry their own risks; namely, potential for discontent from those who follow the state religion.

Religion as a gameplay mechanic works somewhat like the factions systems seen in some other games. The percentages reflect the rough proportion of people under your rule who practice said religion, in increments of 5%. The first religion listed is your state religion or the religion of your ruler or ruling classes. Each of the other major religions have a loyalty that ranges from 1 to 5. This scale represents. Attempts at conversion or repression, either from your or the people, will reduce this, while policies of tolerance and plurality will increase this. The last 5% are used to describe various communities that exist within your borders but are too insignificant to create a major difference politically, though they can certainly play a role in the grand scale - just look at Europe's Jews over time. If you manage to comprehensively eliminate all minorities, then you'll reach 100%, but this can often be a task that is both exceedingly difficult and exceedingly detrimental to your resources.

Development

Development is this game's version of technology or advancement or what have you. There are four fields of development:
-Land: This field covers the equipment and tactics of your land forces. Higher development gives improved, and improved performance in combat.
-Navy: This field covers shipbuilding, navigation, and naval tactics, both in rivers and ocean - so otherwise landlocked countries will see this improve as well. Higher development. Unlike land development, navy development has peaceful benefits as well; higher development allows for your ships and sailors to traverse longer distances, and also increases your naval trade revenue.
-Economy: This field covers advances in agriculture, engineering, infrastructure, economics, and administration. Higher development will lead to higher rural and trade incomes, and a potential greater chance for cities to develop as well.
-Culture: This field covers any miscellaneous advancements or evolutions in art, literature, philosophy, and the natural sciences. The returns from culture development are rather more abstract than any of the other fields, but are no less potent. Becoming renowned, and, can potentially give your country a major prestige boost.

The potential levels of these fields can range from 0 to (theoretically) infinity. A rule of thumb is that the most advanced nations will have development levels equivalent to the number of the century we're currently in. The system is meant to create an at-a-glance, vague, but somewhat comprehensive comparison of relative levels of advancement across the entire globe. This being an era far before direct government investment in mass scientific projects that expect concrete results, you can't really throw money at development and expect the numbers to automatically increase. They represent general benchmarks of progress, not concrete stages. However, you can indirectly affect the rate of development, by a number of methods, such as funding military improvements, financing scholarship, opening schools, and encouraging intellectualism, but by no means limited to those.

Military:

The first two numbers in the army stat are the number of non-mercenary units you have and the total force limit of land non-mercenary units. This limit is determined via [2*(rural income)+3*(urban income)]. Do note that since we're largely before standing armies, and because turns are broad enough, your army numbers represent less your standing forces at any given time and more the total capacity of forces you can raise. There's no upkeep required on units within the force limit.

If you reach your force limit and still desire more men, you do have the option to hire mercenaries, which cost just 1 EP each to raise, but continue costing the same 1 EP per turn afterwards until killed or disbanded. Who these mercenaries are is another matter - this largely depends on your situation. They could be barbarian tribes, or they could just be enterprising young men from within your country. Failure to pay them, of course, can and will lead to Very Bad Things happening to you. You have been warned.

Land Units:
-1 Infantry Company: 2 EP
-1 Cavalry Company: 3 EP
-1 Siege Train: 5 EP
-1 Mercenary Company: 1 EP/turn

Navies work slightly differently. There is no naval force limit; you can build as many ships as you like. However, for every 5 naval units you own, you must pay 1 EP in upkeep. All cross-sea transport of land units is handled automatically when necessary; listed naval vessels are strictly warships.

Naval Units:
-1 Squadron: 2 EP

War is a part of what is perceived to be everyday life in this era; don't even bother with any sort of nonsense "declarations" if that's your wish. Conducting war just requires you to send war plans to me. It may be a good idea to pay a little extra for logistics and supplies, otherwise your armies will be forced to live off the land they're passing through. That is not necessarily a bad thing - especially if you're just a bunch of nomads passing through.

Prestige:

Prestige is, loosely, the respect and wonder that others hold of your country. It is the collective legacy of what you have done in the past, unfairly compressed into a single, unitless number. Emerging victorious in great battles, successfully conquering or subjugating other realms, building great wonders, and creating great works of art, literature, or science are but a few of the things that give prestige. On the other hand, stagnating, falling into decadence, and losing in combat will cause you to lose prestige.

What does prestige do? Higher prestige. On a more OOC level, prestige is also something of a meterstick, to measure your relative achievement with others in the world. The country with the highest prestige at one time can be considered the "greatest" empire to exist at any one time (whatever that actually means)

Miscellaneous

A few notes should be said on the map. Collections of shattered city-states or petty states (such as the taifas of Muslim Iberia or the bulk of the Holy Roman Empire through much of its existence) will be represented by a medium-dark shade of grey. Areas where scattered, disunited, yet still relatively advanced tribes or chiefdoms have control will be represented by a lighter shade of grey.

Stories:

Stories are nice. I like them. People who write stories or give other contributions to this universe will get a stats bonus from me as a reward, in addition to mentions in the update.

Housekeeping:

I intend for biweekly updates. At first, each update will cover 25 years of time - so 500-524, then 525-549, and so forth, until we reach 900; after which we'll probably reduce to 15 year-long-turns until...some date in the future. I'm not entirely sure about that just yet, so I might change my mind, but that's the plan for now.

As far as orders go, please send them via PM, and try to limit them to a single PM - my inbox tends to fill up far too quickly.

If you wish to contact me, then I'm usually on IOT chat. I can usually answer my Steam chat as well if you wish to go that route.

---

The use of "NES" in the ruleset was because I originally intended to launch this last year pre-frontier exodus, and doesn't reflect where I actually want to run it. To be honest I haven't the slightest idea where I'm actually going to host this. I'll let it be up to some sort of popular consensus, but it's not going to be in multiple places.

 

[Polyblank]

Multiple Places
On a more serious note, IOT Forums

 

[TheMeanestGuest]

SK, are we expected to pick extant historical states or societies from earth at 500 CE, or are we free to make one up so long as it is plausible and relatively realistic?

 

[SouthernKing]

You're certainly free to make one up, or it could come from alternate migrations etc.