The year is 78BCE. Sulla, the dictator who showed the power of the Army in politics and ruled through sheer force of arms, is dead. He has reformed Rome, abolishing the title of Tribune of the Plebeians, and has now declared Rome's rule the sole prerogative of the Senate. But his reforms cost him dearly - he was assassinated by a furious plebeian, and the resulting riots almost plunged Rome once more into civil conflict. However, the Senate has stepped forth to reassert its power, and desperate to stave off another civil war, it has convened to elect a new set of Consuls. But how long can Rome's democracy survive, as dictatorship and war threatens on every flank?
All the characters in KOTOR are the Senators of the Roman Republic. Characters have their own military, intrigue, and management ratings, traits, and possibly funds, holdings, and armies. An example character stats looks like this;
Name: Julius Caesar
Command: 4
Intrigue: 5
Management: 5
Governorships: Cisalpine Gaul, Italia,
Funds: 10,000 (+250)
Armies:
Legio I: 5000 Legionaries
Legio IV: 3600 Legionaries
Personal Army: 600 Auxiliaries, 100 Equites
Traits:
Talented Commander: +2 Command
Beloved By His Men: +1 Command
Great Orator: +1 Military, +2 Intrigue, +1 Management
Backroom Schemer: +2 Intrigue
Ex-Consul: +1 Intrigue, +1 Management
Good With Numbers: +1 Management
Stern Taxman: +1 Management
Corrupt: -1 Management
Name: Self explanatory.
Military: The character's military score. Determines how good a commander he is, and partially determines your success in battle.
Intrigue: The character's intrigue score. Shows how good he is at the scheming and plotting of the Roman Republic. Determines diplomacy with NPC nations and assassinations.
Management: The character's management score. Shows how good a character is at managing the day to day running of a territory. Determines how much income a governor gets from a province
Governorships: What provinces a senator is governor of. Provinces provide income to the character.
Funds: How much money the character has.
Armies: The armies under the character's command. Legions are granted by order of the Senate, while personal forces are always under your command until you grant them to someone else.
Traits: What traits your character possesses, which determine their score. They happen semi-randomly, but doing certain things can increase the chances of getting a trait. Traits can be good or bad.
Senatorial Powers:
Senators have the following powers.
1) Every four years, they may vote in consular elections, UNLESS they are declared rebels, in secession, or on campaign.
2) Every four years, after Consular elections, they may propose and vote on laws. Laws are non-binding instructions on the functioning of the republic e.g. no armies in Roma province, all funds for the next 10 years must be put into armies, all senators must wear funny hats, etc. I will decide if something is a valid law or not - I don't want you guys screwing with the constitution much, if at all. Laws are non-binding, but thats only for character purposes - breaking a Law might bring the ire of the Republic and Senate upon you, so be warned. Its up to the players.
3) A senator may declare himself a Rebel. (see below)
4) A senator has full control over their personal funds and armies, unless such army is under the power of somebody else.
Consuls
Every two years (4 Seasons, i.e. 4 turns), the Senate assembles in Rome to elect 2 Consuls. After the election of the Consuls, they must put out a Bill which contains the Republic Orders for each Season. Both Consuls must sign off on the final bill, and only one may be put out. Discussion on the bill may be public or private. The bill has the following powers.
Regular Powers: Will be done every year, in the form of a Bill.
1) Assign governorship to any character of any province.
2) Assign a Legion to the command of any character, and send him on Campaign.
3) Spend money on whatever projects, including recruiting legions
4) Send any senator as an envoy to an NPC nation.
5) Issue a declaration of war to an NPC nation.
6) Declare any character a rebel or declare their return to the fold.
7) Issue non-binding instructions to characters.
8) Spend the Republic treasury on whatever they see fit.
Extraordinary Powers: Will come up at other times
9) Veto a law passed by the Senate (may be done by any one consul)
10) Call on a vote for a Dictatorship. (must be signed off by both consuls)
Any bill can be vetoed if one Consul requests a vote for a veto with a 75% majority. If so, no bill is published this season. If no compromise can be reached by the due date for bills, no bill is published and all terms from last bill apply.
Governorships
Provinces can be granted to governors as governorships. Having a governor improves the funds the province contributes to the Republic's treasury by a certain amount, depending on the character's management score. It also provides funds to the governor, depending on the province's wealth itself and the management score of the governor. Governorships are granted in bills by Consular appointment, and remain in place until a Bill specifically grants the governorship to another character. Governors are responsible for the management of their province, and have control over all spending and recruitment within the province, though it is done with their own funds. Will you grant the best provinces to the most talented managers in order to increase the Republic's wealth? Or will you trade governorships for favours and victory in elections? The choice is yours.
Armies and Legions
Legions are handed out to characters to command, to send them on Campaign. A Campaign is an attempt by a character to lead an army into battle against an enemy. Any character that is granted a Legion by the Senate is considered to be on Campaign, and cannot vote. Characters may also declare themselves on Campaign.
Armies are under the total and completely loyal command of the commander, be the Legion or personal. A character may use an Army or do whatever he likes, even march on Rome or another character.
Battles are decided by partially by RNG and partially by the strategies characters lay out in their orders. Characters may die in battles - if so, they are removed from play.
Will you grant your enemies Legions to get them out of Rome to pass a bill they will not like? And will you use you Legion to march on Rome and replace a corrupt Consul? The choice is yours.
Envoys and NPCs
Envoys are characters specifically deputed by the Consuls to negotiate on behalf of the Roman Republic with Barbarian NPC nations. An Envoy will travel to the Barbarian government to negotiate with them, be it a peace treaty or an alliance. Any terms negotiated by an envoy are binding, whether the Consul agrees with the terms or not. Will you use your position as an envoy to get the best deal you can get from the Barbarians? Or will you abuse it to sell away the lands of your enemies? The choice is yours.
Rebellion
A character may be declared in rebellion by the Consuls, or go into rebellion themselves by their own free will. A Rebel is free game for all characters. Rebels cannot vote. You rebel with any army in your control at the time. On rebellion, a Rebel with a governor's position may try to take his province with him into rebellion. If enough people and their provinces are in rebellion and agree to do so, they may attempt to form a Government-in-Exile, which, if enough people agree to it, will have its own separate and private Senate thread.
A character can be rehabilitated from rebellion in one of two ways. Firstly, they may be welcomed back into the fold by a bill from a Consul. Secondly, a rebel may take Rome and, for the first year, be named a dictator. (See below).
A rebel may not be named as an envoy or a governor by the Consul, and must be rehabilitated first.
Dicatorship
A dictatorship is a state of government when one person is invested with all the powers of the Consul. The dictator may pass any bill, on his own, which cannot be vetoed.
There are two ways a dictatorship can come about. Firstly, if a rebel seizes Rome, then he is declared Dictator for 4 seasons. (This is mainly so he can declare all his enemies rebels and do whatever he wants to simulate a rebel actually seizing Rome.) The second way is for both Consuls, in an emergency, declare a vote for Dictatorship. The Consuls nominate a single senator as Dictator, and hold a vote on whether to give the candidate dictatorial powers or not. If successful, the candidate is given dictatorial powers for 4 seasons. A dictator's term may be extended by a majority vote at the end of the term, which happens before consular elections if the dictator demands an extension of his powers.
Assassinations
There is one other way to kill a senator outside of battle. You may attempt to assassinate a senator. To assassinate a senator, you must assemble a conspiracy of senators, all of which must include 'join assassination attempt on X' in their orders. The attempt may succeed or fail, depending on your influence score, but it is safe to say that having more people in a plot will make it more likely to be successful. However, be warned - the attempt may be revealed on failure or success.
Changing the Constitution of the NES
You can't do it. Don't even bother. I will not let you. The senate is complex enough as is.
Ending the NES
This NES will end when I believe it has come to a fittingly dramatic conclusion; that is, when somebody has won a Civil War and is now functionally dictator for life, and their position is so secure that I may rule that they declare themselves Imperator. The resulting (lets face it, its going to be inevitable) civil war will likely be the climax of the NES, and the victors will be the 'winners' of the NES.
This is highly contextual, however, and if I judge that the NES still has potential to continue, then it will not be the end of the NES. For context, if history was this NES, Octavian's victory over Anthony would end the NES, but Caesar's over Pompey would not.
The ship would appear between the first and second missions, to give the players some training at doing it.
